Hello and welcome back to another episode on the Wedding Atelier podcast. And in this one we're gonna be talking about the biggest myths that are keeping you stuck at booking three K weddings and never raising your prices. If you've ever said to yourself. Oh, I need to update my gear. I need to change my whole portfolio. I need to change my whole style before I can raise my prices or charge more, or luxury clients only book famous photographers. I only have 5K followers or less. We need to talk and maybe in the past you've tried to raise your prices before and you got ghosted one or two times, and then you lowered them. Listen, been there, done that. I understand you have to give the algorithm time to algorithm, okay? A lot of times you'll raise them and you'll get scared and you'll be insecure and that probably, scares people off way more than your actual prices. Can we talk about how your energy is actually a big percent of what sells and that is on sales psychology. If you are not behind it, I'm not behind it. They're not behind it. Okay. So I think that is why we have an entire mindset module called the artisan CEO, because I think as an artist we get so so emotional about business decisions, and this is something I didn't really have a problem with I didn't realize that's where my no nonsense kicked in, because sometimes. Data over drama, right? You have to look at the numbers and be like was it because they don't like me as a person? Or did I not follow up after an inquiry? Or did I sound needy on the call like I needed them? To book me like so many other things could be at play. And sometimes you need to be able to detach from the feeling and clinging to the mindset of A CEO and being, okay, at the end of the day, while we do love vibes and we love our photos and we love the creative artistry of it all, this is a business that helps me fund my life, pay my bills, get childcare, travel the world, live my life must I go on? Just remembering These myths are probably coming from a place, and so we have an entire money mindset lesson, and I think it's 15 to 20 minutes long. The longest lessons in my program are the mindset lessons because whenever you feel like you're about to crash out, you get a 20 minute pep talk from me explaining why it is you're doing what you're doing, how you're still on track, and why you need to shift the current story that's playing in your head on repeat. So I want it to be, you have all Laura in your pocket. Listen to this mindset training about imposter syndrome, about doing more for less, about not feeling worthy, about having the mindset around. No one's gonna book me. All of those things are addressed in that module because I understand I have been there, I have conquered it, and so I have given the stories and lessons to you. You're welcome. Okay, so let's dive into myth number one. I need to have better photos. in order to charge higher prices, I need to shoot film. This one, I hear so many times, oh, if I'm gonna charge 10 k, I have to shoot film. No you don't. No, you don't. And I feel like really it's more of the positioning of your work rather than the style of your work. And maybe sometimes people will inquire and say, do you offer film? But I don't think having film or video is a. Is the 100% must have when you're raising your prices. It's something good to consider, but it's not the end all be all, okay? And you don't have to necessarily buy a brand new camera or a brand new lens as long as you're getting very high quality images I think you're good. What you have is probably fine, But we wanna make sure we're definitely giving our clients high quality and not just throwing something together that you've had since you started your business year one. Okay. I'm not speaking to, oh, I need to buy$10,000 worth of equipment if I'm gonna double my prices. That's what I'm speaking to. I've had a student where she doubled her rates. Learned sales psychology and was able to book a 15 K month. And I remember her sending me a DM and being like, you were literally my hail Mary. It's actually, I think on one of my Instagram posts, you were my last investment. It was either this or close the business. Bills were tight, my husband and I were tight. And so for her to have the skill to sell her packages, sell her experience, and make a 10 K month. That is a skill that you need to have, especially in this day and age where maybe inquiries are getting a little more spare because clients are taking their time, making a decision. And then there's clients that are also booking a month before their wedding. It's a weird time in the wedding industry, but you don't necessarily need to overhaul all of your gear, but you probably do need to overhaul the business side, and that is the part that is the most neglected. We will pay for a luxury bag, a leather bag, of course, probably an honor bag, and. Update all of our gear before we're like, yeah, let's raise our prices. The, I don't know what imposter syndrome like is there, but it's almost like. You feel like you pay to play with the front facing part of the business, but when it comes to the backend, it's a mess. But it's okay. It works. And no, it