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Maximalist Life
This is Maximalist Life, with Brianna Gamble and Tamika Stringfellow. This unfiltered podcast is your permission slip to chase after everything you damn well desire.
Join us as we dish out no-holds-barred conversations and invite you to step into a life filled with limitless possibilities. Forget fear and embrace the maximalist mentality with us every week.
Get ready to experience piss your pants laughter, cringe-worthy truths, and be inspired to break free from living a mediocre life.
Maximalist Life
Ep 35 - What’s Working in Business This Year
Episode Summary:
Brianna’s pulling back the curtain on how 2025 became her most profitable year ever—and we’re only halfway through. 😏 She’s spilling the actual strategies that took her photography biz to the next level (no gatekeeping here).
📱 Doubled down on Instagram ads after realizing they were our highest-converting platform
👯♀️ Expanded from 4 to 7 days a week by hiring and training the right team
📊 Started tracking real metrics so decisions weren’t based on vibes or panic
💸 Raised prices and confidence—no more playing small or second-guessing
🎨 Made the brand feel seamless from first click to final photo
📍 Focused on going deep, not wide—building connection over chasing virality
🧠 Used emotional intelligence in sales instead of pushy, gross tactics
🕰️ Treated it like a full-time job before it was—because the hustle came first
Stay Connected:
📲 Follow us on Instagram: @maximalistlifepodcast
🎙️ Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify – it helps us so much!
Yeah, okay, all right, welcome to Maximus Live. Here we are, with Brianna Gamble and Tamika Strainfellow Perfect.
Speaker 2:Happy Friday, yay, well, it's Monday or Thursday if you're listening to this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, do you have any plans this weekend?
Speaker 2:Let's see here what are you going to do? I have a whole lot of work that I'm planning on doing. Okay, I have a whole bunch of I'm going to mostly get together my training plan for my new executive assistant. Yay, yeah, so I'm going to get her training plan all created and I'm making her like a uh, kind of like a little guide, like, yeah, like a reference guide it's like here's all my information, so all the appointments you have to make or like stuff for the studio, yeah, team information, just like everything perfect.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so super exciting weekend for me ahead. Yeah, yeah, sounds really fun. I do, uh, I mean, I have like a little sleepover planned, oh, with tonight with a friend yeah, mr monday, mr monday's yeah, you can't talk about him anymore yeah I heard yeah, so mr monday decided to listen to the podcast, so he's heard everything I fucking said about him, but you haven't said anything bad about no, I actually.
Speaker 1:I feel like you actually talk like really highly of him, yeah, or else I don't know if he would be your Mr Monday Mm-mm.
Speaker 2:So Also, I feel like he wouldn't give a fuck if I talked shit either. He's kind of like you, yeah, where it's like. I feel like he wouldn't take it to heart if I said anything.
Speaker 1:I mean, I don't know if you were like hey, you suck at having sex and you know might be like what a bitch. Yeah, like you can't say those things not nice.
Speaker 2:I feel like he would be like I gotta try harder oh, you think not like oh, fuck her, I don't think so. I don't know though. Maybe yeah, although I told him what.
Speaker 2:I don't know, we were talking about some stuff and I it came up about the guy that I don't know if I talked about him on here, but the guy from um the line dancing place and he was like you slept with another black guy, oh, he was upset about it. He thought he was like you slept with another black guy. Oh, he was upset about it. He thought he was the only one. Oh God, if I said listen, you have nothing to be worried about yeah, that guy sucks.
Speaker 2:Wait, that guy had a little pee-pee, the smallest I ever saw in my life, and didn't know how to work it right.
Speaker 1:No, or do any other thing and he had a dirty house. Yeah, it's like his room was clean. It's like he knew like okay, my room's going to be ready to go.
Speaker 2:But the rest of the house was like so messy.
Speaker 1:And he's like what? Come on, yeah, I don't understand how it's like so messy when you have people over. Yeah, what does it normally look like? Yeah, like, why aren't you hiding all your mess? I don't get it Like.
Speaker 2:that's what I would do said you're like, if I have people coming over and it's my say, I'll just fucking throw shit wherever.
Speaker 1:I'll put shit in the freezer, I'm dying wherever, oh my god, I'll throw fucking shit anywhere throw it away, you're not gonna just see it my mess out there like live, not in real time.
Speaker 2:I feel like for the most part, my house is usually clean. The the one thing that like well, the two things that I ever get like behind on and I get stressed if people are coming over is my clothes yeah, that's where. That's mine too always but the thing is, it's always clean clothes, it's not like I have dirty clothes laying around yeah, it's literally clean clothes all over my bed yeah, my laundry room, yeah, mine's like everywhere.
Speaker 1:Right now I'm like I gotta pull it together and then dishes.
Speaker 2:Sometimes, because I don't trust dishwashers, I have to hand wash all my dishes, and so sometimes you know like you don't really fucking feel like hand washing dishes that day.
Speaker 1:And so sometimes I just leave some in the sink, and then it bothers me if people are coming over. Ours is mostly like yeah, not really dishes like Amazon boxes in our office. Like that's where it kind of gets a little messy. Like they're stacking like right now for our book retreat. I have a bunch of shit in there and it's like looks kind of messy. It's just like all this shit I know Drew's like dying.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I'm like just one more week.
Speaker 2:Just give me one more week.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I mean, my clothes are horrendous. Right now. It is too many outfit plannings. That content day killed us, like my clothes are off the hook.
Speaker 2:So, content day, all my clothes are still in my car yeah see, um chris is coming today. She's gonna, she's gonna start taking my car once a week to clean it. Fill up the guys. I have all my fucking clothes in there yeah, so I should have told her like see, please, like take my clothes.
Speaker 1:It's so overwhelming. It's like, oh God, take care of it please, yeah, I know. Yeah, it's too much, it's a lot, yeah, so we don't know how to live our lives. I guess no Someone else has to do it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, fun.
Speaker 1:Okay, do we?
Speaker 2:have a fun question to start.
Speaker 1:No, we don't have any fun questions. The fun question was what are you doing this weekend? Oh man, yeah, wait, what are you doing this weekend? Well, I have Rihanna's softball tournament, so I'll be in San.
Speaker 1:Lorenzo, all weekend and on Sunday we're going to the Valkyrie game, the women's and WNBA, whatever it's called. Yeah, my brother-in-law got got like a suite at the Chase Center, damn yeah. So it's all for, like, the little girls. That's so cute, like, so you know. And then we had to like pick outfits, so we all wear purple because that's the color, so kind of cute.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it'd be fun for the girls to see that. I know I think it's going to be so cute. Yeah, um, so, so I don't know what we're going to be doing in between. I mean, they say potentially, which I don't know, like the girls are newer at this, like their team is newer, so I don't know if they're actually going to play this, but it says they could potentially play eight games. Oh my God, I feel like that's crazy. In two days, so one game today. We have to be out there at 2 o'clock.
Speaker 1:We have to be there by two o'clock today and then tomorrow potential of five games, and then I don't know I can't remember maybe two or three games on sunday or something. I can't remember. So I'm just like this is crazy. This tournament is a lot crazier than the last one we went to, that's so this one seems like a little bit more legit, but that means like the competition might be a little bit more tough, right, yeah?
Speaker 1:So we'll see, I mean, we'll see how the girls like play and stuff, but whatever, as long as they have fun, it's fine. Yeah, yeah, yeah, who cares? Have fun, go out there and do whatever you need to do.
Speaker 2:yeah, exactly, yeah, um, yeah, I have, I don't have a question do you have one?
Speaker 1:if you were a google app, which app would you be and why it has to be a google app, like the google suite? Like would you?
Speaker 2:be like oh okay, I was like what it has to be a google. I was like we have google phones.
