Freedom Focus Photography

Why Better Photos Won't Get You More Clients with Heather Lahtinen

• Nicole Begley, Heather Lahtinen • Episode 260

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260 - Photographers, let’s talk about a common trap: thinking that taking better photos is the answer to getting more clients. On today’s episode of the Freedom Focus Photography podcast, Heather Lahtinen joins me to discuss why focusing solely on improving your photography isn’t a marketing strategy—and how this flawed thinking could be holding you back from booking more clients and hitting your revenue goals.

What to Listen For:

  1. Why better photos don’t guarantee more clients.
  2. Why many talented photographers still struggle to attract clients who pay well.
  3. How to shift your focus from perfecting your craft to actually booking clients.
  4. The most important action steps to take if you want to get more inquiries.
  5. How to build confidence in your pricing and attract clients willing to pay it.

If you're ready to stop spinning your wheels by focusing only on your photography and want to learn how to truly market your business, this episode is for you! Remember, your photos alone won’t get you clients—it’s how you connect and communicate your value that will. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast, check out the resources below, and join us next week for more actionable strategies!

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I said it before, I'll say it again. I will die on this hill. Creating incredible work is not marketing. It will not bring in the clients. You still need to get out there and market your business. If you want to dig deeper in this conversation, Heather is back on the podcast, and it's a good one, so stay tuned. I'm Nicole Bagley, a zoological animal trainer turned pet and family photographer.

Back in 2010, I embarked on my own adventure in photography, transforming a bootstrapping startup into a thriving six figure business by 2012. Since then, my mission has been to empower photographers like you, sharing the knowledge and strategies that have helped me help thousands of photographers build their own profitable businesses. I believe that achieving two to $3,000 sales is your fastest route to six figure businesses, that any technically proficient photographer can consistently hit four figure sales.

And no matter if you want photography to be your full time passion or a part time pursuit, profitability is possible. If you're a portrait photographer aspiring to craft a business that aligns perfectly with the life you envision, then you're in exactly the right place with over 350,000 downloads. Welcome to the Freedom Focus photography podcast. Welcome back, everybody, to the Freedom Focus photography podcast. I'm your host, Nicole Bakeley, and today we have Heather Lautnan back with us, and it has been entirely too long because, Heather, I have looked at the last time you were on the podcast, and it was July 2.

Why? What's happening? I don't know. You went on vacation this summer. Oh, my gosh. You are hilarious. I went on one vacation this summer, and you are literally gone every other week in Europe. Not every other week. Every other month. Maybe this year. Oh, my gosh. Okay. Well, anyway, I'm glad to be back. I sure have missed you. I'm glad we're back on the podcast. What are we tackling today?

All right, so I don't know if you have heard this stated by many of our people as much as I have, but there seems to be a very deep seated belief that the key to building your business is to improve your photography. Point blank, full stop sign. Yes, I've heard this. Yep, yep. And also, I mean, I think, gosh, there's so many things. I mean, photographers love to improve their craft, right?

Which. Okay, you guys, before you come at us, we're not saying that you should be happy with crappy work, that you shouldn't want to improve your craft, that you shouldn't want to learn new techniques. I fully embrace all of those things and encourage you to do so. The challenge becomes when you start to think that improving your craft is going to lead to more clients, because improving our craft is not marketing.

Oh, interesting. Okay. What do you think the thought behind the thought is? So people are thinking, well, people aren't hiring me because my photos aren't good enough. So that must be why I'm not getting clients potentially. I think it goes a little bit deeper, though, where they're starting to think that maybe their thought is the fastest way or the best way to get clients is to improve my work.

Oh. Oh, my gosh. Okay. When you say it like that, I vehemently disagree. Like that. That is a thought error. That just does not make any logical sense to me based on my experience. Because while photos matter, they don't. They aren't just by themselves going to grow your business. Because back to what you said, actually. Okay, I see the tie in. I see it. That's not a marketing strategy.

