How can you use TWC strategies to make $251K while maintaining sanity and work-life balance?
In the competitive world of wedding photography, many creatives achieve impressive income yet struggle with burnout and disconnection from their original vision. In a recent podcast interview, Lindsay, one of our students, spilled the beans on how to avoid this fate and still make six figures without selling your soul.
Spoiler alert: It involves setting actual boundaries, raising your prices (yes, you’re worth it), and embracing a long-term vision—all while maintaining some semblance of work-life balance inside TWC. Turns out, you can run a successful business without feeling like you’re living at your desk. Who knew?
The Power of Rebranding Goes Beyond Aesthetic Changes
Rebranding is often dismissed as just a facelift — a new website, updated colors, or a fresh logo. But for Lindsay, it was about much more than that. Before joining The Wedding CEO program, her brand was playful, fun, and vibrant, featuring mauve and emerald tones with floral designs. Gorgeous, sure, but not exactly attracting the high-end, elegant weddings she was dreaming of. Achieving work-life balance inside TWC meant syncing her brand with her true vision and drawing in the right clients.
Through a deep dive into her business and brand, Lindsay realized her website was pulling in the wrong crowd. So, she completely revamped it with a chic, timeless look that matched her dream weddings — and she did this without hiring an expensive web designer. With the help of a copywriter and a template she customized, Lindsay launched a brand-new site that aligned with her vision. The transformation was spot-on!
This wasn’t just a change in appearance, but a shift in how she showcased her value and expertise. The new aesthetic attracted higher-end clients who valued her work, allowing her to move away from budget weddings to the editorial, timeless shoots she was passionate about.
So, remember, a rebrand isn’t just about a fresh look; it’s about aligning your brand with your business goals and attracting the clients you actually want.
Identifying Your Ideal Client is the Key
One of the most crucial exercises for any creative business is to truly identify their ideal client. For Lindsay, this journey was personal. After her own wedding planning experience, she realized her dream clients were basically brides like her — seeking timeless elegance, high-quality service, and an emotional connection to their photographer.
At first, Lindsay’s website and social media were attracting every budget-conscious bride in sight, planning more casual barn weddings. While those were charming, they didn’t reflect the type of work that truly resonated with her. By honing in on her ideal client and focusing all of her marketing efforts — from website copy to imagery — Lindsay managed to attract the right audience. Now, she’s booking weddings that scream sophistication and perfectly match her professional dreams. This shift has also played a crucial role in achieving work-life balance inside TWC.
So yes, it’s super important to know who you want to serve. Your website, social media, and portfolio should reflect your ideal client’s preferences. This way, you attract the right audience and end up with work that’s both fulfilling and profitable.
Raising Your Prices with Confidence
For many wedding photographers, raising prices can be intimidating. Lindsay, like many, struggled with the fear of losing clients if she increased her rates. But as she attracted more high-end clients through her rebrand, she realized her previous pricing didn’t reflect the value she was providing. Additionally, the volume of work she was taking on was unsustainable — shooting 27 weddings in one year left her feeling exhausted, with little time for her personal life or achieving work-life balance inside TWC.
Thanks to The Wedding CEO program, Lindsay discovered that pricing should match both the quality of work and the lifestyle you want. She raised her rates, started offering premium packages, and was shocked—shocked!—to find clients actually willing to pay more for her expertise. This shift not only increased her revenue but also allowed her to book fewer weddings, giving her more time for herself and her family.
Your pricing should reflect the value of your work and the lifestyle you want to maintain. Don’t be afraid to raise your prices if your portfolio and client experience back it up. Higher rates can help attract more ideal clients while allowing you to work less and avoid burnout.
Balancing Business and Personal Life
Making six figures is an impressive goal for any wedding photographer, but doing so at the cost of personal health and happiness isn’t sustainable. After making over $100K but feeling burnt out, Lindsay knew something had to change. By rebranding, attracting her ideal clients, and raising her prices, she was able to scale back the number of weddings she took on. In 2023, she shot 22 weddings and made $127K. Fewer weddings, more cash, and, gasp, actual time to enjoy life — thanks to work-life balance inside TWC.
Setting boundaries, like saying no to endless inquiries and reserving time for yourself, is essential. For Lindsay, learning to say no wasn’t just a business strategy, it was survival. Now she’s got more time for family, hobbies, and, shocker, living a life outside of work.
Success isn’t just about income — it’s about building a business that supports the life you want to live. Set boundaries, prioritize yourself, and create a business that doesn’t turn you into a walking stress ball.
Setting Boundaries to Achieve Work-Life Harmony
When building a wedding photography business, it’s easy to fall into the hustle trap—working around the clock, sacrificing personal time, and constantly feeling the need to book more clients. But, shockingly, once you hit a certain level of success, you realize that maybe work-life harmony is kind of important.
Lindsay revealed her genius strategy: sessions only from Monday to Thursday and—brace yourself—reserving one weekend per month for personal time. Yes, actual time off to, you know, live a life. She even found time to travel, attend personal events, and do this wild thing called “self-care.” Though she admitted it’s not always easy to shake the “if I don’t do this, no one will” mindset, she’s making it work with her newfound work-life balance inside TWC.
Ultimately, finding work-life harmony isn’t about perfection—it’s about trial and error, adjusting your schedule to make time for both personal and professional priorities. If you’re an entrepreneur facing burnout, take a cue from her and establish clear boundaries. Make time for personal life, and learn to say “no” when needed.
Raising Prices while Scaling without Sacrificing your Business
As her business grew, the photographer hit an impressive milestone—earning six figures in a year. This financial success opened doors, like the freedom to be picky about her clients. But it also meant learning how to raise prices while scaling back on bookings, all while maintaining work-life balance inside TWC.
Lindsay mentioned her goal of booking just 15 weddings the next year, but at a higher price point. Because why hustle harder when you can just charge more? Her strategy wasn’t to pack her schedule but to elevate both her prices and the quality of service. By increasing her rates, she could maintain a steady income, preserve her well-being, and improve the overall experience for both herself and her clients.
The lesson here is simple: Don’t be afraid to raise your prices. If you’ve built a reputation for quality and have a booked schedule, you’ve earned the right to charge what you’re worth. Scaling isn’t about working yourself into the ground; it’s about increasing your value and attracting higher-quality clients.
Looking to the Future and Building a Sustainable Business
With her business thriving, the photographer began considering how to scale sustainably in the long term. She casually mentioned the possibility of expanding her team or maybe even adding an associate photographer. You know, just small ideas that involve an entire mindset shift—from running a one-person show to actually trusting other people with your work.
And, of course, there are personal dreams in the mix. One of her big goals? To have her husband go self-employed so they can travel the world without being chained to a corporate schedules. With a goal of creating financial freedom and flexibility for both herself and her family, she’s thinking about how to design a business that will support this vision.
For wedding photographers or creative entrepreneurs, it’s crucial to set long-term goals that align with personal values and lifestyle desires. Whether it’s expanding your team, launching educational programs, or diversifying your revenue streams, future-proofing your business should be a priority—because you deserve to make $251K with work-life balance inside TWC.
Check out Lindsay’s journey and insights on her website- Lindsay Elaine Photography and follow her on Instagram- @_lindsayelaine for more inspiration!
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