Exploring Next Steps for Profitable Businesses

Speaker 1 0:04

Welcome to the Wedding CEO podcast , where we discuss all things marketing , sales and scaling so you can become the CEO of your life and business . I'm Elora Rochelle and I've been a wedding photographer for over a decade and now I'm sharing all of my secrets so you can stop sacrificing your time and make more money like a CEO . Okay , so you're wildly profitable . Now what ? I had a student of mine that was like all right , here's the thing I've already hit six figures and I want to know what's next for me . Wow , congratulations , and realize that there is still so much available to you . This is a good sign . It means that you are now probably the expert in your field , and if not , then maybe it's time to start becoming the expert in your field . This is my absolute favorite thing to talk about , because it means that you are probably the expert in your field , whether it's doubling your prices , maybe becoming a luxury photographer specializing in a specific service , or even starting your journey as an educator . Yes , I know I spilled the beans . No one's talking about this , just kidding . I know you probably heard about this , but there are other ways of making income than becoming an educator . I've heard somebody say you don't have to just become an educator , like , oh you know , I have the business , it's successful and I just like that as is , it's fine , you don't have to branch out and do other things . But if you do , just know that you have that option . But then also you have the option not to the perks of having your own businesses . You can kind of dip your toe in things that you want to and then if you don't want to do something , you don't have to . Most coaches won't really talk about this because they are in this specific season right now , because technically they're your educators . But my expertise is CEO status . So in order to get there , it's very wise not to keep all your eggs in one basket anymore . If you haven't realized , that's what all of us have come to the realization of after the pandemic .

Speaker 1 2:01

So now it's time to decide what do you envision for your business long term ? Is this something that you see yourself doing for the next three to five years ? 10 years Is 10 years too long . Do you see yourself retired by then ? Do you see yourself pursuing other things ? Now is the perfect time to ask those questions , because what happens is you get to a place where you feel like you've hit all of the successful marks that a business owner can have , especially as a photographer . Now that means there's more room for you to grow and up level . The journey is not over . There's always more education you can invest in . If there's something you want to learn , there's always a coach you can invest in . That's like a master of a specific topic that you want to learn .

Speaker 1 2:42

So now is the time to ask yourself do you want to hire an associate team , stay in the industry , manage people , learn to establish yourself as an organized company , brand leader , xyz , or do you love to teach ? Do you just like the idea of passive income ? Would you rather make a course ? What possible hints can you add into your business that best echo your personality and brand voice ? If you love to teach , do you like one-on-one setting or more of a group setting ? Would you prefer to do something online , live or in person , like a mastermind or a retreat ?

Speaker 1 3:16

I feel like there's so much inner work that has to be done here , because you're probably thinking this is a lot of stuff that I probably can't do , and I've had those same thoughts too . So I can speak to it and just say it's just a mindset block . Your mind will always try to keep you safe from things that you could possibly fail , because that's , honestly , the only biggest thing that could happen is oh , it could be a big flop . So what ? Get up and find something else that you love to do , or try it again . You know , sometimes you can do something and it fails because you may not have done other things to make it succeed . So I like to always have a habit of just reframing things so that they always don't feel like the world is falling apart because we had so much experience with that in a literal sense . But these are just a couple ideas to get you started , and just know that if you're feeling like you want to do something but you're scared to do it , just remember it's just your mindset , a little bit of imposter syndrome , all the things you have , exactly what you need to get this done , and if you don't , then I'm going to say it it's time to invest .

Speaker 1 4:17

There's no right or wrong way to do something , though , but you know you actually can take a course , and feel so empty like this is not going to work with me for my personality . This is not something I want to do . I've had that in so many instances and let me tell you something that nobody else will . It's not your fault , it's just their way of doing things doesn't align with the way that you would do them , which is pretty much everybody just teaches their path . Which is why I say , when you invest in yourself or you take this journey , you invest in somebody that you actually not with what they're selling , but feel aligned with the way that they're running their business . What about them ? Do you want to learn from them that comes effortlessly to them ?

Speaker 1 4:59

I was in this exact place five years ago . I had no idea , I made my first investment and I felt like I was going to throw up . When you haven't made an investment before , it's terrifying , but I have left masterminds feeling like that was so worth the money times five and they were somewhere . I was like I actually know all this stuff and I probably would do things differently . It's okay , it's a learning experience and it's okay to understand the concept . But if you want to do something completely differently , at least you have the knowledge that there's another way of doing things . And yeah , I did it differently . I left that and I was like you know what I'm going to do , something that I feel like is intuitive to me . I've already made investments and I was making investments because I wanted people to tell me what I wanted to hear , versus just diving deep and just taking action .

