Successful Creatives
Successful Creatives
28. From Aerosmith's assistant to wedding photographer: Meet Lauren Carroll
Lauren Carroll! Hear the story of this Ireland-based wedding photographer, and how her career took her from backstage with Steven Tyler in LA to traveling halfway across the globe to shoot weddings in Ireland.
I can’t help but think that if I had been a back-stage assistant to Aerosmith, Green Day, the Jonas Brothers (and so many more that I’m forgetting), I’d find a way to drop that into every convo for the rest of time. Hehe…but not Lauren Carroll.
I love her story. And I think you will, too.
June 5, 12:00 EST
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I have another super inspiring creative on the line with me today. You're going to hear from Lauren of Lauren Carroll Photos. She's a wedding and portrait photographer based in Donegal, Ireland, and she was a member of my Super Attractor Academy. I want you to hear from Lauren for 2 reasons. While she's going to bring a smile to your day, because she just is one of those people that really has this, like, infectious nature about her, you can't help but just feel happy when you're near her when you hear from her. So you're going to love to hear both her personal story, her journey that brought her to photography, which includes backstage at lots of professional musicians. I'm talking big names like Green Day and Aerosmith. And who else did she work with? The Jonas Brothers. There's like a whole litany of them and she also met her husband through bands. He's a chef. Yep ladies, she lives with a chef. Professional chef, which is amazing. But I think the cool thing about Lauren is she had a certain level of success in her business, and she's one of those people who just pushes herself to find ways to be better, serve her clients better, create better art, deliver a better experience, uplevel her business. So when she 1st connected with me, she was looking for the next way to really uplevel her bookings and make the whole process just feel really good, really easy, just with, you know, being in flow.
Then when she stepped back and she dug into her #’s, she realized that it was less of an uplevel and more of filling a gap because when she looked back, 42 inquiries and only 2 of them booked. But in her transformation, you're going to hear her full story. She went completely 180 and went from that place where her booking percentage was 5%. She was converting just 5% of her inquiries to bookings. Well, she totally switched that and now she's booking at 100%, which to me, I'm never one to tell people to just raise their prices because I have a whole pricing structure and our whole pricing philosophy. I think that can be 1 of the most detrimental pieces of advice that a lot of experts in the industry say is, well, just raise your prices. Everyone needs to either raise their prices. That's not always the best advice, because there are a lot of factors that align with that, particularly where you are worth and bookings and all of that. There's a lot of work that goes into raising your prices. Right, but getting back to Lauren when you are booking at 100%, that is the time to raise your prices. So, Lauren, if you're listening to this, you know where I stand girl, you are ready for a big, beautiful, giant raise. Okay, so let's get into it here from Lauren Carroll.
Let's face it, most of us would rather be creating art than running a successful business, but we can 100% do both. My name is Erica Ewing. I'm a wedding photographer in sales and marketing expert for creative entrepreneurs. I'm here to help you define the life of your dreams and create a business that supports just that. Welcome to the Successful Creatives podcast.
Lauren, I'm so glad to have you here on the podcast. You have just been an absolute light in my life. That sounds so cheesy to say, but it's really true over the last couple of months, getting to know you through the Super Attractor Academy and learning little surprises about you all along the way. So tell our audience you're a wedding and baby and family photographer based in Ireland, right?
That's right. Yeah, I do it all. I'm always busy. So that's a plus you know.
You are always busy and your work is so unbelievably beautiful. We're gonna tell people at the end where they can find you because each time you pop up in my feed, I'm just really blown away by your talent and just how humble you are. I know you know that you're a strong photographer, but you're also so graceful when whenever I compliment your work, you're always like, sort of surprised.
I know, it's a surprise. It's not like a lie either, because I don't know. As a kid, I was always the awkward kid and I was always the skateboard chick who was maybe like 3 skateboarders in my high school and it was just like I was always the odd one out. So I always feel humbled, I guess I don't know.
Well, I feel like you've turned that into your superpower, and that's probably actually really a good segue into where I wanted to start with our chat, because probably like halfway through the academy, we do group coaching every week. So I love that we get to know, like, I get to know my students and you get to know each other, right? And we talk about business, but we also share a lot about our personal lives too. Like it ends up being a pretty strong community. Halfway through our time together, you mentioned how you heard of this band called Green Day.
