Original subtitles

Hello and welcome to CreativeLive.

That is what happens when we have a

studio of 30 people.

This is awesome.

Thank you for bringing all your energy people

and welcome to everybody at home.

This is the Complete Wedding Photographer Experience with

Jasmine Starr.

My name is Kenna Klosterman and I am

your host today.

This is our one hour live kickoff to

what is going to be a six week

boot camp.

So before we bring Jasmine on, I just

want to tell you a little bit about

how this works.

Boot camps are a little bit different than

what we traditionally do here at CreativeLive.

We've been doing a ton of them, but

we're already seeing questions in the chat room

about how it works.

So today is our live kickoff.

Every weekday after today for the next six

weeks, we will have a new lesson that

Jasmine has pre-recorded that will be played

for you throughout the day for free, which

is really cool.

Over the weekends, you can then tune into

CreativeLive and even get caught up on that

entire week's lessons and they will loop throughout

the weekend again for free.

That's over the course of the next six

weeks.

A little bit about Jasmine before we bring

her out.

She is an international wedding photographer that is

based in Orange County, California.

Jasmine holds a very special place in CreativeLive

history and for those of you who don't

know, it's almost been five years since Jasmine

did her very first workshop here on CreativeLive.

And CreativeLive had only been around for about

six months as it existed.

We didn't know what we were doing when

we decided to put on a five day

live event, including a live wedding, that we

planned in six weeks.

Well, we planned, Jasmine planned, our wedding planner

planned.

It was insane.

And what happened was, of course, Jasmine killed

it and it put CreativeLive on the map.

And that was almost five years ago.

And so much has changed for so many

people around the world for our company.

We couldn't be more excited to have Jasmine

back.

But the thing is, if we're to do

Jasmine and a live wedding again, it had

to be even bigger.

And so we are so thrilled that Jasmine

has been named the Dream Wedding Photographer for

The Knot.

And that's for The Knot's Dream Wedding 2015.

She's going to tell you all about how

The Knot is involved and how that's all

working.

But you basically get to see that process

during this boot camp and learn about, again,

the complete wedding photographer experience via The Knot

and via our 30-day lessons.

So that is even way bigger than anything

we've done here before.

And it's going to be huge.

So please help me welcome back to the

CreativeLive stage, Jasmine Starr.

Thanks so much.

Jasmine, five years.

Can you believe it?

No, I can't believe it.

It has flown by.

It has totally flown by.

And then the fact that there are people

who were with us for part of the

first course and now are here five years

later for this course is a testament to

what CreativeLive provides.

It's dynamic education accessible by anyone in the

comfort of their own home or cubicle at

work, because you all know we do that

sometimes.

It's really special.

I mean, we've known each other now for

five years.

We've both grown so much.

And I know you're going to talk a

lot about that in this session.

What's one thing that you, like, how does

it feel today versus how it felt five

years ago when we were doing this crazy

thing?

Well, if you were to get your hand

and put it on my chest, you would

feel my heart palpitating.

And that's the main difference is I feel

that I'm more nervous now than I was

then, because then I didn't know what I

was getting into.

CreativeLive existed mostly, they had done a few

classes, but in theory, it was more of

this theoretical, let's change the way education's done.

And they invited me and I did not

know what I was getting into.

And I was like, sure.

And Kenna, we started the conversations for the

course six weeks before the course was going

to happen.

But we didn't actually start wedding planning until

four weeks before the wedding.

So here we are trying to plan a

real wedding.

And I'm going to get to that in

a minute.

I don't want to give away all the

goods.

But it was four weeks.

And the amazing team pulled it off.

And the bride and groom were happy.

And they're still married.

And they have two kids.

And life is good for them.

And life is good for CreativeLive.

And I'm happy to say that life is

good for you.

Well, that's a perfect way to start.

Jasmine, can I let you take it away?

So thrilled to have you here.

And thanks to everyone for tuning in.

Thank you.

Thank you guys.

Again, a special big huge thanks to the

studio audience.

You guys have changed the way this course

is run from the fundamental groundworks of being

here.

I think you and I think the people

who are watching online as well.

So I'm just going to come out and

I'm going to say we're going to get

the keynote queued up.

Because what I want to start the presentation

off by saying is that I'm going to

be honest and simply admit that I have

a love affair with CreativeLive.

Now, our love affair started in 2010 when

the company first started.

And I was just a few years into

my career.

I'm going to walk you through the chronology

of how this unfolded.

So that year, I hosted my first online

workshop.

And we filmed it live.

And it was for a couple who was

having a real wedding.

And they were really in love and about

150 of their real guests.

Now, at the time, I spoke about what

I did in those first four years of

my business, four or five years of my

business, getting it off the ground, what I

was doing, what my approach is.

But since then, my business has matured and

changed in a way.

And that's why I'm really excited to come

back and revisit it as we go in

and we move and we navigate through this

course.

Now, in 2011, I taught a course that

was solely focused on building your business and

creating a brand.

That was definitely a little bit more entrepreneurial

focused.

And then I came back in 2012.

And in 2012, I collaborated with a team

of wedding creatives.

And we hosted a course that focused on

the making and marketing of an editorial wedding.

So it was there that we spoke to

magazine editors and wedding bloggers.

And we wanted to figure out what makes

a shoot editorial worthy and how we can

use our current images to move us more

in that direction, if that was something we

so choose.

And then I came back in 2013.

And in 2013, Creative Live allowed me to

host a course that spanned the course of

three months.

Now, what we were able to do is

to work with three separate studios from around

the US.

Now, these photographers joined this course, and they

were consulted, and they were offered a free

photography business makeover.

And I can tell you that nothing makes

me more prouder than to see these photographers,

Nikki, Melissa, and Ryan.

And I look at their work, and they

see their businesses, and they are killing it.

Two years after restart, they look like entirely

different entrepreneurs.

They look like entirely different photographers.

And I can actually say they are very

different.

They are the same people, but so different

at the same time.

They have blown my mind, and they continue

to do so because I think that they're

radically changing the industry in their own way.

Later that same year, you can tell, right?

I mean, I'm just going off of my

Creative Live courses.

I just love them.

Because that same year, I continued the love

affair, but I was so excited for this

course in particular because my husband and business

partner, JD, was able to join me for

that course.

Together, we taught a three-day course focusing

on how to become a second shooter, how

to hone your skills, and how to create

a portfolio that you're proud of.

And so then, all of this brings us

to where we are today.

Now, like Kenneth had mentioned a few months

ago, I had received word that I was

nominated as the Not Dream Wedding photographer.

And I was overwhelmed, and I was very

honored.

And the best part is that one deserving

and amazing couple will get a luxury dream

wedding at no cost to them.

So I was thrilled to be a part

of this.

But around the same time, I was in

talks with Creative Live about coming back and

doing a course.

And so I asked the Not, and I

asked Creative Live, would it be possible if

we can join forces, if we can show

what a live wedding would look like from

two perspectives?

Because the Not will be broadcasting the wedding

live on their networks and their channels.

So you will be able to see what

the front end, a really polished version of

the front end of the wedding will look

like.

And then Creative Live will have their camera

crews.

And shortly thereafter, you will be able to

see it strictly and solely from a photographer's

perspective, which is, dare we say not so

glamorous, right?

We do a lot of stuff on the

back end that has a tendency to be

like you're wiping sweat, you're picking up a

dress, you're holding a crying baby.

Yes, exactly.

You're crying heavy tears, yes.

Or tears of frustration.

They both could happen in either way, shape,

or form.

Now, what I want to do is to

show the two perspectives, and then we will

actually tie it all in together to see

the front end and the back end.

