Intro: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the Posers podcast, the place where we skip the fluff. Say the quiet parts out loud and dig into what really matters. This is where photography, psychology, and business collide. I'm Jody, your host, and I'm bringing you my raw takes, hard wins, and a whole lot of unfiltered honesty about what it takes to build a photography business that actually connects and makes money.
So ladies, grab your headphones and get your tits up and your ears open because we are going to build something really incredible together.
Episode Intro: Okay. Hello, hello, hello, my beautiful posers and welcome back to a fantastic episode of the Posers Podcast. Today's episode I have been. Really, really, really excited to release because this isn't just me teaching something. This is me actually showing you what happens when all of this work that we [00:01:00] talk about here, when that actually lands and not in just a fluffy like highlight reel kind of version, but I mean the real messy.
Behind the scenes and honestly dramatic statement, but life changing kind of way. Today I am bringing on someone who has not only become a poser favorite, but someone that I personally adore and really deeply respect. I am bringing on Elizabeth. Dugan. And whenever I tell you that this woman is special, I actually don't even think I need to tell you that this woman is special because she is a favorite, not only to me, but to so many of you already.
So, uh, she is one of those people who really walks into a room and you actually like, feel her presence. She is magnetic and she's warm. And she just really makes the people around her feel so incredibly seen and so incredibly heard, and that translates [00:02:00] directly into the way that she shows up for her clients too.
Now, before I started working with Elizabeth, she had already built a six-figure photography business. It's going to blow you away whenever you hear this episode. Based on the fact that she basically built this six figure photography business out of nothing. But whenever she came to me, she had demand, she had clients and she had momentum.
And from the outside, even whenever I was reading her onboarding form, I was like, man, she's almost like breaking into the multi six figure range already. So from the outside, everything looked like it was working. I was like panicking. In my head I'm like, what am I gonna do for this girl? Because she already seems to have it going on.
But. Behind the scenes. What I learned about Elizabeth was that she was actually insanely exhausted. She was completely overworked. She was running a business that relied [00:03:00] solely on volume. It relied on her constantly shooting, and it relied on her never being able to actually turn anything off. She was doing hundreds and I mean hundreds.
Of photo shoots per year. She was delivering everything on the back end. She was basically working around the clock and for some photographers. That's kind of where the story ends. They just sort of think like, okay, well this is what it feels like to be successful. This is what success looks like. But Elizabeth knew that something wasn't right, and what happened next is exactly why I want you to hear this conversation because.
During our time together, we didn't just tweak a few things. We didn't just raise her prices a little bit. We completely changed the entire structure of her business. We changed the way that she sells, the way that she serves her clients, the way [00:04:00] that she values her own work, the way that she shows up as an artist.
And because of that, we didn't just change her income. We changed her time, we changed her marriage. I know that sounds like a dramatic statement, but it's really true. We changed her relationship with our kids. We changed her entire day-to-day life. And I know that those statements sound dramatic, but whenever you hear her say it in her own words, you'll understand exactly what I mean.
So. If you are someone who feels like your business kind of looks good on paper, but behind the scenes you are tired, you are stretched thin, and you know that something has to change. I want you to listen to this episode a little bit differently. Not as like entertainment, but. Maybe as somebody holding up a mirror, because what Elizabeth did inside of her business, the changes that she made, it's also available to you [00:05:00] too.
So let's get into the episode.
Jodi: Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Posers Podcast, my beautiful posers. I have a treat. I have a gift wrapped up in a beautiful bow for you today because I have a fan favorite. I have a posers team favorite here, virtually in the studio with me. I am talking to none other than the gem of all gems from Tampa, Florida, Elizabeth Duke, and Hi Elizabeth.
Elizabeth Dugan: Hi, my love.
Jodi: How are you? Well, nice to see you outside of the internet.
Elizabeth Dugan: Oh, thanks.
Jodi: I know that you are a fan favorite because I get dms all the time from women inside my mastermind, women who aren't even inside the mastermind. Other people saying like, Elizabeth told me this and this and this and this, and I'm just like that, Elizabeth.
I'm absolutely in love with her. And then everybody always responds, isn't she so amazing? [00:06:00] Isn't she so great?
Elizabeth Dugan: Oh, you're making me flush.
Jodi: I mean, truthfully, whenever we ran the beta round of the Mastermind last year, I fell in love with literally all of you. It was such a great round, and I love how close your guys' relationship still is.
I mean, I don't know how much the whole group is, but I know that so many good relationships were formed inside of there, and then it warms my heart so much to see women that are in this group too have connected with you from talking through it. Whenever they were deciding whether or not they wanted to jump in, a lot of them reached out to you girls from the last round.
Say, Hey, I'm thinking about the posers Mastermind. I'm thinking about this. Walk me through it. Did it help with your business? And like all of that. And so the fact that you're out there still saying amazing thing about posers, I'm over here with little sparkles around my heart.
Elizabeth Dugan: I mean, you did transform.
