Often Ambitious: A Photography & Business Podcast
Often Ambitious is for photographers, creatives, and entrepreneurs who want to work less, make more, and build a business that actually supports their life, not one that runs it.
Hosted by business strategist Alora Rachelle, this show is grounded in lived experience. Alora built a six-figure wedding photography business while raising kids, then went on to help wedding photographers generate over $3 million in collective revenue through Wedding Atelier. She’s done the work, questioned the rules, and helped others stop overworking for underwhelming results.
Each episode cuts through the noise with conversations about profitable pricing, boundaries without apology, authority without hustle, and growth that leaves room for creativity, rest, and a life you don’t need a vacation from.
If you’re ambitious but done with burnout, performative busywork, and chasing success that costs you everything else, Often Ambitious is for you.
Often Ambitious: A Photography & Business Podcast
247. How Sammy Went From $3K to $10k+ Weddings (in less than 12 months)
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Alora interviews Wedding Atelier student Sammy about rapidly repositioning her wedding photography business toward the luxury market in under a year. Sammy shares how she joined in the fall of 2025, raised pricing from $3,600 to $6,500, booked her first $10K+ wedding, had consistent $15K months, and a recent $26K month while working less.
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Welcome back to the podcast. I'm really excited to have one of my success students on the episode today. She submitted many wins, and finally I was like, "Get on the podcast." I sent her a DM. I was like, here's the link. Book a call." I'm really excited to talk about your transformation because I think you got a lot of big wins less than 12 months. I don't even think you, you've hit the year mark yet. Sammy, tell us a little bit about you, your journey, and why you joined Wedding Atelier
sammyyeah. Thanks, Laura. I'm super,
AloraHmm.
sammyAnd respect you so much, but I started Wedding Atelier, which, by the way I can say that word, but I cannot spell it to save
Aloraknow. I know.
sammybut I, I joined the program in the fall, and I started having wins almost immediately, and know that they'll just continue to grow. But when I came in, I really started taking photography seriously in October of '22. I have always been drawn to luxury positioning, 'cause I really love providing a ton of value to my clients. I love working with really high-end structures. I'm not trying to get out here and just shoot a ton of weddings. I always just wanna give a really high-end experience, but I didn't really know how to shift that. So I was just working myself to death, working all of the time, and I've known just from different things that I've done, that nothing is more valuable than having a coach. And I'd been listening to your podcast for a while, and I was actually referred from another good girlfriend that is in your program or had just joined, and she had actually sent me a couple of your podcasts, which is how I started listening to you in the first place. I was charging, 3,600. I went to 42, and then I just raised my prices to 4,800, and I was, like, nervous to do so. But yeah, came in, you ripped my pricing apart. We're like, "This is inappropriate." And yeah, I've, I just booked my first over 10K wedding in less than a year.
AloraYeah, there's so much to share. I feel like you just took the feedback. You curated your portfolio, you decided on your style, and I think for you, I had the most fun going through your artist story. I rip apart prices in my sleep, like that's not even a big deal to me. But like, when we were going through your artist story, I'm like, "You on paper and you on Instagram and website don't align." I said, "Who is this girl, and how can we put her everywhere?" And then we came up with something, because you're like I am editorial." And I was like, "Yes, you are, and everyone else is." But when we came up with like your stylish, very fashion-driven background, I was like, "Oh my goodness. That's it. That's what's gonna set her apart. That's what's gonna spearhead her anywhere that she goes."
sammyThe artist story, which for people that don't know what that is, it is a homework assignment that Laura gives, which I was like, "She's gonna kill me," 'cause it took me a really long time. But I do think that if you actually put work into it, it is probably the most worthwhile thing I've done in this program, which is really take my time. And, you may think that you know yourself, you know your brand, you know your why. But just asking me point-blank these questions that I hadn't really gone layers deep on to really understand, like, why I do this and what my background is. I've written Substacks on certain prompts, like entire articles and essays that are about just one-liners that you've asked me that have really encouraged me to dive deep into my story, that have inspired me so much, and then inspired people that read things that I write, which has been really cool. Inside this program, I've just gotten so clear, and by getting clear about what my magic is, it has completely transformed how I communicate, and so communicate online and Instagram, communicate through my actual artistry. My work looks really different now, and I think it looks really different just by understanding myself more. And it's been a really consistent process over eight months. So it has been so much work, but it's been really cool, and I have people that reach out to me all the time, and whether they're photographers or even clients have told me, "It's been so cool to watch you transform your art and stuff like that, and really understand what's happening," and people that have been on my journey. I've had three different people reach out to me this year that have said, I don't even have a wedding date yet, but, like, when I do, the only thing I'm clear on is that you will be my photographer." I've had people reach out to me that say, "I don't even have a proposal yet, but I'm gonna need you in six months."
