How I Went From $120 Brides to $2,300 Brides (Step By Step Levels)

This post went viral over on my Instagram where I talked about what I charge versus what my styles looked like. You can't just slap a raise on your rates over on your website or in your email to your bride without having the skill, the portfolio, the demand, and the conversion rates to actually back that up. Or you can just stay constantly getting ghosted. The biggest factors in raising your rates and still getting booked out is not your number of years in the industry. It's actually your skill level and your demand. So. So for today's video, I want to break down my skill levels. The signs that I ignored that actually kept me stuck, that maybe are keeping you stuck too, with action steps so you can get out of them, exactly what to fix, what to focus on so you can raise your rates with confidence and finally stop saying, oh, my God, she's not booking me because of my price. Phase one is what I like to call the beginner level. So here's what I was charging, and here's what my styles looked like at this level. What I actually needed to focus on was realizing that I was not as good as I thought. Would you believe that these styles was when I was actually 7 years? My wedding hair journey? Yeah, that's kind of hard to believe. So here's the signs that I didn't want to acknowledge that I was ignoring that were actually keeping me stuck. And maybe they're keeping you stuck, too. One of the biggest signs was I never practiced my hair skill or my makeup skill at the time or my content, like taking photos and videos of my clients. Outside of actually working weddings, I wasn't having content days. I wasn't practicing my hair skill. I wasn't pulling out a mannequin. I wasn't going to classes. The only time I was doing hair was when I was actually working a wedding, telling myself that classes were too expensive. I don't want to spend my money on that. I just need to get more products to make myself better. This one, this one got me stuck, never accepting that maybe I was the problem and it wasn't my client. For example, if a client was unhappy with her hairstyle or makeup when I was doing makeup at the time, I would tell myself, it's because her hair can't do it. It's because her face shape can't do it. It's because she needs X, Y, and Z to get this look, versus taking accountability of, like, maybe I just don't actually know how to do that look. So here's your homework to get out of this beginner level up, you want to be focusing on your makeup skill or your hair skill. So I want you to head over to Instagram, I want you to find your favorite hair stylist, your favorite makeup artist, whoever styles you love that's local, DM them and ask them if they do in person classes. Now here's why I'm saying in person, because I actually used to teach classes and I've been to a couple one on one classes. And that is where you are going to get the absolute most out of your time and your money that you're investing into it. Because you're going to have somebody who's there with you who's able to actually say, oh, this is exactly where you're going wrong with this look. With this makeup style. You need to be moving your hands here, you need to be blending the makeup here, you need to be smoothing out the hair here, you need to be using more of this product, you need to be using less of this product. And that person can really gear everything towards you. And you will be shocked how many stylists and makeup artists maybe don't advertise that they offer this, but would be more than willing to do a class for you. And because I've retired and I don't sell them anymore, I actually decided just to make them for free. So if you're somebody who wants to learn clean, low buns, glam waves, the theory behind it, high buns, more of those clean styles, because those were my sign and share. You can actually find a full free playlist in the description box below. Now let's talk phase two, which is what I call beginner 2.0. So here's what I was charging and here's what my styles looked like at this level. What I had to focus on was the perceived likelihood of achievement. So your bride shows you an inspiration photo. How likely is it that you are going to get her the style or the makeup look that looks most similar to the inspiration photo that she's actually showing you? So for example, this was the style that my clients were showing me that I could like actually knock it down. But I, I didn't think I needed to do hair classes. I didn't think I needed to learn how to do it. I was like, oh, I got that. I can do that look. And at beginner 2.0 level, my hair skill, this is what my hair work looked like. Does this look like the inspiration photo? Is the perceived likelihood of achievement there, girlfriend? No, this looks nothing like the inspiration photo. And what I didn't understand at this 2.0 level was that my client had a very specific look that they were coming in, asking for and wanting. And it was me, my job to be able to take them from where they currently are to where they want to be. And so, again, the biggest struggle that I dealt with at this stage was if a bride was unhappy with a look or she was telling me that it didn't look like the inspiration photo that she was showing me, I would tell myself, my client's hair just can't do that. Her face shape is totally different from this girl's. I don't even know what the front looks like. Well, she needs two packs of extensions to actually get it