We think women of every age should be photographed and celebrated. Over the year's we've photographed lots of high school seniors. The world tries to tell us we should look like that 17 year old forever. Although that’s a beautiful age, it’s fleeting, still a child - literally. Striving to look like that is not only wildly unattainable, it does women a disservice. - Aubrey and Kia

Join Aubrey and Kia as they discuss aging, their personal views on it and why they want to change the way we view aging for women. Every woman at every age is beautiful, powerful, valuable and should be celebrated.

Aubrey shares her top 8 tips in her daily schedule including her daily meal plan. We all love a meal plan!

Kia shares the 4 ways that she is working to incorporate a healthy lifestyle into her every day life.

Check out his answers to these questions:

-Tell us what you are doing currently and how you got to where you are today?

-Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

-From someone who has watched the photography rather from a far, or up close for the last 20 years, what advice would you give photographers?

-you’ve helped a lot of people through hard situations; When do you know it’s time to walk away from a business or job?

-What would you say to someone who is creating a business for the first time?

Our favorite quotes from the interview:

Consistency compounds - Steve Magnus

It’s not failure, its a moment in time - Andy Bondurant

Click here to go to Andy's website

Andy Bondurant's Instagram

Find out what Aubrey and Kia suggest for each of these trends. Want to purchase the template for your studio or business, go here!

1. Classic
2. Street
3. Glam
4. Boho
5. All-American
6. Casual
7. Vintage
8. Romantic
9. Girl Boss - express, H&M

And if you want to check out the pinterest boards for each style, follow this link.

Kia and Aubrey share their tips for getting into speaking from both perspectives. If you speak or have something you want to share, this episode is for you.

INC magazine's article on Steve Jobs 5 step presentation process

The Successful Speaker: Five Steps for Booking Gigs, Getting Paid, and Building Your Platform

Toastmasters Speaking Club

Movement coach. Kristi Coaches Communicators. KristiBramlett.com

Hashtag Primetime News Article

Did Women Burn Their Bras News Article

Song of Songs 2:10-13

Book recommendations 

The 5AM Club: Own Your Morning. Elevate Your Life.

The 12 Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks than Others Do in 12 Months

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

Kia and Aubrey share personal experiences working with each different generation type. Since Kia is Gen X and Aubrey is a Millenial, you'll get their different perspectives on interacting with and marketing to each generation.

A fantastic blog about Gen Z

Best Channels for Each Generation Article

Blog for Strategies to Differentiate Your Marketing to Each Generation

A fantastic blog about Gen Z

Best Channels for Each Generation Article

Blog for Strategies to Differentiate Your Marketing to Each Generation

Join Kia and Aubrey as they talk through their daily routines and share what their typical day looks like. They are often asked how they get so much done every day and you will see it takes 2 very different approaches!

Aubrey is part of the 5 AM club and goes through each carefully thought out step of her rigorous morning and evening routines. This keeps her on a path to achieve the goals she sets for each day. Scroll down to see her morning and evening schedules. You may want to add these to your daily plans!

No less productive, Kia is a complete contrast to Aubrey with her love of slow and relaxing mornings and days filled with spontaneity and creativity. It takes all kinds and you'll be encouraged to find new ways of making your days productive and enjoyable with this glimpse into daily studio life with Aubrey and Kia!

5am club book  Link

Aubrey's Good Morning Routine 🌞 

4:45am - wake up, pray, meditate. 

5:00 - make smoothie, get ready for workout 

5:10 - work out for an hour 

6:10 - straighten up house for cool down; dishes, clean counters, sweep, throw in laundry, plan food for day

6:30 - drink greens and tea; journal, devotional, read Torah/bible 

7:15 - work on language 

7:45 - read 50 pages non fiction

8:30ish - get ready for work 

9:00ish - down in studio 

Aubrey's Good Evening Routine 🌙 

5:00pm - make dinner 

6:00 - free time; go on walk, spend time with fam, call friends, read, bake

8:30 - shower/bath, brush teeth, take off makeup

9:00 - finish non fiction reading for the day. 

9:45 - plan the next days schedule and to do’s, review current day wins/losses 

10:00 - quiet time. Pray, meditate 

10:30 - sleep 

In the first half of this podcast Aubrey shares how Instagram has become a type of dating app! She gives great tips on what does and doesn’t work for finding that significant other on Instagram. Be prepared to find out the best ways to slide into someone's dms and how to set up your feed to come across as someone truly dateable.

The second half of the episode Kia shares her top tips for keeping Instagram enjoyable as a parent and gives some fun advice on creating your own personal "Mommagram". If you are a mom, you probably aren't a digital native so it's nice to hear another parent's perspective on what to share and not to share on social media.

This episode was recorded before the holidays so feel free to get a little nostalgic when Aubrey and Kia both share about their seasonal bucket lists! 

Aubreys butternut squash recipe from Pinterest

Listen to this episode for the top 5 tips on using Instagram to get and keep your Dream Job!

In this podcast episode, Kia and Aubrey discuss how they use instagram as an advantage in their jobs and practical tips on leveling up your social media. They also discuss how a few simple social media changes can protect you from missing out on potential job opportunities!

Listen until the end to hear a great bonus tip on how to get directly in touch with your dream employer!

Helpful Links:

Download our social media guide here

Donald Miller podcast on brand clarity

The value of emojis article

How to create an instagram aesthetic 

Our favorite app to plan ahead: Planoly

More about Josiah "Bo" Nelson:

Thou Mayest Coffee Roasters is at the heart of a Kansas City movement driven by innovation and craft. Every day, artists, entrepreneurs, government leaders, non-profit and startup leaders connect over coffee at Thou Mayest, fueling their passion to advance their city. Co-owner/majority stakeholder Bo Nelson is a big reason why.

