BusinessEntrepreneurship

Creativ Rise Podcast

Joey and Christy Speers

A weekly podcast that turns creatives into 6 figure business owners. Each episode brings business strategies for the growing creative. Hosted by Joey & Christy Speers. Find more at www.creativrise.com

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29 episodes
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Avg 35 min
English

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#308
Thursday · 33 min
The Booking Season Playbook For Weddings Photographers
Engagement season is almost here. Is your calendar ready for it? From American Thanksgiving to Valentine’s Day, more couples get engaged than any other time of year. They start saving vendors in December, and January through March is when inquiries and bookings really pick up. But a lot of wedding photographers spend this season waiting on referrals and hoping a planner remembers their name. And when they do try something new, like posting more or running ads, it’s easy to give up after a week when the inquiries don’t show up right away. The work you put in this month is what books you next month. That’s why the next few weeks matter so much. In this episode, Christy walks through the full booking season playbook we’re running with our Mastermind members starting November 1. It’s broken into three stages, Flirt, Make ’Em Fall, and Seal the Deal. Together they help you get noticed by couples and planners, build trust with them, and get them booked once you’re on a call. She also shares how one of our members is building planner relationships that turn into referrals. Why lead gen takes about a month to pay off Turning your top posts into $2-7/day traffic ads The pinned post and retargeting ads that build trust How to engage with and pitch 10 wedding planners The refundable 48-hour deposit that makes booking easy Stick with this over the next three months, and your 2027 calendar is going to look a lot different. 🚀 P.S. Our November Mastermind crew is officially sold out, and we’re pre-releasing 5 spots for our January group. If you want help building out this whole booking season funnel with us, get on the waitlist at www.creativrise.com. FREE TOOLS & TRAININGS → Pricing Calculator: https://www.creativrise.com/pricingcalculator → Pitching Masterclass Course: https://www.creativrise.com/pitchingmasterclass → Sales Call Formula Course: https://www.creativrise.com/offers/RM2ZPtZx/checkout → Productivity Course: https://www.creativrise.com/productivity → Money Management Training: https://www.creativrise.com/moneytraining → Fix Your Inquiry Form: https://www.creativrise.com/inquiryform LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE → Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/creativrise → Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/creativrise FOLLOW ALONG → Instagram: @creativrise | @joeyspeers | @christyjspeers
#307
October 21 · 39 min
What 14 Years As A Self Employed Creative Has Taught Me
Joey started his business at 14. This week he turned 28, so he’s officially been a business owner for half his life. For his birthday episode, Christy hit him with a stack of surprise questions, and we got into some stories we’ve never told on the podcast before. Like the time Joey signed his emails as his little sister so he’d look busy and in demand. Or the dream job with YETI that filled his parents’ entire front entryway with gear. And the Uber commercial in New Zealand where the agency disappeared and he never got paid. Every one of those moments taught him something that still shapes how we run both of our businesses today. In this episode, Joey shares the lessons that stuck after 14 years in business. How brands actually decide who to hire. How to take a hit in your business and come out stronger. The one skill he’d keep if he lost everything. And why getting around people who are already doing it is the fastest way to believe the next level is possible for you. What we cover in this episode: How brands actually decide who to hire Turning a bad job into a lesson on contracts and scope Why problem solving is the most valuable skill a creative can have Using proximity to build belief in what’s possible The question that changes everything: “If them, why not me?” Wherever your business is right now, the right room can take you further than you think. 🚀 P.S. Getting around people who are already doing it is exactly what the Creativ Rise Mastermind is built for. Applications for the November 1st cohort are open now, and we only take 10 creatives a month. More than half the spots are already taken, so if you want to build a six-figure business with us, apply at www.creativrise.com. FREE TOOLS & TRAININGS → Pricing Calculator: https://www.creativrise.com/pricingcalculator → Pitching Masterclass Course: https://www.creativrise.com/pitchingmasterclass → Sales Call Formula Course: https://www.creativrise.com/offers/RM2ZPtZx/checkout → Productivity Course: https://www.creativrise.com/productivity → Money Management Training: https://www.creativrise.com/moneytraining → Fix Your Inquiry Form: https://www.creativrise.com/inquiryform LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE → Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/creativrise → Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/creativrise FOLLOW ALONG → Instagram: @creativrise | @joeyspeers | @christyjspeers
#306
October 14 · 29 min
Success Isn’t Just For The Boys - Real Stories from 10 Female Creatives Who Are Crushing It
Let's go girls (cue our girl Shania). Newsflash: girls are crushing it. And right now, the women inside the Creativ Rise Mastermind are proving it in the best way. Angeli building a $21,000/month social agency (while raising young kids). Stephanie being in her early 20's and earning consistent $15k months & hiring her friends. Mary booking $20k weekends shooting weddings at venues she only dreamt of. In this episode, we highlight 10 women who are crushing 6 figure businesses, and break down the 3 things they are doing differently, and how you can do the same. PS: all these women are in our Mastermind, working together day in & day out and we've watched them reach revenue levels in their business they never thought possible. And quick heads up... today we are launching applications for people on the waitlist. We're only accepting 10 people for Nov 1st. If you want to get more details & get first access right now - jump on the list at www.creativrise.com to get early access to the application. What we cover in this episode: Pricing off the value you provide instead of the going rate Building a lead gen system that doesn’t rely on motivation Using paid ads and pitching to land clients within the week Growing planner relationships that refer high-end clients Building a business that fits your season of life Wherever you are right now, the right moves can take your business further than you think. 🚀 FREE TOOLS & TRAININGS → Pricing Calculator: https://www.creativrise.com/pricingcalculator → Pitching Masterclass Course: https://www.creativrise.com/pitchingmasterclass → Sales Call Formula Course: https://www.creativrise.com/offers/RM2ZPtZx/checkout → Productivity Course: https://www.creativrise.com/productivity → Money Management Training: https://www.creativrise.com/moneytraining → Fix Your Inquiry Form: https://www.creativrise.com/inquiryform LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE → Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/creativrise → Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/creativrise FOLLOW ALONG → Instagram: @creativrise | @joeyspeers | @christyjspeers