And so speaking on that note, I want

to now formally introduce the ever lovely couple

we will be working with for the Not

Dream wedding.

This is Samantha and Taylor.

You will have a chance to meet them

throughout the course of how we move throughout

the next 30 days because I've engaged with

them via email, I've engaged with them in

different forms of social communication, I've engaged with

them as I documented their engagement session in

Los Angeles.

And for all of those things, I'm inviting

you as a viewer to join me for

that.

So we're going to grow with them, and

we're going to see what makes their love

so special when it comes to fruition on

their wedding day.

So, having said that, that is the love

affair in a nutshell.

But now we're back here.

I want to bring this to talking about

what the next 30 days will be about.

Now, I could talk about photography, and I

will, but I'm going to be honest because

the next 30 days are so photography driven

that I thought before we get into what

these next 30 days will look like, I

wanted to take a minute to chat about

something that truly matters.

Now, I have spoken about this in the

past, but I want this, this conversation to

be the marker of our progress so that

when we look back from now 30 lessons,

we can say I'm vastly different than the

person I was who I started.

Because I'm going to take an idea that

I touched on during the restart course, and

then I'm going to expound on it.

So for those of you who were part

of the restart process, that was three separate

days over the course of three months.

And if you were a participant, if you

navigated that journey, welcome back.

Now, for those of you who are new

or have no idea what I'm talking about,

that's okay because I'm going to bring you

up to speed, and we're going to talk

about how this class, the Complete Wedding Photographer

Experience, is going to change your trajectory.

Because once you're up to speed, the next

30 days are going to make you look

at your business in a whole new light.

We have one hour together, and I think

that I want to talk about photography, but

what I want to caution us against is

that we think we should be talking about

photography because this is a photographer's course.

Now, I will talk about actions and presets

and camera lenses.

I will talk about computers.

I will talk about backup.

I will talk about posing and marketing.

Now, these help our business in a certain

respect.

Absolutely.

But what I want to talk about right

now is the idea of photographer fear, pain,

struggle, embarrassment.

Because one thing that I know is that

I'm not sure of what lenses you use,

and I'm not sure what actions you use.

But what I do know is that I

am more interested in the creator than I

am the creation.

I am more interested in you as a

photographer than I am your photographs.

So if we just lay that foundation, and

then we come to realize that we have

come here, many of you have come here

from different parts of the world, of the

state.

Many of you are joining us internationally online,

and I believe that the reason you're here

is, yes, to learn about photography, but I

think that the overarching thing is that you

wanted something.

You wanted something, and I'm hoping that the

thing that you want was just one thing.

Because when you walk away with just one

new thing that you apply to your business,

and one new thing that you apply to

your business tomorrow, and one new thing that

you apply to your business the following day,

at the end of this 30 lesson experience,

you will walk away 30 different things at

minimum.

And this could be the catalyst.

This could be the change that you need

to create the business that you really want.

You know, some of us have had stressful

days getting here.

I know that there are people who came

from Canada, and Michigan, and Alaska, and some

of you guys came from just a couple

blocks away.

I know that there are people who are

joining us online, and I know that these

stressful moments of navigating traffic to get to

where you want to go.

I know that there are difficulties of trying

to procure a babysitter for your child so

that you can watch at 9 a.m

pacific standard time and go through this course.

Now, I also know that there are other

people who've mentioned to me via social media

and online that they have left their spouses

like notes and warnings like for the next

30 days be prepared to buy lunch on

your own because I'm just gonna be too

busy.

I'll be too busy in this course.

And I believe that the thing that we

want, part of why we are making these

sacrifices, is the thing that we want is

change.

And I think that change is good because

change keeps you humble, and change keeps you

scared, and change keeps you hungry.

For so long, I believed that if I

got my business to where I wanted it

to be, that I could look back and

say, oh, finally, I don't have to make

any more changes to my business because I

don't like change.

But I can tell you that almost 10

years of being a photographer that the only

thing that has remained constant has been change.

Now, I don't like change because in my

mind, change and struggle go hand in hand.

There is no change in my life that

is not accompanied by struggle because wherever I

decide to say I've had enough, things need

to change for me.

There is struggle right behind me shaking her

head.

I missed you, boo.

So I'm familiar with struggle because struggle and

I are like best friends in a way

that I never wanted a best friend.

I know that I have mentioned this in

the past, but for those people who are

just joining us for the first time, I

want to revisit a few small things because

I think it's easy to tune in or

to watch this and look at me and

think, oh, I know your number.

I know how you do.

And quite honestly, if you don't know the

backstory, you will never have an appreciation for

where my business is now.

And I may never, if I don't know

your backstory, I won't know, I won't have

an appreciation for where your business is now.

So I want to talk a little bit

about the backstory so that when people hear

this, they can see shades of themselves or

better yet, if you are in a better

position after hearing where I came from and

you are right there, right here, right now,

better off, good for you.

You have less excuses for you not to

wildly succeed in a way that you have

never known.

So I'm going to talk about struggle because

I struggled with the shame that I felt

for being, growing up economically disadvantaged.

I was embarrassed that my family would get

groceries left on our front porch.

I'm embarrassed or I struggled with the embarrassment

of walking out of the Salvation Army with

my dad and he took us Easter outfit

shopping.

I struggled with the pain and the uncomfortability

of growing up obese as a child.

The nickname that I grew up with was

called the Beast.

The boys at church called me the Beast,

at church of all places.

I was like, I'm going to pray for

you.

Y'all need to learn how to be

nice.

I struggled with the feeling, I struggled to

read until I was about 11 and other

distinct elements of my life proved to me

that I was slow, that I was behind

the curve and that maybe, quite honestly, there

was such a thing as a late, late

bloomer because that's where I was.

So I struggled with these insecurities most of

my life and if I could look back

and talk to that person, I'd probably introduce

myself, well, hello there, hot mess.

Nice to meet you.

But then it continued because it continued on

in my life because I was 25 years

old and I said that I wanted to

be a wedding photographer and I didn't even

own a camera.

So I struggled with the fact that I

didn't know how to articulate the thing that

I wanted to be and then when I

did get my camera, I didn't have the

wherewithal.

I was too shy and embarrassed to ask

people if I can take their photographs.

I remember distinctly I had a co-worker

and I asked, he had just proposed to

his girlfriend, and I asked if I would

be able to take his engagement photos for

free.

I said, I'll give you the digital images

and he simply said, no thanks.

And so it took all this nerve for

me to do that only to be turned

down.

So I felt that in addition to me

not being comfortable with who I was as

a person, I wasn't comfortable with my camera.

I struggled that I felt like I was

going to live in the shadow of the

Salvation Army for the rest of my life

because I was working part-time.

I was trying to hustle on the side

with photo gigs.

JD, my husband, now business partner, was working

with a startup company and so money for

us was tight and not like in the

cool tight way, like money was just tight,

like in the worst of ways.

Like money was so tight that date night

for us was grabbing Taco Bell through the

drive-thru and coming home and we had

a fireplace where we would go through and

we'd get one dollar Chinese combo meals and

we would sit by the fireplace because you

could have the most ghetto meal of your

life but if you're in front of a

fireplace, I mean, you're classy.

And the thing was, was I sat there

and even though I was contented to be

eating this meal with somebody I loved, I

wondered in the back of my mind, is

this always going to look like this?

Are we always going to feel this way?

Am I always going to be embarrassed parking

my beat-up Honda two blocks away from

a shoot or two blocks away from the

Starbucks that I'm meeting my clients because I

don't want them to see all the dents

and the oxidation on the roof of my

car?

