Sarah Petty: Melissa Holkeabor was a busy photographer managing 8 to 10 weddings a year, plus family, senior and engagement sessions, all while working full-time as a nurse and raising two kids, Mia, 11, and Wyatt, 7, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Overwhelmed by editing and the demands of her lifestyle, Melissa joined the Boutique Breakthrough Workshop. Today, she’ll share her story of what it looks like to juggle boutique breakthrough in a photography business with a family and a full-time job.
Hey there, my name’s Sarah Petty, and I went from a stressed out overworked mama with three babies, to being named one of America’s most profitable photographers without working my kids’ lives away. Now I’m the founder of the Photography Business Institute, where we provide guided support from start to finish, whether you’re a beginner photographer dipping your toes in, or a more advanced photographer with big income goals. Each week on this podcast, I’ll show you how to find and serve photography clients in a world where we compete with free thanks to everyone having a digital camera in their pocket. Take the first step to adding more joy and profit to your life by downloading your free photography business tools at photographybusinessinstitute.com. Welcome Melissa. Thanks. You’re in Michigan. Tell us about your life. You don’t have a studio, you have kids, you’re working full time. What does your life look like?
Melissa Holkeabor: So I’m working part-time now because of boutique breakthrough, yay. So I am a nurse part-time. I was trained as a nurse. Started my photography business back in 2009 and have been digital since boutique until Brotique Breakthrough. So it’s been lots of work for very little back. And then it’s just, it’s too much with working and my kids and photography.
Sarah Petty: Let me jump in here. So when you were doing this all those years of raising kids and working full-time and doing digital, how were you justifying doing that? Like what were you saying to yourself? It’s okay because it’s just extra money because I have a full-time job. Or what was the conversation in your head?
Melissa Holkeabor: The goal in my head was always to be able to walk away from nursing and just do photography. And I tried for years, and that digital model just was not working for me to be able to do that. And I still loved photography, but I had to continue paying the bills.
Sarah Petty: Had you tried other programs or were you learning? What did that look like? I had tried other programs or were you learning? What did that look like?
Melissa Holkeabor: I had tried other programs. Part of it was I didn’t have the time to put into the programs. And part of it was they just didn’t work. They weren’t what I needed.
Sarah Petty: Did you feel like you were buying pieces of the puzzle?
Melissa Holkeabor: Yeah, I felt like that. And I felt like a lot of the other programs are so like self-paced. And having that community and the accountability is what I need. Like I need someone to kick me in the butt and be like, you’ve got to get this going, you have to do this, you know, you have other people there that are checking in on you or making sure you’re doing it. Plus with a community you can see everybody else and how well they’re doing and you’re like,, Oh, okay, I can do this too. Then like, if all these people are doing it, why can’t I, and why am I not doing it? Yeah.
Sarah Petty: Yeah.
Melissa Holkeabor: So that was just kind of basically the kick in the butt I needed.
Sarah Petty: So you were working full time. You’d been grinding this out. You’re frustrated. You tried this, try that, tried this, tried that. And then you came across like a training or something of mine, and I probably laid out, hey, this is what I teach. Looks like it looks very different. What opened up for you when you heard that? Was that the first time you’d heard that, or what did that look like?
Melissa Holkeabor: I think, I mean, I’d seen your name around here and there. I think I actually, after doing Boutique Breakthrough, I found the worth every penny book that I had gotten a long time ago and apparently never did that challenge which kind of made me laugh but what happened right before I did boutique breakthrough is I ended up having a pretty bad infection in my face my face I looked like Shrek having a stroke it was terrible and from stress or you don’t even know? It was stress related. I also have some weird like allergy things, but I had like a bug bite and ended up getting cellulitis in my whole face and had to go to the ER and was, was very sick, very painful, like worse than childbirth pain. And had had a pretty bad year at work.nd after that I was just like, I can’t keep doing this. Like I have to do something different. And then I saw a booking boost challenge and I signed up for that. And I went through that and I was just like, this makes so much sense. And this could like help me really like Tassie was saying, like really serve the clients and still protect my time and still allow me to do what I love, which is photography, but also do my best for my clients as well and still be there for my kids. And so that five days was great. It just really like blew my mind on what was possible and where I could go with this. And it finally, it was like, this could be my ticket to just being a full-time photographer.
Sarah Petty: Like the pot, seeing the possibility is the first step, right? Because if you don’t see the picture on the puzzle box, you’re still just, you’re grabbing pieces and you don’t know how they go together. I love that. Like for me too, when I’m learning,. I see the possibility now, right? Yes. So then you came to the price in the investment. So what happened with that?
