Peter: What's up, Kayla?

Kayla: I booked a wedding today! I'm sending the contract right now, and they're going to pay in full.

Kayla: I had three calls yesterday. One, I'm pretty sure, is going to go with me. She said they have a call with another photographer and she'd talk with her husband about whether to keep it. I think that's because we were vibing. She said my price is perfect, so I think I've got them. And I have another couple for a date I'm already booked, so I might have an associate shoot it. They didn't want to talk to the associate because they were upset I was already booked. They asked, "How much do we have to pay to have you?" Honestly, I considered it, but I'm shooting a good friend's wedding that day.

Peter: Good for you. Just making it rain.

Kayla: I'm just hoping they all book. The one who booked was pretty much ready. She's friends with someone I had in a styled shoot last year, and she said, "I loved their photos so much that I knew I needed that."

Peter: How much was the wedding you booked?

Kayla: I offered $300 off, so it was $2,500. The one who said the package was perfect is $2,300, for six hours. And the other one is $2,300, but I'm having an associate shoot it, so I'll still make $1,200 without going to the wedding.

Peter: It's happening for you. But don't hope. You've been in the program for, what, a week and a half?

Peter: How did you get that client?

Kayla: I made a Facebook post. In fact, I have a meeting in an hour with a Michigan bride, because I posted in a Michigan wedding group about specials. I go to Michigan all the time, so I figured I might as well post there, and then we get paid to go visit family. It's a no-brainer. I posted the same thing in a Des Moines-area group. It wasn't super detailed. I posted a chunk of my best photos that I don't even have on anything yet. They're only on that post. And I said, "2021 brides, drop a GIF if you're interested in some of my 2021 specials."

Kayla: Between all the posts, I probably had 30 or 35 people comment. I reached out to 25 people, and I have calls with 10 or 11.

Peter: Just like that.

Kayla: I would never have done that before.

Peter: This is why mindset is huge. You don't need these people. If they book you, great. If not, no worries, because you know how to generate calls. And that energy draws more people to you. When you go on a call and you don't need them, they want you more. When you're needy, like "Please book me," that's not the energy. And it comes from having volume and being able to generate calls. If somebody doesn't book, you don't care, because you've got five more.

Kayla: I'm excited. My first two calls, I thought I totally butchered them. I was recording myself, but it wasn't recording them. I was really nervous.

Peter: It's new, and that's okay. You get better the more you do it. And that's a great post. You're not trying to sell them. It's just, "Let me know if you're interested," and then you get them on the phone.

Kayla: I tried posting it in about five other groups and got denied, and I got removed from a Utah group because the admin only allows vendors from the area. That's fine.

Peter: When people drop a GIF, are you adding them as friends?

Kayla: Yes.

Peter: Huge. Now they'll keep seeing your stuff.

Kayla: And four of them asked if I could send them a full wedding gallery.

Kayla: I'm proud of my receptions. I feel like so many wedding photographers mess up at receptions, and the reception photos are junk, but that's when everybody's having fun. That's where you get some of the best photos. I use a flash on my camera and two external flashes at either end of the dance floor, so you get a halo effect behind the couple and they're lit up from the front. Or I set up a triangle, so they're lit from both sides and the front. I'm good with any reception, and dark receptions are something a lot of photographers can't handle. A lot of natural-light photographers won't take them. I'm like, "I've got 18 flashes. We're good."

Peter: That's a huge thing most can't do. So you got these people on the phone and sent them galleries?

Kayla: Yes.

Peter: That's how you build your business. They've talked to you on the phone, and they have your galleries. Now they're in your funnel. It's just a matter of time.

Kayla: I also invite them to like my photography page, so they see my stuff, and every one of them has accepted.

Peter: Of course. They feel like they know you. You're starting to get how this works.

Kayla: I'm starting to get how this works.

Peter: You took massive action and put yourself out there. That's what it takes.

Kayla: I have to. There's no other option.

Peter: And this is going to pay off for the rest of your life. You'll know how to do this forever. There are endless brides out there, and you can have other people shoot them if you can't.

Kayla: A good way around "But we want you" is how you talk about it on the calls. It's all new, but I talk about it as a company: "We're a team." My associate has never shot for me before, though, and I don't want to lie. I don't want to pretend this isn't new just because I'm booked on the one day they need. So we're doing a three-way call tomorrow morning, while I'm on my way to a wedding: me, her and the bride.

Peter: The more you do it, the easier it'll be to sell other photographers. Big studios do this all the time. They sell the job, and the associate shoots it. It's just practice. You have to post this in the group.

Kayla: I already did.

Peter: I'm so happy for you. You have the energy and the passion. You love this. You're off to the races.

Kayla: I'm on a high. They haven't officially paid the invoice yet, but she was sold before I even said anything, because I'd already shot her friend. I asked, "When do you want to do this?" And she said, "Okay, just send me the invoice right now." And funny thing: everyone I've booked has an Australian shepherd. Isn't that weird?

Peter: It's not a coincidence. That's the universe winking at you. That's how you know you're on the right track.

Kayla: One couple has three Aussies, and the bride from yesterday has two.

