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In High Alignment with Kerry Walsh
In High Alignment with Kerry Walsh
Ep. 10- Building Your Personal Brand through Authenticity and Strategic Content with Tori Kelner
Have you ever wondered how to infuse your deepest values into your work or build a brand that resonates with your true self? Join us as we unravel the story of Tori Kelner, a wedding photographer and educator, whose career catapulted from casual snaps during Hurricane Sandy to becoming a beacon in personal branding within the photography landscape. Together, we discuss the pivotal role of personal growth in shaping not just a business, but a lifestyle that reflects one's evolving identity, and the vital connections that blossom from sharing life's simple pleasures.
Navigating the intricacies of content strategy and client relationships can be a complex dance. In this episode, we lay out the steps, taking cues from Tori's expertise. From the art of content sharing that aligns with core values to the strategic planning behind a magnetic social media presence, we cover the foundations of attracting your ideal audience. Discover how to create content pillars that resonate with your audience, and find out how maintaining a diverse marketing approach can sustain your business even when social media algorithms throw a curveball.
What's the secret sauce to staying joyous and aligned in both life and work? It's the blissful marriage of professional passion and personal fulfillment. We not only talk shop about the practical aspects of identifying the ideal client and maximizing business success through strategic marketing, but also about the key to finding consistent happiness. Tori and I share our personal outlets and the unassuming comfort found in hobbies, nature, and the intimate moments with loved ones. Tune in for an episode that promises to enrich your entrepreneurial spirit with heartwarming insights and actionable strategies.
Jasmine Star Graph/Punnet Square LINK
Work with Tori! Connect via her website: https://torikelner.com/
or Instagram: @torikelner
Get the episode notes on Substack below ↓
All the key takeaways and details in one spot for ya, right here on my Substack: https://kerryannewalsh.substack.com/p/ep-10-building-your-personal-brand
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Welcome to the In High Alignment podcast, the podcast where we connect with rebellious, creatives and courageous guests who are forging the path towards living in alignment with their core values. You know those moments that everything clicks, when you feel completely lit up and tingly, while also feeling confident and grounded, when the path you've been walking towards starts to really open up and you can see how it's all going to work out. Those pinch me moments where you think to yourself wow, this is really my life right now. That, my friend, is what we call alignment. That's what we're creating more of, more consistently, right here On the In High Alignment podcast. Each episode will equip you with tangible tools and gentle guidance to unlock your own cues and clues of what alignment means to you. It's time to come home to yourself, my friend. It's time to reconnect with your core self, to reconnect with your best feeling, most magnetic you. Let's explore that sacred intersection of life and business together and find out more each episode what it means to be in high alignment. On this week's episode of the In High Alignment podcast, we have Tori Kelner, a wedding photographer, an educator and someone I am so lucky to call a dear, dear friend. We've run our businesses alongside one another since our first full-time wedding season back in the day all thanks to a HoneyBook community post of Tori's looking for a second shooter, which I don't think that they have anymore, but it was a really great resource when we were starting out and from that first FaceTime call and then wedding day that we worked together, we have just been fast friends and each other's biggest cheerleaders. I am so excited for you all to meet Tori, to hear her journey with photography which really got going after she created a creepy clown photo during a hurricane and how a personal brand is going to be a huge key in growing your business and online presence while staying true to yourself. I'll keep this intro short and sweet and remember there will be a recap and key takeaways at the end of the episode, so grab your favorite drink, buckle up if you're in for a long drive and get ready to listen in for this super informative and overall fun conversation with the one, the only Tori Kellner. Hello, hello.
Kerry Walsh:Today on the podcast, I'm joined by Tori Kelner, a photographer and educator based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, photographing all over the New Jersey, pa and New York area and all along the East Coast. Tori is such an incredible artist in the photography world. Host. Tori is such an incredible artist in the photography world and the reason we have her on today. Tori is a natural educator and really has been since she got into business. She's now more formally stepping into that educator role, offering mentorships and strategy calls, which is so exciting for all of us who get to learn from her, participate in her offers and soak in all the knowledge and wisdom that she has to share. And, you know, just be with her, because Tori is an absolute joy and love to be around.
Kerry Walsh:So on today's episode, we are going to chat with Tori about her experience and how having a personal brand as the way she set up her business has been such a prolific decision, allowing her to grow and change, as she naturally grows and changes in her personal and professional life. So, tori, hello, thanks for being here. Hi, I'm so excited to be here. So give us your backstory, tell us how and why you got into photography and what led you to wedding photography specifically. I know that's a lot, but however, you want to tell that story, we want to hear it.
Tori Kelner:Yeah, my whole life story. Okay, so, probably as a lot, but however you want to tell that story, we want to hear it. Yeah, my whole life story. Okay, so, probably as a lot of other photographers like, I was the girl with the camera in the hand since middle school. I always, you know, had a little point and shoot with me at all of our friends' parties and, you know, would upload to Facebook with our little memories every week, which was really fun.
Tori Kelner:And then it was maybe middle school time, we're on the East Coast and it was actually during Sandy, this crazy storm that we had many, many years ago, that I really started taking photography seriously. I was doing these fun self-portrait, manipulation kind of photos with like a lot of heavy photoshop and just like would take my tripod and my camera out in our backyard and my parents would be like, oh yep, she's up to it again, what's she doing? And I was creating this kind of like creepy clown photo, self-portrait, and Sandy hit and we had no power and I was so excited to edit this photo. I was like this is gonna be so good. So I sat in our car and, like had our car going to plug my laptop in and I was editing for hours just in our car, and I was so proud of that photo and sharing it and I had been sharing, you know, a little bit along the way, just to Facebook, literally and that picture, though, felt really pivotal for me because I was like I can put, you know, my work out there, and it created connection. People thought it was so exciting and interesting. People were, you know, excited to see what I was going to post next, so naturally progressed into photographing other people. I kind of got a little bored of photographing myself over and over, and once I started working with other people in my high school seniors just just, you know, fun portrait for people you know to post on Instagram I, you know, fell in love with just getting to work with other people and directing and posing. I think posing just became one of, like, the most exciting things to me. So I started to take photography a little bit more seriously.
Tori Kelner:And then, when I was applying for college, my parents I had the parents who were crazy enough to let me, you know, follow my dreams, and they were like we think you should study photography, and I always thought I would go to school for, maybe, teaching or education, english, something along those lines, and didn't know you could really study photography. So they encouraged me, supported it, you know, through and through. So we started looking at programs through and through. So we started looking at programs and I found a really cool program at Ohio University for a commercial photography major with a business minor, and it was a really amazing experience. I really wanted to go to a typical university, have that typical college experience, so did the sorority thing, made some great friends and then, a few years in, just realized I wasn't exactly figuring out what I wanted to do. So I decided to transfer to an art school in Manhattan called School of Visual Arts, which was much more fine art background, and ended up graduating from there with a BFA in fine art photography. So the two commercial and fine art backgrounds were really unique.
Tori Kelner:And in that year that I transferred was where I kind of discovered my love of wedding photography and ended up. My parents actually wanted me to get a job. They were like please, don't work at a pizza place, please get a job within photography, and so they had always recommended to me that I should dive into weddings. I think they saw something within my personality that they thought I would love it, and so I was very adamant about not working for someone who I didn't like or whose work I didn't love, because all I knew at the time was cheesy wedding photography and I just didn't see it as art.
Tori Kelner:Coming from a snooty art school background, everyone's like weddings are not art and then stumbled on a photographer on Instagram whose work was gorgeous and really connected with her personality and just saw how fun her personal brand was and the business she was able to build around her love of wedding photography, and so I reached out to her. We chatted for coffee, ended up becoming best friends. I got to shoot tons and tons of weddings with her. She's still my best friend to this day. So it worked out really amazing for me and she kind of took me under her wing, taught me everything I knew from those first few years of starting my business and how to run a wedding day, and it was just invaluable experience. So I was able to start my business in college.