Melissa Holkeabor: So it was a lot of money. I had missed quite a bit of work that year because of some other things that happened, and then some health things. And so our savings was gone. I didn’t know what to do. I was crying every night because I was just like this is I’m done. I don’t want to do this anymore, and I was like, I really want to do this program. It’s you know this much money, I don’t know where we would get that from, and my husband said let’s ask Scott and Scott’s his boss and I’m like, oh, I don’t want to ask Scott like that Feels so weird to like walk into his office and ask. And he was like, I think he would help you. And I think he would understand. I think if you tell him about like how you would like to be at home more and be with the kids, and eventually walk away from your job. And I think you could also offer to do pictures for him in return to pay it off. And I was like, I, about a week we talked about it and I was like, no, I can’t, I can’t, I can’t. And then I was finally like, okay, I got to, I’m dying. I just want to do it. Let’s go. And so we went in, set up a meeting with him. And I remember standing there, and I looked at my husband, Brad, and he goes, This is your thing, you gotta talk. And I was like, oh gosh. Oh no, okay. So I definitely cried when I talked about it, but I was just like, listen, I have this opportunity to work with a business coach that I think could help me get my photography business where I really want it to be. I’m really struggling in my nursing role right now, and I would like to be able to walk away from that if possible. And it’s a construction company, and so I offered, I said like this is the money I need. I would be willing to pay it back to you by doing like branding photos or photos of jobs that you guys have done. And he was like Absolutely how much? And I was like that was it? That’s all I had to say? And you’re just gonna give me this. He’s like, yeah, well let me know where we can write the check to and we’ll get it out tomorrow. And I was just blown away by that. Of course, it felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders. Of course, made me cry again. Cause I just-
Sarah Petty: I was gonna say, did you cry? Because it makes me want, I would have cried. I would have probably tried to get around the corner gift. Like what a supportive person. These people are all over, right? Yeah. So proud of you for saying like, I’m tired of my life the way it is and something’s got to change and there’s got to be a way, right? It’s resourcefulness. And so he did, he paid for that for you.
Melissa Holkeabor: He paid for it for me. And I’ve been, I’ve been working it off. I worked most of it off last year, driving to different jobs and taking pictures of that which quite honestly has been great for me too because I get to see the kinds of things my husband does every day and how hard that kind of work is so yeah so that’s been really fun and it’s pushed me too as a photographer to try to get you know different angles of the things they do they do concrete so it’s a lot of like how do I get like the texture of this concrete or you know, that kind of thing. So that’s been nice to kind of feel like I’m growing as a photographer too.
Sarah Petty: So when you jumped in, so then you had to make this hard ask to get this money and so then it’s like you know, jumping in, you’re in the pool, then when you started the program were you scared? Were you like, what if this doesn’t work for me? Or what if I lose all my clients that I’ve had? Or like, what was the fear in your head?
Melissa Holkeabor: I feel like there’s always some of that fear in there. Anytime you start a new thing, I mean, I’ve been taking pictures since 2009. So I have a decent size group of clients that I was like, oh, I just, I know some of them aren’t going to and I know some of them will but the more we got into that program and the more I Learned and saw that like the people that value you and your time are the people that you want and that was like game-changing Thought process for me to just be like, okay truly the people who don’t do that and are cheap and Don’t want what I’m offering are the people that I’m working my tail off for. And that to me has just been mind-blowing to see, like these people that are spending thousands of dollars with me, they’re the easiest people to get along with. They’re the easiest people to like, we love this, like I’m gonna order more. I like, I’m like, okay.
Sarah Petty: Sure, they make a decision, they pick the frame, they upgrade the framing. They’re like, oh, I love that cooler frame, that’s cool. And then talk about the benefit of your life, you know, the time and the being able to show up as the mom and the wife, what’s that looking like?
Melissa Holkeabor: So that has been so much better. So when I did Boutique Breakthrough, I was still working full time. I was also teaching two different nursing certification courses, doing photography and had the kids. And so I was able to go down to 24 hours a week at my nursing job. I was able to quit the two teaching things that I was doing. And like my kids are so much happier now that I’m home. I’ve been able to go and help. My grandma just had surgery. I was able to spend a week with her and help them. And home. I’ve been able to go and help. My grandma just had surgery. I was able to spend a week with her and help them. And as a nurse, be able to kind of explain what was going on for my family. So it’s just been so much better. I’m so much more flexible with my life and what I can do, where I can be. I’m not missing as many things. I’m home most nights, which is really great.
Sarah Petty: Good.
Melissa Holkeabor: It’s so, it’s just been completely life-changing for me.