#305
October 7 · 50 min
Why Brands Keep Rehiring This Outdoor Filmmaker (Ian MacFadyen)
Watch This Video Next - https://youtu.be/fHx33G_FJs0 Ever wonder how some creatives get paid to travel, shoot in the mountains, and work with the outdoor brands they already love? Most talented creatives can make a great video. The hard part is explaining what that video does for a brand's business. Without that, it's tough to land bigger clients, and even tougher to keep them around. That's exactly where Ian McFadden was when he moved to Colorado to go after brand work. He had the skills, but no proof and no clear sense of what brands actually wanted from him. In this episode, recorded late at night in Canmore, Alberta, right out of Ian's camper van, Joey sits down with Ian to talk about how he built a business as a content strategist for outdoor and travel brands. He shares how he learned to put words to the value he brings, why founder-led content is driving growth for small brands, how he plans a month of retainer content, and the communication habit that has kept one client around for almost three years. Plus, this one lands on the six-year anniversary of the Creativ Rise Podcast! Explaining the value your content brings to a brand Using founder-led stories to grow small brands Planning retainer content with content buckets Keeping clients for years through constant communication Building momentum with your personal work Get clear on the value you bring, and brands will want to keep you around for the long haul. 🚀 P.S. Ian says the biggest thing the Mastermind gave him was hearing the business side over and over until he could say it confidently on his own sales calls. The Creativ Rise Mastermind November cohort has 10 spots, and inside we'll work through your pricing, your offers, and your pitches with you. Get on the waitlist at www.creativrise.com. FREE TOOLS & TRAININGS → Pricing Calculator: https://www.creativrise.com/pricingcalculator → Pitching Masterclass Course: https://www.creativrise.com/pitchingmasterclass → Sales Call Formula Course: https://www.creativrise.com/offers/RM2ZPtZx/checkout → Productivity Course: https://www.creativrise.com/productivity → Money Management Training: https://www.creativrise.com/moneytraining → Fix Your Inquiry Form: https://www.creativrise.com/inquiryform LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE → Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/creativrise → Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/creativrise FOLLOW ALONG → Instagram: @creativrise | @joeyspeers | @christyjspeers
#304
September 30 · 31 min
What To Do If You’re Stuck Making $50k/Yr As A Photographer/Filmmaker
Booked $4,500 this month and completely exhausted? Had an amazing sales call, then got ghosted? Pitched your dream brand and got offered a free jacket? These are three of the most common spots we see creatives get stuck in. And the longer you stay there, the more it wears on you. You start to resent your clients, dread sales calls, and check your phone every five minutes hoping it's them. Most of the time, the fix comes down to how you price, how you close, and how you pitch. In this episode, Joey puts Christy on the spot with three real scenarios she's never heard before, and she walks through exactly what she'd do in each one. You'll hear what red flag pricing is and why it can cost you bookings, the refundable date-hold deposit that keeps a great sales call from going cold, and how to answer free product offers with a pitch that brings in paid work. Plus, we share the mock sales call we ran with Hudson from Harbor Film Co and shout out this week's Mastermind wins, including a $12,000 month of tourism work. Auditing your offers and pricing when you're burnt out Spotting red flag pricing and raising your rates Booking clients before you hang up the sales call Setting a follow-up date so a great call never goes quiet Turning free product offers into paid pitches Every one of these scenarios has a clear next step. Take it, and you'll work less, close more, and actually enjoy your business again. 🚀 P.S. Getting around creatives who are already booking the work you want changes everything. The Creativ Rise Mastermind November cohort has 10 spots, and inside we'll work through your pricing, your sales calls, and your pitches with you. Get on the waitlist at www.creativrise.com. FREE TOOLS & TRAININGS→ Pricing Calculator: https://www.creativrise.com/pricingcalculator→ Pitching Masterclass Course: https://www.creativrise.com/pitchingmasterclass→ Sales Call Formula Course: https://www.creativrise.com/offers/RM2ZPtZx/checkout→ Productivity Course: https://www.creativrise.com/productivity→ Money Management Training: https://www.creativrise.com/moneytraining→ Fix Your Inquiry Form: https://www.creativrise.com/inquiryform LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE→ Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/creativrise→ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/creativrise FOLLOW ALONG→ Instagram: @creativrise | @joeyspeers | @christyjspeers
#303
September 23 · 28 min
Cliff Jumping Taught Me Everything I Know About Sales