Tori Kelner:Literally from the first day that I shot a wedding with her, I was like, well, I'm a wedding photographer now. This is exactly what I want to do, and she allowed me to use the photos, which was amazing. So I started promoting myself on Instagram and just sharing everything I possibly could. So I would go from classes 9 to 9 pm, and then from 9 pm to probably 2 am I would work on my business and work on my website editing, shooting everything that I could, and I would drive home on weekends to shoot with her. So just built my business in college and then when I graduated, I got to graduate at Radio City Music Hall, which was really cool, and then that week, I'm pretty sure, I ended up getting my business license and officially going full time. So it worked out really well that I never had to get, you know, a real adult job. I got to make my own job and been doing that ever since. So it's been a little over seven years now of wedding photography and that is my life story.
Kerry Walsh:It's so cool that you thought even way back when that you wanted to be a teacher, before you knew that being a photographer could be a job and now you can do both Like I love that. So you were hustling Like you were 9 to 9 in class until 2 am, starting your business. You saw your inspiration from your mentor and what was her name? Again Jen, jen Larson, amazing.
Kerry Walsh:And so Jen had this very personal to her business and that was kind of your aha of like oh shit, you can do that and have a business that's not boring and it's personal to you and it's interesting and it's fun to follow. And you already have people so interested in what kind of creative thing you were going to produce next. So I think it was really natural to start to infuse more and more of your personality. So started your business full-time right out of college, like huge kudos to you, like that's so brave. And then tell us you know just like what that looked like, what the personal brand is looks like, why we kind of got, why you chose that direction, but just how you started to infuse more of your personality into it.
Tori Kelner:Yeah, absolutely Like you said, it was a really natural progression for me because for many years I had been using Instagram just personally and I've always been such a like overshare. I love posting, I love sharing, you know, little bits of my life and what we were doing travel, and you know my boyfriend now husband and all the things along the way. So it didn't feel super weird to start sharing photography and I think people expected me to, you know, make it into a business someday in some capacity. So I had a lot of really wonderful support from people from high school friends, family and I feel like they really helped, you know, help me leverage my business at the beginning to make it what it was. And there've been people you know who've been following me since day one, which is really cool. Sometimes I'll post old pictures, my self portraits, and I'm like who's been here since day one? And I have so many people who are like, oh, I loved this era. So nice to see that. You know, people do enjoy the journey.
Tori Kelner:But the what I took away from Jen's honestly, it was such an immediate reaction when I went to her website. I fell in love with her work from Instagram very different style from what I do now, but I just could tell it was so beautiful. She had such an attention to detail and like very clearly a background in photography and so I loved that aspect. And then I went to her website and like it just felt like a warm hug. I was like this feels like a friend. I connected with so many of the little pieces of her website and personality traits and like she has just a warm, friendly smile and stuff. So I was like I feel like I could be her friend. I don't know if I'm just being creepy and crazy, but I'm going to reach out and my first email was really funny, knowing how close we are now I sent like a very formal dear Miss Jennifer Larson. You know whole resume. My resume had absolutely nothing to show for but I remember she responded and she told me later and she was like not sure if there was much on there, but it was really pretty. Hey, that's that counts for something in a creative field.
Tori Kelner:So it was something about the connection she had with her clients and seeing that her personality fits so well with the clients she was getting, and for me, the idea of running a business. I was like if I'm going to do this myself. I want to enjoy what I do. There's no reason to create a job I hate, you know, and if I did I would go work for somebody else. So I knew from the start I really wanted to make this business a part of me and feel really true to me so that I could work with people whose personalities connect with that, people I actually want to hang out with, people who understand what I value and value the same.
Tori Kelner:So I've just found so much help along the way and sharing bits of my personality and you know my life story and stuff, stuff and my approach to photography and approach to business even that has just come back to me so beautifully and really like. I feel so fortunate that people at some points it feels like cheating, I'm like. It feels too easy, like I just get to talk about things I love and people are like I like that too and it's so interesting how simple it can be and we try to overcomplicate everything in our business and we feel like we should be doing everything so professionally and it's always the times that I'm posting the least professional thing that gets the most engagement or fun conversations or my clients being like, yes, this is why I picked you, and just those little reminders that it's so helpful to be able to, you know, show off what, what you truly are, and it doesn't mean you have to share every little thing, but the fun stuff and the meaningful stuff really like seem to come back to you.
Kerry Walsh:I think when we start to look at our own lives and compare, you know, in comparison to everyone else especially on Instagram.
Kerry Walsh:That's what it made to do. We're like, well, I have nothing interesting to talk about or what really does make me me. So how do you kind of start to generate those ideas? You said the simple ones, like are so relatable and work so well and are just easier or easy in general, but how do you do start to kind of generate those ideas? Have they changed over the years? For you, you know, seven years ago was a long time ago. Yeah, just kind of tell us that first, like how, how do you generate that idea, those ideas?
Tori Kelner:Totally. I think starting with the surface level is like your easiest foot in the door. So think about the things that are like mundane, you know your usual, but you know nothing that feels so deep and scary that you're you're scared to share it. You need things that are easy for you to share but also, um, you know, relatable. So a lot of people can relate to loving coffee in the morning. So if that's, you know your go-to, or maybe it's a chai or a matcha or something you know sharing what your morning routine is or that you for me, I can give my best examples. But for me, I absolutely love Britney Spears. She is my whole world, has always been, and so I have always used that. That's one that from the start I had been sharing and honestly been trying that far before my business. So that did really change. But I've been able to, you know, continue sharing my love of Britney and that brings a lot of fun. Conversation with other 90s babies and you know people who really appreciate Spice Girls, christina Aguilera, everything. So I love those conversations that that brings about.
Tori Kelner:But you know surface level things that feel comfortable to share. So talking about maybe your dog or your relationship if you are married, engaged, dating, anything fun that you can relate, especially if you're a wedding photographer. Those are fun relationship builders with other couples. Travel is always a fun one if you're heading out, even just like a walk around. I know it's not travel but a walk around your neighborhood and your area, things that you're doing daily, that you can start just realizing that other people are interested in, and it helps to humanize you. It helps to make people see you as more than just a business and just a photographer. They see the person on the other end.
Tori Kelner:And I always say, starting with those surface level ones, because it's easier for you to do. But as you get more comfortable and confident sharing little bits of your life, maybe that's where you dive in a little bit deeper and you make some posts or some stories where you're sharing more of your heart and sharing your passions, and sharing maybe some hard stuff, maybe some really happy stuff. So I think, just giving yourself that easy one step in so you can start to gain confidence in sharing about yourself. But I think the most fun is realizing that when you do share something so silly that people are like oh my God, like the connection that you can make and then you're more encouraged to want to continue sharing and sharing and sharing. So I think that's usually my first step for people Like think about what you typically do on your day to day, start sharing a little day in the life, kind of on your stories and the things that are just really natural.
Tori Kelner:You don't have to make things up for this, you know. I think, think about just what actually happens in your life and other ways to think about it, like what would you be doing on a free Sunday? You know what's your favorite thing to do on the weekend when you're not working. What are some words that your family and friends would describe you as? What are you know if, if time were not an object, if money were not an object, what would be your, your dreams? You know what would you want to accomplish, how would you spend your time, and you know thinking about those things that make you exciting, creative, fun, interesting.
Kerry Walsh:Yeah, yeah, I love that prompt, especially of the like if you could do literally anything in the world, no holds barred, what would you be doing? And just kind of dream. It's super intimidating a lot of times to put your dreams on paper and, even if you don't share it anywhere yet, just having the time to give yourself that reflection and letting yourself really dream, um, but when you do, it's so fun and can definitely be super creative and just lead to more ahas than you kind of were expecting too. So I think that is just such an incredible prompt, um, to work with. And so then, thinking about how you bring in your values as part of your personal branding and your business.
Tori Kelner:Yeah, absolutely. So. Some of my core values, ways that I kind of approach business I kind of think of these as the ways that I like as truly as I possibly can show up each and every day, like what principles I try to live under within my business. So for me, like friendship and fun is a big one I absolutely love, just like laughing and having a good time. I want everyone to feel like a friend.
Tori Kelner:First, you know that's really important to me from a client experience perspective, both on the receiving end and the giving end, like I have been in the shoes of booking vendors and, you know, planning a wedding and it's, you know, so eye-opening to be on that receiving end where you either do feel like somebody genuinely cares about you or you know that you're just a number.