Speaker 1:um yeah, I was like what? Why can't it be in the Apple App Store? What you know? I don't really know, I got nothing. Maybe you would be, I think. I'd be sheets. Yeah, you definitely be sheets.
Speaker 2:I think you would be. I think I'd be sheets. Yeah, you'd definitely be sheets. I think you might be calendar. I thought about that too, but because I'm a busybody, so it seems. Yeah, you've always got events going on and like so it seems like calendar but you gotta like juggle a bunch of None of these apps are fun. Yeah, well, right, that's. I know I was thinking that I'm like oh, that's not really as fun as you.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Maybe you're like Google Chat, because you are like chatty, friendly, you have a lot of people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, social. Yeah, I didn't even think about Google Chat because I don't know what you said.
Speaker 2:There's so many stupid apps on there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't even look at that thing. It's like if it's not just like an email, don't talk to me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm not dealing with.
Speaker 1:I don't need to do anything on it. Yeah, there's not one thing that I need to do on it, right? Yeah, I do everything on it.
Speaker 2:I love it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean cause you run the whole business side, yeah, so yeah, that's pretty fun. Yeah, I know you think it's fun but I don't think it is okay.
Speaker 2:Well, today we're talking business fun, yeah, your favorite, yeah, yeah okay, I'm just gonna ask you a bunch of business questions. Okay, because you're a business pro out here but I don't know about that yeah um, yeah, I don't appreciate how. I asked you if you could send me these questions ahead of time so I could prepare, and you said no, nope, off top.
Speaker 1:I hate off top and I know, I know you hate that and I'm just like I mean, I just think they're they're simple questions and you're going to be fine. Okay, okay, all right, okay. Um, yeah, you can do a pass, we money. Or, yeah, you can do a pass, we could do an edit out also, it's no problem. Um, okay, first question what? Okay, so this one's about money. Uh, what was your biggest profit year so far and what did you do differently that made it happen?
Speaker 2:easy, okay this year okay, I'm 2025 has been the biggest profit year. I mean, I know we're only halfway through the year, but already biggest profit year. What I did differently? Two things figured out the thing that was working the best for us marketing wise last year, which is meta ads, specifically on Instagram yeah, for our campaigns and like doubled down on that.
Speaker 2:I was like all right, this is what's working the best. Let's just double, like, our budget for ads and it's working, yeah. And then the second thing was going from being open the studio being open four days a week to being open seven days a week yeah, we brought on two new photographers, we brought on another makeup artist, we brought on another retoucher and almost could, like, could almost double how many clients we could take in a week and it's working, works, yeah, it definitely works.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's right now working on.
Speaker 2:Uh, when, what I learned from my little business conference that I went to was their biggest thing, or the thing that they try to focus on a lot, is finding the constraints in your business, so finding anywhere that like you're lacking, like are you not that good at marketing, are you not that good at sales, or what. What's the thing? That's like kind of holding you back and then fixing that before, just like people just automatically think, oh, I need to market more, like I need, need more clients. But the thing is like, do you need more clients or do you just need to make more money per client?
Speaker 1:or do you need more leads, or do you just need to?
Speaker 2:book more of the leads that you already have. So that's one thing I'm trying to focus on.
Speaker 1:Coming up, to hopefully add more profit. So you already mentioned, like you did, the Google, I mean the Instagram ads, like it's been like a big thing for you. What other kind of marketing moves have you made that brought in serious cash and what's one that totally flopped?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Okay.
Speaker 2:So I mean, we don't do this anymore, we don't photograph high school seniors but the biggest marketing thing I did for the first like 10 years of my business was in order to market to high school seniors. I created this. At first it was called a senior model program and then turned into a senior sorority and it was just like I put it out there, like this program, girls could join when they're juniors, they do when it when they're juniors and seniors, and then they get their senior pictures done, but then they get to do all these like themed shoots throughout the year, which, to me, I did that. So that's how we officially like met yeah, yeah, yeah, and we did like community service stuff with them, and so it was kind of just like this, almost like a little club, yeah, outside of school yeah so girls from all different schools would join and they would do these themed shoots.
Speaker 2:And then when we're doing these themed shoots throughout the year or whatever, like little get-togethers, they're posting all that stuff on social media and so then their friends are seeing the studio tagged and then they're going to our page and be like, oh, look at, they do senior pictures. And then that's how I got like almost all my high school senior clients for a decade.
Speaker 1:So that was like. I feel like that program was really good, really good. Yeah, and like girls really loved it. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:As far as like what we're doing now for, like branding and boudoir, boudoir. So we to be I mean to be honest like at this point, we are relying heavily on ads because that's just like the easiest way for us to scale right now we are attempting to get back into like more of the like organic, getting organic leads on social media from like our content and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:Um, I used to run a facebook group for women and like we got some leads from that. Uh, google ads I know it's another ads thing, but google ads was pretty good. That definitely got us higher, like more qualified leads, and those clients always spent a lot more money.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they definitely did me searching for, yeah so it's different, like if you think about if you are gonna spend money on ads. It's like if you're spending money on Google. Those are people who are already searching for like right you know, minnesota dog trainer or like whatever it is, and so those are the people.
Speaker 2:They're already wanting to spend the money yeah, yeah so they're more of like a hot lead at that point, or at least warm yeah whereas, like on facebook, instagram and stuff like, they're just seeing it because they're just scrolling through and you catch their attention and so they might not really be looking for that at the time, so it's kind of harder to convert them. Yeah, um, we used to.
Speaker 2:I mean, we still get a decent amount of like um, referral clients coming in and referring friends, clients coming back to do multiple sessions, but we don't actually have like a uh, we don't have like an official, what do you want to say like a referral program in place, which we should, and I really want to do that yeah, um god, I feel like we've done so many things, so branding wise, like we have run a campaign called women on top, which this was our second year doing that, and it was like not only bringing women in to do their uh branding photos for their social media and stuff, but also putting them in a magazine with other female business owners so they could kind of share their story, share about their business. They could come to an event where we would launch the magazine so they could all meet and network and then it kind of gave them almost like a little bit of credibility because they're like look at, my business was featured in this magazine and so it was just a really fun thing that we did the last two years.
Speaker 1:We'll definitely keep doing that um, yeah, I love that one. I think it's so fun.
Speaker 2:I really everyone feels like so empowered and like.
Speaker 1:I don't know. I think everyone thinks it's like cool to come here and like listen to speakers and like all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2:I think that one's so fun yeah, yeah, and I would say the other one that worked the best for for Boudoir was when we had, like we did some kind of like like micro influencer type of partnerships, especially when we first started like relaunching Boudoir at the studio, and it was like we kind of reached out to all these people in our area who have at least like 10 000 followers on their instagram or they have more like an active client base, and asked them to come in, offered a complimentary session and then asked them to kind of help us like promote a little bit. And that got us a lot of clients and word of mouth referrals and that really that was.
Speaker 1:I think that was really huge in the beginning.
Speaker 2:Oh for sure, yeah yeah, so those are all the things that have worked. I mean we have tried. Um, I mean I would just fall to the wall with marketing ideas for so long and then, once we kind of get into a groove and then, like I said last year, I was like, okay, the ads are working, the are working the best. This is the most like streamlined way for us to get clients.
Speaker 2:Let's just double down on this and get rid of all the other. That's only getting like a handful of clients here and there right doesn't make sense, right, um, stuff that didn't work.
Speaker 2:oh well, I let me go back to the facebook group. So the facebook group it worked really well when I was doing it before. So I was shooting boudoir in like 2016, 2017, 2018. That's when I first had that group and it worked really well for getting clients. And then we kind of tried to start a new Facebook group when we relaunched boudoir in 2020. And it was kind of a flop, I mean, like we got clients a little bit here and there from it, but it was just like we couldn't really get the hang of like getting engagement in there. I don't know.
