The New Adventure Workshop

Awful news! 🦄

The May workshop has been cancelled. 🙁

It’s a bummer to have to cancel it but with the time drawing nigh and tickets being unsold, I can take a hint that it’s time to take a step back and focus on some other things.

Is this the end of the workshops?

For 2022, yes.

We have some exciting things happening this year. (No, we’re not having a baby). And with that, travel and being away willl be more challenging. But with new challenges, arise new opportunities to grow.

I look forward to serving you through social media posts, humor, and collaborative podcasts with fellow creatives over the coming year. When 2023 brings into our sights some more reasonable stability, we will for sure examine hosting a late summer workshop. It seems that spring is more challenging to sell tickets to workshops when its slow season for everyone.

This post definitely isn’t made lightly but the formatting was meant for humor and lightness. I’m sad to not be able to host another workshop but what’s next will outweigh any amount of work that we’re doing and make all the sacrifices worth it.

Here’s to maladaptively handling a bit of sadness and grief with humor! HURRAY FOR 2022!

Just kidding. It’s all good! Love you and happy weekend!

Nate

“If it’s not a hell yes, it’s a no.”

Yesterday I had the pleasure of speaking with two amazing women in the photography industry who are slaying it.

and.refresh Owner Aja also runs a mindset group where she helps fellow creatives overcome their dark inner voices and promote a life-work balance.

Many of the things she shared for the podcast interview were outstanding. One of the stand out phrases she used was “it it’s not a hell yes, it’s a no.”

This is such a powerful way of thinking not just in business but in our daily lives as well.

So many times we agree to plans when we aren’t fully invested. We compromise our mental and physical health to say yes to something that won’t serve us.

And why do we do that?

Scarcity mindset.

And what is a scarcity mindset based in?

Fear.

And there is no place for fear when we are working to claim a piece of the pie. We’ve got to both and balanced.

I’m so excited to share this podcast with you. Stay tuned to learn more!

Here’s a friday tip.

Submit your site map to Google.

Doing this will help Google recognize your site faster and further potentially boost your rank.

You’ll need your site map link and a Google Search Console account.

Happy optimizing.

We’ve made some updates!

Mostly, in price. We’ve actually lowered the price a bit to make sure it’s more approachable for our fellow photographer friends.

We’ve got spaces left and I promise you that you’ll walk away with not only beautiful content but also applicable and helpful education.

Come learn from .and.refresh and of course me

It will be a badass time! Link in bio to apply!

Brand and ideal client–a perfect marriage.

Now that we’ve defined our branding through our strengths, preferences, and past client experiences, we can use this brand throughout our site.

When I make posts on social media or update my website, I stick with my brand topics. Exclusively.

I think its important to create something consistent for a client. And no, I’m not talking about just posting consistently (post within your mental health means). I’m talking about when someone scrolls onto your feed, they KNOW they’re going to get some helpful tip about fashion, travel, or whatever resonates with you. They know that YOU are the authority in the things that you’re sharing because that’s ALL YOU TALK ABOUT.

But don’t get me wrong. You’re not just a one trick pony. But brand cohesion and consistency help create trust. Afterall, we may feel like all we talk about is one specific subject, but our audience is consuming hundreds or thousands of other posts in a single day as well. So being able to come back to what they know they can expect–that’s good.

Apple doesn’t just randomly one off and begin a tangent about cider making. (unintentional correlation between apple and cider). Stick with your brand and I PROMISE your audience will appear and begin those inquiries.

If you want to learn from an amazing branded pro, join us in Salt Lake City this May 15-19, 2022 to learn about ideal clients and brand from THE Dylan Fox.

Ideal clients define our brand too.

I know, I know. It feels like we have all these things to consider when it comes to building a solid brand. Let’s not sell short our past ideal clients we’ve already worked with, served, and delivered to.

Your ideal clients can help you further refine your brand by examining what you’ve already done.

Try this exercise.

1. Go through your past galleries to the perfect wedding or elopement.
2. Ask yourself, what did you love about this event?
3. Write down everything you loved about the client and the location.
4. Do this again for a few other clients.