Is this how it's always going to be?

And so even though I battled with what

that struggle looked like for me, popping open

a Chinese fortune cookie next to my husband,

I thought, I might be struggling but finally

I'm doing it with somebody who believes in

my dreams.

And that was a pivotal point in my

life because I said, me and struggle, we

ain't going anywhere.

She's here.

So how then do I deal with this?

The more I started talking about this notion

of struggle, the more I realized that the

idea of struggle, the notion of struggle is

the thing that connects us.

Because regardless of our age, of our religion,

of our ethnic breakup, of our preferences, we

all speak struggle.

So if we all speak struggle, why don't

we have a language around it?

I've come to believe that in this industry,

it's really easy to sweep it under the

rug, to tuck it away.

And what we do is we hide behind

shiny, pretty things.

Look at my new computer.

Just got a new lens.

Look at this great meal that I'm eating

right now.

Now I have to admit, I'm guilty of

this too.

I'm not, I do the same things.

And I think that we hide behind tangible

things because it's an outward indication of our

success.

And so the more that we put out

that I'm okay, I'm successful, and I'm okay,

and you're okay, and we're all okay.

But I wonder, what if we were to

turn this out?

What if we were to invert the shiny?

And what if we were to showcase what

the struggle looked like?

Would the struggle look like a kaleidoscope?

Like a mismatch of a bunch of different

colors that ultimately could create a beautiful thing?

Could it be a map?

Could your struggle help me?

And could my struggle help you?

Can we talk about the things that we're

struggling with instead of on the outside talking

about how hashtag blessed we are to book

another wedding in the Bahamas?

I mean, I can't tell if that polite

laugh, I don't know what she's talking about,

or if it's, oh my god, yeah.

Because I don't think that I'm the only

person who goes through this.

So I think, what if we were to

take what I struggled with, and what if

we're going to talk about what you're struggling

with, and what if we connect with people

online, and we talk about the We put

words around the struggle, and we admit that

every so often, it's okay to not be

okay.

In our industry, we'll just come out.

Now, based on the nods of your heads,

I'm going to say, we all struggle.

I have yet to meet a photographer who

picks up a camera, starts shooting award-winning

images, and doesn't wake up out of bed

for less than $15,000 wedding.

So if, I mean, unless you know that

person, please introduce me.

But since I have yet to meet that

person, the idea is then, if we all

struggle, then we as business owners have to

find ways to minimize the time that we

are struggling, or find ways to navigate that

struggle together.

Today is about creating strategies around what the

struggle looks like, and then one thing that

I need to absolutely positively say is, I

don't want people online, I don't want people

here saying, oh, for people to hear me

say that we're not going to have to

struggle.

I'm clearly saying that we will have to

struggle, but it's different in how we face

that struggle.

Because the thing is, one of the strongest

things that I had noticed was that an

average business fails in about five years, and

that number is closer to three or four

years for a wedding or portrait photographer.

And that's crazy.

That's crazy for you to think that in

your life, I'm destined to be this thing,

and three years later, you are no longer

that thing.

So I asked myself, why?

Why are wedding and portrait photographers falling off

after three years?

I wanted to know, how does this happen?

And that is what's going to be the

premise of this thing is today.

In order for us to radically change things,

we must do it together.

Because the more that we learn from each

other, the less likelihood we will be making

mistakes.

Now, this was a very common theme from

Restart.

What I heard after Restart was that people

would email me or leave messages on social

media or leave notes out online, and they

would say that after going through the Restart

process, it made them feel less alone.

It made them feel less lonely.

And so then this made me think, in

a sea of social media, in a sea

of living our lives out in the shiny,

beautiful world, many of us feel like we're

navigating this process of growing a business by

ourselves.

And I think that if you feel like

you're alone, and if you feel like nobody

understands you, after three or four years of

really struggling, it's easy to close your doors

and walk away and think you never let,

you never made an impression on the industry

in which you reside.

But I've come to believe that the minute

you make friends, that all changes.

Because the next 30 days is going to

be about building your business, but it's going

to be about us building our businesses together.

Because I will say this now, and I

will say it again, I believe that this

room, I believe that the community of photographers

watching online, are stronger together than we are

apart.

The largest and the most successful organizations believe

that the greater good is valuable, that I

have your back and you have mine.

But in the art world, and we as

photographers, and we as creatives, I have a

tendency to think, and what I see is

more about like, it's me, myself, and I,

and all of the amazing work that I

am producing.

Now to a certain extent, I understand this

to be true.

I understand that Pablo Picasso painted Picasso paintings

on his own, and I understand that Ernest

Hemingway wrote stories on his own.

But what shouldn't be overlooked is that these

influential artists relied on each other.

Now that's not to say that they were

best friends or the relationship was good, but

what we do know from history is that

they pushed, and they pulled, and they critiqued,

and they met at Gertrude Stein's house, and

they had arguments, but that whole little group

of people, their work soared because they had

each other.

So perhaps today, this could be the start

of something different for you.

You people sitting in this room can meet

two other people.

People meeting online, I want them to be

in the chat room actually talking, because it's

too easy to sit at home with your

cup of coffee and just be a voyeur.

Because when it comes time for you to

reach out and ask for somebody for help

or admit that you don't have all the

answers, you're doing it alone.

So put yourself out in a very personal

capacity.

And that's what I think today is going

to be about, because we're going to be

talking a lot about photography through this experience.

We're going to talk about how to improve

your posing, how to shoot in the worst

light.

You're going to join me as I go

on a client meeting and I talk about

maybe my awkward ability to eventually book a

client.

We're going to talk about how to effectively

market your business in the online realm.

And I can't help but think that if

you were to meet two people in this

room or two people online, it's going to

change the trajectory of where your business is

headed.

Now, once we get to this point and

we have established that we all struggle, I

need to point out two things.

That we must find ways to make the

struggle make sense for us, for us to

work in that capacity.

And we need to surround ourselves with people

who will help us and who we will

help others.

So I want to make this a linear

presentation.

I want to walk you through some of

the common struggles that I see photographers going

through in the beginning of their business in

that kind of like one to two year

range.

And if you're a more mature photographer, you're

going to look back and you will either

agree, disagree or make modifications to the things

that I'm saying.

So please talk back to me if that

is where you guys are.

So once you have gained momentum, once you've

started your business, you might have three or

13 weddings or whatever your number is.

Once you get that and you get people

to actually pay you, you're going to get

to a point in your business to where

you say, how do I charge more?

And then you can't substantiate getting those higher

prices.

So let's talk a little bit more about

what that looks like.

So there are going to be two schools

of pricing.

There's one school who believes that you should

enter in the market at a low rate

and then work your way up.

And then there's another school of photography who

believes that you should charge what you're worth.

If you have done X, Y and Z,

well then surely your portfolio should quantify what

somebody would pay you for that.

Well, by the time that I, um, came

time to start my business, I did not

know whether or not I was going to

come in at that entry level or at

that mid range photography level, uh, price range.

And so, um, when I got my first

wedding inquiry, my bride decided it for me

because she had inquired and she said, I

have $1,000 budget.

And my response was funny.

That's what I charge.

And so what happened was I booked her

wedding and I booked another three weddings.

So the first four weddings that I booked

was in that $1,000 to $1,500

range.

But I didn't know how to start moving

out of that because in Los Angeles and

Orange County, that $1,000, $1,500 range

is that bargain barrel photographer.

So I knew that I was happy to

be getting that type of work and I

was happy to be shooting, but I knew

that I couldn't sustain a model of being

a full time photographer based on those prices.