Speaker 1:It's like our Instagram has always been the easiest platform for us to grow. Yeah, it's almost like. I mean I feel like people still use Facebook groups, but for sure, it's kind of like it just kind of moved mm-hmm in a different direction and so that like kind of was. So no one was like really looking at it and you know, mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:Yeah, especially when it's not something that like like they have the vaca moms or the vacaville community like you're in there because you need something and like, or you're like interested in, like the boudoir, it's like it's not like specifically like a, like a marketing yeah, yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So that kind of that was a kind of flopper.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I feel like we put in so much like oh, like making posts and like coming up with ideas and like I just remember sometimes spending days on these ideas and then like we'd have to like do them and then it'd just be like this is awful, such a waste of time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's the thing too. It's like you have to really track how much time you're spending on this.
Speaker 1:That's how many?
Speaker 2:clients you're getting to see, because even like, let's say, let's say you do some marketing activity and you book five clients and you're like fuck yeah, like this is really working, but if you just spent 200 hours on that, that's not a good use of your time.
Speaker 1:That's awful, that seems awful.
Speaker 2:You got to really think about that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, god, what else?
Speaker 2:do we do? That's such a flop. So one year. So I think I tried to do something before. Maybe our market was ready for it. One year in, like I think it was like 2017, 2018, also also because we were doing like the high school senior stuff I really wanted to get into like the tween market, and so I tried to launch like a similar program as our senior but like for younger girls, and it was a total flop. It was like I didn't get that much interest and then the people who were interested were just like I don't get it and like they didn't. Nobody signed much interest and then the people who were interested were just like I don't get it and like they didn't, nobody signed up.
Speaker 2:Literally not one person signed up and I was like I don't understand, because I could sell this to any high school senior in the area, like it's been no problem, but I think it was just there, wasn't, there was. With the seniors, it's like they already know they're getting senior pictures. And so this was just like it made sense.
Speaker 1:They're like what am I doing here? Yeah.
Speaker 2:Where this they're like. I don't really want to spend money on pictures for, like my 12-year-old- and like just didn't get it.
Speaker 1:But then later on, I mean I don't know if it was a huge success. Later on, we did the well. What did? Uh? Well, I thought it was like good yeah.
Speaker 2:So I then kind of revamped it into like, uh, more of a campaign instead of a program, so like one time you come in you do your shoot, yeah, and then. But the girls, it was like you know, like celebrating their unique you know, yeah, like they brought like the food they like, or their bikes or like whatever, like silly, it was so cute, yeah, and then?
Speaker 2:and that did and that worked really well for a few years, I think. Like towards the end, I think it started to drop off a bit and we were like, okay, I don't know if this is like great for us anymore, yeah, um and then we did.
Speaker 1:You did like bring back the tweens like yeah, and then that was good yeah, it worked out good again.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, so it's just that's the thing too. Is you just have to like with some stuff? You have to see why it was a flop and then see if you can kind of like adjust it or even ask people directly like what would make you sign up for this? Like what is? Where is the disconnect? For you is it because you just a lot of times you automatically think it's the price, but it isn't the price, because when I relaunch stuff later, I'm charging more for it and people are now signing up right so it's like was the price too low because that's the thing too, where they go.
Speaker 2:Why is it so cheap like this? Seems like it's a scam, or like this just doesn't seem right, doesn't make sense. The price doesn't match the value, right, so they get weirded out. Yeah, um, I feel like I'll be honest. I feel like there has been a lot of flops over yeah, what about the senior merch god?
Speaker 2:yeah, I mean it's tough, because the senior merch, though, was like well, I mean, we thought it was cool it was what happened was uh, you, we like designed t-shirts, hats, all this stuff for like class of whatever 2022 or whatever it was, um, made all this cool stuff, and then we had all these seniors come in and do this kind of like a little fashion shoe, like a little catalog type.
Speaker 1:It was like 90s kind of like theme. It's like right when, like 90s came back a little bit right a couple years ago and it was because people get those stupid sweatshirts at school. It's a class of 2020 they're so ugly so we had like someone design it. It was so cute, cute colors. It didn't have to be orange and black and blue and yellow you know and yeah, take photos. You can purchase photos or not.
Speaker 2:I think you still got like a photo or something, yeah they still got some like free photos and stuff, and then it was like they could sign up from there for the seniors, and then they got the rest of the photos from this shoot for free, yeah, or they can join the senior sorority too.
Speaker 1:That was kind of a thing. It was like it could filter into all these other things and they just come in and do a free shoot and I don't know like. I mean, we got a lot of people loved the shoot, yeah they loved it but I don't. It's like they couldn't find value into entering any of these other things. They're just like okay, yeah, that's it.
Speaker 2:I think, too, like we gave too many options. It should have just been like you come and you do this, and then this is the next step there's not like this or this, because that confuses people sometimes you have to have a clear like next step yeah so that was part of it.
Speaker 2:another thing, too, was the way we had scheduled this. I think, too we didn't make it super clear that parents had to be there, so some of these kids came in without their parents and it was like okay, okay, well, now we can't sell them on anything, cause my mom's not here. Um yeah, so that one was a flop.
Speaker 1:That was one of the cutest ones.
Speaker 2:I know we're, I know we're talking a lot of like, uh, high school senior stuff, but that's because that's the thing that I had done the longest in the business and tried so many marketing ideas, whereas with boudoir I only have had really had to try a handful of things before finding what worked. Yeah, um, and it's also just easier to market Like it's a way bigger market than high school seniors.
Speaker 1:Yeah, high school seniors are tough yeah.
Speaker 2:So I mean you just have to like find, like I said, find what works, double down on that, track the data of the stuff that you're doing to see if it's worth, yeah, the time you're spending um and then drop the stuff that's not working. Yeah, and you could revisit it later if needed. But yeah, why?
Speaker 1:not, yeah, yeah, okay. Do you believe? Um, you have to go viral to make big money, or can women still win with a quiet, focused brand?
Speaker 2:I really this is a question that okay. So I've talked about this before how there are these like rock star business owners in like the social media space. And so, let's say, you're a hairstylist and you are following another hairstylist who's like viral and they have like tens of thousands of followers and like they just seem like they're just like the shit. Okay, my thing is like how many of those followers are actually clients? So the same thing with photography like there's just people out there who it seems like, oh, they're just doing all this dope shit all the time and they're making all these cool videos, like they're good at creating content and they're good at engaging people online, but are they good at selling to people?
Speaker 2:are they good at like their client experience and all that? It's completely different, and so I've never, ever had a big following on social media the whole time I've been in business and that's never been a problem. Um, I think the most important thing is putting out content that is only speaking to the client that you want to speak to. It doesn't make sense to put stuff out there if I think, like sometimes we put stuff online to impress other people in our industry and that's the biggest mistake, because who gives a fuck?
Speaker 2:What, like other hairstylists think of your instagram or why are you even talking to them? Like they're not your client, they're never going to book with you and also, they don't really care what you're doing. They really don't care. So right, like maybe they're comparing themselves to you or whatever, but at the end of the day, like they're not going to change anything they're doing based off what you're doing, right. So I think, worrying about like chasing trends or like what's like what type of things other people are doing, that went viral and maybe I could do that and then I could go viral I just think that's a huge waste of time.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, trends are like fun, like you could do trending things. They're fun, they're silly, yeah, they show a little personality or whatever, but like chasing, it is kind of the worst. Kind of the worst feeling too. You just keep chasing it. And then what are you checking your Instagram, like if you went viral and stuff like that, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So it just doesn't make any sense, like I always just say, like I'll see these people and you get kind of like caught up in it.
Speaker 1:Sometimes, yeah, oh, you compare something like how come I can't be well, that's why you can't do social media?