Like, making your photos better is important, no question. But that's not how you market your business. It's not how you, you get out in your community. You meet people, you tell them you're a photographer, you make an offer. Getting better photos will not ever do that for you. I would argue. Oh, I feel like. I feel a really bold statement coming on. I don't. I don't know how to say this, except that it's just flawed logic.

Having getting better photos is important, but will not get you clients, period. Better photos is not marketing. Period. There it is. Yeah, that's what I want to say. That's the bold statement. Because how many, how many photographers do you guys know that are amazing artists that struggle to get clients or struggle to get clients that will pay them reasonable wages? Like, in the same thing. How many times have you seen a photographer that you're like, I'm sorry, that person's making.

How much? Wait, what? Because the photos aren't related. There is a level of technical expertise. All right? So, yes, you have to, like, although I would even argue, based on my experience from my first year or two of business, Heather, that you don't even need technically proficient work because mine was not, and somehow I still had clients and. And grew your business. I'm not saying you guys should go out and do that, but, um.

But I do. That's a whole nother soapbox. I do think that it is worth charging, even if it is that low cost, all inclusive, when you're learning to get paid, while you're learning, so that you can move your business out, because I think there is. All right, here's where I think this logic actually stems from, which it does make sense. But people take it to extreme, Heather, as we all do, because we're humans.

I believe firmly, I've said it before, I'll say it again. I will die on this hill, that when you are starting your photography business, it is okay to be all inclusive, low cost, like $250. Here's some digital files. Great. You get paid for learning your craft. You get some money into your business that you can reinvest into a website, reinvest into courses to learn business, and, you know, continuing to get better with things.

And then you're moving your business up through, like, four levels. You start to add products, you get to that $2,000 plus average sale. And then if you want, you go into that lux level. Now, if you're trying to get $5,000 sales on the regular, yes, your work needs to be good, doesn't need to be groundbreaking. Best work that anyone's ever seen. Like the only photographer on the planet that's doing some particular technique.

No, it does not need to be that, but it does need to be good and dialed in for a style a little bit. And even more importantly, you need to be offering high end products and an experience that goes along with that price tag. So as that price tag goes up, theoretically, our work should get a little bit better. But more important than that is the value that goes along with that price tag and the experience we are giving our clients.

I'll get off my soapbox now. No, I agree with that 100%. The value is not just in the photos. It's not just like my photos get better, so my value increases. It's the experience and the knowledge and the wisdom that you bring to the table that over time and the products you create that add to that value, that warrant that price. So you had did something a few moments ago that, gosh, rang so true for me when I first started my business 20 years ago.

I remember following these wedding photographers in Southern California, which at the time, I don't know what it's like now, was the mecca for the best wedding photographers in the world. It was just amazing. And there were a lot of new people, young, new hip people on the scene. And there was one in particular whose work was. I mean, I don't even know if I want to say average.

It was mediocre at best. And he was on fire. He had a fully booked schedule. Everybody loved him. He was speaking, he was teaching, was doing all these things. And I just sat there scratching my head because I was new. I thought that, well, don't you need really good photos to be at that level? And then I saw other photographers, actually a close friend of mine in Pittsburgh that was phenomenal.

Phenomenal. And just couldn't seem to get her business dialed in. And I thought, okay, well, there is proof. I learned this pretty early on. There is absolute proof that the quality of the photos, well, they matter, but maybe not as much as we think. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. So I want to dig into the thoughts around this a little bit, too. So our first thought, right. Is, better photos is my fastest way to get new clients.

And then the next thought is, well, wait, now you've gotten better photos, and clients are not coming in because we know better photos is not marketing. So you've gotten better photos. Clients are not coming in. Now, what's your thought? It doesn't work. Nothing is working, or nobody will pay my prices. Yeah, my prices are too high. Yeah, you. At this point, I imagine many photographers would feel very disheartened and disillusioned, because if the thought was, I just need to get better photos, and then I'll get more clients.

So you do that work, and then it doesn't happen. You're like, what the heck? I thought that was the key. What do I do now? Well, there's going to be this, like, transition phase where you just. You just feel defeated. I don't know how else to say it. And so you're like, well, that didn't work. What else could it be? And you sort of spin and ruminate. Then you might come to the conclusion, well, that's my pricing.

