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 Alora Rachelle, 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.

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Alora:

Today, I'm so excited. We have another guest on the podcast, one of the students inside of The Wedding CEO. I think her story is going to resonate with those of you that have made a 100k but was completely burnt out. Or maybe they were booking weddings just to pay for their own wedding versus being able to make a 100k happier, more sustainable, and even just feeling more of like the CEO in their life because they're not undercharging anymore. Welcome to the podcast, Lindsay. I'm so excited to chat today. 

Lindsay:

Hello.  

Alora:

Let's dive in. Okay. I recorded you, I think a couple of months ago, but I really want to talk a little bit about your journey transformation and how it all started. We were talking a little bit off script and how your rebrand was taking place a little bit after joining. You rebranded and we were talking about how you did it based on your favorite colors, which was mauve and emerald green, and there was flowers on her website, which I think is fine. You can have flowers on your website if you feel like that's you. But how would you say that joining the program, because your website's completely different. Your aesthetic is a hundred percent different. But how would you say that helped you really hone in on who you are, who you want to serve, and the brand that you have now? 

Lindsay:

Yeah. When I first joined The Wedding CEO, I really took a deep dive into who my dream clients were and my ideal client. Doing that, I was looking at my website and realized that I might be speaking to a completely different clientele with the mob and the flowers. I felt like it was more playful, cute, fun, college aesthetic, and not elegant, classy, timeless, or getting married aesthetic. I think you reviewed my website at one point and you're just like, we need to get rid of all of this. Start over. Obviously a little more nice, but you told me how it was. 

Alora:

I mean, I'm not going to lie to you. I'm pretty upfront.

Lindsay:

Yeah, but I think that kind of gave me the kick in the butt that I needed to like actually redo my website. I hired a copywriter to redo all of my text and then bought a template for my website and completely rebranded. I feel like my website before and then my website now is just two completely different vibes. But I'm also now attracting the clients that I really want to, so it worked. 

Alora:

Lindsay, I totally forgot that you did your own rebrand, right? 

Lindsay:

Yes.  

Alora:

Okay. You're one of those examples where it's like you don't have to pay five figures for a web designer.

Lindsay:

Yeah. 

Alora:

How long did it take you to do that template?

Lindsay:

I think I bought the template on sale for their Memorial Day sale or whatever in May. Then I didn't touch it until I think July. I got it live within a month. Then I mean, granted, I was shooting weddings and stuff too. So it's not like I was just solely working on my website, but I think it went live July 30th of last year. I did it all myself other than the copy.

Alora:

Wow. I forgot about that. That is amazing. Yeah. I remember Allie kept asking, show it. It's like driving me crazy. Like, should I just hire somebody? You're like, girl, you just do a template. It takes a couple of weeks. 

Lindsay:

Yeah, well, that was one of the things that was like kind of holding me back from rebranding in general, because the website prior, I was like, I paid good money for this website and I'm like, I feel bad just scrapping it, but also it's not serving me anymore. Something's got to change and it was worth it. But I don't know if I really want to hire another designer right now since I did that like two years ago. 

Alora:

If you include  headshots, and then a custom website, and you include copy, like I said, it's usually around five figures have done a little bit under.

Lindsay:

It's right. 

Alora:

Yeah. A rebrand is high ticket, which is why I think that being able to just make small tweaks to your website, which I know a lot of people talk about Instagram, but you are a prime example of getting dirty, making the all switch, and then also finally attracting dream clients just from your website. Nothing else has changed, right? Your work has always been the same. 

Lindsay:

Yeah. My clients last year were more ideal and posting that content obviously helped shift to get the more elegant weddings and not just barn weddings and whatnot. I'd say it was a mix of my website, but then also really curating what I'm putting on Instagram. 

Alora:

How were you able to figure out the whole shift from friendship kind of barnyard weddings to timeless editorial? How did you know that you needed to make that shift or how did you know those were the clients you liked working with? Or do you just kind of always know? 