Bo is a homegrown Kansas Citian, whose blend of rural and urban life experience reflects the city he serves. Bo grew up on a farm, working his family’s 10-acre nursery where he honed horticultural skills, learned business basics, and developed a hard work ethic that is evident in everything he does. 

Bo traveled the world, but felt the call back home, inspired to put his mark on the culture of the city he loves. Bo started Thou Mayest Coffee Roasters in 2012, built upon the idea that communities grow through connections and conversations over a good drink. 

Thou Mayest is named in reference to a passage from John Steinbeck’s East of Eden, and the shop’s design/atmosphere is equal parts Jacques Cousteau, Frank Zappa and the Boy Scouts of America. One visit and it’s evident that Bo has created a magnetic space that is itself alive, gathering people of all backgrounds and interests to have a drink and foster collaboration. 

Links:

Thou Mayest

Cafe Equinox

More about Tara:

Tara Rochelle is a senior photographer who infused fashion and editorial elements into her photography and has established a signature style that is known throughout the industry. She is located outside of Los Angeles, CA and has been photographing since high school. She has photographed celebrity weddings and celebrities, but now focuses on the high school senior market. Tara also loves to teach other photographers and has been a speaker at workshops and is always highly requested to be a keynote speaker at industry conferences!

Links:

Tara's Website

Tara's Instagram

Tara for Photographers

A little more about Emil:

Emil is the Lime in Slice of Lime (no really, it’s her name, backwards!) Located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Emil has built a senior photography brand on the belief that “We all Shine Differently” and pushes herself to create images for her seniors that capture the spirit of who they are while giving them a memorable experience that they want to shout about from the rooftops. When not behind the lens, Emil can be found adding to her plant collection, listening to records with her hubby, Jason, and cuddling with her rescue dogs

PODCAST:  http://certifiedmadness.com

www.instagram.com/sliceofseniorstyle

Carissa Davis is a High School/Tween and Kids photographer and national educator. She is known for her bright, bold, fun imagery and her rep team known as the "Flamingos". As a mom of two girls , and working with a predominantly female client base , promoting “girl power” is top priority. Her business empowers young girls to be strong contributing members of society and encourages breaking barriers of competition amongst other women, all while building self confidence and growth. She is also an animal rights and Special Needs advocate pairing with organizations such as Emily’s Legacy and Night to Shine.

https://www.facebook.com/emilyslegacyrescueinc

https://www.timtebowfoundation.org/ministries/night-to-shine

A little more about Ronan:

Ronan as CEO of Infinity Group (3XM, Business Success Academy & Photovalue) has made it his mission to help Photographers Realize the difference their work makes to creating a healthy society in mind, body & spirit. By doing so, Photographers start to Respect themselves which is an essential first step to bridging the value gap with consumers. Only when these two pillars are achieved will Photographers get properly Rewarded for the important work they do.

Ronan’s mission is to help photographers Be Seen, Be Heard, Be Understood by the consumer not for what they do but for the difference they make to the consumers life. That is how we bridge the value gap with the consumer. That is how we amplify the creation of a healthier society through photography.

Photographers who become BSA Online Marketing Wizards are filing their studios all year round with higher paying clients while amplifying the creation of a healthier society through photography.

If you want to connect with Matt to find out more about planning your financial future, go to https://www.oxfordfp.net or email matt@allisonragsdalephotography.com.

Disclosure:

This material has been distributed for informational purposes only. All investments carry certain risk and there is no assurance that an investment will provide positive performance over any period of time. They are not intended to constitute legal, tax, securities or investment advice or a recommended course of action in any given situation. The projections discussed regarding the likelihood of various investment outcomes are hypothetical in nature, do not reflect actual investment results, and are not guarantees of future results.

Matt Hoaglin is an Investment Advisor Representative with Dynamic Wealth Advisors dba Oxford Financial Planners. All investment advisory services are offered through Dynamic Wealth Advisors

Here's a link to a blog all about Taking Back Happy.

Kia's website

Kia's Instagram

Bondurant Studios Instagram

Style Muse Magazine Instagram

Kia's Facebook

Joyofmarketing.com/marketingchecklist (free resource)

Thepushconference.com

Seniorstyleguide.com

#seniorstyleguide

@seniorstyleguide

@Selessastudio on instagram

@coffycreations on Instagram

Instagram: @ChristineTremoulet

Photographers Innercircle

instalocal.biz

Home

Home

http://www.nextgen-gallery.com/295-0-3-12.html

Contact with Justin

80/20 Business – 8020business.com – free strategy call

Zenfusion.com – Facebook ads help

Read Full Transcript

[00:00] This is Justin Lofton and you’re listening to from nothing to profit.

[00:04] Welcome to from nothing to profit a photographers podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

[00:19] Hey everybody. Well, I’m going to podcast. So as you heard in the introduction, I have Justin Lofton on today and you’re probably thinking Justin Loften photography. I don’t know who that is. Well actually he’s not a photographer and he’s somebody that I’ve ran in the same circle with for years. And Justin, we met years ago at icon, which is infusion site was, it was Infusionsoft’s like annual conference for their users and Yup. And for people that don’t know, Infusionsoft is a CRM that we use in our business. But you had some businesses there I think when we first met, when you were doing syncsumo. Yep. And um, and so to that, tell us a little bit about like kind of what you do and stuff like that. And then I’ll tell, I’ll tell my audience kind of why we have you on the podcast.