Of course, we all were like yes, we've heard of this band called Green Day. You worked for Green Day, right? And so did your husband.
Yeah. We met actually, funny story. I was on before I even left for tour. He was the chef, and I had to talk to him because I was the backstage coordinator. I decorated all their dressing rooms and I dealt with everything backstage and I had to talk to him about their food, and he was listening. And I said, do you have the papers in front of you? There's 25 page document that I gave you, you know, like to read about what they like to eat and when they like to eat, blah, blah, blah, like, you know, and then he was like, yep, I have it in front of me. I kept hearing this. And he's like painting his mom's house. He doesn't have the document in front of him. So I was like, do you get all that? Did you read all that? And he's like, uh, yeah, I did. And then I was like, I don't feel confident. So then the 1st day I actually met him was the day of rehearsals in Germany, and I turned around and I was like, that's him.
I was like, I'm gonna marry that guy and literally 11 months later or somewhere around that time frame, as we got married and I was like, that was it. But he was their chef, so I had to deal with him every day. After the Green Day tour we got married and then I had a baby just like a few, well, 9 months pretty much after we got married, really quick, you know. I was 34 and that was it. We moved to Ireland. But as I'm in Ireland, I've been traveling around with different bands, you know, since I've been here still, I would go to South America with Whitesnake. I would go all over the place, basically. But now I don't travel that much anymore. I'll do a few things here, like I work for Norah Jones. I filled in with somebody, you know, last December and I still work for a band called Shinedown. I work for Shinedown for a very long time, for 7 years now. So I still work for them from home and stuff, but amazing.
So that's what you did before you started your photography business, right? Was working as like a backstage coordinator.
Yeah. But I also did photography. So for Whitesnake, I was doing photography basically the whole time we had a book out. I worked for them for like ten years on and off, like whenever they were touring. So I would do photos of them every night. But other bands, I got the opportunity to go and take photos of them whenever I wanted. Right? Because I'd be like, I have a spare 30 minutes or whatever. So I would just go out on the stage or go out in the crowd or go out front of the house, which is where people mix all the sound and I would take photos. So I have like thousands of photos of. All the bands that I have ever worked for and they would put them on their social media and, and every single person said, Lauren, you're a really good photographer. But I never got hired as their tour photographer. I always wanted to and I would sit in my bunk and dream about what kind of photographer do you want to be, Lauren? As soon as I moved to Ireland, I knew I wanted to be a wedding photographer. It was like 7 years ago. I was like, I want to be a wedding photographer. Then I just did it, literally, I just invested all my time into how to be a wedding photographer and after a year, I was confident enough and I just went for it. That was it.
I'm not surprised because when you join, when you join my program, you get a questionnaire, right? That sort of helps me understand where you are in your business and challenges and goals and that sort of thing. 1 of the things that you wrote in there was, I'm always trying to get better. I'm always striving to be better, to do better. I thought that was a really cool reason and we'll talk about what some of your challenges were. It definitely made sense that you showed up and you were in there. But I just love that as a reason, too, because I think sometimes people get complacent with where they are and maybe they're not struggling, but they could be doing better. And so that just really caught my eye, you know, as something that I can see with it now. Like now getting to know you as totally a strong personal trait in you.
Yeah. I never take what I do for granted, just like you said, I will literally, you know, always do something different every session, every wedding. I'm like, let's do this differently. I'm happy with that because I feel like when you get comfortable, that's when things start to go sour and you feel like, okay, I'm not learning anything new because you could always learn something new. Like recently, I started putting pantyhose on the front of my camera and I'm like, wow, this is amazing. I've never done this before, even though it's been done a million times. Right?
Wait, is that the portrait of the bride from your last wedding where I was like, this 1st picture is stunning. Did you just share that on Instagram?
Oh my gosh. Yes. Stunning. It gave it such a vintage timeless look.
Yeah, but you can't put the pantyhose on top of the camera if you're facing the sun. I realize because it creates the pantyhose line on it, you know?
