If you’re a wedding photographer stuck in the cycle of doing everything yourself—manually tracking clients in spreadsheets, responding to inquiries days later, working 70+ hour weeks just to keep your business afloat—this episode is going to feel like someone’s reading your diary. My Scale It graduate Nicole is sharing exactly how she went from drowning in her own success to building a sustainable, profitable business that doesn’t require her constant presence. We’re talking about her highest revenue year yet (and it’s not even over), booking $8-10K weddings through email funnels, launching an associate team that booked a wedding within the first month (though, this isn’t the primary way she’s scaled), and outsourcing strategically so she could actually enjoy her life again. If you’ve been wondering whether it’s possible to scale past your capped income without sacrificing your sanity, Nicole’s story proves it absolutely is. Listen to the episode below, or keep reading for a summary of what’s covered.
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From ICU Nurse to Full-Time Photographer: Nicole’s Journey
Nicole and I actually have this really cool connection that goes back to 2021. We both went to the same nursing school (though we didn’t know each other then), and she reached out to me wanting to learn about wedding photography. I had her come third shoot with me at a wedding, and honestly, I could tell right away she had such a natural talent. Fast forward to now, and she’s a full-time wedding and elopement photographer and Super 8 filmmaker based in Nashville, working with clients all over the country.
What makes Nicole’s work so unique is her storytelling, landscape-inspired approach. About half her clients are booking these intimate national park experiences, while the other half are more traditional wedding weekends. Her galleries and films have this immersive, timeless quality that her couples absolutely love.
But here’s the thing—when Nicole joined Scale It back in January 2025, she had already built a successful business. She’d been full-time for a couple years, was booking dream clients, and had strong revenue. On paper, everything looked great. But behind the scenes? She was working 70+ hour work weeks just to keep everything running.
The Breaking Point: When Success Starts to Suffocate You
This is something I see all the time with photographers in my programs, and Nicole’s experience really captures it. She had established herself through incredible SEO work (seriously, the girl knows her stuff), and she was getting solid inquiries coming in. But there were bottlenecks everywhere in her business.
She didn’t have inquiry email templates, so responding to every single lead took forever. She was tracking every client manually in spreadsheets and email labels—which honestly made my heart race when she first told me. She had no systems for follow-up, no defined client experience beyond the marketing phase, and definitely no automated funnels working for her while she was out shooting in places like Glacier National Park.
Nicole shared something really vulnerable with me: she realized she didn’t know who she was if she wasn’t her business, because she had become her business. The success was there, but it was completely dependent on her putting in those 70-hour weeks. If she stopped, everything would fall apart.
Her word for the year when she joined Scale It? Balance and peace. She wanted sustainability—to be able to have a family one day, move if she wanted to, pivot into other things, without her business being in jeopardy.
What Was Actually Holding Her Back From Scaling
Even though Nicole had an editor (so she’d already tasted what outsourcing could feel like), she knew she needed more. But what was really holding her back wasn’t lack of knowledge about what to do—it was not having the framework and confidence to actually implement it all.
She’d been following my content for a while, and when she saw the emails I was sending for Scale It’s launch, she told me she was so impressed by the funnels themselves that she knew she needed to learn exactly how I was doing it. She wanted to understand email marketing at that level. She wanted the systems and organization that would free up her bandwidth to scale into education and other revenue streams.
Nicole is super analytical (hello, ICU nurse brain), so she needed to see the clear, itemized framework. When she went through all the Scale It modules before joining, she was like, “This is exactly what I need to start implementing.” It wasn’t just theory—it was the specific roadmap for how to confidently outsource, how to set up those email funnels, how to sell luxury albums, and how to build an associate team in a way that actually serves the client well.
The Transformation: Building Systems That Actually Work
So what happened after Nicole went through Scale It? Let me break down some of her biggest wins, because they’re honestly so inspiring.
Email Marketing That Brings in Warmer, Higher-End Clients
This is probably one of my favorite parts of Nicole’s transformation. She’s booked $8-10K weddings directly from her email funnels. These aren’t cold leads—by the time these couples get on a discovery call with her, they’ve already received multiple automated emails that educated them about her approach, her offerings (like storytelling albums and Super 8 film), and what makes her different.