Peter: What do you have going on this weekend?

Kayla: A wedding tomorrow in southwest Minnesota, then an engagement shoot Sunday, another engagement shoot Monday and family sessions almost every day after that. Then I come home and fly to Colorado. That's my next two weeks.

Peter: Keep doing revenue-generating activities no matter what.

Kayla: Yesterday I got to my desk at 7:15, and I didn't leave until 9 o'clock last night.

Peter: Good. When you're trying to get big results fast, that's what you have to do. Front-load this with tons of energy. Now you see the cause and effect: when you do revenue-generating activities, you get on calls, send contracts and make money. Keep investing in that, and soon you'll run ads and scale up. That'll unlock even more. But see, the organic stuff works.

Kayla: It does.

Peter: Thanks so much for sharing that win. You have a bright future. This is just the beginning.

Kayla: I'll keep you posted.

Peter: You said you were skeptical. Why?

Lucas: The motivational way it was pitched. We were upfront with Sarah. We said, "This sounds like pyramid talk." We didn't want to walk into anything blind, and we wanted her to know we were super skeptical. She was upfront too: "That's fine. Do everything we tell you to do, and you'll be fine." We'd seen plenty of people selling cleaning products or towels or something, promising you can make $100,000 in one month. It's a very common speech.

Peter: What made you ultimately decide to move forward?

Lucas: First, the value you get for a single price. That's huge. Then the community. All the information I'd been trying to get in casual conversations with other photographers just wasn't there. This gave us all the information at our fingertips, like actually learning how to run ads instead of guessing. Motivation isn't our problem. Getting up and booking calls and getting on Facebook isn't our problem, and talking to people isn't a problem. It was the execution. How do I talk to them? I didn't even know what ad sets were.

Peter: You're not the first person to tell me that. Others have said they'd invested in other things, but they weren't nitty-gritty tactical: do this, then this, then say that. You had the motivation. You needed a roadmap.

Lucas: So many times, I'd be on the edge of my seat. "Here's how to make this much money." And then they'd say, "You just have to do it. You have to put yourself out there more, Lucas." What does that mean? It was frustrating. That's why we were skeptical.

Peter: But you took the leap, and you thought it would take a long time.

Lucas: I thought it would take about a year.

Peter: What did you do in the first 30 days, in terms of revenue?

Lucas: To be completely honest, about $8,000 the first month. The second month, $10,000. And this month, we had our first "we made $20,000 this month," and I booked another wedding last night, so now it's about $25,000. I have another meeting tomorrow and another next Monday, and the goal is to have a meeting every day. It's going to explode from there.

Peter: I want to congratulate you publicly, because that's incredible. You made $18,000 the entire year before. Then $8,000 in your first 30 days, $10,000 the second month and $25,000 this month, with a week left. Now that you're consistently booking and making more money, what have you been able to do?

Lucas: Pay off debt. We're going to be debt-free by the end of this year, including student loans you think you'll never pay off. That's a common mindset. Friends our age expect to be paying off their debt into their 70s. My wife is 28, I'm 29, and we're going to be debt-free.

Peter: Do you feel like you know what you need to do now to make money every month?

Lucas: For the longest time, I lived in fear of not booking. "It's good this month, but it might not be good next month. It's good this year, but I don't know about next year." To know that we can take this seriously and implement these things is huge. And honestly, your approach to business and sales applies to more than weddings. We could start three different businesses and apply the exact same thing, and it would work.

Peter: That's what happens when you focus on fundamentals that don't change. It works especially well for weddings, because that's where couples are: on social media. You went from $18,000 to about $43,000 in three months. And you've gotten focused on your ideal client. Talk about that.

Lucas: It's a difficult topic, because everybody has the same ideal client. They're successful, they're getting married in a castle, they'll drive away in a cool car. And every pitch says, "Do you want to book more dream clients?" Well, yeah, who doesn't? For the longest time, I thought I had to search for those people. But you can find all those people and they won't want to book you, because you aren't their ideal vendor. You don't click with them, or you don't seem like you care about them. We were focused too much on booking the perfect person. The perfect person exists. We need to tailor us. What does our image look like? How are we talking to clients, and how will they respond?

Peter: That's profound. You don't need to look for the ideal client. You need to be the ideal vendor, and then you attract the ideal client. What's changed in how you communicate?

Lucas: The golden question: "How's wedding planning going?" That's how I open every single conversation. It's really easy to answer. I'm not sending them my website right off the bat or a fancy video I made, because not every product fits every client. Don't shove it in their face. Show that you care. That message is so easy to send. "How's wedding planning going?" That's it. They'll answer, "Oh, it's okay." "Is it a little rough? What stage are you at? What's your fiancé's name? What are your colors? Are you going to have pets in your wedding photos?" Not in that order, of course, but personal things that have nothing to do with my business, because they're already going to look me up on Facebook. "Who is this guy messaging me?" They click my profile: "Oh, he does weddings, and he's asking how my wedding planning is going. How nice." So I connect personally first and don't even talk business, and business comes up naturally. When it's time for them to book videography or photography, who are they going to think of? Me, because I've had the personal conversations. I know her colors, the style of dress she's going with, the family drama she wants to talk about. I listen to all of it. Then when it's time to book, she'll ask about prices, where we're located, how we shoot and our style. "You know what, this is better on a Zoom call, because there's so much information in what I do." It comes up naturally.