So how was I able to quickly move

from being that bargain barrel photographer into a

mid range photographer?

The backstory to this is that in 2006,

in October of 2006, I booked my first

wedding that same month I booked two other

weddings.

So in 2006, I had a total of

three weddings.

Well, in 2007, we ended up booking 38

weddings and we did that all without spending

a single dime on marketing.

We did that by word of mouth and

online referrals.

So this is what I applied to say,

I can't stay at this price range.

I need to move higher to a different

price range.

Well, every three weddings I booked, I raised

my prices $300.

Now, the reason why I was doing this

was because I needed to make a quick

transition from being a low to mid range

photographer.

And how I substantiated this decision was that

I was going to workshops, I was going

to conferences, I was practicing every day in

my backyard.

So it's not a flippant decision that I

had made.

I needed to, this is R&D, research

and development.

How are my future clients going to compensate

me for the time and energy and the

money that I am spending to become a

better photographer and a better entrepreneur?

So I don't, one thing that happened, one

of the struggles was how do I price

myself?

And then the second struggle came in ancillary

when a year later people were asking for

the same prices that their sister had booked

the previous year.

That happened quite often.

And because we move so fast, the struggle

for me was trying to put words around

what that looked like.

So if you are struggling with what to

say to past clients, then here is a

sample email of what I send to them.

So if you're at that point, if you

have been that point, or if you know

something at that point, I'm going to read

an email, bring out a pen, you can

write some notes.

This is an email that I would send

to somebody who is inquiring about lowering my

prices.

Hi Jenny, thanks so much for your interest

in my wedding photography services.

I'm thrilled and honored your sister Jackie sent

you my way.

Your family has a special place in my

heart.

Happy face.

I know it might be a difficult conversation

to navigate, but I appreciate your willingness to

explain your budget considerations.

Trust me, I was a bride before I

was a photographer, so I know budgets too.

Since Jackie's wedding, my business has thankfully flourished

to such a degree that I had to

raise my prices to reflect changes in supply

and demand.

I guess you can say Jackie and Jeremiah

invested in good stock two years ago.

Wink face.

If we don't get the opportunity to work

together, please feel free to let me know

if you'd like my personal recommendations based on

your budget considerations and we can take things

from there.

Again, thank you.

We have to know how to put words

around defending our prices, defending the fact that

we have invested in ourselves, in our dreams,

in our business, and it's a difficult struggle

to navigate.

So if we know that starting pricing is

a struggle, defending pricing is a struggle, the

thing I want to remind you that the

fight, that the attempt to grow, it does

not go to the strongest, but those who

finish what they set out to do.

So often we think, well, that person's better

because of X and she's better because of

Y, and I'm telling you they're not any

better than you, they're just finishing what they

set out to do.

But the question then becomes, what have you

set out to do?

Have you written out a list for this

year of what you want to do for

your business, what you want to do on

a personal front?

If you haven't, I'm going to tell you

what my mama always told me.

If you don't know where you're going, you

will never know when you arrive.

How can you be thankful for business growth

if you don't know what business growth is?

So if you're sitting here and say, I

haven't written out what my goals are for

the year, a great place to start would

be how many weddings do I want for

the year?

I want you to list whatever your number

is because all of a sudden it's so

easy when we photographers on social media, I'm

shooting my 47th wedding this year, can't wait

for the last 10.

Am I the only person who sees these

photographers and I'm like, how do you have

that many weekends?

And I'm sitting there and it's easy for

me to feel like, wow, you're shooting 30,

you're shooting 45, you're shooting 50 weddings.

And it's easy for me to be like,

oh my gosh, am I not doing enough?

When in actuality, I knew my number.

My number was 30 weddings and we ended

up booking 33 last year.

So anytime somebody says anything that's not my

number, I do not have to worry.

I'm not comparing myself to them and you

shouldn't compare yourself to me.

If you have a part-time job, if

you are a mom, if you travel extensively

and your number is, I want to book

10 weddings, good for you.

So that when you hit your 10 weddings,

be proud.

Don't compare that you're not shooting 50.

50 was never your number.

But if you don't know what your number

is, you will never know how to be

thankful and happy that it is that.

So if somebody says, um, I have three

weddings booked for this year and my goal

is 10 weddings.

Let's use this as an example.

My first thought is if you have three

weddings and you want 10, well, good job.

You're almost a third there to, to your

booking.

We're going to talk about ways to drum

up business to get an extra, uh, seven

weddings in a second.

Now let's take a step back.

If you told me that your goal was

30 weddings for the year and you have

three, then the next questions I would ask

you is your business set up for that

type of exponential growth?

What was this number based on?

Then we'll start talking analytical questions.

So let's just kind of bring this down.

Let's make this really tangible.

I think that what it really boils down

to is knowing what you want.

You write down what you want.

How about before we actually start these next

30 days, you write down what you want,

what you have and what you don't have,

what you want, what you have and what

you don't have.

So by the end of the 30 days,

you look back and you will say, my

God, I have everything I need to succeed.

Or my God, I have 75% of

what I need to succeed.

And this is where I'm going to work

on a little bit more to get to

where I want to go.

What I want you to do is if

you've ever wanted a confidence boost in December,

if you wrote up this list and you

revisit this list in September, you will look

back and say, I hit my 10.

Not only did I hit my 10, one

of those was a destination.

Not only did I hit my 10, I

booked another wedding.

I had 11.

Revamping my website, I didn't think I was

going to do that until August.

I ended up doing it in July.

All of these little tiny things for you

to look back and say, I am moving

and I'm moving in the directions of my

dreams.

So I want to expound on an example.

If let's take this photographer who have three

weddings right now and they want to book

another seven weddings to drum up business.

How can we do that in three simple

ways?

Because I want you watching this presentation understanding

that yes, but let's talk about a little

bit of solutions for the common struggle.

Now, what I want you to do if

you're trying to drum up business is to

create business allies.

And this is really important because joining this

30 day course, being here in this room,

joining the chat rooms is amazing place because

the best way to build your business is

actually to get referrals from other photographers.

And why does this work?

They validate you to whom they are referring

to.

So I am very fortunate.

I work in a small group of four

photographers in Orange County and we created a

referral circle.

So when I get a wedding that I'm

booked, we all share Google calendar.

When I get a wedding and I am

booked, I look to see on that calendar

who isn't booked.

And so our goal is to fill up

each other's calendars.

And when I, when somebody says, are you

booked?

And I say, unfortunately, I am booked.

I don't simply say, check out this person.

I say, you should check out this person

because they're so nice.

They're so talented.

If you like our style, there's a good

chance that you're going to mesh really well.

So I prepare them to like them automatically.

Those types of endorsements, those types of referrals

are golden.

Now, what I think I want to, um,

uh, to stay away from is today after

you think about this, be like, I need

to create a referral circle here.

And it's like, you're getting your business cards.

You're like making them rain.

Um, in the chat room, you're putting like

digital business cards.

Like, let's take a step back before you

get into creating a relationship with a photographer.

I want you to know them as a

person.

I want you to say an ad and

keep yourself in check.

I care about this person as much in

a personal perspective as I do a professional

perspective.

Now, secondly, I want you to offer three

free engagement sessions.

Now, of course, this half the room might

be divided in this, uh, in this suggestion.

There are some people who are just like,

oh no, we can't do free.

Free doesn't put value on our work.

We're artists.

We just don't put chalk out on the

floor to people walk around.

We create beauty and lasting legacy and memories.

Awesome.

Great.

Now, for those of y'all who are

just like, I want to get busy, let's

have a conversation because the conversation should become

that free does not mean that you're not

getting anything in exchange.