to look like that. Putting the blame on my client versus actually taking accountability that, like, this is my job. I used to do this when I didn't want to acknowledge that I was not as good as I thought. And it's my, my job making sure that she is 100% prepped and ready with exactly what she needs to get that look before she comes in for her trial. It's my job to know how to get a certain few styles on any hair type, density, texture, length, knowing how to work with different face shapes, different face framing, how to work with the face shape as a whole, what to fix, what to hide, how to use different products properly, and breaking down their inspiration photo so I can step by step recreate that look on them. And so if you find yourself at this beginner 2.0 level and you feel like this is kind of where your work is sitting at right now, this is a sign that you're doing too many looks and you don't have a signature style. You're not practicing outside of working weddings, you're still so afraid to invest any money into education, and you truly think that a new product or a tool is going to be the magic fix that you need to make your hair styling or your makeup better, or maybe you're a decade in, you're five years in, or like me, seven years in, and you don't want to go back to feeling like a beginner, because I know I didn't. And it's likely a sign that constructive criticism from your bride turns into, well, she doesn't have X, Y, Z to get that look versus how can I make that happen for her? And the biggest issue, after looking at hundreds of bridal hairstylists and makeup artists, portfolios and businesses and auditing, why they're not booking or getting as many inquiries as you want. Because when you're at this level, you're not objectively looking at your work, comparing it with the inspiration photo versus your work and looking at the gaps and seeing, okay, how can I actually make this possible? What do I need to do? Acknowledging that you're not as good as you thought. And that's okay because this was me for seven years. And so having a signature style is really going to help you in this phase. Because right now you're trying to learn any and every style versus getting really good. Finding a rinse and repeatable process. A rinse and repeatable transformation you can give to any and every client. And what it does is it eliminates brides coming in. Showing you 100 different inspiration photos where you're never recreating the same look twice. You're kind of just basing your business off of your bride sitting in your chair versus attracting the brides that you want. The goal isn't to be a master of every single hairstyle and makeup look. The goal is to be really, really good at three to five looks, tops that you can rinse and repeat on any bride. And so here's your homework to get out of this level. I want you to head to Pinterest and I want you to make a board of all the inspiration photos that you're currently seeing from clients. Then I want you to go over to your phone and I want you to go over and make a photo album of all of the client photos that you took when you tried to recreate these same looks. Then I want you to pop them side by side and compare your work versus the inspiration photo. How far off is your look versus the inspiration photo? Get really, really honest with yourself here. Okay, where do you need to improve an in person class? Do online classes have friends in weekly? So you're practicing. You need to get your reps in at this level. Also, back on the Pinterest board that you created, I want you to go through and delete the photos of the inspiration that you're seeing that you actually hate. Like the ones you'll be like, okay, I'll be happy if I never see this photo again. Then you're going to go on your Instagram, you're going to archive anything that looks similar to those so you can start narrowing in attracting your ideal bride. So you're not getting constant different inspiration photos all over the board. And that way you're narrowing in your signature look. Once I under understood I wasn't as good as I thought, I started really taking accountability, getting my styles to look More like the inspiration photos narrowing in my signature looks. Then I entered in the intermediate and the advanced phases. So here's my styles and what I was charging at the intermediate phase. And here's my styles and what I was charging at the advanced phase. And so if at the other phases you focused on getting your signature look, getting your hair skill and your artistry elevated so it looks like those inspiration photos that she's showing you, so you have a rinse and repeatable transformation that no matter what bride is sitting in your chair, you can get your clients the transformation they're looking for and your skill and artistry level is there. So now what you want to do and want to focus on is the building demand for your services. They're booking you for your signature looks. Now it's all about having more brides in your inbox than you could possibly handle. That is demand. And it's also about pricing yourself to profit so you can start earning more, working less. Now here's what might be keeping you stuck at this level. The signs that I was seeing for myself was I didn't have enough inquiries because I was avoiding social media. Media. Maybe you don't want to film yourself because you feel like content creation is so much not enough brides know you exist, so you hyper focus on every single inquiry like it's