Lindsay:

I feel like I kind of always knew, but I got married in 2023 and through that process I was like, okay, what do I like about being a bride? What can I take away from being a bride into my business? I'd say it was very beneficial to like walk through the client side through that I realized my ideal client basically is myself. So I'm like, how do I attract more of me? Even though I know I'm unique and like not everyone's going to be like me. I'd say it was just really figuring out who my ideal client was and then focusing on that. Then everything I put out there I run through my ideal client's eyes and it's like, is this going to bring me more of that or is it going to bring me more budget people? or more barn weddings? or more clients that really aren't who I want to serve? If that makes sense. 

Alora:

Yeah, no, it makes sense. So were you saying that you shifted what you're posting on your website? I don't even remember your old website. I don't remember, but I feel like you have shifted your portfolio instead of just posting anything. 

Lindsay:

Yeah. Cause like before I felt like I was obligated to post one photo from every session or wedding, whether it was something that I want to shoot again or not. Now I'm like, do I really want to shoot this again? Yes, I'll post it. Is it something that I would not really want to shoot? Then it's not going anywhere. But I mean, obviously I still make sure the work is perfect for my clients because I have control over that. 

Alora:

When you also had that website with the flower, the mob, the Emerald, which rest in peace, R.I. P. 

Lindsay:

I still have it in the draft so I can send it to you. 

Alora:

Yes, can you send it to me? Like I would just stare at it and see how far you've come.

So you were charging 3k, 3500, I'm trying to remember and I think that was for everything like that was your average middle package? 

Lindsay:

I think so. Yeah. 

Alora:

What gave you the confidence to raise your prices and I think it's almost doubled? It's like almost doubled since then. Since your rebrand, how were you able to finally be like, okay, like I don't want to charge us anymore, even though you felt like you're trying to attract dream weddings? What helped you do that? What guided you along the path?  

Lindsay:

I'd say a lot of it was The Wedding CEO and getting the confidence and realizing that I have a mortgage to pay, and I have bills to pay, and I need to help provide for my husband and I, and it's not just falling back on him. But then also having confidence in my work of I'm shooting weddings that aren't 2500, 3k, and my clients, I think it's a lot of to like the money mindset of money comes and goes and it's always going to be there. I feel like as a creative or like as a business owner, you're like, I feel bad charging back, but people want to pay you that. People value photos and people value your eye and your creativity, but it's just getting the confidence to charge that, but also having the portfolio and the work to support that price.

My work was great and good, but I feel like I can't charge what I'm charging now with the portfolio I had. It was figuring out like styled shoots and just going into weddings with a different eye and not, Oh, this is a barn wedding. I'm just going to shoot a barn, but still figuring out how I can make the barn look elegant and timeless and luxury and not just, Oh, it's a barn, wooden barn, whatnot.

I'd say a lot of it was just The Wedding CEO and going through the program and gaining the confidence that way. 

Alora:

Do you feel like for you, I'm trying to remember, cause I feel like you already came in, you made a 100k, but you were just exhausted. Did you just learn that you needed to price higher ticket to attract higher ticket or was it the rebrand that you went through? They were like, Oh my goodness, I'm getting the dream clients, or was it a combination of everything? I'm trying to walk through your journey. Cause it was so fast. There's a very fast track story, right? 

Lindsay:

I joined The Wedding CEO in November of 2022, I believe. That year I was projecting to make, I think, just over 100k like 103 or something. But that year I also shot 27 weddings and multiple sessions and whatnot, so I can't realistically keep doing this and I was second shooting too so all of my weekends are taken up. I have no time for my personal life. Then I just figured out or like I sat down and realized okay, I'm getting married next year. I need April off because then we're also going on our honeymoon right after. So I'm not shooting wedding the weekend before my wedding and I'm not going to shoot a wedding as soon as I get home, I need a break. But then also realizing my cost of doing business because I've done that before, but I never sat down and really did it like this is what I need to make. 

