Peter: We're back with another client of ours, Sam Curto of SCM Weddings. Sam, what's up?

Sam: Not much. Just finishing up a project. I have two more left, this one and one other, but we're way ahead of where we were last year. I'm excited to chat about everything we've done over the past six or seven months.

Peter: Before we get into that, introduce yourself. Tell us about you and your business, and how long you've been doing this.

Sam: I got into videography in high school. I found an interest in it through church and YouTube. There was someone on YouTube I thought was really cool. So I've been doing it for about six or seven years now. I graduated in 2019 and decided to skip college and go full-time, which a lot of people thought was crazy at the time. I went full-time that summer, and things were going pretty well overall. What I realized I was lacking was a consistently good sales process. We can dive into that, and the other areas Peter has helped me find to optimize.

Peter: I didn't realize you didn't go to college. You went straight into this.

Sam: I was a little bit crazy at the time, but I completely skipped college.

Peter: I admire that. Anytime someone figures out young what they really want to do and just does it, they're so far ahead of the game.

Peter: Do you remember how we first got connected?

Sam: One of your past clients, a friend of mine, highly recommended you. I met up with him around February or March last year, and he shared part of his sales process with me. I asked where I could learn more, and he gave me your name. A couple of months later, I reached out to

Peter. He'd actually messaged me a year or two before that, and I left him on read, because I get a lot of messages from different people, and some of them can be a little scammy, honestly. The reason I went with Peter was that I had a friend who'd worked with him. I've second-shot for that friend a lot of times, so I know a bit about his business and how well he was doing. That was a big motivator. I wanted a little bit of his success too.

Peter: So what really made you decide to go with us? Was it mainly your friend?

Sam: Mainly, yes. A good recommendation. I see a lot of posts on Facebook every day about how someone can 10X your business overnight. Before, I'd worked with someone who eventually just ghosted me. It sounded like he was in it for the money, and he did that to a lot of other people. After that, I was very hesitant to work with anyone in the capacity that I work with Peter. But it's been six months, and he's still talking to me. So it worked out.

Peter: I was on YouTube last night, and the number of ads I got for "grow your business" and marketing felt like more than even three years ago.

Peter: What was going on in the business that made you want to connect?

Sam: Business overall was decent. I wasn't failing by any means. But I really wanted to grow to $100,000 a year. That was our first big mark. We hit that last year, which I honestly didn't think was possible before we started talking. This year the goal is $150,000. What made me want to talk with Peter was seeing other people's success and wanting that for myself, and growing to $200,000 a year and up.

Peter: What were the big problems you were trying to solve at that time?

Sam: Honestly, going into it, I didn't know what problems I had to solve. Peter is very good about asking focused questions, like what your sales figures were this month, how many consults you did. The list goes on. He's good at figuring out what problems you have and giving you a solution. That's been huge. The biggest one we solved was my editing. Peter showed me I was spending most of my week editing and not putting any time into consults with clients, which is where I need to spend a lot more time to grow. So I found an editor and a company I can outsource to. Instead of spending 20 or 30 hours on a project, I now spend three to four. I can put that extra 15 hours or so into reaching out to clients and building more leads. And they've created an ad system where all I have to do is tell them to turn on the ads, and I get more leads that way. Overall, it's been about streamlining the business so I have consistent revenue coming in and I'm consistently getting projects out on time.

Peter: I want to dig into that. I remember in your first month or two, we hopped on a one-on-one and did an audit of your time. I asked, "Sam, what's going on? What's the problem right now?" We figured out all your time was going into editing. Then we did the math on how many business days a month of working hours were going into editing, and we both had this moment of, "That's a lot of time." I think that was the catalyst for you deciding to delegate some of it.

Sam: That was pretty big for me. I went off and found some editors, and overall it's worked out really well and saved me a lot of time.

Peter: It helps to have someone outside your business looking at it, because we all get caught up in the day-to-day. "I told this client I'd get it done, so I have to do it." You lose perspective on whether you really have to be the one doing it.

