Watch This Episode of MwahTV About How To Double Your Business with Andrew and Pete
LAURA: In last week's episode & blog, we saw the reveal of Andrew & Pete's brand-new headshots. This time, we sit down and have a chat about the latest focus in their business and how they think that you can double your income.
We also recap previous sessions that we've created together over the years, as well as look at the graphical aesthetic that they were looking for in this recent Brand Photoshoot.
Where Andrew and Pete Used To Be
PETE - "So, way back in the day, we were very unfocused and you had a hundred different business ideas every day. And we were constantly getting distracted, we weren't really going anywhere, and we had a one-to-one service you know, websites, graphic designs for people, and marketing advice, and it was kind of tough, it was really tough. And so we had the idea to launch a membership, which is called Atomic, and it's for the small but mighty solopreneur but one that has a lot of potential to really make a lot of money, but not necessarily having to have a big office and loads of team members and so forth."
On Andrews Posing Skills
LAURA - "Boys, this is our, I thought it was our seventh shoot but actually, it's our eighth shoot ever. I feel like we've had a big breakthrough today Andrew with you and posing, can you talk a little bit about that?
ANDREW - "Well, Pete is the big poser out of the two of us. And I think Pete actually enjoys it, which is weird. I find it awful but I think we've cracked the Andrew arm-hold."
ANDREW - "Walking back and forwards constantly, and that kind of makes sense because I do not sit still generally do I?"
PETE - "He never sits still."
ANDREW - "Well this session has been different because we've shot on the green screen, which we have done before but previously we've always known what the green screen was going to be. Where this session has been more, I don't know, I get "dynamic shoot", I don't know if that's the right phrase?"
Going Dynamic
LAURA - "I think that is definitely a really good phrase for what we're doing. So if you're not familiar with the graphic results, if we've got some, I'll put them on now as we're talking. But it's combining a very well-cut out version of yourself, isn't it? And putting you onto different things.
Because you two have your website and your graphic design roots, I think that's why you like this trend so much."
On Their Inspiration This Time
PETE - "We've had inspiration from TV shows, from Time magazine, we want to have like the cutout but with like cool backgrounds or even dual-tone. If we make ourselves completely pink, or red or anything like that."
LAURA - "That's almost your signature by this point I think, isn't it."
PETE - "Yeah, so this photoshoot is never going to be used by itself, it's always going to be 100% edited, and put on different backgrounds and in situ. So it's going to be really versatile."
ANDREW - "I think we've kinda DIYed that up until this point. We're probably sick of looking at those same photos that we've cut out of ourselves. From us on stage, so it's going to be nice having ones that have been made for this purpose."
On How We Prep These Days
LAURA - "I think another thing to make a note of is how little we're at preparation now. So I like to be known as the photographer who does lots of intense prep. What did we do this time to prep guys?"
ANDREW - "I mean, I don't think we did really anything. I feel like I like this, I don't think Pete literally did anything."
PETE - "I didn't even know where we were going to shoot, I didn't know what we were going to do, what style, what lighting."
Teamwork (and delegation) Makes The Dream Work
ANDREW - "It was my job last weekend to find some good lighting examples, send them through to you."
LAURA - "But that's the beauty isn't it, if you work with the same people."
PETE - "It's good because obviously now we can come in, we don't have to do as much prep time. You know exactly what we want, the results you want to get out of it without us even having to say basically. We can just rock up and we're instantly comfortable and we know how each other works. And it's just a lot more fun."
ANDREW - "As comfortable as we can be."
PETE - "For someone like Andrew."
On The Retouch & Graphical Effects
ANDREW - "Well you're going to have to retouch Pete's shiner. For one, and then we're excited to get the finished retouched ones back and then start playing with the background, start seeing where they can fit on our site."
PETE - "Throw on some sexy gradients."
ANDREW - "Even across social media, like our YouTube Header that's got our old photo on."
Why Andrew & Pete Want You To DOUBLE Your Business
LAURA - "You have a thing right now about doubling your business."