Sarah Petty: Yeah, that’s fantastic. Well, I wanna talk just for a quick second before we wrap on, like, that it had to be overwhelming to do the work, even though you’ve been a photographer all these years, but working full-time, teaching two classes, being a mom, like having to clean the house and cook dinner. Talk about the flow of the class. Cause I know sometimes people say, well, I’m too busy now. And it’s like, well, we’re never going to not be busy. Come on. Sometimes you just have to, what did that conversation in your head? Were you like, This is going to be hard, but dude, you can do it for two months.
Melissa Holkeabor: in my head and I think it was a lot of obviously I as far as like time management stuff I have had to just be like okay this has to get done because I have to work the next three days and that’s kind of been my whole life so what my thought process was for boutique breakthrough was this is the thing that’s going to change how my life looks and so I am going to put in the work because I’m ready for that.I have been saying I want to do this for years, but I am ready now. And if I don’t put this work in now, and if I don’t make time for this, then I’m never going to be able to change and make my life what I want it. And so that’s what I continued to tell myself. And I did get a little behind on some of my editing, but I had like some weddings stacked up to edit. But I also, you know, you build that in and you know you’re going to get those back, but not as quick as I wanted, but it was worth it. And it was worth it to really put the work in for this.
Sarah Petty: I love it. So when you got your first Julie, how did you follow system? You went and got the client, went through the presentation, did all the things, and then you were taking the order. Were you nervous to go into that first ordering appointment?
Melissa Holkeabor: I was so nervous.
Sarah Petty: Really?
Melissa Holkeabor: My voice was shaking. As I was writing it, I could see my hands shaking, and I’m like, oh my goodness, they’re ordering things. I was like, what in the world? And it was a past digital client, and so I was just completely shocked that it was a college grad session and they spent $1,400.
Sarah Petty: Okay.
Melissa Holkeabor: And I was just, I mean, previously they had paid me like $350 or something for a senior session and we split it into a summer and a winter session. And so I was like, are you kidding me? We just did an hour of photographing and I edited a handful and you picked like 12 and what? So it was just like, that’s just so crazy. But the level of service and the experience that the people get and then the images, they just loved them. When they came in and they got to open them, I took videos of them, like looking at them for the first time. And it was just so exciting to see how happy they were to have those.
Sarah Petty: When you got that order, and you left the client, how were you feeling about yourself? I mean, you’d asked your husband’s boss for this money, you were working day and night, getting behind on your editing, like you put so much into this, and to get that first instant reaction and you know of over a thousand dollar order Like how are you feeling in that moment? It was a mixture of a lot of things I feel like I was so excited part of me was like, I kind of don’t believe this. Everyone says that it’s a fluke, right? Yeah, and then but then I was thought you know I told my husband right away and he was super excited too, you know, like showing him like this works. And that was the biggest takeaway for me is like, OK, if I can get a past digital client to spend this much with me and see the value in it,
Melissa Holkeabor: Like, why have I not been doing this?
Sarah Petty: And isn’t it exciting to go to a session when you’re like, this is going to pay me like four times plus what I was doing before. So I’ll do one session instead of four, maybe, you know, as orders get bigger and bigger, like I would have done eight sessions before. Like it’s so motivating and you’re making the client so happy, right? And then you get to go home to your kids.
Melissa Holkeabor: Yes, and like even the perspective, like I still do some weddings, but I really lowered that down to how many I do because I’ve had portrait clients now spend, you know, $10,000 and I’ve never gotten paid $10,000 for a wedding. So I’m like, why in the world? But I can teach-
Sarah Petty: I give up my weekend. Yeah. Why? Cause your kids are at school, your husband’s working, your weekends when you have your people. And I always say that if I could, people do weddings Wednesday morning in an hour, I’m in there.
Melissa Holkeabor: But like-
Sarah Petty: Yes, right? I mean, that is so cool. I’m so happy for you, and nothing warms my mama heart more than, yes, I love the money. I love to see my students making money, but more I love them being able to be home and show up as the parent. That’s their goal, right? And you still have your foot in the nursing world, and you still have that knowledge and ability, and I love how you were able to support your grandma with being a nurse. And like, I have that in my family, just one person who’s got any medical, anything. When she can be there, it helps all of us. You know, versus, oh, Missy would be helpful if she could be here, but she’s working all the time. You know, that’s a gift. That’s cool.
Melissa Holkeabor: Yeah, yeah.
Sarah Petty: Hey, it’s Sarah again. Did you enjoy listening to the Worth Every Penny Joycast today? I would love for you to tell me your thoughts. Would you leave a review for this episode? I read every single one of them, and I’m always so grateful. I would love for you to tell me your thoughts. Would you leave a review for this episode? I read every single one of them, and I’m always so grateful. Until next time, remember you’re worth every penny.