It's, people don't want to pay these prices. And you go down this spiral of the pricing. And the interesting thing about this, Nicole, is when I'm teaching, I always say, like, the two biggest things that do not matter in your success are your photos and your price. It's really never about either one of those. Okay, I'm. I'm being very dramatic and exaggerating. You understand what I'm saying? Of course your prices matter, and the photos matter.

I'm afraid somebody's going to take me very literally, but I'm speaking on extreme ends. It's just not about the quality of the photos. And we've learned this because you got better and you didn't get the clients. And so now you go to the pricing, and you blame the pricing and you blame the economy. Well, then what happens? This is dangerous, because when it was about the photos, you had some hope because you have, you, you could empower yourself to say, I'll just get better.

I'll just improve my craft. But now when you get to this pricing and you say, or the economy and you blame, you know, these outside nebulous forces, then you're, you feel very disempowered. If you combine disheartened with disempowered, you are going to get some pretty terrible thoughts and feelings which are going to produce zero results because why would you do anything? So you have to be willing to, to look at different avenues, different things that you're thinking different ways and accepting that.

Okay, but what if that's not it? What if it's not my photos and it's not the pricing? And what if you could just get really curious here and say, how can I figure out what, what else might be going on here that I could actually impact? Yes. Yes. Do we want to give some people, some, like, start to kind of role play this out or go and go down this whole, like, rabbit hole of what does that look like?

So, you know, a, we would have the thoughts that, well, I guess what's a better thought, instead of improving my work is the fastest way to get more clients. Maybe the better thought is meeting more people, telling them a photographer and making them an offer is the fastest way to book more clients. Well, that's certainly my approach. That's what we teach inside of elevate. That's the simple business approach.

It's part of the marketing method that I teach. It's like the main thing. If you just go out and meet people, tell them your photographer, make them an offer, that's what gets you clients like, period. That is marketing. It's not about adjusting your offer. Like, oh, I've got to change the pricing. Maybe I'm giving too much. Maybe I'm giving too little. Maybe it's the economy, and you're trying all of these strategies that just aren't going to work, like you think, because they're coming from a place of lack and scarcity.

But when you have the thought, oh, I just need to meet people and tell them what I do and offer this as a service, like actually as I'm serving someone, and then all of a sudden you start to get, listen, I got to tell you, it is so dramatically, so much easier than people think. And every time somebody will post a win inside of elevate, which, by the way, is very, very often, they will say some version of, I should have just listened to Heather from the beginning.

Heather's right. Listen to Heather. All you have to do is go meet people. It's so simple that I think people don't want to believe it or they feel better if it's more complex or. I don't know. I mean, we can dig into that in another episode, but something's going on there that, as I say these words, just go meet people. There's, there are people listening. They're, like, not receiving that, you know, just not hearing it.

I think it's because of the fear of what that entails. So when it's. I have to improve my, my photos. Like, that's the key. That feels good. And like you said, empowering, I can do something about it. And it's kind of fun, right? Because most of us got into this because we like taking photos. So we want to do that. Most of us got into this maybe because we like taking photos more than we like to talk to people.

So then when we're saying, hey, go out and talk to people, you're like, for the love. That is nothing, why I got into this job or what this business. But that is the actual fastest way forward. But I think, yeah, people don't want to receive it because it's not the fuzzy fun thing that they pictured doing with their business. I think they had this romanticized version of what a photography business looks like, which is I create pretty things.

I maybe post a couple images on social media, people find my website and book me. So simple, except it doesn't work. You think it's not that straightforward and it's simple, but it's actually not because you're making it harder, because it doesn't work. And if you would just meet people. And when I say meet people, Nicole, I am legitimately saying, get out of your house. Like, physically go somewhere and meet people in person.

I did. When I teach, the way I teach offers inside of elevate is I don't teach it like posting on social media, because posting on social media is just awareness marketing, which is fine. There's nothing wrong with that. But it doesn't get you clients. What gets you clients is making offers directly to people. So I'll say on a strategy call, how many offers did you make this week?

