Peter: We're joined by another photographer from the Next Level photography training program, Jared Whitney of Jared Whitney Photography. Introduce yourself, where you're based and how long you've been in business.

Jared: I'm Jared, from Portland, Oregon, Pacific Northwest born and raised. I started taking photos in high school, then picked it up again when Instagram started taking off around 2012. At the end of 2014, I had a real business going, and by 2015 that was all I was doing. Since then I've shot commercial work, weddings and some real estate.

Peter: How did you first come across me?

Jared: I saw your face come across my Facebook feed for probably a year. I'd read a little and keep scrolling. You talked about getting photographers to the next level, and I was intrigued, but I didn't know what to do with that. Connecting with a consultant seemed like something for big businesses already making a lot of money. I'm just a small guy doing my thing. But in the year of COVID, when we were all reorganizing personally and professionally, I came across your ad again. You sent me an email back with a little Loom video in the corner, and it felt very personal. We connected around June or July.

Peter: When you finally scheduled a call, what was the main problem you were trying to solve?

Jared: One of the main problems was that I'd never really figured out, or I'd made a bunch of excuses for, why I wasn't getting consistent work. My business was almost entirely referrals. The only traffic to my website came through my Instagram account. When I got into Instagram, I got on the algorithm and blew up, with these inflated numbers. I looked at my stats, and a lot of my audience wasn't in the US. It was an incredible time, but it didn't help me work with people in my demographic and region. I had all these numbers that said I was big, but I wasn't feeling big. I wasn't getting consistent work, commercial or wedding. If anything, I leaned toward commercial, because one gig could be a big payday. So the problem was living in feast and famine and hating it. I like consistency and financial security. I'm a homeowner. I really wanted to know how to create business consistently, so that when I'm not on site shooting and getting paid, I'm booking and collecting deposits or full payment up front, and growing my brand. I knew the funnel works. I just had no clue how to set it up.

Peter: A lot of people think a big Instagram following is the golden ticket. But even Kim Kardashian has a very dialed-in funnel with offers along the way. Where was your wedding business when you reached out?

Jared: With Instagram, I enjoyed the big numbers, but it also meant I was away a lot. I'm grateful for the travel, but I wanted community here in Portland and consistent people in my life. I also got disillusioned with the vanity of chasing numbers and likes. You'd post content you love, but at 7 p.m. on a Friday, so it's a dud.

Peter: It hurts your self-worth.

Jared: Exactly. You realize you've attached your self-worth to the numbers. Around 2017 and 2018, as I was turning 29, I asked myself whether I'd shoot photos and travel forever. I wanted to get married and have kids, and I didn't want to be a traveling dad. There's nothing wrong with shooting photos for your whole life if that's the core of what you want, but I felt like my core included more consistency, more community and being more local. So I moved into project management, which I had a background in, including a role as a marketing project manager. My photo business went on the back burner. It wasn't my priority or main income, but it was nice to pick up six to eight weddings a year. Honestly, that helped me save for a house, which is hard in the Portland area. So going into 2020, I had maybe six weddings, and almost all of them were changed by COVID. I hadn't built a pipeline at all. I wasn't paying attention to my Instagram, which was a source of leads. I didn't have anything active on Facebook, and my website was getting fewer than 100 visits a month.

Peter: Why did you want to get back into weddings at that point?

Jared: At the start of 2020, every market looked like the stock market, straight down. All the commercial work disappeared. Fortunately, I got to a stable place. Over the summer, I decided to move into real estate. My fiancée and I would love to work in that space in the future. We feel well connected and wired for it, with her on the design side with interiors and me on the sales side. I'm an extrovert, in case you can't tell, so 2020 was very hard. So the next logical decision was to finally act on your ad and invest in learning how to grow a business I was technically exiting. I didn't buy a sports car, but my fiancée and I did talk about it later. "Wait, you did what?" But honestly, the principles I've learned have made it totally worth it. Becoming a real estate agent takes time. In Oregon, you need about 150 hours of coursework, then you pass the exam, join a brokerage and pay your fees, and you're still months out from your first sale. So I needed cash flow. What could I do right now that I already knew how to do? Go high octane on photography. So I hired you to show me how to build those funnels, and it's been more than worthwhile.

