How to pivot when your business is failing with John Branch IV

Akua: When your business hits a wall, do you freeze or do you rebuild? At the start of 2025, wedding photographer and YouTube creator John Branch, had a reality check. His inbox was empty. His calendar had only two bookings, and everything that used to work in his business to bring him clients just completely stopped.

So instead of giving up, John Dug deep. He reworked his pricing, invested in ads, and took a hard look at the weak spots in his business, and by August he went from having $0 momentum to over $46,000 in bookings. In today’s conversation, John shares what stopped working, the exact changes he made to turn things around, and the tough truths he had to face along the way.

Whether you’re a photographer or any entrepreneur staring at a quiet inbox. This episode is packed with lessons and resilience strategy and what it takes to rebuild when everything feels uncertain. Now, let’s get into the episode.

Welcome to Unbreakable Business, the podcast where we uncover the untold stories behind entrepreneurship. This isn’t about polished success stories. It’s about the sleepless nights unexpected roblox and unshakeable grit that builds businesses that last. Every week we sit down with entrepreneurs who faced it all, sharing raw, honest conversations about challenges, growth, and the moments that made them unbreakable.

Whether you’re just starting out or chasing your next breakthrough. This podcast is your reminder that you have the strength to keep going. Hello, John. Welcome to the Unbreakable Business Podcast. How are we doing?

John: Hello? Hello. Doing well.

Akua: Good. I’m so excited to have you, number one, because I really appreciate your transparency because I have been having conversations with.

Business friends, like behind closed doors right now. And there are some business owners that I know that are thriving, which is amazing. But there’s also a lot of business owners right now who are struggling. And the main thing I’m hearing is like, I need leads. And so with you, we were just talking before the show, um, where I had been creeping on you a little bit because I’d seen like comments that you were making on, uh, doctor’s teeth, Facebook posts.

I’m just like, where you are real realistically at. And so I was. So excited. Excited to see on threads how you have quickly been able to pivot and find leads in your business, where within a short amount of time you generated over $40,000. And so I am like, that is huge. That is absolutely amazing. And so I really wanted us to just kind of go back and start talking about that.

So thank you so much for being here.

John: Yeah, definitely.

Akua: Yeah. And so, you know, you posted that you started the new year with Zero in bookings. And so now that you’re at 46,000, what happened between like those numbers?

John: Oh my goodness. So, and yeah, me sharing that was basically trying to help other photographers out there and other vendors just know that like, it’s hard on everyone.

Sometimes when you’re like a speaker or an educator, everyone can really look at you and just think like, oh, you know, they’re doing fine. I really wanted to help out by saying like, we’re all kind of in this together. Mm-hmm. And yeah, I started the year with like two weddings, none for 20, 26, and really just had to sit down and reevaluate kind of my brand.

Mm-hmm. And just where everyone is and my local area and what they’re looking for, and getting away from pacing myself faster than. The Realties that are in front of me. Between my business, the economy, and just, just everyone’s life basically.

Akua: Yeah. I like that you said too, that you just wanted to share with business owners, like this is the reality of what it is.

Because I think a lot of the times we have in our head of like, okay, ’cause you, you yourself, you’ve been a business owner for a long time and have gen and created such a successful business. And so a lot of the times when we see business owners that are further along in the journey, we are instantly thinking.

They must have it together. Like despite the fact of like all of these factors right now that are affecting things, they have it together and like, what’s wrong with me? And so I, that’s what I loved so much about your transparency of just like where you were at. And so, um, you know, you had shared that everything used to work in your business.

Do you mind kind of sharing with us of like what stopped working specifically and why do you think that happened?

John: It really disconnected. The leads is where it started. And I think it’s a, it’s a kind of bigger picture. A lot of it is specific to me, but I think many other business owners may have gone through some of the same transitions.

So some of the, the bigger factors is, like you said, I’ve been in business for a while now. It’s 11 years, I think this year. And. I had been doing weddings for all this time and I’m raising my prices and at one point I raised my prices fairly, like a fairly big gap and I was still booking, so it was okay.

That was definitely one factor, ’cause the gap was a little too large. Another factor is I wasn’t realistic about my business’s kind of reach in my area. And I think that’s something that can happen very quickly without you realizing it. What I had forgotten was technically I moved to the North Carolina area in like 2018.

Mm-hmm. So I was like five or six years into being a photographer, but I never really got fully, fully established in this area. Mm-hmm. 2020 came and that kind of threw off things. And so, you know, I’m sitting around 20, 24, 25 thinking like, you know. I’ve never, like, I’ve never became like that per, like, this is the photographer you need in the area.

Um, but I felt like I was. Mm-hmm. So that was another factor on top of it is just realizing kind of where the business was and how it’s being viewed by everyone. I think also a small wrench that was thrown in that too was the fact that I started educating and I think that kind of gave the vibe to a lot of people.

Like, oh, he’s not really doing weddings anymore, but I was. Clearly still trying to do them. So you kinda meshed that all up into a nice little sandwich and then add in the perception or not of the economy? I don’t, there’s people on both sides, but yeah, either way. There’s a lot of news about the economy and people aren’t doing as well as it feels like they were before.

So all of those together and just not being in touch with my brand anymore, I think were the biggest factors that threw everything off. And then, yeah, increase. I came to a, like a, a 100% halt. I was getting none, maybe like one every four or five months, which is unheard of.

Akua: Mm. You know, I, I love that you.

