Episode 36 - Join the 3-Day Photography Challenge

JOIN the 3-Day Photography Challenge

Speaker: Imagine for a second. That, uh, you're walking down this really busy city street,
Speaker 2: right?
Speaker: And you pass this just incredible bakery.
Speaker 2: Okay. I'm picturing it.
Speaker: And sitting right there in the front window is without a doubt, the most magnificent mouthwatering cake you have ever seen in your life. I mean, an absolute masterpiece.
Speaker 2: No way.
Speaker: Yeah. And there's an actual crowd of people standing outside on the sidewalk. They're taking pictures with their phones. They're cheering, they're clapping for the baker inside.
Speaker 2: Still like a pretty successful bakery.
Speaker: Well, here's the thing. You step a little closer to the glass and you notice something completely bizarre.
Speaker: The front door to the bakery has this giant heavy steel padlock on it. It's totally locked.
Speaker 2: Wait, really?
Speaker: Really? The lights in the dining area are off and uh, the cash register on the counter is literally gathering dust.
Speaker 2: Wow. That is, um. That's a striking and frankly tragic image. You know, you have this abundance of external validation.
Speaker 2: All this applause, but absolutely zero commerce is actually taking place.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker 2: The admiration is just physically walled off from the business itself.
Speaker: The cash register is gathering dust while the bagel gets a standing ovation, and the crazy part is you are the baker. And that locked door, that's your booking process.
Speaker 2: That is hard.
Speaker: It does.
Speaker 2: I think
Speaker: today we are taking a pro bar to that padlock. Welcome to this deep dive. We have a mission today that I am incredibly excited about.
Speaker 2: Me too. We're getting into some really good stuff.
Speaker: Yeah. Because we're unpacking this highly specific, really hard hitting document by Matthew Jordan Smith.
Speaker: It's titled, uh. Why you're not getting booked and how to fix it in three days
Speaker 2: and it is so needed.
Speaker: Oh, totally. We're exploring that incredibly frustrating gap between having immense creative talent and you know, actually getting paying clients. If you've ever felt like you have all the passion in the world, but your business consistency is just missing, this deep dive is for you.
Speaker 2: I think it's really vital to set the context right outta the gate here while the source material comes from the photography world. It operates on a much, much deeper level.
Speaker: Yeah. It's not just about taking pictures.
Speaker 2: Not at all. It's essentially a masterclass in the psychology of client conversion. It strips away the art and looks at the behavioral science of why people actually pull out their wallets to buy a service versus just.
Speaker 2: You know, casually appreciating art from a distance.
Speaker: Okay, let's unpack this because the core struggle Matthew outlines here is just so brutally relatable. It starts with this phenomenon that I like to call the social media mirage.
Speaker 2: The social media mirage. I like that.
Speaker: Right? Because we all know the cycle.
Speaker: You spend hours, maybe days updating your portfolio, you curate everything. You post your absolute best work online, and the comments just start rolling in
Speaker 2: fire emojis everywhere.
Speaker: Exactly. A wall of fire emojis. People are saying, stunning, you're a genius. And in your head you're thinking, okay, the floodgates are finally opening,
Speaker 2: right?
Speaker 2: Because the dopamine hit in that moment is potent. I mean, from an evolutionary standpoint, your brain is getting signals of social acceptance. You feel successful.
Speaker: Yeah. Your nervous system registers those emojis as a tangible victory, but then, uh, reality sets in
Speaker 2: it always does.
Speaker: Despite the hundred fire emojis.
Speaker: You check your inbox and you have zero bookings. Crickets. Matthew jokes in the text that not even your cousin wants to book a session with you.
Speaker 2: That's rough, but it's so true.
Speaker: So what do you do? You assume it's like a technical error. You think, oh, the algorithm hit it, or maybe my caption wasn't engaging enough.
Speaker: So you post again, new caption, same breathtaking work,
Speaker 2: and you get the exact same result. A bunch of digital applause and $0 in the bank.
Speaker: Yes, the source material highlights this almost agonizing image of sitting there. Constantly refreshing a totally quiet inbox. Almost like the inbox somehow owes you money.
Speaker 2: A painful behavioral loop for sure.
Speaker: The text literally says, you get so desperate, you start considering booking yourself just to feel something. Just to see a notification.
Speaker 2: Oh man, that is. That's dark,
Speaker: right? But I have to push back on this a little bit. On behalf of everyone listening who is frustrated by this, shouldn't great work just speak for itself?