Tori Kelner:And so I knew it was really important to me when I was building my business that comfort, friendship, safety you know all of those things allowing people to feel seen and heard and, you know, able to connect with me was really important, because that's something that I value and I would say showing up with excellence in whatever way I can that day I know not every day is 110%, but striving for being my best, showing up with as much heart and passion as I can, doing everything with a smile but just striving for that success, whatever that means for me that day, that week, that year so those are big for me.
Tori Kelner:And then creating memorable experiences in everything that I do, from the actual backend workflows and just helping it be easy and seamless and stress-free to also creating a really fun environment when I'm actually shooting with people and making sure our calls feel special and memorable, creating client gifts that are really memorable so that whole experience is really big for me. And then a core value for me again is the environment. So I feel really fortunate that I get to just literally go outside and that's pretty much my studio, that's my backdrop, that's like everything I get to play in when I'm photographing and I feel like in any ways that I can give back to the environment. You know I get to photograph it, make it look pretty, but you know how I can kind of create a greater impact. I try to infuse that into my business as well.
Kerry Walsh:What are some of like? For example, what are the ways that you do that with the environment, with your business?
Tori Kelner:Yeah, absolutely so. I am vegan, so it's really important to me to kind of keep my business as vegan friendly as possible. So when I'm offering albums I try not to offer leather options and, you know, just create an experience that that's not even necessary for my clients. They love what they have available to them as their options. Any of my client gifts don't include anything that's non-vegan. So trying to find fun vegan chocolates that aren't disgusting and really cute items that are curated for both of them but also live through that principle.
Tori Kelner:And then each year I try to donate a portion of my income to different animal rescues or environmental people doing great things for the world. So that's a big part of my business, something I want to continue doing and growing and finding unique and fun ways to do that. Maybe kind of dreaming of like a print shop or something someday with just, you know, beautiful landscapes that people can buy and that money going toward, you know, a great cause, so different ways that I can just infuse those values and, like my love of nature, I think too, just the fact that I get to photograph outside and show people like here's how we can like, show off all this beauty and enjoy it, but also in a really mindful way and you know, practicing leave no trace wherever we go, not stumping on flower fields and, you know, just being really mindful of the spaces that we get to use. So those are some ways I try to infuse that into my business. I love that.
Kerry Walsh:And in so many of those ways, you make it a part of the things that you talk about on social media, on your website, but it really comes alive in your just way of doing business. And once people really get to experience you and see what it's like to work with you, they're like okay, she's really walking the walk all the time, no matter what. It's not just like something you do because it's cool. You're like no, this is actually something I believe in, something I'm part of, something that I do.
Tori Kelner:That's why it's so helpful to really like dig deep and figure out who you are first before putting things out there, because I think you know you can can say one thing but be doing something else and it's going to get found out right away. So I think it's really important to do that deep work to figure out the person you want to be just in your real life and how you can kind of bring that into your business. But yeah, it was really a helpful, easy progression from being vegan in my real life to just finding ways to naturally make that a part of my business, because it's such a core part of my life, and also just trying not to make it too pushy and weird. And that's with anything, whatever values you have, knowing that other people might not totally be on the same page as you. They might be interested.
Tori Kelner:I've had so many wonderful conversations with my clients who have an interest in vegetarian or veganism or just have questions or need suggestions, so like that's always amazing. I've also had a bunch of wonderful vegan couples who found me, which like is the best experience ever and that's really fun. But it's also, you know, if I weren't, if, for whatever reason, I was like trying to run this all green business, but I wasn't actually practicing that in my real life. There would be such a disconnect and it just wouldn't feel genuine. So that one, you know, just made so much sense together for me, so much alignment.
Kerry Walsh:So much alignment, and so then kind of thinking about like ways that you then put your values into kind of your content pillars, like really generating those. We have the things that you do in your day to day, things that are really valuable to you. How do you create content consistently, because we know that that is so important in order to have longevity in the online space. Online space not only meaning social media, but meaning Google, on your business and your blogging, etc. So how do you come up with your content pillars and then what do you do with that after that?
Tori Kelner:Yeah, so I like to think of content as personal content those connection points is one bucket of my content. So I always have that to fall back on when I am either over-exhausting the educational content within my business, but I need something fun and lighthearted. So that is one piece of it, but it's not all of it. So I never want people to think the only thing I share about is Britney Spears. I infuse that here and there, but it's definitely not every single post or everything on my website. It's just here and there. But that personal aspect is something you always have to fall back on, which is nice and a peace of mind when you're like I can't think of anything else right now. Let me at least fall back on the fact that, like, I have me to generate ideas, and so for me, those content buckets typically are, again, personal. I have weddings and couples, so I'm talking about what their actual day was like, talking about their love story, how they met, proposal, anything to do with them as a couple or the details of their day. So that's kind of another bucket there. Educational content for my clients, so anything helpful that I can share for wedding clients who are planning, or engagement session clients, planning their sessions and all the you know expertise that we learn along the way, just different ways of educating them. And then also, as we mentioned, I'm educator, so sharing photography, education for other photographers, that's another content bucket that I love diving into. And then usually I kind of leave an extra one as like inspiration or motivation. Sometimes that falls into some of those other categories, but I kind of leave that there as just you know, if I'm feeling like everything's been very sort of rigid, where it's like here's three tips for this. Here's just like straight tactical information, which I love. I know sometimes we still need that like feel good post or you know something that just makes people connect with you, and so that's always a piece of it, whether that falls kind of in a personal category or business related in some way. So those are kind of my general content buckets and I like to think about it in that if my brand were a magazine, like all magazines have a different clientele and ideal client that they're speaking to a different reader, and so what topics would you have within your magazine that would relate to the readers that you have or the clients that you have? So if you're thinking about a fitness magazine versus like a home living magazine. Those have very different audiences and very different core topics that they're always going to like kind of cycle through.
Tori Kelner:So creating these content buckets for yourself allows you to like diversify your content but also keep it within range, so you're not going like way out of left field and talking about things that everyone's like Whoa, how did we get here? You know they kind of know what to expect from you, but they know there's a variety of information which keeps it interesting and it makes it easier for you so that you don't always have to talk about wedding, wedding, wedding, wedding, wedding, because it can be hard to like kind of keep writing the same thing over and over. And you know I've talked about social media a lot, but this goes for blogging, this goes just for like content on your website, this goes for Instagram stories, this goes for the content that you're writing in your guides. Like your personal brand is everywhere. It is all of the things that you put out into this world. So you know it's's easy to harp on social media because that's, you know, our best kind of example, but there are so many ways to piece this together in other parts of your business. But yeah, so with those content buckets I kind of like to cycle through those and then I know that I generally have typical photo categories that come up in the same way for me and I actually learned this years ago from Jasmine Starr and I kind of modified her like grid system. So I think Carrie has the link to attach to kind of reference that in the show notes.
Tori Kelner:But it was so, so helpful for me to be able to process how to like combine the content that I want to write the pictures that I have and come up with new ideas over and over and over again. So definitely check that out. But essentially you're creating combine the content that I want to write the pictures that I have and come up with new ideas over and over and over again. So definitely check that out. But essentially you're creating this grid where you have five or six content ideas, five or six photo categories. So again, for me that would be my wedding photos, my couple photos, personal or travel, or me and my husband, our wedding, you know, personal photos. You could include graphics like that you make on Canva. You can include maybe one of your core photo topics is like pictures of your dog and you're like everything revolves around the dog and so maybe you make sure in like every nine posts you have a photo of your dog, so people really know that that's a value to you.
Tori Kelner:So you know, coming up with those different photo categories that you're going to cycle through time and time again and then with that grid, we're kind of meeting those in the middle and generating new content ideas as you piece them together. So if I'm looking at a wedding photo and the personal content category, I can generate ideas of like why did I get into wedding photography? What's my heart behind wedding photography? Why am I passionate about wedding photography? How do I like to show up on a wedding day? You know different ways that my personality relates to weddings versus, if it's a wedding photo and the content bucket is my wedding clients, I might be talking about their love story, how they met, proposal, something really memorable from the wedding day. So it just helps you, within each combination of category and photo, generate new ideas to have endless ideas to come up with for blog posts and social media and just keep it interesting and different. And again, we have not only static posts but you can turn this into reels TikTok stories, highlights, all the things.
