Peter: We're with two more members of the Next Level photography training program, Tyler and Isadora of Shoot Media. You have an incredible story. Tell us about yourselves and your business.

Tyler: We met in Cancún a little over two and a half years ago. We were both on family vacations. I ended up playing volleyball, and she was my teammate. Next thing you know, I was eating dinner with her family before we left. She went back to Australia, where she was studying, and I went back to the States. Then we asked each other if we wanted to travel in Bali and Indonesia, so I bought a ticket, and we traveled for seven days. After that, I moved to Australia for about three months while she was still studying, came back for the summer, and then went back for a year and a half. Then we came to the US on a family trip for my sister, and that turned into us starting Shoot Media.

Peter: And you got married along the way?

Isadora: Yes. We'd already been taking pictures in Australia, just for fun, for friends. Then we said, "We have to make this work. We have to make money from it. It's our passion." So we made Shoot Media a reality.

Peter: When did you officially start Shoot Media?

Tyler: October 2019.

Peter: So it hasn't been a year yet. You met on a trip, traveled around, loved taking photos and started a company. What was that like at the beginning?

Tyler: Extremely hard. We didn't have an overall direction. It was just, "Here's a job, great, we'll take it."

Isadora: We used Thumbtack, which was good for getting some jobs and building portfolio, but our time really wasn't worth it.

Peter: Why?

Isadora: Because people are looking for the cheapest price. They're literally price searching. I don't think we got any clients who said, "We really love your quality work." It was always price, price, price. So we worked for very cheap, about $100 an hour.

Peter: Thumbtack lends itself to people trying to find the cheapest option. So what was the big problem you were trying to solve?

Tyler: Finding clients, for sure. The talent and the passion were there. But when you first start a business, you're figuring out your flow, and we'd find ourselves repeating the same things and waiting for jobs.

Isadora: We didn't take much action. We were waiting for people to come to us instead of going after it. We knew something was wrong, but we couldn't find a way to change it.

Tyler: The way we talked about it, there was no vehicle at all. It was just us sitting there. A job would pop up, and then it would be another month before the next one, or a couple of weeks. It was so sporadic. There was never a chance for our calendar to be full.

Isadora: Sometimes it was two or three months without any jobs at all.

Peter: So the big thing was consistency and predictability. It's so hard to grow a business when you're just waiting.

Tyler: It's impossible. Nobody's going to just appear out of nowhere. It might happen every now and then, but we were expecting it to happen all the time.

Peter: That might be fine for extra cash, but that's not how you build a six-figure photography business.

Peter: You knew you had the talent and the passion. It was just getting the clients. How did you first come across me?

Tyler: It was a Facebook ad. I was on our way back from Florida when I first saw it. I saved the tab on my phone and never really looked at it. Then we came home, and around April I finally opened it. I showed her and said, "Check this out. This is interesting." It was really eye-catching.

Peter: Good to know the copywriting works. So we hopped on a call back in April. It's August now. What was going on for you in April?

Tyler: Nothing, to be honest. The shutdown happened in late March and early April.

Isadora: Honestly, we set the business aside. We thought, "If no one was booking us before, imagine now." That was our fault, but it was also because we didn't know how to get clients, and we were always trying to figure it out.

Peter: A lot of people felt that way. "It's the pandemic, there's nothing I can do."

Tyler: That was us. We relaxed a lot for the first half of it. Get up, maybe go for a walk, come back and hang out, over and over.

Peter: But you had a dream. The first time we talked, you said you'd seen the stories of other people in Next Level, traveling and doing all this.

Isadora: I think the first one we saw was a client named Sarah. In her first 28 days, she booked about $27,000, and she was traveling. We thought, "That's what we want." We'd been dreaming of traveling and doing this on the road, like destination weddings, since we were in Australia.

Tyler: We just didn't have the vehicle.

Peter: You didn't join right away after our first call. Can you share what was going on?

Isadora: Things were quiet, so we didn't have much money to invest, and we didn't feel secure. We'd been burned before. A vendor took a deposit and then disappeared. And Yelp took more than $400 from us. They said, "We'll help you," and as soon as we signed up, we got nothing. It was basically all the money we'd made since October, spent on things that didn't work. So we were really insecure. What if we spend more money and it doesn't work?