works now, but it's not gonna work forever. Okay, myth number two. Luxury clients don't exist in my city or my state. Ooh, I love, love, love this one. And we had a student. Who doubled her prices after moving to a new state with no leads, no networking, nothing like no friends in the industry. And we were able to basically capitalize on her marketing. We helped her with her CEO, we helped her with her strategy. We helped her figure out who she was and how she could just constantly market that. And at the end of the day, she wanted to do destination elopements anyway, so luxury clients existing in her current state and city didn't really apply to her. Because she was willing to travel anywhere and everywhere now. Now, because she's so well established after doing all that hard work, she can book luxury clients in her city because she has established herself that way. And even if you're like, okay, luxury clients aren't here in my city and I don't wanna be a destination photographer, how do you know that luxury clients aren't gonna come to you? That was one thing I learned in my business, I would see all the time, oh, there's no way, somebody for 10 K is gonna book me in Detroit, in Ohio, in X city or state that's close by. And what do you know? I got a 15 K inquiry for a wedding venue in Ohio because her grandpa owns the venue and it was near and dear to his heart for their wedding to have it at his venue in Ohio. Okay. So anything can happen. Literally, whatever you can picture happening is probably happening. But you can't think that the only way X is gonna happen is if it's done like this, because you don't know what you don't know. So be open-minded and realize that possibility is out there. Myth number three is you must rebrand before raising prices. Now, while I do love a rebrand and I am a recovering serial rebrand, you don't have to rebrand before you raise the prices. I've seen people with terrible websites charging$10,000 for weddings, terrible websites. I had my students be like, why in the world am I worried about this rebrand when I see so many people with websites that I don't even know where the button is, and they're booking high-end weddings. It can be done. You don't even have to have a rebrand. It's all about your marketing at the end of the day, but the visual does really help. but if I could give you some advice on not to build a business that looks scrappy but is high end. I would love for you to work on your positioning. Okay.'cause rebranding without a strategy is like putting lipstick on a pig. You're gonna make something that looks terrible and try to dress it up. It just doesn't look good. And as a person with a web design background, I cannot allow this to happen. So do you have to rebrand before raising prices? No. Does it help with your confidence and your clarity and your strategy on raising prices? Yeah. Yeah, it does. It's easy to stand behind something that looks great and is great, but you don't actually have to do it. Okay. There's so many ways to build a business. I've seen people build businesses scrappy and then rebrand way later and still do well because they worked on the foundation of the business first. They worked on the strategy first. They worked on the marketing first, and then they were like, yeah, now I have time to rebrand. Okay, those three myths can take over your life, or you can challenge them with a better mindset of this is not gonna stop me from taking action, and this is most of all not gonna stop me from raising my prices. So here's how you can turn these myths into money shifts. So the first thing you can do is try to figure out who your dream couple is. Pen to paper. Ask yourself, because your dream couple is essentially the wealthy version of you. I want you to look at your prices right now and be like, is this valuable? Is this a good package? Is this something that I would feel confident charging a year or two down the road? If not, it's probably time to raise them. And are you confident when you get on a call and you have to talk about pricing? Are you. If not, then you definitely need to join my free masterclass. Inside Wedding Atelier, we're gonna break apart every single one of these myths and more because I'm a mindset girly. So we're gonna talk about even deeper mindset shifts to rebuild your business so that you can finally position and attract high end weddings. if you were nodding your head to any of these myths or any points that I have made in this podcast episode. Then you need to join my free masterclass, how to book 10 K Weddings so you can free up your weekends September 23rd at 12:00 PM Eastern. And if you join the wait list, you get access to some secret bonuses that I've never launched before publicly, but you get access to whether you come live to the class, If you join the wait list and if you come live to the masterclass and stay to the end, then you're gonna get a The Biggest Myths Keeping You Stuck at$3k Weddings website audit from me, letting you know whether or not your website is sales converting it's position correctly, and the messaging is even clear. Okay? I will see you on the wait list and I'll also see you in the next episode.