Free just means that there's not a financial

or monetary exchange happening between two people, but

let's not walk away without there being distinct

benefits of doing something for free.

So if you were to offer three photo

shoots, uh, engagement sessions, photo shoots to people,

what does that turn out to be?

You can then set expectations for what you

want from those clients.

What if you were to say, I plan

on shooting your engagement session.

It will be an hour engagement session.

You'll get 25 images.

They will be edited.

And the only thing I ask of you

is that you update your Facebook page and

you link to my business page and post

one of your favorites.

You're outlining what you expect from them.

You can't just be like, I'll shoot it.

And then you're like, why didn't they share

my images?

They didn't share your images because you didn't

ask.

Because what we, what is really important about

this idea of free is that the value

can be created by teaching people how to

talk about you.

When I first got my camera, I turned

it out to my first immediate network.

So my daddy has a church in East

Los Angeles.

And I thought, Oh, I mean, nepotism at

its finest, who doesn't want free photos from

the pastor's daughter?

It didn't work.

Ain't nobody wanted my photos.

So what I had to do was, um,

change the way that they were talking about

me and not people at church.

I love my daddy's church.

They're all wonderful people, love them to their

friends.

And then their friends is that in their

minds, I was Jasmine, the girl who got

a new camera, but I needed to change

the conversation to be the photographer Jasmine.

And I could only do that by other

people doing it for me.

So in order for me to create evangelist,

I had to teach them these, this is

what I want in exchange for this.

That's valuable.

Are you okay with creating that type of

value?

Now, um, one thing that happens is that

once people post their photos, so you do

the photo shoot and then you, then they

say, I had such a great time with

Tara and they linked to Tara's Facebook page.

Now, what happens from this girl who posts

those photos?

Usually her friends will say, great job.

Love it.

You look so pretty.

That's nice.

That's powerful.

Why?

Because when people leave comments and likes and

shares, it goes into that organic algorithm that

Facebook loves.

Now this girl might have a friend from

the fourth grade who she hasn't spoken to

in forever, who happens to see that thread.

That's amazing because she doesn't know Tara, the

girl with a new camera.

She will only know Tara as the photographer

and have a higher likelihood of booking a

future event photo shoot wedding.

So we understand that free is not a

financial exchange, but free could actually do something

for a big emotional and business exchange.

Thirdly, I want you to connect with past

members from creative teams.

So let's just say that maybe last year

you booked five weddings and you want to

like, I'm so bummed that I'm not drumming

up more business for this year or for

next year.

My question to you is, have you empowered

your creative teams to share your images?

Have you empowered your creative teams to go

back and talk about you in a really

positive way?

You might think, oh, I shot that wedding

eight months ago.

They're not going to remember me.

Oh, I shot that wedding eight months ago.

What are they going to do with my

images?

And so you're going to talk yourself out

of potentially putting yourself out and making yourself

vulnerable.

I would rather have somebody look at your

images and think too late, miss the boat.

Instead of thinking, I can't believe she never

got me those images.

I never want to work with her again.

The conversation could be really honest.

We shot this wedding eight months ago.

Please forgive me.

There should not ever be a delay of

this sort, but I'm turning over a new

leaf.

I'm really excited where my business is headed.

Big changes are in store.

And in order for those big changes to

happen, I want to send you 50, 60,

100.

Here's a link to the gallery.

Download the images.

You choose the images.

Feel free to use them in any sort

of social media.

The only thing I ask is that you

offer photo credit.

If there's anything that I can do on

my own to provide marketing services or collateral

for you, please let me know I'm here

to help.

As a business owner, they then have the

prerogative.

It's their prerogative to say, yes, we want

it.

No, we don't.

But either way, create those conversations and revisit

them, even though you have the potential of

talking yourself out of them.

So here are three things that you could

do to drum up seven business, seven weddings

or whatever your number is.

Let's drum it up.

Let's get it to your goal.

So there are three ways just off the

top.

There are so many more.

Now, what I want you to do is

once you have outlined what your goal is,

once you have outlined your action steps, what

I need you to do is create a

deadline.

Like in your notes, you really need to

say this needs to happen by this date,

because if you do not have a deadline,

what you simply have is more stuff on

your to do list.

By giving yourself a deadline, you're saying I'm

calling myself to the carpet and I'm going

to keep it real.

So once you have your action set in

place, once you have your shoot set up,

once you start booking and once you get

that momentum and once you've defined your prices

and once you've defended your prices and once

you've created a referral circle, we got that.

We got the juice going right.

We're feeling good.

And all of a sudden, a struggle might

be getting to a point where you're shooting

weddings.

And your thought is when you leave for

the night, how did they book me?

What about me?

Put me at this wedding.

Now, I could be the only person who

said that earlier on in my career, but

I'm happy to say that now when I

leave weddings, I think to myself, I get

it.

I get why they booked me.

I understand them.

The thing that changed is that I started

developing my clientele.

And I started developing my clientele by using

this particular word, selective clientele.

Now, selective clientele runs the risk, a distinct

risk of rubbing people the wrong way, because

I have seen online in those ever lovely

Facebook chat groups, how they said that I

pick my clients, that there's a prequalification process,

that I only work with a certain type

of person, that I only work with X

and that I only work with Y.

And what I wanted to do, but didn't,

was get in there and say, I don't

choose my clients.

My clients choose me.

Hence the words, selective clientele, not selective photographerism.

I tried going with it.

I think I just lost it.

Not selective photographer, okay?

So, how do I make my clients choose

me?

How do I make a physical, cognizant decision

I choose her as my wedding photographer?

Well, online interaction.

Online interaction has become such a pivotal change

in how I pursue my business and how

I get the type of clients that I

want.

So, what does online interaction look like for

me?

Online interaction comes together in two ways.

By way of my website and by way

of my blog.

So, if somebody's interested in my services, they

will either go to one or both of

those things.

Sites.

If they go to jasminestar.com, yes, they

see my portfolio, but they see multiple bio

sections.

They see what my clients are saying about

me.

You could see my theory about photography.

My contact page is just a lot more

writing and a little bit more of my

story.

So, yes, I am showing my portfolio, but

at the same time, I'm putting and infusing

so much of me that they're going to

have a distinct impression.

I want only to do one of two

things when somebody comes to my website.

When somebody comes to my website, I want

to attract them or I want to repel

them.

The more that I repel people who my

personality does not mesh with, the higher probability

of a bridezilla going to somebody else, right?

Because here's the thing.

There's no such thing as a universal.

Well, maybe, but generally speaking, there's not the

universal bridezilla because you might look at one

of my clients and be like, girl, how

could you ever work with somebody like that?

And for me, I'm just like, oh, I

get her.

I get it.

She's just having a moment.

Give her some space.

So, the more that I attract somebody who

is like me, the higher probability we have

a beautiful, effective, wonderful, open, communicating work.

I want to say workshop.

Working experience.

Yes, let's go with that.

What?

Relationship.

Yes, that was the word I was thinking

of.

I felt like I was doing charades.

Okay.

So, if somebody comes to my website and

they're like, I kind of like her and

I'm not so sure, I have plenty of

links to my blog within my website.

Why?

Because I want them to know where I

went on vacation.

I want them to know the books that

I'm reading.

I want them to know how obsessed I

am with my dog.

I want people to know that I care

about the photographic community, that I care about

charitable organizations.

I put so much information on my blog

because I want to push people away.

And if you are not pushed away and

if you stay, we have a high chance,

a high probability of booking because you like

what you see.

So, once they have gone through that, once

they have gone through the website, once they've

gone through the blog, if they still want

to connect with me, then it's time to

what I call pre-qualify my clients.