My life. So
Jodi: I mean, I did raise you.
Elizabeth Dugan: You, you basically [00:07:00] did. You are mother.
Jodi: I love it. Okay, so I want to be very transparent in this episode because the Poser Mastermind is launching again here really soon. And I was talking with the team and they were like, you know what has proved so beneficial for so many people whenever they're jumping into the Mastermind is to be able to talk to the women who've.
Gone through it before, and so they were saying like, let's have some of the girls come on that way. This episode is very much so geared towards if you are on the fence or if you are really thinking about whether or not you wanna jump into the mastermind. Elizabeth is like, not that she speaks for anybody else except for herself, but she is kind of like.
Here to answer those questions and sort of get, I don't know, a little bit of clarity about like what we go over, what we talk about, what kind of impact it had for you. And I also wanna make sure that, [00:08:00] I'm letting the listeners know here too, that after the Mastermind. I have kept in touch with quite a few people at you, obviously being one of them.
So anytime something's happening in your business, you'll still send me screenshots of sales that you have, or you'll still tell me big wins. Or you'll still come in and say like, Hey, I'm struggling with this here. But we also talk a little bit broader about just life and in general and like we've gotten a little bit closer outside of the Mastermind.
So. I also want to make sure that everybody who's listening knows that you and I have a close enough relationship that if I'm trying to blow smoke or if I'm trying to like bullshit my way through something that you are going to be like, Jody, no, this part of the mastermind sucked, or This could be better, or something like that.
Right? You feel comfortable to be honest and tell me the truth.
Elizabeth Dugan: Oh, 100%. We live a very unfiltered life here. Okay. There is nothing hidden. There is nothing unsaid. We are a, A team here.
Jodi: I also [00:09:00] forgot, but we should have said this at the very beginning of the episode, but I forgot to tell everybody that this is your very first time on a podcast that we're popping your podcast cherry.
Elizabeth Dugan: Yes, I popped a fresh Cherry Coke special notification,
Jodi: a cherry Coke. I love it. Okay, but so not only are we unfiltered, but this is also, you've had no media training is
Elizabeth Dugan: No, I just talked to my Instagram stories all day and see that. That's great.
Jodi: I'm kidding. I'm just, I'm obsessed with the fact that we've gotten a little bit closer, and I know for a fact that if I try to say something that sounds like fluff or sound, not that I ever would like, I think I'm incapable of doing that, but just in case, if anybody feels as though this episode is trying to be too salesy or trying to be too pushy or trying to get you into the Mastermind, the whole point is that.
I wanna make sure that if you are investing that kind of money with me, that you have people like Elizabeth or any of the other girls who have gone through it to really ask [00:10:00] truthful questions to know whether or not it's the right fit for you. So with all of that, like groundwork being laid, let's get into it.
Yes.
Elizabeth Dugan: Let's do it.
Jodi: Okay. I love it. All right, so let's start off with what your business felt like or looked like before you were jumping into the Mastermind with me. 'cause I have my perceptions of like what was happening with your business, but let's hear it from you.
Elizabeth Dugan: So, my business was born during COVID.
I was a COVID business that accidentally happened. I remember sitting in my car with my wife and our daughter at the time, driving around to neighborhoods in South Tampa doing front porch sessions, and it was just kind of a way to, you know, get people out of their homes during this crazy time, but also so I could buy diapers.
I was charging $50 editing on my phone and texting them [00:11:00] photos 20 minutes later.
Jodi: Wait, I didn't know that.
Elizabeth Dugan: Yes.
Jodi: Hold on. Pause. I, everybody's gonna be like, I thought you said you guys were close. Wait, hold on. What were you doing pre COVI?
Elizabeth Dugan: Pre CO, I've kind of dabbled in all of the things. Creative. I was in the bridal space working in designing on wedding dresses.
At one point in time. I ran social media for female owned small business product companies. So I've always had my hand in kind of a creative space. But the shift when I started photography was because my clients weren't going to market because they couldn't go to market. There was no market during COVID, and I was like, well, shit, wait, am I allowed to cuss on here?
Jodi: Elizabeth,
welcome. [00:12:00] How dare. Okay. I literally just said, I have no idea who you were prior to the Mastermind, and I'm just claiming that we're like close, and then you're like, am I allowed to cuss? I'm like, are you nuts?
Elizabeth Dugan: I was really hoping that you were gonna open this podcast with, please describe who I am so I could say You are country mother.
And I was like, you know what? I probably can't say that.
Jodi: I actually, I think that I've said the C word once on here. I'm not sure. Elizabeth, do we need to just roll out the first fuck of the, of the podcast like,
Elizabeth Dugan: cheers.
Jodi: Cheers. Gimme your cherry coke for a cheers. Um. Okay, let's get back to it. Let's get back to it.
Okay. So you've always been a, a little bit like you've been in the creative space, but how did you decide to pick up a camera and do like front porch sessions?