Peter: You're dropping gold right now. And here's an interesting question: you're a guy reaching out to women. Does that ever feel strange?

Lucas: I haven't run into an issue with that. If you think it's weird, it's going to be weird. Don't make it weird.

Peter: If you hold that thought, your mind goes looking for it. But if you genuinely care about helping people and aren't even thinking about the sale, people appreciate it, and eventually you make more money.

Lucas: One of my first conversations with you over text was right after we joined, when we did our first wedding show. We set up a table for the first time, and you helped me collect the information and talk to people in person the right way. You asked if I was following up. I said I'd messaged them and added them as friends, but I couldn't get them to answer. And you said to send them a GIF of Forrest Gump waving. That was huge, because it diffused the situation. I thought it was unprofessional and I might lose them. You said, "Well, they're not your client. If they're not going to book you, what do you have to lose?" That beginning process was important for me. I only booked one out of the eight couples from that wedding show, but the lesson was to stop caring about booking them and start caring about them as people.

Peter: People sense that.

Lucas: And ultimately, that's what made me join Next Level. Sarah and you didn't just care about us joining. You cared about us as people and wanted us to succeed.

Peter: It's social selling. You're not pitching. You're building relationships and offering value. If a conversation stalls, make it playful and light. A lot of people say, "They ghosted me. I knew my market was too saturated." But a GIF of Forrest Gump waving is fun and light, and usually they just got busy. That was a big paradigm shift for you, from being super professional with long emails to being light and friendly.

Lucas: Don't get me wrong. The first email I send to people who inquire is pretty structured. It greets them and asks three questions. Some people would say it's a little cold. I do want to hear about their wedding, but they need to agree to a few things first: tell me how they found us, tell me who they've been looking at and agree to talk to me, whether by call, Zoom or just answering the email. If they don't, that's not worth my time.

Peter: So that's for people who reach out to you, where you need to add some qualification?

Lucas: Right. When I'm connecting with people I've added, they don't get that message. The qualifying email is for people who reach out to me. When I reach out to someone, they're the ones asking me those questions. The tables turn: when I reach out, I'm personal. When they reach out, they have to be personal.

Peter: And you've had so many people reaching out that you're choosing who you work with, and people are asking, "Will you take us?"

Lucas: That's real. I make sure the people we accept are people we really like and know we'll work well with. I don't want to accept work just to be busy. My goal isn't to be busy. My goal is to connect with people. That first aha moment, when a couple on Zoom asked, "Would you consider booking us?", showed me that's real, and that it'll keep happening more with consistency.

Peter: Say a wedding photographer or videographer is listening who'd love to make $25,000 in a month or $45,000 in three months, but they're on the fence about joining Next Level. What would you say?

Lucas: If you're at a point where you're ready to handle a lot of clients, join. If you don't think you can handle an insane amount of work, don't. Make sure you're ready for the pressure. It's not a question of whether it works. If you don't believe it works, that's your problem. Be ready, because you're going to have a lot of work. Be on the ball, be organized, and you're going to have a lot of calls. If you don't do well under pressure, spend time preparing: watch the videos, look at the paperwork and charts, do what Peter says and get on the meetings. You don't need to be convinced it works. You need to be convinced it's a lot of work.

Peter: So it's been a lot of work?

Lucas: Yes. I'm very busy. It's like going back to school. I have assignments, videos to watch, homework and people to connect with. I have a daily checklist, plus all the leads coming in, the editing and the shooting on top of it.

Peter: I'm glad you said that. We're not here to tell anyone that making $50,000 in less than 90 days is a magic wand. It's hard work, but if you do it, it pays off. What's the most transformational thing you've learned in Next Level?

Lucas: Actually caring about people. Stop caring about booking them, and start actually liking the couple. Don't fake liking a couple. I did that for a lot of weddings, and it's not fun. The wedding isn't fun, the delivery isn't fun and the clients aren't fun. I still have weddings from couples I booked before Next Level, and they're difficult. You don't look forward to a wedding day when you don't really know or care about the person, and it shows in your work. So actually care. They're not just clients. They're not just an invoice. They're people.

Peter: It makes business more fun when there's a real human connection. And there's a cause and effect relationship between that and making more money. Last question. What's your number one piece of advice for other members of Next Level?

Lucas: There are a lot of people killing it way beyond me. I see them every day, like one member who did around $240,000 in a year. That's a quarter million dollars. They don't need my advice. But for anyone fresh in Next Level, at my level, I'd say be consistent and do the work. You give us tactics, but also motivation and things that are useful personally, like how to run a business, how to care about people and the mindset to have. Soak that in and actually do it. Don't just watch the videos. Don't just be on the meetings to be on the meetings. Figure out what your questions are and treat it like school.

Peter: Thanks for hopping on, Lucas. We'll do another one when you get to $100K and join the six-figure club.

Lucas: Thanks, Peter. I appreciate it.