And people will put in some numbers, and I'll say, okay, just to be clear, these are people that you went out and spoke to either directly, face to face, or in an email, one to one. And you said, let's get you scheduled for a photo session. Here's the information. How many people directly did you make offers to, and then all of a sudden the chat lights up. 00101.

And then I say, well then, are you really surprised that you're not getting clients when you're not making any offers? You're just waiting for inquiries. That's another thing. People think that like, oh, I have my social media presence, I have my website, so I just need to wait for inquiry. Where are the inquiries, Heather? I'm not getting any inquiries. Inquiries are down. Inquiries are down. I don't know how you approach this.

Back in the day, inquiries were important, but I never, ever waited for them because you can't control it. You have just, it's a waiting game. I was out getting clients. I think we have our goals all wrong too, or people will be like, my goal is to get 15 inquiries a month. No, your goal should be to do the action that results in 15 inquiries a month, which is talking to people.

Actually one of our students in elevate hash. Amanda saves the day. You guys inherit the dog community. Remember, Amanda is our community manager for quite a few years. We love her. She's still super active inside of elevate and she took it upon herself and is sharing with the group with her daily progress to make 150 offers in 30 days. And it does not count sending an email blast.

She direct offers to direct people via email in person. All the things. She is amazing. She is very, a very, very long time active member of Elevate and a good friend of ours. She taught me about this and she's sharing every step of the way. I mean, if ever you wanted to get into elevate or you're thinking about getting into LA, now is the time because Amanda is posed 150 offers.

I was like, whoa, that, that even sounds ambitious for me. I love it. So she's posting every day, and she also, yesterday, I think she posted about something and something didn't work and she pivoted immediately. She did something else. And I thought, what a great challenge to make 150 offers. Listen, there is no doubt in my mind she is going to get clients 100%. Yeah, she's going to get a lot of clients.

And I foresee even her getting enough clients before the end of the 150 offers that she's like, oh, I better slow down with these offers so I can serve all these clients. Yeah, or she, you know, as of this recording, this is September. She fills her schedule for the rest of the year. Our booking, correct? Yeah. She starts filling her spring schedule ahead of time. I just want people to like, ask themselves, how would that feel to have your fall all lined out, and to even start booking next year into January and February and March, like that would feel amazing.

So what would you need to think or believe in order to make that happen? Mm hmm. Yes. Yeah. All right. The other thing I want, like, there's kind of that fork in the road of what this beliefs of, like, this is the best marketing, but then also the thoughts that happen when you. You get the great work, you're putting it out there, you're not getting clients, and you start to think and blame your pricing.

So what can we do besides just lower our pricing and try to compete on price, which is a race to the bottom? Like, you cannot do that. So how the heck do you get your belief behind that price and share that with your client? Okay, first of all, I do think it's important that you love your pricing. I have something that in elevate. I call it professional pricing.

I was going to call it perfect pricing, but it's, like, individualized for each person. Right. Because obviously, I don't believe there's a right or wrong way. Same professional pricing, to me, is pricing that works with your business, your clients, in your season, and most importantly, you love it. If you are struggling to get clients, I would like venture to say you're probably struggling with your pricing in that you don't love it or you don't fully believe in it.

The first step would be to get really committed to that pricing. I'm not. How do I say this, Nicole? I'm not, like, totally against someone changing their pricing, but it has to be for the right reasons. And I just don't want people to go there because they think that's how they're going to get clients. You have to love your pricing so much that you. You cannot. Let me say it this way.

You cannot sell your packages if you don't sell yourself first. And if you don't believe in the value your packages deliver, of course, how would you sell. How would I sell something to you I don't believe in? Because most of our people operate with integrity, meaning none of them are, you know, criminals. Right, right. Which is why they get so in their head about the pricing, the value, and, oh, my gosh, am I charging too much?

And what are people going to think about me? Like, if you were a, I don't know, sleazy schmoozer. I don't know what word? Criminal? What's. There's another word? Anyway? If you're out there fleecing people, you don't care. You don't care how people think about it. I'm pretty sure the scammers do not care. You are not one, so therefore you care. Your driveway bandits, Heather, they didn't care. That's right.