Kerry Walsh:Yeah, that grid is gold, Like seriously being so visual. I think you know so many of us, especially people listening are, are so visual and it really helps to conceptualize everything on that grid and have the you know kind of the the X, y thing of like all right, cannot remember my like old genetics stuff, but anyway, you like flat pointed out and there it is. I would never know as the like one-time nursing major girly I should know this, but anyway uh, it's been many a year.
Kerry Walsh:So I think, yeah, just having that visual aid is so powerful. And then, how much do you use it? I think that's the thing, like we have all these tools right. We have all these tools that we can use, we can implement courses that people take and then don't implement. How do you get into just a groove of putting everything in those categories and then writing so that you have stuff to post? And I guess, kind of like, how often do you think is important to be posting?
Tori Kelner:Yeah, so, honestly, over the years, like I have strayed away from the grid only because I've kind of built the muscle of like knowing how to do it on the spot, and so, as you can tell, I'm like such a talker so I don't always have the hardest time coming up with a caption on the spot. That's not usually my struggle. My struggle is overwhelm, where now I have so many photos we have hundreds of thousands of images and I'm like I want to share everything. So my bottleneck that I struggle with is more so like organizing it, making sure that I have it planned out so that I don't get stuck and I can stay consistent. But the actual writing of it comes a little bit more naturally for me once I have those photos planned. But at the beginning it was so helpful to just process and help me get down that idea of like, like I said, what is the magazine that I'm sharing, what are the topics, so that I know okay, whenever I need an idea, I'm just going through these same topics. And now I use an app called Planoly that just helps me place the photos in there, and usually I have just like a running notes list on my phone. I also use Asana and that I have just a brain dump of blog ideas and caption ideas and honestly, my best ideas come like either when I'm in the shower or when I'm driving. So I voice message myself or I'll kind of like talk out a caption and just tweak that up later and, you know, just kind of congregate them, aggregate them into like a somewhere that I can always reference it when I need an idea. So sometimes I already have tons of captions ready to go and I'm just piecing them together with whatever photo I have next. Other times the photo inspires the caption. I don't feel like it's the most important thing to have your photo and caption like fully make sense together.
Tori Kelner:You don't always have to talk about the couple. If the couple is in the photo, I usually go like under the rule that if I've already shared about them and their story in at least one post, I can, you know, use their photos and just share them for all the other content buckets that I want to be sharing about. But I usually try to plan maybe a week or two ahead of time. I'm not planned three, four, five months out. I change my mind way too much for that and I get new pictures weekly with what we're shooting. So I try to just plan at least a few days ahead of time so that I can make sure I'm liking how the grid's looking, make sure that I'm cycling through those photo categories and not only sharing wedding, wedding, wedding wedding, because this really like helps you to notice if you're if you haven't shared a picture of your face in like 15 weeks. So I think that's really helpful to just see a few weeks ahead of time and helps you know. You know where you need to fill in those gaps.
Tori Kelner:But with staying consistent, I mean, I'm on Instagram anyways, so I feel like I'm doing a disservice to myself if I'm not using it and I'm just scrolling. I'm doing a disservice to my clients, who are your potential clients, who are looking for me and you know people who are interested in you know more content and stuff like that. So I just try to make it a point. You know daily or every other day, you know when I'm on it to be posting, and there's totally times where you know you have to take a week off and I I know everyone wants to say that they can stay consistent week after week after week, and some people can't and that's okay. But usually I try to tell people start with once a week, build up that muscle of being able to get something cranked out once a week and then build it up to two, three, four. And I always like to remind people, like business is a game that we're building. We are making this game. We shouldn't be creating a game that we lose. So I want everyone to be able to win at their own game. And if you can create a strategy and a structure for the content that you're creating and be excited about it and know that it's purposeful and you thought about it, and you're not just like last minute kind of being like oh my God, I forgot to post today and throwing something up there with like oh my gosh, I love the sunset kind of caption, you know it's going to not only feel better for you, hopefully, but will also, you know, come back to you with those like amazing clients who absolutely love what you do.
Tori Kelner:But I'm also a big, you know, repurposer of content. I feel like it's so important to do the hard work once and make the most out of it, because you are taking so much time out of your day to write this long caption or put these photos together. So I like to kind of start big and whittle it down. So let's say I created a blog post for a wedding and it has tons of photos and I've already written their story and fun things about their day. I can turn that blog post into multiple different Instagram posts where it's like maybe one static post with just a carousel of images. And I'm talking, you know, I'm probably just grabbing what I've already written from the blog, taking a little snippet and saying, hey, more on the blog, check it out.
Tori Kelner:And you know creating Instagram stories that say, just posted a new blog post with this, check it out and get to share some slides, and you know being able to repurpose that as many times as possible. And then same thing if you're creating any kind of educational blog. So you know helpful tips or your, your perspective on different things within the industry and you can turn that into different posts and just make the most out of that. And then just remembering that almost no one really sees your photos and your posts, so the percentage is very small. So even if you've shared something like even just a month ago or a week ago, most people probably haven't seen it.
Tori Kelner:So it's totally OK to go back to that. Maybe you tweak up the caption a little bit, but you can reshare that same thing over and over and try to hit more and more people with that same information so that you don't feel like you have to constantly reinvent the wheel. So some other ways that I do that sometimes I write the Instagram caption first and I'm like that was really good, I'm going to turn that into a blog post so it can work backwards. Or sometimes I'm like I love that and that was perfect for my email list, for my photographers, so I'm going to just quickly copy and paste that from Instagram. Or I might say to my email list like hey, just made a really meaningful post, go check it out. Or I'm copying the content and putting it into that email. And so just different ways that you can create once make the most out of it so you don't feel so overwhelmed by, like every single day having to come up with something new.
Kerry Walsh:That is everything, oh, my God. I was going to say like do you more? So suggest going blog to Instagram or Instagram to blog, and it seems like it can be both ways, which is great. It can totally be both.
Tori Kelner:And again, I'm such a talker and a writer so I definitely like my long captions. I feel like if you're somebody who struggles with writing and writing long captions, best thing I can offer you is to talk it out. Have somebody who you trust, you know another photographer, friend or someone like ask you a few questions and just sit there like on a zoom call with them and talk it out and answer it and record yourself and then you know, take those snippets, transcribe it, take those snippets and turn those into words for your website, things that you know you can turn into a blog post because you know it's coming from your voice and your mind and the way that you see things. But it's so much easier to talk out your ideas than it is to type, because we always want to go into, like MLA, perfect, like formatted essay.
Kerry Walsh:Kind of vibe, how we've been trained our whole lives.
Tori Kelner:Yeah, exactly, which is hard for people. So I think it's something about typing it out that makes it harder. Or if you don't want to like get on a call with somebody, you can just text it to a friend, because I feel like something about being in the actual messages app. You know, on your phone is way more casual than it is writing something directly in Instagram. So I think that helps you. You know, keep it more in your voice, free flow, you know, just get some words out there and you can always tweak it later. But you know, brain dump some stuff and build it out from there. And then, last thing to keep in mind with what you're writing, we want to obviously make sure we know our ideal client and that we're not just sharing for the sake of sharing, but that it's purposeful and it's going to hopefully lead to more business. That's the goal with everything.
Tori Kelner:Like I said, I love talking about Britney Spears, but if that didn't come back to me in any way, I would probably have to stop talking about Britney Spears.
Tori Kelner:I've been very fortunate that a lot of my couples seem to connect with that, so I get to keep it in my brain for now, but at some point it's going to become irrelevant, and I get that.
Tori Kelner:So at some point I'll have to retire my love of Britney Spears, but you know I'll find something new to be sharing at that point, and you know, just remembering who that ideal client is, so that your content is focused toward them.
