Nicole Begley (00:00)
Welcome back to the Freedom Focus Photography Podcast. I'm your host, Nicole Begley. And today's episode is a little bit different because Heather and I are pulling you into a real time business decision that's happening right now inside of our Elevate program. There's a big change coming and instead of just announcing it, Heather and I wanted to walk you through the thinking behind it, the experiments, the data, the moments of frustration and clarity that led us here. And here's the important part. This conversation isn't just about Elevate.

It's the same decision making process you face in your photography business when something feels off, when you feel stuck, or when you're just not sure what to try next. Stay tuned.

Nicole Begley (00:40)
I'm Nicole Begley, 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 $2,000 $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.

Speaker 2 (01:39)
All right, Heather, what is going on in your world right now? ⁓

Speaker 1 (01:44)
just

share with you, it's sort of a precursor to this because this is important. What I teach, my philosophy in teaching photography business is that you need to use the scientific method. So I approach everything from this view of you just need to try something and then make it better. Either it works or it doesn't, and then you repeat. But formally,

Speaker 2 (01:57)
I've heard scientific method. Of course.

Speaker 1 (02:11)
What I say is you need to take an educated guess. So how do I get clients? What do I do next? Okay. Make an educated guess. And let's assume, because this is also my philosophy, let's assume there's no right or wrong way to do it. Okay. So you make an educated guess, you quickly try it out. You don't hesitate. You see if it works. If it does, you repeat it. If it does not work, you make another educated guess. You try it. Did it work?

And you just continue that in a loop from now until forever more. That's it. And so everything then becomes an experiment in your business. I'll try this. I'll try this. And you're just constantly in motion. You're gathering so much data so that you rarely to never feel stuck.

Speaker 2 (02:44)
Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1 (03:01)
there might be some confusion. What do I try next? But that's fine because that action will give you momentum, which will always lead to result. So really between these two things, meet people telling me a photographer, make them an offer between that and the scientific method. Also the philosophy of no right or wrong way. I am telling you, you are off to the races.

Speaker 2 (03:23)
Yeah, well, that one piece that you said in there, too, that action also leads to clarity. Yes. Like if you're not sure what to do, like what's the next step you could take and do that? And then you'll become more clear. Because I think so many of us wait till we have the entire plan. Like I cannot start until I know exactly how things are going. But what if you got two steps in and you're like, ⁓ I'm veering way over here.

So all that planning is for not, I'm not saying you shouldn't know where you're going or what the general plan is. If you know, great. But if you don't know, that's not an excuse not to start moving forward.

Speaker 1 (04:00)
Yeah, because you'll figure it out, but you'll only figure it out with that clarity because figuring out what you don't want or what doesn't work is just as important, if not more important than finding a way that does. So you have to be in experimental data gathering mode. have to maybe try to set down all of the drama and emotions and thoughts. OK, put on your metaphorical safety goggles.

Speaker 2 (04:14)
Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1 (04:29)
and your lab coat and just treat your business like it's a science because it is, which means there is a solution because as you like to say, there's a solution to every problem. just have to try things out. Okay. So with that in mind, I just want to demonstrate really quickly that I practice what I preach. I look at my business like an experiment. So in 2025,

Speaker 2 (04:41)
Mm-hmm. Yep.

Speaker 1 (04:54)
I ran experiments with my business in terms of Facebook ads to a free lead magnet and then offering things like CoachWeek, FastTrack Coaching, four clients in four weeks, different opportunities to work with me to see if we would be a good fit. So how I teach, my framework, my coaching style, I'm just giving people the opportunity to come into my world and see if it's a good fit.

Speaker 2 (05:19)
I feel like you've done this though even before this year. Oh, for sure. that you have had, you know, the Flourish Academy like membership, but you have for the past how many years have been all in on Elevate? Five, Like that's what we're talking about here is all of these experimentation for, is one program of just all in on Elevate. Six, holy cow. Yeah. Yeah, I guess so. It's 2020, 20.

Speaker 1 (05:43)
six years.

