The Wedding CEO: Photography Podcast

197. Rebrand Series: From Chaos to Creativity

Alora Rachelle Episode 197

In this episode, Alora walks listeners through the hectic yet exhilarating process of her rebrand journey. With plenty of personal anecdotes and useful advice, this episode is packed with inspiration for anyone considering a rebrand or looking to elevate their business.

00:00 Introduction and Welcome

00:23 Life Updates and Personal Anecdotes

01:24 Rebranding Journey Begins

02:08 Collaborating with Creative Professionals

05:29 Reflecting on 15 Years in Business

07:58 Excitement for Upcoming Projects

11:45 Final Thoughts and Future Plans

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Speaker:

Hello my friends. Welcome or welcome back to the podcast. Welcome to another installment of the rebrand series. And I didn't know today was Friday. I thought today was Wednesday. So that's how off my rocker I am. Does anybody say that anymore? Am I showing my millennial card? Whatever. I was born in 1990. Get over it. Oh, the millennials. Tap in please. Anyway, so there's a lot going on. I just got off a call with my stylist yesterday or the day before. I'm recording this in real time, and normally I'm not that scrappy. Usually I plan ahead like a week or two in advance, but it's been crazy. It has been crazy over here. I don't know what day it is. Sometimes I get dressed, sometimes I don't. Sometimes I go for a walk. Sometimes I don't because it's 50 degrees, 60 degrees, and then it's 30. My daughter has been hacking and coughing and sneezing with allergies. It's been amazing. And my son, however, is just drinking chocolate milk that is my life. Thankfully, nobody's sick though. That looks like it's gone. It looks like we're done with the influenza neurovirus flu. Covid. Like it was like a triple smack. It was like, everybody was sick and then they weren't and they were. But if you are currently sick, I hope you feel better because let me tell you, when I was down for a week and a half. I was like, just take me Lord. I've seen what I needed to see, and I'm done. It was horrible. It was absolutely horrible. Zero stars. Anyway, back to the rebrand. So what have I been up to? We finalized my brand book and we came up with all of the submarks for the two programs, the two leading programs I have. My trademark specialist is submitting the trademarks today, so I had to go ahead and replace the logos on Hidden Pages just so the government knows that, Hey, I did it first. You've seen it here as of March 14th. I created the name. The name will be mine. Hopefully. I heard it takes anywhere from six to 12 months, but at least filing will be in process hopefully within those 30 days and me launching and everything like that, like we're good. Anyway, so that is good to go. Brand book is finalized. The brands, the new colors, the theme. Yeah. And so I am working with a Brandon film photographer. She does film, she does Super eight and she's just going. In on all the creativity and I'm so excited. I am also working with a friend in the industry. She is an incredible creative director, and I reached out and was like, Hey, so I need like poses'cause I want this session to last me two years okay. Without me being like, man, I wish I would've got this pose, or I wish I would've had this angle. So she's Hey, we'll hop on a call and we'll figure it out. And I was like, I love you. So she's gonna be my creative director with the photography, the video, the B-roll, all that great stuff. Love her for that. Amazing. So I working with a stylist and we were on a call for about an hour and a half, and we walked through the styling, we walked through what she came up with, what I came up with. She's just show me your wardrobe. I brought in a bunch of pieces I bought from h and m and Target because I'm a basic girly. And she's wait a minute. All of these looks just make sense. You only need to buy five pieces. And I'm like, yes. Thank you. I was willing to set aside the budget, but if I don't have to, then I don't have to. And so bringing in a new color to my color palette is exciting. I feel like I've always kept it very much like this Gen Z, lime green and navy blue, and was that it? I think that was it. Like my color palette was not that great, and so working with the designer and just like telling her my vibe and telling her what I wanna do and how I want the programs to look, how they differentiate, how they come together. We came up with just adding a bunch more colors that really added to this like vintage vibe and inspired some of the places that I will be taking photographs at and go figure. The color is already in my office. And if you know what my office looks like, then you might have an idea. If not, it'll be a surprise. Yeah, we worked through that. I gave her links to all the pieces that I had purchased. So she has the raw file image and she's putting together a lookbook for me. And then we're gonna figure out what exactly I need to buy for what look, and then hoping it gets here in time. Yeah, putting the outfits together. And then she will actually give the creative director kind of inspiration of Hey, she needs to wear this outfit for this location. And this is what I had envisioned for her in this outfit. And I'm just like, wow. Working with a bunch of people on a rebrand. A thousand stars, I, 10 out of 10, a hundred out of, I don't even know, like 5000%. It's just, it's so good to feel like I can just word vomit my vision, my plan, and somebody will just have this