AloraWhat?
sammyare just so great just through the work that I've done in working with you, and my artist story, and just understanding myself, that it's really translating. I think in the wedding industry, there's so many people saying the same things. I remember feeling like I was so unique. And I came up with this not 'cause I had seen it, but I think my Instagram bio was um, you can feel. And because I love felt imagery, obviously. That's what so many of us are trying to do, we're wedding photographers. We're like, we want it to be deeply felt. there's so many ways that you can say that by talking about your own special skills, and the artist story really helped me communicate that in a way that is really unique to me. Because now I'm on Instagram all the time, and I'll go to people's profiles, and I literally see that bio, and I'm not narcissistic enough to think that they saw me and were like, "Oh, I'm copying her copy." I'm like, "Oh, my God, I was just like everybody else." And I think that in the work that we do together, you have helped me understand how to communicate how different I am. And I think that there's so many photographers, we're all so unique to ourselves, but we need the tools to be able to communicate that. And so that's what I've gotten out of this program 'cause there's so many great photographers out there. But clients need help with who to choose based off of how you communicate your value and what you're doing. That's one of the many things.
AloraOh, Sammy, that's so good. What it sounds like to me, like the fact that you have couples being like, "I don't..." Especially when they're like, "I don't even have a relationship, but when I do you're the girl."
sammythey have a relationship, but they're like, "I know I'm getting proposed to s- soon." I think that they've either gone ring shopping, but they're
AloraUh-huh.
sammyKnow when it's happening, but I'm gonna need you for engagement photos, for weddings ASAP." I'm like, "Yeah,
AloraGirl,
sammyknow."
Alorano, you have become the only option. That's that angle we're spinning right now with your artist story makes you the only option. Nobody has your exact personality, your style, the c- the care and the curation that you have for your clients. I remember you describing your clients, and I was like, "You have never said this anywhere, ever. I would never have known." You're like, "Oh, I was, "Let's sprinkle this everywhere. Let's curate this portfolio. Put out the good work that you wanted to attract," and it's just like that deep work, I know it took you c- a few months to get it done,
sammy60 pages.
Alorabut... Okay, now hold on a second.
sammyno, just 'cause you know i'm a wordy person. I write a lot, So mine took me a while But it was the most worth- worthwhile thing I do, 'cause now I repurpose it into all types of content. It's essays on my Substack. It is in theory blog posts that I need to write. It is, Instagram captions. It's story captions, and it's all things that, I love me some AI also, as now I can take my artist story and I'm like, "Okay, Claude, this is what I'm trying to do." And I throw my artist story into Claude, and I take a template into Claude, and I'm like, "Based off of my o- artist story, make this work for me." Claude will give me a first draft, and I'll flip it into whatever I want, and saves me a ton of time. And yes, there was a lot of work on the front end, but now it makes me a lot faster.
AloraIt's essentially like your message guide it's everything. It's you and it's the business, and that's the whole workbook. You could even do that with the marketing part too. Like these are my analytics, this is my Instagram page, like what should I change? Here's my artist story. Am I conveying the right message? Is this aligned with what I put? But it is a lot of work, but it pays off for years to come. That is literally gonna be your marketing tool forever, until you change and develop again. When you came, you said you had charged previously 3,600 for weddings, and then you raised your prices to 4,200. Did you book anything at that price before you joined?
sammyI did. Yeah. I think my average price when I joined, average, was 58 when I joined.
AloraSo anywhere from 3 to 5K right? Essentially.
sammyYeah.
AloraWhy did you join a wedding atelier?
sammyI'm really drawn to luxury market positioning. I didn't know how to switch that 'cause I felt A lot of my clients were still in that kind of lower to mid-tier, and I was like, how do I attract those luxury market clients, either through my actual artistry? I was like, where am I really missing the mark? 'Cause I really fall into this, especially nowadays too, I'm, like, very cinematic. I love painterly quality photos, and I felt from what a lot of people think of when they think of true luxury. I'm not really a Beverly Hills
AloraSure
sammyBut I have these certain idols where I'm like, how do I get from where I am to here? And I really needed someone to get me there, and it has been so amazing in the program. Some of my favorite things are being able to submit to you and then the other expert coaches and you know I submit all the time.
AloraAll the time.
sammyAll the time. If you're taking advantage of the tools inside this program, every time I do a website page rebuild every time I'm, updating my copy. I really leverage all the tools in the program has been incredible, to take advantage of that. And I feel like, yeah. I also really like watching... I like that you share any of the submissions from other students, which I watch. I don't know if other people do that,
AloraThey do, yeah.
sammyyeah, I really like watching, I learn from all of the other students as well. I love group containers 'cause I think it's really cool that we not only support each other, I think that there is that really healthy, subtle competition too where other people really succeeding and you're like, "I'm so excited for them," and I want that too." And so you're like, "Okay, I'm gonna see what things they did. Amazing. That's cool." That's motivating me to keep utilizing these tools too. It's just great to see it working in action.
