Peter: I'm joined by McKenna of McKenna and Clayton Photo and Video. She's been a client for a couple of months, and she has an awesome story. McKenna, give us a little of your backstory.

McKenna: Photography started as a side thing for me. Since we're a photo and video team, I tried to get my husband to join me as the videographer, because I knew he'd thrive and love it. He kept saying no, until two failed businesses later he finally said, "Okay, I'll try it." Now he loves it, and we do it together.

Peter: You'd been in the game about seven years. What made you want to reach out to me?

McKenna: We had no leads. Nothing. I was starting to panic, especially because we had big goals: we wanted to buy a house, and we wanted my husband to quit his day job. As soon as I saw your ad, I thought, "That's our answer."

Peter: You guys have beautiful work, and you're clearly super personable. So why weren't you getting leads?

McKenna: Nobody knew we existed. Whenever people did find us, they'd say, "This is exactly what I want." We have a great style and great systems, and we've invested a lot in education. We just couldn't figure out how to get in front of people. I'd tried ads before and decided they just didn't work for us. But I'd exhausted Facebook groups and Instagram, and I was tired of making reels that led to nothing. We were at our breaking point.

Peter: It's a testament to the fact that you can be great at your craft, but if people don't know you exist, it doesn't matter.

McKenna: Last year, we took a step back and did fewer weddings, because I'd just had my third son. This year, we were ready to go all in. We were feeling our age, and we needed to figure things out. To buy the house, Clayton needed to keep his day job until we qualified. So we had a ticking time bomb: by April, we had to make at least $20K to $30K. Everything we'd been doing wasn't working, so we needed something more intense.

McKenna: I'm pretty sure we booked our first wedding within a day or two of the ad launching, and then several more right after. Since we started, we've made $65,000 in total revenue. Our best year ever in this business was $65,000. So we've made a full year's revenue in about two months. So much was happening so fast that my brain could hardly process it. Finally, something we were doing was working.

Peter: And how much of the $65K have you collected?

McKenna: $40K.

Peter: Two months ago, you didn't know where your next lead was coming from. That's amazing.

Peter: It doesn't always happen that fast. What do you think made the difference?

McKenna: I worked very hard and was always on top of following up with my leads, to the point where I felt like I was being annoying. Sometimes a lead seems to be completely ignoring you, and then by the sixth follow-up message, they say, "Thank you so much for continuing to reach out. Sorry, I just got busy." I could have written a lot of those leads off, but I gave every single one my full attention. We also already had good systems for getting people onto a call and then a consult, and I'm confident in what we present to clients.

Peter: Responding quickly, following up more than once, and being there when someone replies is so much of the game. It's amazing how putting a couple of hours a day into that makes all the difference.

McKenna: When I had a week where I wasn't as good about it because I got busy buying a house, people fell through, and I felt that.

McKenna: I have three kids under five, and I homeschool. I batch my time. I respond to leads about three times a day, in 15- to 20-minute blocks, usually around my baby's nap times. The rest of the time, my phone is away, and I'm focused on my kids. Then once they're asleep, I can dive in more. I had to set rules at the beginning, because when someone replies, I feel that panic of "What if they ghost me?" I love my business, but I love my kids more. Consults are in the evening, usually 7:30 to 9:30, which is also when both partners are free.

Peter: When you do it every day, it's just 20-minute blocks. It only feels like a lot when you get behind. If you can do it with everything you have going on, anyone can.

McKenna: We needed $20K to get out of our horrible rental and buy a house, and we'd fallen behind on taxes. Without that money, we wouldn't have been able to buy a house for another four or five years. We met that goal. Then we wanted another $30K as a nest egg so Clayton could quit his job and go full-time with real estate photography. We met that too. My big, crazy goal for the year was something I always said I'd love to make "one day," and now it's a reality for us.

Peter: In two months, you bought a house, your husband quit his job and went full-time, and you're on a trajectory for a $250K-plus business. Now you have momentum, with people who've been in your pipeline for 30 or 60 days, and it starts to snowball.