Tyler: When you said you could make your money back in the first 30 days, we thought, "Sure." We'd never made that much money before, so it was hard to believe. But everything felt so right on the call. Afterward, we talked and said, "Long-term, what is this investment? If that money turns into six figures, that's a pretty good return." On our first call, I think we were really open and honest. We said, "I don't think we can afford this right now. Let us do a wedding, keep making money and get to an investment point, and then we'll be all in." At that point, we'd never done a wedding.

Peter: That's another interesting thing. You'd never shot a wedding. You just had a dream, and you were willing to bet on yourselves. That's how every great business starts.

Tyler: I believe that 100%, after seeing it happen.

Peter: You wondered if this was a scam. A lot of people think that. Where do you think that comes from?

Isadora: Our previous experiences, and because it's online. We thought you could disappear with our money. But then I thought, no, he's real. There are people he's interviewed. Let's message them and see. So we did, and every person we talked to said, "Just go do it. We don't know how to explain it. It just works." Sarah stayed on the phone with us for at least an hour. She said, "Guys, I can see your energy. You're only missing this one thing, and I guarantee you're going to blow up." Out of everyone we reached out to on Instagram and Facebook, she was the one who got on a call. And she's in our area, in Michigan.

Peter: So at some point, about 30 days ago, you were ready. What finally made you pull the trigger?

Tyler: Being at rock bottom, literally zero. We had to invest in something that would be a vehicle to get us to our destination. It's not going to pop out of the air and be handed to you. You need to make an investment that provides the value you're missing. What we were missing was someone on our side with a system that works, who's there for you, with a community around him that makes it all work. That's what made the decision. These weren't just a few people. Everyone who'd reached out to you was using the formula, and it was working. So if it worked for them, it would work for us.

Peter: Rock bottom is a powerful catalyst. That's why you hear rags-to-riches stories all the time: "I had $17 in my bank account and slept on my friend's couch, and two years later I'm living my dream."

Tyler: We also asked each other, would you rather invest now and make a lot, or wait a whole year and miss out on everything? Being at ground zero and then diving in, we went straight into the training, and within a week things started happening.

Isadora: Before that, I'd sit in front of my computer and say, "Now I'm going to work on Shoot Media. I'm going to find clients." Then a thousand ideas would come to mind. Should I go on Instagram, like other people's pictures and get followers? Should I message some people? I was so lost. I didn't know what really worked, and I didn't want to waste time on things that wouldn't. No one ever told us, "This is good for you, and this isn't." We were just swinging. How long would it have taken us to figure out the right way to get clients? Probably two or three years. All that time would have been wasted.

Peter: When you're starting a business, your resources are time and money, and nothing is more valuable than time, because it's limited. You were willing to sacrifice short term for the long term. I remember you asking, "There are a hundred things I could do. Is it TikTok? SEO? Going door to door?"

Isadora: When you have so many ideas, you end up doing nothing. Then you feel guilty at the end of the day, or you try something for three days, it doesn't work, and you give up. Of course it doesn't work, because you keep switching.

Peter: So you jumped into Next Level. Then what happened?

Tyler: It blew up, way faster than I imagined. It's like Sarah said: it just works. Apply it to your daily life, dive into the knowledge, apply it, learn and keep repeating. We went from zero to slammed.

Isadora: I don't even have time to think about what I should do. I just have to do it. That's what I was looking for, and it was really quick.

Peter: When you say it blew up, what were you doing to get that result?

Isadora: Following exactly what you told us to do in the training, step by step. And we still haven't finished it. We're only partway through, and we're already doing great. I've been telling my mom, "He's a wizard."

Tyler: We went from floating around on the computer to doing what really matters and making our time worth it. Early on, we asked you 13 different questions about random things, and you said, "That's all great, but that's not where your focus should be." That's when it sank in. We had to accept that if it's working for others, it'll work for us. There's no shortcut. Dive into the knowledge, apply it week by week and keep doing more of it.

Isadora: And people might think it's magic, that it just happens. But it's hard work. All of it took hours and hours of applying what you taught us. It's not sitting at a computer while people come to you.

Tyler: You have to do what the course says and put in the time. If you do, the magic happens. It wouldn't be as rewarding if it weren't work. We were staying in the office until 10, 11, 12 at night, and when you see the result, it's worth it.

Peter: Let's get into your results. You joined about 27 days ago. What have you done in your first 27 days?

Tyler: $7,000. And we were on vacation for part of it. Honestly, we really dove in for about three weeks.