Ever send a proposal, hear nothing back, and decide they must not be interested? What if that silence has nothing to do with you? Last weekend at Lake Tahoe, Christy spent a good chunk of the afternoon yelling at her identical twin sister Leslie from a hundred yards down the shore, trying to get her to jump off a cliff. Leslie kept shaking her head. But Christy could tell she wanted to do it. Most creatives treat a quiet inbox like a no. They send a cold PDF, get ghosted, and move on. Meanwhile, the client is standing on the edge, interested and just too nervous to take the step. In this episode, Christy tells the full story of how Leslie finally jumped, and we break down the sales lessons hiding inside it. You'll hear why hesitation usually comes from fear, how Mastermind members Haley and Gabriella stack small yeses before a client ever gets on a call, and why getting closer to your clients changes your close rate. Plus, we shout out this week's Mastermind wins, including a $12,500 branding project and recurring revenue that doubled in six weeks. Why hesitation rarely means a lack of interest How to remind clients what life looks like after they say yes Using micro yeses to build trust before the big ask Swapping cold PDFs for sales calls and Loom walkthroughs Walking clients through your process so the decision feels safe Selling doesn't have to feel pushy. When you understand how people work, getting a client to yes feels a lot more like helping someone off the rock. 🚀 P.S. The October cohort of the Creativ Rise Mastermind sold out within hours, and 9 of the 10 spots went to people on the waitlist. Applications for the November cohort open October 21st, and inside we'll help you build a sales process that gets your dream clients to yes. Get on the waitlist at www.creativrise.com. FREE TOOLS & TRAININGS → Pricing Calculator: https://www.creativrise.com/pricingcalculator → Pitching Masterclass Course: https://www.creativrise.com/pitchingmasterclass → Sales Call Formula Course: https://www.creativrise.com/offers/RM2ZPtZx/checkout → Productivity Course: https://www.creativrise.com/productivity → Money Management Training: https://www.creativrise.com/moneytraining → Fix Your Inquiry Form: https://www.creativrise.com/inquiryform LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE → Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/creativrise → Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/creativrise FOLLOW ALONG → Instagram: @creativrise | @joeyspeers | @christyjspeers
#302
September 16 · 13 min
Nobody Plans For Growth To Stop. Here's What To Do When It Does.
Nobody wakes up and decides to have a flat year. But plenty of creatives get to December with the same revenue, the same pricing and the same empty calendar they had last January, and no real explanation for it. In 2021, Joey put on a shirt and realized he was 20 pounds heavier than the year before. He was playing sports, going to the gym, and eating tacos three or four times a week. He never decided to gain the weight. He just never decided not to. That's drift, and it works exactly the same way in a creative business. Here's the part that makes it dangerous: drift only ever moves in one direction. It never takes you toward better clients, better pricing or a fuller calendar. It takes you away from all of it, quietly, over about twelve months. In this episode, Joey breaks down where drift hides in a creative business and what actually pulls you out of it. Not more hustle. A narrow focus on the real problem, and then building the thing that solves it. Why "something will come through" is the most expensive plan in your business How to spot drift in your lead gen, your pricing and your money before it costs you a year Turning one-time clients into recurring work so next month isn't a guess Giving every dollar a job before it lands, so six figures doesn't feel like nothing The build, book and deliver audit for finding exactly where you've drifted Twelve months from now, your business will reflect either a direction you picked or a direction that picked you. This episode is your reminder that it's still early enough to pick. P.S. Drift ends when you stop guessing and start building with people who hold you to it. That's exactly what we do inside the Creativ Rise Mastermind - a 12-month program where Joey and Christy work with 10 creatives per cohort to build a six-figure business. Applications for the October cohort are open now at www.creativrise.com. FREE TOOLS & TRAININGS → Pricing Calculator: https://www.creativrise.com/pricingcalculator → Pitching Masterclass Course: https://www.creativrise.com/pitchingmasterclass → Sales Call Formula Course: https://www.creativrise.com/offers/RM2ZPtZx/checkout → Productivity Course: https://www.creativrise.com/productivity → Money Management Training: https://www.creativrise.com/moneytraining → Fix Your Inquiry Form: https://www.creativrise.com/inquiryform LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE → Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/creativrise → Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/creativrise FOLLOW ALONG → Instagram: @creativrise | @joeyspeers | @christyjspeers
#301
September 9 · 1 hr 4 min
How Amber Moon 5x'd Her Income As A Photographer Without Shooting Weddings or Brands
$1,450 for a newborn session, and the client says yes without blinking. 👀 If that sounds impossible in the portrait space, this one is for you. The portrait space comes with a story attached, and most of us got handed it early: this is the work you do because you love it, not because it pays. Sessions get priced at $200. Packages get sold by the hour. And the whole model quietly trains you to compete on time instead of on the experience you actually deliver. Amber Brown has been building the other version. She's a family and birth photographer in Roseville, California, a mom of a four year old and a two year old, and she crossed six figures in the first eight months of this year. She closed 2024 at $22K and 2025 at $80K. Local family sessions are now $1,250. Newborn sessions are $1,450. And the month she's about to post her best numbers in is her lowest session count all year. In this episode, Joey and Christy get the whole build out of her: the move off hourly packages and onto value-based offers, what goes into a session a client happily pays $1,450 for, the Instagram ad funnel bringing her one to three inquiries a day on $5 to $20 of daily spend, the sales move that takes the risk off the client and gets the date locked, and how she runs all of it on two babysitter days a week. Why value-based offers change what clients ask you about What a $1,450 newborn session actually includes The three-ad set and message funnel doing all of her lead gen The fully refundable hold that gets people off the fence What she spends on childcare, and how that math works You don't have to shoot more to earn more. You have to sell something that's worth more. 🚀 Want the funnel drawn out? DM us “FUN FUNNEL” on Instagram and we'll send you the video where Amber maps it end to end. P.S. Amber built this inside the Creativ Rise Mastermind, and she's still in the room today. The next cohort is capped at 10 creatives and starts October 1st. Public applications open September 15th, and if you're on the waitlist you get access earlier. Get on it at **www.creativrise.com.** FREE TOOLS & TRAININGS → Pricing Calculator: https://www.creativrise.com/pricingcalculator → Pitching Masterclass Course: https://www.creativrise.com/pitchingmasterclass → Sales Call Formula Course: https://www.creativrise.com/offers/RM2ZPtZx/checkout → Productivity Course: https://www.creativrise.com/productivity → Money Management Training: https://www.creativrise.com/moneytraining → Fix Your Inquiry Form: https://www.creativrise.com/inquiryform LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE → Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/creativrise → Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/creativrise FOLLOW ALONG → Instagram: @creativrise | @joeyspeers | @christyjspeers