Speaker 2:yeah, I can't because I, because I do do that and I get caught up in it and then I have to remind myself, like are they even making any money, are they? I don't know? I don't know. I mean I really it's like you don't know anything about anyone else's business, you don't know what expenses they have. So copying anything they're doing on social media or pricing or their website it's like this just doesn't make any sense.
Speaker 1:That is why I do feel like there's a few people that I follow and they're just so like transparent and like what they make and like they're real kind of. I mean, they could Be lying, but a lot of people don't even talk about it, so you know. So I just appreciate that so much more than just being like up front like this is what I'm making or these are the struggles that I'm having, and I think people connect with that so much more. And then those people I notice kind of have a bigger following too yeah, and I think too.
Speaker 2:Uh, some good advice for social media that I heard was focus on going deep, not wide, and so like creating a deeper connection with your followers and focusing on the people who are commenting. They are following you. They are like helping your business in that way, instead of just being so focused on getting more and more and more and more followers. That are just kind of like superficial yeah.
Speaker 1:So yeah, like you know, they always say like engagement in the comments and blah blah yeah and responding to your dms yeah, doing stuff like which I hate all that stuff too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I do too oh, I know it's hard. I mean not that I don't want to respond to, but I just want to, like now we have to have a conversation and I get it like that's what's like building all this stuff and I get that and but it's just like man, I'm already tired from making this content and then now I also have to talk to you, right, right, which, for the most part, I'm excited, like when people message maximalist life. I'm always like oh, did you see someone commented, or whatever yeah, but that's also probably because we get one or two.
Speaker 1:If it it was like hundreds, like real, like influencers and stuff, I can see why it's just gets too overwhelming. Yeah, yeah, and you're just like how, how can you respond to a?
Speaker 2:hundred people, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So I don't.
Speaker 2:I don't. I don't subscribe to the viral or like worrying so much about your followers and so to the yeah, viral or like worrying so much about your followers and stuff. It's so much better to have if you have a hundred followers and 70 of them can be your are your clients or something. That's so much better because you can be like creating a relationship with them on your social media and they'll they're more likely to like share your stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, tell their friends, comment on your stuff to help you get more organic engagement instead of having 10 000 followers where only a hundred people that's. The other thing, too, is you have to pay attention to like how many people are interacting versus how many followers will affect. You know how you go in the algorithm and right telling instagram or whatever that like not that many people are interested yeah so you don't want ghost followers and all this stuff. Also, getting caught up in any of that is a waste of time.
Speaker 1:Yeah for sure. If you're not making money from it, then like, yeah, who cares? Yeah, yeah, okay, you kind of touched a little bit on this. A little bit about numbers. When did you start tracking your numbers like a CEO and what changed in your business when you did this tracking your numbers?
Speaker 2:like a CEO, and what changed in your business when you did this. So I have always tracked numbers, but not to the extent that I do now. I would say, you know? I want to say I'm trying to think of when I really started to track it, the way that we are now probably in like I would say a good solid, like three years hardcore oh, longer than that but like at least hardcore so from like 2021 at least I started doing like really in-depth track.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because I feel like we were doing tracking when I came on but like the way that we can pull up numbers now when we're questioning everything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's, I mean hardcore, at least three years, but probably more yeah, and so I mean, the way that we're doing it now is not the most efficient way.
Speaker 2:It was just the way that I knew how to do it at the time, and now, of course, like scaling the business, I need to, like, we need to get a better system yeah, like stuff to be like automated instead of us like inputting but don't let that hold you back from like tracking it like we just use like google sheets, like literally a spreadsheet, and then every time we do something for marketing, every time we run a campaign, I make a new like tab on our google sheet and it tracks every single person who inquires. It goes onto the spreadsheet and then it tracks like did they book a consultation call? Because the uh, the way that we book clients is they inquire and then we set them up on a call. They get all the information on the call and they book or they don't. Um, so they get put on the spreadsheet. It tracks if they booked a call. It tracks if they actually completed the call or did they like not answer when we called or they texted to cancel it. Before it tracks did they book a shoot on that call or not? Um, it tracks. Did they cancel their shoot later? Did they ask to reschedule their shoot later? I mean literally everything. And then at the bottom everything is has totaled.
Speaker 2:It's total, so there's like percentages so I could see every time I look at it.
Speaker 2:I could just look and see like, okay, this is how many people are booking calls from, like our initial email asking them to book the call this.
Speaker 2:How many people from our calls like oh, we're booking 35 percent of clients from from our calls. So then we can try. We can go okay and this is what I was saying earlier about like don't just focus so much on like, oh, I need to do more marketing, I need to get more leads. Well, if you could just look at this and go okay, we're booking 35, how can we book 40? How could we just like convert five percent more of the leads we're already getting into bookings, then that's so much easier and you're not spending money on more ads, right, stuff like that. So that really is super helpful too, because then what we also see, I also track, like, how much money we're spending on ads each like campaign, which is how I knew. So when we had in April, when our Instagram got shut down, I believe which you never know for sure I believe our account was like shadow banned or something.
Speaker 1:They just weren't really pushing our content out. Whatever it was something it wasn't. I mean the fact that it's both you and I happening like it happened to both of us. It has to be yeah, and we're the only people running the ads. Like so we would only know. You know, like everyone, everyone's. You know instagram got cut off, but yeah.
Speaker 2:So because I was tracking like how much money we're spending on ads before and I knew like, okay, if I I knew like for every dollar I spent on ads, this is how many clients I book kind of a number that we're tracking that I could see a difference where I was like god, I'm spending almost four times as much money on ads right now to get the same number of clients.
Speaker 1:Makes your stomach hurt.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so that's just really good to know, because then you know, like, if your ads are working well or not. You know too, like I know what our cancellation rate is on shoots, so I can kind of you can work your way backwards to calculate, like, okay, this is how much money on average I make per client. Which means if I want to make you know X amount of money, that I need this many clients, and then you go, okay, well, if I need this many clients but I know 10% of them cancel, then you, you can just kind of do all these calculations to figure out like okay, this is how much money I need to put on ad, then Right, and it's so much easier to make decisions because you're not basing it off your emotion, you're just basing it off of data.
Speaker 1:It's just like yeah, there's no question, you don't have to ask oh, should I do this or is it?
Speaker 2:you know, you already know and you can see campaign versus campaign like this one works so much better than this one did. I mean, of course, at that point you don't really know why.
Speaker 1:So then you have to figure out why yeah, you can just make quicker decisions too, I think, because then I feel like when we're in the uh, the thinking room, the brain, when it's the brain and it would be like the four of us, and we're like talking and we're doing this whole like this is how the next year is gonna go, go, and we. I remember times specifically where I just go well, what was the number on this? And then it was like, okay, this was the number. And then we were like and it was like okay, this is number right now, and now we can make a decision on this thing, or this is why this one really worked.
Speaker 1:Okay, so now let's go into planning how we could like do something similar to this so that it could work and be profitable too. You know, instead of like and also going like, that didn't really work. We only made this much amount of money. Let's not do that one again for sure, right, you know. So I feel like that is really, really important in a business. It's like tracking the numbers.
Speaker 2:Well, the other thing like we started tracking was cause you know how you you go through these things where you go. I feel like I have a lot of crazy clients lately.
Speaker 2:I feel like there's a lot of cancellations and so you can go back and look like, is that true or not? Fixing other little problems, not just like profit. So I mean I'm just going to say this like lately I have been feeling like man. We've been having a lot of problem clients, like it seems like god what is happening that we're having like more issues than normal. But then when I actually look at the numbers I go we're not. It's just because we're shooting almost double the amount of clients, so naturally you're gonna have double the amount of problems we're interacting with more people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's why and so it's like, yeah, yeah, it's the same. Um, the other thing we started tracking was every time we would get a cancellation or reschedule, I started tracking what day of the week there they were booked on and noticing trends like, typically it's our weekend clients who are always canceling and always rescheduling and that's funny because that was kind of like a hypothesis that we thought very early on in like when we started, before we started tracking.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we were and I worked Monday through Friday in the very beginning, because we were kind of like it seems like they're the ones that are canceling, that they're the ones not showing up because they have something going on, you know.