Tori Kelner:So it's much easier to write to one person than it is to write to 100 people or 1000 people. So if you can write that message as if you were texting it to that one person and thinking like, here's what they need today, whether it's something educational, inspirational, motivational, something that's going to just brighten their day, you know we want that post to have intention, so that they see it. They're like this is my person. They click over to your website. They find out more. More of your personal brand is built out there. They reach out, or they dig into your blog with all even more content, and then they reach out and you know you start that conversation from there more content, and then they reach out and you know you start that conversation from there so good, so good door, oh my gosh, there's like so many ways we can take this, but I really want to talk about ideal client.
Kerry Walsh:I think like it's something that people are uh told to create. It's like how do we know who our ideal client is? What does that really mean? How do we still continue to keep that really humanistic without being exclusive or clicky?
Kerry Walsh:I think that's always my hesitation is I definitely have people who I generally work with and love to work with, but there's a part of me that's afraid of like. I don't want to be clicky, though I want to make sure everyone is a sincere welcome and celebrated and loved, but like we're just going to vibe differently with some people than others. So can you just kind of share about how you start to identify your ideal client and then we'll get into the next part after that?
Tori Kelner:Yeah, yeah, absolutely, I think one. The fact that you are thinking about that you don't want to be clicky says a lot. That, like you, would never make somebody feel that way, obviously knowing you. But I think having that mindset is wonderful. But so ideal client can be tricky and a little bit overwhelming, especially toward the beginning of your business when you're like I actually have no idea, I haven't worked with enough people. So I think it's fine to dream at the beginning and then really hone it in as you work with more and more clients.
Tori Kelner:And your ideal client does not need to stay the same. It's somebody, as humans are, is adaptable, and you can grow and you can change, and your ideal client can change. And so, if it's easier to not think about one single person, maybe it's a set of characteristics that draw you in and you can connect with. So, at like the bare bones, it is kind of an avatar of this person who you hope to work with time and time again. And if you were to wake up every single day with a new inquiry from this dream client, you would be like oh my gosh, I'm running the best business ever. This is working, everything's amazing. You know, this is just the ideal dream client, and so I like to think of it as like if ideal client is 100%. There are still so many people out there who are 80% like that ideal client, 70% like that ideal client, even 30% like that ideal client, and they still hold a lot of those same characteristics that you value and connect with, and so you don't always need that 100% ideal client to still connect with people. What we want to do is figure out what that 100% is so that all of your content can reach those other percentages and filter them in and also, hopefully, attract and repel the right people, so that you aren't working with the people who are actually genuinely 0% in line with what you want to be doing. So I think it's okay if you are getting inquiries from people who are actually genuinely 0% in line with what you want to be doing. So I think it's okay if you are getting inquiries from people who hit the mark on some aspects, but not every single aspect, because, again, we're human and not every single person is going to be the same, and you probably shouldn't be working with people who are all exactly the same. So I think you know allowing yourself that freedom to work with people within that range of what you're dreaming of is really helpful and you will learn what you like along the way.
Tori Kelner:But some things to consider with ideal client one would be age range. Generally, who are we trying to speak to? So the way that you talk to somebody who is maybe millennial will be very different from a Gen Z conversation or somewhere in that range higher or lower. And so thinking about where they're at in their life stage, what their lifestyle is like, where are they living? What do they do for work? What's their time commitment like to certain things? How much available time do they have versus how busy are they? What is their disposable income level? Just so you know what range we're working with Are they in line with the product and service that you're offering and is there wiggle room there at all? What they value, how they like to spend their time and money, what makes them make a purchasing decision, whether that's an emotional buyer or somebody who's much more analytical and needs to really know all the facts and numbers, versus somebody who needs to connect with you first and then feel confident in spending the money. So kind of digging into them from the physical aspect of what their lifestyle looks like it doesn't need to be how they actually look, and then the emotional and like actual value side of who they are.
Tori Kelner:So I think it can be tricky because it can totally pigeonhole you and make you feel like you can only work with one type of person. And if you're like me and Carrie, you probably want to work with a variety and diverse range of people. So I don't want you to think that it is this person or nobody. It is. We like this set of core characteristics and we want to meet people who are all in that range. So helpful to kind of put that on paper, just to kind of dream it up. And then, as you start working with different clients, you'll have those experiences where you're like, oh my gosh, that absolutely lit me up, I would love to work with them time and time again. And so you might know, great, I love that experience. They might have friends who are similar.
Tori Kelner:So you might want to like start working to get into their bubble and their world and understand who their friends are and stuff like that, versus people who you had a really rough experience with, which does happen and so you might realize that is not quite the experience that I want to offer or receive, and so I you know I'm going to tweak that ideal client to not gear the conversation in their way. You know, so that the words that you're putting out there aren't attracting more people like that, and so, understanding that, although people are skimmers on your website, there are people who are reading it and those words really do matter, same with your Instagram and your captions, the photos that you're sharing. All of it is feeding into who is going to reach out to you. So we want to be mindful of what we're sharing and what we're putting out there, because their values are going to connect with it.
Tori Kelner:So, for an example, if I am sharing photos of my couple up on a mountaintop and their dress is covered in mud and they're having a blast and whatever, and I'm down for that, there are so many couples who are absolutely hard pass on that they're never going to put hiking boots on and get their dress muddy and that's totally fine and I get a range of couples all within that. But a lot of my couples see that and they're like I love how chill that is. I love that approach to the day. It doesn't mean that I'm getting in the mud, but I love that it's laid back and so I do, you know, see the same values in many different couples, even though it plays out differently on their wedding day. So hopefully that makes sense.
Tori Kelner:You know, thinking about where people like to spend their money. Are they more like they like to buy things, or do they like to spend money on experiences? Do they not like to spend a ton of money and want to keep it simple and DIY a lot of stuff? Do they want to? You know, will they splurge on big experiences? What they value and how they choose to spend their money is also really helpful. So you can kind of pull at the emotional heartstrings if you need to, or pull at the numbers if you need to, things like that.
Kerry Walsh:But did I answer that question? You definitely did, and so I think kind of pulling back from the avatar necessarily.
Kerry Walsh:So for me, it feels better to pull back from the avatar and more so lean into the values of like. These are values that are really important to me, these are values that I would love for my client to share with me, and so, just so long as you're speaking to those things at all times, then that's who you're going to be attracting and then repelling people who don't align with those values. And so you're getting loads of inquiries all the time, and how do you kind of like sift through them? Because you're also being so much more selective in terms of what weddings you're taking on so that you can have more space for your education side to take up more room in your business. So tell us a little about how many inquiries you're getting and then how you choose who you say yes to, even in terms of who you're like. Yeah, this is a great fit. Let's get on a call versus. I'm going to refer this out to somebody else who would be better suited.
Tori Kelner:I'm going to refer this out to somebody else who would be better suited. Yeah, absolutely so, I think. Two factors like time factor and also my, you know emotional interest in it as well. So I feel very fortunate that the personal brand has built out so much that inquiries are coming in naturally. And you know, with all of the work that I've kind of laid the foundation for the inquiries are kind of coming in steadily.
Tori Kelner:And so, like we were talking about with Instagram posts, blogging, google, seo, having my website optimized, all of that allows my personal brand to get out there without me every single day having to show up and like scream my name from the rooftop. So I have Google working on the back end for me. You know, occasionally Pinterest coming in that one's definitely not my highest but, um, you know, I definitely see vendor referrals and client referrals. So there are all uh, different marketing kind of strategies and avenues that are working for me. So I can just show up, you know where I want to, when I want to, and know that things are kind of working on the backend, want to when I want to and know that things are kind of working on the back end, which is lovely.
Kerry Walsh:Quick question before we get there. But like how long did it take you to build that? Because I think that that's so important. Everyone's like, oh, I just do this, and then it happens automatically in three months and it's like, hmm, you're seven years in and this is happening naturally.
Tori Kelner:Totally no. It's a long game, I will say probably steadily still getting inquiries that cover me for the year for the last four or five years, so I would say the first two years I've kind of always done the same thing with blogging. I started this from the beginning. So I can't say like I had to wait four years to do this, like blogging has been working for me since the beginning. So that was a huge must do in my business because I didn't want to only solely rely on Instagram, and so every time I guess my process of this is helpful I shoot a session or a wedding, I will blog the session or wedding before I deliver the full gallery, and that forces me to actually get it done, because I know all of us will put off blogging until forever if we have already delivered the gallery. And so I had to put a hard rule on myself that if I want to take blogging seriously, I need to get it done before I deliver. And so the way that that kind of plays out in the experience is that they get their sneak peek right away and then they get a blog post which is like a bigger sneak peek, which is more exciting. They get to see a few more photos, a little wrap up of their love story. They get to share that with friends and family. That allows me a little bit more time to keep editing and then I finish their full gallery. So they're getting little snippets along the way to make that a really fun experience. But I'm also building my SEO so consistently and I have been since the beginning so that's a huge suggestion.