Yes. Oh, okay. You have to do it away from the sun, that's what I realized. I don't know, it could be wrong, but you know, you'll see for yourself to try it. There's filters for it. I know this is like the cheap way to do it, but I was like, you know what? I know there's filters that do the same thing that you can put on your camera, but this is so quick. It's just like, boom on it. Put your hair band around it and there it is.
That's so fun. You're just innovating and testing and trying and growing with every step. I want to get into weddings, but before we do that, there is a really interesting link between your work with the bands and really how you got into photography. And you mentioned that you started shooting for the bands, but where did you get your 1st camera? Because this was a tidbit that came up a little bit later in some of our group coaching sessions. I just thought it was so interesting.
I don't know exactly what country it was. I think I was in Lithuania or something, and I was using my phone and my boss, the lead singer from Whitesnake, was like, you're getting really good with your phone. I was like, I know, but I don't know how to use a real camera. And he's like, I'll buy you 1 and just start using it, because this was a long time ago. I would say this is over 15 years ago. I remember it was Lithuania and everything was really cheap there at the time. So he said, here's some money, go and buy your 1st camera. So I did, and I bought a lens and a camera. I had no idea what I was doing. I just literally went there and said, how much can I get for this? Yeah. And then he gave it to me and he's like, do you want, um, you know, what is it protection or something like that? And I was like, no, I'll never be here. Like, I'm never gonna, like, be at the store again. Probably. So I don't need that. And then I was like, what if what if I drop it? It was so expensive for me at the time. I think it was like 1500 bucks. So that was a lot for my 1st camera, you know? Yes it was. I had a 24 - 70 and I just started shooting and that was it. That's how I got that's how I got started, was because of the singer from Whitesnake. He was my biggest cheerleader ever. Like such a. Big fan of what I did. I literally owe him so much. Like just for being, you know, having a cheerleader, you know, cheer you on all the time, even though it's shit sometimes. You know what I mean? Yes.
It’s so important. It really makes the difference for sure.
Yeah. Okay and you also teach too. You teach workshops and things in Ireland, right?
Yeah, yeah, it was one of my friends that has been teaching for years and years. And he was like, can you be a 2nd coach on my workshop? I was like, that's not a problem. I got asked to teach another 1 recently, a different 1 showing how I post people and how lighting works and just all little tricks and stuff like that.
Yeah, yeah, well, everybody is really lucky to learn from you over there.
Oh, thanks.
Okay, let's chat about where you were in your business before we started working together. Can you take me through the, um, a little bit of what was going on in your business at that point?
So basically, I was doing really good, but I didn't know how to reel people in in an effortless way. Right. Because I felt like I was putting way too much effort into things that, like, I should just have something together, right? I should have this plan together. Finding the right people was so hard for me because it was just all over the place. I was getting everybody, I was getting loads of work, but it was like half of them were like the right type of people for me, and then half of them weren't. So. But now I seem to attract the right people, you know, adventurous, fun, you know, um, just people who want the epic landscapes of Ireland, you know? Yes. Yeah.
What do you feel like helped make that, made that shift from where you were getting like a mixed bag before to where you are now, where it's all right. Fit clients.
It was really like, honestly, I feel like it was like the wording on my website, the wording, the way I word stuff is that like how you taught me? It was like literally how I word my, you know, everything word, my emails word, my, you know, the way I talk to people. And it did take some practice like, you know, but I finally figured it out and I feel like I know it like the back of my hand. Like I'm not even nervous to talk to people anymore, which I wasn't before, but, like, I'm really not now. I can confidently go into a call and go, yeah, these people are gonna book, you know? Yes. Like, when do you want to sign up? You know? Yes.
Yeah. You sort of by getting really clear on who that person is, building that messaging around it, that's what gave you the clarity and the confidence. It sounds like.
Yeah, I wouldn't have been able to do it if I didn't go into your workshop. Like, there's no way, there's no way. Because I was so bad with wording before. Yeah. And you kind of taught me how to word stuff and you really coached us like, I'm not saying this because, I'm like, oh, book, you know what I mean? But I'm genuinely from the bottom of my heart. Like, I was literally struggling with wording and like, you take the time to talk to each student and like, really get to know them. That's such a big deal. Like, you know, that was that. So?