2019 when you and I that fateful day in your living room. huh. When we came up with this, it was like, we had spent several days together. I had my bags packed. We were in your living room getting ready to leave for the airport and it kaboom hit us. It's been since then. So since then I have been running a variety of experiments with how to promote and market elevate.

Speaker 2 (05:53)
Remember that?

huh. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:14)
all the while increasing the value and just dumping all of my energy into it. okay, last year specifically, the experiment was, so yeah, these experiments have sort of shifted, but specifically it was a paid ad to a free lead magnet, which did increase my list by about 6,400 people, new people on my email list. So over, it's close to 12,000 now, and so doubled. And in doing these free, I don't know what we would.

call them workshops, coaching opportunities, like throughout the year. I did 12 of those. So approximately one per month, all in. So at the end of the year, so December of 2025, it was time to look at the data, like a scientist, drop the emotions, which by the way, it's not easy to do even for me. Drop the emotions and I looked at the data and objectively, the experiment did not work, it failed.

because I did not get the number of people inside of Elevate that I was aiming for, the goal. It did not work. Now that's objectively, I can look at that and say, okay, we've got to move on to new experiment because that's not cutting it. And I was committed. So let me sidebar this and say, I've worked with photographers who change their pricing every five seconds, but it's not the pricing that's the problem. It's that they.

Speaker 2 (07:38)
Mm-hmm. Barely.

Speaker 1 (07:41)
Yeah, they think if they change the pricing, then that's going to make something easier or better. So I've worked with some of my one-on-one clients where I've had to say, you need to commit to this pricing for six months and either figure out how to sell it or get enough data to prove that it's not going to work. So when I say experiment with something in your business, these experiments could be, you know, a couple of days or a month long. They could be six months long. In my case, I like a lot of data. So I committed to a year of that.

Speaker 2 (07:56)
Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1 (08:10)
Yeah. Okay. You know, and here's what happened. My revenue went down. I, you know, there's part of me that looks at a downturn in revenue because I'm a human that's like, that actually sucks. ⁓ And I don't love that, but it gave me a lot of data with that in mind. go into December and I'm feeling a little defeated. So there's, there's where the emotions come in a little bit frustrated and defeated. Yeah. I mean, right.

Speaker 2 (08:37)
involved in there.

Speaker 1 (08:40)
And Nicole, it wasn't even because it didn't work. The frustration was this. It was, don't know what to try next.

Speaker 2 (08:48)
Well, and I think we've talked about this too. The other frustration is that we see the results people get in this program and you and I are like, it's the same thing with like when we were doing progress lab. I'm like, this is the most impactful thing I've ever been a part of. How is it not translating? Right. And we've looked at like the messaging, we've looked at this, we've looked at that and we're just like, what is happening here? So I think that adds to the frustration.

Like it's not just a, I want more revenue in my business. Yeah, okay, we all want more revenue in our business. I think the frustration is driven by like, know deep down how much this can help so many people because we see it every single day. And you're just like, how can I get more people in here to help them reach the goals that they're trying to get?

Speaker 1 (09:46)
Yeah, so it's this deep belief in what I'm doing coupled with a confusion about where I'm missing the mark on the messaging because I must be, you know, I take on that responsibility. So I'm, yeah, frustrated, defeated again, because I'm like, I actually do not know what to do. I mean, obviously you and I talk every day and I'm like, I am flummoxed.

Speaker 2 (09:55)
Mm-hmm. ⁓

Speaker 1 (10:15)
with this messaging.

Speaker 2 (10:17)
And I want to say for any of you guys listening that you're like, this doesn't apply to me. You're like talking about an online program. I'm selling photography. You guys, it is the same thing. The messaging that we have to our clients, like, you know, we're not selling photography. And when we're doing a boutique business and two to $3,000 average sales for a portrait session, like there is messaging there too. All of this goes to, and you know,

You know how great your art is. You know how much clients love it 10 years down the line after their pet has passed, how much value they have, or if you're a family photographer, their kids are grown, like you know how much value that brings. So it is, we're talking about the same thing here.