Peter: So three weeks, $7,000. Before we started working together, you were at zero. You'd never shot a wedding.

Tyler: Not a single wedding.

Peter: And you just had a call with a couple before this, and you have five more calls today?

Tyler: Five calls today, one tomorrow, and a meeting with a friend of mine who wants us to make a video for him. And on Sunday, we're shooting a wedding with one of the members of Next Level. That was a surreal moment. It's Sarah, the one who stayed on the phone with us and said, "Guys, do it. It'll be worth it in a month." And a month later, we're shooting with her.

Tyler: Her goal was to find an online job, to work fully remote, so we could go anywhere in the world and still make money. When we finally dove in, we went from maybe 5 to 10 hours a week to 40 or 50.

Peter: You put a lot in, and you got a lot out. This is a door, not a magic wand. If you want a magic trick, go to Disneyland. To build a successful business, you need a proven process, and you have to show up every day. And Tyler, you're also helping your dad with construction, sometimes working 16-hour days.

Isadora: He's been super busy. He's working almost full-time for his dad, and he still comes home and works on the business. He wants to go full-time with the business. So for whoever's watching: he's not full-time, I am, we've gone through half of the course, and we've done about $7,000.

Peter: And you haven't run a single Facebook ad.

Tyler: That's the crazy part. We didn't spend money on Thumbtack or Google, or anything. It was all organic.

Peter: Just good sales and marketing principles, generating appointments with people in your niche and booking calls. Volume.

Tyler: I always used to tell her it's about how many nos, not how many yeses. Before, I'd get excited about every lead and get upset when it was a no. Now I'm like, "Okay, awesome." You embrace it. Maybe they're not my ideal client, or I'm not their style.

Isadora: There are so many reasons people say no, but so many reasons they say yes. Just keep going, and eventually you'll get it.

Tyler: Another big turning point: when people asked what I do, I'd say, "I'm helping my dad with construction." I'd never say I photograph and film weddings. Now I say it, and it's brought us clients. We went to set up a bank account, and the banker asked what we do. We said we're full-time destination photographers and videographers. He said, "No way. I used to be a photographer. I have a client I can't take, and I'm going to send her to you." That's the consultation we had right before this call.

Peter: What we talk about in Next Level doesn't just apply online. It's an attitude and energy. When you're proud of what you do and talk about it, people hear you and connect you. That's how your network grows.

Tyler: It's the confidence. "This is what we do. This is who we are." That was the biggest hurdle. And since we started posting more consistently on our Facebook business page, more people reach out about prices and family shoots. Before, we'd post and people would say, "Cool." Now that we're consistent, they reach out.

Peter: In the book Fanatical Prospecting, which you just got, there's a line: "The more I prospect, the luckier I get." If you hang back and wait, it doesn't work. When you get after it every day and focus on revenue-generating activities with a good attitude, it comes back to you. Tyler, you said you wanted a way to make money online and remotely. Do you feel like you know how to do that now?

Tyler: 100%. We were on vacation for a week and did $3,600.

Peter: On vacation?

Isadora: We looked at each other, like, we're on holiday, and we just had consultations, and they were successful.

Peter: People work 50 hours a week at a job they hate for two weeks off a year and maybe $5,000 a month. You made $7,000 and part of it was on vacation.

Isadora: And it's so much fun. I'd rather do this 10,000 times than go back to being an accountant. That's what I used to do. I worked nine to five, I hated my job, and I'd come home and cry, "Oh my God, I hate this. I just want to leave."

Tyler: For me, the beautiful thing is the responsibility. It's literally on us, and it controls exactly what we get. You can do it from anywhere with Wi-Fi, at your own time and pace, and you get the direct results of what you put in.

Peter: That's why I teach the way I do. I've been in business where you don't feel like you have a lever to pull, where you're waiting for some other entity to send you a lead. Here, you know the inputs that create the outputs. Take certain actions, and you get leads. Act on the leads, and you get calls. Do the calls, and you get clients. You're in control instead of hoping something comes in from Thumbtack or Yelp.

Tyler: This is my wife's and my business. It's going to be our livelihood and let us travel and enjoy our time. I'm noticing our free time opening up. We're still working, but it's not 7 to 3, Monday through Friday. It changes daily based on consultations and shoot days.