Shared a couple things. One, pricing that’s still such a hard thing for business owners, and you were like, my pricing gap was too big. And like, I, one thing that’s interesting about your journey is you’re talking about things that happened years before and how those decisions kind of came forward now.

And I think that’s, um, an important piece for business owners to remember. And like you said too of like, okay, I moved and then I assumed that like everybody knew who I was in my business, but I. Clearly that clearly wasn’t the case. And so I think it’s just that reminder of just being more intentional obviously with like, and how we can easily make these mistakes in our business, but being more intentional and having those like check-ins.

But then you said too of like kind of how you were not as connected to your brand. And so what was that moment like? Like where, what specific moment where you were like realizing like, alright, you, like when you said like you stopped increase completely 1000%. Was that, where was that? Where the moment you were like, alright, something’s happening here.

Like something is off.

John: Yeah. ’cause I, I let it roll for a while. I am, I tend to be a very optimistic person, so I was like, I’ll just wait and see what happens. Yeah. But it, it got to the end of my optimism and I started being like, okay, wait, there’s, there’s something off here. Like I should at least be getting a little bit of inquiries at all.

And then that’s, that’s when I really was like, okay, I need to, I need to rethink what’s happening. ’cause it was getting to the point where like. I was thinking about going back to maybe a part-time job or something like, it was that serious where it was like, oh, I need to start padding something else off while I figure this out.

Or just give it up altogether. ’cause it, it had been long enough and I think the main thing I started out doing was a lot of self-reflecting on the business and my goal. ’cause I think as a business owner too, we’re always weighing out the. The difference between what we are trying to get outta the business, but then also what we’re trying to provide.

And I think I lost the, what I’m trying to provide, I had gotten a very, like, what am I getting? What am I getting? And I’m very much like, ah, more and more and more. And mm-hmm. I’ve, I think I hit that and I, I saw it, so I started thinking more about my couples like I used to when I started. Mm-hmm. Um, I actually went back and started looking at my old wedding photography photos, but not from a.

Photographer standpoint, you know, where you’re like, oh, these are so bad. Like, ugh, I’ve gotten so much better. But more like, what was it that really got me started? What was it that had my couples leaving me? Great reviews. Um, how did the, the photos feel? Because again, sometimes I’ve learned over the years is when you get better at something, sometimes you lose the essence.

Actually, my, my biggest story, not to ramble on of that, where I, the first time I learned it, so I, I majored in music production, sound design. Mm-hmm. And I was, I used to make music in high school before I took any like music theory classes. So I had a good ear, like I’m the type who can play by ear, so I’m making this music and it’s all like, yeah.

And then you learn theory. And it enables you to do more, but then it, you also start getting more critical. You’re like, oh, what core progression should I use? And this note doesn’t work on top of this thing because it’s a diminished fifth, whatever. And you know, it gets all, yeah. So photography’s kind of the same way where like, you just start getting too, like, just take good pictures, you know, like mm-hmm.

So that, that was, that was where I started was, let me reevaluate. Why I’m even here doing this.

Akua: Yes. I love that so much of just that self-reflection of what you said of like what, like where, what am I getting from this? But then also what I provide and how we can end up just being so focused on like, this is what I need and I need to make money like quickly.

And you know, and I love that you. Assess like you didn’t back down. ’cause that is the hard thing. Like I, yeah, I, I just, I am like, we’ve all been there where you like have this sheer panic of like, what do I do? Do I now start looking for full-time roles? That’s not something I wanna do. You know what I mean?

And or give it up altogether. I think there’s so many of us that have thought of that, and I think this is just such a true testament of like, ev, you can figure this out. And I love that you went back to the basics. Like you went back and remembered why you started your business in the first place. And I think.

That is so easy for all of us to forget all the time. Even when, not even just like if we’re looking for leads, but even when we’re trying to launch something new. And to your point, we get so knowledge is power and it’s incredible. But sometimes too we lose that, that childlike play and that curiosity and sometimes, and you know, it’s, it’s trying to find that balance.

And so I love that you found that. And so how was that for you, finding more of that in your business?

John: It was, it was fun. And I, I don’t think I really realized I found it again, but I think that’s, that’s how it is, right? Mm-hmm. It just, it kind of flows. So yeah, I really started focusing more on my couples first.

Mm-hmm. And then the business, ’cause I, I have the business side down at this point, so it really started being like, well, how can I start making things better for my couples? Mm-hmm. And it, it was a lot of, um. One of the biggest things I did, and actually it helped on the business side, but I think it provided a lot for my couples, was I had to go through all of the automations I had in my CRM and just really dial it in and personalize a lot of the emails more and make them make sense and just help myself in the process as well.

So again, it was very. Couple, first focused on every change that I ended up making.

Akua: Yes. I love that you shared that too, because I say this all the time of like, our systems are key and it’s the difference between whether, you know, you wanna make 50,000, a hundred thousand, you know, 200,000, like truly, it really boils down to your systems.

And so I love that instinctively. That was like, that’s the first thing I gotta do is really like, once I’ve done this self-reflection and, and, and I have to, how do I make. Sure that every single thing that I’m doing is putting these clients first, and how can I make this the best experience possible? And, and those tweaks, like it clearly shows that those tweaks obviously mattered because it, it, it’s paid off.

Can you walk us through just some of the specific changes that you were working on? And so we’re gonna go through each section of your business. So let’s start off with marketing. What were some things that you did in marketing that you, that you felt like really helped you?

John: So, marketing the biggest. The first, ’cause it’s, it’s broken down into two places.