Sam: There's a YouTuber a lot of people have heard of, MrBeast. I watched an interview with him, and you could tell he went through the same thing. He wanted to grow, do more videos and raise his production level, but you can't do that without learning to trust other people with your edits. Now he has teams that put together all his sets. He shows up, films, pops into the editing studio once there's an edit, and says, "Good," or, "Make these changes." Because of that, his quality has improved, and his time is much better managed.

Peter: Before you started delegating your editing, were you afraid to let it go? A lot of people don't think anyone else will do it as well as them.

Sam: Definitely. I had a lot of fear: what if I pay someone all this money, they give me an edit, the client hates it, and now I have a bad review? A lot can go on in your head. One thing I do to manage that is quality control. When I get the edit back, I go through it. So I'm still putting three or four hours into it, but because the music is already layered and the best audio is already selected, I can focus and spend way less time.

Peter: I hear this every day. A lot of people's businesses are the way yours used to be. They're either in editing mode or booking mode, and that makes the business inconsistent. They have good months and then nothing going on, because they get too bogged down in delivery. And a lot of people think it's black and white: either I do all the editing, or somebody else does it and I never see it, and if there's a problem I won't know until it's too late. But there's a huge spectrum in between, where you still do a quality check and make sure everything meets your standards, but you're not spending days of your week on it.

Sam: Instead of spending three to five days on an edit, I now spend maybe one. I did have one edit this week that took longer because the reception lights were flickering, and I had to download a plugin and learn how to use it. But other than that, there was one week where I finished three edits in about three or four days. It flew by, and I could still schedule consults as needed. I've felt more comfortable taking breaks too, because when you're hiring an editor, you're really just buying back time.

Peter: People ask, "What about the money I'm going to spend on an editor?" But you're buying back time. With the extra 15 hours you gained, do you think you could book one extra client a month?

Sam: Absolutely.

Peter: If the answer is yes, it's a no-brainer. So much of this is mindset.

Peter: So that was one problem. What else were you looking to solve when we first connected?

Sam: Editing was the big one. The other was making sure I could flip a switch at any point and get leads. Right now I'm focusing more on organic reach. One thing I do there is give couples motion books with their videos in them. That sets you apart big time. But on a wider scale, Peter and his team have an amazing resource. At any point, I can text them and say, "All right, let's turn on the leads," and within a few days I have 30 to 40 people to reach out to. All I have to do is text them, set up a phone call, and if that goes well, turn it into a booked call. Then I can easily get back whatever I put into the leads, plus what you make from booking the wedding.

Peter: Looking back at my notes from when we first talked, you said you wanted to book at a higher price point. Now you're consistently booking at that level. Not every couple will be at that level, but you're doing it a lot more than you were. What's contributed to that?

Sam: Clients really like to talk. A lot of people don't realize that instead of sending a prospect a list of your prices and letting them come to you, you can take time out of your day to get on a call, figure out what their needs are, and sell them that instead of selling them a video. That makes a really big difference, and it's one of the biggest things other videographers I talk to are missing. I won't mention names, but I know one guy whose business model is one package with everything in it for as low as he can go, and he books his year full. The issue is, he has all these weddings but isn't making much per wedding, and his schedule is full of editing. He films a wedding Saturday and tries to have the video done by Wednesday, and if he does double or triple headers, there goes his month. Personally, I'd rather book one or two higher-paying brides, really put time into their videos with an editor's help, and so on. The short answer is that what's helped me sell at a higher price point is figuring out what clients need and selling them that.

Peter: One thing we did with you was dial in your sales process, like doing two calls instead of one. When we met, you were mostly doing one call with couples.

Sam: Before, when a bride reached out, I'd text her to set up a Zoom call, hop on and try to sell her there. I was starting to realize this before we talked, but you really helped me see that I can't sell to every bride. A lot of times I'd get to their package, they'd get sticker shock, I didn't know how to handle it well, and they'd ghost me. Now, when a bride reaches out, I text her and engage her a little through text. Then I set up a phone call that lasts about 10 to 15 minutes, and that's where I give a ballpark price. So when we get to the Zoom call, we already have a bit of a relationship, and she knows what to expect price-wise. Throughout the Zoom call, I gauge where things are going, and by the final sale, closing is super easy.