Speaker 2:Which is also. It's interesting because weekends, of course, are the most requested right, those are the high, like people are like I can't get time off work, I gotta come on a weekend, la la, like whatever, and um, once we started opening up weekends, those are the quickest ones to drop off.
Speaker 1:They're booked. I mean they're booked like a month out at least.
Speaker 2:Oh no right now they're booked for two months off. Yeah, and so it's just like that was. The other thing is, then you could look at that and then you have to make a decision where you go OK. Well, maybe our weekend clients need to pay double the deposit to book a weekend, or maybe, like weekends, need to have higher pricing to deter people from booking.
Speaker 2:I'm not yeah From not like showing up, yeah yeah, or whatever like there needs to be something, and so that tracking that you can make decisions right it just yeah, like you said, at the end of the day it just makes your decision-making easier and you're just able to figure out stuff about your business without without like feelings and you don't go down this little little rabbit hole of like oh well, what about this, what about this, what about this?
Speaker 2:and you're not like yeah yeah, you're not just so questioning so many things. There's no question about it, it's just right. It's right there, staring you right in the face right yeah good job.
Speaker 1:Good job doing all that, thanks. Okay. What's one piece of advice you would give? Let's start over. What's one piece of advice you would give to people about raising their prices without feeling like a fraud or fearing they'll lose everyone?
Speaker 2:Okay, so this, I think this is a hard thing for people this is a really hard thing for people, yeah, yeah, yeah so the first thing I will say is only raise your price if you feel like it matches the value of what you're offering. So I don't think that it's fair to raise your prices, um, to be above the value of what you're offering, like. So sometimes people will give the advice to like, let's say, someone's like a beginner in their industry or they're kind of new and they're just, they're charging these like lower prices, and people will kind of tell them, like no, you need to charge higher prices and you do. And it's like, maybe they don't though, because they don't have the experience level, they don't have like the amount of clients under their belt. They, so they should be charging a cheaper price at that point. Um, so that's one thing that you have to make sure. You have to also make sure you're not too cheap, because that will also turn people off, just the way that it turns people off.
Speaker 2:If it's too high, it has to. If the value doesn't match, people start questioning it. Um, but you have to think. Think about it this way if your price is really really high and someone inquires and you tell them the price, and they have some sticker shock over it and they go oh, my god, like I didn't know it was gonna be that expensive. The thoughts that go through their head more than likely are like it must be pretty good.
Speaker 2:Then, like you don't typically hear of something priced so high and think like it's shitty. You think like, oh what, why are they priced so much higher than this other you know photographer down the street or whatever? And then they think, well must be, because they're so much better, they must be offering a lot more stuff. Like it has to be a better deal to do that. The things that go through their head when you're so cheap that it doesn't match the value is they ask themselves, like why are you giving it away for so cheap? Like are you actually going to give me all the things that you promised? Or and why would you spend that much time working with me for such a small dollar amount? Um, and then get kind of sketched out like maybe you're not going to live up to the promise that you made and things like that.
Speaker 2:So so that's something to consider when you're thinking about if your prices are too high or too low. Um, the other thing you have to remember too is like, yes, the higher you price yourself, typically, the harder it is to book clients as you kind of climb that pricing ladder.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but what you have to do is figure out, just do the math. So, like something that I was just like, we were just like talking about or whatever at the conference too, was like, okay, think about like this way so let's say you double your price tomorrow and then 30% of your clients leave. Well, you're making double the amount of money, but you didn't lose half of your clients. Even if you lost half of your clients, you'd be making the same amount of money and only dealing with half the amount of clients. So if 30% of your clients, you'd be making the same amount of money and only dealing with half the amount of clients, right? So if 30 of your clients go away because they're like that's too expensive, I'm not booking, or like your booking rate goes down that much, or whatever, you're still making more money and you have less clients.
Speaker 2:So then you have the capability to take on more clients too, right? So, um, I do think it's better when you raise your price. I do think it's better when you raise your price. I do think it's better, instead of just incrementally like going up a little bit more, a little bit more, which you could do, that I prefer to make the leap to the price that you think you should be at. That, you agree, is a fair value for what you're offering, and then introducing it into the market price, you could discount it.
Speaker 2:So, instead of like keep going up, just say like, oh, okay, raising the price now to whatever $1,500. But for this month it's, you know, $250 off. Or for the first five clients, it's this. What you also could do is set your price and then, as you're doing your let's say, you book people on calls or consultations or something, something you can give a bigger discount in the beginning and say like, okay, it's, it's fifteen hundred dollars, but for the first like five clients, or however many, you want to say like I'm taking five hundred dollars off. So then you get through those first like five calls of people that say, yes, they book, and you feel a little better about it because you you don't feel so like, like you aren't sick or shocked by it. Then you build up your confidence a little bit more. So the next five calls you can go, I'm only taking $400 off.
Speaker 1:For the next five clients.
Speaker 2:I'm taking $400 off, and so you kind of build your confidence in selling it as you're getting more and more clients and so you get up to that 1500 and you're no longer giving discounts. Yeah, so that's another way you could do it, but I think I think you just have to look at realistically. You have to get out of your head that, like, raising my prices, I'm gonna lose all my clients. No, you're not.
Speaker 2:You're not gonna lose all your clients, that's not gonna happen, um, and if you're someone who has recurring clients, like a hairstylist, and you're, you have these clients that come to you all the time. And you're someone who has recurring clients like a hairstylist, and you have these clients that come to you all the time and you're nervous like oh man, I've been working with this client for like five years and I feel bad raising the price and blah, blah, blah. I mean the thing is they also know that there's inflation. They know that, like everything is going up, it's not just you.
Speaker 2:It's expected. People aren't really ever flabbergasted that yeah, businesses raise their prices.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I think that some because I fell into this a little bit with some hairstylists feel it's really tough to raise your prices because you've been doing this person's hair for 10 years and you're just like you know all this stuff, and I think they're just like I can't raise my prices, I can't charge them, or they feel like your family, you know right. I mean you gotta do what you gotta do for yourself yeah, yeah, that's the thing.
Speaker 2:And I feel like if you have this client who you're saying like, oh, it feels like they feel like family or like I'm really close to them, or whatever, and you're telling them, hey, in order for me to be profitable in my business, like I need to raise my prices and they're not okay with that right.
Speaker 2:They don't care about you yeah, as much as you think that they do right right so yeah, because they're gonna do what's best for them so they're either gonna stay loyal to you as a client or they're gonna go somewhere else right, they're gonna make the decision that's best for them and that's what you need to do too.
Speaker 2:And you have to just remember a lot of times we get in these like emotional hang-ups, especially, I think, as women. We get caught up in like how our clients feel or how like leads are going to feel when you're talking to them about booking, and it's, at the end of the day, it's just business. It's not personal, right, and you're not. You're not stabbing someone in the back, right, like you're just running a profitable business. So right you're, you're just running a profitable business. So right, you're not running a charity.
Speaker 1:Yeah so, although I do have a problem with some people just charging like I mean, I think, kind of the extension, uh, industry is getting a little exposure right now because people are just charging the most money for extensions. And then I I think in the beginning people were like, okay, I mean this is like worth it, this is like a good price. And then, as the prices are just going up and up and up and it's just like the same service that you're getting and it's like doubling at this point is like crazy. I understand like that, I, you know people, you spend a lot of time on them, all that stuff. But man, I see some of these, these amounts that they're charging and I think it's I mean, I don't know, I can't afford that, right, I know.