the last one you'll ever see in your life. You need that booking or else you're not gonna make any money. Now here's the mindset shift I need you to have. You're actually getting paid to create client and get more brides in your chair. Yeah. So when you film yourself at a wedding, when you film a trial, when you're taking content, you're doing that at appointments that you're getting paid for. Today's bride is finding you on social media. It's a part of your job. It's a non negotiable girlfriend. Now here's exactly how I define demand. Let's just say your wedding goal is you want to work 70 weddings in a year, averaging around taking eight to nine weddings per month. So you're capped at working 70 weddings in that year. You can't take any more than that. Now demand is when you're receiving 2x3x10 100 times more inquiries than weddings. You can actually book. That looks like getting 16, 40, 80 inquiries for a single month. But you can only handle eight wedding bookings in a month. Now here's what demand does for you. It removes your thirsty for inquiries mindset. It allows you to stop saying yes to every single booking in your inbox, even the ones that you do you don't want to do out of fear that you're never going to book another wedding again. And you get pickier with the weddings you say yes to in the best way because you're not saying yes to every single bride. You're only saying yes to the brides you want to work with because you don't need that one booking. You have 37 other inquiries of brides waiting to hear back from you. We're not waiting around for one bride. The brides are waiting for us. That is demand. And your job at this level, if you're intermediate or advanced and your artistry and your skill level is there, but the inquiries and bookings are not, you need to get more brides to know you that that you exist. So here's your homework so you can get out of this level. Get your portfolio branded, elevated, high quality for that one ideal bride. So you stand out to her. Head over to your Instagram archive anything that's low quality, low lighting, busy backgrounds, making you look like you're a professional photographer and not a bridal makeup artist or bridal hairstylist. And please make sure you are archiving any makeup looks or hairstyles that you do not want to do. Start posting content like it's your job because it is to get in the habit and start getting visible to your ideal bride. Start posting around 5 times times a week. If you're like, okay, let's go. Start posting daily. And I want you selling your services. The only person who's going to promote your services is you. On your stories, posting highlights in your captions. Make sure you're leading everything back to connecting with your bride, talking about the transformation you offer, giving her value in your captions and telling her what you want her to do, which is inquire with you. Now let's go to phase four, which is the in demand and the skilled expert. So here's my styles and what I was charging when I was in demand. And here's what my styles and what I'm charging today as I call a skill a skilled expert. It's still kind of weird to say that I'm a skilled expert, but here we are. Now what you're going to notice is, yes, my styles still look pretty similar to what I was doing when I was in the advanced level. The difference I built demand for my services book out within months and I know how to sell. Now for you, what might be keeping you stuck Here is feeling like sales is cringy. I don't want to be a saleswoman. I can't charge that in my area because nobody would book me. For me, one of the big things was I was really afraid to adjust my content strategy to work what's working today or adjusting my booking strategy for today's bride because she's totally different from our 2020 bride. Or maybe you're posting the same old content strategy that you were in 2018, and it's just pretty hair photos, pretty makeup photos, and you're like, oh, this isn't working. What's happening? You have to acknowledge that every single year, likely the content strategy is going to need to be updated. What works today might not work next year. So you have to be adaptable and flexible there. Also, when you start to increase your rates, you're going to hear no more often. But at this level, what I was focusing was understanding how to handle objections, not being phased by somebody ghosting me or the out of budget and knowing how to turn it around and knowing how today's bride is booking. So here's your homework at this level, girl, I'm going to need you to break up with that old money mindset belief that nobody's going to pay you at that rate, because guess what? They will. Learn how to sell the transformation that you're offering and do it daily on social media, specifically on Instagram stories. I usually find that's the best place because that means your bride is following you. And that means she's more likely, she's more warmed up, she's nurtured, she's stalking you out. Now we just got to warm her up and tell her what to do. And also start creating a wait list where you can book out your season within weeks and not months. Remember, no matter what level you're at, the person that you're looking up to has been there, too. No one has skipped the line. No one's gone through phase one and gotten to phase four overnight. We've all gone through these levels. They just might not be showing you on socials. Check out this video next and I'll see you guys in the next one. Bye.