Peter: If you do that right, by the time they get on Zoom with you, they're pretty much ready to book, because they already know the deal. And you save a lot of time, because you're not pouring into people only to find out they were never going to book.

Sam: Before I get on a Zoom call, I want to know there's a good chance they'll book. Right now I think I have four or five Zoom calls lined up, and I'm about 90% confident in all of them. Of course, some brides still decide not to, which is totally fine. But I want them mostly sold before the Zoom call, so the final call is a lot easier to close.

Peter: For people listening who want to book more ideal clients at a higher price point, there are a couple of things going on. A lot of people just need more leads. If you're getting five leads a month, that's not enough, because not everyone will respond and not everyone is ready to book today. But you also don't need to do a 45-minute consultation with everybody. In the beginning, you were doing a lot of calls and making a lot of offers, giving a lot of people prices. That's when we said, "No, really qualify them on a discovery call."

Sam: I'd rather spend 10 to 15 minutes on a phone call and either qualify or disqualify them there, rather than on a Zoom call. Over Zoom, it's way more awkward if they decide it's not for them. I get on Zoom and say, "Your package is going to be at least $3,000," and there's that moment of, "That's not what I was expecting at all." If I've disqualified those people before that conversation, it's a lot easier to have the final "Here's your price, let's get you signed" conversation.

Peter: It's awkward and time-consuming, but even bigger, it's a huge energy drain. You spend an hour pouring your soul into someone, and at the end they say, "I thought this was going to cost like 500 bucks."

Sam: A few brides from before we started talking stick out to me like that. I'd have a really great conversation, and then I'd hear, "Sorry, this is our budget." What's still annoying is that some brides, even after I give them a price point, end up going with a family friend who offered to do it for free. But you can only do so much about that.

Peter: I did a training on this in the group a couple of days ago, on how to educate people. Most people have no idea what wedding photography or videography costs, because most of them haven't been engaged before. That's where a quick 10-minute discovery call shines. It's your chance to frame things properly, so you don't spend an hour and then get defeated when they're shocked.

Peter: We talked about the editing and dialing in the sales process. What other results have you seen since we started working together?

Sam: I have a bit more of an open schedule. I'm constantly trying not to pack more in, but to optimize better, treating time as currency. That's something I'm still working on. As far as results, we hit $100,000 last year. That was huge.

Peter: Let's pause on that. Congratulations. Lots of people watching would love to make $100K a year in their business. You should be proud.

Sam: The flip side is that I did $100,000 in sales, and this year I need to collect a lot of that as actual cash, because there's a huge difference. A lot of times it's easier to sell a couple a higher package if you take a smaller retainer. But this month I've been trying higher retainers, and that's worked out a lot better than I thought it would.

Peter: This is so important. We talked about this with someone on our team the other day. When you're starting, you climb the $100,000 mountain, and when you get to the top, you see the next mountain you didn't see before. It becomes more about profit and cash flow. We said, "We need to get you collecting more upfront," and you're doing it.

Peter: I want to talk about the $100K for a second. Around November or December of last year, we chatted, and you were focused on delivery after busy season. We figured out you were at about $80,000.

Sam: $88,000.

Peter: With two or three weeks left. I remember texting you a week before the end of the year, "You're so close to $100K, I can taste it."

Sam: I laughed at that. Then I booked one or two more weddings and passed it. That was huge.

Peter: Say another videographer is watching this. Maybe they're just getting started, or they have some clients, but they want to make $100K and build a real business. What's your number one piece of advice?

Sam: First, there's always someone who can edit better than you. I'd say the number one thing videographers struggle with is letting go of the editing. So learn early how to have someone else edit. If you hire a full-time editor, 100% of their time goes to editing, while your time is split between getting clients, filming and editing. If you hand that off, you can put more time into the other two. Then you find other ways to optimize, like associates, or admins so you only handle the calls. If you're a videographer, the first thing I'd say is find a good editor you can offload a lot of the work to, put more time into sales, and learn how to optimize your sales at the same time.

Peter: Artists and filmmakers can be reluctant to give up the craft. They take a lot of pride in it. What would you say to that person?