Mm-hmm. The first one was at my website and I really kind of just revamped it a little bit to show photos more, make it more accessible for couples. But one of the biggest things I found that worked, and I didn’t realize it would work when I tried it, was my pricing page. I changed the flow of it a little bit and where I show my main package, I went back to a three package system too.

That’s kind of mm-hmm. I had like one package. So I went back to your standard three. So my middle package is kind of like the great for everybody. And when I show the pricing of the, of that on my site, there’s a button that says, see more pricing. Mm-hmm. And there’s a form in it, but it’s like a very cut down form.

It’s not as large as my normal contact page form. And that has blown, I get so many inquiries from that. And I think what worked about it again is it’s coupled. Facing. It’s like, here’s the price of what works for most everybody, but if you wanna see more, you know, just fill this thing out real quick and I’ll give you more information.

Mm-hmm. And it makes it less of a, like now we have to contact him and go through this whole thing. It’s just, oh hey, do you wanna see more pricing? Cool. And I’ve gotten a lot more increase. It’s like so many, I cannot tell you how many increase I get from that. And are they all converting? No, not necessarily.

But. Yeah, that feeds into my automations, which I have a new like email drip feed that mm-hmm. Provides couples with information for their wedding. So it’s not just like, here’s the pricing, but it’s like a, here’s the pricing email. This is why this package is so good for you and why you wanna consider maybe eight hours for your wedding day, and here’s some other stuff to think about.

And then, hey, were you still possibly interested? And that kind of thing. So that. The website was the first side of marketing that really made a big difference. Mm-hmm. And then second off, like I said, I didn’t realize how much I wasn’t known in my area and or the people who know me thought I wasn’t really doing weddings.

So I, um, signed on to advertise with like a local magazine, started doing more style shoots in the area to just let people know like, Hey, I’m still here. I’m still doing it. And. Just making the rounds again so that people understand it. Like, oh yeah, John’s awesome, like I thought you were teaching. And it’s like, I do, but I still, I’m still trying to do weddings.

So that, that was marketing in a whole is, I really kind of went with the mindset of like, it’s okay to put in a little bit for just straightforward advertising. Mm-hmm. Um, and also on the ground type advertising, I’ve been really. Adamant about making sure my vendors get photos from weddings that I’ve done.

I’ve been better about posting them and making sure, like just really helping everyone around me. Again, getting away from the me focused thought and just focusing on everyone around me. Yeah, that would be the main parts. For marketing.

Akua: Yeah. And I love that. Like in my mind I assumed, and I’m sure people may be listening of like, oh yeah, I post it on Instagram more and it’s like, no.

You know what I mean? Like you were like, I’m gonna go back to my website. And you even made those small changes that has led you to more inquiries and then like you just like boots on the ground. You know what I mean? Of like doing more of those styled shoots, connecting with people in person straight up, just like.

I don’t even wanna say it’s old school advertising. ’cause it’s not old school advertising. It’s just, you know what I, it’s just, we don’t think of those things that come to top of mind. We instantly are like, well I gotta go to social media to get more leads and this and that. And it’s like, you, you don’t, you know what I mean?

Like, spend your time on the channels that you know are going to generate revenue. And clearly like your website’s, one of them, your email marketing is another piece of it, you know, and those simple tweaks just like, and then also too, like how you just restructured. And so the next piece. That is business structure.

So you already mentioned that you went back from a one package to three packages. Is there anything else you did as well in terms of your business structure?

John: Obviously, I guess I would count for the businesses, the pricing. I did reevaluate my pricing and I pulled it back, but. One thing that helped me not feel like, oh, I’m just lowering my prices, was I really started looking at the venues around my area and the venues I wanted to shoot at.

Mm-hmm. And how much it cost to sign up for a venue. And I realized like my pricing was above what it would cost to like get a venue on a popular Saturday. And I was just like. For like, you would have to be a high-end luxury couple for that to be okay, or I would have to be like the photographer and I’m not.

So that’s what helped me go, you know, you should probably come back to realism with your pricing a little bit. So that was kind of the first business place, and that was my perspective on it too. So I readjusted all pricing across the board and went back to a three package and with the beforehand, so I had a single package and I advertised that I.

Customize a package for everybody. Mm-hmm. But I think my couples, again, thinking about them more, like to see the options as packages and then make the tiny adjustments in those, so it made more sense to go back to three packages and then we’ll adjust. We’re gonna meet, we’ll talk about what you need and add or take things out rather than, it’s technically the same process.

Mm-hmm. But sometimes. It’s much easier to make a choice when you see the options in front of you rather than just being bombarded with a la carte. Everything.

Akua: Yes.

John: Yeah. Um, what else did I do on the business side? I think, again, the email marketing in general. So I have a specific email drip thread for when people fill out that pricing form.

Then I have another automation for when people come through my normal form and these. Following up with my couples, but not too quickly. I used to basically have someone email me. I would email them back. I would wait for a bit. I would email them back and I would just kind of leave it there. Whereas now I have like six-ish emails, mostly of information that will help you planning a wedding, but also some follow up in there that span probably like a month or so.

Mm-hmm. And I’ve been surprised at how someone will get four emails and. And then be like, oh yeah, I forgot to schedule a meeting and scheduled a meeting. So those are probably the the biggest changes that I’ve made.

Akua: Yeah. Oh, I love that so much again, of like those small tweaks. And number one, even with your email marketing, just how you said.