[00:57] Yeah, of course. So you know, I’ve been an entrepreneur since I was a kid and I really owe the last, call it 12 to 18 years. I’ve been doing a lot online selling products and I’m doing marketing. I’ve done a ton of SEO, search engine optimization, manipulating Google’s algorithm. And I’ve, I’ve run, you know, tons of Facebook ads. I’ve probably spent over 15 million now on Facebook’s ad platform. And so I’ve done it all in terms of running an agency, which I still have syncsumo, which is a software as a service company that connects CRMs like infusion soft with a Facebook ad platform to sync up those contacts. So I’ve got multiple e-commerce brands now. Like I said, I’ve got zen fusion, which is a Facebook ads agency. And then, you know, really my passion project is one on one coaching, helping entrepreneurs and business owners accelerate the growth of their business through the use of the business acceleration lifecycle, which I’ve developed over the last 20 years.

[01:55] That’s awesome. Yeah. And so that’s kind of how we ended up here. So I’m interested enough, like I literally reached out to you yesterday afternoon after I saw a post on Facebook that you’d post, cause we’re obviously friends on Facebook and it comes from, you know, your, Your 80 20 coaching branch of, of your world now. And you were talking about, and I just want you to share this with the audience. And so you were talking about this concept that I’m going to butcher, but if the idea is that it’s all about an energy game, right? And it’s like, so talk more about exactly what you mean by that and how you look at business now.

[02:29] Yeah. And just like your...]]>On today’s podcast, Matt interviews Justin Lofton, who is not a photographer. Justin works in marketing, SEO, Facebook ad agencies and coaching. Justin’s passion lies in helping entrepreneurs skip some of the challenges we face. Listen in to see what he says about your energy. Delegate or delete things that drain your energy. Do more of the things that you enjoy and that you are still excited about doing when you go to bed at night. Listen to your body to avoid burnout and stay connected to your passions. You don’t want to miss how serving yourself first lets you serve others at your highest level. 80/20 your relationships. Observe what got you where you are and what you need to focus on to get you where you want to go.

Contact with Justin

80/20 Business – 8020business.com – free strategy call

Zenfusion.com – Facebook ads help

Read Full Transcript

[00:00] This is Justin Lofton and you’re listening to from nothing to profit.

[00:04] Welcome to from nothing to profit a photographers podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

[00:19] Hey everybody. Well, I’m going to podcast. So as you heard in the introduction, I have Justin Lofton on today and you’re probably thinking Justin Loften photography. I don’t know who that is. Well actually he’s not a photographer and he’s somebody that I’ve ran in the same circle with for years. And Justin, we met years ago at icon, which is infusion site was, it was Infusionsoft’s like annual conference for their users and Yup. And for people that don’t know, Infusionsoft is a CRM that we use in our business. But you had some businesses there I think when we first met, when you were doing syncsumo. Yep. And um, and so to that, tell us a little bit about like kind of what you do and stuff like that. And then I’ll tell, I’ll tell my audience kind of why we have you on the podcast.

[00:57] Yeah, of course. So you know, I’ve been an entrepreneur since I was a kid and I really owe the last, call it 12 to 18 years. I’ve been doing a lot online selling products and I’m doing marketing. I’ve done a ton of SEO, search engine optimization, manipulating Google’s algorithm. And I’ve, I’ve run, you know, tons of Facebook ads. I’ve probably spent over 15 million now on Facebook’s ad platform. And so I’ve done it all in terms of running an agency, which I still have syncsumo, which is a software as a service company that connects CRMs like infusion soft with a Facebook ad platform to sync up those contacts. So I’ve got multiple e-commerce brands now. Like I said, I’ve got zen fusion, which is a Facebook ads agency. And then, you know, really my passion project is one on one coaching, helping entrepreneurs and business owners accelerate the growth of their business through the use of the business acceleration lifecycle, which I’ve developed over the last 20 years.

[01:55] That’s awesome. Yeah. And so that’s kind of how we ended up here. So I’m interested enough, like I literally reached out to you yesterday afternoon after I saw a post on Facebook that you’d post, cause we’re obviously friends on Facebook and it comes from, you know, your, Your 80 20 coaching branch of, of your world now. And you were talking about, and I just want you to share this with the audience. And so you were talking about this concept that I’m going to butcher, but if the idea is that it’s all about an energy game, right? And it’s like, so talk more about exactly what you mean by that and how you look at business now.

[02:29] Yeah. And just like your listeners, you know, I’ve been through this, I’ve fallen on my face so many times over the years. And really that’s where my passion comes from now really helping entrepreneurs and business owners sort of skip a lot of those challenges that I faced. And I’m sure that many of them have already faced some of those challenges. And at the core level, one of the things that I learned from one of the many things that I learned was that, you know, a lot of what we were taught through the system from our parents, you know, they did the best they could, but you know, they have their own limitations, right? We all, we all do, right? And so we only learned what the system at that stage when we came into this game, you know, could teach us. And one of the big things in terms of how this game works is that it’s really about your energy and that should really drive your decisions and what you do throughout your day and what you do in your business.

[03:23] You know, the whole concept of right and wrong and good and bad and all these, all these Duke, what I call dualistic concepts that kind of are based on the current reality that we live in. Those really don’t exist. And really what that is, is the system trying to drain your energy. That’s the, uh, what I like to call the screen. It’s sort of like our world around us is constantly throwing stuff at us to distract us and to keep us from fulfilling our passions. You know, what’s, what’s deeply in our heart energy. And what happens is that we start to make decisions based on perceptions that aren’t accurate in the reality. And so really what you need to be thinking about is making decisions that support and benefit your energy because we sort of been taught to just work hard and grind and hustle and do all this hard work.