#300
September 2 · 1 hr 7 min
The Good, Bad & Practical of Working With Your Spouse - A Tell All
Two weeks into dating, we started working together. Six years later, we still do it every single day. Working with a spouse, a sibling, or a best friend is one of the most requested topics we've ever had on this show, and for good reason. Almost nobody talks about what it's actually like. Here's the tricky part. When you build a business with the person you live with, there's no line between the workday and the rest of your life. Every deadline, every big decision, and every win lands in the same house you eat dinner in. Nothing gets postponed, which sounds hard until you realize it's the reason you sort things out faster. Then there's the working styles. One of you locks in at 9am and is done at 7pm. The other is a slow burn who finally hits flow at 9pm and doesn't want to stop. One of you runs at every new idea. The other wants to make sure the foundation holds. Neither is wrong, and the whole thing gets easier the second you stop expecting your partner to work exactly like you do. In this episode, we sat down and answered the questions we get asked the most. Joey wrote his list, Christy wrote hers, and neither of us saw the other's until we hit record. It's the honest version. How to divide the work so you stop burning out on the same tasks Why output matters more than hours, and how to stop keeping score What to do when one of you carries more of the drive than the other The green lights and red flags before you say yes to any partnership How to protect the relationship underneath the business Building something with someone you love is one of the best things in the world. It just works a whole lot better when you build it on purpose. P.S. If you want the business side of this dialed in, we're running the $10k/Month Creator Workshop again on September 15. Live, cameras on, and we break down pricing, lead generation, and sales for $9. Applications for our next Mastermind cohort open that same day, and we're only taking 10 creatives. Get on the waitlist at www.creativrise.com. FREE TOOLS & TRAININGS → Pricing Calculator: https://www.creativrise.com/pricingcalculator → Pitching Masterclass Course: https://www.creativrise.com/pitchingmasterclass → Sales Call Formula Course: https://www.creativrise.com/offers/RM2ZPtZx/checkout → Productivity Course: https://www.creativrise.com/productivity → Money Management Training: https://www.creativrise.com/moneytraining → Fix Your Inquiry Form: https://www.creativrise.com/inquiryform LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE → Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/creativrise → Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/creativrise FOLLOW ALONG → Instagram: @creativrise | @joeyspeers | @christyjspeers
#299
August 26 · 39 min
What 450 Creatives Have Taught Us About Growing A Photo & Video Business
What if the thing holding your business back has nothing to do with your work? We've coached over 450 creatives at this point, and the most successful ones are almost never the most talented ones. We get on calls with filmmakers and photographers who are better shooters than we'll ever be. Better gear. Better organized. One guy had a spreadsheet of every person he'd ever pitched, when he followed up, and what he sent. And the business still wasn't moving. Talent can actually work against you here, because it hands you something to keep polishing instead of something to test. So you re-edit the portfolio piece instead of sending the pitch. You wait until it feels ready. And ready doesn't show up on its own. Here's the part nobody says out loud: the creatives who build the business aren't the ones who felt ready first. They're the ones who got their hands on real evidence that it was possible for them. In this episode, Joey and Christy break down exactly where that evidence comes from, and it isn't affirmations or mindset work. Christy tells the story of flying to San Diego on money she didn't have just to carry a photographer's bags for a day, and how one day rewired what she thought her business could be. Joey tells the story of getting dropped off at two working filmmakers' houses at thirteen years old, being completely useless on set, and why it set the direction for everything after. Then we get practical about how you go get the same thing this month. Why the most talented creative in the room is often the most stuck The difference between borrowing confidence and trying to manufacture it Why following someone on Instagram isn't proximity, and what actually is How humility is the fastest on-ramp to confidence in your business The one assignment to run this week to get real evidence it's possible for you Belief is buildable. It's not a personality trait, and it's not reserved for people who look like they were born with it. 🚀 P.S. The fastest way to borrow belief is to be in a room with creatives already doing it. The September cohort of the Creativ Rise Mastermind sold out and closed early, and the next one starts October 1st with 10 spots. Applications open mid September, and the waitlist gets access first. Get on it at www.creativrise.com. FREE TOOLS & TRAININGS → Pricing Calculator: https://www.creativrise.com/pricingcalculator → Pitching Masterclass Course: https://www.creativrise.com/pitchingmasterclass → Sales Call Formula Course: https://www.creativrise.com/offers/RM2ZPtZx/checkout → Productivity Course: https://www.creativrise.com/productivity → Money Management Training: https://www.creativrise.com/moneytraining → Fix Your Inquiry Form: https://www.creativrise.com/inquiryform LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE → Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/creativrise → Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/creativrise FOLLOW ALONG → Instagram: @creativrise | @joeyspeers | @christyjspeers