ANDREW - "Yeah so we're all about thinking big with your goals and we wanted to kinda set all of our Atomic members a challenge to actually double their business. So this goes way back before we even announced this, we put a post in the Atomic group, it must have been maybe nine months ago ish now. And we said guys if you were to really knuckle down, how quickly do you think you could actually double up your business there were loads of different ranges, people were like well maybe in like three months, maybe in 10 months, maybe in 18 months, I'll never be able to double my business."
PETE - "There's a lot of that."
How It Works
ANDREW - "So that's the challenge we want to set, we kind of looked at all of those and we said what is kind of the average here, then let's do it a little bit above average. Let's say six months, let's try to get everyone to double their business in six months' time, and that coincided with the launch of the brand new Atomic 2019-2020 programme, which we've done Ground Zero and Payday now.
So we're about three months into that at the moment and it's all about because we've done it. And it's all about looking at, and we know when we've done a lot of one-to-one work, our one-to-one clients were doing it.
So we basically took what we've done in our business, but also what's worked when we've been working one-to-one with other businesses."
The Introduction of the New ATOMIC Programme
ANDREW - " We worked out what the steps were, and interestingly, the first few steps, so we've currently done Ground Zero and Payday on Atomic, hasn't necessarily been about doing more. Whenever we've had huge wins in our business it's not because we've done lots of new stuff, it's when we've done less, it's when we've actually looked at what's really working, whether that's marketing that's working, whether that's sales that are working or even if it's business, your business model as a whole. We had tonnes and tonnes of different income streams this time last year.
So about six months ago for us, we actually looked to see right what is actually working. What has potential? But what has the biggest potential here?
Why it was time to add a Programme
PETE - "And I think that's the whole point because everybody is so spread out doing so many different things and they might have like seven different income streams but actually only one or two of those are gonna have a lot of potential going forward and the other ones are just kind of holding you back and they're just taken up lots of time. So one of the ways we doubled our business was by actually getting rid of all these different income streams, and focusing on the one that actually had the demand and actually had potential and scalability."
How This Fits With The Ladder Theory
LAURA - "There's a whole school of thought out there isn't there, about the value ladder and how you should be offering value at lots of different financial increments. How does that fit with what you're saying then about getting focused and working through this programme?"
ANDREW - "So we don't necessarily 100% agree with that as a model. I think it can be very distracting if you try to have too many. For example one of the biggest low-income streams is writing a book. Everyone seems to want to write a book. We've written two books so we're like huge hypocrites here but it's not gonna change your bank balance all that much, having a book, having a low income, a low-level income stream."
Thinking Further On Writing A Book
PETE - "There's only a very small percentage of books that actually do incredibly well and get picked up. What a lot of people end up doing is spending months and months and months writing a book, taking time away from actual income-generating activities and then what happens when they launch it? Well, they haven't spent the time building up an audience to reach out to, and they maybe make 100 sales, of a five-pound book. Like a five-pound cut, the profit of that book might sell it for 10 pounds.
And you've made 500 pounds and that's it you've wasted four months.
LAURA - "And you split that into the hours it took to write it, never mind trying to promote it."
PETE - "You can make so much more money doing other stuff."
Going Your Own Way (That's Right For you)
ANDREW - "Another kind of big belief of ours is that one size doesn't fit all. So Atomic doesn't say do this! Atomic says to work out what works for you and do more of that. So we're not saying having cheaper offerings isn't right for everyone, but if that cheaper offering, like lets, say a book or like a really low-priced course is taking your efforts away from doing the thing that's going to double your business, and actually going to make you more money, then we don't think that's a good idea to be powering your efforts into."
PETE - "For example, if you're a public speaker, a professional speaker, and having a book meant you got more speaking gigs and you could prove that in the data, then obviously write the book."
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Three Tips On Getting Started With Doubling Your Business
1. The Numbers
ANDREW - "Okay so the first thing we did is get crystal, crystal clear on our figures. We worked out I think for the first few years we were maybe bumbling along and we were kinda like okay if the bank balance was positive and there was a bit left over and we could pay ourselves a wage, happy days."