That obviously helped too. Then figuring out how many weddings I want to shoot a year, which I know you teach 20 weddings at 5k you make six figures, which like, I never really thought about it that way. I'm just like, I need to book all these weddings and say yes to everything because my calendar is open. But I'm like, I can say no, I can turn people away. If anything, it's doing me a disservice and I'm a disservice because I'm burnt out by October. October is usually the busiest month and then I'm showing up to these weddings. I'm like, I don't want to be here. But I do want to be there because I love my job. But I'm like, I just need a break. Like I need a minute. It's kind of like living through that in 2022. Then 2023, sitting down and figuring out what my goals and priorities were for my business. 

Alora:

You said you made 127k and you only put 22 weddings, which is way more. I mean, five less makes a difference. It really does. What was that shift like for you? So did you raise your prices? Did you take on less? Did your clients have more add ons? Were you offering other sessions? I'm curious to like what your pricing model look like? 

Lindsay:

I obviously raised my pricing and that helped because I used to just do a 6, 8, and 10 hour option, but I got rid of my 6 hour. Now I do 8, 9, and 10 because last year, a lot of my clients were adding on additional hours. So I made options like suit them at all levels. The rebrand really helped attract my ideal clients and not speaking to who I want to work with. 

Alora:

Do you feel like it was, okay, cause I know a lot of people are going to be like, so if I just rebrand and say timeless and editorial, they're going to come? Or do you feel it's a little bit more work than that? 

Lindsay:

Yeah, it's definitely more work than that because you need to have the portfolio to back that up. But also you really need to hone in on who your client is, because before I think I didn't really have an idea of ideal client was. I was just attracting everything. A lot of it was the budget people or like the budget brides, which I get it. You do have to be on a budget for a wedding. I was on a budget. So I get it.

A lot of it is the work that you show. You have to have the work that backs up what you're trying to book, but then also everything you put out there, my advice is just to run through your ideal client's eyes because when they see that it can either attract them or repel them.

You're putting something out there that necessarily isn't your ideal client. They could be like, well, I don't want that anymore, so I'm going to go look for someone else. 

Alora:

Was that hard for you to know that you'll be turning people away? Because I know when you're priced lower, you want everything and everybody. How was that for you being able to ship the mindset of I can say no?

Lindsay:

It was challenging at the beginning. I'm coming up on three years of full time wedding photography. At the beginning, I'm like, I don't know if I'm going to like get clients and so I have to say yes to everything. Then now I'm like, okay, I'm getting clients. I'm getting inquiries to where I'm either booked on their date or I can't take anymore. I want to make sure I can enjoy my personal life, too. So, I already blocked off birthdays, holidays, weddings for friends, all of those things. Those are non-negotiable.

Even if I get the most dream inquiry on that day, like, it'll suck because I'll have to say no. But, I would rather have time to enjoy my life too and not just be working all the time. 

Alora:

Yeah, that was the main thing for you because you're like, I've already made 100k. That's not the thing. I just want to have more peace. I remember you saying, I want to look up your old onboarding form, but you're just like, I just want to live more of my life. I don't want to be a slave to my business anymore. So after 2023, your goal for this year is the same. Do you feel like you're on track for that because of the engagement gap? How are you operating in your business now? Are you raising your prices more? I'm just kind of curious now behind the scenes of what you're doing.

Lindsay:

This year, technically I'm fully booked 20 weddings booked, but I may take on one or two more just depending on the client. But I don't need anything more. It's very nice because this year I have weddings throughout the whole year. We're like, it's June through October. You're on go. But I have weddings from January to November and I can take vacation in there and I have a friend getting married so I can attend and be in her wedding. I'm going to a workshop and doing things that I probably wouldn't have done before because I need  to book sessions during the week. I need to have all my weekends available to like take weddings and whatnot. But I mean, I've definitely put boundaries into place in my business where I only shoot sessions, like Monday through Thursday. I'm trying to have one full weekend, like Friday through Sunday, free a month to where I can travel or get stuff done around my house or whatever.