#298
August 19 · 27 min
10 Ways To $10k/Mo (Real Examples From Real Creatives)
10 creatives. 10 niches. 10 strategies that are producing real money right now. Sometimes growth comes from learning a new tool or a new trick. And sometimes the fastest thing you can do is look over the shoulder of someone a step ahead of you and see exactly what's working for them today. Most growth advice stays vague. Post more, stay consistent, raise your prices, good luck. So you end up testing something for six months before you ever find out whether it was going to work. The creatives who move fastest skip that part. They borrow what's already proven and run it in their own business. In this episode, we break down 10 Mastermind members across weddings, brand work, social media management, tourism, and outdoor content. Real names, real numbers, and the one specific move driving each of their businesses right now. You don't need to implement all ten. One or two could change your next quarter. How a $5 per day ad budget built a multiple six figure business Why your paid traffic should never land on your homepage The pitch change that took one photographer from a 3% reply rate to 30% How to pitch retainers instead of one off projects, and land a $50,000 deal doing it Why repositioning as a strategist raises your rates faster than better work does Pick one strategy, build it out over the next three weeks, and your business will be in a stronger place than it is today. P.S. Every creative in this episode is a Creativ Rise Mastermind member, and the Mastermind just changed. It's now a 12 month program that opens with a four week Sprint on your offers and pricing, your brand and positioning, your lead generation, and your sales system, followed by a full year of building it out with us. We're capping it at 10 creatives per cohort and applications for September are officially open. Message us CRM on Instagram for the offer doc, or apply at www.creativrise.com. FREE TOOLS & TRAININGS → Pricing Calculator: https://www.creativrise.com/pricingcalculator → Pitching Masterclass Course: https://www.creativrise.com/pitchingmasterclass → Sales Call Formula Course: https://www.creativrise.com/offers/RM2ZPtZx/checkout → Productivity Course: https://www.creativrise.com/productivity → Money Management Training: https://www.creativrise.com/moneytraining → Fix Your Inquiry Form: https://www.creativrise.com/inquiryform LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE → Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/creativrise → Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/creativrise FOLLOW ALONG → Instagram: @creativrise | @joeyspeers | @christyjspeers
August 13 · 7 min
Giveaway Announcement - We Gave Away The Camera 45,000 Creatives Asked Us For
47,382 of you entered. One of you is getting a camera today. We read through as many of those comments as we could. Not just the Canon vs Sony vs Fuji arguments (though those were elite). The other ones. The people telling us what they'd shoot if they won. So many amazing projects and dreams inside this community! If that was you, we hope this whole week nudged you closer to it. Book the shoot. Send the pitch. Start with what you already own. And thank you for showing up for this the way you did. 47,000 comments is not a giveaway thing, that's a community thing. You turned a camera into a week-long conversation about what everyone's actually trying to build. And a massive thank you for celebrating 300 episodes of the Creativ Rise Podcast with us. We are overwhelmed with gratitude of all the ways this podcast has connected us with you guys!! To 300 more! Watch this video next - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHx33G_FJs0 — Ps. Here's a few things to get involved in throughout the next few weeks! The $10k/Mo Creator Workshop is back — it sold out so fast though that we've added more tickets. Aug 19th — message us "HIT10K" on IG to get a ticket The Creativ Rise Mastermind application opens again for the first time in 6 months on Aug 19 — join the waitlist for early access — message us "CRM" on IG for details! — FREE TOOLS & TRAININGS → Pricing Calculator: https://www.creativrise.com/pricingcalculator → Pitching Masterclass Course: https://www.creativrise.com/pitchingmasterclass → Sales Call Formula Course: https://www.creativrise.com/offers/RM2ZPtZx/checkout — FOLLOW ALONG → Instagram: @creativrise | @joeyspeers | @christyjspeers
#296
August 5 · 26 min
Are Your Cheaper Packages Killing Your Bigger Packages As A Creative (Here’s The Fix)
Get Your Ticket For The $10k/Mo Creator Workshop - www.creativrise.com/workshop You've got the portfolio. You've got the reviews. So why does it feel like pulling teeth to get someone to say yes to your biggest package? 👀 We asked a room full of creatives to put a hand up if selling their core offer felt hard. Almost every hand went up. The problem isn't the price. It's the position they're in. A stranger isn't evaluating your work. They're evaluating their risk. Asking someone who found you last week to hand over $8,000 for a wedding day or a full brand campaign is an enormous leap of trust, and no pricing guide is going to close that gap for you. So most creatives sit and wait. Post, nurture, hope the right inquiry shows up. Meanwhile the sales window stretches from weeks into months into years. In this episode we break down The Offer Pitstop™, the three-offer structure that gives people a low-risk way onto your road before you ever ask for the big yes. You'll learn how to build an On-Ramp Offer that earns trust fast, why most "smaller" offers quietly cannibalize the very offer they were built to sell, and the free and paid on-ramps we're running in our own agency right now. Why trust, not talent, is what's blocking your biggest sales How to build an on-ramp that doesn't compete with your core offer Free on-ramps that cost you 20 minutes: audits, teardowns, and guides The $399 UGC project that leads to an $8,000 campaign The 3-part test every on-ramp has to pass Get the sequence right and your core offer stops being a leap. It becomes the obvious next step. P.S. Building offers that actually sequence into each other is Week 1 work inside the Creativ Rise Mastermind. Open Enrollment launches August 19th with only 10 spots for the September cohort. Get on the waitlist at www.creativrise.com and we'll send you the Sales Call Formula free to binge while you wait. FREE TOOLS & TRAININGS → Pricing Calculator: https://www.creativrise.com/pricingcalculator → Pitching Masterclass Course: https://www.creativrise.com/pitchingmasterclass → Sales Call Formula Course: https://www.creativrise.com/offers/RM2ZPtZx/checkout → Productivity Course: https://www.creativrise.com/productivity → Money Management Training: https://www.creativrise.com/moneytraining → Fix Your Inquiry Form: https://www.creativrise.com/inquiryform LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE → Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/creativrise → Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/creativrise FOLLOW ALONG → Instagram: @creativrise | @joeyspeers | @christyjspeers