PETE - "Slash please don't show me the accounts I don't want to know them."
ANDREW - "We got really clear on where all of our money was coming from, where all the money was going out, and then extrapolated that data over where it could be in five years' time. And that's the first thing we get you to do in Atomic, is actually, right let's just take a clear look at what our business looks like financially, and what it could look like financially if we do certain things."
LAURA - "So how do you do a five-year extrapolation? Explain that for people who are watching this who are like me with creative minds and are freaked out by numbers.
Stream By Stream
PETE - "What we did was we mapped out all of our different income streams, and we extrapolated data from past data, to say okay well we've made x amount last month, and the month before, and the following years, and if we extrapolate that out then we use, you can just do this on a spreadsheet, like a fancy spreadsheet. Basically, it'll go up in small increments and you just see how far that goes at the end of the year, or at the end of five years.
And if you do that with all of your income streams, you'll realise there's a 100,000-pound difference between all of them, and it's crazy, think why am I spending any of my time now on something that's gonna make me 20 grand over five years, whereas if I make this, this is gonna make me a millionaire by the time I'm 30."
2. Raise Your Prices
ANDREW - "Not only does raising your prices mean that you can't, that you can make more money per sale, but it also means you can start to afford things like outsourcing, and that really, really helps to save time."
3. Find Your People
ANDREW - "Top tip number three is to don't think that you have to go it alone. Even though a lot of us are either small teams or even going it as a solopreneur, there is no need for anyone to feel like they are in this business world by themselves. Go find yourself a community to be part of. Go get yourself a mentor, someone that's done it before you and can push you in the right direction."
PETE - "Because a lot of what we're talking about now is scary and I know having each other helps a lot with that."
What I Think of ATOMIC
LAURA - "Oh so much. In Atomic especially, it's one of them, I've been in a few different online communities myself. It might have been photography-specific, or online entrepreneur-specific, or just local business. it's very different types, and I have to say the support in Atomic like even if you just go in and ask for a random thing, like help I can't film this video, what do I do? Like three people will be there within the hour to tell you what adapter you need to buy."
Big & Small Things
ANDREW - "On the small level, and the big level. Like oh my God, I need to raise my price, I've got this client that I've been working with for three years now and I don't know how to send that email, what shall I even say? Small things, big things, we need people around us. And whether that's Atomic or whether that's another community that you're part of, go find one."
PETE - "And on that note, if you have a coach or a mentor or a community that says no to you, fire them. Get rid of it."
LAURA - "That's really good advice."
PETE - "You need people to tell you no. Our most recent mentor, in every single meeting, says guys what are you doing that for? Like, stop doing that."
ANDREW - "But he does it in a way that makes us realise that we were idiots in the first place. In a nice way, in a nice way. But if you don't have that, then you need someone else that's gonna push you."
Find Your Ground Zero
You can get lots more tips and advice from Andrew and Pete on their website.
ANDREW - "check out our website that's got links to everything. Including Atomicon if you wanna check that out. Also, there's a link there to our event which you get to come to for free if you are a member of Atomic if you join Atomic."
LAURA - "Wow, how does that work? Hang on a minute, explain that."
ANDREW - "So we actually restructured Atomic, do you know how we were talking about only doing one thing?
LAURA - "Yes"
Event Distractions
ANDREW - "And we felt like we loved doing Atomicon for this year, but it was a distraction, it was a distraction. And we know that people that come to an event but don't do anything else, are not gonna get the results that we want them to get.
LAURA - "Sure."
PETE - "We know people that go to events and have that accountability all year round are the ones that do better are the ones that actually get the results and so it didn't feel right to be selling them separately. So now we sell one product, it's Atomic, which includes access to the online training, the membership, it includes access to the community. And a ticket to ATOMICON next year."
Timestamps for this Episode of #MwahTV
Take A Look at Another Greenscreen Shoot
If you like the idea of using a Greenscreen technique on your next photoshoot, why not continue to gather inspiration from this shoot-out day I hosted with 4 very different brands?
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