It's not just, Oh, I'm working this weekend. Sorry. Can't see my friends. I still want to like, be able to do things that normal people do that work Monday through Friday, 9 to 5. 

Alora:

When you're in that hustle phase and you're trying to build your business and you're full time, there's so much pressure, you know. I have to sacrifice my life, I have to sacrifice whatever it takes, I got to book all the things. Now you have mastered the work life harmony. You're like, I know exactly what I'm going to do. I've blocked off these days for personal and this is all that I'm taking aside for weddings. How does that feel?

Lindsay:

I still definitely do struggle with it because I feel like it's you're stuck constantly in the mindset of if I don't do this, nobody is as a business owner. So if I don't respond to this email right now, no one else is going to like pick up my slack and do it. It's still a struggle and I feel like every year or month or week, I'm trying new things to figure out maybe I'm only going to work 9 to 12 and then 1 to 4 is my personal time to like do laundry and go to the grocery store and all those things. I still have to do in my personal life because when my husband gets home, I'm like, I want to spend time with him and eat dinner together and not work until midnight or whatever.

But then there's obviously seasons where you are working late or whatever because you  took on extra sessions or have weddings or whatnot. I mean it is a balance, but it's something I feel like I'm constantly working on. I don't know if I'll ever be able to say like, I've mastered it. But I'm definitely trying new things this year to figure out like how to balance my life and work better.

Alora:

What would you say your goal is then to scale up? or scale down since making 100k a lot more peacefully last year? For this year, do you feel like  you're getting close to being able to make the same amount, if not more, doing the same thing? 

Lindsay:

This year I'll probably end right around six figures again, which is great. It's like wild to think because I came from a Bank desk job that I was making I think thirty  2000, 35000. It's wild to think that I went full time at 26 I think. Then the following year I made a 100k not many people can say that I'm not saying that to brag because it's not easy and it's a lot of hard work, but I'd say my goals for this year. I mean, because my year is basically already booked. Like moving forward for next year, I think my goal will be 15 weddings, but then also a higher price point. 

Scaling up, but also scaling back. Then I've thought about playing around with. An associate team or expanding my team, but I'm still like trying to figure out if that's something that I really want to do and then maybe education down the road, but we'll see.

Alora:

She's got a multi-six figure brain going on right now. 

Lindsay:

It never stops!  It's a blessing but also a curse.  

Alora:

You're like, I've made so much money, how can I make more money? 

Lindsay:

My goal, like long term, is to have my husband self-employed. Then we can live our life together and travel and whatnot and not have to worry about, oh you ran out of PTO. We can't go on that vacation, but I'm still trying to figure out what he can do. 

Alora:

Yeah, can he be a, like, can he do video? Can he be a second shooter? Like, what can he do? 

Lindsay:

He's not creative at all, so I'm like, I love the man, but I'm like, I don't know if I would trust you to do that.  

Alora:

If he's more admin style, he could help you train the team and do the admin. If he'd manage the team. That's already income on its own. We can talk about that.

Lindsay:

He always jokes that he is my landlord and I forget he gave himself a self proclaimed title in my business and I always forget it, but I'm like, that's not you. 

Alora:

You're like, thanks babe, but no.

Lindsay:

I think he said he's like my, my brand awareness manager or something. I'm like, I think you've gotten me like two clients, but thanks.

Alora:

He just wants to be a part of the dream, Lindsay.

Lindsay:

Yeah. I let him live it. I let him have his brand awareness manager, but I'm like, you're, you gotta step it up. 

Alora:

Oh my gosh, I love it. You know, and together, if he's able to help you scale that, even if it is a team or something else to take off your hands, I mean, you're right. You guys could have that digital nomad life where you travel and work and have so much free time. I feel you with the PTO because my husband gets like one a month. 

Lindsay:

It's a struggle because I love to travel and I'm like, I want to go travel everywhere and wait, you don't have PTO.