And I pre-qualify my clients by them

emailing me and I just don't send back

all of my information.

Why?

Because I want to make it a little

tiny bit harder.

Why?

I want to attract or I want to

repel.

If you don't like the way that I

do email, awesome.

The next nine months you're not gonna have

to deal with me.

But if you like the fact that I'm

going to ask personalized things about your wedding,

where is the wedding, where is the reception,

how many guests are going to be there,

are you working with a wedding coordinator, what's

the theme?

All of those things.

If they can respond to me, I now

have a very good idea if we're going

to be a good fit.

That is what I want.

So, what's the struggle?

What you guys hear me say is I

put a lot of my stuff out, like,

Jasmine, what is your struggle?

Well, my struggle is knowing that I am

not everyone's photographer and neither are you.

Because when I first started, whenever I would

get an inquiry, I subscribed to the school

thought of like that wedding photographer superhero.

Where there's a wedding, I'll be there.

Right?

I mean, we want to do them all.

But we have to understand, somebody told me

early in my career that my business will

be so much stronger with five brides who

are on fire about the work that I

produced than 50 brides who just think that

I showed up and I did my job.

Go after the five and understand that those

five will be far greater to your goals

and to your business alignment than you could

ever imagine.

So, I've spoken about struggle, I've spoken about

the things that we have to go through,

and I'm excited for you to work on

yours.

But it's struggling in business that we have

to take a step back and think about

because it's struggle without change that leaves you

frustrated.

It's struggle without humility, without adaptation, that makes

you just want to walk away and say,

I just have had enough.

So, this idea of actually going through struggles

and then making it an intention, because once

you say I want to be a wedding

photographer, I'm ready to go into these 30

days and make a difference, then the first

thing that you need to do is envision

it as a distinct possibility.

My best friend was training for the Olympics,

she was a national champion, she went to

college on a full ride, track and field

scholarship, and she earned a spot to live

at the Olympic Training Center in San Diego,

California, and she was training for the Olympics,

and she knew she could get a spot.

She was talented, she has had rewards.

What do you do when you get a

rate?

Like when she's won a race?

Well, okay.

So, she's won a lot of things, she

was really talented, so she knew she can

get there.

So, she got a physical coach, she got

a muscle coach, and they also gave her

a life coach, and one of the things

that he told her that I was like,

I feel like I'm getting therapy for free,

is he said that she had to envision.

So, as she prepared to make the Olympic

team, he told her, basically, you need to

see differently.

You cannot see what's in front of you,

and you cannot see what's going on around

you.

What you need to do is to see

differently, and what seeing differently means is that

it's total emotional immersion, that you must say

to yourself, I am going to do this,

because it's one thing to say that you're

going to do something.

It's one thing to say, I am going

to do these 30 days.

It's one thing to say, I am going

to be a wedding photographer.

It's one thing to say, I am going

to make the Olympic team, but it is

an entirely different thing to actually do it,

because you need to see yourself in the

future doing the thing that you are not

doing now, and that scares so many of

us, because he told her straight out, which

is what I'm going to say to you

today, if you cannot picture yourself in the

future doing the thing that you want in

your imagination, it's going to have a really

hard time actually bringing it out in real

life.

So, as we enter the 30 days, can

you say at the end of 30 days,

I am doing this, because if you do

not believe it at the end of 30

days, you're going to be sad.

You're going to be sad that you didn't

do it.

It was just another time for you to

attempt to do the thing you wanted, and

it didn't work out.

Well, did you believe it?

Did you own it?

For 30 days, give that to me, and

what this basically means is that I was

learning by total emotional immersion, by imagining myself,

envisioning the fact that I could be the

wedding photographer that I wanted.

I came into this, I came into this

industry with an idea.

Where I got this idea, I have no

idea, but I came into the industry with

an idea of what a wedding photographer looked

like, how a photographer dressed, how they spoke.

In my mind, wedding photographers were very cerebral.

I mean, they're all so smart and artistic

and always put together.

Yeah, they kind of talked in that cadence,

why I have no idea.

They're the kind of people that would walk

and they'd pick up grass and say, oh,

the wind, that direction.

In my mind, I thought that's what would

happen.

It's ridiculous, but I'm just being honest.

So, here's me trying to start a business.

I have had no interaction whatsoever in the

photographic community.

I have this made up version of what

I think photographers should do and should be.

So, I struggled with the idea in the

back of my mind that when I was

shooting, the only thing I was hearing was,

you better act professional.

You better act professional.

What professional meant?

No idea, but you better act professional.

Okay, so here's a little side note.

I mean, my producer's off being like, you

have a few minutes.

Well, here we go.

Okay, so 10 years ago, there's a show

that I'm embarrassed to even admit that I

watched, but I did, and trust me, it

was really cool at the time.

Tyra Banks hosted a show called America's Next

Top Model.

Yes, I was one of those early watchers.

I have since stopped because I have seen

the light.

Not really.

I mean, if there's a marathon, I'll tune

into it.

But what she does, for those of you

who are not familiar with this show, is

that she goes out and she gets the

girl next door, and she gives them the

opportunity to become America's Next Top Model.

And how she does this is every week,

she gives them a challenge, and then they

bring on different guest photographers.

So, one particular week, my husband walks in

the room.

He's like, oh my gosh, you're not watching

this show again.

I said, shh, it's research.

I am learning right now.

Okay, see, there's a few of you guys

who are nodding.

I'm like, see, baby, see, I'm not talking

trash.

So, we're watching this, and I'm saying, this

is research.

And then, for this particular episode, it's usually

the focus was always on the girl.

But for this particular episode, they kind of

shifted the focus to the photographer, and there

he was.

I think he was from England or Australia,

and he was talking to the girls in

such a way that blew my mind.

Because he was like, yes, beautiful.

Get down.

He's down.

Love it.

Can you roar?

Roar like a tiger.

Show me.

Show me.

And I'm like, what?

I thought an editorial commercial photographer would be

like, yeah, just like that.

Give me the shoulder.

And I saw him, and I thought to

myself, that's professional.

I can do professional.

This basically comes back down to don't be

tied to the way you've always done it.

If what you're getting is not what you

want, and you think, if I push through,

and if I push through, it's going to

be it.

No.

Stop it.

Change.

The best way to break the mold is

by simply being you.

If you want people to hire you, be

unique.

Be different.

And by being unique, it's simply by being

you, because there's only one of you.

This means engaging with your clients in a

way that showcases your personality.

Because what I have learned the hard way

is that being somebody who you think other

people want you to be will always leave

you dissatisfied with your work.

And as we move towards the end of

the section, one thing I want you to

focus on is to let go.

To let go of the things that don't

push you forward.

So now what I want you to do

in your homework is I want you to

make a list of your strengths.

I want you to make a list of

things that you are really good at.

And then what I want you to do

is I want you to play to those

strengths, and I want you to diminish your

weaknesses.

Because so often, we spend so much time

trying to strengthen our weaknesses when we should

be strengthening our strengths.

So if you're good at in-person meetings,

and somebody emails you, what you should say

in that first email back is, here is

my collection menu, or here are my packages,

or here's my pricing.

But I think meeting in person would be

so fantastic because, and then you can list

your reasons.

Prepare them for what you're good at.

Or conversely, if you're not so good at

in-person meetings, but you have a knack

for talking on the phone, perfect.

In that first email, respond back to them.

I would love to set up a meeting

at the convenience of your home or office,

or perhaps you'd like to Skype.

Do whatever you can to put you in

front of what your strength is.

Now, and these are just a couple examples.

