About

It was the night before I was about to launch my one K weekend challenge, evergreen funnel. When I had my Covid moment and realized how serious everything was, everything began shutting down. Everybody was going into their homes and staying apart and taking this seriously finally and social distancing. [00:00:21]And here I was literally one day away from telling people, photographer, specifically, here's what you say and do to book clients when they're getting cancellation after cancellation from events, closing, weddings being postponed and the works, they can't even get out of their houses to do their work. So what was I going to do? [00:00:40] What was I going to do? That's what I'm going to tell you about in today's episode. [00:00:45] I really went back and forth for quite a while as to whether or not I should do the one K weekend and it starts with the live video. That then encourages people to opt in to download this guide that I created so that they could do the one K we can challenge and at some point, I'm totally gonna walk you through how I change the structure to go from doing a event, a big challenge in real time online, which is what I've done in the past, very successfully to having a challenge going all the time, but still being able to support people and hopefully help them get results. [00:01:38]But the beginning of it is a live video that I wanted to record with people there live to have their energy and then use that in the future and keep sending people to it. And I didn't know if it was appropriate to do it. It seemed like the literally the worst time ever, my industry was like shutting down. [00:01:55] People were freaking out and here I was saying, Hey, go try and book clients. But what I realized is that. If it worked even for a few people, those few people would be helped immensely because they'd have extra money in their bank account coming into this scary time. So we did it. I decided to do it. I put out an email that day. [00:02:19] That morning and I put a post in my Facebook group and said, Hey, let's do this. Why not try sign up here and I'll give you a reminder or just come watch live and you can sign up for the guide afterwards if you want to. So. I don't own an eight to 10 hours. I had 368 people who signed up to come and do the one K weekend challenge, and I was thrilled. [00:02:42] Like I was just hoping to get like 50 people there because I knew that just having a few people there would give me that energy. When I'm on live, I really love doing live video. It's, Probably my favorite podcasting is second, but I don't get to interact with you in the same way in a podcast. You just have to sit and listen to me talk while I love to talk. [00:02:59] It's just not quite the same, but I went into this, I did the live video, and then I waited and because it was time for people to do the stuff, and unlike a launch, I had everything built beforehand. I had been working for. Little over a month and a half to get all the messaging done, all the Facebook posts, done, all that supporting videos, done all the emails, written, everything was done, and now all I had to do was support people and really encourage them to go through the funnel and go through the process and trust that it was going to work. [00:03:32] Right. I had . Intentionally created us to be as hands off as possible. So it was really an odd feeling because normally with the one K weekend, like the group goes crazy. I'm answering comments left and right, whatever. And so, I started seeing a few people interacting on the post that we had put , there's a post for them to like share when they've posted it, so we can encourage them. [00:03:54]there's some posts about how to support them. So like if they're not booking clients, here's a couple of things that could be going on here. Some more ideas. I had about four or five different little video posts to help them in various situations, and they were getting a little bit of response and a few people were booking clients, which is fantastic. [00:04:13] In fact, I started using this new software called video ask, and I'll try and put a link in the show notes if I remember. It's phenomenal. It's a really great way to get testimonials. And so two of them even recorded testimonials for me that day, like that over the weekend that I was able to share on Monday and say, look, even though everything is going crazy right now, we're all being asked to stay home. [00:04:37] Ven events are canceling and weddings are canning, you know, all this stuff. You know what's going on. Everybody in this world is dealing with this now or has dealt with it depending on when you're listening to this. And so. you know, I was, I was happy to see that people were still booking clients using this process because, you know, I didn't know if it was gonna work. [00:04:56] And if you're challenged doesn't get people results, it's definitely not going to get them to purchase your course. so yeah, so there was some positive things. There was some excitement building. But then Monday came and that's when I did my video. I did my stuff, and then I looked at my numbers and that Monday, so I should back up a second. [00:05:06] When they do the one K weekend, I really love action takers because those are the people who survive in business. Those are the people who get