Isadora: In the office as an accountant, I'd get tired and wish I could go for a five-minute walk, and I couldn't. Now, if I get tired, I go for a five-minute walk and come back with a brighter mind, and my work is better. Being stuck in an office, your mind gets trapped, someone's always looking over your shoulder, and you're capped at what someone else decides to pay you. Forty hours on that, or forty hours on something that's all yours? No brainer.

Peter: A lot of photographers have a job and shoot part-time but want to go full-time. If a couple like you is watching, maybe part-time, maybe wanting to start their own business but unsure how to make it sustainable, why would you recommend working with us?

Tyler: If you feel lost and don't have a sense of direction, that's okay, but there's a vehicle right in front of you. The price to get in may seem scary, but the reward and the knowledge carry over into your whole life, not just your photography business. It changes how you manage your time. You learn self-awareness: where you put your time, who you invest it in and what you invest it in. Just go for it, even if it's scary. The scariest leaps have the best rewards. And it's not just you. The group is so inviting, and everyone helps and motivates each other. I see Sarah doing well and think, "If she can, we can." That's the environment Next Level provides: the support system, the vehicle and constant action. We didn't do it the first time because we didn't have the funds and were scared to invest. We didn't understand that you have to spend money to make money. Everything we've learned in this short time will carry through the rest of our lives. I'd call it a huge optimization of yourself.

Isadora: If you're looking for what to do, how to do it and why, you'll get all the answers. You tell us what to do, why we're doing it and exactly how. It's so detailed. I didn't imagine it would be that detailed. The more I watch, the better it gets.

Tyler: It's the little things that make the big results. Like a consult: talking to people, offering help first, being a friend, and who knows, it could turn into a wedding.

Realizing that every single like on your Facebook post could be someone who knows someone getting married. Before the course, I would never have told the banker I'm a wedding photographer. Two weeks later, I had a consult from his lead. And there's revenue-generating activities from 9 to 11 every morning. There's sleep, which makes a huge difference in your energy, and exercise. Having a routine, being consistent and relentless, hearing nos and being okay with that. It was great to hear that's okay. Just keep doing it.

Isadora: Many times we'd start messaging people, do it for two or three days, get no replies and say, "That doesn't work." Then we'd start something else and never find what really works. Those little things made the biggest difference.

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

Tyler: Keep sharing. Seeing other members doing well makes us more accountable. We're all separate businesses, but it's a community. So I'd say post more and get involved more. Having a community solved a huge problem I always had with photography. Get to know each other personally. We're shooting with Sarah, and I never would have had that friendship otherwise. Be supportive, because you might be making $30,000, but the person making $7,000 is looking at you and being inspired. Keep posting and sharing your successes.

Isadora: And share your defeats. Share what you struggle with, because it's good to know that someone big also struggles. It's not perfect all the time.

Tyler: And the calls. We're not at the ads part yet, but hearing other people's problems on the calls is so helpful. You hear what's ahead, and the meeting solves your problem before it even happens.

Isadora: Even when we can't join, I like to watch the recordings. People ask questions that make me think, "That could be me one day," and it saves time. And whenever we're struggling, we can talk to you and everyone else, because everybody helps each other.

Peter: What's next for you?

Tyler: Our goal is $20,000 by October, and I believe we'll be well over that. A big goal is shooting a destination wedding. We had a conversation today about one.

Peter: It's all happening.

Tyler: And the process has been smooth from start to finish. When you don't know where you're going, you're lost. Trust the process and don't get hung up on ideas in your head. There are a lot of distractions. You lose an hour thinking about what to do, then an hour doing the wrong thing. That's two hours you could have spent reaching out to 20 people and getting consults.

Isadora: Now there's no doubt in the back of my mind about whether this is working. When I do the revenue-generating activities, I know this is what will take me where I want to go. So I'll spend as long as I can on it, because I know it works.

Tyler: As a married couple, we always want to travel. What's on the horizon, and I'm fully confident in it, is a truck and trailer with an office on wheels. We live in Michigan, and it's freezing in the winter. We want to follow the sun, with weddings down south in the winter and up north in the summer, and snowboarding. That's the dream.

Peter: We'll do another interview when you get there, and I think it'll be sooner than you think. Keep the blinders on, stay relentless and focused, and make the sacrifices.

Tyler: Thank you. Without this, we'd still be part-time and not investing in ourselves. We really appreciate you and everyone in the group.