What similarities are beginning to appear? We’re beginning to see teh similarities between ideal clients and locations.

Now take it one step further. What did you do for each of those clients that made their wedding day really special?

This could be a challenge to answer. So if you’re coming up stumped, send them an email and ask them. If they’ve left you a review, check that out too. You may be surprised to know that your fashion advice for their engagement shoot was really valuable. And lo and behold, you love fashion.

Now you know that one of your brand topics should be fashion help.

Let’s dive into what a strong brand is.

A strong brand will polarize (meaning both repel and ATTRACT) unideal and ideal clients. A strong brand speaks to the audience and meets their core needs. It will cut past the BS to get into the business of what it is they’re looking for in a wedding photographer.

My amazing bestie and past educator Victoria Rayburn has an amazing brand. Let’s take a little look at her brand and she uses it to attract her client.

Victoria has a strong brand presence. She only uses her brand topics to speak and doesn’t differ from them.

Her brand resonates and attracts her ideal clients.

The branding topics she uses solve the problems of her audience.

Her strengths lie in her brand awareness and usage.

So what is Victoria’s brand? In no particular order: her faith, her marriage, support of small business, organization and attention to detail, and her work.

Many of the things listed above aren’t directly ‘solving’ a problem, however. But sometimes its about the bigger picture than just a single piece.

Victoria shares about her faith in order to attract a client who has similar values as she.

She is pragmatic and detail oriented. She’s someone who has balanced the desirability of being loved and validated through work with the attention to detail that Type As have–and her ideal client is a Type A bride. She even states that on her site. They’re ‘detail-oriented’ and Victoria’s ability to curate the littlest details make her very appealing to her clients.

She advocates for strong marriages and frequently shares examples of her marriage. Victoria doesn’t fail to share that it's not always roses and sunshine and that there are tough days that they’ve both worked through together. Being candid, honest, and transparent makes her relatable to her audience.

I could go on. Instead, click the notification bell on our page so you know when we post tomorrow about the next step in our branding–solving client problems.

Are you open to travel. REALLY?

Travel is what so many of us dream of doing. But are you really ready to travel and are you open to actually being booked for it?

Travel is tricky. It costs a lot. And to break into it…it can feel hopeless sometimes.

So we unconsciously close ourselves off to it. We talk about travel. But we never make a real effort to do more than to talk about it.

Talk is cheap. And it’s probably so cheap that it will never pay your bills. So if you really wanna be open to travel. Try these things.

Provide value.
Connect the dots for your clients.
Know the area.
And build your travel cost into the total.

Wanna learn more? Join us in SLC this summer!

Wanna be a destination elopement photographer?

You don’t just have to dream it anymore. You can actually be it too.

step one. Provide value. I talk about this a lot. What does value mean to you and what does value mean to your ideal client? Find those topics and talk about them.

step two. Travel often. To be a good destinationphotographer you should be a good traveler. Period.

step three network. Networking allows you to connect your ideal clients with amazing vendors in the area. Instead of making your clients find vendors, be the resource that they need and help create value by referring vendors.

As a bonus tip, be sure to serve the vendors as well. Share your images and ask them what their dream looks are as well. You never know if you’ll find someone for a styled shoot willing to provide some amazing services.

be sure to like share and comment on this if you agree.

Feeling foxy? Dylan Fox is our brand educator for the New Adventure Workshop!

Dylan has mastered the art of knowing who is ideal client is. He shared with me recently that about 5 years ago, as he was taking a look at his work, he realized that he knew he wasn’t the loud leader type. Instead, Dylan is the introvert who thinks, sees, and most importantly, hears.

Over the past few years, Dylan has worked hard to refine and define his ideal client. To listen to their needs and to deliver time and time again, passion and beauty.

Dylan will be diving into finding your brand and how to speak to your ideal client. I cannot wait to hear from this amazing creative.

As an added bonus, each attendee will get to ask Dylan question in advance which he will address during his presentation and will be working with our small breakout groups as well.

Welcome, Dylan! I’m so happy to have you!