Yeah, that's been my experience too. When I've been a part of coaching that has that hands on experience, even in the past for myself, I've felt like, oh, if I could just get this information, if I could just get the system, I can figure it out. But having someone to talk to has always been really helpful for me, so I love to hear that that's been your experience too.
Yeah, like it's a hands on thing. I'm a hands-on person, that's just who I am. I don't do well with reading books. I'm better with doing it, you know. So yes, that's what you need is basically do this, do this homework, do this and get back to me. You know, I'm here if you need to help, you know.
Yes. Accountability. There's so much information out there and there's just oh my God I feel it still to this day. It's something I still struggle with. I open, you know, any social media platform or my email or whatever, and it's just totally being inundated with information so that it's like consume, consume, consume. So sometimes it's really helpful to have accountability to like get the stuff done right.
Oh, 100%. Yeah. Because if you're not accountable for it, you're not going to do it right. And you're just going to keep looking at Instagram, scrolling through it, you know, and going, oh, maybe that course or maybe that course or, you know, just get it done, you know?
Yes. Just get it done. Now, what was the tipping point that really got you? To, like, push you into signing up for the academy.
Well, this is like crazy because I was actually doom scrolling. Right. So I was going through my phone.
Speaking of scrolling.
I literally like you caught my attention so fast and I knew this is what I needed. I needed to find more clients that were more like me, that like, you know, I they attracted, you know, my style. They came in and they were like, already my clients. That's what I wanted and you said it just in that post. I was like, that's it. That's what I need. I need to attract people that are like me and that's exactly what happened. Yeah.
And it's funny because it's almost like the positioning of the ad is like what you learn to do for your own business. Right. In the academy. Yeah.
That's it. Yeah, yeah.
Okay. So you, out of the blue, delivered me the most magical testimonial, which I was so happy to receive. And your results that you had said you now have during the course. I think it was during the course you had a 100% booking rate. So you had eight consultations and you booked all eight of the weddings.
Yeah. In the course. Because it was kind of the wedding season time where I was getting inquiries and before I met you, I had 42 inquiries, which is a lot. Yes, but I only got 2 out of those because I didn't follow up. I didn't do any of those things, you know, all of the, you know, all of the things that I did after the course, like I didn't do before the course, like, you know, it was a complete transformation. So I had booked eight as I was in the course, I had eight inquiries and I booked all eight. Since then I booked 16 because I just booked another one yesterday. So I had since then it was like, I don't even know what's going on you know, and not everybody's going to be for you. Like, I know that. Yes. I mean, so it was 1 person recently that wasn't for me. It's gonna happen, you know? But like everybody who was for me, which is like, I feel like it's like a miracle. It's like, how did I do this? Like, it's just little baby steps, you know? Yes. What I took, I took baby steps.
Yes. And when you're able to fill your calendar with the right fit clients, you almost feel the same amount of joy of releasing the ones that are not the right fit 100%.
Yeah, literally. Yeah, I feel like it doesn't matter. You know, they're for somebody else. Yes. You know they're some other kind of style of person. Yes.
So now that you have the system in place, you have the messaging that really attracts the words that really attract your right people. You've got the seamless system in place. What is this like open up for you as and how you feel about your business, like moving forward.
Having all these systems in place. Now that you've taught me, I feel like I said, I have no worries. I can just go through. I don't even need, I do need an assistant, obviously, because I'm on the computer a lot and emails like crazy, but I feel just totally relaxed about everything. My stress level has gone completely down because I've learned so much that I put that all into place so that I don't need to worry anymore. That's what it taught me. It taught me that I don't need to worry, that I've already found how to do it, you know, and that's that's pretty. That's literally it really. Like I'm stress free, even though I have to, like, do a lot of work still. But, you know, yes, I know how to get the clients. Now, that was like the most stressful part, where I was like, I have such a great energy. Like, how come people aren't booking with me? Like, is it because? But it was because I didn't have that presentation to show them. I know it sounds crazy, but it's true. Like, I now have this beautiful, well crafted presentation that I've changed a little bit even since the program because like you said, you're going to take stuff out, you're going to put stuff in and you're going to make it your own. And that's what I did and works really works, you know? Yes. So yeah, I love that.
