Peter: I’m joined by Tim Thornburg of Tim Thornburg Films. Tim is a super cool guy and a great filmmaker. Give us a quick rundown. How long have you been in the wedding game?

Tim: I started filming weddings in 2014, part-time, getting inquiries however I could. This past May, I officially went full-time, when I really needed to rely on this income and needed bookings. My first job out of college was selling phones at Verizon in Wisconsin for about $8 an hour. I learned a lot about sales, including the kind of sales I don’t want to be in. Then I worked my way up at a software company to become an agile coach and scrum master, basically a project manager. It was a great job with good pay and fully remote, but wedding videography had always been my dream. I had enough bookings to get me through September, and then it got dry, and I needed a plan.

Peter: You did what a lot of people want to do: go from a nine-to-five to full-time business owner. What was that transition like?

Tim: It was really scary. I was losing health insurance, a 401(k), a good salary, and the routine I’d built. It almost felt like I’d lost a job. But it was also exciting, and I was proud of myself for taking a leap I never thought I’d take. I talked it through with a lot of people, and my mom finally said, “Tim, just do the video thing. You’ll figure it out.” I knew that if I didn’t jump then, I never would, because corporate America would just keep paying me more. And I’m single, so no one depends on my income. Worst case, I could move back in with my mom.

Peter: It’s the golden handcuffs. If you’re a hard-working person, it’s never going to get easier than it is now.

Tim: Before I talked to you, a friend in my market pre-sold me. He said, “I went full-time, and you can too. I signed up for one of these programs that runs Instagram ads and shows you how to respond to leads. Your work is really good, so that won’t be a problem. Those things really work.” So I knew it would work before I signed up. It was just a matter of coming up with the money and pulling the trigger. If I’m going to book $40,000 in weddings, I knew it wasn’t going to cost 40 bucks.

When we met, you said something like, “If you can’t book three weddings, we’ll find you.” My reaction was, “Yep, they know what they’re doing,” because basically anyone can book three weddings if they’re putting in the work.

Tim: Honestly, there was a learning curve. I was kind of flailing at that point. I had 10 weddings booked for next year and needed at least 20. I’d watched all the videos a couple of times, and one night I thought, “If I don’t start getting leads in the next couple of days, I’ll probably have to look for an office job.” I tried to reframe it, that going back wouldn’t be a failure, but I was discouraged. I was thinking and praying on it.

Then I opened the portal, which I hadn’t done yet, and I had 14 leads I hadn’t responded to. I thought, “Oh my gosh, this is on me.” I started messaging them back, “Hey, so sorry!” and all of a sudden I had 14 potential weddings. That shifted my mindset right away. I told myself, “You don’t need a job right now. Put all your work into these leads and follow the instructions from the videos.” People started texting back, and they were interested.

I realized I was reaching couples further upstream than ever before. Wedding video is usually the last thing couples book, but people were finding me before they even had a venue. I could pitch them my photography and videography and recommend venues.

Tim: When Augie and I added it up, I’d booked about $36,000 in weddings, mostly for 2025, so they’ll be filmed within a year. Augie told me that came from about $1,400 to $1,500 in Instagram ad spend over two months. I’m still following up with leads, and I’m hoping to get to $50,000 or $60,000 if I keep it up.

During this time, my bank account was scraping pretty low, and then my furnace went out, and it cost $5,000. Then things just worked out. I had about $20,000 coming in in January from all these bookings. I thought, “Am I a rich person? This is wild.”

It reminds me of the episode of The Office where Michael Scott works in the call center and tells a coworker he’ll beat him in sales next month. The coworker says, basically, “You will if you just follow the script,” but Michael never follows the script. Stick to the process. Make it a little bit your own, but it has helped me so much more than freelancing and hoping it works out.

Peter: Not having a process coming in, and then doing $36K in a few months, is seriously awesome.

Peter: What’s your advice for a new client who’s where you were three or four months ago?

Tim: It takes work. Paying for something is step one. The biggest tip is to work those leads and follow the process every day, trying to schedule phone calls. You’ll get some no’s, and there will be slumps of discouragement, but keep at it. Don’t expect it to happen automatically. Even when something negative happens, reframe it. If someone rejects you, say, “That’s okay. That probably wasn’t the wedding for me. There are more people out there,” instead of telling yourself lies like “No one’s booking weddings.” Expect to work the leads, and then expect results.

Peter: You have to do enough volume. When people are struggling, I ask how many couples they’ve talked to this month, and it’s often just two or three. You’re trying to get someone on a call every day, and after a few weeks of continuous effort, it starts to cascade.

Tim: It creates momentum too. When you have five phone calls in a week, you think, “I could walk out of this week with $20,000 booked.” That hope is contagious, and it changes your mindset.

Peter: Say a photographer or videographer watching this is where you were six months ago. Maybe they think these programs are scams, or they’re seeing negativity in Facebook groups. What would you say to them?

Tim: I’m someone who’s cynical, so I’ve even commented on your ad to say this stuff works. You can reach out to me. I’m a real person, and I’ll tell you exactly how it went. But you have to get out of that cynical mindset if you want to open up a new opportunity. If you need bookings and you’re willing to try something new and put work into your leads, sign up. Don’t expect them to sign contracts for you while you print money. You’ll have to talk to people and hear the word no. But if you really want more bookings for next year, it 100% works, because you work. And you’ll grow so much in the meantime.