#295
July 29 · 1 hr 1 min
How Louelle Made A Year's Income In 60 Days Shooting Photo & Video
Would you raise your prices if you knew it would get you more inquiries, not fewer? 👀 Most creatives price from fear. You look at your number, imagine the client's reaction, and shave a few hundred off before you ever send the guide. It feels like you're removing an obstacle. You're actually adding one. Louelle Adanza was charging $1,700 for a full wedding video and $500 for an entire brand campaign shoot. The work was gorgeous. The bookings were slow, the conversations circled the budget, and she was too burnt out to take on more anyway. Then she changed the number. Weddings now start at $5,999 for photo and $10,700 for photo and video. Brand days run $6,300 and up. Inquiries went up after the increase, and in the last two months alone she and her husband Richard brought in $57,000. That's a full year of her old income, in sixty days. In this episode Louelle walks us through exactly what changed, what she'd do differently, and the systems now running underneath both of her businesses. Here's what we get into: Why underpricing reads as a red flag, not a bargain How to know when you've earned another price increase The two-ad funnel doing $200 to $300 a month and tripling their bookings Making clients book a call before they can even inquire Whether to run weddings and brand work under one name or two Better pricing doesn't just change your revenue. It changes who shows up, what they ask you, and how fast they say yes. 🚀 Louelle built a 6 figure business with us inside of 12 months, do you want to do the same? The Creativ Rise Mastermind applications open August 19 - get on the waitlist at www.creativrise.com. Limited to 10 new members only. P.S. Pricing is a math problem, not a confidence problem. Our free Pricing Calculator runs the exact numbers Louelle had to face at www.creativrise.com/pricingcalculator. FREE TOOLS & TRAININGS → Pricing Calculator: https://www.creativrise.com/pricingcalculator → Pitching Masterclass Course: https://www.creativrise.com/pitchingmasterclass → Sales Call Formula Course: https://www.creativrise.com/offers/RM2ZPtZx/checkout → Productivity Course: https://www.creativrise.com/productivity → Money Management Training: https://www.creativrise.com/moneytraining → Fix Your Inquiry Form: https://www.creativrise.com/inquiryform LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE → Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/creativrise → Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/creativrise FOLLOW ALONG → Instagram: @creativrise | @joeyspeers | @christyjspeers
#294
July 22 · 22 min
How to Get Clients to Pre-Sell Themselves Before They Ever Inquire (Full Funnel Breakdown)
This week Christy and I are pulling back the curtain on something we've never fully explained before: the exact reason some inquiries go quiet right when things should be heating up. ⚡️ If you're a photographer, filmmaker, content creator, or social media manager running your own creative business, this is the pinned post and content funnel we've personally used for over a decade. A client goes cold after what felt like a great first conversation. Someone downloads your pricing guide and you never hear from them again. It happens to almost every creative business, and most people assume it's a pricing issue or a fit issue. Usually it isn't. So today we're laying out the actual system running behind our own agency, Speers Collective, the one that gets people arriving at a sales call already halfway convinced. We call it Bingers Become Buyers, and it's built to turn someone who's never heard of you into a booked client without you having to talk them into anything. 🫣 Here’s what’s covered: Why time spent with your brand matters more than the pitch itself The Bingers Become Buyers funnel, broken down step by step How three pinned posts can build more trust than a polished highlight reel The 15 to 20 minute mark that tends to signal someone's actually ready to buy The case study format we use to pre-sell five figure projects before the call Build this once and you'll stop babysitting every inquiry, stop guessing why people disappear, and start noticing leads who already feel like they know you. P.S. This funnel is just one piece of what we teach. If you want the full playbook behind running a calmer, more predictable six figure creative business, applications for the next Creativ Rise Mastermind cohort open August 26, and we only take 10 new members a month. Message us "CRM" on Instagram or grab your spot on the waitlist now at www.creativrise.com. FREE TOOLS & TRAININGS → Pricing Calculator: https://www.creativrise.com/pricingcalculator → Pitching Masterclass Course: https://www.creativrise.com/pitchingmasterclass → Sales Call Formula Course: https://www.creativrise.com/offers/RM2ZPtZx/checkout → Productivity Course: https://www.creativrise.com/productivity → Money Management Training: https://www.creativrise.com/moneytraining → Fix Your Inquiry Form: https://www.creativrise.com/inquiryform LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE → Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/creativrise → Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7EWjyREs05NKMS7Hhsyaue FOLLOW ALONG → Instagram: @creativrise | @joeyspeers | @christyjspeers
#293
July 15 · 28 min
4 Things We Do When Life Falls Apart (But the Business Can't)