Okay. Because especially too, they may not say yes. Right away, but obviously further down the pipeline when you keep that follow up and you’re leading with value, like you were like, okay, you’re still providing value, you’re still putting them first of how can you help solve their problem even if they don’t necessarily go with you?

And that has obviously like really paid off. And so another thing, another area too is like, okay, so you’ve been able to obtain new clients from all of that. Is there any other ways too that you’ve been able to get new clients as well?

John: I think so I, I’ve been meeting with my couples a lot too. It’s still just Zoom meetings, but working on the meetings and kind of the approach to the meetings as well has helped a bit.

And that’s actually, it’s resulted in about an 80% booking rate at this point, which has been. Surprising. Yeah. Which is where that thread came from. ’cause again, I went from having two weddings to now like six or seven for this year still. Yeah. And then another 10 for next year. Mm-hmm. And I think that’s really maybe one of the bigger changes too, just like how I talk with them in the meeting and then it being a little bit more straightforward with the email threads and also pricing.

Being available and then packages. It just all makes more sense.

Akua: Yeah. It’s just, you can clearly see how they all flow together so Well, and one thing that I love is, um, even when you were making the decisions, you were super strategic about it. Like even when you said earlier with the pricing of how you went and looked at.

The local venues in your area and realize that your pricing was, was too high. And it is such a humbling experience. ’cause I know for me I’d be like, uh, yeah. You know what I mean? And I’m sure you were like that. But that’s paid off where like it’s general, like you’re literally making money now. And I think it just goes to show as a business owner that sometimes you have to pull back in order to be propelled forward and that it’s a hard thing, but it.

It’s amazing and it pays off. And so I, I love that and it’s really cool to see how all of these decisions were super strategic, but it. Flows together. And I think overall just creating that client experience where they’re like, absolutely, this is the person I wanna book with because I say this every episode.

Like, you know, especially as a service provider, like the client customer journey is a lot longer now. Yeah. And people are much more intentional with where they wanna spend their money. So the fact that you are continuously removing those barriers, even just from as small as, um, where you said with like your website and they click the pricing more and they don’t have to fill out a form.

Go back and look at your systems and how can you remove those barriers? ’cause people now were a lot more risk averse, and so they wanna know like, can this person provide me what I’m looking for? And quickly? And so, and you’ve done that, that’s why you’ve like, taken off so fast and so that you, you’re leaning now also, also too with like just that client first mentality.

So how are you retaining your clients? What are you doing to continuously provide that exceptional client experience?

John: Honestly, it’s really just, again, it’s focusing on them the most. Actually, a story came to mind of someone I didn’t book. Mm-hmm. But this really shows how much I’ve focused more on my couples rather than what I need.

Mm-hmm. But they, we had a great meeting. Everything was awesome. We went through the whole everything. We had a package, I sent them a proposal, but then they were kind of. Iffy about my editing style and they wanted something that was overall more warm and less cool, but I have a more cool editing style.

And so we were able to chat about that very candidly, and I was able to just let them know that like this might not be a fit for them and help them find another photographer. And it’s just, it’s reassuring to be able to sit down with your couples and have real. Kind of conversations like that. Mm. Before any booking or anything happens.

And none of it was like no one was angry. We were just very straightforward, like, this is not working for me. Maybe we can make it like that. And a lot more of my meetings with my couples have been like that now. Mm-hmm. They’ve been much more in touch with them. And what they want and what’s gonna work for their wedding day and how we can kind of mold everything to them.

Mm-hmm. Rather than focusing so much on like, I’m a service provider, here’s my service. And that, that was very, and like you said, I think people are kind of changing a lot more too, like being less risk averse and just understanding that a wedding day is more so for them and the celebration that they want to have.

Mm-hmm. And so they’re much less. Gonna just take whatever they can get. Like if you’re not the type of person who’s gonna be able to provide what it is that they’re looking for, mm-hmm. Then they’re gonna move on. And it doesn’t mean you have to change yourself, but you definitely have to be aware of where you sit and know what you can provide your couple so you can speak to it.

And I think that’s the biggest thing that’s really helped retain a lot of my couples going forward. It’s just how. Transparent I am about a lot of things. Like you saw, even the thread post itself is like that same kind of transparency where it’s just like, I’m just another guy out here doing the thing.

We’re all business owners. Mm-hmm. You know, trying to make it work.

Akua: Yeah. But what I love so much about what you shared earlier, ’cause I know, I know I, and these are things I’m working on as a business owner and. You know when you are searching for more inquiries, right? And more leads, a lot of us can fall into this habit of just taking whatever you can get and you just make it work, right?

Like, yeah, but I love for you. You were like, I know what I still offer. Like I know what I bring to the table, I know what my value is and I know, and I’m not a photographer and like I know photographers have their certain editing style, but. I know business owners who were like, they’ll just take whatever because they need it.

Right? And so they’ll, but you were like, no, like I still know what I bring to the table. I know the value that I offer and I clearly know that you and I are not gonna be a good fit. And so for you, what do you have to say to business owners who find themselves that are like so, you know what I mean?

Desperate. Yeah. Now I don’t, I don’t wanna say desperate ’cause we ain’t desperate.

John: Like,

Akua: because that’s not true. Um, but, you know, that are just like in a panic kind of mode or just like, I really, you know, where you find yourself in this scarcity and fearful mindset. Yeah. What, what do you have to say to those business owners where it’s like they just take whatever

John: Mm.

This is, this is one of those harder subjects which I love to speak on.