Peter: You knew long term you wanted to build a real estate business with your soon-to-be wife. Congratulations, by the way. But you needed cash. So you came into Next Level. Then what happened?

Jared: I ate it right up. I was hungry. I marched through the first three or four modules, took copious notes and saw results right away, at least in how I communicated with potential clients. One of the biggest things I got right off the bat was understanding my value as a photographer and a professional. I have something of value to give the world, and when I'm selling to somebody, I'm not trying to scam them. The vast majority of us want to do honest work for good people and leave a better mark on the world. It isn't my whole value, but I have something valuable to give, and when I'm pitching, I'm not trying to hurt anyone. That gave me the confidence to say, "I do have something good to give you, and whether we're the right match depends on your needs and our connection."

Jared: But right after I joined, all the commercial and nonprofit work in the world came out of the woodwork. I think everyone balanced their budgets at the end of summer and knew what they could spend going into fall. I also did unique projects, like shooting an entire virtual fundraiser for a local nonprofit run by a good friend. So I signed up, ready to hit it hard, and then got distracted by those projects. They weren't bad, they just weren't what I came to do.

Peter: You joined in summer 2020 and booked a wedding right away. You posted it on your little felt board, which I love. Then you went quiet.

Jared: I turned off my Facebook news feed for months. The only link I had in my tab was the Next Level group. So I'd watch other members booking two or three weddings at a time while I was just hanging out.

Peter: Then you re-emerged in February 2021. What happened?

Jared: That goes back to December. After all that commercial work, I hit the same wall I always hit: feast or famine. The commercial work dried up, and going into Christmas, which is naturally quiet, I was back in the same spot. I thought, "This is dumb. I don't like this." I also had a real estate course sitting there that I hadn't touched. My fiancée and I talked about our goals. A friend who works with restaurant leaders here in Portland said 2020 wasn't about being the biggest, best restaurant. It was about survival. We'd survived and we were feeling good, but it was time to start dreaming again and push toward our goals. So in January, I made a plan for the year, including working on the real estate course and picking this course back up to create cash flow. In February, I went back to the wedding groups I'd joined in July, primed the pump on my funnel and started adding people like crazy. I saw a ton of conversations start. I'd send a short message to people who added me. Strictly organic, no ads. And I gave myself an extra challenge: stay local and regional, up and down I-5, from Portland to Seattle and Spokane, where my fiancée's family is. So I kept myself in the Pacific Northwest instead of taking weddings across the country. I didn't need to join more groups. I just started adding people in the groups I was already in, and conversations developed pretty quickly.

Peter: What did you do in revenue in February?

Jared: In total bookings, about $14,000 to $15,000.

Peter: Congrats. What made you flip the switch and get motivated?

Jared: A lot of it was trusting the process: you do the work, and the work will work for you. You said something I quoted in my post, that the people you talk to over the next 30 days are the people you'll book 90 days from now. I've found that's true in all sales. So I decided to trust that. I didn't book right away. Maybe one at the beginning, because I'd started adding people in January. But mid-February, I told my fiancée, "Oh my gosh, I just booked two weddings today." That came out of nowhere. It was a really good feeling to see consistent effort produce something. I'd also been reading a book by a real estate agent about understanding the value we bring, and believing that in my conversations, instead of thinking, "Am I annoying you?" That feeling doesn't completely go away. I send a message like, "Hi, I saw we're part of the same Facebook groups for wedding planning, so I just wanted to say hello. Hope you're having a terrific start to spring." And part of you thinks, "This is so ridiculous." But they've already added you, so they know. They respond or they don't. I engage with the people who respond, and I haven't hurt anyone by sending a message. Occasionally someone gets a little annoyed, maybe because other photographers have messaged them, but very rarely. It felt good to see that if I applied the effort, I'd see results.

