It turns out success isn’t tied to a single tactic.
Or even to being the “most talented” in the room.
What matters most?
The experience you create.
Think about something as simple as a first-birthday cake:
You can swing by the grocery store, grab a pre-made sheet cake with “Happy 1st” written in blue icing, pay $30, and call it done.
It’s fine—sweet, quick, forgettable.
Or you can visit a boutique cake artist who:
Invites you to a cake tasting so you can pick the perfect combination of flavors everyone will love;
Sketches a custom design that matches your party theme and colors;
Adds a complimentary “smash cake” perfectly sized for photos;
Hand-delivers everything the morning of the party—complete with matching candles and a handwritten note wishing your little one a magical day.
Same end product—cake—yet the experience feels worlds apart.
You’re happy to pay three or four times more because every thoughtful detail whispers, “This is special—worth celebrating and worth investing in.”
That’s exactly the philosophy I applied to my photography business:
I stopped chasing hacks and started engineering an experience so personal and memorable that the right clients see the value instantly.
The result?