[04:17] And so by the end of the day, we’re just completely exhausted and we hope that we get enough sleep, which is an opportunity to sort of refresh the body and the mind and, and regain some of the energy that we used up through the day. And we certainly consume calories and try and get in the sun when we can because all those things are actually helping you restore energy and keep your energy levels. But instead of thinking of your personal energy as sort of something to be drained throughout the day and making sure that your energy levels stay high enough until you can hit your head, can hit the pillow at night. It’s really about thinking about how can you start to build your energy by making better decisions, by observing what’s happening around you and make decisions that benefit your energy as opposed to, you know, taking away your energy.

[05:03] And that really, in many cases, some people say, well, you know, it sounds like you’re being selfish or you’re, you know, you’re putting yourself first. Yes, I am. I think that’s the most important thing. You can’t really help other people and bring value to their lives and bring value to your marketplace that you serve if you’re not focused on yourself first. Right? So, you know, if you’re in an airplane and an accident happens, they say put it, put the oxygen on yourself before you start helping other people. It’s the same thing in this conversation here about your personal energy. You can actually start building your energy and when you go to bed at night, your excited about the next day, you’re not exhausted from the day that just passed you. You’re actually building her energy and you’re not giving it away to things that don’t serve you, that don’t benefit your energy and your state in this reality. Right. And so where this resonated with me, I’ll talk about kind of like my personal example, but then I also talked about what I see in

[05:57] our photography industry as well. But in my personal example, if I’m working on a project that I’m really passionate about and I’m excited about it, like I can put a, you know, I can put a 24 hour day in, but you know, realistically like a 12 hour day in pretty easy. And then I, when I go lay down to go to bed, I still want to be working on it and I’m excited and I’m passionate. But then when I’m doing things that I don’t want to do, I mean I instantly zaps my energy and kind of takes me off my game for the whole day. And it’s like, well I got to do this but I don’t really want to. Or there’s things on my to do list that I never want to get to and I keep putting them off. And so when I saw your Facebook posts, which for you guys that missed is, I mean it’s exactly what he just explained. I thought about man, you know, I think the right thing is do is just focus on things that fill your energy bucket. You know, am I, am I getting towards what you’re thinking too?

[06:45] Totally. And, and you know, the beauty with that is, is you can start to observe that, that feeling, right? Oh Wow, this is really zapping my energy. I’m not excited about this. That’s you. That’s your source self trying to tell you that this is not where you should be putting your energy. That’s this is not what you’re passionate about. Find a way to either delegate or delete it. Okay, fine. Either find somebody that can do it for you and there’s lots of resources out there across the world that can do a lot of these things that do drain our energy or delete it altogether. You know, you mentioned my coaching business, 80 20 business, a core focus of everything in my life is based on the 80 20 rule, which says that 20% of your efforts produce 80% of your results. And so again, when I’m looking at anything I’m doing, but on this topic in terms of energy, I’m looking for those 20% of opportunities that generate the most results in building my energy.

[07:39] Right? So just to your point, like, Hey, I want to focus on my passions. I’ve got multiple businesses, I’m excited about all of them in different ways. But what of my true passion is, is helping entrepreneurs and business owners exponentially grow their business. To tell you a little story at when I ran the SEO business back in 20 2010 to 2014 time, I would just be, I would just do calls with small business owners all day long. And at the time I was like, well I want to do these calls and figure out if I can help them with SEO. And what I ended up doing with most of those calls and telling them, hey, SEO is not right for you. You need to be doing this and this and this before you, you know, you work with us, you’re not ready for us. And what I learned a few years ago was that the reason I wanted to do all those calls all the time and I enjoyed them was because that was really my passion was helping business owners.

[08:29] Cause I had already developed these, these formulas on how to grow businesses. At the time I was just doing, you know, SEO because I was very good at it. I knew how to manipulate Google’s algorithm very easily. But really my passion at the core was continuing to help others through business, sort of expand their own personal wellbeing as well as help them exponentially grow their business easily. And that’s why that’s my passion today, because I had to go through many years of just sort of doing it and not realizing that listening to my source self telling me, hey, you need to be doing more of this instead of the SEO work itself. That’s what you enjoy. And so you need thing to those signals, you know?

[09:10] Well, yeah. And I think we had the same conversation when years ago when we talked about when you started sync sumo, so that was your branch of your world that, you know, syncs contacts in the CRM with Facebook so that, you know, you can market to segments of your, of your email list. And you were talking about like, you know, my passion is just to help people grow their business and this is just a huge opportunity right now. You know? So like at the time it was just the tool that was going to help entrepreneurs and business owners achieve the next level of their business. Cause so it wasn’t necessarily about the Facebook, but I think you saw it as like, here’s an opportunity to do this bigger mission that I’m doing. Exactly. Yeah, that’s awesome. Okay, so here’s where I think it applies to the photography world.

[09:50] So, and it probably applies, this is probably true in all businesses, but my world is photography and so I see a lot of Facebook posts and different things like that from photographers and they’re like, should I do this or should I do this? You know, like should I do a or should I do B or you know, how do I do this the right way? And I heard you and in your Facebook posts talk about there’s not really like a right or wrong way. I guess the way I would, I would say that I would answer them after watching your videos, I would say, you know, don’t do a or B or if you’re going to pick one, which one fills your bucket, there’s not a wrong or right way. It’s like, which one, you know, gives you more passion, more energy so that you actually accomplish it, you know, at a higher level. Is that fair to say as well? Yeah,

[10:33] I mean, yeah, absolutely. So you know what, which decision benefits me from an energy perspective. Not like, Oh okay I’m going to go make some money or whatever. Sometimes we make decisions on that. But also, you know, you want to be looking to say what also challenges me because that actually surge your energy, those challenging opportunities helps you break through so that you can actually grow your energy. So, but yeah, absolutely. It’s really about that simple decision you make in your head in a, in a microsecond is basically saying, well that decision or that project benefit my energy or will it drain me?