stuff done, even if it's not perfect, and it's that. Momentum of actually taking action and not just wallowing in fear and learning more and more and more before they ever move forward. [00:05:25]. I mean, it's like the biggest indicator of somebody who's going to make it in business. So I love to work with action takers, and I told people that. If they did the one K weekend, regardless of whether or not they get results, they could get my course for half price. [00:05:39] So my course goes for $2,000 or $399 a month over six payments. And so if they just do the one K weekend, I give them a private invitation window where they can get it for either nine 99 or just six payments of one 99 so basically. I give them $1,000 towards taking the story session system and then hopefully the challenge makes them $1,000 or more so that it's a no brainer if this is something that they want to do going forward. [00:06:07] It just works really well. so I was getting testimonials and then we started into the sales sequence. And, I was no, well, before they get into that, they also get a bonus video, which is really great. [00:06:17] It's like how to turn their one-time clients into recurring clients. And, I started looking at my numbers because I wanted to see how many people had done it. It's that Monday afterwards. It's the start of the sales sequence. It's the start of when they get their bonuses. And I had only had 12 people, 12 people. [00:06:35] I had a 368 people who signed up to do it. Only 12 of them took action. That's just 3% now, of those 3% who did it, half of them booked clients, which was phenomenal, but I just had this panic moment because if nobody's going to do the challenge . My funnel is broke. it doesn't work. If people don't do it, it will not work if people are not doing the challenge. [00:07:01]I mean, anyone who's doing it and getting results like great, even if they don't get results, but they can see how it works and they can see the progress they're making, there's hope there, right? And so, I was just super down. I'm like, what am I going to do if people don't actually take action if they're so afraid to move forward that they're not even trying? [00:07:22] I'm going to be straight up honest. I had another dark day. It was a very dark day of thinking about what would happen if I can't bring any money in, my business will fail and it's probably only got like two months maybe. I'm not sure if that were the case. And, that's another thing I need to do this week is look at all the numbers, which is terrifying, but I'm going to do it tomorrow. [00:07:42] In fact, and if you haven't, you should do it too, even though I know it's scary. , so I had a dark day, but the next day. I had a brilliant moment. It was a beautiful moment of incredible clarity and incredible productivity too. It's just one of those great days. And I realized that the people who are gonna make it through this in my industry were the ones taking action. [00:08:05] Because the ones taking action, half of them got results. Like that's a really great statistic. And I was so thankful that I had taken the time to actually set up all of this up in my funnel so that I could track the people who , did it and track the results and the ones who got, the clients, the ones who didn't and how much money they made and how many clients they booked to have it all there. [00:08:23] It's all there. Cause I wanted to be able to celebrate them and feature them in my community. And so I did this Facebook live and I did it on Instagram too. I've never done an Instagram live before. That was kinda fun. And I shared about who I thought was going to make it in this industry and who wasn't and why. [00:08:40] I thought there was a possibility of 97% of photography businesses failing through this. And I basically took it straight from the numbers in my funnel. Now I know there's a lot of if, ands, or buts in that, but if only 3% of people are actually taking action to move their business forward during this time, and 97% are not. [00:09:00]Either because they don't believe it's going to work or because they're afraid and paralyzed by it or whatever it is. They're not going to make it. If you are so terrified right now that you can even take action in your business and move forward, of course you're not going to make it through. Like we have to keep that momentum going. [00:09:19] We've got to keep moving forward, even if it's just one little thing a day to do towards growing your business. and I know that's scary, but. People were so moved by that, because then I could say, you know, I know you don't think that anyone's going to book, but look at these 3%, those 12 people who did it, half of them did actually book clients. [00:09:38] One of them booked seven clients during that. She made $3,500 during that challenge, , the goal was to show them that there's still hope, not to say, Hey, you're going to fail. But the difference, the thing that separates the people who will absolutely fail and the people who will hopefully make it is the ones who hopefully make it and probably will make it, are the ones taking action who have not given up. [00:10:01] Even when they don't know if it's gonna work, and I saw that in myself. I had to still do this video even though I didn't know if it was going to work. I knew I needed to put it