They did not care. They swindled us with some asphalt. I call them the asphalt bandits. They're pirates. They were here. I don't know if we ever told that full story, but at some point, we really need to have that conversation. It was a really. It was a really good lesson in sales, too, because they were experts at what they were doing. Yeah. Not in a good way. Yeah.

So that was fascinating. That was definitely not how to win. Word of mouth. No. So I think it starts with loving your prices and being so excited about them, because if you don't love your pricing, you're not going to be excited to share it. So it makes sense to me when people don't want to talk about money or pricing, all that does is show me that they're not sold themselves on their pricing.

So I would start there. I have something called the belief triad. I teach. I've taught it several times, but in part of the belief triad is once you're sold on yourself and your pricing, you have to believe that people are ready, willing, and able to pay. So you believe in your pricing. People are ready, willing, and able to pay, and you're coming from a place of. I'm in demand.

I did a training called in demand what it would look like to be an in demand photographer. When you have those things lined up, it's almost like a combination lock. You know, where you're, like, moving? They all, like, click into place. Those things start to click into place. You will get clients. And you're going to say to me, I know this. You're going to say, but how? And I'm going to say, you have to love your pricing.

You have to believe that people are ready, willing, and able to pay, and you have to believe that you're in demand and put yourself out there. That is the how that. But everybody wants. This is like, give me this one. Stop this strategy, and I promise I'll do it. Okay. Go. Love your prices. Step one. Yeah. No, 100% and so. Gosh. All right, I have a couple thoughts here coming up.

The loving their prices can be really, really challenging based on what money stories they have. Yes. Which is like, why this is so. It feels insidious because people were like, just tell me how. And an action is not gonna. This is from action girl, by the way. An action is not going to help you here if you don't have that belief underneath. So, like, we did that episode with Carrie where we kind of dove into why she had a hard time of selling artwork to her portrait clients and how it stemmed from how she grew up and the beliefs that formed when she was a kid.

I. You guys. And she'd been trying to uncover this for, like, 40 years. And it's such a good episode. It is episode 256. It's money story shattering with Heather and Carrie. It is so good. Go listen. But anyway, you have to fully believe in that. And I think one way you can start to believe in that is start to really ask yourself, what am I bringing to the table that other people aren't?

I have a quick story that I want to share, and this happens a lot. How many times do you guys see someone that you know, or maybe you were even talking to about doing a session, all of a sudden post pictures from another photographer that are good photos, and then you look that photographer up and it's like, low cost, all inclusive, and you want to, like, bash your head into the wall.

Just me. Just me. Sounds a little extreme, but I'm with you. But you're just like, why? And then, well, then what happens? What thoughts does my brain serve me? See, no one's going to pay your prices anymore. See, the era to me, you guys, this. This still happens to me recently. The era of artwork is over. Everybody just wants digital files. What are you doing? No, no, no.

Like, all the things. And then it goes on for a few minutes and I'm like, stop, stop. How am I different? And why is my price worth what it is where that isn't? Because I have the best products in the industry. You can't get them unless through me. Like, they are not open to the public. Also, I have the design expertise to help you design something for your room.

Also, I could photograph your family and your dog. Also, the list goes on and on and on of how I can serve my clients, where then I can drop back into the belief of, like, no, my pricing is worth what it is. It 100% has that value and the right people will pay. You know what happened there that I noticed? I'm working on this concept in elevate. It's actually coming up in our coach week.

Our coachathon is this idea of your self concept is you switched when your brain fired off all of these things. You were in what I call, like, amateur mode. You're like, where your thoughts and your emotions drive your behaviors and your decisions, and then you quickly switch to professional mode, where you said, like, I have access to these products, my services, my experience, I can do all of these things.

When you think like a professional photographer, you act like one. When you think like an amateur or a hobbyist or you don't believe that you are professional, then when you think that way, that leads to your feelings and your actions, and then you have, you know, an emotional reaction, which, listen, so do I. And then you take you, you get these results that don't line up because you're not acting from a place of certainty that you're a professional.