Speaker 2: You'd think so, wouldn't you?
Speaker: Going back to my bakery analogy. If you bake the objectively best cake in the world and put it in the window, why are people just clapping? Why aren't they breaking down the door to buy a slice? If the work is good, why do likes not translate to dollars?
Speaker 2: What's fascinating here is the distinction between admiration and purchasing intent.
Speaker 2: We constantly conflate the two. Especially today.
Speaker: Right, because they feel the same on social media.
Speaker 2: Exactly.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker 2: But psychologically they operate on completely different circuits.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker 2: When someone leaves a fire emoji, they're reacting to the art. They're just saying, this is pleasing to look at.
Speaker: It doesn't mean they wanna buy it.
Speaker 2: No, because liking a photo requires. Absolutely zero commitment. There's no vulnerability, no exchange of resources, and no real trust involved.
Speaker: It's totally passive consumption like they're treating your business page like a museum.
Speaker 2: Bingo. They're consuming your content as entertainment. The false positive of that engagement tricked your brain into thinking marketing just happened
Speaker: when really you just hosted a free art exhibition.
Speaker 2: Right. The viewer hasn't crossed that mental bridge from this person is talented to, I have a specific problem and I need to hire this person to solve it.
Speaker: So if the problem isn't the quality of the work, like if the cake itself is fundamentally delicious, what is actually broken? Well.
Speaker 2: This leads logically to a really hard truth about the client's mindset, and it requires a complete paradigm shift.
Speaker: Matthew delivers this hard truth with zero sugarcoating. He basically says, the problem is not your photography. It's not your lighting, it's not your camera or your editing.
Speaker 2: It's just that you aren't. Converting interest into actual clients,
Speaker: which is a bitter pill to swallow. Creatives love to hide behind their craft.
Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely. If business is slow, the default defense mechanism is, I need a better camera, or I need to learn new software.
Speaker: It feels so much safer to critique the art, which you can control than to critique the business process, which involves facing rejection
Speaker 2: precisely.
Speaker: Which brings us to what Matthew calls the 50 millimeter lens fallacy.
Speaker: When a client looks at your work, they are not sitting there analyzing the technical specs.
Speaker 2: No. They have no idea what those specs even mean.
Speaker: Right? They aren't saying, oh, I really hope they use a 50 millimeter lens with an F. 1.4 aperture for that creamy Boca. They don't care about the jargon,
Speaker 2: nor should they.
Speaker 2: When you focus your messaging on your gear, you build a wall of cognitive friction. You speak a language they don't understand, which just makes them feel intimidated.
Speaker: Here's where it gets really interesting though. The source compares this to buying a luxury car.
Speaker 2: That's a great comparison.
Speaker: Yeah, and think about the psychology of why it works.
Speaker: When someone walks into a high-end dealership to buy a sports car, they aren't grilling the sales person about the exact torque of the engine bolts.
Speaker 2: Right. They assume the engineering is good because of the price tag.
Speaker: Exactly. They are buying the feeling of driving that car down the highway on a sunny day.
Speaker: They're buying status, thrill, confidence.
Speaker 2: The client is buying a results and a feeling.
Speaker: Yes. Instead of asking about the 50 millimeter lens, Matthew points out the clients are asking themselves highly internal emotional questions
Speaker 2: like, will I look good?
Speaker: Right. Will I feel confident? Will I be comfortable?
Speaker: And most importantly, can I trust this person with my money and my image?
Speaker 2: And if your process doesn't communicate that emotional comfort right from the start, the client hesitates and hesitation is the death of conversion. They close the tab and disappear.
Speaker: So we know they're buying a feeling, but where exactly is the bridge collapsing?
Speaker: The source outlines three specific roadblocks.
Speaker 2: Let's trace the client's journey through those roadblocks. The first major failure point is selling a commodity instead of a transformation.
Speaker: Think about it. They find your site. The first thing they look for is in a priceless. They're looking for a mirror.
Speaker: They wanna see themselves in your work,
Speaker 2: right?
Speaker: But if your site just says 10 photos for $500, you've instantly reduced yourself to a commodity. You're just selling a deliverable
Speaker 2: because a photo is just a digital file. The transformation is the journey from feeling awkward to feeling empowered and beautiful.
Speaker 2: If you just sell the file, you compete on price,
Speaker: which is a race to the bottom. If you sell the transformation, you compete on value. But let's say they want that transformation and they send you an email.