Speaker 1 5:48

It's like you don't want to do the work , the messy action and the possible failure , and just keep making investments , like buying serial courses , so many of them to where you don't even take them because you don't remember which ones you bought and you learn so much that you don't implement , which is like where a lot of us are because of the explosion of the educational industry . But I am definitely here to tell you that that is why it's important to be a part of a group program . I feel like that's the difference between just buying a course , having a Facebook group and just being lost in the mix . Being inside of a group program , like I have at the wedding CEO , we tailor everything that we teach to your unique brand , so it's not like this is how I do it , this is what you need to have and good luck beyond your way . It's like okay , you need to brainstorm these things and then we're going to do that , work together on the calls and then see what is intuitive to you in your business .

Speaker 1 6:43

Because the thing is is that , let's say , you invest in something and you have education . If you have this core education and it doesn't align with you , but you quote unquote feel like you have to do it and you're obligated , and since they're your teacher , you're just doing the work . You're probably not going to implement what you just learned , because when you're not aligned to something that feels a part of you , or if you're not excited about doing something , you're probably not going to do it , or you're going to do it and not do it . Well , it's kind of like when you start your business , you know you're so excited to just start something fresh and you're doing whatever it takes . You're going to work for free or work for a little to no money . That's the same ammunition you need to have about the next step of your business when you're investing into this area of your business that you have no idea , but you're like I'm going to do the work , I know this is what it takes . That's the kind of minds that you need to have for things like that .

Speaker 1 7:29

So what I'm saying is , if you're wildly profitable and you're like what are my next steps ? The next step is probably something that you need to invest in that's going to propel your business forward . So what do you want to do ? Where do you see yourself ? Do you see yourself teaching ? Do you see yourself making a course ? Do you see yourself not doing any of these things and just doubling your prices or raising them and you're like well , how do I raise my prices ? Well , invest in an opportunity that teaches you how to provide a luxury client experience .

Speaker 1 7:58

So , making sure you just have your foundation set , like your mission , your core values , your brand everything is tailored to the way that you want to do it , intuitively , and that's the beauty of it . You are the magic behind all of this . It's just pieces of you intertwined with business , because , whether we like it or not , we are actually a big part of our brands . That's why there is such thing as a personal brand . The heart of our brand story comes and resonated with us personally , and so we took that and then turned it into a business that makes us money , which is why a lot of us can work so hard and even work for so little , because you feel like this is so much a part of you that you're willing to do that . Not to mention , your name is probably on the line . But we believe the market isn't saturated because there isn't a carbon copy of you out there in the world unless you have a twin . But I feel like even twins are different . Like they say , oh , we're completely different . I don't know , I don't have a twin , but anyway .

Speaker 1 8:49

So if you're wildly profitable and you're wondering about the next steps , feel free to apply for the wedding CEO coaching . We are working on a phase two specifically for this set of people , because I know that once you do all the things that you feel like you just kind of hit a glass ceiling . You're like what do I do now ? Do I just become an educator because everyone else is ? Or maybe I don't want to be an educator , maybe I want to be a luxury brand photographer . Maybe I just want to be a luxury photographer . Maybe I don't be luxury and I just want to have a team and we bring in 60 weddings a year . There's so many possibilities out there and I'm sorry if I gave you a headache , but I feel like this is definitely a topic that nobody talks about is , once you reach all those goals that everybody's talking about , you feel out of place . It's almost like a lonely hill that you're on . So feel free to reach out to me , dm me if you have any questions

Scale Your Photography Business With CEO

Speaker 1 9:38

about it .

Speaker 1 9:38

Like I said , the link is going to be in the show notes for you to check it out . I would love to talk with you and see what we can do to propel your business forward and make some passive income , because we are not meant to hustle for 20 years , guys . Uh-uh , that gets old really fast . All right , so I will talk to you guys next week . Don't forget to share this in your story screenshot that you're listening . Send me your review on Apple Podcast and Spotify and I will see you guys next week . Wait , don't go yet . If you loved today's episode , I would love if you took five seconds to leave a rating and a five star review . If you do , send me a DM so I can give you a virtual hug and , of course , a shout out .

Speaker 1 10:24

Now , if you're ready to grow your photography business , I invite you to join the waitlist for the wedding CEO . The wedding CEO is my signature program for wedding photographers who are ready to scale their way to 100K . You're finally ready to work less , make more and live your dream life ? If you've seen my Instagram , then you'll know , we have students making five bigger months , launching their dream brands , doubling their prices , taking vacations and more , which are lifetime skills that you can take with you even if you decide to leave the industry . Join the waitlist for when we open the doors on November 14th to the waitlist only , and you're going to get an exclusive advanced private training on how to scale to 100K , booking less than 20 weddings a year . And , trust me , you don't want to miss this Link in the show notes . I'll see you inside .