Now what I want you to do is

to write a list of your weaknesses.

Now once you have listed your weaknesses and

you know what those weaknesses are, now you

know how to play away from them.

So what are things that you're not good

at?

I learned early on that I wasn't very

good at album design, and I didn't like

it.

And for so long, I felt, well, because

I'm a wedding photographer, I should be designing

the albums.

But I had to learn how to order

the album, how to make the album.

Am I using an album design software?

Am I using InDesign?

Then what happens, I would get all the

images, and I'm like, these are the images

that you chose for the album?

And then I would just be so frustrated

with the process.

And so what I decided to do is

I decided to collaborate with an amazing album

designer.

And she and I work on the process

together.

My clients are happy because they get their

design.

My designer's happy because she's working with new

clients and we're doing it together.

And I get to educate my clients.

And that's going to be the third point

when it comes to playing to your strengths

and minimizing your weaknesses.

If you are going to minimize the weakness,

you then need to educate your clients as

to why you are doing that.

So I told my clients the benefit of

working with a graphic designer is that this

is what she does professionally all day, every

day.

She's dedicated to making sure that you are

happy.

And I'm going to be working with her

through the process.

Another thing that I could not stand doing

early, about two years ago, two, two and

a half years ago, I was giving my

clients USBs of their images.

Now I'm a little bit old school.

I used to give my clients disks.

You know, it's like now my computer doesn't

even have like a disk drive.

But I was giving disks, and then I

moved over to the USB.

And then I have to brand the USB.

Then I have to brand the box that

the USB goes in.

Then I have to brand the shipping of

the USB.

And at the time, what I was doing

was I was holding off the USB until

they had actually finished the album design process.

Because I thought in my mind, it's going

to incentivize them.

But what I learned was that it would

take my brides two, three, four months to

actually complete their wedding album.

And I was doing a disservice by not

having my clients have their images and send

them online and share them online.

So what I decided to do was to

stop any sort of physical sharing of images

from my studio.

Now, 100%, I'm a digital online gallery.

The minute the images are ready, I send

them to my clients.

And I say, you can download.

And you can share.

And if you share, please just link to

me.

But these images are yours as much as

they are mine.

That was a powerful thing to educate my

clients to play to something I never wanted

to do to begin with.

So we talked about envisioning.

We talked about letting go.

And then we talked about breaking the mold.

What I want to kind of tie in

as a closer is I want you to

be confident.

And in order for you to be confident,

because it does not come naturally to me,

I want you to do things that put

you in control of what it is you

want.

So I am not a confident person.

When I walk into a room, I am

not the person who walks right in in

the center and say, hey, how's it going?

I'm against the wall.

I like to sit back.

I like to wait.

I like to watch.

I'm naturally unconfident.

So in order for me to become a

confident person, in order for me to become

a confident photographer, when I was going out

to these shoots and I felt unconfident with

my work, specifically how to shoot backlit, I

would go to these shoots and I just

could not learn.

My subjects were always underexposed.

Everything was always hazy.

Everything was always fuzzy.

So what I did was I got my

camera, I walked into my backyard, and I

shot this orange tree in our backyard every

single day for over two months at different

times of the day.

I would understand what is the light doing.

If I stand here, what happens?

If I do this, what happens?

What if I bring something else nearby?

What happens with that?

So for two months, I dedicated myself to

put myself in control.

By the time I would get to a

session and I had to shoot...

I'm talking too fast.

I was like...

Okay.

When I had to get to a session

and shoot backlit, I was confident because I

said, orange tree, orange tree, orange tree, you

got this.

And it worked.

If I was unconfident with shooting wedding details,

what I needed to do is I put

together a styled shoot.

I brought together a few vendors and I

said, there's no expectations on the shoot.

We're just doing this for creation and learning

sake.

So I needed to put myself in control

of what I thought editors thought of my

work.

And how I did that was by practicing

in advance and putting me in control of

that.

Secondly, I want you to do the work

because in my mind, confidence and control go

hand in hand.

If confidence and control go hand in hand,

in order for me to be confident, I

must be in control.

And in order for me to be in

control, I need to have done the work

in advance.

So what does doing the work in advance

mean?

The fancy way is practice, practice, practice.

And when you're done practicing, practice some more.

That is all there is because we could

become so cerebral.

How do we ride a bike?

Really?

Oh, we're talking about centrifugal force and balance.

Wow.

How nice.

You do not know how to ride a

bike until you get on the bike.

So get on the bike, pick up your

camera, shoot the orange tree, shoot the dog,

shoot the kids.

All of this is sounding so violent.

One of my favorite quotes is by Peale.

He says it so well.

Action is the great restorer and builder of

confidence.

Inaction is not only the result, but the

cause of fear.

Inaction is not only the result, but the

cause of fear.

Perhaps an action you take will be successful.

Perhaps a different action or adjustments will have

to follow.

But any action is better than no action

at all.

So now that we get here, we started

off the presentation by saying you sacrificed to

be here.

And we will go through struggle.

But I'm going to tell you, I'm going

to up the ante.

Because yes, you've sacrificed to be here.

And now I'm going to tell you something.

That sacrifice doesn't guarantee success.

It is merely a prerequisite of success.

It is not enough to say I have

sacrificed to take this course.

I have sacrificed 30 days to do this.

I have sacrificed to fly from Canada to

join in here.

Listen, so have all these other people.

There are thousands of people watching right now

who are sacrificing.

So guess what?

Just because you sacrifice, it does not mean

you're going to be successful.

It means this is merely the first step

of becoming successful.

The only thing that's going to bring out

the change that you need to start this

course is by going out and actually doing

something.

So being here is a sacrifice.

But what are you doing now?

What are you doing today?

Go back to that list.

See your weaknesses.

See your strengths.

How many weddings do you want?

What are you going to do to get

there?

What is the date in which all of

these things will be done?

Are you marking on your calendar when you

will join us every single day for the

next 30 days?

So we know that I struggle and we

know that you struggle, but I started off

the presentation by saying one thing, that I

believe this room and I believe people who

are watching online are stronger together than we

are apart.

So having said that, the next 30 days,

I'm so excited to see what those struggles

are and I can't wait for us to

navigate them together.

Thank you guys.

Okay.

I'm very awkward.

I was like clapping.

No, stop.

Stop with the clap.

I think what we're going to do now

is we're going to go into Q&A,

but Kenna, you can take the lead however

you want it to unfold.

Fantastic.

Yeah, we just have a little bit of

time, but we wanted to get in a

couple of questions.

Of course, people are asking questions and guys,

if anybody has a question in here, feel

free to raise your hand.

We'll get you a mic.

Of course, there are so many questions coming

in, Jasmine, that are things that we will

be covering in the bootcamp in those 30

lessons.

So that is why we're here.

We're just getting started.

So stay tuned and thank you for all

of those questions.

But let's just take a few.

So we'll start with, I still get very

nervous before weddings.

How do you prepare for a wedding beforehand

to be as confident as you seem?

Oh, well, there's two things to address for

people who are asking what we're going to

cover and when, because I understand that 30

days is difficult to say, I'm going to

make the commitment and this is what's going

to be.

There is a syllabus online.

If you go to Creative Live, if you

look at the links, or you can just

go to Creative Live and search Jasmine Star,

this course will come up and there you'll

find a syllabus.

Every single day, it's going to outline.

So sure, maybe you don't need to know

how to prepare your clients for an engagement

session, you feel confident.

But like this particular question is, how do

you prepare your clients for successful wedding day

and how do you prepare yourself to become

the confident photographer?