Elizabeth Dugan: So my clients that I was managing their socials [00:13:00] needed content and I was like, I can do that. Of course I can do that. I can do anything. So I borrowed $500 from my partner, who was not my wife back then, but is my wife now.
And I was like, I need a loan of $500. Will you trust me on this? And just see it through it with me. She was like, okay, like what are you getting into now? What is happening? And I went to Target and I bought a Cannon Lens kit camera.
Jodi: Hold
Elizabeth Dugan: on, also pause.
Jodi: Pause to be your wife. I'm guessing we're never gonna get to business to be your wife.
I can't. I can't do this. I can't laugh and cough at the same time. To be, Shauna would be like, I'm guessing that these conversations happen every week. Like, oh, here's a new business. Here's something new I'm gonna do.
Elizabeth Dugan: You know, we are seven years in [00:14:00] almost, and she is to the point now where she just doesn't even question what's going on in my head.
She can only assume and imagine. It's always a treat. It's always a surprise for her.
Jodi: I actually love this so much only because I know our whole entire like arc of our storyline, and I know that at the end of the Mastermind, after we went through everything, after we changed your business, after you started really making money inside of your business, you sent me, I might get emotional saying this on a podcast, especially like looking you dead in the eye saying it, but you sent me a DM that said.
You changed my family's life, which is crazy. Look, don't get, don't, don't you? Well, a tear. Don't you do it because if you
Elizabeth Dugan: off, yeah.
Jodi: If you do it, I'll do it. And we both put on makeup today, so.
Okay, but so back up a little bit. Whenever [00:15:00] I came upon the scene, whenever we jumped into the Mastermind, because I don't even think we did a discovery call, I don't think that we did any of that. I actually don't think anybody of that round did a discovery call. Everybody jumped in. I sold it out the week that I even said I was gonna do it.
So we sold out the 10 women, but we never did a discovery call. So by the time that we got into the Mastermind, it took until we had a one-on-one in order for me to get the behind the scenes of like what your business was doing actually, and the way I remember it. Is that you were doing mini sessions?
Mini sessions, like a motherfucker all over the place. Listen, no judge and jury here. If you love a mini session, I love that for you. I want you to keep doing everything that you're doing, but Elizabeth was doing mini sessions till her fingers were falling off, right?
Elizabeth Dugan: I was shooting for eight to 10 hours a day coming home and then up all night long editing, and that was pretty [00:16:00] much.
My entire identity from September through December Nonstop. Yeah.
Jodi: See that's what I remember. And you were charging like $350 or something like that for these sessions. And they included all of the images, everything. And then you were, you were over delivering even with all of the images. So like you were doing hundreds and hundreds of mini sessions.
Per year, if not maybe approaching a thousand.
Elizabeth Dugan: I mean, on one day I would do 50 Santa sessions.
Jodi: Say that again.
Elizabeth Dugan: Yeah. I did 50 Santa sessions a day and I did that three days
Jodi: on top of what you were already doing with other
Elizabeth Dugan: community sessions? Oh yeah. On top of all of my fall sessions and you know, my normal in the studio or newborn sessions that I had already pre had on the calendar.
Outside of the mini sessions. Okay. It, it was insane. [00:17:00]
Jodi: That is absolutely like even saying it again now, I remember thinking whenever we were going through it before, I was like, how are you doing this without burning out? And I remember telling you, if you don't change this trajectory, you're not going to survive this much longer.
Elizabeth Dugan: Yeah. And I felt that, and my body started feeling that. My marriage started feeling that. My children started feeling that. And I was like, okay, something. Something's gotta give.
Jodi: Yeah, but the thing I always loved about you, and honestly I didn't even know that part of your story about how you started with the COVID sessions like that, but this is very much so of your mindset that you are just like, I can do anything.
I can pick it up. I can do that. I'm creative. I can figure this out, but. Then you got into it and you created this monster, you created a cage for yourself that didn't even let you see your family or anything like that, but you had this really instinctual drive for business already, [00:18:00] which was something that automatically attracted me to you.
Elizabeth Dugan: Yeah, I've definitely always been a go-getter and you know, to some people, this may sound bad, but I am such a. Not stay at home. Mom and I tell people this all the time, that like come to me and chat with me is I'm a better mom when I'm fulfilled. With my work work and I'm happy in my work and what I'm doing.
'cause I can go home and turn off and then just be mom and I don't have to stress about work.
Jodi: Yeah. I used to say the same thing all the time, whenever my babies were little. Was that like being a stay-at-home mom was so hard. It was also so mind numbing that I couldn't do it. It didn't fulfill me in that kinda way.
Like I loved my kids, loved whenever I could stay home with them, but if I didn't have something else that I was doing, there was no way that I was ever going to be happy because it filled my day. And it like, obviously it's hardest job on the planet, [00:19:00] but it didn't ever make me feel happy about myself.