Speaker 1 (10:58)
Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly.

Speaker 2 (11:12)
Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1 (11:23)
Because it's not the price. It's not the budget. Budgets are real, by the way. So I'm not negating that, but they don't see the value.

Speaker 2 (11:29)
Yeah, there definitely are people that truly cannot afford it, but if they're meeting all their needs, they have food on the table, they're taking a vacation, they're doing things in life that are beyond just your basic must do this to survive needs. They can't afford it if they saw the value because they can choose where to spend that extra money.

Speaker 1 (11:52)
rat, they would figure it out. So okay, I again, this is early December. And I'm like, I found myself saying the phrase that I hate the most, which is, I just don't know. I don't know. I don't I don't know what I'm going to try next. I don't know what to do next. I am lost. Well, how does one feel when they think those thoughts? ⁓ my

Speaker 2 (12:13)
Great!

Liz, how do you want to throw your hands up and just give up?

Speaker 1 (12:21)
Helpless and hopeless. It's a terrible place to be. So I took a deep breath and I said to myself, okay, listen, you can have your moment. What's next? What is the next experiment that you are going to try? There is a solution. I allowed myself, I wouldn't even say, you know, cause I'm not, I'm not belittling it, but I allowed myself a pity party.

Speaker 2 (12:24)
Hmm

There is a solution.

Speaker 1 (12:49)
And this, so we're going at this point, going right into Christmas. And I just decided I'm going to find it. I'm going to find the next experiment that I want to try. And sure enough, an idea came to me. I thought rather than running a paid ad to a free lead magnet, what if I ran a paid ad to a paid micro product, like something inexpensive, but that could get people in my world and

Most importantly, here's what my thinking was. How can I get them a quick win so that they can see this is how she teaches, this is how I won, this was the result. I like it or I don't. I want more. Right. So in there's a little bit more of an investment when somebody pays for something, even if it's small, even if it's, you know, 40, 60, a hundred dollars, rather than add to free lead magnet.

nurturing to get inside of Elevate, which is a six month commitment, you know, and for someone new to my world that that might be a stretch. Okay, so then so the brain is like, okay, what could I do? And then I was like, Well, I just did that amazing visibility workshop in Elevate. Everyone loved it. I created the 90 day visibility visibility calendar. Could I take that course and structure it?

such that it made sense to run a paid ad to it. What would that look like? And I just immediately took action on that, got really busy really quickly. I actually worked three full days over Christmas, not because I felt like I was in scarcity or fear or lack and had to, I was hustling, not at all. I was 100 % on board, excited, inspired, and extremely

hopeful. So I shifted from hopelessness and feeling helpless, unmotivated, defeated, frustrated, negative emotions, because I'm thinking, don't know. I flipped that to, I've got something that I can try that I'm really excited about, I think has legs. I actually believe it's going to work. Let's go all in. So obviously I was working with you on this, telling you all about this. This is what I'm going to do.

Speaker 2 (14:41)
huh.

Speaker 1 (15:10)
Okay, so we're bringing people, just want to be clear, we're bringing people into this process in real time, because this is extremely recent. Like, yeah, yeah, I finished.

Speaker 2 (15:20)
⁓ I mean, this is January 9th and this is going to be posted on my podcast. think yours too, like this coming Tuesday. Yeah, we're talking like, I mean, we just got back to work and you've been working on this just over the holidays. ⁓

Speaker 1 (15:33)
happened. So I was so excited. I wanted to share with everyone, hey, this is what I'm doing. This is experiment. I couldn't wait to tell my friends and elevate. Here's my next experiment. I promise you, I practice what I preach. Here's how it went down. And so as of this recording, this what happened next, what I'm about to say next happened just a few days ago. And it was as clear as day for me. I was like, ⁓ okay, I'm gonna even do next.

Speaker 2 (16:01)
Your best buddy Nicole has been telling you to do this for a

Speaker 1 (16:06)
I know.

Speaker 2 (16:08)
That's okay, go ahead, go ahead, you tell them. You tell them what you came to.