Akua: Mm-hmm.

John: But I, I don’t wanna come off as just like, yay. No,

Akua: but be real about it. Like, you know what I mean?

John: But it’s, it’s definitely, it’s. I don’t, I, I feel like there’s almost like a power, and like you said, not falling into just scarcity and like grabbing up anything that comes your way.

Mm-hmm. And I, I feel like I’ve found, even when I’ve jumped into that, you end up. Missing out on something and or dealing with more than you wanted to. Mm-hmm. And that’s, that’s where I learned it. I learned it early on. I have, um, a YouTube video I did on when I got a one star review, and it was like early in my career.

Mm-hmm. And that, that out of everything taught me. To not give into scarcity, to just jump at a thing. ’cause that, that was like one of the worst experiences. I like, I almost just stopped. I was like, I’m done with wedding photography. It was that bad, all because they booked my biggest package at the time.

So it was like one of those direct types of things. So it really helped me sit back and understand again, like you were saying, where I am and what I provide. And so even when I turn my couples away, it’s less about. What they wanted. And it’s more about like, I wanna make sure that you get the best experience for you.

Like maybe my product is not the best experience for you, so let’s point you in a different direction. Where it’s less of like, well, I don’t edit like that. Mm-hmm. So I don’t want anyone else, you know, you know, like it’s just more of a. You are not gonna be happy with my product. Yeah, and that’s fine. Like let’s find you the product that’s better for you.

And sitting in that really helps, I think overall as a business. ’cause one of the bigger subjects too is um, making sure that your business is serving you. And I feel like if we’re always so stressed out and like scarcity, running around, grabbing anything and taking on clients that we don’t really fit with, but dealing with it.

And then the stress of that and then the. Couples angry and then now you gotta deal with that as well. And you know, like it’s just so much piled on. Like your business should give you freedom and like time for yourself and you know, like a decent income if you’re making okay money and just overall your business should be serving you and serving others rather than being like this stressor.

’cause half the time now I’m just rambling, but half of us. Left our nine to fives for that, you know, but then we turn our business back into the same thing, the nine to five was, because we’re like, I need, I need to make it work. So I, I fully understand that I need to make it work, because again, that’s where I was like, I, I was all, I was down, like I was, yeah, I was all the way there.

But that’s the biggest thing I’ve really been focusing on is like. Let me, let my business serve me. Let me serve my couples by giving ’em the product they want. If there’s any inkling that this product is not what they want, that’s fine. Like, I wanna help them out. And then we’re all, we don’t have burdens on us.

We just kinda let ’em go. And then, yeah, I, I think it’s a momentum. You’ll, you’ll pick up a momentum, you’ll start getting what you need if you stop jumping at the first thing that comes.

Akua: Yes. Oh, you just, I love you. Say you’re rambling to me is gold because it’s so true. It is. Like you’re just like, your business should serve you.

And I think, like I said, capitalism is a hell of a drug because it’s true. Like it’s a lot that you have to unlearn, especially when you come from a nine to five. And it’s so easy to find yourself in those habits because that’s all that we know, honestly. Yeah. And so even when you become a business owner, especially if you’re not making.

As like if you’re not hitting your financial goals, like it’s easy to fall in some of these traps. And so it’s like, how do we stay grounded? And I love that you have been like, okay, like this is a hard season, but my business is meant here to still serve me. So I’m still going to honor myself despite that.

I’m not hitting my goals right now. I’m still going to honor myself and make sure I still have the time, the freedom so I’m not burning out. So then when the right people do come, I’m ready. I’m prepared. I have this open space and I think that’s. Such a good reminder of like being a, like a business owner when you’re not receiving the things that you want.

Make room for it so then it can come. Yeah, and that’s what you’ve done. Every single tweak that you have made was making room for the right clients to come to you and, and they were. Small. Like they were small, like, and that’s all it is. Like with, as business owners we’re, we’re consistently refining and you always went back to the basics.

Like people are always like, we’re always looking for an answer. And it’s like the, a lot of the times the answers are the basics. The elementary, what we consider elementary as business owners, that’s usually the answer to solving your problem generally. And I love that you were like, all right, like we go back to square one, we start over of like, what was that like for me to be a business owner?

And so I’ve loved just hearing. Everything from top to bottom. And so now that you like reflect on your journey and like you are booked out for the rest of the year, you’re booking as well into 2026, what are some hard truths now that you view as a business owner that you’re going, but it’s like your 11th or 12th year.

So like how do you, yeah, goodness. What are some of the truths now that you take with you after this whole experience?

John: Oh, I sat down and thought a lot about this and I’m not sure how many I came up with. I mean, there’s the, the straightforward hard truths of, because I haven’t been shooting weddings, like I’ve only been doing like between five and 10 a year.

Mm-hmm. Um, so there’s just the physical aspect of it. Like, okay, here we go. There’s a solid year that I haven’t had in a while to be on my feet and carrying cameras. Yeah. Every weekend. But I, I think. I dunno, like, like hard pill to swallow. Just like, I think a lot of that reassessing yourself I think is probably one of the biggest hard truths.

Mm-hmm. Like I said, regardless of where you sit on, how you feel about the economy or not, um, it’s rough out here for a lot of people. Mm-hmm. And we have to be aware of that and kind of where everything sits overall as well as our business. I think really thinking about how you can serve your. Couples or your clients, regardless of what’s going on.

