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Karinda: I am super excited to have you here today and talk through your experience inside Master Your Mind and Money. First of all, start out by telling us a little bit about yourself, who you are, where you’re from, what you photograph, all of that good stuff.
Katie: I’m Katie Flanagan, I own East Meets West Creative LLC, which is a photography and design business where I work mostly with small businesses and farms to do branding and graphic design for them, as well as photos if they need it. I also have a portrait side of my photography that focuses on equine and couples, mostly.
Karinda: I love it. Also, your logo design is amazing so anybody who needs a logo design, you need to talk to Katie, she’s really good at what she does. So tell me, what was your business like when we started working together.
Katie: So I had just started my business a year and a half ago and I started it while I was planning my wedding, which is a terrible idea. I had a general sense of what I needed to do but not enough time to put in the research I needed to figure out the steps. I was getting clients here and there but I wasn’t able to put in the effort that I wanted to because there was so much I just didn’t know. I knew I needed to look it up at first but I think I made $700 last year. I was okay with that, because I had gotten married and life had been insane. I needed this business to be profitable so that I could leave my job and that’s the goal right now. That’s part of why I joined because I realized I need somebody that’s going to point me in the right direction and able to answer questions. Someone who already knows the steps that need to be taken and vendors that I should look at, because research takes up so much time. So I knew I needed something that was going to streamline everything and give me the the direction that I needed, so that I could just take the steps instead of figuring out what the steps were and then taking the steps.
Karinda: I love that. I started my business the year before I got married. So when I was in the early phases of my business, we were getting married and we were trying to figure out how to pay for a wedding at the same time, that was really stressful. That was the same year that I invested in my first coaching program that I joined, was while we were actually planning our wedding, so I remember that phase of my business. That’s funny to think that we have those parallels there. So tell me this, how much time do you think it would have taken you to figure out all of the things that you’ve learned over the last six months, if you were doing it on your own?
Katie: I wouldn’t be surprised if it took me years, just because I’m working on my lunch breaks and in the evenings, but this isn’t my only thing that I do in the evenings as well. So it’s like, I’m just trying to find time here and there.
Karinda: I talked to a lot of people that have full time jobs, and they’re trying to figure out how to quit their job. And they’re trying to figure out how to make this a full time thing, but they’re worried about the time it takes to invest into your business. So do you want to share like what that process of finding time has looked like for you?
Katie: It was a little insane but the cost now outweighed the what the cost in the future would have been if I hadn’t done it. I worked really sporadically, I wish I had set aside time each week to keep myself more structured.
Karinda: So if you were to go back and you were to set aside time every single week to work on it. How many hours out of curiosity, do you think you would set aside every single week to work on this?
Katie: I want to say like five to six hours.
Karinda: So tell me, how do you think your business has changed since we started working together?
Katie: Well, I don’t feel like I’m floundering anymore. I know where I’m going and I know the steps I need to take and how many clients I need to have a month in order to hit my goals. I know what it’s going to look like where I can say yes, I can leave my job and make this my full time job. It was just a little bit of a pipe dream when I started it and now I know the steps and the benchmarks I need to hit to make this happen. I at least doubled my prices and I’ve already had several clients that are just like, okay, that sounds good. And that’s just like, I doubled my prices and was all freaked out about it but now I’m not as freaked out about it anymore.
Karinda: So tell me this, what were your clients investing with you, when we first started working together?
Katie: I think my sessions were $250 and I didn’t have a print credit or anything, I had just started looking at offering that kind of stuff. I was doing it through my gallery site, so they didn’t get a print credit and so they weren’t buying much either. Now people are much more excited to hear that they have the print credit and they get to print stuff. Design wise, the mindset stuff really helped me overall, not just within my photography. I also doubled my prices for my design work.
Karinda: What do you think is the biggest thing that you’ve learned from our time together?
Katie: The biggest thing I’ve learned would be the mindset stuff for sure. Which totally makes sense, I just needed somebody that tells me that I needed to do it. I would also say having the hard numbers to look at and set up my price list and whatnot as I wasn’t just spitballing. That was, I think the biggest thing implemented, that’s going to make a huge difference.
Karinda: What did you think about the mindset stuff when you first came in?
Katie: I knew a little bit because Jamie told me what you guys do so I knew a little bit of what to expect. But I realized there’s a whole lot more here that I was expecting. Part of it for me, because I’m a Christian, manifesting stuff made me a little bit wary when I started. But a lot of it was just telling yourself the truth, instead of manifesting stuff, which you see all over social media with other people. So I was okay with it and then I saw it obviously come to fruition with one of my clients. I had double my prices and I told her what I do and what she’d get for her business. She said to send the contract over and I realized the mindset work was very helpful.
Karinda: I love it. So, what made you decide to take the leap and work with me inside Master Your Mind and Money?
Katie: Well, part of it was how Jamie just sang your praises. She had told me months before because I had asked her a question about charging sales tax when I had just started and I wasn’t offering any, tangible products. She had told me no and then she was telling me about how she was doing a one on one mentorship with you. And then she offered to invite me to the Photography Business Tune-Up with Karinda K Facebook group. So that’s where I started finding out about what you did and whatnot. And then we were talking another time and Jamie was like, listen, this was 100% worth it, I made everything back and she totally changed my whole business plan for the better. So I knew this definitely works. It’s a little bit of an investment so I obviously talked to my husband too and he told me if it was going to make me successful, and take out a lot of the obstacles, like why not?
Karinda: I know you haven’t taken your first client through the entire experience just yet but would you say it’s been worth it? With what you’ve learned, even without having your first sale yet, has it been worth it for you?
Katie: Yes, I knew I didn’t want to just sit and watch videos, because you can learn so much on YouTube. But I needed somebody to force me to apply it and to be available for me to ask questions in certain situations. I needed more than just like YouTube University, I needed like an actual mentor and community.
Karinda: I think this is something that is sometimes hard to explain to people. It’s not really just a course or a one on one but it’s also not a group coaching program. It’s kind of all of the things together.
Katie: It’s all the things, it’s a mentorship, a community, and educational. Something that’s not just you in front of your computer, it’s you alongside other people in the same realm. You’re aren’t all in the same stage of business so you have plenty of people ask questions.
Karinda: Yes, all the things for photographers. So tell me about this, how did you feel when you watched the videos and the content? Did you feel like the videos gave you pretty much everything you need to do to get through?
Katie: My brain is just like, the video has covered everything and I was able to get everything I needed out of the videos. If I was in a situation where I got stuck, I’d go post a message in the group and get your input as well as others working through the course.
Karinda: So what advice would you give to someone who’s thinking about taking the leap and investing in their business and themselves, because this isn’t just a business thing, I think also has a little bit of personal work built into it?
Katie: Well, for my own personal struggle, I would say make sure you have the time to invest as well. Because nothing’s more frustrating when you know you need to but you just don’t have the time. So make sure you have the time to invest as well. But yes, take the leap and invest yourself in it. Because it only works if you do.
Karinda: That’s great advice. Well, thanks for sharing all of that with me. And hopefully some of this is helpful for anyone who’s reading this or listening to it.