AloraI feel like it lets you know that it is possible because I know you can get in your head, especially if I come along on the one-on-one that we have and rip apart your prices, you're like, "Okay," "How in the world am I gonna charge this? How am I gonna stand behind this confidently?" Which leads me to my next question is, when I ripped apart your prices, how did that feel?
sammyI was nervous if people were gonna pay
AloraMm.
sammyWas nervous that if I sent out my pricing guide and then I was gonna have no weddings. And I,
AloraYeah.
sammythat person
AloraYeah.
sammyand then was like, "Okay, I'm gonna see how this works, and then See if I can take photography full time." I was a full-time wedding photographer, and- In survival mode and scraping It is crazy to be, like, in debt and in that position. You're like I need this to work." So by raising my prices, if everybody says no to me will be on the-- I won't be on the street. I have a
AloraYeah,
sammythat supports me, but hopefully. I won't be able to pay my bills,
Alorait's scary.
sammyThese last few years have been a massive lesson in trust and, it has paid off a lot, so really grateful.
AloraOh my gosh. What'd you do? Triple? Three... 3,600 to over triple? You're like-
sammyyeah, no. So my base price now is 65 which I don't know. I wanna have a chat 'cause I do wanna raise them for next year also.
AloraYes.
sammyyeah which I think will be really worthwhile also. But yeah, when I came in, my average price, I know, was in the low fives, I think. We It the other day, and it's currently sitting at 87 and change, which is to see. And, I'm excited to raise that. But yeah, my goals have always been, in five years, I wanna be charging in the 20, 25, 30K range, and I know it will happen, I'm just really excited for that continued growth.
AloraYou've already gone this far so fast in less than a year. The sky's the limit at this point. Just 10K and above, and you're in there. Me and Julia were just talking about you yesterday, actually. She was like, "Oh, my gosh, like Sammy's submitting, and I just love that she's doing the work. She's getting the feedback." "Those little tiny tweaks are gonna take her to 10K and beyond." That's what Julia said. And I was like, "Oh, my gosh, it is. I can just see it." And then you hopped on a call, and we talked about changing your business into more of a destination photographer versus trying to be, like, one, two, three places. I, I don't know, do, did you ever think that this was possible a year ago? You did?
sammyI did. I'm delulu,
AloraOh, I love it.
sammyYeah. In my careers, I'm like I've been delusional. It's paid off. Yeah, every time it does. So I thrive in reinvention, but I definitely believe that it, you have to rely on full trust in these last... I stepped away from my corporate job in 2020 in the pandemic, and it has been hard, these last I guess six years. I Be May 15th. May 15th is when I got laid off from my corporate career.
Aloraway.
sammyActually, no, it probably was around May 8th. Yeah. So that's six years ago, I've been on an entrepreneurial journey. It's been really hard, but now, this month I decided I was really gonna dedicate myself to self-care. I'm only shooting two things this month, and I'm still gonna make 11 grand, 11 four. And I'm going to yoga. I'm gonna go to the beach today and go paddleboard.
AloraOh, my gosh.
sammyThat still for me feels my body doesn't really know what to
AloraMm-hmm.
sammyStill have that fear where I'm like, but what's gonna happen next month?" But I still need to do some work on retraining that, I think, and getting used to this, but I really want to make it my new norm,
Alorayeah.
sammyI'm, I feel extremely grateful, for sure.
AloraAnd then realizing that you can enjoy the space and the time, and not be like, "Oh, should I be, like, editing right now? Should I be hustling right now? Should I... Oh, let me just go paddleboarding."
sammyI have a clear editing queue for the first time past eight hours in over two years now.
AloraAnd over two years?
sammyYeah.
AloraGirl, what were you doing? How does that feel?
sammyIt feels really nice. My body is like, "Thank God."
AloraYou're like, "I love this for me."
sammyoh my, no, I do love this for me. Last month was my, most booked month. I booked like $26,000 and change. And I think my average for the year booked monthly is 15 grand every month.
AloraSammy, what?
sammyYeah. I know. And I'm not really... I'm like, wow, I was like, I really need to post my new work on social media 'cause I haven't really shown even my new stuff. But it's it's just been working, and I'm just really excited
AloraIt's working. It is. No, like, all that hard work paid off
sammyYeah.
Aloraso quick. What changed? What's the difference from this year and last year before you joined?
sammyIf I don't book anything else this year at all, and I take four months off, I will make the same amount of money that I made last year. I have... So just by raising my prices that's just a lot easier. I feel like there's so much trust built with my clients. Just my systems that I have in place feel so incredible. I have so many more amazing touch points with my clients, and I feel like the training within Wedding Atelier, which just really speaks to that luxury experience. I was mentored for a few years from a photographer that's been in the business for 15 years, and she really likes to run her business a lot more low-key. And I come from a business background, so I felt like I was always like, "We should have more tools." I really wanted to provide more of a luxury experience, that she really fought me on. And it's been nice to do that in my own business now, where I just have, especially with this training, so many more touch points and really carrying people through the experience. 'Cause I feel like you can be a really incredible photographer, but something that, your entire team speaks to is just, what does the entire process look like? And my clients are constantly so excited to work with me, and they speak so highly about me. And not only that, but the vendors speak so highly about me. My like, know I track everything, too, because, i'm
Aloradata girly.