done for you. Take on it and just deliver it to me being like, this is what you need based on what you said. And after doing that with, oh, I think we're way past 12 people, I might have hired like 15 people for this when it came to let's see. I hired an SEO blog specialist. I hired a web designer, a brand designer. I hired someone for a copy audit. I hired someone for the theming of this entire rebrand. I hired someone for the creative direction behind the theme for this program. I hired a content specialist and then so many things. I don't know. I lost track. I'm looking at my whiteboard, but my whiteboard is not even accurate because I've also added a stylist. I've also added a creative director. I've also added brand photographer and film. And then I feel like there is a couple more, but if it is 15 or more, it makes sense because guys this year will mark my 15 years in business as an entrepreneur. And I didn't realize that until I was talking to the stylist and her being like, okay, what is your vision? What is like your plan and what is your why behind this rebrand and this whole like going all the way, all or nothing attitude. And I was like I was a wedding photographer for 12 years and I've been an online business for about three years. And I was like, that equals 15. Huh? What do you know? Now, I actually did sell my first course in 2020 and I did do some live workshops, but I don't, I think I was just dabbling, like I was also selling presets, mobile presets, and we all had fun with those things, but there was no actual like online business strategy. I was just doing stuff and making money, and I was like, huh. This side hustle of money is pretty cool, but like 2022 is when I launched the wedding, CEO and like really just got into this transformation. And my students have made so much money and it's just like I, I guess I count 2022 when the wedding CEO was born like my online business birthday. So maybe we could say it was 15 years, maybe we could say it was longer, but. To celebrate. 15 years for me feels good. It feels aligned and it just makes sense. And so that's a big deal to be over a decade in entrepreneurship in general. But like for me being three years in a completely different business model, this year is my second year full-time in the online business, in the industry. And it feels like I've been here. Way longer. I remember somebody saying that when you're an online business owner, two years, feels like five years, and she was not kidding. It really feels like I've been in this so long, and so the frustration of being like, okay, I wanna hurry up and take this off the ground as fast as I did with wedding photography, it's not the same thing because I switched business models. So wedding photographers were B2C. Business to client business to consumer. And then the online business is B2B business to business. And so it is completely different in every way, shape, or form. Plus, I'm selling more of a transformation that is different than this is what I physically can do with my art and this is what it's gonna look like and feel like. Online industry is this is what the transformation can look like. These are results I've given myself and given others. And so they're just completely different. The business models completely different. I cannot wait to launch my mastermind about building an online business because I have so much to say and so much to share. And I honestly just, I can't wait. I want it to be fun, but also hitting multiple six figures in the online business industry is much faster. Than the wedding industry because it's just more scalable and it doesn't take as much time and physical effort to build an online business. But it takes a ton of strategic, moving, constantly simplification. Diversification. There's just so it's crazy. I could go on and on and that could be a whole other side quest of an episode of what it has been like to build this online business. And maybe I will do that. After we do this huge rebrand and just talk about my journey about the wedding, CEO, what made it, what it is, and where we're going now, and why, and what that looks like, this program is going to be one of a kind, I. Know my friends and a lot of photography educators, we all teach essentially the same thing. But when I tell you I am dialing up to a thousand with all the ideas that I've had since December, the last week before the new year, I already knew that this is going to revolutionize the industry forever. And my students are making money so fast, like they're at 2 million, but we're almost at 3 million already. I don't know what's going on over there, but like this whole doubling your prices, booking less weddings, and the pricing strategy, I feel like has just really rose versus okay, this is how you run a business. Here's a 16 part business model of how to build a business. Like I think the people that I'm serving now already know that stuff. They just want to elevate it and they want to feel less imposter syndrome about eventually becoming a five-figure wedding photographer. It's so much imposter syndrome. And was I insane when I tripled my prices to do that? Yes. Like obviously, but in a way that I am. Looking at my students now, so many of them, like all of them, that post their wins every day. I'm like, not even a crier, but I get close. I got real close. I got really close I think to myself, when you first came to me, you were charging three K for everything. When you first came to me, you were charging 5K and wasn't booking anything, and