McKenna: I probably have a third of 2027 booked already. In the past, I'd have maybe one wedding booked for the next year. I've always thought it'd be cool to have an associate team, and now that's a real possibility.

McKenna: Our approach is that whether or not you book with us, this call will be educational. We help couples understand what the light will be doing and how long each part of the day takes. That instantly makes us the expert. I usually don't even walk them through a gallery. Instead, I walk them through a typical timeline and say, "Let me show you what this looks like with us as your photo and video team." I want them to see the benefit of one team instead of two vendors, and I use the words they've already given me, like "cinematic," "movement," and "candid." I also tell them we're posing coaches, because our clients are drawn to that.

At the start of the call, I say, "I want to talk about you guys." I ask three questions: How did you meet? How did he propose? And what do you have planned so far, with rough times for the ceremony and exit? That tells me how much coverage they need and what they prioritize, whether it's romantic portraits or partying with the bridal party, and I tailor my pitch to that. Even with couples who give dry answers, I want them to feel comfortable, because that showcases my skill as a photographer: I'm going to help you relax.

Peter: If you frame the call as valuable whether or not they book, people relax. Then you paint the picture of working together. That combination is super effective.

Peter: You've sold $65K and collected $40K, so a lot of people must be paying in full. How do you do that?

McKenna: We offer 5% off if they pay in full. I also raised our deposit from 20% to 50%. When couples see 50%, they figure they might as well pay in full and get 5% off, which basically covers the taxes. Once the deposit is paid, I start talking as if they're already booked: "What season are you imagining for your engagement session? Blossoms are happening right now, so we need to do it soon." That creates urgency.

I used to think asking for a high deposit would seem sketchy, since they'd never met me. But if they thought we were a scam, they wouldn't have gotten on the call in the first place. The more I educate them, the more comfortable they feel paying.

Peter: A lot of people book 10 weddings and only collect $3,000. A small incentive changes everything, and for some reason it just isn't common knowledge in the wedding industry. Your close rate and the number of people paying in full are signals that you can raise your prices. Try going up $500 or $1,000 at a time and see where the threshold is. And as dates fill up, there's real scarcity.

Peter: Do you get people to actually pay on the call?

McKenna: That's always my aim. I say, "This sounds great. Let's move forward. Here's the next step," and they say, "Yep, send the contract and invoice." For detail-oriented brides who are overwhelmed, I point out that it'll be more work for them if we don't do it now. I used to say things like "Your date could be taken tomorrow," and that never worked for me.

I've also started weeding out price shoppers. When someone texts, "We're talking with a lot of photographers, and we'll let you know," that's not my client, and I don't want to fight for them. I want to be about 90% sure we'll book before getting on a consult. With one couple like that, I gave a polite version of that message, and it put me in the position of a respected photographer that people want.

Peter: You earn that once you have cash flow and plenty of people on your calendar. When it's genuine, people can feel it.

Peter: What's your number one piece of advice for other clients?

McKenna: It's going to be a roller coaster, with very high highs and very low lows. Because it blew up so fast for us, whenever we had a few quiet weeks, I'd jump to dramatic conclusions: "It's broken. We're not going to make it." You have to give Meta time to learn. And plan on two to three months of working a lot harder than you will later. You'll be tired, but it's worth it. Just keep going.

Peter: What would you say to someone on the fence who's already tried mentors, courses, or ads?

McKenna: I was that person. We'd probably invested $50,000 in different systems and courses, including an ad course. This is the only thing that has worked. I got on calls with about six different companies that run Facebook ads for wedding photographers, and you were the only one I was confident in. We'd just gotten out of debt, and taking on more was risky, but we were confident enough to take out a lump sum and put all our eggs in one basket. If it hadn't worked, we'd have been screwed. Instead, it opened every door we'd been praying for.

This win isn't just about the house or my husband quitting his job. As a mom, I want to keep growing my family while growing my business, and now we can do it so much more comfortably.