Tori Kelner:If you are not blogging, I would try to move that part of the process, although it's a little bit more tedious, a little bit more work and a lot of people want to avoid it. I feel like if it's something you want to be serious about, that's a really helpful way to do it. So those blog posts get pinned on Pinterest and then I can be sharing those blog images. And the most helpful is that pretty much nobody ever asked me to see a full gallery. I send them anyways, but people see so much already on my website and on my blog that people don't have to ask for more. They already have a really good sense of what they're getting. And so just really helpful that I always have blog posts to refer people to if they're looking for a certain location. I don't have to send, like client full galleries. I can send this, you know, lovely blog post that's all wrapped up with a pretty bow and you know, again, they get to dive into that before you know, even reaching out to me. So that's worked really well.
Tori Kelner:And then so again started that from day one in my business and then that you know, built the traction of Google SEO and I would say like it's such a long game you really don't know when something's going to come back to you. And so I have a few blog posts from different travel things that I've done. I was in Utah, I was in New Mexico, I was in Cancun and I have received inquiries for all of those locations just because I blogged at one time years ago. And now it's up to me, if I want to make that decision, to travel out to them again, and so the fact that that allows me for not only local inquiries and stuff, but knowing that something could still reach across the world, is really crazy. So, yeah, blogging has been huge and I've been doing that since day one, but I would say it's a long game. So start now and like it could also be very quick to like. I know that a lot of people tell me like, oh, when I'm searching for a venue in the area, like your blog always comes up and stuff. So I know that it's at least within the first page or two of Google and people are seeing it when they're searching for local venues and things like that. So that's working really well.
Tori Kelner:Vendor marketing or vendor referrals and word of mouth also are huge, and so something that I always do is share the full galleries with all the vendors from the team. I'm reaching out to them before the wedding day, introducing myself, letting them know they're going to be getting the full gallery. I send them the sneak peeks, I send them the blog, I send them the full gallery. They know that they're able to share them. They have links to everyone's information to tag, so I'm making it as easy as possible for them to share about me and to get them photos of their work as well, and I feel like that's come back to me really big, and so those vendor referrals are huge.
Tori Kelner:And then word of mouth clients you know past clients who refer me to their friends and family always like a really steady flow of inquiries. And then social media and Instagram is always going to be probably my highest, even out of all of those, which is crazy. You know those, I would say. The interesting stat is that, although I convert a lot of my Instagram ones, obviously the ones that are referred from a real person tend to have a higher booking success rate, I would say, because they're much more trustworthy recommendation than just stumbling on someone. So my inquiries from Instagram are very high, still book a lot of them, but the strongest leads, I would say are the warmest leads, definitely come from referrals as well, so hopefully that makes sense. What was the original question?
Kerry Walsh:I am not completely sure, but I think that you oh. I, how do you so you get all these amazing inquiries from all these different avenues? And then how do you kind of filter through and say, yes, this is somebody I want to talk to, somebody I would potentially want to work with?
Tori Kelner:Yeah. So, like I said over the years, like what the nice thing about building this business is, brand and brand, so that the flood of inquiries like consistently come in, it allows me to then be in control of my time and what I am choosing to do with it. And so if I had only a few inquiries coming in, it would make me feel like I have to look every single thing that comes my way and I have no choice, because I need to make money and you know, this is all that's here. But because I'm getting more than that, I can then kind of start to be picky about what I want to do, what venues I want to shoot at, what couples really light up, where I want to travel to, and how far, how many I want to take in a weekend or in a week or in a month and a year, and so obviously that didn't start that way in the first few years, but over the last few years now I've been able to just be pickier and pickier so that I can enjoy every single thing that I'm shooting and be really particular about that. And I feel very fortunate to be in a position to be picky. I know that not everybody can be. And so I think it's a really special place to be that I get to not only have inquiries, that people are excited to work with me, but I get to in turn be so excited to work with them.
Tori Kelner:So the way that I kind of decipher for myself some hard rules now for me is, you know, number of weddings that I'm taking per month and then per year. So I have just, you know, given myself a cap and over the years, you know, went from 30 weddings a year, 25, 18, you know, just kind of narrowing it down so that my focus is on being present, working with clients I absolutely love and not, you know, spending every single weekend at a wedding. And so the actual number, cap, deciding how many per month I might want to take. So, and it fluctuates depending on the season, but my fall is always a little bit busier, but I know, generally, like for my mental capacity and, you know, emotional wellbeing and all of that, two a month is probably plenty. Some months, you know, ends up being three, four, but I know if I'm going to have a month with four or five weddings, then I need to buffer that with months that don't have that, and so that's taken many years to get to that point to say at some point you have to cut it off and it's more important to live a life that you love and feel good and not, you know, run yourself down just for the sake of a wedding. That sounds amazing, because I promise you there will be so many more weddings out there, there will be amazing couples, and the most fulfilling and satisfying feeling that I got to feel this last year was because I took so many Fira weddings.
Tori Kelner:I've been receiving inquiries for this year still and I have some availability, and it's been years since I've actually been able to take a wedding or a session or something that I'm excited about in that same year because I'm not booked out two, three years in advance. And so such an amazing feeling to be able to actually be available for them and how excited they are that they're like, oh my man, I can't believe I found a photographer like six months before or eight months before and I've just never had that before where, like I'm actually free for it and I get to do that and so that's really nice. And, filtering them out, I would say you can get a sense of people from their inquiry, like how excited they are, how much deep diving they've done into your business. If they just found like your Instagram, skimmed it and reached out and said like hey, you free this day, kind of thing. Or you know a really personal message. And I don't necessarily think you know. One means yes, one means no.
Tori Kelner:I've definitely had inquiries that are just they're busy at work and they're just trying to get some info right now, and then we end up connecting so well and it's, you know, it is a dream client. So I never want to discredit an inquiry by being like, oh my God, they didn't repeat back to me everything I love that's on my website. They didn't read everything. Like, no, people are busy and people have lives, and so I, you know, obviously I'm looking at my time. Can I take this on? Is it a venue that I want to work at or somewhere that really fits within my brand or the vision that I have for my business? And then, you know, are we connecting as people? And so that kind of helps me filter out what I want to do.
Tori Kelner:And you know, just because I might not be available or don't necessarily want to take on certain weddings, doesn't mean I'm just leaving them high and dry. I have plenty of amazing recommendations that I send their way and just let them know. These people are going to take care of you too. They're a similar style to mine, or here's why I love them and just helping set them up well, and I always let them know. If you need any other vendor recommendations along the way, I'm all here to help you. I have plenty of people I can refer at blog posts. I can send you all that stuff. So just because I can't be their photographer doesn't mean that I can't help them in some way to make the process a little bit easier.
Kerry Walsh:So many huge points. I think, especially the the. Someone didn't fill out my contact in a really long way. So often I hear like, oh, they only said you know they were three words and it's like that doesn't mean anything. It might just mean that they're busy, Like everyone has lives. It's okay, Get them on a call and see what happens. You know, some people just hate filling out forms and um, yeah, so I think that was such a huge point, and so then I wanted to bring up your recent Instagram ban.
Tori Kelner:Oh, yeah, dun, oh, yeah.