sammyyou know. And right now almost 50% of my bookings come from my vendor relationships. And my vendors love working with me just because of how clear I am, how communicative I am what I provide to them. I know that, we speak about what gifting should look like for our
AloraMm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
sammyShould look like. And I just feel like my entire service package and what I can provide looks completely different. And it does feel luxury, so I can stand behind those higher prices. I feel like when I was scared, and it just felt like I was just raising my prices, I was like, "Is my work really worth it?" But when you add in this service component, I'm like, yeah, it really is worth it. Because I'm not just showing up and providing photography, which I feel like a lot of people are doing, and it's what I had seen maybe in previous mentoring where, yes, they were a really excellent photographer, but when you provide like a huge, really luxury tier experience, I'm like, "Yeah, this is worth it, and I should be charging more." Yeah.
Alorahit it on the nail about just not raising your prices. You have to elevate the entire experience from start to finish. And I remember you were asking about what you should do with these vendors because they've been sending you so many weddings, and so we came up with something, and you were like, "What do you think about this? What do you think about that?" And I just remember thinking "She takes care of her people, and that's why they take care of you. They keep coming back for more, and I'm sure they tell all their friends about you as well." It's not just the portfolio, it's not just the pricing, but it's also the full-on experience. And your clients are obsessed with you. I think I said this yesterday. I was like, "Your clients are obsessed with you as you are with them." Obsessed is a word that comes up because of how much you care, and it shows every step of the way. It's not just, "Oh, she raised her prices. She's a luxury brand." This feels like everything is high touch, high-end premium service, premium gifts, premium everything. Yeah.
sammySomething that I love thinking about too is when I go into a wedding, whether or not they've paid me for my lowest package, for my like highest package, if I wanna be shooting those 10K plus weddings, like that is How I'm showing up because I want them talking to all of the people that they know that, she is the absolute best, and that's how I want word of mouth reaching me. Like that comes to the way that I dress, the way I speak, the way my team dresses. There's a certain feeling that comes with what I want my brand to be. Even my contracts are really clear. I just had brought on a new second shooter that I absolutely love and really excited about. She's based in San Francisco, and so she can support me in a lot of different areas where I shoot. And she actually wrote me the other day and was like, "Thank you so much. I'm like so excited about how clear your contract is." I just don't want any expectations to be missed because then we're both, upset." Was like, "I'm a lot more low-key than this seems." But, even from the way that like you dress and stuff like that a wedding, I don't want my team to be drinking at a wedding. But it's just how I want my brand represented, 'cause I really wanna be providing the most high-tier experience. And of course, everybody has their own look on that, but I just want it to be very clear in how, I represent myself and where I'm going.
AloraYeah. I feel like for you your confidence is standing behind the business that you built, the work that you put in. And you can stand behind it and be like, "No, this is what we're doing." "I put all this hard work in. This is the business. This is the service." "This is the experience." What did your business look like before? I feel like you already had systems in place, right?
sammyI had systems in place, but I had no one to really bounce those ideas off And so being able to look at your systems, look at my systems, tweak them, be like, "What do you think about this?" I get so
AloraMm-hmm.
sammyFrom the team that has
AloraMm-hmm.
sammyThis for a really long time. Helpful to then be able to just tweak things. Even, like, when it comes to templates, and you know I just booked my highest package with a template from a custom proposal that you
Aloraof
sammyYou know? I would do those things myself in the past, and what I think they should look like what I had seen on TikTok. But just having someone like you to be like, This is what I've been doing. This is how I book these weddings," with someone I trust whose work that I admire is just so nice to have. And then it's consistent across my whole brand. That just works for me. And of course, I have my own flavor based off of my artist story. But it's just that's really helpful. Something also that has been extremely helpful for me, which is funny, in the course your sales module. Was a little, I guess this is total arrogance, but I was like, "Ugh." I was like, "I can sell anyone." I was like, "I just need to get people
AloraYes, you told me.
sammyYeah, totally. And I was like I'll..." "I can sell anyone. People just need to get on a call." And then I started losing a couple weddings, and I was like, "How are people not choosing me?" And
Alorasammy,
sammyno, Al- Elora, I know. A couple months ago, I was on a long drive, 'cause I drive a lot when I've been shooting out of state quite a bit. And I was on a drive, and so I was like, "I'm gonna watch Elora's sales script." And I learned so many things, and I was like, "Oh, my God. I can't believe I haven't listened to this before." And then I booked three weddings last month, and I was like, "All right, Elora
AloraOkay.
sammyI
AloraThat's
sammyand I was like, "Okay. I wish I listened to this a while ago." And it's not that different than what I was doing, but I really liked that it was just, structured really well, so I could mix in a lot of my flavor, and I was like, "Okay." So it's... to go through, and I'm already excited to extend my time in Wedding Atelier 'cause it's...