Speaker 1 (16:13)
decided in an instant. I promise you I was not mulling over this thinking at all Nicole. was instantly I'm going to double the price of Elevate.

period. was, and the reason I know this is the right move is because I felt excited. I didn't, and I did not feel any fear, zero mind drama. I was not worried what people will think. I was just like, Oh, I'm going to double the price of LV. It's going to be $3,000 for six months period. And that's how the messaging is going to look $3,000 six months.

And I immediately told you this and you're like, yes, yes, yes, no kidding. And you, along with several of my mentors and coaches have been saying this to me for years. You need to increase the price. but I, just want to make a distinction here. When you were saying that to me previously and my coaches, it was very clean for me. I wasn't interested in raising the price. didn't, it wasn't out of fear or negativity. was just like, no, I'm not. I don't see that yet.

I know that the value inside of Elevate is, you know, triple quadruple what I was charging. I felt really good about that. It was very clean, just like this was very clean. And when I say clean, I just mean that I don't have any thoughts.

Speaker 2 (17:36)
Yeah, you weren't you weren't you weren't keeping at that price out of fear. It wasn't like there weren't negative thoughts that were causing you to make you weren't reacting with thoughts. You were you were choosing your thoughts and your actions based on what you felt was aligned.

Speaker 1 (17:52)
Oh, what a perfect word. It was so aligned for me then what it was. And now this is equally as aligned. So yesterday I made this announcement inside of Elevate and for a few seconds I saw a little bit of panic on faces and I said, Hey, just so you know, you're grandfathered in for life. As long as you stay in Elevate, you're going to pay 50 % less, half the price.

Speaker 2 (18:17)
Yeah, stay in at what you came in at. Yeah. I still have people, Heather, the joined Hair of the Dog Academy in 2019 for $29 that have been getting business coaching. Like every iteration that I've done over the past seven years, like still getting all the coaching at that price. Because yes, I believe firmly that like you come in at this price, like you, you, are grandfathered in, never raise the price on you.

Speaker 1 (18:20)
Absolutely.

I would never, never, never, ever do that. wouldn't even dream of it. So we're raising the price on February 1st, which means in forever and ever more, it will never again be this inexpensive ever again, without question. So we're giving people till February 1st, if they've been thinking about joining, I mean, obviously now is the time I have for the past six years proven.

my dedication and resolve to photographers in that program by constantly listening, adding what they need, teaching them, jumping on every request, whatever I can do, 100 % dedication, which just a quick side note, I will also be raising the prices on my one-on-one sessions, not for people who are already there, right? They stay.

And I currently don't even have any openings for that. So if you want to get in on that before I raise it, send me a quick email. You know, I'll talk with you separately, but everything, everything is going up. Well, ultimately I'm going to phase out the one-on-ones. I'm going to raise the price on them for now. And then I don't have a date on that yet when those will be phased out because really I'm focused on elevate. How can I provide a better, more aligned experience? It was instant. Oh, I'm doubling the price. wasn't even like,

Should I, oh, Nicole, should I raise it by $150? It was none of that.

Speaker 2 (20:12)
Well, and I think part of that comes so much time. So it's so many times when I teach pricing and photographers, there is a level of fear based there with like, Hey, you need to double your prices. They're like, my God, I can't possibly, no one's going to pay it. What are people going to think? What's aunt Karen going to think? XYZ, you know, like there's just so much fear and uncertainty around it. ⁓ but then once you have that first sale, you're like, ⁓ wait, there are people to value this.

this is doable or even if you're not, always encourage them like, look, look at the other people are doing this and markets just like yours. Like they're like, can, you can see the results, which then helps you build the foundation of that belief. So for the past six years, you and I have been seeing the results people are getting in this program. So that's why it was a no brainer.

Speaker 1 (21:05)
No brainer. And I have zero fear. Now, when someone raises the prices and they have a little bit of interpretation, of course, you know, that's like, we're not going to eradicate it. But for me in this moment, zero fear. I know that it's worth it. In fact, just prior to us hitting record, I got an email from someone in elevate that just had a fifteen thousand dollar sale. ⁓ like.

