CASE STUDY
How Adaptive Inner Circle helped Keefer Fine Art build a high-end car photography business everyone else said wasn't possible.
They started at $50 per photo shoot and now command $1500+ just to show up.
“We now have the cover of one of the most prestigious car magazines in the world, the Dupont Registry. We have art hanging in several museums; one of them is a Smithsonian affiliate. We have car collectors across the country with my husband's cell phone number, and they're texting regularly… Those other photographers who kept telling us, "You're never gonna make it." Well, we showed them.”
Lori Keefer, Keefer Fine Art - Automotive Photography
My husband and I started a photography business back in 2015. Right when we decided to start, we met Paul and Melissa. We met them two or three months after officially starting our photography business. And our photography business, we knew even then, would be around a very specialized niche of high-end automotive photography.
We had many photographers, some of them very well-known and accomplished photographers telling us that we would never be able to make the money we wanted shooting cars unless we got an in with one of the big car people. They said there's just no money in it.
“Then, in a bar at a photography event, Paul drew a marketing plan on a napkin and showed us how we could do it. That's where it all started.”
“Then, in a bar at a photography event, Paul drew a marketing plan on a napkin and showed us how we could do it. That's where it all started.”
Right before the pandemic hit, I started thinking I also wanted an online coaching business because I love to teach. I love helping my husband with car photography; we meet cool people, and it allows us to travel and get paid for it. But teaching and helping other people is in my soul.
Paul and Melissa helped me figure out what that would look like, what I was going to be teaching and how to market it. So what I teach combines what I have learned from Paul and Melissa with the trial and error of marketing our photography business.
I tell the people in my membership if I can figure out how to market to high-end car collectors, I can figure out how to market to just about anybody. It's all about relationships and being purposeful and intentional. I take a lot of what we have learned and applied, and that's what I teach.
What are the features of Adaptive Inner Circle that you find most useful?
Office Hours
Definitely the office hours, especially the office hours that are with Paul and Melissa. The team is fantastic too. If I need a question or help with ads or SEO or copywriting, I get on a team member's office hours and get help.
Marketing Makeovers
I also love Melissa's reviews that she'll do for our marketing. I'll do an email sequence in a document, upload it, and she'll go through and critique it and help me make it better.
Community of Champions
Also, the community with the other members, especially now that we've had the in-person mastermind and met in real life. So I know that not only are Paul and Melissa and the team they have built genuine about wanting to help, but the rest of the community is just as genuine and wants to help each other.
Some people in the Inner Circle are above where I'm at; they have way more members or multiple memberships. So I know they've been there when they're offering advice or assistance. Then, there are those of us at about the same level, and we cheer each other on. And then some of us have very similar memberships. But we don't worry about, oh, she's going to take my people. We're not worried about that; we're just there to help each other grow.
“I honestly think that collaboration is all Paul and Melissa; they have just set the stage for how it will be in the membership with how they carry themselves. And not just anybody can join. They're purposeful with the calibre of the people coming into the program.”
The importance of values-aligned coaching.
“In life and business, there are always moments where you do something that you just know will be the right decision, and then it goes horribly wrong, and you learn from it.”
The importance of values-aligned coaching.
“In life and business, there are always moments where you do something that you just know will be the right decision, and then it goes horribly wrong, and you learn from it.”
Well, one of those moments was when we decided to stop working with Paul and Melissa and hired a different business coach who we thought would help us significantly grow our business. That was one of those horribly wrong moments because that person was not a good fit. I don't think this other person truly grasped marketing in a way that would be effective for most business owners. This person taught what worked for them. It was one way and that one way doesn't work for everybody.
Also, some ethical lines got crossed. They were suggesting we do things that we did not feel comfortable doing. We spent a lot of money and didn't get anything out of it.
Whereas Paul and Melissa are always about being open and honest. They tell us where they have succeeded and where they have failed. They explain their mistakes, so we can all learn. And then, they help us see our mistakes so that we can continue to grow. I never have to worry about them being untruthful, unethical, or just in it for the money because I know they genuinely want to help.
So we returned to Inner Circle, and within a couple of months, I had built my membership and had my first members. It was more proof that what they teach is true and that what they teach works, and you just have to listen and apply. Make a decision and take action.
Back in the beginning, when we first started our photography business, we not only had the photographers telling us we would never make money. But many of those photographers–who were teaching business–told us we had to put our nose to the grind and put in the time and the hours and the hard work and all of that. And well, I agree to some extent you have to put in the work. But that doesn't mean we have to work 12 and 14 hours a day to be successful. And that was one thing we've learned from Paul and Melissa: to identify what we want our lives to be and make our business help us do that.
It's seven years on; what does your business look like now compared to before?
In our fine art business, we went from $50 photoshoots to $1500 as a starting commission, and that's just for time; that doesn't include the print sales. And we're not just getting one or two commissions; we're booked through next spring (six months). We've created a photography business where we get to travel. And when we travel, usually somebody's paying for our travel expenses. So Paul and Melissa have helped us come a long way.
We now have the cover of one of the most prestigious car magazines in the world, the Dupont Registry. You can't measure the value of being on the cover of the Dupont Registry. We would have paid them to get the cover, but They asked Us. It was really cool and a big accomplishment for us. We have art hanging in several museums; one of them is a Smithsonian affiliate. We have car collectors across the country with my husband's cell phone number, and they're texting regularly, "Hey, Jerry, check out this car." and, "You guys need to come and photograph this car."
“Those other photographers who kept telling us, "You're never gonna make it." Well, we showed them.”
My coaching business grew quicker, too, because I had been with Melissa and Paul for so long and already knew a lot of the basics and more advanced techniques. From when I started thinking I wanted to have an online business to when I had members was less than a year.
It all started with sitting at a bar, writing on a napkin.
They're good people, genuine, and want to help. So if you're willing to listen and apply and want to move your business forward, Paul and Melissa are the people to help you. But if you just want to buy in and expect a quick fix, this is not going to help you.
Melissa and Paul have helped us learn that growing the business is about playing that long game, building relationships, and being intentional. They genuinely want to help those in their memberships; they don't just look at us as people who pay them for help. As clients, we've become good friends, which I think is just like our clients with our photography business, and I'm learning the same thing with my coaching business. They're not just our clients, they are now our good friends that we talk to, and if somebody's ill, we send messages of comfort. Paul and Melissa do the same thing with all of us in the Inner Circle. So we're not just their members; we're their friends.
I wanted to have that same feeling in my membership. And with our clients in the fine art business. They're not just numbers; they're truly our friends.