AloraYay.
sammyYeah, it's not something that it's okay, you take this course and you learned what you need to learn. I feel like I'll just constantly be, like, learning and submitting and, I feel like it's just this lifelong thing as you continue to scale. Because yes, your shtick is scale to 10K weddings, but I could still see the training go beyond that. And, we'll continue to talk if you're like, do I think that Wedding Atelier continues to be the program, or should it look different? But still it's just been so value- valuable to me.
AloraI want everything to just encapsulate what a luxury wedding experience from beginning to end looks like. Of course, that journey won't stay there. You also can add additional streams of income. I will be teaching you guys also how to become educators and stuff like that. That is something coming. But the sky's the limit. Charge what you wanna charge, do your best work. you're the only option, Sammy. You're- you got people in your DMs, and they're not even engaged. That's, that is a sign that you have nailed your artist story, so congratulations to you. People are obsessed with you without even booking you. You have literally nailed your messaging. And if you just consistently market, which you don't even really have to, because you're still that's the part that blows my mind is Sammy doesn't even market consistently, and people are flocking to her. Your marketing is magnetic just from your positioning, just from that work, which is how it kinda was for me. I marketed for fun. I didn't have to because of the relationships, the publications. People were reaching out to me because they were drawn to what I was doing, and I feel like it's the same for you, especially with your fashion-forward style. I'm like, wait till you get these sessions and these styled shoots from your brain. I'm excited to see because, ugh I already seen it, and I'm like, "Why is this not on Instagram?" You're like, "I'm working on it."
sammyI haven't had to, but I am really excited to see where I can take my business. So it is a necessary piece, and it's something that isn't my favorite to do, but it is something that I know I need to do. And I'm, m- I'm trying to get myself excited to do it, but I am 'cause I really am excited to share the work that I have, and I am excited to get some of those dream clients. And I know that is how it happens. And I am in some of your other programs, like Lab 35 and In Demand, and so
AloraYou're all over.
sammyI know. Alara, anything you touch, I'm like, "For sure." Because... No it's true because anytime you either ask me about my business, that makes me think about it, or when you give me very specific feedback where you're like, "Put these two photos together," or, "Do this," and I'm like, that looks so good." No, I'm like, "Cool." And
AloraI'm not paying her to say any of this stuff, you guys. This first time hearing it.
sammyNo. it's true. So appreciate you so much. Thank you. Yeah.
AloraOh, you're so welcome. Yeah, Lab 35, I feel like I saw your work change when I looked at your last portfolio review. I was like, "Ooh, is that symmetry?" I said, "Oh, she watched the course." She binged it.
sammyIt's a black and white in in City Hall, and it's like one of my favorite photos. It's like very architectural, and it is a photo that I haven't seen in San Francisco City Hall, which everybody takes the same photo, so I can't stand them. But it's like they're, like, on
AloraMakes it to
sammywhere
Alorame.
sammysymmetry." And it's one of my favorite shots now. So I was curious if you were gonna find that one. I was like, "That was you in my mind."
AloraWas that in the long portfolio page? Because Julia, there's 200
sammyyou didn't recognize that in the
AloraI must...
sammyI showed
AloraOh, I'm so sorry. I just s- somehow glazed past it. Let me-- send me the picture though, because I am so obsessed with symmetry it's a problem. I feel like too 'cause I know your goal is like, "Yeah, I'm like, maybe I'll book three more weddings this year to just for fun. I don't have to." I just... That energy that you have, I'm like, wow, she's so unbothered because she's had these 20K, 10K months, and I guess I can book another 10K wedding. But like, when you start marketing these like new photos that you've done, I feel like in the bag. Like people are gonna be like, are you booked? I'm getting married in three weeks," which seems to be the trend right now for 2026. I'm getting married in 10 days.
sammyYeah, I am, I'm really excited for 2027 too. For the weddings that I'll book for next year. I'm excited to raise my prices,
AloraYes.
sammyI think that my new work will really speak to that level of pricing, and the service that I'm providing now too. Higher tier pricing, I can provide even a higher tier of service, especially when it comes to
AloraOh
sammygifting. I'm gonna be adding on film to my packages. This summer, I think I'm gonna be really playing around with film at a lot of my weddings, and then adding it on next year as a true service. So
Alorathere.
sammyreally excited about that. And I have a lot of ideas for film gifts and stuff like that,
AloraOh my gosh.
sammyyeah. It... just, yeah, I'm just really excited what the future holds,
Alorayour confidence behind your business and all these things, all the stuff that you've done that has produced results, I feel like it's only sparked more ideas for you to be creative and to have fun and take care of your people, because you don't have to worry about those other things. You don't have to worry about what to charge. You don't have to worry about which system to put here, there. You can like, free up that space, take care of it, follow the training, make it your own. But now you're like, "Oh, how can I take care of my couples? Because I wanna make sure they have this five-star experience." Or, "Where is something lacking that I can put like a luxury touch on it?" I feel like you have really good ideas already, but you just needed the space to do that and the freedom, because all the other business stuff is taken care of the back end.