Tori Kelner:So, Carrie and I were talking about this before. So, okay, january 1st or like New Year's, I was like I'm following so many people who I don't even know and I had been following accounts of people who don't even use those accounts anymore from 2017. Accounts that are, like they've been hacked they're not, you know, like just so many random accounts. So I went through and I started unfollowing. So I was like I think I need to just like refresh all of this. So I was like really feeling bummed that I wasn't seeing real people that I know on my feed anymore. I was like I'm not seeing my friends posts. I'm not seeing, like, what's going on in real life. I'm just seeing photography, photography and it's beautiful, but it's overwhelming and like. So I was like, all right for my mental health, I am going to unfollow a little bit. I went on an unfollow spree and I guess I went a little bit too hard and Instagram banned me. I didn't realize and so I couldn't. You know, I couldn't post. I could post stories after a little bit, but I couldn't make a real Instagram post. I couldn't comment, I couldn't like I could DM. So I was just like so bummed and I was excited to start the year off with like a really strong. You know I'm going to be posting. You know I had a whole plan, so that was a bummer and I was traveling and stuff, so it was fine. It honestly was nice to like just put my phone away for a little bit. I wasn't on Instagram as much because I was like, well, I can't be posting. But what was really interesting I was like you know what I am curious because I get so many inquiries from Instagram. I am curious if my inquiries like fluctuated at all in that you know two-ish week timeframe that I didn't have my Instagram, like that I wasn't consistently posting. And so I looked back just at my HoneyBook stats and I received in those I think it was 18 days, received more than 18, probably closer to like 30 between like HoneyBook and DMs and random emails and stuff inquiries within those first 18 days of the year. That came from all across the board from Google, from Instagram, from referrals all the sources that they typically come from still Instagram too. And it was so reassuring to me that on average received more than one inquiry a day even when I wasn't posting because I had all of these other sources working for me on the back end. So a little peace of mind for anybody who's like, oh man, I missed posting today, it'll be okay. But it's nice to have those backup plans, like your blog, like Google SEO, like great marketing with vendor referrals and things like that, and also knowing that your Instagram does live on. I know an initial post kind of dies within 24 hours kind of thing, but if people are searching specific hashtags or looking up venues, your posts can definitely still be found. And so just a little peace of mind.
Tori Kelner:But it was also a fun little study that I was like you know what I don't need to stress because I was like, oh my gosh, I'm not going to be able to share for two plus weeks. And it ended up being totally fine and inquiry still came in. So it was just, you know, a fun stat to kind of look at and realize, you know, on average. And then I ended up looking at you know full year and just seeing those numbers and realize that same, like the over one inquiry per day stat held true all of last year too. So, with the number of inquiries that I received last year, broken down by number of days in the year, still came to more than one inquiry per day. So that was just very reassuring that all of this marketing effort does work if the time is put into it, and I think it doesn't necessarily need to be one specific avenue.
Tori Kelner:Pick the source that you love. If it's blogging, go all in on blogging. If it's Pinterest, go all in on Pinterest. If you can manage two or three of those, amazing. But whatever you put your time and energy into is going to work. Like all of these tools work for some people. You know it just depends on how you're using it, how consistent you are. If you're understanding how it's working and so just finding the tools that you enjoy being on that you can stay passionate about and consistent about and really stick to, it's going to work for you, yeah, and I think that just depth of everything that you've built before that Instagram ban happened was still working for you.
Kerry Walsh:It was still working, like you were saying, all of the Instagram. You were still getting inquiries from Instagram. Just because you weren't posting immediately in real time, it doesn't mean that that wasn't working for you too, and so how did it resolve? As a big uh.
Tori Kelner:Oh yeah.
Kerry Walsh:Well, it's embarrassing.
Tori Kelner:I just signed out of my account and I signed back in after that long and realized, uh, I could work and use it again. So it probably was like back before I even realized. I just didn't even think to sign out. So I'm all good, now I can post again.
Kerry Walsh:Yay, huge. So if you get banned, sign out and sign in. See, maybe that works. Don't go on an unfollow spree, or do, but just make sure you're also vlogging, or do, but just make sure you're also vlogging. Yeah, oh Dory. We could talk literally forever, but we're going to cut it here. Do another episode. I am starting to introduce an intro, like a little thing at the end, called the quick and quirky questions at the end of each episode. So if you have a favorite business book or two, what are they? Okay?
Tori Kelner:Hmm, okay, I have two and they kind of go hand in hand. I would say the one thing and forgive me because I'm totally blanking on the author, but I will send it to Carrie and atomic habits, and they really go hand in hand with building habits in your business, but also like kind of thinking big picture, big picture goals in your life and like really focusing in on what you truly want and not getting carried away with like shiny objects syndrome and wanting to do every little thing which I, I do, I absolutely do. And so every time I read the one thing cause I've listened to it multiple times and it's funny, my brother, he's a doctor and he read it, he actually recommended it to me. He was like you absolutely need this, and both of us are like obsessed, you know it just like gives you so much perspective and really helps you focus in on like what matters most to you, how you can choose that big goal, and like break it down from years to months, to weeks, to days, to minutes, and start to achieve those goals.
Tori Kelner:And so I find that when I'm listening to it I'm much more like in it and then I'll, like you know, finish the book and then I kind of go back to my ways and so it's it's good to, you know, pick up again. But also I, I listened to it and I definitely recommend like I'm going to read it next and like highlight things and like write things down and stuff. So I think that'll be helpful, but it's really powerful. And then atomic habits kind of goes hand in hand with like habit stacking and how you can kind of start to build productive habits that will help you reach those goals. So I think those go well together Amazing, thank you.
Kerry Walsh:What was the last thing that actually made you laugh out loud?
Tori Kelner:I feel like Sean and I were like cackling about something yesterday. Oh, he was like making. I was doing my stretch and folds with my sourdough and he was making fun of me, so we had a sourdough crack up.
Kerry Walsh:The dedication is real. I mean it has to be like wait so right before this podcast, everyone.
Tori Kelner:I woke up earlier than I've ever woken up. I'm going to see my family this weekend and I told them I would make sourdough and it takes like all day and I knew I needed to like get it done before this podcast so I could get it in the fridge like a bake it tomorrow, all this stuff. So I was like racing around like and I was just like I'm like when you have stretch and folds to do, but you got to be on a podcast in three minutes like covered in dough. But we got it done. They're in the fridge.
Kerry Walsh:You texted me that this morning and I was like laughing but also so proud. And I can't wait, I can't wait to get back in this hour. No, it's so good. Okay, so what does alignment feel like for you and how do you know when you are in versus out of alignment?
Tori Kelner:I would say I have like a consistent like joy and optimism streak where, like, even when things are stressful and overwhelming, I still feel very positive about like life and what I can accomplish and like what I'm dreaming of. I feel like I'm always like very joyful and positive and optimistic, and so I definitely know if that starts to falter and I am feeling just like I can't see the light kind of thing. That's where I know like something's got to change and so you know it's happened, you know and that's could be, you know, burnout related, just like life, overwhelm, all the things and, yeah, just noticing that like that key feature of like there are moments where I can totally handle the stress and overwhelm because I'm still keeping that joyful mindset and that optimism. And when that piece of it starts to falter and it's all stress and overwhelm and like I can't be like you know, see the positives. That's when I know like something's out of line. So things that I, you know like to do and been practicing a lot more recently of my sourdough journey, but I noticed just recently, you know, that I really need a creative hobby, some way to do something else that is exciting and fulfilling and creative, and so I have like clay pottery sets that I'm doing. You know I'll pick up painting embroidery like I don't have to stick to it. Like that's I'm definitely a big like let me do this one day and I won't do it for a month, but I know it's there when I need it and I like to bounce between them. But the sourdough has been really fun because it gives me just I think it's creative, I don't know and just gives me something to do with my hands that is separate from editing, separate from shooting. You know all of the things. So it's hard when you take your passion and turn it into a business. You know you did create a job and so now refinding those hobbies that are fulfilling and like creative and stuff to fuel that in some other way it's really important for me.
Tori Kelner:And then I've been reading a lot more, just like fiction. I love, you know, business books and business podcasts and all the things. But being able to just pick up a fiction novel and read that has been really like just calming. It's like my reward at the end of the night, to just like unwind. I'm like I got all my editing done.
Tori Kelner:I get to just read my book and just getting outside and walking I've been. You know it's like freezing where we are here, but I am enjoying my walks with the dog and just getting fresh air. And then, you know, spending time with friends and family is like so life giving and like that's where I think Carrie and I were talking about this like months ago just like some of the best feelings in the world, and like I feel like one of the best feelings is like laughing harder than like like so you can't breathe, you know, and I feel like that always happens when I'm with friends and family, and so, like that feeling, I just crave that, and so that's a really big piece of it for me.