I'm sorry what we had somebody else in elevate. Well, she's come on the show Carly who joined and immediately had what was her sales over

Speaker 2 (21:42)
⁓ Yeah. First

her first, her first real client and she did in-person sales. Yeah, her and I talked it through on a call of like, right, here's how you approach it, how you do it. And I'm like, it's just service. It's just service. And she's like, it was really fun and I made all this money. What?

Speaker 1 (22:00)
I also noticed when I photographed weddings full time that when I was a $500 photographer, I had to do a lot of selling and convincing. And when I was at 5200, I didn't have to say a word.

Speaker 2 (22:16)
No, that is 100 % still the case. is, you know, and this isn't every market. I don't care if you look at hotels, if you look at restaurants, if you look at clothing, if you look at photography businesses that at the lower end, people want more for less and they are like nickel and dime, yes, demanding all these things and you have to convince and like prove that it's worth the $5. But then as the price goes up,

Like it's, it's actually sometimes easier to sell something at a higher price point because people see the value. And I know so many photographers have seen this too in the, the value that the client puts on you or the trust, the the client puts onto you. ⁓ like once you are at a higher level photography business, you know, charging two, $3,000 or more for a portrait session, your clients are like, well, what do you recommend?

You are the expert where when you're selling it for $300, they're hiring you. Yeah. They're going to tell you what they want. Yeah. Um, which I'm not saying any of our elevators have were told like, that's not the exact thing, but, um, I feel like from an education perspective, slightly different from a photography experience, but like I've, you and I both invest in a ton of education. mean, we are both in masterminds that, that costs.

Speaker 1 (23:28)
No!

Speaker 2 (23:45)
$20,000 or more. Like, and ⁓ it's a large and uncomfortable purchase. I don't care how much money you're making in your business. That's a very uncomfortable purchase, but you can bet that we show up. that I feel like this is an important piece of it too. ⁓ For any program that anyone's considering joining, like when there is a little bit of like, ⁓ all right, this, this isn't like,

You buy a $20 program online, a $50 program online. If you never get around to it, well, whatever. But like when you actually take money, you're like, that's a decent amount of money. Like I'm going to show up. It causes you to show up better. It's accountability. And I think for all the incredible results we've seen, I believe deeply that those results are going to skyrocket because people are going to show up differently now, even better than they have been.

Speaker 1 (24:42)
Okay, listen, that is for real. I think that doubling the price serves those photographers better for that reason. You will rise up to that because you invested in also when you do that, you send a message to your brain and that message is belief. I believe in me or even if I'm struggling with that, I have the sense I can figure it out.

Speaker 2 (24:53)
Yeah, 100%.

Speaker 1 (25:10)
because then I'm going to get the support to.

Speaker 2 (25:12)
Yes, I have the support to figure it out. And I commit to showing up to figure it out. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (25:19)
I

mean, it's really unbelievable when I had those $1,200 photography clients, they were kind of, you know, like you said, like challenging, let's say, you know, telling me to do all the

Speaker 2 (25:31)
They were telling you to go to the gazebo. There's a gazebo over there. Let's take our portraits there.

Speaker 1 (25:36)
Yes. And when I hit 5,000 people were like, can you just send me the link? Also in the last quarter, I had three people hire me for private one-on-one coaching, which is why there are no spaces. Three people hire me for a year at $10,000 and I did not have to sell at all. They came to me and they asked for the link and I sent the link.

and they paid and now we are working together. I actually think that this serves everyone, our photographer friends and us as business owners. It serves everyone that I decided to make this move and double the price.

Speaker 2 (26:22)
Yeah, this is ⁓ my mentor James talks about this too. It's ⁓ called I need it's like a Native American or just like, you know, ancient kind of shaman healer word basically, but it's it's a give or take. So money is just an under generic exchange and like that that's really all this is like it's it's putting the right number on the exchange that is happening because the amount of

energy that you pour into that group and all the photographers pour into that group as well. It is the most active group I have ever been a part of, of any program ever, period, hands down. And I feel like even for respect for what they are putting in our current numbers, it's also in line with that. you guys have till the end of the month.