sammySpace, freedom, and
AloraMm-hmm.
sammyWhen you're, living in survival mode for so long, when you're, "Okay," "I just don't have any extra," or, "I don't feel I have the resources." Feeling under-resourced is something that has been really tough for me since leaving my corporate career. And, that it just feels so incredible now to have a lot more that I can play with for my clients, to give back to myself and to my business. This month I bought myself You know, the new 28 to 70 F2, which I was excited about. Bought myself a new, the new nice leather Spider Holster harness and fanny my older one, it just looks a little bit techy, so I'll use that in the like the backcountry. I bought myself some new Profoto flashes, and I'm like, we're just going full luxury. I'm just really excited about it. And sometimes people are like, "Oh," "do you wanna buy something else for yourself that's not for your business?" But honestly, that's what I feel excited about buying myself right now. So that's what we're spending money on is... Yeah, it's what I feel excited to do.
AloraThat's so funny when you were like, "Yeah, I made 11K. Well, I'm gonna go buy another pro photo." I just died laughing. I was like, yeah, relatable. I'm gonna go upload all my flash now,
sammyI watched, and they're like, am I using my cameras to make money, or am I making money just to buy more
AloraYeah.
sammyAnd I was
AloraYou're
sammyI relate to that so
Aloralike me.
sammyyou know, if we wanna be shooting 25K weddings, gotta show up with
Alorayeah.
sammygear is not the thing that you need. But I don't know. I've, I had some issues with some of my flashes at some other weddings, and I'm like, if I'm showing up shooting 10K weddings, I can't be dealing with that stuff. so we're going. Bought myself the A10 and a off-camera A2 and a
AloraNice.
sammyProfoto Connect trigger. There are some venues I shoot at where just having the two of those will be, like, really nice. Some of that Lab 35 training,
AloraI was gonna say,
sammyto use them
AloraI was like,
sammygotta practice. But I'm really excited.
AloraYes. Oh, I'm so excited. I was gonna say, are you doing off-camera flash now? Are you off-camera flash girly?
sammyYeah, I got a soft box too, yeah, so practice.
AloraGo girl. Oh my gosh, go all in. Why not? You deserve it. You're like, "I made all this money.
sammyknow.
Alorajust buy new stuff so I can make more money." That's the mindset right now.
sammyIt's true. It's I really believe in investing in yourself, whether it's investing in programs like Wedding Atelier, Lab 35 In Demand. Investing in these things so that you can catapult yourself forward. I really don't believe in slow growth. I never have. And I would way rather put in the work now, do it fast, and then in five years people will be like, "Whoa," "how are you shooting these 35K weddings?" When they're still shooting weddings that are in the 6K grind. I have no desire to do that, And
AloraYeah.
sammyit's a lot of work, and it takes some sacrifice sometimes. And I don't know, but it's what I love doing, and so I'm
AloraYeah. I feel like the sacrifice is not for long. You know it's just for a season, right? Right now you're in your rebuild season, and you're growing because of the rebuild. So you're already seeing it pay off. You know what I mean? It hasn't been a year yet. and then once you make those changes, then you're gonna free up your time, then you're gonna raise your prices, you're gonna have more weekends. Or you can spend all the weekends and make double the money. You get to decide. Like, how cool is that? Six years ago you were working... You were in corporate, and now the business is thriving, and it's only gonna go up from here. How does that feel?
sammyIt feels amazing 'cause I was never happy in a corporate structure. I was a little born entre- entrepreneur. My, I grew up ski racing, and my ski coach he got hit by a bus when he was driving in a snowstorm and was in a coma when I was in first grade. And I started making little bracelets and selling them to raise money for his coma. We're still friends to this day. And I know, Andy Bell. And he, I raised $600 selling these 300... $3 bracelets for him, and that started my little entrepreneurial journey. And I, this isn't that kosher, but I'm a writer, and I used to write everyone's college essays when I was in high school. And I just... I know,
AloraYou were that girl. Did you get paid?
sammyI got paid, yeah, and then I bought myself all these nice bikinis my mom wouldn't buy me 'cause they were too scandalous. But that's what we did. I started numerous businesses when I got... I was never happy in the corporate world, and I worked at some of the best companies in the world. I worked at Google for a while. Left that, worked for WeWork, which was, like, a legendary failed IPO that I thought was gonna make my life, and turns out did not. And I, was just never happy in those places, always tried starting my own things. A lot of them failed. When I came out of that, I was a career coach, which was fine, but it wasn't really fulfilling. And I finally decided to take photography really seriously, it's been a grind since October of '22. And I'm just so grateful that I actually get to do work that I love and that really pays me because there was a time where that really did feel like a fantasy
AloraWow.
sammyyeah. So I'm really grateful that I get to do this. And I have times where I'm just standing there shooting something, and I'm like, "I get to do this
AloraYeah.
sammySo just really grateful.