Kerry Walsh:I was thinking about one of those like laughing so hard you can't breathe moments that I had over the holidays with my sister. We were playing this game called chameleon and someone's the chameleon and you like. Get a card and you have to see, and I looked at my sister, mary Kate, and she just busted up laughing. She's like you are the chameleon, and we were laughing, crying so hard. It was great oh my god.
Tori Kelner:we were playing with our friends a few months ago and it got so intense because we all thought it was someone we are like screaming pointing fingers and we were all wrong. Oh my God, it was so funny.
Kerry Walsh:It's so good games, man. They're important. Thank you for those. Okay, so where feels like home in your bones?
Tori Kelner:I like that. So where feels like home in your bones? I like that. I would say it sounds so cheesy, but like when I hug my husband I've just noticed so much recently like how the like physical touch of like being embraced, like really calms my body and I, you know, some days I'm like John, I just need a hug, just hold me and like it helps so much and so that I mean he's always felt like home to me.
Tori Kelner:You know, some days I'm like John, I just need a hug, just hold me and like it helps so much and so that I mean he's always felt like home to me, you know, and we've been together for so many years. So I feel like holding his hand or just being close, honestly, just like being in the same apartment and even if we're both working, like I know he's there. So I feel out of alignments. You know, sometimes when we are gone for days at a time, if I'm traveling or he's traveling, and like just the best feeling like being back together and like being in our routine and our environment, so obviously like in our home, feels like home to me. But I also think, um, like I guess kind of the same laughing with my family, like we play games all the time, we're seeing them this weekend and like that feeling of like stepping home kind of, just like everything kind of goes away, you know, and you get to just like be present, laugh, catch up.
Kerry Walsh:All those feelings yeah nothing like that hug from your person, I know all right. So then, what is your current we'll say current go-to pump up song?
Tori Kelner:oh wait, I feel like I'm so lame. But like I love like sad songs, like I like this is my genre, like if it is someone who sounds like they are like crackly about to cry with an acoustic guitar and I can envision like a rainy coffee shop. Like that to me is like oh, that's so good, so it's not really pump up, but like that's my, so it's hard to put like a pump up song in there. I would say, oh gosh, this shouldn't be a hard question. I'm going to go with like anything Taylor Swift right now. I just feel like she's always on my repeats. I love the Midnight's album. So like when I'm jamming out in the car I just like belt that out a lot. But no, like my like songs that I scream would be like Lewis Capaldi who like sounds like we're just crying in the club here and I'm like, yeah, he really does it, oh my God.
Kerry Walsh:And then his TikTok is hilarious, so like, so funny. He is the realm of all emotions. It's great. I love him. I love him.
Tori Kelner:I thought for sure you were going to say something, brittany, I like I could, obviously, but I feel like it's too hard for me to pick one. Yeah, I could never All of them. All of them, I mean, like that would be. There's like an ongoing thing in my life that like I will walk into a room or a store or like I don't know anywhere, the mall and Britney will be playing and like nine times out of 10, it's lucky, or I would say lucky, or oops, I did it again. So I just feel like the world is telling me like we know you're here, welcome. But this happens all the time. So I feel it's, it's just always a part of my life. Like it doesn't feel like a pump-up song in the same way, you know, I'm like thinking what I like?
Kerry Walsh:scream in the car, yes, it's also so funny because, like lucky is not a commonly heard song yeah, and that one's on a lot.
Kerry Walsh:It's weird, that's wild, wild, yeah, wild. Amazing Meant for you Always. All right, so that brings us to the end of the episode. Thank you, tori, just for joining us and sharing everything that you had to share, like. You gave so many tangible, real things to follow, great examples, huge stories so much just depth of why we should be doing what we should be doing. We will absolutely include that grade in the show notes.
Tori Kelner:And how can people you know stay connected to you? Yeah, absolutely so. My website is just my name, Tori Kellnercom, my Instagram, tori Kellner, and you can follow DM, you know. Get into my world. I'd love to chat and I do offer mentoring sessions, so if you're interested in that, we could do a strategy call, in-person shoots, things like that, to get your business going and talk all about personal branding.
Kerry Walsh:Yes, yes, yes, yes, everyone, everybody. Hire Tori, please, please, please. She's amazing. She's so good at everything she does. All right, we will chat with everyone next time. Thanks for being here, tori, you're the best. Thank you, you made it to the end. Look at you go.
Kerry Walsh:This was a longer episode, so there are going to be a slew of takeaways. These are all listed out on the sub stack post for this podcast, episode two, if you'd rather read than remember or write them down on your own. So go ahead and check out the sub stack link. It's going to be in the show notes as well as it's in my Instagram at Carrie Ann Coaching on Instagram. Okay, so to recap, our big takeaways are when it comes to marketing your personal brand, talk about things you love. It's as simple as that. Start by sharing your a day in the life, kind of things you know your morning drink, your to-do list, your morning afternoon, closing down routine. One of my friends, kelsey, who was on your morning afternoon. Closing down routine. One of my friends, kelsey, who was on the podcast earlier actually, she calls this the girl buy routine. Go into more heart-to-heart kind of things after you're really comfortable posting online consistently, so keep it light and then, when you're ready and you feel good, go ahead and make it a little deeper.
Kerry Walsh:Questions to ponder when you're thinking about your personal brand. These are also great questions to ask a family member or a friend if you need help getting the ball rolling. One what would you do on a free Sunday? How would you spend your time? What would you be doing All of that? Two what are some things your friends would describe you as? And three, if time and money were no object, what would your dreams be? What would you do, what would you want to accomplish and how would you spend your time? Bring in your core values. For Tori, a few of these are friendship and fun and bringing that to every client.
Kerry Walsh:Experience in her business. Showing up with excellence. Creating memorable experiences in the environment so digging deeper into the environment. As an example, it looks like sustainability in every way she can. Veganism and making sure all parts of her business, from albums to client gifts, are vegan-friendly. Giving to charities that support veganism and sustainability causes. Practicing leave no trace wherever she goes, especially on photo shoots.
Kerry Walsh:When it comes to what content to create for your personal brand, think of your space, your social media, blog, etc. Like a magazine. What repeating topics would your magazine showcase that relates to your reader and their interests? So we also have, you know, the Jasmine Star grid system, our planet square, linked in the show notes, aka. This is the solution to the struggle of not knowing what to post.
Kerry Walsh:So some hacks to implementing this are using a planning app like Planoly, you can plan out one to two weeks ahead of time. It could be more, but it doesn't have to be. It doesn't have to be months and months in order to be effective. Use voice memos or notes app to talk out or write out caption ideas and then sync them up with images or videos of it. Repurpose your content. This is huge. You could start big, you know. Think blog posts and Instagram static and story post. Or you can start small and go big, thinking Instagram caption, and then, if this is something that really resonates, you can expand and turn it into a blog post or an email newsletter, et cetera. Just be sure to circulate that great content that you're already creating more than one time, so it actually has time to be seen when creating your posting schedule. Start small and then grow.
Kerry Walsh:As Tori said, business is a game we are building, so make the rules so that you can win at your own game. In terms of an ideal client. It's okay for your ideal client to mold and change. It's also okay to go for shared values instead of someone who fits a client avatar if that feels better for you. Think of your ideal client as someone who shares some or all of the core values that you hold. Main marketing avenues working for Tori One Google. Two word of mouth through vendor and client referrals. Three Pinterest. Four Instagram and her personal brand.
Kerry Walsh:Vlogging has always been a must-do because she never wanted to rely solely on Instagram. Tori has made it a part of her process where she has to blog the session before sending the final gallery, which forces her to get the blog done. Her book recommendations are the One Thing by Gary W Keller and Jay Papasan, and then Atomic Habits by James Clear, which is a favorite around here. So that brings us to the end of the episode. If you enjoyed the show, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. If you don't know how to do that yet, google is going to be your best friend to show you what to do. Thank you times a million for taking the extra couple steps to leave a review. It really changes the game and how much reach and potential lives we can impact on the podcast as a community. No-transcript.