Peter: What's going on, guys? Peter Byram here, and I'm back today with another awesome client of ours. I'm joined by Katrina of The Kubicinas, an amazing photographer. Katrina has a great story. She's been with us for about three months now, so we're going to dig into her success and what she's done to see the results she has in a really rapid time frame. But before we get into all of that, Katrina, why don't you give us a quick intro: your background, how long you've been doing this, all that good stuff.

Katrina: We're based in Cleveland, Ohio. We're a husband-and-wife team, and we do photography and videography. I'm also a mom. We have a wonderful, very energetic six-year-old boy. We've been doing this 15 years, and we love it so much. I actually had a wedding the other day and a guest said, "I can really tell you love what you do." That meant a lot to me, and it's really true. This is my full-time gig. Aside from being a wedding photographer and a mom, I'm a traveler. We love to travel, and we're actually surprising our son for Christmas. We're taking a cruise, and we leave the day after Christmas. I'm so excited.

Peter: At the time of this recording, it's December 16th, so we started just about three months ago. What was going on in the business back then? What caused you to reach out?

Katrina: This was a very slow year for us. We've been doing this for 15 years, but we rebranded our company two years ago, and it felt like starting from scratch all over again. 2025 was a pretty slow year. When I talked to you, it was desperate times.

I was feeling the stress of not booking future weddings, not having many weddings coming up to bring in income, and seeing our savings go down. It was stressful, and I kept thinking, "I have to do something." I just wasn't sure what. Then I saw your ad and talked to you, and honestly, it felt like my prayer was answered.

Peter: Why do you think business was down? A lot of people were saying this all throughout 2025, and I'm still hearing it now.

Katrina: We have so many friends in the industry who felt the struggle this year too. COVID happened, then there was a huge boom, and then it slowed again. There are always going to be ebbs and flows, but this year a lot of professionals took the hit. For us personally, I felt a lot of it was the rebrand. People didn't know who we were, so our exposure was down. I'm terrible at marketing. I know I need to be better at social media, but it's a job in itself. I think that was part of our problem too. And honestly, after feeling this way for so long, I was feeling down and wasn't very motivated. That needed to change too.

Peter: You had a sense that ads were going to work. I want to know why you thought they would. And second, you had tried ads before with no success, so why were you willing to try again with us?

Katrina: The success stories I'd seen from your clients. There was one guy, I think he's out west and has glasses. I can't think of his name, but he's so sweet. His story really hit me, and I thought, "Okay, now I need to do this." And I know ads are powerful. I get ads all the time. I mention something for my kid, and I'm instantly getting ads for it. So I know they work, but I had no idea how to do it myself. I needed people who know what they're doing to help me.

Peter: Now, you'd tried ads before, right?

Katrina: Yes. Years ago, I tried boosting posts on my own, and that did nothing. Then about two years ago, I tried ads with another company, and I had no results at all.

Peter: We're not here to bash anyone. But what I find fascinating is that you were interested in signing up with us, but you were also reluctant. I think we went back and forth for a few months.

Katrina: It was hard for me to pull the trigger, because I'd spent so much money in the past without any results. You worry about spending more. It's an investment, and you want to make sure you're investing in the right people and the right business.

Peter: So why was this different?

Katrina: The success stories, and you. I appreciated that it was personal, face to face and even phone calls, since I was having issues with Zoom back then. I appreciated how much patience you had with me. I felt like the most annoying person in the world, because things kept coming up and I had to push you back, but you were always very understanding. You have children, so you get it. It was you, the success stories, and seeing your team and the proven results people have had in the Facebook group.

Peter: So what happened after you signed up?

Katrina: The ads started rolling out, and we started getting tons of inquiries. That alone was very exciting, just seeing the names pop up. I love the sound of the notification on our app. Our Instagram following has gone up a lot too. I've even had a couple of couples who didn't go with us say, "You're so great, and we're going to refer you to other people." You never know where it could lead.

Then it was just grinding and booking those calls. I try to book the phone calls as quickly as I can after messaging the couples and warming them up. That's been really fun for me too, getting on the app, messaging with the brides, getting to know them, and scheduling the consults. It's more than I've ever had. Within my first month, I talked to more leads than I had all year. And we've booked more weddings in three months than we did all year. We're actually only taking two more weddings for 2026. We're capping it.

I just made a post on Instagram that we're only taking two more weddings, and a bride messaged me saying, "I want to make sure I'm one of them." She's deciding on her venue and date based on what we have available, which was so flattering. It's wild. I think I had one wedding booked for next year, and now we're almost completely booked out.

Peter: Now, to make this concrete: you signed up three months ago. What have your total sales been since then?

Katrina: Just over $55,000. I don't even know if we made that this year. It's unbelievable.

Peter: That's so cool. $55K in three months. Wow.

Katrina: One suggestion you had was to give people a couple of different ways to pay, and to offer a small discount if they pay in full. I've never done that in 15 years of doing this. I just never thought about it. So many people have taken us up on it because they save a little, and it's brought in a bigger chunk for us right when we really needed it.