She said it perfectly: “By the time we do get on a phone call, it’s an easy, automatic yes for them to go with me, just how it was an automatic yes for me to join your program.”
The email marketing has given her at least three bookings that she can directly attribute to her nurture sequences, but beyond that, it’s elevated the professionalism of her entire brand. Couples feel taken care of before they even book because they’re being nurtured with valuable content on autopilot.
This is all part of the advanced email marketing and templates I give you within the program.
Systems and Client Experience That Attract Luxury Clients
Remember how Nicole was tracking everything manually? That’s completely changed. She now has everything built out in the Notion template I provide in Scale It, with customized templates for different types of clients—whether they’re booking a national park elopement or a high-end destination wedding.
Her email assistant can now respond to new inquiries within 24-48 hours using templates that match Nicole’s brand voice (before, it was taking her 5-6 days, which is just not what luxury clients expect in 2025). There’s an automated follow-up process that moves people toward booking a call. Her discovery calls are more confident now—she screen shares for national park couples to show them the planning help she provides, really speaking to the value they’ll receive.
As soon as someone books, they immediately get a “You’re Booked” email with their planning guide, wedding guide, and links to schedule calls with Nicole anytime during the planning process. She has automated check-ins at the six-month and one-month marks. It’s this complete roadmap that makes the decision to work with her feel easy and safe.
Nicole said something that really stuck with me: “I used to think it would overwhelm somebody to be like, ‘Oh, this is the way it’s going to be done.’ But I’ve started realizing a lot of these brides—this is their first time getting married. They don’t know. And they want somebody to tell them, ‘This is how it could go for you if you want to work together.'”
Having that confidence and those systems in place has allowed her to work with more luxury clients who appreciate that white-glove experience.
Strategic Outsourcing That Gave Her Life Back
This is huge. Nicole now has an entire team supporting her business:
- An email assistant who drafts and sends all inquiries, follows up with clients, sends galleries to vendors (fostering those relationships), and basically keeps the inquiry-to-booking process running smoothly even when Nicole is out shooting in Montana
- A blogger who helps maintain her SEO score (which is her main source of traffic) by writing content based on Nicole’s frameworks
- A social media manager and content marketer who’s gotten her onto TikTok and keeps her consistent on Instagram—something that didn’t bring Nicole joy but is now handled by someone who loves it
The mindset shift around outsourcing was real. Yes, monthly expenses increased, but the time freedom? Priceless. Nicole came back from a week in Glacier National Park to find three discovery calls already booked for her. That wouldn’t have happened before because all those inquiries would’ve been sitting there waiting for a response.
She told me she now has time with her husband, family, and friends without feeling like her business requires her constant attention. Her business is working for her.
Print and Album Sales: Adding Profit and Legacy
Before Scale It, Nicole had sold maybe two albums total. She knew she wanted to offer them (not even necessarily for the income—she genuinely wanted her clients to have a beautiful heirloom piece), but she needed the framework for how to actually do it well.
Now? Her print and album sales are way up from 2024. She uses the album templates from Scale It and has built them out for her specific brand. She designs custom albums for her clients—they pick their favorite photos, and she mocks up multiple cover options. Most of the time, clients love the first version and order it right away.
This isn’t just about passive income (though it definitely helps increase her average booking price). It’s about giving her clients something tangible and timeless to pass down to their grandkids. That storytelling element is so core to Nicole’s brand, and albums fit perfectly.
The Associate Team Launch That Brought in Bookings Immediately
Within just one month of launching her associate team, Nicole had her first booking. But what I love about her approach is that it wasn’t about the income first—it was about being able to serve more couples who were aligned with her vision without always having to be the one shooting.
This is exactly how I teach associate teams in Scale It. It’s not about just finding random photographers online and assigning them couples.
And in all transparency, Nicole is still figuring out how she wants to approach her associate team, so what’s amazing is that her biggest results from scaling have not been from associate team building or education. It’s everything prior mentioned.
Education: The Next Chapter
Nicole has always known she wanted to pivot into education, but she needed to free up time first. She needed to get off that hamster wheel of being in her business so she could work on her business.
