Chapter 3: TheKnot Frenzy

Every ounce of me wanted to cry my eyes out, but I didn’t because I’m a big boy. I refused to wail and wallow like a baby. Instead, I decided to find a solution. Instead, I chose to think like a bride for once.

Where is a popular place a bride would go to find wedding service vendors? When I put myself into this mindset, a famous magazine came to mind: TheKnot. This magazine was featured in various movies. It had come to my attention as one of the hottest places to engross yourself in the wedding industry.

I decided to check it out, so I went to TheKnot.com. Oh brother, was I blown away. TheKnot offered services for everything you could possibly imagine in a wedding. It was my nature to click on the “photographers” link first.

There I saw a list of photographers with their packages beautifully marketed. And then it hit me. Here I go again with my calculations…thousands of people probably visit TheKnot everyday. Of the thousands, several hundreds would be looking for a photographer at any given time.

To be featured on TheKnot would be instant success. This was easier than 2+2. I knew I had to get myself onto TheKnot.

Wham, blam, cha-ching! $550 per month!

This is what it cost me to be on TheKnot. By the time I reached the end of my contracted term of 6 months, needless to say, I was very poor. 6 months x $550 = you do the math. What did I get from this? I’ll tell you what I got from this.

An average of one click on my link per day.

Now this was better than my referral system because there were a few more inquiries. However, compared to what I was dishing out, this was putting me in the hole. I wasn’t appealing to brides for some odd reason. Maybe I looked like a little fish compared to all of the big fish featured.

For someone starting out like myself, this form of advertising was extremely unaffordable. Don’t get me wrong, I did find some success with TheKnot. I just didn’t have the funds to keep up.

My mind was in a frenzied state. I was actually in the negative and I still didn’t have enough bookings to break even. I died a little inside thinking I had to go back to Staples sooner than I thought.

But there’s one thing you’ve got to know about me, and that is that I am not a giver-upper. I was going to give it one last try. There had to be a way to make this work.

What do you think I did? What would you have done?

View Other Chapters:

Chapter 1: From Cats to Weddings
Chapter 2: Riding High On Referrals
Chapter 3: TheKnot Frenzy
Chapter 4: Searching For Myself

Related Posts:

• Chapter 4: Searching For Myself
• Chapter 2: Riding High On Referrals
• Chapter 1: From Cats to Weddings