Honestly, Peter, that's why we're going on this cruise. It makes me emotional. We'd wanted to take a trip with our son all year. We kept looking at it and bringing it up, and we just couldn't afford it. Now we've paid off all our debt, and we're good. When we found this cruise, we had just booked a wedding that paid in full, and that paid for the whole cruise.

Peter: What would you say to other wedding photographers who feel insecure about sales, feel resistance to it, or feel like they're not good at it?

Katrina: That was me. I'm not good with sales at all, and even the thought of calling people all the time was overwhelming. But now it's nothing. I love having these phone conversations, and my confidence has grown so much. The more you do it, the easier it gets. After we booked a bunch and I was talking to more couples, my confidence grew even more, which was really exciting.

The number one thing I'd tell people is to get on the phone. You have to call people, because you want to connect with them and see if you're the right fit for them too. It goes both ways. We want to make sure we're the right team for them, that they're people we vibe with, and that our style matches. Getting on the phone is the most important thing. You just have to get over it and do it. The more you do it, the easier it becomes.

Katrina: On a normal day, the first thing I do once my son goes off to school is get on the lead generator website and see where I'm at: who I need to follow up with and who I'm booking consults with. I get those scheduled, have my calls, and go from there.

Peter: Roughly how many consults do you do in a week? I know it fluctuates.

Katrina: Probably about five.

Peter: So every week, you're getting on five calls with brides where you're giving them a price and asking them to book.

Katrina: Yes. And you know what I just thought of? I've had zero no-shows. In the other program, I had a ton. With this program, I've had zero. I think it's because of the videos you give us, and you taught us to send reminders. I always send that reminder, and no one has ghosted me.

Peter: Five consults a week, and you're not really posting on social media, maybe a little here and there. How many hours a day would you say you're typically doing this sales-related, wedding-booking work?

Katrina: I want to say two to three.

Peter: That's huge for people to hear. It's not about quantity. You get to a place where you check your inbox, message leads, follow up, and schedule calls. You try to do those during the day while your son is at school, and if not, you do them in the evening. You do your five calls, and at the end of the month, you've booked a bunch of weddings.

Katrina: Oh gosh, I don't feel like I'm an expert at that. Honestly, I just try to be myself and learn what they really want for their wedding and their wedding photography. As long as I know I can do that for them, I try to show them how I can make their day stress-free and fun, capture it beautifully, and give them memories they'll have forever. It's really about getting the couple to feel that I'm going to take care of them.

As far as closing, I'm probably the wrong person to ask, because I'm not really a business person. I'm more like their friend. When we end the call, I always send them our pricing collection. All our packages are completely tailored to each couple. I don't have cookie-cutter packages, which is why talking to them on the phone is so important. I find out what they're looking for, like how many hours, how many team members, and whether they want videography, and I customize the package to them.

I've also started asking, "Do you have an investment in mind for your wedding photography, so I can keep that in mind when I'm tailoring your package?" I think that has helped. But mostly I try to have a great conversation and connect with them, then let them know I'm sending the pricing guide and that they can call me with any questions so we can make sure it's a package they love. With the ad we're running, they're getting a free ceremony film. We're giving so much value that if they feel connected to me, enjoyed our conversation, and like our work, the free ceremony film seals the deal.

Peter: It's great advice, and it's so true. Whether you're a photographer, a dentist, or a chiropractor, if you're in business for yourself and you don't have salespeople on your team, then you are the salesperson. I don't think this gets talked about enough in our industry. Unless you have a way to predictably book and grow your business, photography is just an expensive hobby.

Entrepreneurship is hard, and it has peaks and valleys. You have three amazing calls, everyone books, and you feel unstoppable. Then business has a way of humbling you. For a week or two, no one books, and you think, "Should I hang it up? Is my work no longer relevant?"

It helps to realize how the numbers work. There's a principle in finance called regression to the mean. We think if we flip a coin, it'll go heads, tails, heads, tails. But it might go heads 50 times in a row, then tails 20 times in a row, if you did it over a big enough time horizon.

The best athletes and the best stand-up comedians all have highs and lows. You have to regulate yourself with numbers, because if you don't, you'll regulate yourself with how you feel, and you'll get killed in business.

So come back to the numbers. Did I get my calls booked this week? How many did I do? How many did I close? A lot of you are probably doing better than you think, but you don't know your numbers, so you feel worse off than you are. If you're closing 30%, you're doing great. If you're closing 50%, you're doing awesome. If you're closing higher than that, you're a superstar.

Katrina: Truly, Peter, I want to thank you. I'm so grateful. Your team is amazing, and the whole program is amazing. When we first started chatting, I told you I didn't want to have to watch a bunch of videos. You said there were just a few, and honestly, there were only a few, and they were worth it. I learned so much from them. Some of the things you said really resonated. It was humbling, and I needed to hear them.

And the fact that you guys do everything for us: you run all the ads, and you know who to target. We're getting so many leads from couples who just got engaged. The second they get engaged, they're seeing our ads. It saves me so much time. Everything I was hoping for has happened, and I'm so grateful.

If anybody is on the fence and wants to talk to someone, I'm happy to talk to them and give them that extra nudge that this really works and they should take the leap.