This month, she launched private mentoring and has already done two mentorships, helping photographers with SEO, Super 8, working with destination clients, and national park elopements. She’s developing a course on Super 8 filmmaking (which has been such a fun add-on for her business and something her clients all love) because there’s not as much education in the market for it.
The confidence and framework from Scale It gave her what she needed to start teaching, too.
The Highest Revenue Year Yet—And It’s Not Even Over
Here’s the beautiful part of all of this: Nicole just completed Scale It in June 2025, and she’s already having her highest revenue year. Not because she’s working more hours (she’s actually working way less), but because the systems, funnels, outsourcing, client experience, and multiple revenue streams are all working together.
Her profit margin from 2024 to 2025 has gone up exponentially. She’s booking higher-end packages. She’s diversifying her lead sources. She has more time for passion projects and her actual life.
And the year isn’t even over yet.
What This Means If You’re In The Same Place Nicole Was
If you’re reading this and thinking, “Okay, that’s literally me—I’m successful on paper but drowning behind the scenes,” I want you to know that this is exactly what Scale It is designed to help you do.
Nicole said it so well: “You will continue to stay on that hamster wheel of working 70 hours a week if you don’t start to scale and do some more sustainable things. You owe it to yourself. You owe it to your business.”
Scaling isn’t about overnight success or motivational fluff. It’s about establishing the mindset, systems, and strategies that create longevity in an industry where burnout is so common. It’s about building a business that serves your life instead of consuming it.
You don’t have to pivot into education to scale. You don’t have to have an associate team to scale. For Nicole, the advanced marketing, systems, email funnels, albums, and outsourcing were honestly the most impactful pieces. But the beauty of Scale It is that it gives you the framework to choose what scaling looks like for you—based on your life goals, your capacity, and what actually lights you up.
Key Takeaways
- Working 70+ hour weeks might mean your business is successful, but it’s not sustainable—and you deserve both success and sustainability
- Email marketing and automated funnels can bring in warmer, higher-end clients who are ready to book before they even get on a call with you
- Having systems and a defined client experience elevates your professionalism and makes luxury clients feel confident choosing you
- Strategic outsourcing (email assistant, blogger, social media manager) isn’t just about buying back your time—it’s about allowing your business to run and grow even when you’re not working
- Print and album sales add both profit and legacy value for your clients when done with the right framework
- You can scale past your capped income without working more hours—Nicole had her highest revenue year while actually working less
- You don’t have to build an associate team or pivot into education in order to feel the impact of scaling
What’s Covered in This Episode
- Nicole’s background as an ICU nurse turned wedding and elopement photographer
- Where she was when she joined Scale It: working 70-hour weeks with no systems in place
- Why she decided to invest in Scale It and what she was hoping to achieve
- How email marketing transformed her inquiries into $8-10K bookings
- The systems and client experience upgrades that attracted more luxury clients
- Strategic outsourcing: hiring an email assistant, blogger, and social media manager
- Adding print and album sales to increase profit and serve clients better
- Launching an associate team and booking the first wedding within one month
- Pivoting into education with private mentoring and course development
- Her highest revenue year yet—and the year’s not even over
Resources Mentioned in This Episode
- Join the Scale It Waitlist
- Follow Nicole on Instagram at @nicolelkiser to see her stunning work and follow her scaling journey
- Episode 81 of All Angles Photography Podcast: My Client Files: A Recent Booking and a Recent Rejection
- Book It Mentorship Program
Friend, thank you so much for tuning into today’s episode. Nicole’s story is such a powerful reminder that you don’t have to choose between success and sustainability—you can absolutely have both. If her transformation resonated with you and you’re ready to stop working 70-hour weeks while actually growing your revenue, I’d love to have you join the Scale It waitlist. You’ll get immediate access to my brand new freebie “From Reactive to Proactive: Your CEO Day Framework,” plus first access to enrollment, exclusive discounts up to $1,500 off, one-on-one time with me, and bonuses nobody else will see.
I’ll be back in your ears with more photography business education every two weeks, so be sure to subscribe to the show. If you’re loving these episodes, I’d be so grateful if you’d leave a five-star review on Apple or Spotify so the podcast can reach more photographers just like you. Screenshot this episode, share it on Instagram, and tag me @itsclairehunt—I’d love to know what resonated with you most. Until next time, my friend.
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