Yeah. And what I was doing. So I agree with you like a hundred percent that me and you have that same sort of like personality for sure. But I also remember that when you started the Mastermind you were terrified
Elizabeth Dugan: 100%. And I don't even know if you remember this, but you closed the Mastermind and I remember.
Voice. I was pushing Alfie in the stroller on our walk, and you were like, you can do it. I can see if they can open up a spot for you. I was like, oh, I just, I don't know if I can do it. I don't financially know if I can do it. How am I gonna explain this to my wife that I wanna spend this money to do this?
She already thinks I'm crazy, and I was like, you know what? Fuck it.
Jodi: We've, we've, we've already solidified the fact that her wife thinks she's crazy.
Elizabeth Dugan: Yes. I was like, you know what? I was like, text them right now. Send me the link, like I'm gonna do it. And I did.
Jodi: I [00:20:00] do remember this. Now that you're saying it, I do remember, I don't know if we were.
We weren't on a call though, but I do remember maybe you sent a photo 'cause you do this a lot. Anytime I'm talking to you, you send me a photo of whatever it is that you're doing or I think maybe we were voice noting that's what it was. Yes. Yeah. We were voice noting back and forth and you were saying, I'm out on a walk right now and doing all that.
I don't remember that I had closed it though. So you were technically the 11th.
Elizabeth Dugan: I think
Jodi: so. Yeah, that's what it was. And then one of the members had a family member who passed away and she like pulled out because of that. And so then we ended up with the Corin. And that you were involved with that? I completely forgot about that.
Okay. But walk me through what you were so terrified with.
Elizabeth Dugan: Yeah. I mean, so many things from how are my clients who are so accustomed to. A drive through style [00:21:00] experience, going to see the value in what I'm trying to create. Am I going to be information overload and crash and burn? Am I going to shut down when I'm uncomfortable because I know that about myself and how, how the hell am I gonna do this?
In the middle of busy season.
Jodi: Yeah. I remember the fact that we did the mastermind during the middle of busy season is also something that's a sidestep side note, but I remember you saying that you thought. That your business would implode if you stopped doing like mini sessions and if you stopped doing the cheap sessions, what was it that like made you decide to take the risk anyways?
Elizabeth Dugan: I think because I had finally reached a point of the exhaustion [00:22:00] physically and mentally, that I was like, I know that I am talented. I think I'm an okay photographer. I know I have really great connections with people, so
Jodi: you know that I'm gonna be mad at Get off of the Posers podcast right now. Get off of the Posers podcast with that mediocre confidence I can see through it.
You're trying to be polite for the people and I need you to. Rewind it back because this is the posters podcast. Go back and say that statement of exactly what you actually think about your work.
Elizabeth Dugan: My work now I'm really fucking proud of.
Jodi: Thank
Elizabeth Dugan: you. I love what I'm creating.
Jodi: Thank
Elizabeth Dugan: you. But it's because I have the time to do what I actually love and what I actually want to, and create the shit that I actually care about because I'm not doing so in.
A 5, 10, 15 minute session [00:23:00] where it's a, hello, stand here, smile. Goodbye.
Jodi: Wait, hold on. I don't even think that I connected those dots because I know that your work has shifted. I know that your work has really changed and we've talked about that. We've talked about like the confidence level, and you really kind of like finding who you were as an artist during the Mastermind, which is funny enough because that's not the basis of the Mastermind.
The basis of the Mastermind is to. Really focus on the business and understand the structure inside of your business in order to move yourself into six and multi-six figures. So the fact that you felt such a shift creatively is like something that's really important to note. But I hadn't connected the dots of you saying like you just did now, is that you felt like you had to be a churn and burn.
Yeah, like you didn't even have the room for creativity because. If you're doing a five minute, 10 minute session, then [00:24:00] obviously you're gonna come in and you're gonna get like set poses, set this, set that. But I don't think that I even like put two and two together, that there wasn't even time, there wasn't even space for you to expand.
Even if you wanted to try something new, you wouldn't have ever even had the time to get like a client warmed up enough to like do something different with you.
Elizabeth Dugan: There was no connection. There was no. Creating spaces to have these warm and welcoming environments. It was so impersonal
Jodi: and, but the crazy thing is, this is not on our, like, this is not on our topic list here.
That's why I'm sort of like jumping in and being like, but hold on. The crazy part is, is that even with this like McDonald's style drive-through of photography that you were doing, like your clients still. Coveted you. They still like loved you so loyally and so through and through that, even within five or 10 minutes, [00:25:00] Elizabeth was still shining.
Elizabeth Dugan: Oh, 100%. I will say I do have quite a cult following in my area. I have my loyal girlies. I have my families that have fully grown with me the last five years. And aside from photography, I am who I am as a person and it bleeds into my business. So I think my very authoritative personality really relates and kind of blends.