Again, that comes with some adjustments. Sometimes you step back to step forward. I think that’s probably one of the hardest 2025 truths is just being realistic about what’s happening around you and not just being like, well, my business is here, which you can, you can get to that place. But your business has to have to wait for it, which is kind of like what I was like, my business didn’t have that weight.

It wasn’t there yet. So now I gotta work back to build the weight up. So I, I think that’s one of the hardest truth is just like, I guess being flexible. I don’t know if that’s a hard truth, but it is yeah’s a good truth. It’s a good truth. So like, you gotta sit down and really just be like, let me be flexible.

Make it work.

Akua: Yeah. And then we’ll,

John: we’ll keep going. ’cause momentum I think is probably the most important and not moving fast. Just still moving.

Akua: Mm, yes. I love that. And you know, I think like the being flexible piece is, is just, it’s so critical. It’s so important because this is not, like when you talked about the economy, this is not the first time as business owners that the economy has not been well, you know what I mean?

Like, there’s always going to be factors that do not necessarily support small business owners. It’s like, you know what I mean, consistently. I mean, because I, I do, I’ve always said this as well, that like. The way that society’s set up, the way that our government is set up, it’s not, it’s not meant to support small business owners, so already the odds have always been stacked.

You know what I mean? Yeah. And so you have to, and I love that again, you have to pull back just to be able to move forward and make those shifts. But that self-reflection piece. I think is the biggest thing because if you cannot believe in yourself, then who, like you can’t expect yourself like other people to believe in you.

Like those dark moments, those hard moments where you’re truly contemplating. And I love what you said too, of like your business needs to have the weight. ’cause for me, I’m always like, D Lulu is a Sal Lulu, but you, but if you don’t have that aligned action to go with it. Then honey, you’re just D Lulu.

Like, you know? Exactly. You know? So I like that. Like we have to still be realistic because like of course like we manifest, we do these things of like these goals that we have to achieve them. Absolutely. But you have to take the aligned action. ’cause if you’re not being aligned in the action that you’re taking, then it’s not gonna help you.

And so having that realistic conversation of like. Where is my business truly at right now? All right. If it doesn’t have the weight that I need it to help propel me forward, then let’s go back to the foundation. Let’s go back to like, what, what are the things that I can do to be able to help me get there and rebuild?

And I, I think with like just hearing your journey, um, we’re always rebuilding as business owners, like that’s never gonna change. We’re always going to have to build and pivot and adjust and adapt and be flexible and move. And some seasons are gonna be harder than others. But like just hearing with yours is, it is just, it’s worth it.

Like it just gives me hope of like, and other people too, that if you’re listening, you’re like, leads have dried up. I’ve, again, you know, I’ve had conversations with business owners who, like, they’re, they’re doing fine, but they’re like, this is the lowest leads I’ve ever gotten. Yeah. And I’m like, oh, okay.

Like, I know a lot of us are ex experiencing that, and so I love that. Like, again, it’s all just. What does your experience look like? How do you put people first? And you still continue to do that, not just with your clients, but also to other people that you were working with, networking with of like, I’m still here to support you.

I’m still here to serve. And I feel like that like has come back tenfold, which is incredible.

John: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s exactly it, I think. And I can’t think of any other hard truths. Yeah, I think that’s the realest one.

Akua: The reales one. I mean, you already gave some real ones, so that was amazing. And so from your experience this, this year, what in, uh, what advice do you have to business owners that are in this situation right now?

Or like, you know, or they’re not experiencing as many leads or, you know, or if people are like, Hey, I’m fine, but what can I do to prepare in case something like that, that that does happen? Like what advice do you have for business owners? And I’ve asked you a lot of questions in one. So we can break it down one by one.

John: Yeah. I would say from a, from a practical, we’ll start with a practical standpoint. Yeah. Um, sit down and take a look at your systems and, and really think about the systems. Have your friends and family go through the systems and get their feedback and just how it feels. Um, ’cause even I had good systems and I still had to go back and be like, you know what?

I could strengthen this a lot. Like I said, that, that smaller form. For seeing the rest of the pricing, plus the email drip was like the most powerful systems change I made. So sitting down with your systems and going through them and revamping them, even if you have the most perfect system, like maybe change it up a little bit, change the voice in the emails or something of that sort.

So that’s the practical. From the emotional side, I would say just. Take everything in stride. And like I said, again, in my opinion, movement is better than no movement at all. Mm-hmm. So while it may not be as fast as it was, ’cause that’s another thing I think a lot of business owners are feeling. 21 to 23 things were popping for like a hot minute and then it just kind of tanked.

And so now we we’re so used to that momentum mm-hmm. And we’re like, well this is not happening anymore. Whereas. I had to stop myself and say I’m still moving. At least like I, the boat has not stopped. We may be just coasting on the river and the sails aren’t open, but it’s okay. Like I’m still here. The business is still going.

That that’s the biggest thing I would say is just take your time and don’t rush yourself, because at the end of the day, if you’re unable to perform in your business, especially if you’re like a single. Solo entrepreneur type like me, like your emotional state is gonna affect the rest of the business as well.

Mm-hmm. So I would rather be in a decent state and take my time than rush and get burned out because it’s not going fast enough. ’cause even on that point, kind of back to a lot of the stuff we talked about. Mm-hmm. I don’t think I would’ve seen the changes happening if I didn’t wait on them. Because if I would’ve made the changes and be like, this is not working, like I really had to just change it and be like, okay, I’ve looked at the places that I think should help.