[11:09] Right. Well and the interesting thing as some people say, you know, say it’s not always about the money either and cause some people aren’t motivated by money. So if like if money doesn’t help you actually with your energy, then yeah, you may meet no need to make the decision based on financial reasons, you know, it could be other, other reasons as well.

[11:25] Yeah. And I think in general, people as a whole, we’re not motivated by money. We’re motivated by the things that money can help us achieve. And I think that’s key to remember because in today’s world we’re, we’re sort of, you know, they dangle the carrot on money and making you assume that more money is going to create your happiness. Happiness is already inside of you and no matter what you have and in the material world and they want you to think that it’s on the outside of you and that money is, is a big proponent of somehow delivering you, you know, with happiness. And that’s just not the case.

[12:00] Yeah, that’s a really good point. So my wife went to Africa like 10 years ago and like, you know, did some work and stuff over there and uh, produced, uh, a photo book and stuff like that. And she just talked about when she got back the Mo, one of the most interesting things she saw is like, just how hopeful and happy everybody over there was, even though they didn’t have any material stuff, you know. And I think that made her realize, you know, it’s not about material stuff. It’s about, like you said earlier, listening to your body and listening to like, this is what I need to be working on right now. I’m not listening to what other people say will make me happy, or what society or the school system or my parents or whatever said it’s what is my body telling me right now that is going to give me the most energy in my day so I can complete this task of the world? Like really high level.

[12:43] Yeah, no question. I know that a lot of photographers get into that business because they have a true passion for it and they also have, you know, the programming of a society that tells them they need to make x amount and have a specific things in life and all that. And, and I think that they struggle with that sometimes in terms of finding that balance of, okay, I’ve got to pay the bills, but also, you know, not losing the passion that I have for the, in the reason that I got involved in photography. So I think it’s really important that using that sort of 80 20 approach on why you’re truly doing what you’re doing and in the situations where we have to take on and do work because we need the money to pay the overhead that we have, that we look for opportunities to either challenge ourselves, learn or create amazing relationships in those situations. When on the surface we say, you know what, it doesn’t feel like this is gonna benefit my energy, but I need to do it and I’m going to look for opportunities to improve myself, be a better version of myself in this, you know, challenging job or situation or project that I have to do to support my family. And you’ll come out the other end of it with a completely different perspective on whether that decision benefited you or not.

[14:01] Yeah. Because when our industry, we talk a lot about, about burnout and on, so I’m just, I think, I feel like I’m just putting buzz words on top of what you’re saying. Way better than some of these buzz words actually say. But a lot of people come into our industry and they have a passion for photography and then all of a sudden they take on overhead and bills and then they have, then they start listening to Facebook groups or listen to other people that tell them this is how you run a business and stuff like that. And all along the way, I think they’re making the wrong turns. You know, they keep turning towards things that are probably not fulfilling them and they’re moving towards things that are actually burning them out. And then at some point they get to, they get down the road and they’re like, you know, this isn’t worth it.

[14:39] This is not what I signed up for. And the truth is, it’s not what they signed up for because they didn’t necessarily listen to themselves. They listened to a Facebook group that said, you know, you need to charge this much and you need to do this type of session. And you needed that. It wasn’t, that’s not, that wasn’t their passion. It actually may have been the opposite of their passion. Sure. And so they ended up just burning out. And then they’re like, I’m going to go so funny on that. And then you probably hear this in your industry too, but then they were like, I’m going to go get a real job, you know, which is one of my favorite lines. But, but yeah, I think if you’re not listening to yourself, it totally, it totally burns you out.

[15:11] Yeah. No. And it’s, it’s really important that we don’t just get disconnected and get distracted from our true passions and, and fall into that societal, this is the, you know, hey, this is, this is the thing I need to, I need to just sort of accept this as, you know, I just, it doesn’t work for me. I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m not good enough to do this because we’ve listened to other people that told us what we need to be doing. One of the things that I recommend that you do in any of those situations, and in general, this is how you should be thinking about it from an 80 20 perspective and how you can sort of get yourself back on a better path is look at the relationships that you already have. Do an 80 20 on the relationships that benefit you most.

[15:54] Okay. And again, I want to remind you that I don’t speak from a dualistic perspective of selfishness and unselfishness. Actually anything that you do has an element of both. So think of it as serving yourself first so you can serve others with higher value over time because you’re building on that energy...]]>https://photopodcast.co/?p=2011Mon, 16 Sep 2019 01:30:00 -040027:40nofull1411411On today’s podcast, Matt interviews Justin Lofton, who is not a photographer. Justin works in marketing, SEO, Facebook ad agencies and coaching. Justin’s passion lies in helping entrepreneurs skip some of the challenges we face. Listen in to see what he says about your energy. Delegate or delete things that drain your energy. Do more…Kia Bondurant and Aubrey LaurenWork-Life BalanceToday, Matt and Kia discuss work life balance, specifically with a family/children. When Kia first started work as a photographer, she worked 60 hours a week and that didn’t stop when she had her first two children. You don’t want to miss Kia’s story after a life changing event occured. Kia says you’ll never be perfectly balanced or perfectly comfortable. Shoot for work life integration, versus balance. It doesn’t have to be 50/50. Matt talks about how parkinson’s law affects our lives. You don’t want to miss this all the great advice in this podcast!

Read Full Transcript

[00:00] Welcome to from nothing to profit, a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

[00:17] All right, welcome everybody to the podcast today. Matt and I have a very interesting conversation topic that we’re going to be discussing and one that is super close to my heart. So Matt, you had a question the other day. What was your question?