By the way, I think this is the result of imposter syndrome as well. That this, like, you know, we're a fraud because you're trying to act like a professional, but you're actually an amateur. So when you view yourself, this is what I want people to do, is when you start, all of these feelings, all these feelings come up out. The pricing or the value of your work or whatever, I just want you to ask yourself, am I thinking like a professional photographer?

How am I thinking? Could you, like, picture someone that you see as a professional photographer, like someone that you have categorized in that bucket and say, how would that person react right now? Like you, I think they should use you. I think they should say, like, what would Nicole do or think here as a professional photographer? And not the. Not the Nicole that reacts, you know, from her brain.

Right, right. Not Nicole's monkey brain. Right, right. The Nicole that took a minute. Yeah. And then reframed it with what she does. Bring that Nicole. Yeah. Like, and we've even had this. I forget who it was. Someone in elevate that had a consult with somebody that, like, the. What the person wanted was so wildly, like, they had no idea. No idea what goes into these types of things.

And, like, they had their conversation and it was just not going to be a fit. And so, like, can you imagine, like, the industry's biggest photographers having a conversation like that and, like, it's not a right fit? Do you think they're going home? Like, maybe I should lower my prices? Oh, man. We're gonna book me again. It's like, it's okay. All right. Like, moving on. They just don't even give it a second thought.

Well, I think that's because. Yes, because they're like, I'm thinking like a professional, and I believe that I'm in demand. We get all, we get all tied up in knots when we're, like, thinking, this is the only. This is the only client that's contacted me in weeks, this is going to be the only inquiry I have. Oh, my gosh. What am I going to do? When. If you think, okay, next.

If you're able to say, like, okay, bummer. They don't get it. No problem. Next, please. Yep. If you believe that those. Those clients were there and they were in demand, it wouldn't even cross your mind to get upset about it. Yep. Yep. For sure. Oh, my gosh. Hey, can I share just real quick? Yeah. I thought about this this morning. This is so rant. Not totally random. I heard somebody else mention it, but did you ever watch the show deadliest catch?

Yes. Yeah. Okay. They're in the Bering sea. They're hunting for Alaska king crabs. It's the most dangerous job in the world. Side note, my dad did that job for a while. He was in Alaska. Yeah. This was in the mid sixties. He hitchhiked to Alaska. Somehow this just didn't surprise me. But, yeah, yeah, my dad has a lot of interesting stories. Anyway, it's very. I mean, the show is called deadliest catch because people die on these boats.

Okay? Why in the world would these captains and their crew get on those boats and go out to the bering sea in a storm? By the way? I think the Bering sea, like, normally is a storm. Certainly when they're out there, I think it's wintertime that they're catching the snow crab at least. It's always insane. Uh huh. Why would they do that? Probably they need the money and they like money.

They make a lot of money, okay? Because they believe, number one, there are crab in the sea, okay? They wouldn't go out there if they didn't think there were any crab. True. True. Okay. They risk their lives to go out there and get crab because they know they're a crab. They get on these ships, like, willingly, which is bizarre. They go out there, they fish, they get these crabs.

They believe there are crabs. Why? Why is that important? Because they believe there's someone on shore that's going to buy them for a lot of money. Yeah, right. To make a lot of money. To make a lot of money. There is no planet on which someone would get onto one of those boats if they were thinking, oh, nobody's going to pay my prices. Yeah, no one's going to buy this crap.

No one's going to buy this out here and no one's going to buy it there. I can't find any crab, and even if I do, no one's going to buy it. They're not all these prices. You've seen it, too, where they, like, put down a whole string of pots, and they pull them up, and there's nothing. Nothing. They turn the ship around and go back in. Nope, nope.

They keep going somewhere else. Yeah. And why? Because they believe they are in demand on the shore. Yeah. And that they know that the crab are there somewhere. Although I did just read an article that. I didn't actually get to read the whole article. I just saw the headline that there's a whole bunch. The crab populations have, like, crashed, so there might not be as many crab. All right.