Well, if you think I'm confident, I've done

a really great job at hiding the sweat

underneath my scalp right now.

Um, we have discussed this.

We've had open conversations about what it takes

to be successful.

And actually, we're going to be starting this

course tomorrow with can a shy photographer be

successful?

Why awkward always wins.

So to that question, tune in tomorrow at

9am Pacific Standard and there will be a

loop all day, every day.

I think we're going to get into those

questions specifically and people will walk away.

Even if you do not struggle, struggle with

being an introvert, it's going to be saying

these are ways to refine how you approach

a shoot how you approach a wedding.

Awesome.

Yeah, lots of lots of questions coming in

about staying positive and on all those things.

In addition to those logistical ones.

I do want to give you a little

bit of feedback as well.

Jasmine, as always, we have people that are

chiming in from all over the world.

So thank you guys all for joining us.

We have Aruba, Oklahoma, Italy, Manchester, UK, Minneapolis,

we have Barcelona, Sioux in Barcelona, LA, Ontario,

Florida, Wales.

It's just everyone is here and excited.

Lots and lots, hundreds of people in the

chat rooms that are all very excited.

Somebody said, is everybody else like they're like

me taking notes like crazy, which I think

is really exciting because we are just getting

going.

Yeah, I would encourage you to buy a

notebook.

Buy a notebook dedicated to the 30 day

course that you can look back and know

where you are because there'll be a lot

of note taking.

And just just a note for people out

there tomorrow when we do kick off is

actually the the how to define your photographic

style.

Thank you, just putting in your toes.

My fault.

So tomorrow, how to define your photographic style

and then the following lesson.

That's right.

The following lesson will be can a shy

photographer be successful.

That's right.

Does anybody in here have?

OK, we have we're getting some mics.

We'll just do a couple because we're yes,

we are pressed for time.

I get it.

I want to respect everybody's time.

So we'll go here.

Go ahead.

So I love that you brought up the

fact that as photographers, we tend to look

in or look out towards somebody who's successful

and say, like, oh, she doesn't deal with

any of the stuff that's going on in

my head.

And you talked about fear a lot.

So I was wondering, coming from your place

of being really successful and having a strong

business, can you just talk briefly about some

of the things that run through your head,

like right before and then how you talk

yourself off the ledge?

Yeah, I mean, that is a long answer.

My producer's like, OK, so one thing that

I heard not too not too long ago

was that we have a tendency to compare

our real to somebody else's highlight reel.

And this is amplified when we see it

on social media.

Like we see where other people are going,

what they're eating, what they're wearing, what they're

shooting.

And it's easy for us to say, oh,

I'm just in yoga plans today.

Right.

The thing that I've learned in the past

year and a half that has been a

pivotal, pivotal shift in the way that I

approach myself.

One thing that I realized that was very,

very, very hard to admit was I never

thought that I didn't like myself.

I always thought I like myself.

I have my parents raised me well.

I like myself.

And then I had a conversation and a

real eye opening experience after reading something.

And what I realized is the way that

I speak to myself is a manifestation of

me hating myself.

And that was really hard to admit, because

if I heard anybody else talk to you

the way that I talk to myself on

a daily basis, I would drop kick them.

Don't you ever talk to somebody else like

that.

Nobody deserves to be spoken to that way.

And yet every day I say, you're not

enough.

You're not good enough.

Your work sucks.

You're a failure.

Wow.

That was such a pivotal breaking point for

me to say, I am enough.

I have made mistakes.

I am moving forward.

And on those days that I have really

bad days where I really feel pretty crappy,

it's nice to say I might not know,

I might not be where I want to

be, but I'm sure as happy that I'm

not where I used to be.

And that tiny little shift of perspective can

change the whole day.

And so I have to remind myself, as

silly as it sounds, that when I go

to a shoot, I am enough.

These people hired me.

I am enough.

That on my worst day, I could produce

something better than anybody else because they picked

me.

Does this sound like some psychoanalytical babble?

I don't know, but it works for me.

I would rather speak to myself with kindness

and grace instead of saying, you suck.

This is going to fail.

You're not good enough.

Imagine what the people are going to say

when you post these online.

I have two options.

I listen to that voice or I listen

to this one.

I'm healthier.

I'm in a better place now to say

I am enough.

I deal with myself with love and grace

and contentment, and I hope the same for

you.

We're going to go to one other question.

I'll try to articulate this quickly.

I've been watching CreativeLive for several years, and

especially from the restart class, I've been able

to spend the last couple of years cultivating

a community of photographers around me, and I

am so blessed and grateful to your work

and CreativeLive for sort of sparking that.

That being said, sometimes people do things that

are a little bit unkind, and I find

myself saying, why would you do that to

me, to other people?

How do you deal with professional relationships that

are hurtful at times?

So the past year and a half, you

guys are going deep.

Wow.

Okay.

The past year and a half has been

such a year of growth for me and

growth that I did not anticipate, nor if

I were to look back and say, I

really want this growth, because painful growth is

so amazing.

I love feeling this awful.

One thing I learned is I can't change

another person.

The only thing I can change is how

I feel about what they're saying.

If somebody says something negative to me or

somebody says something negative to you, I cannot

change that person.

I can only change myself and say, I

will not participate with that.

I will not give fuel to the fire.

I will support you if they're talking trash

about you, and if they're talking trash about

me, I hope that you would support me,

because when we pour energy into negative sources,

it feeds the negative sources in our life.

What you feed is what will grow.

I choose positivity.

Even in my darkest moments, I still find

joy.

I find joy because I woke up this

morning.

I find joy because I'm meeting other people.

I find joy because my day starts with

my husband and my dog.

I find joy because my mother is still

living after a seven-year belt with cancer.

I find joy because I choose to find

joy.

I hope the same for you.

I hope that you stop listening to the

negative voices in your head and to those

people who are around you.

Wow, what is wrong with me?

Wow, you guys just got deep.

Oh, man.

Okay, before this turns into like a Kleenex

commercial and feminine products, let's move on.

Let's move on.

I think that we're going to do a

wrap-up.

I think so.

I think that is a beautiful way to

end.

Maybe one final, final question that I have

for you, Jasmine, is we've talked about where

we want to see everybody out there, where

they're going to be in six weeks through

this boot camp.

Where do you want to be?

You're getting all Barbara Walters.

Where do I want to be?

I want to be at a beach in

Cabo San Lucas when this thing is done.

This amazing course has challenged me in ways

that I didn't see possible.

I look forward to being able to get

back to the regular cadence of my life.

I look forward to not being so go

-go-go at home.

But furthermore, what I really hope and anticipate

is that the mistakes that I make at

the wedding, at the Not Dream wedding, because

it is live and because we have a

camera crew in the back of my mind,

I think about all the things that could

possibly go wrong.

It's not a matter of if, it is

a matter of when.

When those things go wrong, that I hope

that I can look back at the situation

and that I'm proud of how I responded

to it, that I'm proud of the portfolio

pieces that I pulled, and that I'm proud

for bringing on photographers who would not have

the ability to join me or join any

photographer to an event of such a degree

and do it for the greater good of

the community.

So at the end of it, that's ultimately

where I want to be.

And if there is a margarita and chips

and guacamole at the end of that, I

will be very happy too.

I love it.

I love it because that's the thing.

You're here to support us and have all

of us grow, but I believe that you

will grow as well.

I believe so too.

Thank you so much, Jasmine.

Thank you.

We are so excited to have you back

here on Creative Live and good luck everybody.

Thanks for tuning in for right now and

our live kickoff.

That's a wrap, but we will see you

every day as you go through this.

Thanks again, everyone.