[00:31] Well, so a lot of people send me messages all the time because I do some coaching and stuff and they talk a lot about worth like more. I can’t even speak now, work life balance. And so I feel like I can help them. But there’s been a few that I couldn’t help lately and it’s because it’s based around like family. And so I just thought you could answer this better because you got children and what work life life balance work looks like for somebody that is raising kids and has kids and soccer and stuff like that.

[01:00] Yeah, yeah. Oh you mentioned soccer. Absolutely. So work life balance is something that I have definitely struggled with over the years and had, I’ve, I’ve made a lot of different decisions, tried things, a lot of different ways to figure out how I can be in a comfortable position. And so, uh, just to go back a little bit, I started as a photographer right out of college. So I was married and 22 and uh, working in a family business and I was working 60, 70 hours a week. And then I had my first daughter when I was 25. And so I continued to work 60 or 70 hours a week and just brought her to work with me and then my second daughter was born and continue to work that much and they both would come to work with a nanny and then they were both in a car wreck and they were winning.

[01:52] Yes. My girls and the nanny were in a car wreck. She, uh, she took them to the city. We, uh, lived in a city in a small town about 20 minutes outside of the big city, and she took them to the city to get lunch for everyone and was late coming back. Uh, and some of my, someone had said to me, well, she’s late getting back. And I was like, yes, with my children, I don’t care about lunch, I’m worried about my children. And then we got a phone call and, uh, what had happened is she, her car had, um, my car actually had a hit, a, a piece of metal that had been dropped off the road right in front of her, so other cars and had had swerved and she wasn’t able to. And so it had rolled and it was just crazy.

[02:38] Like it was the grace of God truly, truly the grace of the car. The car rolled, the car rolled multiple times. Yes. Okay. Yeah. And so you don’t know the story, Matt. That’s great. Obviously don’t, so yeah. So the paramedics came up on the scene, saw all of the, she had actually also gone to the store and bought some like children’s toys. Um, this photo session. So there were all these children’s toys strewn out all across the road. The car was hanging upside down air, the other car was upside down and they pulled up and they were just sure that they were going to come across a horrific...]]>Today, Matt and Kia discuss work life balance, specifically with a family/children. When Kia first started work as a photographer, she worked 60 hours a week and that didn’t stop when she had her first two children. You don’t want to miss Kia’s story after a life changing event occured. Kia says you’ll never be perfectly balanced or perfectly comfortable. Shoot for work life integration, versus balance. It doesn’t have to be 50/50. Matt talks about how parkinson’s law affects our lives. You don’t want to miss this all the great advice in this podcast!

Read Full Transcript

[00:00] Welcome to from nothing to profit, a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

[00:17] All right, welcome everybody to the podcast today. Matt and I have a very interesting conversation topic that we’re going to be discussing and one that is super close to my heart. So Matt, you had a question the other day. What was your question?

[00:31] Well, so a lot of people send me messages all the time because I do some coaching and stuff and they talk a lot about worth like more. I can’t even speak now, work life balance. And so I feel like I can help them. But there’s been a few that I couldn’t help lately and it’s because it’s based around like family. And so I just thought you could answer this better because you got children and what work life life balance work looks like for somebody that is raising kids and has kids and soccer and stuff like that.

[01:00] Yeah, yeah. Oh you mentioned soccer. Absolutely. So work life balance is something that I have definitely struggled with over the years and had, I’ve, I’ve made a lot of different decisions, tried things, a lot of different ways to figure out how I can be in a comfortable position. And so, uh, just to go back a little bit, I started as a photographer right out of college. So I was married and 22 and uh, working in a family business and I was working 60, 70 hours a week. And then I had my first daughter when I was 25. And so I continued to work 60 or 70 hours a week and just brought her to work with me and then my second daughter was born and continue to work that much and they both would come to work with a nanny and then they were both in a car wreck and they were winning.

[01:52] Yes. My girls and the nanny were in a car wreck. She, uh, she took them to the city. We, uh, lived in a city in a small town about 20 minutes outside of the big city, and she took them to the city to get lunch for everyone and was late coming back. Uh, and some of my, someone had said to me, well, she’s late getting back. And I was like, yes, with my children, I don’t care about lunch, I’m worried about my children. And then we got a phone call and, uh, what had happened is she, her car had, um, my car actually had a hit, a, a piece of metal that had been dropped off the road right in front of her, so other cars and had had swerved and she wasn’t able to. And so it had rolled and it was just crazy.

[02:38] Like it was the grace of God truly, truly the grace of the car. The car rolled, the car rolled multiple times. Yes. Okay. Yeah. And so you don’t know the story, Matt. That’s great. Obviously don’t, so yeah. So the paramedics came up on the scene, saw all of the, she had actually also gone to the store and bought some like children’s toys. Um, this photo session. So there were all these children’s toys strewn out all across the road. The car was hanging upside down air, the other car was upside down and they pulled up and they were just sure that they were going to come across a horrific scene. And, uh, they, my five month old daughter and my two and a half year old daughter and the nanny were in the car, they were all perfectly fine except the nanny had like hurt her foot a little bit.

[03:23] Like it was like her toes were smashed a little bit. They got them all out and uh, they, someone people recognize the car and someone that knew the family came up to the nanny and handed her the phone, dialed to my work and she said, we’re in a car wreck. Everyone’s okay and this is where we are. And I, my, I had, my brother worked with me at the time. I jumped in the car with him and we drove a million miles an hour up to where we were and they were all in the, um, then the ambulance and uh, went to the, um, to the hospital to check everyone out and they were all perfectly fine. But that was a turning point for me. And I was like, no more. I am not going to have a full time nanny. And she was wonderful and continued to work for me at another couple months until I made the big decision to change things. And so I made a commitment to only work two and a half days a week away from the house. And they still did come to work with me. And then I had family watched them a lot of the time. And then I eventually did have babysitters that stayed at home with them. But from then on, two and a half days a week was my max that I would ever work.