And then there was a little bit of motion, so I was like, oh, cool, I’ll keep it going. So again, just. Keep it moving, but not too fast. I’m a very tortoise type of person. Not a here. Yes, but let’s talk

Akua: about that though. Like you said, that where like, I made the changes and I waited and that’s the hard part for business owners is waiting because when we make these changes, we’re like, why isn’t this happening yet?

Why isn’t this happening yet? And so then you can have, you can miss. Uh, the momentum you could miss, the opportunity to leverage that to, to move in your business. And I love that you shared that of like, I implemented this. It may have not happened right away, but I waited. I waited to see what the data was.

Yeah. And then I made the strategic decisions instead of coming from a place of chaos. And I think with what you shared earlier, that self-reflection, that self-reflection is what’s gonna keep you grounded so that you aren’t coming from a place of chaos. Because when you’re moving that way. You want everything and you want everything now, and you are missing incredible opportunities that can really help you get out of what you’re trying to get out of.

And so, um, I just wanted to highlight that of like business owners of like waiting. ’cause I struggle. I’m like, ugh. So yeah, no, I think it’s the

John: hardest part.

Akua: It’s hard.

John: It’s so hard in my specific situation. Um, what happened is I was waiting and then someone actually filled out the form and I was like, huh.

Maybe this works. And then like a couple more came in almost like immediately. I was like, oh, snap. And then, yeah, so, but it, it took a minute and then it was kind of like floodgates. So you do have to. Weight on it. Yes. Versus too many cha I I was making too many changes before I self-reflect it and it was, nothing was catching.

Akua: Yeah. Oh, I love that you shared that of like, I was doing that self-reflected. Yeah. And then look what happened. You know,

John: that’s where, that’s where half the self-reflection. ’cause I was like, ah,

Akua: ah, I gotta change, got change. It

John: got to change everything.

Akua: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Oh, I love that so much. Okay, so. How do you think entrepreneurship will look in these next couple years after?

I mean, like, I’m like, you’ve been in business so long and so many shifts and changes, so what are your thoughts, um, with what things could look like?

John: Mm. Um, well, obviously we have AI changing a lot of things.

Akua: Yeah.

John: Which is fun and interesting, I think. I think one of the biggest things I’ve been noticing recently is like having teams is.

There’s so much more power in having a team.

Akua: Yes.

John: Um, I’m reading a book called How Not Who. Mm-hmm. And it’s about like, not how, not who, how not. We’ll find, we’ll find, yeah. We’ll put

Akua: it in the show notes. Lemme know you send it as an email, we’ll put it in the show notes.

John: But it’s, it’s about how things happen, not how it happens.

Yeah. But who you have to help things happen. So when you’re in your business. It’s less about the how we can get stuck in the how. That’s kind of like the minutiae, small whatever that gets you like so focused on just Yeah. Whereas like if you can find like, who can help me do this thing because I’m not that great at it.

That really propels things. I’ve recently hired a va. And it’s like changed my whole life ’cause I’m not really good at all the small marketing things like mm-hmm. Emails and all of that. Like the, the constant like, oh let me post this and let me do that. So my VA handles a lot of that and I’m just like, that’s crazy.

’cause now I can do these other things and he does such an amazing job at it that all I have to do is be like feeding information and then it gets made into thing. So I think the solar entrepreneur. Is not going to be, it’s gonna be much harder than it has been, even with ai, like helping you out. I don’t know.

I think having people on your team that can help you out, just one or two more people who will fill in your weak spots mm-hmm. I think will make a big difference. And yet, other than that, honestly entrepreneurship’s about to be popping off. Like there’s a lot, we live in such an information age now.

Mm-hmm. Because I’m just thinking like back from when I grew up. Because I’m thinking, I see all these like 20 something year olds now, and I’m like, man, I was wasting my life at 20. But I was like, yeah, we didn’t have like TikTok to tell us all these things we could do. You were just like, well, I’m gonna do what I see in front of me.

Um. So, yeah, I can see it popping too, which is kind of why I am talking about teams. Yeah. Because sometimes we forget what we can’t do and we we’re just like, oh yeah, I’m great at all this stuff. I’m gonna start this business. And then you have to learn the hard way what your weaknesses are while you’re in the business.

Whereas if you had one or two people and it’s like, you’re great at this and I’m great at that, you’re great at that, and we’re all gonna do these things, and then the whole business like pops off because of it. So yeah, that’s, that’s kind of my opinion on it. Yeah. There’ll be a lot of businesses to stand out.

Again, you’ll really have to be customer focused. Mm-hmm. People are very much, they know what they want nowadays, more so than any other time I’ve personally seen. Mm-hmm. Um, where it’s, you know, like, I’m getting what I want to get or I’m just not getting it at all, type of thing. Yeah. So,

Akua: yeah, no, I, I love that.

I think it’s definitely one of my goals. And I have my one person I’ve hired and she helps with my, she’s outta va, but she helps with my marketing.

John: Yeah. And

Akua: she’s phenomenal. And marketing is my thing, but I’m tired.

Um, so she helped me and she’s great. And, you know, and I, and I love that. And so I, I think, um, especially to stand out as a business owner, like really getting those key foundational pieces. But once those are locked in and in place, like look for that person that you want to help hire you. Like they wanna help hire you so that you can hire, um, to help start.

Moving your business forward, moving it to that next stage that you’re trying to get to, I think is so, so important. And I think it’s gonna be more important now, especially like, like you said, there’s so much information out there and I do agree that we’re gonna have way more business owners than we did before.