Last year, he took like all of his time off for our wedding and honeymoon and that was in April. I'm like, we can't do anything in the fall. Are you sure? 

Alora:

Well, that's that. I think those are amazing goals, honestly, and definitely excited to see. That blossoms once you finish the Associate Team Academy course and figure out if that's something you want to do.

I mean, that's exciting. Literally, you already have a loose multi-six figure goal in your mind. Is there anything else you'd like to leave the listeners with if they're close to making 100k or they already made 100k? What would your advice be to them if they think this probably isn't for them since they've already reached the goal? 

Lindsay:

Yeah, I mean, there were still a lot of practical takeaways from The Wedding CEO. I feel like a lot of it was really about my brand because I'm looking at my old website right now and I'm like, how did I make six pictures of this? A lot of it was just like your money mindset. I was burnt out or close to it. I don't want to keep living like that. I don't want to have this business just to work 24/7, seven days a week. I want to still have freedom to do what I want. 

I feel like a lot of it was. Giving me the okay or the confidence to like turn people down or say no and the confidence to raise my pricing and I just also really love the community of the wedding CEO to like bounce ideas off of because I always get intimidated posting on Facebook groups.

Here's my dumb question and I feel like in the Wedding CEO, everyone's so helpful and no questions dumb. I'm so thankful for like the community and having access to you because a lot of education courses, they say you have access to like the owner or creator and you don't. It's like, I have this question and I don't really know who to ask.

My advice if you're on the fence is it changed my business for the better and it like gave me the confidence and kick in the pants to do things that I knew I needed to do but didn't necessarily think was like a priority. I'm like, oh, I'll get to that in off season or whatever and here we are in off season and I haven't done anything. 

It's like the accountability aspect too. Education, a lot of it's at your own pace, which is great. But if you don't have the accountability, are you really going to do the course or are you just going to buy it. Then maybe listen to a module or two. Then never implement it or never do it? 

Alora:

Yeah, you guys have homework in this program, so you have a workbook.

Lindsay:

It's fun homework. I mean, it's beneficial homework too. You kind of need to do that to figure out where you want to go or what you want to do. 

Alora:

Yeah, I do think you're right about the community. Y'all talk to each other more than y'all ask questions to us anymore. They're like, what's everybody? I was like, am I everybody or am I just Alora? Like, do I answer this question? 

Lindsay:

You are everybody. You are Alora.

Alora:

But no, I love it though, because I feel like you guys have created your own intimate, very close knit community. Everybody is helping each other, sharing the different ways they do things. Somebody was like, what do I put in my contract? And one of our photographers in the program is a lawyer. She's like, disclaimer, I am a lawyer, but I'm not your lawyer, but this is what I suggest. I was like, this is so great. Like, I love it. 

Lindsay:

Yeah, it's so helpful. I mean, it's because being a creative, it gets lonely sometimes. You do have your people, your other photographers that like you reach out to, but it's nice to have the different community of people all across the country and not just in my town of Kalamazoo, like I have my friends, but we're all busy. It's nice to have the community aspect and it's not like we're competition.

We're all there to help each other and see each other succeed. 

Alora:

Yeah, I love that whenever someone asks a question, it's probably either you or someone else that's the first to jump on board and answer. I just, I love it. Everybody's besties. It's just really helpful. I always forget to talk about the community because I don't know if I just forget or take it for granted, but there are so many programs where the community is like dead. 

Lindsay:

Or they just have a Facebook group. People post in it, but no one will really respond. Or it's just a group of 500 people. Do I really want to put my question out there? I like how intimate our community is and being able to like ask a question.

Nobody makes you feel like dumb. They give advice or whatever we need. So helpful and so perfect. That's like one of my favorite things. 

Alora:

It's the community. I love it.