Speaker 2:It's like such a weird thing with the extension thing I know and it just goes back to like again, if it is it, it is it the same value. Because, again, like, if I'm getting the same exact service, you're using the same exact hair, all the things, and now it's literally double what it was before. Why is it? Why is it all of a sudden double? Because I think, like, were you not making any money before, right, or are you price gouging me now?
Speaker 2:right, so it just yeah like I feel like you have to show more value if you're gonna raise your prices, a little bit like and what you can do too, like, I think there's so many ways to add value that don't cost you a lot of money too, and you can just throw these things in and kind of create this little like, almost like little bonuses, where it's like hey, I'm raising my prices, blah, blah, blah, um, but like and here's the thing too, you also never have to announce that you're raising your prices, you, you, I mean, I think, to existing clients.
Speaker 1:Yes, if you yeah, yeah, yeah, but like if it's new clients or you know it's like this way, this is already charged the whole time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, you don't have to make an announcement, um, but you can just start adding stuff so people see more value in it. Like, for example, so when I used to, um, I would get my hair extensions. Like when I would go in to get my extensions done, like one of the things that she would do was like she would ask you for your coffee order, like what's your.
Speaker 2:Starbucks order. So when you get there she would literally have, like your Starbucks, she would buy you lunch. It's a long ass appointment too to buy you lunch. And then also she has this gift bag of like full size, all the like hair products from her line that she sells. And so, yeah, I mean of course she's getting those hair products at like a way cheaper cost, obviously, than like retail price, and then for her to get Starbucks okay, maybe she spends like six, seven dollars, depending on what you're getting buys lunch. So like, let's say, she spent fifty dollars. But it added so much value for me because I just could show up and I feel so taken care of.
Speaker 2:I don't need to worry about getting coffee on my way there, I don't need to worry like I'm like, oh well, I'm just gonna have lunch, it's so part of the experience yeah, yeah, and she would do this thing too, like you do like your hair wash thing, and she had this little routine and she would do like these little essential oils and like this little massage thing. And then this, I don't know, she'd do all this shit and I was like this is like a little spa day and that cost her nothing. I mean that cost she, I mean kids, and I'm friends with her and so she would tell me like this is something I'm adding in and she's like.
Speaker 2:It cost me three dollars to do this yeah so what, but it just adds so much value. Where I go, this is the place that, and also she knows I would always work, so when I would get there she would have like a little table set up for like my laptop. All my shit could go on there, and it's just like that's why I pay more money for stuff like that me too.
Speaker 2:I would too, yeah, instead of like I just show up and this person doesn't give a fuck. They're just like all right, you're sitting in my chair for six hours and figure it out yourself. Door dash your own food and yeah you know what?
Speaker 2:I mean it's like you could do things for your clients that just don't cost you hardly anything like even for us, like we just started offering like keep like stuff for mimosas, we have like little snacks while they're waiting for us to edit their photos. It doesn't cost per client. That cost us almost nothing.
Speaker 1:No, it's so cheap, Like that is literally so cheap.
Speaker 2:Like they come in, they do this hair and makeup, they do the whole fucking photo shoot, which is physically exhausting, like you're sore after a boudoir session.
Speaker 1:And they typically don't eat before. No, they don't, Because they're like I'm going to be bloated and then, depending on what time your appointment is, you might not have eaten. You know it's 12 o'clock. And then you didn't shoot, and then you're like it's 2 o'clock and then you're going. Oh my God, I'm starving.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we just have like snacks for them, drinks, all this stuff and it's just makes them more comfortable in the space and it feels like the business and the people working in it actually care about you. You're not just like a number to them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it probably costs us like a dollar a client to have that. I mean it can't cost much, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, okay, okay, okay. What is your um um take on selling um? Is it energy strategy or both? And how do you personally personally sell without feeling gross?
Speaker 2:so I feel like selling is a combination. I feel like, okay, you had to have a combination of three things. Okay, Number one you need to have full confidence in your pricing. You can't stutter when you're saying the price. You know you have to be. You have to practice saying those numbers out loud so many times that it's just a number to you. That's the first thing. Yeah, you have to be fully confident in what you're selling, Otherwise, why would the other person want to buy it If they don't even feel like you would buy it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're like what what's?
Speaker 2:that number? Am I really?
Speaker 1:selling that yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, say it with some force. Yeah, say it with a chest. Yeah, come on.
Speaker 1:Let's hear it.
Speaker 2:The second thing is I think you do need to have a strategy. I think there is definitely a way to sell that works better. Um, for us in particular, it depends and it depends, you know, it depends on what we're talking about. Like for us, because we're selling people their photos after their they've already done the shoot and then they're coming in and now we're kind of selling the package where some people service wise, like you know, if you're getting your hair done, they they say like, okay, you know, you want 22 inch extensions and little, okay, this is the price. Or like or you could do a cheaper option If you want this. You're kind of pre-selling these packages where we're selling after the fact.
Speaker 2:But I think either way, the way that you walk your client through that process, there has to be some strategy to it and you need to keep 100 control over that conversation yeah, I think that's huge yeah because clients, if, especially if they can tell that you are unsure, if you start to show I don't want to say like weakness, but where, like I said, you're kind of stuttering or you don't seem confident or you seem like you don't really know what you're doing, that is the first opportunity for them to kind of take over the conversation.
Speaker 1:And that's when they like start asking for discounts or they start like oh, they want to like, piece together your packages and like they just want to take advantage of you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you have to walk them through like. This is how we do it. This is the pricing. Let me help you like figure out what's best for you, blah, blah. So you have to have this strategy.
Speaker 2:And then, I think, the third thing, the last thing it is really important that you have, I think, strong emotional intelligence, and you have to be able to like connect with people, because you have to be able to read the room, and so you can't just be reading off a script and then not paying attention to how the other person is responding, because sometimes the the way that they respond is unexpected. It's not something like you thought they were going to ask, or and or they're telling you an objection that is very emotionally based. Typically, it is at least for like what we're doing, and so you have to be able to connect with them and like part of that too, I think, is matching their energy, mm-hmm. So clients that are just they going and they're just like yes, oh, my god, I love these. Like they want you to hype them up too. So then you kind of have to go selling, you're selling them with this like hype mode and then other clients.
Speaker 2:They're quiet, they're a little bit more reserved. They kind of want to sit back, see the photos or listen to what you're saying on the phone, the packages this and that, and make a decision not so loudly, and so you don't want to bombard them right that energy that might overwhelm them.
Speaker 2:So you have to match their energy, you have to be empathetic, you have to, like, understand where they're coming from and be able to connect with them and figure out how to break down those barriers in order for people to, because that's how the they'll trust you. If they don't feel like you're just hard selling right, like oh, they just want my money. If they're you're like, no, I understand. Or you can tell a story of some time, like if they say something and you go, yeah, I understand. Like I understand your hang up. I had a client in a similar position and this is what happened with her and then this is what we ended up doing.
Speaker 2:And they go, oh, okay, and they can kind of hear from you like yeah this is how I worked through it with that client, and we could do that too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so okay I know that's on selling, yeah, selling's tough.
Speaker 2:It's a tough thing, nobody. And the thing too is like people like I think the problem too is a lot of people will be like well, I'm just not a salesperson, I'm not a natural salesperson. Okay, nobody was born a salesperson. Right, you have to learn those skills and you have to practice them. That's the thing too, is you have to practice them. You have to say the numbers out loud. You have to get so comfortable with your selling process that it just feels really natural because, then it'll sound natural to them and, like I said, not forced, not nervous yeah, so yeah, tough.