In this episode of the Creativ Rise Podcast, Christy and I are getting real about something we don't usually talk about publicly: what it actually looks like to run a creative business through a genuinely hard season of life. If you're a photographer, filmmaker, content creator, or social media manager and you've ever felt like you're falling apart personally while still being expected to show up for clients, this episode is for you. 😮‍💨 We're walking through the hardest stretch we've faced in over a decade of business ownership, including a pregnancy loss earlier this year and a due date that just passed with no baby to bring home. We're not sharing this for sympathy. We're sharing it because so many of you are quietly white-knuckling your own hard season right now, whether that's grief, a health scare, a big life transition, or just life piling up faster than you can keep up with. Nobody starts a business expecting to run it through a storm. Most of us start when life feels spacious. But eventually the margin disappears, and you're left wondering how you're supposed to run a business when you can barely run yourself. We're walking through the four things that have actually gotten us through hard seasons, both personally and in business, without quitting or burning out completely. Here's what we cover: • Why "be kind to yourself" is more than a throwaway phrase when you're in the thick of it • Why you shouldn't make permanent business decisions in a temporary emotional season • How to use limited time and capacity to focus on the one thing that actually moves the needle, whether that's revenue, overwhelm, or delivery • Why seeking support, personally and in your business, isn't optional in a hard season • The real difference between your challenge level and your support level, and why the gap between them is where burnout lives Wherever you're at right now, high season, low season, or somewhere messy in the middle, we hope this episode reminds you that you can slow down without giving up, and that you don't have to carry it alone. P.S. If you want our help building a creative business that can actually hold up during hard seasons, open enrollment for the Creativ Rise Mastermind opens August 26. Get on the waitlist at www.creativrise.com now and we'll send you our free Sales Call Formula course to binge while you wait for applications to open! FREE TOOLS & TRAININGS → Pricing Calculator: https://www.creativrise.com/pricingcalculator → Pitching Masterclass Course: https://www.creativrise.com/pitchingmasterclass → Sales Call Formula Course: https://www.creativrise.com/offers/RM2ZPtZx/checkout → Productivity Course: https://www.creativrise.com/productivity → Money Management Training: https://www.creativrise.com/moneytraining → Fix Your Inquiry Form: https://www.creativrise.com/inquiryform LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE → Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/creativrise → Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/creativrise FOLLOW ALONG → Instagram: @creativrise | @joeyspeers | @christyjspeers
#292
July 8 · 19 min
Never Get Ghosted On An Invoice Again: The System We Use To Get Paid
In this episode of the Creativ Rise Podcast, I'm breaking down exactly how Christy and I collect payments on time and in full, without chasing clients or hoping they eventually pay. If you're a photographer, filmmaker, content creator, or social media manager running your own business, this is the payment system, contract clause, and late payment policy we actually use. 👀 Go to our IG and send us a message that says “Contract Clause” and I’ll send you a free copy of our autocharge + late payment penalty clause! Getting stiffed on an invoice is one of the most stressful parts of owning a creative business, and almost nobody talks about it. There will be a client who pays late. There will be a client who ghosts you completely. I learned this the hard way at 19, when I took a $2,800 Uber campaign in New Zealand, paid my own crew out of pocket to make it happen, and never got paid a dollar of it. Most creatives collect payments through Venmo, Zelle, or bank transfers to avoid the 3% processing fee. It feels smart until a client goes quiet and you have zero leverage to actually collect what you're owed. I'm walking through the exact system we built to fix this, including the contract clause that authorizes us to auto-charge a client's card the moment a payment is due, no invoice chasing required. Here's what's covered: Why a 3% processing fee is cheaper than chasing an unpaid invoice The deposit strategy that locks in a client's card before day one The exact auto-charge clause we use in every contract Our late payment policy, including how the penalty compounds How to stop relying on Venmo, Zelle, or a client's goodwill to get paid Set this system up once, and you'll stop chasing payments, stop stressing over cash flow, and get paid like an actual professional business. 🚀 P.S. This payment system is one piece of the puzzle. If you want every system we use to run a stress-free six-figure creative business, applications for the next round of the 6 Week Creativ Rise Mastermind open at the end of August. Message us “CRM” on Instagram or get on the waitlist now at www.creativrise.com. FREE TOOLS & TRAININGS → Pricing Calculator: https://www.creativrise.com/pricingcalculator → Pitching Masterclass Course: https://www.creativrise.com/pitchingmasterclass → Sales Call Formula Course: https://www.creativrise.com/offers/RM2ZPtZx/checkout → Productivity Course: https://www.creativrise.com/productivity → Money Management Training: https://www.creativrise.com/moneytraining → Fix Your Inquiry Form: https://www.creativrise.com/inquiryform LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE → Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/creativrise → Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/creativrise FOLLOW ALONG → Instagram: @creativrise | @joeyspeers | @christyjspeers
#291
July 1 · 29 min
How To Get Hired For Your Brain, Not Just Your Camera (We Made $14K In The Last 14 Days)
In this episode of the Creativ Rise Podcast, Joey and Christy break down how to go from $500 day rates to $10K-$15K months as a photographer, filmmaker, content creator, UGC creator, or social media manager. After booking $14,000 across two projects in just 14 days, they're sharing the 4 specific shifts that took their pricing, and their clients' trust, to a completely different level. Most creative entrepreneurs think bigger budgets come down to having a better portfolio. They don't. Good work is the baseline now. Clients pay premium prices for trust, certainty, and results, not pretty photos or video. If you're still positioning yourself as the hired hand with a camera instead of the strategist running the project, you're leaving thousands of dollars on the table every time you book a job. Here's what they cover: How to stop showing up as "the shooter" and start running the day like a producer your client can fully trust How to shoot for the client's actual business outcome instead of your own portfolio Why selling certainty beats selling your time, and how to price around deliverables instead of hours How to position your work as a return on investment instead of a "nice to have" Whether you're a wedding photographer, brand photographer, videographer, content creator, or social media manager, these