AloraI can't wait to see what your business is gonna look like at the 12 months, because I think you've already, what, doubled your prices. You're probably gonna have this fancy rebrand. Your 2027 prices will be set, and you're gonna look completely different by August, and I'm so excited to see you booking those 30K weddings.
sammyI'm
AloraAh!
sammyex-
AloraAh! I'm really excited. I'm like, I can almost
sammymuch
Aloralike...
sammyI felt the same fear when you told me to raise my prices to six. I was like, "Oh my God." But now I'm like, "All right, I
AloraI think you said that on the call. You're like, "Oh, I don't know." I was like, we're gonna do this." I'm gonna hold your hand before I say this. Raise your prices. But...
sammywas wild though, is that as soon as I did that, I got a lot more easier yeses than when my Were lower. So
AloraReally?
sammyyeah. I feel like my work was better than I was representing it at those lower Just fe- it felt off, I feel like Julia shared this when she booked that 40K wedding, that she was like, when people would reach out to her and she was, like, in the 12 mark, they almost didn't trust her 'cause her work was really representative of that 35K range. And so they were choosing other people over her when she just should have been doing custom proposals, which is now what she does now.
AloraYeah.
sammymaybe that was similar to me, where I should have been charging in the range that I'm charging now. And so when they were seeing that it was low it just didn't really match. And so it's nice to have an eye like you that can be like, "No this is where we're sitting your prices right now." And so
AloraYeah.
sammyjust having somebody else be, like, here and just trusting that You can't do that on your
AloraYeah. I feel like for you, like even when I saw your work, I was like, "Why are you pri- like, why are you priced this?" 'Cause what... that pricing is like you've only been in here for a couple of years, like one to two maybe. You gotta get out of there.
sammyI had a really
AloraYeah.
sammyshe was really scared of me taking over her business, and she really tried to keep me down, where she would be like, "When I was only two years in, I was only charging this. You just want too much. You're so money hungry." And it was a really sad kind of end to our relationship, but I do understand it now It just is a bummer that it ended that way, but I had all those words in my head that oh, okay I was listening to her, that Charging that much, and I was hearing all those words and I was like, am I just money hungry? Am I actually worth it? I have this person that's been in the industry for 15 years telling me that I'm not anything. It was really bad, so
AloraNow we know the example of a good mentor versus a bad mentor. I had a terrible mentor, I became competitive I was like, "I'm actually gonna do the opposite of what you think I'm gonna do. I'm actually gonna make so much money. And so I was actually supposed to speak on a stage, actually, at an event that she was attending, and full circle. And I was like, "Hey, thanks for that thing you did. I would never be here."
sammysaid that to her? God, I
AloraI- 1,000%.
sammydown. Love
AloraI said, "By the way, I'll be here next year speaking. I hope you come."
sammyYou're
Aloramean- Yeah, like whatever. How to grow your Instagram. Of course it never happened because of the pandemic, but I just think I don't be a mentor then. Then don't be a mentor if you don't want people to grow. I think you were growing fast. If you're investing and you're updating and you're doing things quickly, then you can change your business quickly. You can keep leveling up. I remember there was a luxury photographer, and he studied with the best mentor, second shot with all of the film photographers for years, started at 10K. You know what I mean?
sammyYeah.
Aloraand never looked back.
sammybut I am delusional. I will work so hard that I don't believe in slow growth, you I never have, and for a lot of people where they're like, "Okay," like I wasn't taking it that seriously. I was like, "No, I'm gonna do this." I go all in, and there's no reason for me to have the same growth that you had when you were kinda playing around with it in your early 20s. It's very different than starting a career and my equipment was very different, and how I was approaching things was very different with different mentorship, and so it's just not a comparison. But it was actually a really incredible teaching for me because now, as I mentor people I also have a coaching background. As I bring on second shooters, have that experience in the back of my head, so I can show up extremely differently. I can remember how that felt on my end. The people that I work with, and when I bring on either second shooters, apprentices, I'm very clear that I'm like, "I'm not looking for someone to show up." I just had this conversation with my new second shooter the other day. I was like, "I'm not looking for someone to show up on this wedding." Like, when I bring people onto my team, I really wanna develop a lasting relationship where we are coming, we're working together, we wanna grow. Because I wanna work with people that I know, I trust, that we, support one another, that we grow in friendship together that we understand how to work one- around one another. I believe that those relationships are so important. The photography industry can be, like, weird and cutthroat sometimes, and I just don't believe in competition. There is so much work to go around, and that's truly how I look at it, and I want people that think the same way as that. And if they don't, I do not want them around me or on my team. And I feel like I can, I can feel that out, and I feel like I work really hard, and I can sense when people want to either attach to me because they want to ride on that, or if they want to next to me, and those are two very different approaches. Some people hire second shooters because they're, cheap labor, and they're people that are learning. That's also not what I wanna do. I wanna hire my peers. I wanna hire people I respect and who are arguably better than me because I wanna provide the most top-tier service to my clients. And if that costs me a couple hundred dollars more a wedding than, somebody else, that is the most worthwhile thing in the world, but I feel like a lot of people miss that. I don't know how, but I'm not penny-pinching, like that. Even when I was at those smaller weddings, I was like, "I'm gonna have the best people there because I wanna be shooting this as if it's a 10K wedding because I want this gallery to look so good." And that's how I've been able to do this past year also is by having incredible teams and friends that we talk daily. We're sharing galleries back and forth. Some of them are, in your program. One of my really good friends, Gabrielle Pellegrino, incredible photographer out of Utah, she's in your program. We talk daily, and she has a really incredible editorial style that's a little bit different than mine, and so we really complement one another. We shoot together all the time, and it's so great to have this relationship, trust built. We share resources. We share ideas, and it's so valuable to have people around you that you trust, especially in the entrepreneur game where it can be really isolating and feel like you're alone all the time. So yeah, growing alone be really hard and can be really slow, but being in coaching containers like this and having people around you that you trust grow so much faster, can be a lot more fun, and a lot more supported. So that's how I would prefer to do it. Faster, better, lonely, you
AloraMore fun.