Speaker 1:Um, what's a launch mistake you made early on that cost you money and how would you do it differently now? A launch mistake.
Speaker 2:Can you elaborate on that?
Speaker 1:no wait like when you're launching your business launching the business. Oh um, let me think, god or it could even be like what's a mistake you see, like people making when they're launching their businesses, that you're like, oh, let me, let me fix this for you I think one thing that people really underestimate is how important their brand is I think that's such a huge thing people don't realize.
Speaker 1:Even just the name of the business could be look, be crazy or just like deter people like that's kind of weird and it's like people don't understand that without a strong brand, people don't trust you and they have to work.
Speaker 2:It's like your client has to work hard to figure out who you are like. You need to just present very clearly exactly who you are, what you're about, why you can, how you can help them, why they should be the person to help you with whatever your problem, or like pain point is yeah. And the way to do that is just like having a really strong, a really strong brand, Um, and what I mean by that is like I'm not just talking about your logo.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, a brand is just like what people will say about your business when you're not in the room. And so if you think about how do I want people to feel when they're working with me, or when they're looking at my social media, or like, what are these feelings I want to evoke from what I'm posting, or whatever that will help you? Um, yeah, of course, like color theory and your logo and all these things like play into it.
Speaker 2:sure yeah, I think a lot of it is like really honing in on what your brand voice is and, like I said earlier, you have to know who your ideal client is and who you're speaking to and only speak to that person.
Speaker 2:Um, and then having strong visuals, obviously, because people are visual people and so they need to see like photos and video from you that keep reiterating the same look, the same feel, the same voice and just really push it like in forces.
Speaker 2:This is what our brand is, this is what we're about, and it needs to be consistent everywhere on your social media, on your website, when people are emailing you, if you have, like, let's say, an email signature at the bottom, that should look the same as all of your other stuff, anything that they see from you or that they receive from you, like we send a welcome guide, our welcome guide has the same like fonts, same photos, same brand voice, everything as our website, as our social media, everywhere, so no one ever questions what we're about or who we are yeah, and I I think, like you're saying, like everything is like consistent and like looks put together, because I mean who wants to come in a place and spend $3,000 and then be like this looks messy, like any of the stuff that you're getting beforehand, or like I mean I know that you would feel like this, like emails that you're getting sent are like misspelled or like punctuation stuff or like not clear, like information on, like, what time my appointment is and like all this stuff like because everything is like so put together, it feels like there's value, that you're like investing into this business you know on your stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, because if, if everything looks like modge podge together yeah, I hate that.
Speaker 2:It's like you don't even take your own business seriously, so why would somebody else? Right? And my other thing, too, is like about your brand, is like what you're about or the things that you prioritize. So for me, in this business, one of the things I really value is attention to detail, and so I feel like that is shown throughout the whole process. So I mean, like you said, we're talking about emails that they're getting. There is not one word that's going to be misspelled on any of our emails.
Speaker 2:All of our welcome guides are going to be put together. Every single thing that happens, from beginning to end, there is attention. If you come into our studio, like the bathroom should be clean, there should be like every single thing, like that you're saying that your business is about needs to be shown everywhere and so. So if you have a physical space that people come into, that's also the thing you can't say oh yeah, I have such attention to detail. And they come into your hair salon and there's just like hair all over the floor and they're just like that's not showing attention to detail.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I hate that. I hate dirty salons.
Speaker 2:I hate anything dirty. If I go into a business and they have a dirty bathroom, it grosses me out so much.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I don't usually use bathrooms at businesses, so I don't know, I don't want to use bathroom at places, you know me.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah so you just have to think about what you're saying and, like, whatever your core values of your business, it really needs to be infused into everything in your whole business.
Speaker 1:And so it's like taking that time in the beginning before launching really makes like such a big difference in like how you're perceived and like people like okay, I can see why she charges this or whatever, and it just looks like so much more put together.
Speaker 2:And it's like also, you, if you're launching your business and you're just like, oh my gosh, now I have to like create this whole brand and I have to do all this stuff, I have to figure all these things, it's like you don't have to. You have to remember to like it can always change, it will evolve as your business evolves. So don't think that it's like permanent, but figure out what it is right now, at this stage in your business, that you want to put out there. Um, make sure that you kind of have all your ducks in a row before you just go out there.
Speaker 2:What you don't want to do is rush to launch and then you throw out some half-assed website and then your Instagram is super inconsistent and everything is just mismatched and you think, oh, it's fine, I'll fix it later. Well, now that's the first impression of your business that people have, and it's hard to change a first impression, right? So, yeah, investing the time, money, effort into your brand is huge yeah, I think so too um this is some good questions yeah, you know, okay.
Speaker 1:So here I mean, this is kind of like we kind of talked about this a little bit already. Um, what's your favorite way to attract clients right now? Email, ig stories, dm, something else I mean instagram yeah and I would say that's the only.
Speaker 2:It's the world we live in.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I hate it like I know that we have to use I know it's like a huge like thing for you, like I know the whole, like all you know every all your eggs in a basket.
Speaker 2:I know you hate it, I just hate that like we rely so heavily on something that could just be taken away tomorrow because, especially because of the industry that we like it's boudoir.
Speaker 2:So it's sexy, so it's easy to get like flagged on social media, yeah, and so I mean we have been really good about growing our email list from the beginning, so we have a pretty big email list. We used to be really consistent with our with putting out a newsletter. I will say we have not been consistent about that, um, for probably eight months, um, but that's just because, to, like, the team has been evolving over that time and it's just been like we're kind of just now having everything fall into place team wise, so we can kind of hopefully start that back up. Yeah, so my favorite I would say my favorite idea in theory is email marketing. I think that's like that is the way that people say you should be marketing your business, like, because you control that no one can take away your email list, right, right, right.
Speaker 2:But they can shut down your Instagram account and then you're fucked, mm-hmm. So Please don't shut ours down. Yeah, so I would't shut ours down. So I would say, like I would like to say that email and I, that's like I said. I say in theory, because that isn't the way we're booking our clients right now. We have booked clients from our email list and doing newsletters and stuff, but um, yeah, right now I would say Instagram and because it's our lowest um.
Speaker 2:It's also our lowest effort. It's the lowest amount of effort we put in because, yes, it all although it's more effort to put in to do like the organic content and creating that like when we're talking about the majority of our clients coming off the ads, that's very little effort on our part once we've created it and put it out there yeah so that's, my favorite I know, yeah, most of my work, yeah, because making you all your money, yeah, exactly okay.
Speaker 1:Um, what would be your advice on, uh, for people, um, that are just kind of like I just want to help people, to go from I just want to help people to I want to make some serious money doing this. Like, how is that transition, mm?
Speaker 2:Oh, tough one, yeah. So I think people need to be realistic about the fact that not everyone can be a business owner. So if you really want to help people but you do not want to learn about business, or you know, if you hate doing business stuff, possibly being a business owner is not for you right, and there's ways that you can make money helping people without having to own your own business and you can work for other people and I know that's kind of maybe that isn't the answer people want to hear, um, but I think a lot of people think, okay, I have this skill and I can help people with this and I want to start my own business.
Speaker 2:And you have all these ideas about what running a business looks like and you think, oh, I'm going to have a flexible schedule and I can just make all this money.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:And it's like that's not actually really how it is not for a long time and it's like that's not actually really how it is Not for a long time. I mean, I have not had a flexible schedule until like two years ago, so it took 11 years to get to having a flexible schedule.
Speaker 2:Like people just don't realize how long it takes to get to all those goals that people think of, like when they own a business. And it's hard because nobody really talks about all those struggles that often to where you just see people and you think they're just like this overnight success and that's not true. Um, so, but let's say you are okay. So let's say you have asked yourself that question and you're like do I want to be a business owner? Do I really want to like put the time and effort in? And if you say yes, then what I would say is I would take some time to start researching it first before just like jumping in.