[04:26] And how did that affect your business? Because from what I understand, it didn’t happen. I mean it changed your life and your business, but you’re also still highly successful. So it’s like you didn’t, I mean, did you feel like you were six days a week versus two and a half days a week was like dramatically different?

[04:43] Yeah. You know, I think, um, I’d always been a very like, uh, achievement minded person. And so to me I was willing to do whatever it took to make the business great. And it did seem like I needed to be there physically be there to shoot and to be a part of everything. And it was easy because they were sweet little girls and so they just would run around the studio and that type of thing. And I felt like I was there and a part of their lives. But that moment, um, it was such a big change for me that I was like, no, I need to physically be there with them and not be doing work at the same time. And, uh, I had always been struggling with the guilt and I read in a, I don’t, I don’t know, it was some like the Times magazine or something, this big cover article about women and work and there’s this guilt factor of you feel guilty if you work, you feel guilty if you stay home.

[05:37] Like there is not an in between, you know, you’re guilty no matter what. And I was always struggling with that guilt and so, um, to figure and I didn’t want to stay home. I love my job and I loved what I did. But the discipline of not having anyone there to help me with them and to take care of them made me, uh, be present with them in a different way than I had been. And I do. I did all, all through the years. I have my two and a half days of working. I did have, um, nannies and babysitters and my kids really loved all those people and made really good friends with them and I loved having them in my lives. There are some of my best friends and I would, you know, they would come to work and I would visit with them for a while.

[06:20] Then I’d had a off over to the studio and then I come back and nurse the babies or whatever. And so I, what I learned is that you’re really not going to have this perfect balance and you’re really not going to be perfectly comfortable no matter what you’re doing because, uh, I think that traditionally women stayed at home and although it is a good thing that women through off them the, uh, those constraints and are able to go out into the world, there’s still these expectations and the, the way that we’re built that makes us think that we need to do all of it. You know, that now

[07:01] did the expectation is you just, there’s an expectation that you’re a good parent and raise a good child.

[07:06] Yes. But no, I’m talking about like the world, the expectation that you need to be the one there to do everything. You know that you, that you need to be there for their first step and you need to be there for their first smile and you need to be there feeding them every single meal and you need to be there doing all of that. But at the same time you also need to go out in the world and you know, have this job and that’s very successful and you also need to go back to your baby weight beforehand and you also need to, you know, do the groceries and make all the meals. Like there are these expectations that women, whether the world puts it on you, you put it on yourself to be the supermom. And so I heard the other day a great phrase, so it wasn’t work life balance, it was work life integration. And I think for me, yeah,

[07:51] what I figured out how to balance implies 50 50

[07:54] yes. That’s possible.

[07:56] That may be 80 20 for a while and you’re happy doing that. And then all of a sudden you’re like, I can’t do this anymore. I need to stay in needs to go 60 40 or 80 20 the other way. And that’s fine. Like, you know, we’ve talked about this a little bit, like you’re like, okay, you know, when the summer comes we’ve got to do podcasting differently and things like that because like it’s just going to change, but it’s never going to be 50, 50.

[08:14] No. And uh, I think one of the things that I’ve figured out is that sometimes I just hang out at home, you know, like I just forced myself to chill out and because I am at such an achiever and so I don’t, I put myself in situations where I can’t work, you know, where I have to go do things. And then the other thing is, is now that as my children have grown and they’re not little anymore, so I was, my schedule was working two and a half days a week. Right. So the other two and a half days I was home and sometimes I would do work and I would have things that I was doing at home, but I was home with them. No one else was there to take care of them. And then now I do it a bit differently than that. So I, I typically work two or three days a week and have those days, you know, that I go to work. But now that they’re older, I make sure that I go to as many of their events as I can go to typically.

[09:09] Yeah.

[09:10] Yeah. So I go to all of their events, uh, that I can and typically if I can’t, it’s because I’m at someone else’s event and then I just mark everything off on my calendar. And I also try to be home after school two to three days a week so that I’m here when they walk in the door and we have a conversation about what happened that day because that’s when they’re, you know, teenagers in upper elementary or ready to talk is when they get home from school. And so we’re channel them.

[09:35] And so it’s like, okay, if I, if I’m going to pick 20 minutes to have with my child, you strategically, you’ve chose to pick like the 20 minutes when they get home from school, which that 20 minutes may be more valuable than having been with him two hours later. You know what I mean? Like, cause later they’re like, I just want to be on my phone, mom. I don’t want to talk. Yeah,

[09:53] yeah, yeah. And I don’t necessarily leave, but uh, I definitely know that there are times that are, uh, they’re ready to talk, they’re ready to interact and then driving them to their activities. You know, we talk a lot of times when I’m driving and not, not all the time, but you know, we have good conversations driving them to activities and that type of thing.

[10:11] Yeah. Or like have the, so like with my parents, it was always best right after school and while we were in the car. I completely agree with that.

[10:18] Yeah. Especially with boys when you’re, the car is really good because you’re facing the same direction rather than looking at each other. And so boys are more comfortable at talking, um, side by side. So, uh, so that addresses kind of work life balance with your family. I think for me it’s definitely been something that I had to come to terms with because I knew that it was never going to be exactly perfect because neither working and not working both, we’re going to make me uncomfortable. And so I had to find something that was integrated and in between, but then also, you know, speaking of work life balance life is not just children. So there’s also work life balance with you know, exercise and eating and all of those types of things. And so I think I’m just the type of person that um, essentially I go in cycles and so sometimes of the year I do more walking, sometimes of the year.