Jodi: I think authoritative is not the word
Elizabeth Dugan: that bitch that better,
Jodi: but no, like you are not authoritative at all and I don't think you're a bitch either. I think that it's like you're actually like effervescent, like I think, I think that you're actually probably lower. You're you, you have a contagious, like quality of you that like if you walk into a space and like have a beaming smile, then the [00:26:00] people around, like that's contagious for people, but.
You also very much have like hype girl status. Even literally the very first day that I met you, like you had no idea that you were being the hype girl. For me, that of like what I needed that day, I don't remember it. 'cause I know that I've talked about you. Before on the podcast, but not necessarily did I introduce that, like to connect the dots that you are the person that whenever I was going to speak on stage at a conference for the very first time and I was literally shitting my pants and I walked through the door into the conference.
You were sitting on the couch and you said to me like, oh my God, can I just tell you that I binged the podcast last night and I'm so obsessed with you, and I like fell to my knees. And I was like, oh my God, you have no idea how bad I needed to hear that right now. So I just don't want you to minimize what you do and what you bring to the table because it's not authoritative and it is not bitchy [00:27:00] by any means whatsoever.
Like we're okay. Thank you, mom. Like we're guys, we're back in the podcast. I mean, we're back in the mastermind. Okay, so understanding this model. Even better now because I feel, I feel like, hi, nice to meet you. I'm just getting to know you even deeper. Understanding all of this, it really makes me have a clear understanding too of why you were so scared to move into the IPS.
Because you weren't doing any of that. You were literally churn and burn. You were all inclusive. You were delivering 60 to 70 photos or so, probably more. 'cause I'd see your eyeballs getting really big for every single one of these mini sessions that you were doing, which I didn't even know how you were making that many photos out of a mini session.
But, so walk me through. Feeling [00:28:00] so incredibly terrified to slide into in-person sales. You literally thought that that was going to break your business.
Elizabeth Dugan: Yeah. I think too, I was just so set in my way and comfortable and I also felt like, you know, I maybe don't have the work that can show that I'm worth the investment because of the style of imagery I was putting out and pushing out.
Also, I've had clients come to me who are like, you know, we want photos, but we, you know, can't necessarily afford it. Or, I was just always the girl that was being tagged on the, those famous Facebook posts. That's like, I'm looking for a photographer that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. And I'm like, oh, how did I get myself here?
Why am I here? Yeah. I don't wanna be that girl. Like I, I don't wanna be that. Person you tag under something like that.
Jodi: Yeah. So then [00:29:00] whenever we like God, it, I just, I just wish that I could like paint the whole picture of like how many conversations you and I had and how scared you were and how much you, and I think it was that, it was like, how do I go from being a photographer who's known as the not the arm and the leg photographer in the Facebook groups to then charging and making.
Thousands of dollars on every single shoot. So I literally had to hold your hand and walk you through the idea that we were gonna build a transition plan for your clients, and you were close to tears and you were like, okay, okay, I'm gonna do it. What, was there something that I said, or was there something happening in your life where you were just like, now is the time I'm either gonna make this jump or I'm not.
Elizabeth Dugan: I think you have really. Given me the space to feel uncomfortable and completely break me down in a way that I [00:30:00] needed to be broke down. Because everything I was getting before was praise. And oh my gosh, you're doing so great. This is great. Your business is successful. You know, I was making six figures, but I was exhausted and I was right at that threshold of, you know, a hundred to 150,000 a year.
Where to some people that's a dream. But to me. I was really stuck and I was stuck there shooting hundreds and hundreds of sessions a year. Um, and when you really broke it down for me, what I was delivering and. Showing me, you know, you're making 5 cents an image. And I wanted to vomit. And I was like,
Jodi: it really was.
It was like that. It was that low that, yeah. I remember breaking it down being like, you, you would have a better quality of life if you wouldn't worked at McDonald's. And we both know how much you and I both love Donald's.
Elizabeth Dugan: Yeah. Like that.
Jodi: So you could, you could've worked your dream job
Elizabeth Dugan: truly. [00:31:00] The amount of French fries and CO
Jodi: and Coca-Cola.
Okay. So whenever we did the transition plan for your clients, and you were really panicking because that like, like we said, your client, you felt like your clients wanted you because you were cheap. So what surprised you about what your clients actually said or did like after you went through that transition campaign with them?
Elizabeth Dugan: So I had already pre-booked out my fall. I, I launched my fall openings in June before we had started the Mastermind.
Jodi: Yep.
Elizabeth Dugan: Um, and I had, you know, my set stuff, but I was like, you know what, I, people know that I closed my books and there's nothing else open, so I am gonna go ahead and just update my website.
And you held my hand and you were like, you need to stop. Looking like a cutesy little mom [00:32:00] photographer. We're gonna elevate this, we're gonna change this, we're gonna add black to your wardrobe. Hey, it's giving a luxury, you know, and we, we kind of built this little badass business in the heat of the crazy, and I hit publish and I got a booking and I was like, oh my God.