Speaker 2:Um, and what I mean is like, whatever it is that you're saying you want to help people with, let's say it's something you don't need to go to school for, so you don't need to, like you know, be licensed, or something so like for you know photography, you don't need a license for that, so you could just start that business. I would start kind of researching, see, like what are the different opportunities for business for you to open? Um, try everything. So if you don't know what kind of photography you want to do just try all of it, see if you can be like a second shooter for other photographers or an assistant and kind of just get some experience under your belt, um, before just jumping in all the way, um. And then I think, for people who work like, let's say, you work a full-time job and you're like, how do I go from working this full-time job?
Speaker 1:to like that's a good one, yeah business owner.
Speaker 2:I think what you need to do I mean, I'm all about a side hustle, so start it off as a side hustle, just be your little weekend warrior. And I think if you really really want to make it happen, you have to schedule it in as if it's a part-time job. You can't just say like, oh, I work nine to five and then you know I'm tired when I get home and this and this and that, like you have. If you really want to make this your career and you want to make this career change, you have to say you have to be willing to like, on the weekends and or during the week, schedule in like it's a shift and like, okay, I'm gonna come home, eat dinner, do that, you know, hang out with my family or whatever, and then from like 8 to 10 pm I'm working on my business or whatever. Whatever that might look like for you. Um, and then, as you kind of like can grow it a little bit more, you can start kind of stocking money away.
Speaker 2:And then I would say, get yourself maybe at least like a six month nest egg, yeah, before you make the jump and have a plan, like you also have to say like you can't just be like okay, I have six months worth of money right and I'm gonna quit my job, but like I don't actually have any clients, okay, well, that's not gonna work. Like you need to be at this point where you're like I have, my business is a little bit too big for me to do this and work and I have enough money saved up that I can quit my job and not like shit my pants about it.
Speaker 2:Yeah and then that will I mean the second you quit your job. That'll light a fire on you real quick, so that's what I would do, yeah that's what I do, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I feel like people don't really like. There's like, okay, I'm just gonna quit my job and then I hope it just like works out. It's like you gotta hustle for like six months, doing both and being exhausted and show yourself you really want this right and feeling like this. And then after the six months you're like and then you start taking on you, taking on the clients. You're like this is where I want to be. Yeah, I worked really hard to be here and.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna continue to do this yeah otherwise you're just like okay, I'm gonna like leave my job, and here I am.
Speaker 2:You feel defeated when you don't have money and then you're trying to like do it that way a little bit yeah, so I will say so in the very beginning of my business I mean I was, I was a stay-at-home mom and I was married and I was doing my business super part-time anytime that my husband wasn't working and could watch the baby. And then, once we separated and I moved out, I was like I have to make a decision here. Am I like I didn't want to get a job, because I really wanted to make my photography business work? Yeah, but I also was like a full-time stay at home mom during the week.
Speaker 2:And so it was like I have very little time where he's now like at his dad's house that I can work this business, and that it was what I had to do. I mean, I had to coordinate. I talked about this before. I had a friend who had a similar age daughter, and so we coordinated daycare with each other like a little daycare co-op, and so we swapped off you know, swapped days where we could watch each other's kids so we could work on our businesses, and then anytime that my son was at his dad's house, I was working on my business and I was so fucking tired all the time but I was like I want to do this so bad. Yeah, I am.
Speaker 2:And I will say that's what I'm saying. That's where I'm saying like I would suggest having like a six month, um little safety net. I had nothing. Like when I left my husband, I had nothing and it was like, okay, I'm just literally living month to month here and it's like I have to scramble to get clients and it was like you have to make rent this month so you better figure the fuck out yeah, um, so I don't suggest doing that.
Speaker 2:It's really scary it's really scary, uh, so I don't suggest doing that. It would have been so much better if I had like a little breathing room to make it happen. But, um, yeah, I think what you said was like it's like you have to prove to yourself that you want it bad enough, because you might get in the weeds with it and then you go, this isn't really actually what I want. Actually, it's so much easier to work nine to five and then be done or like I just want to do this a little bit, not full-time
Speaker 1:yeah, not everyone wants to be a full-time business owner yeah, yeah, where it's like oh, I, to you know, have like three or four clients a month. It's low pressure. This is too much. I don't really want to do it. Instead of being like okay, I'm going to like have to rely on money like my living off this thing.
Speaker 2:Right, it's like it kind of keeps it a little more fun. Yeah, we've talked about.
Speaker 1:Like you could just have like a side hustle. It doesn't have to be. You're making $150,000, you know every year off it. Yeah, it's your little play money.
Speaker 2:It's like you can have your fun money, but then you still have this like safety net of like a nine to five or whatever.
Speaker 1:Yeah, or whatever it is. Yeah, yeah, um, okay, so do you have any other like business advice or anything? Oh my, I know, as we're like, yeah, as we're wrapping it up, Any other business. Or anything you like really want us to take away from this conversation? Hmm.
Speaker 2:I would say oh God, I know, I know.
Speaker 1:It's like there's so many things. There's so many things.
Speaker 2:I'm like, how do I just like wrap it up? Yeah, how do I put a little bow on it? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean I think that being a business owner can be lonely also.
Speaker 2:And I think making sure that you have I mean I mean making sure you have a support system anyway- yeah, is really helpful, I would say, making sure you kind of have a solid network of people to kind of back you up um is my advice and also being very open to meeting other business owners who can like kind of share in your struggles with you and you get to help each other out. That's really helpful and I would say, like if you really want to start a business or you really really want to grow a business that you already have, call you.
Speaker 1:call you and you'll coach them through it and I'll help you. Yeah, and you'll coach them through it. Call me and I'll help you. Yeah, and you can help them with everything the numbers, the marketing, the branding, everything.
Speaker 2:Honestly, I mean, I feel like if it's something you really want to do, I'm always like go for it. Like go for it, jump Definitely. Like make the jump, live out your dream. Don't wait too long. You know, like I mentioned, like okay, make sure you have money saved up and this and that, but like but also don't just like keep procrastinating go after it.
Speaker 2:Don't be scared or feel like it. Just hold like having fear, hold you back and if there's things that you need help with, I would say take the money that you need help with. I would say take the money that you have in the beginning of your business. It's really important to reinvest, I think, into a coach or education or things that are going to help you grow your business, rather than taking that money and like buying a new camera or like renting out a space or whatever it's like. Important, and especially in the beginning, to keep reinvesting back into learning so that that all that learning is going to compound and you'll be able to grow so much quicker from there yeah yeah I know I wish that we could find good business coaches well, it's hard to find.
Speaker 2:you are one, it's, so we just need to talk to you. Yeah, it's hard to find a business coach after your business kind of hits a certain threshold. I feel like there's a lack of business coaches in that revenue level. If you would say that, I guess for the type of business we're in Because it's a creative, service-based business and at that revenue level it's a little different there's not as many. A lot of coaches in that realm are for like more larger corporations or for like non-creative industries.
Speaker 2:Yeah, or they're coaches for other coaches about how to be a coach, right, um, but not about how to actually run your business, right? So a little bit tough yeah but yeah, I say, go for it, chase your dreams, don't let fear hold you back and call me if you call brianna, need any help.
Speaker 1:Yeah, message her dm her.
Speaker 2:Shoot me a dm either at maximalist life podcast or at the Brianna Gamble she will help you make all your business dreams come true.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's a big lot of pressure. Jesus, I hope you can do it. Yeah, tommy me too.
Speaker 2:Yep, hope you guys enjoyed this fun little interview yeah. It's been fun. Yeah, all right. Well, we will catch you guys next time. Hope you're having fun out there. Tits up, dicks out, dicks out, dicks out, dicks out.