Peter: It's empowering.

Jared: That's the key word for me. It's empowering to know I have this skill and know how to make it happen.

Peter: No matter what, you can go out and create business. Photographers focus so much on the craft, which is key. You have to be good. But then you need lead generation, conversations and salesmanship. Whether you're selling homes or weddings, it's the same thing. So what happened at the start of March?

Jared: The Ides of March. As far as consultations go, March was dead. I'll say that part of it was balancing my real estate goals with creating cash flow. And in January, I rebuilt my website a bit. I know you tell us not to get sucked down that rabbit hole, but I'd long wanted to separate my wedding and commercial work. I didn't want couples landing on my site and seeing a basketball player I shot four years ago. Rebuilding it made me write a lot of copy that expresses who I am, which translates great to ads and captions. Going into March, I saw things drop off. I wasn't landing consultations like before. I was adding people day by day instead of working through months of backlog, and I wasn't joining many new groups. I think I'm in pretty much every active Pacific Northwest wedding group worth being in. So with that self-imposed regional limit, I'm adding new people one at a time and sometimes wondering if I already messaged someone. March has been about half of February, which isn't bad. Including family shoots, real estate and a couple of other things, it's been about $8,000. And the bookings that came in were from conversations that started in February. So while March didn't produce anything from start to booking, the February conversations were producing results in March.

Peter: At the start of the month, you were saying it had been slow.

Jared: I was getting discouraged. I wondered if I was saying something different, or if I needed to change my messaging. I'm still talking to brand-new people, so it should come across the same. Maybe my sources had dwindled because of that regional limit. I wasn't down and out, but when you put in all that effort and don't see results, you start wondering if it's the best use of your time.

Peter: And then you booked two weddings.

Jared: Two and a half, in the same week. One couple is booked for 2022, and we'll probably go rock climbing for their engagement photos. I can't wait. That conversation was long, because they really wanted to vet me, so it felt great when they booked. I only had one new consultation, and it was with a high school friend I've known for 14 years. Their wedding is in late 2022, and I decided not to book it, since I'm planning to wind down new weddings by then as I move into real estate. But the weddings that came in were from conversations that had been going for a while.

Peter: You come off a high, doing $15,000, and then the numbers dip, and it messes with your head. That happens in sales everywhere. You think a coin flip goes heads, tails, heads, tails, but it might go heads eight times in a row. You could book eight people in a row and then hear five nos.

Jared: It's a mental game. In February, you're a rock star bringing value, and people finally trust you. Then in March, it feels like the word got out that you're a fraud. Imposter syndrome. You question why you ever picked up photography and think about updating your LinkedIn. Those thoughts come in. But I have a month that proves that hitting it hard and finding a fresh way to innovate works. I was coming off almost zero engagement and had a big backlog of people to add from the summer. It's easy to think, "That strategy's done." But now's not the time to quit. Now's the time to innovate. I built ads a couple of months ago and haven't run them yet. There's no reason I can't target the Pacific Northwest and bring more people into my funnel. That's probably my next step. Maybe this month was slower because of spring break, and people are coming back engaged and ready to book.

Peter: You went from not having much to two bookings and about $8,000 for the month. I'd say stay 100% on the organic too. The people you book over the next 30 days come from the people you talked to over the last three months. Keep feeding it, and next month you might do $20,000.

Peter: Here's something I think will help people. You're a guy, and you're often adding and connecting with women. How do you do that?