They might not get on. They'll get more expensive. Yeah. But these. These people. It's just the craziest thing to me. If you haven't seen that show, go watch it. Just one episode. You'll be like, what? They're insane. They get on these. These boats to get these crab that are gonna make them a ton of money. They make all of their money in this, like, really short season. Yep.

But that's because they believe there are buyers on shore. And my guess is these buyers are unsure, probably fighting over who gets how many crab. And then there's, like, pricing wars or whatever. And these ship captains are just sitting back, counting all of their dollar bills. They get on those boats because they believe they're in demand. You would show up. You would not be emotionally upset or worried about where the clients are if you believed they were there.

You would also not hesitate to let people know about your services if you believe that people wanted them. Not for a second. You would not hesitate even for a second. You would be excited. Yeah. The reason that you don't say something to somebody is you think that they're gonna not want it or they're gonna judge you for offering it. Yes. If you're pushy and annoying and they say no, and you still keep, like, trying to get them to book.

Okay, don't do that. I know you're not going to be a creep. Yeah. But, like, when have you ever. Has anyone ever said something like, hey, did you know about this? And you weren't interested? Like, did you hold it over their head for the next, like, three months? No, just moved on. So what if you can believe that people want what you have to offer, which can you think of?

I know you have them. Those clients that have literally told you how important what you did for them. Washington. Can you just, like, channel that person and be like, let me think about Carol and how much this, like, means to her now. And I want to give that to other people. Too. All right, here we go. Yeah, perfect. If that's what you need to do, think of one person who you've served.

It's been so my guess is a lot of people listening have had that client that has loved them so much. Like, it's brought them to tears. The client, you know, is so moved, or they sent you a cardinal or a gift. If you think about those people and you're like, well, multiply them. Multiply that, Carol, and think, I'm in demand. And there's so many of them out there, it becomes like this driving force that propels me into, like, my thought is like, they need this.

Like, it's my responsibility to put it out there. They need this. I am so certain of what I produce and how I can help photographers make money that I will never stop talking about elevate. I will never stop selling it because I think there's just so much demand out there. I just have to show them, you know, that the money you spend, people always like, well, I'm investing this money.

And I'm like, yeah, but you're going to make so much more if I can show you how much more money you're going to make. Like, why would you not do that anyway? I want people to wake up every day and think there are crab in the sea and there are people unsure, a ton of them. And like, if you remove the mind drama and you just go catch the crab and sell it to the people on the shore, you are thinking like a professional fisherman, a professional photographer.

If I just think like a professional photographer. A professional. No, for real. A professional photographer knows there are clients out there, period. So if then everything flows from that. Oh, I just have to think like a professional. How would Nicole approach this? What would she do? What would she say? How would she show and then just go do that thing. And if you don't know, come join, elevate or ask.

Just ask. Free to focus formula. Yeah, just come ask us. We'll tell you. Oh, my gosh. So good. So I do want to share, which usually I don't mention these things on the actual podcast because it isn't evergreen. Like, this is short term guys to come grab this secret podcast. If, like, you want to dig deeper into these beliefs, into how you start to reframe our minds, to believe that there are crab in the sea, you're going to want to be part of this.

So if you go to freedomfocus formula.com success, we have a secrets to success secret podcast that we just put together. We don't know how long we're going to have it out there. It's free. Basically. You go, you opt in. We pulled, well, Heather pulled some of the after I told her, I'm like, I need more, give me more. The people want it. Pulled some of her trainings from the elevate portal into this podcast.

This is like never before released for free, guys. Always been back behind the big elevate wall. But yeah, so we have those, we have conversations with different students. We have some special interviews, special podcasts, all sorts of stuff in there. It is bingeable. It is awesome. It is free. Freedom focus formula.com success. Go grab it. You basically just opt in and listen to it like any other podcast.

And then we are also upping the ante a little bit more. And we are doing the first ever coach week. Dun dun dun dun. Yeah. September 30, October 1, October 2. 02:00 p.m. eastern. Each day there will be a replay. However, if you want to be coached, you kind of need to be there live. So it's going to be the opportunity to actually start to dig into your own thoughts.