Wait, do they, do they know that like. They have to pay again after this fee. I is this, are they doing this? Is this really happening? And they did. They came in, it was a 20 minute cake smash session and I had never done a reveal before. I didn't know what the hell I was doing, but I walked in there like it was so normal.
And my very first IPS sale. Well, you walked
Jodi: in there 'cause it was so normal because. Wait, what? Hold on. Wait, wait, wait. I, I messed up the, like I interrupted you there. Go back. Say what it was again.
Elizabeth Dugan: $5,600. [00:33:00]
Jodi: Oh, wait, wait. Say that again.
Elizabeth Dugan: My first sale was $5,600.
Jodi: Your first day was $5,600 on a 20 minute cake smash on a shoot that you wouldn't have ever even booked had we not gone through and like ripped everything apart and built it all back.
Yeah. Elizabeth actually like, that's crazy. Like. $5,600 on a 20 minute session. That's crazy. In my world. And this, this was your first sale, okay.
Elizabeth Dugan: Yeah. Mm-hmm. And I remember sitting there, like going through and, you know, we designed their album and we like did a whole gallery wall and they picked out their images and I just, the whole time am sitting there like, oh my God.
Oh my God, no, this isn't happening. Like [00:34:00] this isn't gonna go through and. I used my, my Jody confidence and I was like, okay, I just texted you your link. You know, once your invoice is, you know, taken care of, like I'll show you some other things, blah, blah, blah, whatever. We were just chitchatting and top with the credit card, and I was like, what the fuck is this actually happening right now?
But I had to like,
Jodi: and then you screenshotted it and you sent it to me and we both just started like having the craziest dance party.
Elizabeth Dugan: 100%. And I think I, I was so shocked in that being my first one, I was like, okay, that was, you know, an anomaly. That won't happen again. But it's continued happening and it's a very real thing that happens.
And I even still have to remind myself now, like you. Can do it and you are doing it and be proud that you're doing it because you worked your ass off to get here and you did all of the really hard grunt work to get here.
Jodi: [00:35:00] Yeah. What would've happened, like, let's say this, let's say you didn't go through the Mastermind and you were like trying to make this shift.
What do you think would've happened if you went into that sales room that day without the sales script, without understanding like how to run the actual sales room that you learned inside the Mastermind? Would you have just shut your pants
Elizabeth Dugan: 100 times over? There wouldn't have been a sales meeting that wouldn't have that have that wouldn't have existed, and I truly don't think I would've ever gotten to this point.
Had I not had you there to really shake myself and tell me that it's okay and I can do it.
Jodi: You needed exactly that. Somebody to shake you by the shoulders and like show you how good you are and just rearrange like. A few things and that was it. I remember like you did that one and then you kept on sending me [00:36:00] screenshots after that.
There was one that you had three reveals in a day and you were sending me 2000, 3000 like. Just screenshots, one after the other. So even though your books were already closed, you ran a very small sort of launch or something to book a few more full sessions that fall, right? You did like 10 of them or something?
Elizabeth Dugan: Yeah. So I was supposed to go on a vacation. Ended up changing my plans. I was like, you know what? Lemme just try and run a little spicy email campaign. Let me put some, Jody, touch on.
Jodi: I was gonna say all, all poser email
Elizabeth Dugan: campaign.
Jodi: Okay.
Elizabeth Dugan: Lemme just try it. And I did like a little, you know, a little lunch method email campaign.
Like even if I book a couple just to kind of like get me through, I'll use these as like my teaching lesson for myself or whatever. And every single client was like, this is amazing. I had no idea you did this. [00:37:00] Why haven't you been doing this all along? I would love frames. I would love albums. This is great.
Can I go back for my sessions from the last five years? And we do all of this for all of this stuff that you've done for us before, and I was like, oh fuck. I couldn't
Jodi: be doing
Elizabeth Dugan: this.
Jodi: Let me, let me, let me rephrase that. So basically, your clients loved the fact that you are now offering like even more of a service that you were offering to service them even further in the way that photographers technically should.
Elizabeth Dugan: Yes.
Jodi: Yes. So I, I'm just, I'm just walking you back through that fear. I'm just, you know, just walking. Let's, so going back to like Elizabeth, whenever you started the Mastermind and now Elizabeth who understands what IPS actually is and how beneficial it is for our clients, like, what would you say to Elizabeth at the beginning [00:38:00] from Elizabeth now in order to sort of like, I don't know, facilitate that process even further?
Elizabeth Dugan: Oh my gosh, I, I don't even know. I wish that I could see the confidence and the peace and happiness in my life and in my marriage and in my business and the space that I've created that's fully and truly mine in style, and really just being who I am versus feeling like I had to. Push someone who I truly, deep down wasn't to fit this narrative that I thought I had to be, to make money and have clients.
Jodi: I remember that. 'cause I, I remember you also saying to me that you didn't feel like you could create in the way that you wanted to create. You felt like you had to fit the mold of your area
Elizabeth Dugan: 100%. Especially because some other. [00:39:00] Successful photographers who do more of this model had that very same vision.