Sam: I understand that editing is an art form. But if you're trying to run a business off of an art form, you need to learn how to teach someone else to do it, and then come in at the end and put your creativity into it. Let someone else handle the easy stuff, like syncing audio. There's not much art to that. You can create a template for a basic timeline, have someone else build it, and then change things from there. Videographers need to be more open to the idea that you're not the only one in the world who can edit your film. Give someone else a shot.

Peter: That's a paradigm shift for a lot of people. I think about the Renaissance. Michelangelo had people in his school trained in his style, and some paintings he didn't paint himself were still signed Michelangelo, because he was the master and they were the apprentices. People don't realize you'll still be involved in the editing, just in a new way.

Sam: You think of yourself more as a manager. Your job is to come in and either approve it or make changes. Your job isn't to import the original footage, build the initial timeline and sync audio. Your job is to come in, put it together exactly how you want it, finish it off, sign it, if you will, and send it off.

Peter: You go from being the editor to being the creative director. And there's a difference between being a videographer and being a videography business owner. Filming and editing are a given, but you also have to get business, grow it and dial in the operations.

Sam: That's huge. I couldn't have said it better myself.

Peter: What's the most transformative thing we've done together?

Sam: Definitely keeping track of sales month to month. There are other things too, but that's the number one overarching thing.

Peter: Building a predictable, repeatable process to get clients every month.

Sam: I don't think people who haven't done it yet understand how much that changes your business as a whole. It makes a huge difference.

Peter: Final question. What's your number one piece of advice for other clients of ours?

Sam: Put more time into the training modules. I joined around the beginning of busy season, so that's what I plan to do now that it's slowing down. They walk through a lot of tips on how to do Zoom calls, talk with clients and all that. And trust the process. Things don't change like this overnight. It can take months to a year to make the life you want, but it's about putting in daily effort to make it happen.

Peter: You've got to chip at it every day. Sam, welcome to the six-figure club. I'm excited to see what this year looks like. Thanks for hopping on.

Sam: Absolutely. I think this will help a lot of people, especially those who want to grow but have things they aren't willing to let go of yet. Thanks for having me.

Peter: That awareness of the numbers is so big. I said, "You're in striking distance," and you turned it on and crossed the finish line. How has paying more attention to that affected you?

Sam: It's like working out. You have to put consistency into it to get the results you want. If you want to make $100,000 a year, you have to sell about $8,000 a month. You can break that down further. If I'm charging $3,000 a wedding, I need to book three weddings, which puts me at $9,000 and gives me a little flexibility. Or two weddings at $4,000. Keeping track of the numbers month over month is huge. If I was down $3,000 one month, I know I need to push harder the next.

Peter: That's such an eye-opener for clients, especially new ones. Most people think, "$100K would be nice," but never think about what they'd actually have to do. Once you put your awareness on it, it becomes way simpler. I can't count how many clients I've seen hit $100K because I said, "You just need $8,000 this month. You just need to book two or three weddings."

Sam: Once you understand it, it's much easier. Before that, you're thinking, "I want to make $100,000. What am I doing with my business?" Once you put numbers on it and look at every sale as a stepping stone to the end goal, it becomes much easier.

Peter: It's like Atomic Habits. Small wins stack up over time. Now you're doing the same thing with the $150K goal this year.

Sam: Something else that's helped: my fiancée is a photographer, and one of our goals this year is to take her full-time. We plan to merge our businesses by the end of the year so we can sell photo and video together. That adds a whole other product. It's easier now to sell an $8,000 photo and video package than it is sometimes to sell a $4,000 video-only package. That's really helped boost the numbers too.

Peter: Let's chat about that off camera. The easiest way to book a videography package is to book a photography package and tell the couple about video right then.

Sam: Right now, I'm probably getting more inquiries than my fiancée, because I've been in business longer and full-time. So it's the opposite of ideal. Ideally, someone would be looking for a photographer and we'd turn them into a video sale too. I get a lot of video inquiries from couples who haven't booked a photographer yet, and I've converted some of those, but a lot of couples already have a photographer by the time they talk to me.

Peter: We could look at spinning up some ads for her. We'll get into that off camera.