now you guys are charging 9, 10, 12 k. For weddings and you're so fulfilled and you're so confident and unabashed and bold in your business and your style and your creativity. I'm just like, that is the power of a business mentor that actually cares about their alumni, their students, and their results. And maybe it's the eldest daughter in me. Maybe it's the three wing two in me, but. I just love seeing people win. Yes, me winning is great and my story can help resonate with people, especially if you're a mother and you wanna build a business or you want to elevate it because you wanna be present for your children. Listen, my business took off when I was a new mother, and I've always been a mother actually, when my business has been the most profitable. And so managing your time and booking less and making more and being strategic is the only option for motherhood, for family building. Or if you're just someone who's I don't wanna be a mother yet, but I really wanna travel. I wanna have a ton of free time. I love brunch every week.'cause I was having brunch three to four times a week I don't know why I did that, sometimes when you're just, when you're booking weddings and you're living your life, why not have brunch? And also that was pre pandemic. I don't think we're, are we all having brunch as much as we used to Anyways, so I just, I don't know. I love what this is gonna be. I'm so excited. Every single time I talk about it, I just can't wait for these trademarks to be submitted so I can finally freely talk about it without being nervous about everything all the time. But. Yeah, I think every episode is me just gushing about this program. I need to get back to the rebrand. Let's see. Trademarks submitted, brand designer finalized. Website will be updated in April. We moved it just to make time and space for all of the things. Brand designer film photographer booked, personal stylist booked. And things are coming along. Yeah. And so next week I will be at WPPI, my first time going to a live event since. It was before the pandemic. That was the last time I went to a live event. And I am just really excited to get back out there and meet people. And I get to be at the Imogen booth, and Noella has finally convinced me to come and she's inviting me to all these parties. And I'm an ambivert, like I'm an extrovert, but also I'm not a turn it up girl 24 7. Like I have moments where I am all in and I can yap and yap and then my social battery will fall out and I have to leave immediately. It's that dramatic. It really is. But if you're going to WPPI please DM me and come see me at the booth. It'll be super duper fun. I'll be there on the 19th and the afternoon and it's gonna be great. And hopefully I'll see you there. And let's see. I honestly can yap and yap about what's going on and how things are going. But it has just, it's been great. I feel like I did not prepare for all of the people that I hired and the turnaround time for all the things they needed from me. And so that's why I've been very scrappy. But I'm just like. I don't wanna do this again for a long time. So I'm like, oh, lemme book a stylist. Oh, let me do this. I do that. And I'm like, I hope they're available. I hope they're free. And I know that when I do this next year, I wanna have a rebrand checklist where I have either links to the people I worked with previously. Or set aside time of being like, okay, the moment you think it's time for a rebrand, reach out to all of these people and make sure you have at least, I don't know, six to 12 months in advance of time to prepare so it doesn't have to feel like the sky is falling and everything is a one week turnaround, because that's what it's been. But I don't know. It's so exciting that it's carrying me, if that makes any sense. Like I'm so excited. I'm just in the vibe. I'm in the moment that it's not detrimental, but I do need to touch grass quite frequently, so that's actually what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna drink a green juice and then I'm gonna go outside and sit in the sun for a little bit maybe rot in the sun. Not in bed, but in the sun.'cause vitamin D is essential. I need to take all my supplements, I need to do better. Mushroom coffee has already been devoured. We're good. We're moving. We're pushing it along. So anyway, thanks for listening to me Yap. About absolutely nothing. If you wanna know how my rebrand series is going it's going friend. It's so crazy because I have more than a month before we launch everything and it just still feels overwhelming. Like a month is not enough time apparently. So yeah, if you're thinking about doing a rebrand pace yourself and plan more than a month or two in advance.'cause it's not enough time. All right. I hope you're having an amazing day, an amazing week, and I will see you in the next episode, whenever that will be. I've decided that I'm gonna be doing a little bit of a series, and I think I'm going into a mindset and pricing series. It's gonna be fun. We're also gonna be diving into marketing too, so definitely subscribe and follow along because these episodes are gonna be really good. Basically a mini masterclass and a little bit of a pep talk because apparently I'm a mindset girly and I didn't know that. So if you need the tough love and you're just like, I gotta get out of this. I need someone to tell me the truth. You're on the right podcast. You really are. All right, I will see you in the next episode. Bye.

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