Speaker 2: Here comes the second roadblock.
Speaker: Yep, an undefined experience. The journey from that first inquiry to the final delivery is a complete black box.
Speaker 2: This is a massive point of failure. Human beings crave certainty.
Speaker: Hmm.
Speaker 2: If I email you and your response is vague, my anxiety spikes. I don't know how payment works or what the next steps are.
Speaker: It's like getting into a taxi and the driver just sits there staring at you in the rear view mirror. In total silence, you feel responsible for driving the interaction.
Speaker 2: That is an incredibly apt analogy. And what happens? Your stress spikes and you just wanna get outta the car.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker 2: When things feel unclear, a client's biological response is to freeze. Ambiguity is risky, so they just don't move forward,
Speaker: which leads right into the third roadblock.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker: Attracting maybe clients, because your process is a black box.
Speaker: You attract people who love your work but don't value it.
Speaker 2: They get to the end of your messy pricing email and say. Let me think about it.
Speaker: The dreaded five words and the source translates this perfectly. Let me think about it. It's just polite code for, I'm not convinced.
Speaker 2: It's the ultimate polite rejection.
Speaker 2: They're saving face while running away from the friction of your process.
Speaker: So our creatives accidentally training their audience to devalue them. Like does leaving the process vague make you look like an amateur?
Speaker 2: If we connect this to the bigger picture. Absolutely. Ambiguity is the enemy of conversion.
Speaker 2: When you don't lead with authority, you force the client to figure out how to hire you,
Speaker: which is too much work for them.
Speaker 2: Exactly. The maybe client isn't trying to waste your time, they're just the symptom of your murky process. They take the easiest off ramp. Let me think about it.
Speaker: Okay. We know the problem.
Speaker: It's the locked padlock on the bakery door. The million dollar question is, how do we fix it? How do we shift to consistent paying clients?
Speaker 2: This is where the source gets highly tactical.
Speaker: Yes. Matthew Jordan Smith introduces this specific solution. The three day client conversion challenge, and I love that it's explicitly not fluff or theory.
Speaker 2: It's not just inspirational quotes.
Speaker: No, it's a focused three day shift. Let's break it down. Day one is all about figuring out exactly who your client is, what they're worried about, and why they're hesitating.
Speaker 2: You have to step out of the artist's mindset and into the customer's shoes. You can't alleviate their anxiety if you don't map their fears first.
Speaker: Right. Then day two, which Matthew calls the game changer is about creating an experience that sells for you. Making people instantly comfortable and guiding them to confidence.
Speaker 2: You are engineering word of mouth here, designing the emotional arc of their experience before they even arrive, so they become an active advocate for your business.
Speaker: Love that. And finally, day three, positioning value. So people say yes, this is where you build boundaries. You eliminate the need to overexplain or defend your prices.
Speaker 2: It's about confidently communicating your worth.
Speaker: It's like gaining a superpower. You finally have the armor to stop apologizing, and you attract the right clients while repelling the price shoppers.
Speaker 2: This raises an important question, though. How much mental energy and income are you losing every month because you haven't formalized this shift? The difference between a struggling amateur and a booked professional is in these three steps.
Speaker: I couldn't agree more, and that's why. To stop guessing and chasing clients, you need to join this challenge.
Speaker: I'm speaking directly to you right now, the link to join the three day client conversion challenge. Is in Matthew's Instagram bio.
Speaker 2: It's right there waiting for you.
Speaker: Yep. Pull out your phone, go to Instagram and follow him at Matthew Jordan Smith. That's Matthew Jordan Smith. Click the link in his bio, join the challenge, and stop losing clients to the, let me think about it void.
Speaker 2: It's such a vital step to actually open that bakery door and let people in.
Speaker: So to recap, this isn't about becoming a better photographer. Your cake is already delicious. It's about turning your talent into a business machine that actually works.
Speaker 2: You have to build the door. Unlock it and invite them inside with confidence.
Speaker: One last time. Head over to Instagram. Follow Matthew Jordan Smith and click the link in his bio.
Speaker 2: And as we wrap up, I wanna leave you with one final thought to ponder. If clients are ultimately buying the feeling of working with you, take a look at your current booking process, your emails, your website.
Speaker 2: What is the feeling you're accidentally giving them right now?
Speaker: Wow, that is a heavy question, but such a necessary one. Thank you so much for joining us for this deep dive. Take that padlock off the door and we'll catch you next time.