And I was like,
Jodi: uh,
Elizabeth Dugan: you know, I have to look like this, or I have to have my clients wear stuff like this, or my furniture has to be this way. And I was like, but it's just, it's just not me.
Jodi: Yeah. Not you at all. It's just, it's so crazy how much of like a 180 you've made since. 'cause we're not even a year out.
Like the Mastermind last year started in August, went through October, and so we're not even a year out. And now your whole entire business is completely switched over. Right? Like no more minis, no more like all inclusive, no more anything. Right.
Elizabeth Dugan: No, and this is the first calendar year starting January that I didn't do Valentine's Day.
I'm not doing Easter Bunny. Like when I tell you that I was the girl who did all of the minis, like that was me. So when people were like, oh, you know, when are your Valentine's Day sessions? I'm like, love you, babe, [00:40:00] but I'm not doing them anymore. And they were like, but then they were like, you know what? I love that for you.
We love watching you grow like props to you.
Jodi: Your clients who are loyal to you the whole time, they love to be part of the build. They love to see you elevating, right?
Elizabeth Dugan: Oh my gosh. The amount of messages. I literally got a DM last night from someone being like, we've loved watching you grow over the past few years.
We love everything you're doing. You know, we're welcoming our second baby in June. I can't wait to work with you this time again.
Jodi: They want to pay the prices. They want to get all of the goods. They want to have pieces of Elizabeth Dugan like inside of their home.
Elizabeth Dugan: Yeah. Which is really cool. And I had a client that I very first started with my COVID front porch, who's been so wonderful and has been on all of the growing journeys with me.
And we just did a massive, massive wall. Gallery. Stair. Stair. Oh my.
Jodi: Oh my God. I saw, I [00:41:00] saw that
Elizabeth Dugan: on your Instagram. Yeah, it massive.
Jodi: It was huge.
Elizabeth Dugan: The, the matting alone is four inches all the way around, so you, and like the photos are fucking huge, but she's been with me since I very first started and we took photos from the past five years and we grew an entire wall.
And she was like, I love this. I've always wanted something like this. And the fact that I get to do this with you and continue growing, this is incredible.
Jodi: I wanna know how much that was. How much was that sale?
Elizabeth Dugan: I think that was close to seven.
Jodi: Oh my God. You went from $350 mini sessions that were burning you out all over the place to now making $7,000 per, I mean, not per, that's not your average, but making that kind of money each time that you're having reveal sessions.
How did like, I mean. Is there anything from the mastermind too that, like what about that relationship with money? Like did any of that have to change inside of the Mastermind so that you could [00:42:00] just like even welcome in that kind of growth?
Elizabeth Dugan: I think for me, you know, money has always been like a very touchy and kept saying, you know, it's not something that I even think women talk about really, and I wish.
People felt more open and candid to being like, look, I'm successful. I'm a woman. I've created this business. This is what I'm doing. But aside from that, I felt like I was always chasing numbers because I knew I needed X amount of sessions to get me to a number that I needed to survive. And now I have internally struggled a little bit because, you know, I'm not shooting.
30 to 50 sessions a month anymore. So in my head I have to like really retrain myself to be like, it's okay that you only have two or three because you're gonna make the same amount of money on those two and three. So stop looking about the quantity [00:43:00] of sessions and think about the quality of work that you're delivering to make that same amount of money for those people.
Jodi: I can't even imagine the mind fuck there that like the panic that you probably felt in these first few months of the year of like, I'm not doing Valentine's, I'm not doing Easters, I'm not doing this. I'm not like stretched so thin. I'm not working so hard. And so then you think I'm failing.
Elizabeth Dugan: Mm-hmm.
Jodi: That panic.
I wonder, I wonder how long that's gonna take to like get rid of that out of your nervous system.
Elizabeth Dugan: I, I did run a launch method in November to book out my sprain calendar because something I learned in the Mastermind and it was really successful. And I pre, I pre-booked 50 sessions for this calendar year.
So
Jodi: wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. [00:44:00] Guys. The, the reason why I get a little bit surprised by this is 'cause sometimes, like Elizabeth does not tell me these sort of things. I knew, I knew that you were running your unveiled series during
Elizabeth Dugan: Yeah,
Jodi: the Mastermind, but you also ran what on the Black Friday one that I taught you.
Elizabeth Dugan: Yep. So I ran like my, you know, $97 session fee and booked 50 of them.
Jodi: Great. Off of my launch method, off of my launch method that I taught you inside the Mastermind. You launched it on Black Friday and you sold out 50 sessions for this spring. So whenever January rolled around, like you didn't have to worry about your spring calendar at all.
You were just already like. Nope, I've got 50 sessions. I'm good. I don't have to pound the pavement. There is no, there is no worry about where my next booking is coming from.
Elizabeth Dugan: Yeah.