Um, you know, ’cause I think the workforce is changing, I think. Um, and it’s gonna still continue to do that. So, um, we are gonna play a game. Are you ready? You’re like, I did not plan up for this. Okay. We’re gonna do a rapid fire. And you already answered some of these, but, and you know, and if, if the, if the, if you don’t like the options, just tell me your true thoughts and keep it short and sweet and, okay.

Are you ready?

John: Yes.

Akua: All right. Here we go. Instagram, YouTube, or Threads. What’s driving the most real leads for you right now?

John: Oh, I think it’s threads actually.

Akua: Okay. Okay. Okay. So threads making a, now I wanna know why. Like, what are you seeing?

John: I, my analytics shows a lot of views from threads. Mm. Um, and I think the, just.

Conversational ness of it helps. Yeah. And the fact that it’s not Twitter helps, I guess

Akua: It does. Absolutely. Or X, whatever they call it. It’s still Twitter in my eyes. Yeah. It’s still Twitter. It’s never, I’m not changing it. Okay. What’s one pricing mistake photographers are still making in 2025?

John: Ugh. Oh, that’s so hard.

It’s, it’s a toss up between prices being too high and or presenting your prices incorrect. I lied. The other one is not showing your prices on your website at all.

Akua: Yes. Again,

John: unless you’re that photographer. You need to show your prices. Yeah, absolutely. Just go ahead and, yeah. Once you’re that photographer, then yeah, and everyone’s breaking your door down.

Cool. You can do whatever, but

Akua: yeah, you’re like, go ahead and slide that on in. Okay. Let’s slide those numbers on the page.

John: Yeah, exactly.

Akua: Okay. Uh, what’s something that used to work in your business that you’ll never do again?

John: Uh, I don’t know. I used to give hefty discounts all the time early on for like no reason.

And that, that’s how I was getting people in. And it was, you

Akua: get a discount, you get a discount, you get a discount, just

John: throwing them everywhere. Just the worst. Throwing them out and they, they weren’t like little, they were like, they were like, good 30, 35%.

Akua: You get, it’s like you’re giving like a whole car away.

John: The worst. Never again.

Akua: Never again. Okay. Okay. One ad platform you double down on and when you ditch.

John: I’m not a fan of Instagram boosting ditching that. Mm-hmm. Any, any Instagram may, maybe meta. I, I don’t know. But yeah, I’ve kind of given up on meta. I’ve doubled down on physical, like in-person ads again, like local magazines.

Mm-hmm. This, this local magazine I’m working with. They set you up with a style shoot. You get whole pages in the magazine. They put the magazine and like all the venues in the area. And so if you need a thing or they need a thing, they’re gonna call you. So you get networking on top of that. Yeah. Yeah.

It’s I think more bang, bang for your

Akua: buck.

John: People need to focus on where they’re at rather than, yeah, the Internet’s cool, but think about it. If you wanna book people in your town. Then you go to the internet to come back to the, you know, like, it’s just so, like, why don’t you just try to hit the ground and then

Akua: Yeah.

John: Also have some internet in case.

Akua: Yes. Oh, that’s such a good point. All right. If your business disappear tomorrow, what’s the first thing you do to start over?

John: Hmm.

Um, wow. I’d probably, Hey, I’m, I do nothing at all. I don’t know, I probably, I probably would. I would just chill for a minute. I’d go back to my, like, first I’m, I’m a jack of all trades. I would probably just start doing something else.

Akua: Okay. What would you do? Well, what would, okay, so the question originally was what, what’s the first thing you do to start over?

If you were, what would it be?

John: Yeah, it would, it would be going back to any of my original. Talents, I guess you can call them

Akua: music,

John: so yeah, music or audio.

Akua: Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah, I love that. Okay, well that was the last question. This was fun. That was, you gave some good answers.

John: I love that. It was the hardest question.

Akua: Not everything else I asked. I’m like,

John: what would I do? Actually, that’s like a real life question. I’m like, oh, actually. May I move to the middle of nowhere?

Akua: In the middle of nowhere? Yes. Start a

John: homestead. Yeah. I love that.

Akua: There you go. Okay. Well, every episode we like to end with the question. What does having an unbreakable business mean to you?

John: Hmm. I kind of touched on it earlier, but an unbreakable business, in my opinion, is a business that wholeheartedly serves your clients as well as serving you and your life, something that you’re not. Dying to provide for. Mm-hmm. But both it and you are thriving. Yeah. You, you’re thriving. Yeah,

Akua: absolutely. Uh, John, this has been such a fun conversation.

Number one, I just thank you so much for coming on the show, being super honest and transparent, and it’s just really cool to see you who have, you have been like a ma, an educator in the photography space, like you have been in the game for so long, and just to come and be so honest and real, like it’s truly a gift because it’s not an easy thing.

And so, uh, thank you so much for coming on the show.

John: No problem. I always love being here. Yeah. I hope I can come on again.

Akua: Absolutely. And so for those that wanna connect with you, where can they find you? How can we support you?

John: Uh, I am on the internet pretty much everywhere as JB IV Photography Yes. Dot com or at JB Photography.

YouTube and Instagram.

Akua: And threads. And threads. Now.

John: And threads. Yeah. I’m actually, I’d be on threads. I like, I like threads.

Akua: Yeah. Uh, I love that. Well, John, thank you. Thank you so much for being here and for everybody tuning in. Until next time, thanks for tuning into Unbreakable Business. If you love today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe.

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