out there and that if I didn't put it out there, I absolutely wouldn't be making any money like I had to do it, even though I knew the results would be lower. [00:10:16]And yeah, I totally had a dark day when I realized only 12 people, only 3% actually did it. But then when I realized that I could encourage people to get results and take action and show them that. It's easy to keep moving forward if you're taking action, like part of this is just doing the thing, right? [00:10:34] Just doing the thing. And so right now I have more people doing it. This is only a few days ago. So, we will see how it goes in terms of the funnel performing long term. We did get one sale from it, which was great. It gave me hope that people will actually take this time to buy and to work on their business and they have hope as well. [00:10:54]And so, you know, my business might survive. I need more than one sale a week to survive though my, Oh my. But, Here's what I want to encourage you right now, and it's the same for me to keep. Taking action, do not let this panic and this fear and all of this stuff, which is there, and it's valid to acknowledge it, but like don't let it hold you back from taking action and don't just be passive about it. [00:11:21] Like, yeah, it's absolutely great to update your website and do all those things that you've been meaning to do, but do not neglect marketing or even sales. It's not wrong to try and sell right now. There are some people. Who are thriving right now. there are several people in the mastermind. I'm in impact mastermind with Stu McLaren who are crushing it because they have memberships or products that serve people who. [00:11:49]Like hobbies, for example, or like the artists, they have people who are ready to dive into the art who finally have time to do it because they didn't have time before. Right. And so they're thriving. music lessons. My friend who runs a guitar membership is just crushing it right now because people are finally picking up their guitar and playing. [00:12:08] Actually, I'm one of those people, it's really funny. I have played my guitar. Every single day in March after not playing it for like years and years and years. I picked it up a little bit this last year again, but, it's just been amazing to see some people are thriving. I imagine that, companies that sell home. [00:12:26]Workout equipment are thriving. we all know that like puzzles and games and anything to entertain kids is surviving and thriving. there's lots of people out there who are definitely gonna make it through this really well. And there's plenty of industries that are going to hit be hit hard by this, like the photography industry. [00:12:45]But the thing is we can't stop taking action, or we. Absolutely aren't going to make it. So think about one thing you can do right now today to take action on your business and to do so in a really active way, not just passively, but like actively trying to promote the product or the service that you sell. [00:13:05] Now, if you're a service provider and you can't do it, like if you're a photographer, you can't shoot right now, but you absolutely can do an offer for people to say, Hey, if you book me now, I will give you a discount. Because let's face it, we need money, and this gives them an incentive to book. [00:13:20] Now , and if you do that now, we'll plan over the next few months or weeks or however long the, I hope it's not too many months, but however long it is that we cannot be together and do the actual session. We'll take this time to plan it out. And then as soon as we're able to, we'll schedule a time and we'll shoot the session. [00:13:37]After all of this quarantining and everything is done. Okay? So you can do that. You'll get it. They get a deal now because you're just trying to keep cash flow during this really hard time so you can keep your business afloat and they get a deal because they get to invest now for something that they'd normally have to pay a lot more for later that they still absolutely need. [00:13:57] So there are ways to do this that are a win for us. Everybody. There's nothing wrong with that. And so think about the things you can do, not just passively but actively. the best way to figure that out is to have focus, I'm going to talk about that in the next episode because that was my biggest struggle was, okay, I'm going to take action. [00:14:15] I'm going to keep moving forward. But what do I do first? How do I focus? So that's where we're going in the next episode. Make sure you don't miss it. Sign up at personal brand journey dot comm to get notifications through telegram, which is a free app. I highly recommend using it. download telegram, and then click the join button once it takes you to the channel. [00:14:35] Personal brand journey.com and if you haven't yet, subscribe to the podcast. The more subscribers we get, the more we go up through the ranks and , then you have a second thing that gives you updates if you go into your podcast app. So would love to make sure that you don't miss this next time. [00:14:51]thanks for subscribing and if you've enjoyed it, we'd love it if you'd leave a review as well. So would that. Have a great day. I will catch you in the next episode all about finding your focus. You know how to move forward during this crazy time in your business,