Speaker 1 (27:14)
I mean, that's all I have to say about that. We're just done messing around. Somebody did say that to me recently about the group that they were surprised at how positive and supportive and helpful. ⁓ somebody said to me, it might even been Carly, maybe. she said something like somebody posted something that was very vulnerable. Like I'm really struggling.

And she said, that's a testament to the group that you created where somebody feels comfortable enough to say that without any shame or embarrassment. They know they're going to be supported. Susie Inverso actually said to me yesterday, she was helping her through something and she said, my gosh, Heather, we've had this conversation five times. You have told me this so many times. When am I going to get it? And I said, Hey, it takes what it takes, but I am.

patient and I'm here to have this conversation with you as much as we need to until until we've covered all of those bases and you know, everything's filled in and it and it clicks in the way that it needs to click and she sincerely her face was very sincere. She said thank you for saying that because I sometimes feel like my gosh, I'm doing the same thing again and I'm like no, no, no, no, will always lean towards that because you have a brain.

And so we're not going to eradicate that either. It's never going to go away, but there will be different angles on it. And I'm here to support that. That is why you need support. cannot, you should not do this in isolation. It's actually miserable.

Speaker 2 (28:53)
Yeah. Well, in our brain to have those new thoughts has to legitimately literally start to rewire. Yes. Takes a minute.

Speaker 1 (29:01)
It's gonna take a minute. Ask me how I know.

Speaker 2 (29:06)
takes a minute. I did want to point out one other thing too ⁓ that people may or may not have heard of. You and I are hosting Elevate Live ⁓ March 3rd and 4th. The ⁓ first time we've been talking about it for years and I was like, it's time we need to do it. And so excited. So we're going to bring all of Elevate together ⁓ in person for two days in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is for Elevate members only.

The registration fee is like $325. That is literally just enough to cover expenses. Like just come, we rented a big house, be catered lunches. And if you join, the cutoff date, because it's February 11th is when you have to register for that. So if you're joining Elevate now before the end of the month, you are invited to Elevate live as well, which will be two incredible days of community and growth. And I'm so excited for it.

Speaker 1 (30:02)
my gosh, it's going to be off the charts. We talked about it yesterday and people that have attended Progress Lab. I had said something like, if you've never been around me in person, like get ready to get ready. Because if you think I'm excitable over Zoom, like it is next level when I'm in person. you know, like imagine what message you'll send to your brain and your business in the universe when you dive into Elevate right now and then you immediately join us in Charlotte.

Like you are almost guaranteed success this year in some way. You do that by taking that action. All of these, all of these things like, ⁓ you know, in the, in the machine, the cogs, everything will start to like turn and move and work in your favor because you made that commitment. You just took a deep breath and you showed up for yourself and your business. What if that's all it took?

Speaker 2 (30:37)
Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1 (31:01)
And then all of a sudden things start where, that's not to say you're not going to have struggles. People still struggle.

Speaker 2 (31:07)
And you don't have to do the work, you still have to do the work.

Speaker 1 (31:10)
Right. But that's what we're here for. And you can, you can, you can do it alone. It's just going to be miserable and it's going to take much, much, much longer. You can do it with support and move faster.

Speaker 2 (31:23)
Yeah, let's go.

Speaker 1 (31:26)
go. Okay. So all of those links will be in the show notes, but you'll definitely want to jump on it because ⁓ I mean, I have so much resolve, excitement, certainty about this move and it's the last chance ever on the actual planet earth to get in at this price. It never again. No.

Speaker 2 (31:47)
So yeah, mean, Heather, told you so many times I'm just like floored at the results come out of this program.

Speaker 1 (31:54)
Yep. Okay. Thanks. Amazing. Yep. All right.

Speaker 2 (31:57)
We'll see you next week.