Jared: I've long recognized that brides make a lot of the big purchase decisions in weddings. I'm wedding planning myself right now, and my fiancée's Pinterest boards are fantastic. I help with logistics, but the design and aesthetic are all her. That's the reality of the market. I think brides often want to connect with other women. So yes, it's an unspoken thing: I'm adding women to my personal Facebook and messaging them as soon as they add me. I've always seen that as another layer to break through. I understand why some people wouldn't add a random guy photographer. Some requests just sit there. But on average I still get a decent number accepted. One day eight people accepted, and I messaged all of them. Maybe half respond, and some reply with just "thanks," no punctuation. And you think, "Okay, weird guy messaging you on Facebook. I totally get it. Moving on." What's helped is posting more content on my personal Facebook and my business page. Even people who add me but don't want to talk can see my work. My profile photo is me and my fiancée. I'm not a stranger.

Peter: I looked at your profile before this, and it's so well optimized. Wedding images in your cover photo, your logo, a professional profile photo, photos of you and your fiancée and lots of wedding content. That's how you improve your acceptance rate as a guy. It's non-threatening. And when I talk to a woman, I'll mention my wife right away. Women deal with things men don't always have to, and it's an unfortunate reality.

Jared: It just so happens I'm getting married May 21. When someone accepts my request and I send that first message and get back a "thanks," I'll say, "How's wedding planning going for you? I'm currently wedding planning myself." That's a connection. Anything you can relate on helps. In 2020, everyone could relate to the pandemic, but that conversation has run its course. Now I'm in these groups as much a potential customer as anyone. I've seen plenty of couples plan weddings as a photographer, but now I'm in the weeds myself. So I can ask, "What has it been like? How has communication been with vendors?" A couple of conversations started because brides said some vendors weren't getting back to them or following up. I'm there to pick up that conversation and help. So I change the strategy, change the conversation and find new ways to relate.

Peter: That's a mindset thing. If you go in just to get something, people can tell. But if you go in genuinely curious, it's different. And if you're not planning a wedding, maybe you got married in the past, or you're looking forward to it. Any way you can have a real conversation, by taking a genuine interest and not getting crushed when someone doesn't become your best friend right away.

Peter: What's the most transformative thing you've learned in Next Level?

Jared: It's a tie, and they're related. I've gained a fundamental trust in the value I bring as a professional. The problem wasn't what I had to offer. The problem was that I didn't see myself as a salesperson or as someone with value to bring other people. Gaining that self-confidence means I'm not sitting at home 9 to 5 while everyone else hustles. I can hustle too. And I know I have the power to go out and get work whenever I need it. If a venture doesn't work out, it's time to prime the pump on what I know how to do. I'm no longer a sitting duck, waiting to be hit by some lead I didn't even think about. I know where my leads come from and how my funnel is built. Genuine confidence in my value, and feeling empowered to make work happen whenever I want.

Peter: If a photographer is listening who shoots some weddings, wants to go full-time and is thinking about joining, what would you say?

Jared: Trust the process. Trust the testimonials. It's definitely a jump. Hiring a consultant has a cost, but the whole idea is to see your sales increase two, three or five times. Nothing happens overnight. If you want consistent results, not just one big payday, you have to learn how to fish.

Peter: Last question. What's your number one piece of advice for other members of Next Level?

Jared: Stick with it and stay consistent. The mantra I keep thinking about is, "Do the work, and the work will work for you." If you build the funnel and consistently add value, that value compounds. You might only have five posts on your group or page so far, and you feel like an imposter. But a month or two from now, people can scroll back and see you're consistently bringing value. So stick with it, be consistent and keep your chin up. When things dry up or feel dicey, remember that's a natural part of the market. As freelancers, we can't check the stock market to see how freelance photography is doing. We feel it personally, which is why freelancing is so hard. It doesn't have the consistency of a paycheck every two weeks. But the payoff is huge, and you can build that market for yourself. Why rely on a market you can't even read? Build your own.

Peter: That's great advice. It's been a blast seeing you post these wins in the group, and I'm looking forward to seeing what's next.

Jared: My pleasure.