sammyMore
AloraYeah.
sammyI, it just sounds better to me, so that's
AloraYeah.
sammywanna run my business and my life.
AloraHow long were you going at it alone?
sammyYeah, I was second shooting for my mentor for two years, and then I also had another mentor who... He incredible. He had, a cover of National Geographic and was, like, shooting a lot of cars outdoor and stuff like that. And he has taught me a ton about photography in general, and so that was incredible to also have this balance of wedding photography versus just photography skills in general. I've shot a lot of different mediums, I shot a lot of concert photography, and so concerts, big festivals taught me how to really find these intimate mo- moments within chaos. I think that really helps me on the dance floor. It really helps me with my documentary style on a wedding day, which is cool. I have shot a lot of street photography, like across Southeast Asia. I took five months off a couple years ago after a big ski accident I had, and I wrote an, a essay on this actually on my Substack, which was prompted by the artist story about when I really fell in love with photography. And doing the street style photography in Southeast Asia really taught me how to frame things and think about composition and think fast on my feet and find these really, we've come to describe them as, like- moments that people have of tension and different layers of emotion in really impoverished villages and with different tribal cultures and things like that. And all of these different backgrounds have really influenced the way I approach a wedding day. And yeah, so different mentors and then different styles of shooting I think are really important. So even if you're just shooting weddings all the time, I don't know, maybe go shoot something else, too. It's really helpful.
AloraI was thinking about, when you figured out your why. After I think you did page one of "The Artist's Story," you made that substack, and you're like, my mind is blown. I forgot why I do this." And you just like... It was such a beautiful-- I literally, I think, commented below. I was like, "I love this," and I just made a subset account just to say that. But looking at the way that you love people, the way that you love composition and color, I was like, "Wow," she actually loves the art of photography. It's not just about the weddings. It's just about artistry. "The Artist's Story" was created for you in that sense. I feel like going back to your roots really helped you put that into your work as well, and not just think of it as, "Oh, this is my story. This is how I got started. I found a camera in my closet." It's so much deeper than that. Yeah.
sammyI didn't know, either. I wrote a different story before I wrote that one. I wrote a story about when I was 10, and I think I started off like this 'cause it- I wrote one and then I was like, that was the first thing, but then it made me really think about when I actually really fell in love with it, which was in Asia. But, I always thought it was like when I was 10 and my parents gave me my first camera. But I was like, I, yes, I was always taking photos, but when I really fell in love in, with photography was in Asia and took some of the photos that to this day I'm most proud of. Yeah.
AloraUgh, I love that. Sammy, thank you for sharing your story, and I'm actually blown away by, like, how much progress you've made in eight months. I- you've made so much. I feel like your identity is different your confidence level has increased. To hear you stand behind yourself, your work, and the way that you run your business and your team I would've never guessed that you could do this so quickly. Most people, it takes a little bit to get going. But you have really, you've done it. You've done it, and there's nowhere else to go but up, and I hope you're really proud of yourself. And I can't wait to continue to support you and help you go to 10K and beyond. I'm with my Sammy T-shirt let's go. Every time you post it went, "Let's go." Ugh. Do you have anything to say for the listeners that are thinking about joining Wedding Atelier or anything you wanna leave us with?
sammyMan, if you're thinking about it, and if any of this resonated with you, do it. if you really wanna put in the work, because I think that a lot of people think that just by hiring a coach, that's it, and that will do the work for you. But if you really leverage all of the tools in this program, I feel like the sky is totally the limit. This is really one of the best decisions I made this year. Or the best decision I made this year. So I could cry how grateful I am.
AloraOh,
sammyYeah.
AloraSo sweet. Thank you so much for coming, Sammy, and it's exciting to continue to watch you and everybody else. I will see you on the next episode. Bye.
sammyThanks, Laura.