are the same pricing and positioning shifts that helped Creativ Rise Mastermind members like Nick, Adam & Clara, and Luel land $15K-$25K months this year. Make these 4 shifts and you stop competing for $500 gigs with every other photographer and filmmaker in your market, and start getting hired, and paid, like the strategist you already are. P.S. If you want our help installing these exact shifts in your creative business, open enrollment for the Creativ Rise Mastermind opens August 26. Get on the waitlist at www.creativrise.com now and we'll send you our free Sales Call Formula course just for signing up. FREE TOOLS & TRAININGS → Pricing Calculator: https://www.creativrise.com/pricingcalculator → Pitching Masterclass Course: https://www.creativrise.com/pitchingmasterclass → Sales Call Formula Course: https://www.creativrise.com/offers/RM2ZPtZx/checkout → Productivity Course: https://www.creativrise.com/productivity → Money Management Training: https://www.creativrise.com/moneytraining → Fix Your Inquiry Form: https://www.creativrise.com/inquiryform LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE → Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/creativrise → Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/creativrise FOLLOW ALONG → Instagram: @creativrise | @joeyspeers | @christyjspeers
#290
June 24 · 1 hr 15 min
They Live In a Van and Make $25K/Mo as Photographers - The Story of Adam & Clara
What if the problem wasn't your work... but the way you're pitching it? After learning a new outreach strategy, Adam and Clara sent 71 pitches, received 57 responses, and generated over $38,000 in revenue in the last few months while living and working from the road in Australia. Adam and Clara are travel photographers and creators from Australia who went from living in a self-converted bus to building a full-time creative business on the road, working with dream tourism boards & brands who benefit from content in the outdoors. In this episode, we talk about how they transitioned into their new home on wheels, started documenting the build process, and completely changed their business through one major shift: learning how to pitch properly. Their wager was to send 50 pitches and get 50 responses. They finished the Mastermind with 47 replies and have now received 57 replies from 71 pitches, leading to a huge flow of new opportunities with tourism boards, outdoor brands, and travel partners. We cover: How Adam and Clara built a travel content business on the road • The pitching framework that changed their outreach • Why most creatives make their pitches too much about themselves • How to position yourself as a problem solver for brands • How they work with tourism boards and outdoor companies • Why follow-up matters more than most creatives realize • How they generated $38K+ after joining the Mastermind • What it really looks like to build a creative business while living on the road If you want to learn how to pitch better, get paid by brands, and build a creative business that creates more freedom, this episode is for you. Follow them here - Insta: @adam.and.clara P.S. If you're ready to make the same kind of shift Adam & Clara did, the Creativ Rise Mastermind is where that foundation gets built. Get on the waitlist for our August enrolment at www.creativrise.com. FREE TOOLS & TRAININGS → Pricing Calculator: https://www.creativrise.com/pricingcalculator → Pitching Masterclass Course: https://www.creativrise.com/pitchingmasterclass → Sales Call Formula Course: https://www.creativrise.com/offers/RM2ZPtZx/checkout → Productivity Course: https://www.creativrise.com/productivity → Money Management Training: https://www.creativrise.com/moneytraining → Fix Your Inquiry Form: https://www.creativrise.com/inquiryform LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE → Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/creativrise → Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/creativrise FOLLOW ALONG → Instagram: @creativrise | @joeyspeers | @christyjspeers
#289
June 17 · 21 min
I Ran a Giveaway Funnel for 7 Days & Got $50,000 in Photography Inquiries (Here's The Exact Funnel)
Get Your Spot In The Live Workshop - Book Your Next Client in 7 Days With a 7 Day Giveaway Funnel™ - Limited to 10 Spots In this episode, Joey and Christy are breaking down the exact giveaway funnel strategy that generated $50,000 in inquiries in 7 days, and how photographers, filmmakers, content creators, and social media managers can use it to book more clients without a massive following. Most creatives have tried a giveaway at some point. And most didn't book a single client from it. Not because giveaways don't work - because the giveaway wasn't built for the right person. When you give away something generic, you attract everyone. And everyone doesn't book. When you give away something so specific that only your ideal client would care, you get a list of pre-qualified leads who already want what you offer. That's the difference. And Christy learned it firsthand when she ran a targeted giveaway for Yosemite couple sessions and had $50K in inquiries hit her inbox inside of a week. Here's what's covered: How to choose a prize that attracts your ideal client instead of freebie-hunters How to use ManyChat to turn every comment into a direct conversation with a real lead The follow-up strategy to use after the giveaway ends to close actual bookings The most common mistakes that turn a giveaway into noise instead of a lead generator How to structure the full funnel from post to booked client If you've run a giveaway and heard crickets, this episode is exactly what you needed to hear first. 🔥 P.S. The Creativ Rise Mastermind reopens in 72 days. If you're a creative who is tired of undercharging for work you know is worth more, this is for you. The Creativ Rise Mastermind is coming up and spots won't last. Get on the waitlist at www.creativrise.com. FREE TOOLS & TRAININGS→ Pricing Calculator: https://www.creativrise.com/pricingcalculator→ Pitching Masterclass Course: https://www.creativrise.com/pitchingmasterclass→ Sales Call Formula Course: https://www.creativrise.com/offers/RM2ZPtZx/checkout→ Productivity Course: https://www.creativrise.com/productivity→ Money Management Training: https://www.creativrise.com/moneytraining→ Fix Your Inquiry Form: https://www.creativrise.com/inquiryform LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE→ Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/creativrise→ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/creativrise FOLLOW ALONG→ Instagram: @creativrise | @joeyspeers | @christyjspeers

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