Well, I was driving today and I was thinking about this and I was like, I really like the intimacy of the group. I don't think I want this to be a 500 people plus program. I want this to feel like a mastermind. Yeah, because I remember somebody who was asking me about joining, they're like, is this a program where there's a thousand people and we don't get access to you? This is not that. I promise. I don't know how to show you BTS, but we're all just chatting in Slack all day. I promise. 

Lindsay:

Because I feel like too with the bigger groups and bigger community, people get lost. Me being an introvert, I'm not going to put myself out there to make friends or like try and communicate with other people, but when it's a smaller group, I mean, granted, I only knew I think two or three of the people in the program when I joined, but I met Fern. And Fern second shoots with me quite a bit and meeting up to get together next week, making friends that way.

I  followed on social media before the program, but through The Wedding CEO, it didn't force us to be friends. It gave me the opportunity to talk to her because I'm not just going to slide into your DMs on Instagram and be like, Hey, I'm Lindsay. That's not my vibe. I'm like, I'm thankful for the friendships that I've built because of The Wedding CEO.

Alora:

I love that. Yeah. You know what? You're right. Because back in the day, sliding in people's DMs being like, you want to meet for coffee post pandemic. We're all kind of like.... I always say I'm still a little weird and I'm working on it, but I was forced to be home for almost three years.

Lindsay:

Right. I was already a homebody and now if I don't have to leave the house, I am 1000 percent okay with that. 

Alora:

Same.

In my sweatshirt right now. Like, you know, it's life. I mean, that's that work from home outfit, though. Like, that's the lifestyle. 

Lindsay:

Yeah, I keep telling myself I need to go through my closet because I have like all my clothes still from like when I had a professional job and then I have my outfits that I wear on wedding days. I just need to get rid of everything except for wedding day attire and just get a bunch of comfy stuff. 

Alora:

Oh, yeah, girl. Spring clean. Spring clean. You're not going back to that 9 to 5. So she's gone. Well, thank you so much, Lindsay, for coming on and just sharing your journey. I'm really excited to hear you on as you scale to the multi-figure. Because Fern, It's so funny you said it. She was like, I'm doubling my income, not doubling her months, not doubling her prices, her income.

I'm so glad that you guys can have that` kind of goal in this program. She's so confident now. She's like, yeah, I'm just going to, I'm going to figure it out. I don't know how I'm going to do it. She's like, yeah, I'm going to figure it out. Right. I love it. 

Lindsay:

You guys give us the confidence to have the outrageous or like, unrealistic goals and they they become a reality. It's not like no goal is dumb or out of reach. You just got to work for it. 

Alora:

I guess I've never understood how supportive our community is because me and Noella are just so naturally on board and our brains are always on strategy and marketing and sales. It's like, you can do that. You could do this. 

Lindsay:

Sometimes you just need the little cheerleader to like cheer you on. Go for it. The worst that's going to happen is either nobody books, they say, no, you're not going to die. Right. Just try it on air. Even though it's hard, I'm not the best at taking that advice sometimes. 

Alora:

Well, I feel like it feels like that. It always feels like you're going to die. Then someone tells you like the worst that someone could say is no and you're like, okay. 

Lindsay:

Yeah, right. If they say no, you're probably never going to see these people again or never going to meet them. You have to like come face to face with their no, it's just going to be an email. We want another direction or a ghost.

Alora:

Yeah, we dramatize things. We have drama about money. We have drama about pricing. We have drama about our brand. Sometimes you need someone like me to be like, it's not that deep.

Lindsay:

Right. Which I feel like is kind of how I was when I entered or like started the program mindsets about things. It's like breaking through that and getting the confidence to realize that I don't need to have those drama.

Alora:

Yeah. I feel like saying no taught you to value your time though, because you wanted the time, but you just didn't know that you had to say no. That's amazing. 

Well, thank you so much for coming on Lindsay and sharing your story. This has been great. I can't wait to see how you're gonna double your income like Fern. 

Lindsay:

Yes, I'm excited. 

Alora:

This year or next year. And everybody else.

I will see you in next week's episode. Bye!