Yeah. It really is like tapping into systems just takes away the stress. And then you can focus on the 34 sessions you have this month. Oh my god.
Oh my God. It's so many. It's so many.
What would you say to anybody who's thinking about the Super Attractor Academy?
I can't tell you good enough. Good stuff. Like, honestly, like, I feel like if you don't have the right type of people that you're booking or you're getting people who are just like, I don't know, fishing around, I feel like if I had a lot of fishers, do you know what I mean? Yeah. Everything about this, this whole thing, just the way you do it. Just don't hesitate. Like, seriously, that's it. Like, just don't hesitate. Just do it. Because you teach us pricing. You teach us all of these things. Like, just don't hesitate, just do it. Because it's like a full deal. Like it's like the whole deal. Like you get all of the things. I was so impressed. Like just the way that you brought us in. You said, okay, I'm going to show you all these modules. You're not going to be able to see them all at once, because I want you to focus on this one right here. Yeah. Every course. And I'll tell you something. Every single course that I've ever done. And I've done a lot of them. They unlock everything. So you're not focused on that one thing. Yeah. And that was most important. That's what made me as good as I am right now. Like, not that I'm not like patting myself on the shoulder or anything like that, but like, that's what made me as good as I am right now is because you took like that one module and said, this is what you're learning today, and a week later you're going to learn this, and a week later you're going to learn this and so on. And that's like, so don't hesitate because it's the right course because it's so easily learned. Do you know what I mean? Yeah.
Like thank you for that feedback too because I hesitated about that for a little bit in like, well, what if people want to binge this in a weekend because you could technically get that all done if you. I like to do personal like solo business retreats sometimes where I'll like bang out a specific project. So like, what if somebody wanted to do that? But it just felt right that the work is so deep and yeah, like avoiding overwhelm and making sure people take action. Because I've definitely gone through the courses that I've binged but haven't actually done the work. I've just listened.
Right. Me too. Yeah, like three of them. Yeah. I'm not even kidding. You like? Yes. I'm like a binge. I'm like a binge, solo core. Like I took all the courses. Me too. 1 of them were right. Like, you listen.
To it while you're editing and you feel like you're somehow gonna absorb the learnings, and the things are just gonna magically happen without doing them. Yes. Yeah.
Because it's so true. Because it's not a course where you're like one on one all the time, right? You know? Right. That's the thing, right? It's so funny. I've done that so many times.
Some people binge Netflix, we binge courses. Yeah.
That's it. Yeah.
Well, Lauren, where can people find you online?
Uh, you can find me on Lauren Carol. Photos, um, at on Instagram or Facebook. Um, Facebook's, like, kind of dead. I don't hate to say that, but it is, you know, um, or like, terrible. Um, or Lauren Carol Photos.com, um, any of those places, um, you can find me if you're in Ireland and you want to learn. I do one on one courses, like here, but, um, it's few and far between. I would take, like, 1 or 2 people a year.
If you want to send me the link to the workshops that you do. I'll drop that in the show notes, too, so that if people are in Ireland, they can find you over there too.
Yeah, yeah. There's so many lovely courses here as well. So like, you know, if you're here at a different time and like, we're not doing a course I can send you, you know, workshop like an outside, you know, with all like the beautiful scenery and like, sometimes we bring in like horses on the beach and, like, all those fun things, so. Oh my goodness.
So that's amazing. We might need to partner and do something with you like leading, posing, lighting, styled shoot style. I'll do the business stuff. I'm picturing a really beautiful retreat in Ireland. Yes.
Oh yeah, I know where to go. All the locations, all the things. So. Oh my gosh.
I love it, I love it. I'm excited already. Lauren, thank you so much for being here. And thank you for just being an absolute joy to be around. Um, everyone go follow her. Lauren, Carol, Lauren, Carol photos on Instagram and we will definitely stay in touch because I just love being a part of your world and I'm so glad that you're a part of mine.
Oh, same. Definitely. Well, I'll see you soon.
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