Jodi: I don't think that I knew this, Elizabeth, I, I knew that you had done your unveiled series Unveiled. She started to like step into the world of boudoir and Unveiled was the series [00:45:00] that she did for boudoir.
So I knew you were running that. I don't think you ever told me that you did another launch and that it was that successful. Wait, I feel like such a proud mom. She, she's cackling over there. Like, she's just like, oh yeah. You know? Oh yeah. You know, I just popped this off and I just did this. But I'm not surprised either because we haven't even made it through this next round of the Mastermind.
We haven't gone through anything. IPS, we were like halfway through. Other girls inside of it are just starting, like we've just gotten through the launch system, which is one of the biggest parts of the Mastermind for sure. But we've just gotten through that and so they're all starting to pop off little like spring launches in order to do motherhood.
And some of 'em are planning for summer launches. And one of the girls in there just launched just a couple days ago and she sold out 22 sessions like at the drop of a hat. And I'm just like, this shit works, you guys is really shit. Worse. Oh my God. It does. I'm a [00:46:00] okay. I'm obsessed because now like it comes full circle to see like what you wrote me in that DM was like, you actually like changed my life.
Like you actually changed my family's life and it's because of this like of this right here that now you literally get to spend time with your kids again.
Elizabeth Dugan: Yeah. I get to do the things that. I resented them for wanting to do as simple as sitting and playing on the floor because I was so stressed and overwhelmed about editing and shooting and schedules and sessions and all of the bullshit that I resented them because I had to focus on my business so I, I could survive.
And it's completely changed the game. I mean, my kids have been home for the last week and it's been, it's fine and it's okay, and I'm not stressed.
Jodi: Yeah. Do you care if I get a little personal for a second?
Elizabeth Dugan: No, [00:47:00]
Jodi: I know you're very much an open book. What has it done for your marriage?
Elizabeth Dugan: We like each other.
Again, we, we, she just popped her head around the corner and I was like, go away.
Jodi: Go away. Go away, wife, go away. So you guys like each other again?
Elizabeth Dugan: We do. We went on a vacation. Together, which was incredible. Um, we got to spend genuine time together. I didn't bring my computer because I had to edit. I have set some really intentional boundaries.
I specifically take two days off a week, fully off, no working, no emails, no editing, no nothing, and it's just allowed us to kind of have a consistent schedule and fall back in love with each other. '
Jodi: cause you also know that you can do all that. You can put that stuff away and you're still making money.
Elizabeth Dugan: Yes.
Jodi: I love that. I love that so freaking much. Okay. I know that you are booked [00:48:00] and busy. You've got a session that you have to get to. So I know you have to jump off this call. One more tiny thing. If there was anybody who's on the fence about joining the Mastermind, what would you tell them
Elizabeth Dugan: If. They were on the fence.
They should welcomely get stabbed by said fence because you wait, lemme finish. We got, because we will stitch them up so perfectly and, and show them. What they can do.
Jodi: You're so like my morbid, like stepsister somehow. Like get off the fence, stab yourself with it, and then let Jody stitch you back together.
Elizabeth Dugan: Stitch you back up because you did, you did you? You know what's so funny real quick too. I remember chatting with someone who was like, I'm just nervous. And I'm like, well, if you want to be ripped to shreds. You want your entire, entire life and identity completely stripped down [00:49:00] and basically go run naked in the street, but then be cheered on at the end.
Jodi's your girl.
Jodi: Okay. Remove Elizabeth from the marketing team. She's no longer.
I if you want your business broken down in the best way and rebuilt to where it can actually be a money making machine. Is that what you meant to say?
Elizabeth Dugan: Yes.
Jodi: Oh yes. But also your inside shredded. Okay.
I love you so freaking much. I'm gonna have a coughing attack, okay? So I know you have to pop off. We're gonna wrap up this session. I just wanna tell you guys, like if you have any questions at all, Elizabeth Dugan photography on Instagram. She would love to take your questions, wouldn't you?
Elizabeth Dugan: I'm going, yes, let's get stopped by fences together.
Jodi: I love it. The next round of the Mastermind is opening up here within like the next 30 days or so. [00:50:00] If for any reason you feel like this conversation has motivated you and you're like, you know what, I would love to get stabbed by a fence. You can hop into, you can hop into the show notes and sign up for.
The wait list so that you are one of the very first to know when we are actually opening the doors. And Elizabeth, thank you. I love you dearly. Go do your photo shoot and go kick some ass. Love
Elizabeth Dugan: you.
Jodi: Bye babe.
Outro: Okay, so that is a wrap on this episode of the Posers Podcast. If you loved it, please subscribe, rate, and review because honestly, algorithms are needier than all of our ex-boyfriends combined. And ladies, I need all the help I can get. If you've got thoughts, questions, love letters, even hate mail, please send them my way.
I actually read every single one of them. So until next time, stapled, stay messy and don't let the bullshit win. Tits up. Ears open and go build something. Incredible. Bye for now, friends.