And we're, we're going to start each day with a little bit of a training, but then pivot it into coaching around that item. So to kind of get you thinking about like, what thoughts are we having? Because here's the thing. Most of the time, we don't even know what thoughts we're having, and we certainly don't know what thoughts we're having that are blocking our next steps or the next level of success that we're looking for.

So this training is designed to help shine a light on whatever that thought is that's blocking you from your next level and having the access to the coaching to rewrite it. So, and I know that a lot of people are thinking because they've said it to me. They're like, well, no, I actually know what's holding me back. It's me. It's my thoughts, and here are a few of them.

But I want you to consider that episode with Carrie. She thought she knew what was holding her back until we had a conversation. That's the power of coaching. We had a conversation. I got really curious. She got really curious. She was very vulnerable. She dug really deep to figure out what was actually going on, and it blew. You've got to listen to that podcast. It blew her mind.

My mind was blown, actually. Just like being there, witnessing it, what happened. So that's why this is important, because I know, you know, some of your thoughts that are holding you back. And I also can guarantee, like, 100% guarantee that you are having thoughts you don't realize you're having that are holding you back. It's my job to help you uncover them. I live for it. I love it so much.

But the reason I can guarantee this with 100% accuracy is because if you knew, you would have already managed them. You would be at a different level. You would be further ahead in terms of clients or inquiries or revenue, whatever, whatever your gauge is. So I know that you haven't uncovered it yet, which is fine. It's fine. That's why I'm here, and I want to help you with that.

I'm really looking forward to this. I tell nicole every singular day when I'm coaching in elevate or doing it one on one, I'm in my zone of genius because I love it. I just live for these breakthroughs. They're amazing. Yeah. So come join us. Freedomfocusformula.com coach week. One word. But, yeah, that conversation with Carrie's on that secret podcast, we curated that one because it was such a good one.

So go check it out. Come back and join us. It's going to be awesome. If you're listening to this past September 1, October 2, well, we might do it again. We probably have something else brewing. It'll be sometime, so just. Just go check out those links. There'll be either a waitlist there. We'll let you know what's going on. Come join us inside. Elevate. Yeah, I mean, I was talking to someone last week who.

It was an elevate lifeline. So we do these private one on one calls inside of elevate with myself and with coaches. She came to me with some challenges that were pretty big, and she was pretty upset. And we were talking through them, and she's like, but I know it's this, this and this. And I was like, yeah, okay. And what about what's driving this feeling or this behavior, you know?

And what about this? Anyway, 30 minutes, Nicole. 30 minutes. She's in tears, and she's like, can I have your address? I need to send you a gift. Okay. She said, can I have your address? I need to send you something. I'm assuming it's a gift. I mean, I guess it could be something else, but anyway, it's just the power of, like, diving into something. I walk around all the time and I see people.

I'm like, listen, if you could just give me 20 minutes, I can solve any problem. Any problem. Just tell me what's going on with you, and we can talk it through. Superpower her power. And I. I feel this very strong need, like, a responsibility to serve others and to put it out there and talk about it so it doesn't come from a place of ego at all, if that's what you're hearing.

You're just misunderstanding. I feel very compelled to help people change their lives. You know, I work with photographers, but, I mean, somebody said to me today, do you just work with photography clients? And I said, well, mostly, yes, I do have a few clients that aren't photographers. But what you'll find is that it becomes so much bigger than that because there's always a theme, there's always a thread.

It's like, it's like your thoughts around money, right? If you are not making the money you want with photography, I promise you, it's because you have thoughts about money that aren't serving you, that don't come from photography. So we need to find them. We need to uncover them, bring awareness to it, and then, you know, see what, see what we can reframe. Yeah, I love it. Awesome. So come join us.

In the meantime, go grab that secret podcast, freenafocusformula.com. success. And Heather, we will make sure we do not wait three more months. I guess it's only been two months. Regardless. Much too long. We won't make that mistake again to have you. Okay. I don't think I'll let that happen either. I didn't realize it had been that long either. All right, everybody, good to see you. And we'll see you next week.