[11:13] I do classes sometimes of the year. I do like yoga. And so I just, I’ve come to the point where I just kind of allow myself to have those cycles of activity. And then as far as eating goes, I’ve really, um, I have to be really careful with what I eat anyway. And so, uh, again, kind of go in cycles of allowing myself some indulgences and not, but, um, because I have like some food intolerances and allergies and so, um, but yeah, so work life balance there. Oh. And then friends, I actually scheduled that, so I, um, hang out with a friend or two every week. And so some friends I get up really early in the morning, others I would go to lunch and we go kind of hang out. And so it’s a bit, it’s an important part of my, um, of my life and, um, I don’t do it like, oh, I need to see friends, so I’m going to do this.

[12:06] I do it because I’m like, Ooh, I want, you know, this, this opportunity came up and I’m just make it a priority. So I schedule those kinds of friend hangouts to, yeah, complete sense. So does that touch everything on work life balance? I think it’s a good transition to kind of where, how I think about work life balance because you have a different, well you know, and the thing about it is, is I have a lot of people that work for me that typically don’t have kids, you know, they’re younger and so, um, I have to really help them figure out how they’re going to do it because like I don’t really, I try not to talk to the people that work for me over on the weekend. Now some of us go to church together so we visit, but I try to like really make the weekend not about work and you know, unless we actually have shoots on the weekend.

[12:54] On that note, let’s just take a quick break and we’ll be right back. Hey everyone, tell me if this sounds familiar. You look at your calendar and notice you need clients now. So you do a little marketing and get some phone calls. You get busy helping those new clients. They schedule sessions, they place orders and life is good, but once they’re done, your calendar is empty again. The reason is you didn’t have time to market while you were busy. Sometimes your business feels like a rollercoaster, and let me tell you something. It is, and believe me, you’re not alone. Photographers everywhere have the same problem, but I have some great news. Matt’s business, Allison Ragsdale, photography after years of trial and error has cracked the code. It works so well. He’s created a new class all about it. It’s called get clients. Now a dead simple approach to getting photography clients.

[13:40] Everyone at from nothing to profit is excited to share this info with you because this system helped Matt and Allison book hundreds of clients this year at their studio and the best part about this system is that it’s simple to set up and it works while you’re sleeping. No hard selling or creepy marketing. All you have to do is to help your clients answer their most pressing questions. Clients loved the system and say it is the number one reason they book with Matt and Allison. If you’re interested in learning more about this system, go to photo podcast.com forward slash simple Matt has created a short free video that introduces the system. If you like what you hear, podcasts or listeners get an exclusive discount on the full class. So make sure you go to photo podcast.com forward slash symbol and sign up for the free video.

[14:22] It will help you book more clients now and create the business you’ve always wanted. So what do you do as someone that doesn’t have kids but still needs to have a, you know, you have the opportunity that you could work all the time if you want it to. Yeah, we love to work and so sometimes when we’re firing on all cylinders, work life balance feels like it’s right in line because we’re here all the time. But then there’s other times, like right now, this time of year where like I don’t want to be all the time,

[14:52] you know, I don’t want to be at the studio. And so we, you know, when we’ve gone through some transitions lately too as well, like where we live right next to our studio now, we used to live 30 like 30 minutes away and now we literally live like 500 feet away from our studio. We bought a condo like right next door to our studio, which in some aspects of what has given us some good work life balance because we’re not in the car for an hour a day, but at the same time then it’s like, it’s too easy to just come over here and just work and keep working till eight o’clock or work until exactly when dinner’s done, you know? So that’s not healthy. So. So yeah, I was trying to find the balance of where you, you’re not working all the time and you’re not like just ignoring your friends and things like that.

[15:32] So what I do, a couple strategies I do is I put everything in my calendar. So I scheduled stuff in advance. So like I’ll start scheduling for like, it’s a Monday right now while when we’re recording this. And I’ll start looking at next week and try to start scheduling my friend’s stuff first. Because the calendar, we’ll just fill with work stuff. If I let it, you know, there’s this whole thing, I think it’s called, I want to say it’s like called the Parkinson’s law. Um, it always throws me off cause of Parkinson’s disease, but I think it’s called Parkinson’s law. And it’s, the idea is like whatever resources you allocate to a situation, you’re going to use the resources. So if you’re, if you allocate eight hours a day to something, it’s going to take you eight hours a day to do it. But if you only allocate for, it’ll only fill up to four.

[16:15] And so, you know, it’s not just time resources, but everything. Like if you allocate $1,000 Joe Project, you’ll spend $1,000 on it. And, um, so where do some careful with my readers, here’s the definition of Parkinson’s law, Matte work, fill the time available for its completion. Yep. So I’ll give you, I’ll give you just a concrete example. Like I know that I can work from like seven in the morning until seven at night. You know, I can find customers to fill all that time. So a week before, like next week I’ll start looking and like, okay, you know, I’ll, I’ll start looking for like sporting events that I can watch with my friends or I’ll look at the chamber of Commerce and see if they’re doing any events and things I enjoy doing outside of work and I’ll just, I’ll just put them on the calendar. So then they’re just blocked up and there’s no resources to allocate towards the business because of the times aren’t taken.

[17:08] Now the secret to this work, I think people fall down as]]>https://photopodcast.co/?p=2004Mon, 08 Jul 2019 01:28:00 -040025:07nofull1401401Today, Matt and Kia discuss work life balance, specifically with a family/children. When Kia first started work as a photographer, she worked 60 hours a week and that didn’t stop when she had her first two children. You don’t want to miss Kia’s story after a life changing event occured. Kia says you’ll never be…Kia Bondurant and Aubrey LaurenCommunicating Your ValueToday, Matt and Kia, talk about how to communicate your value to your potential clients. Kia suggests starting with yourself. Reflect on why you value photography. To Kia, it’s a matter of life and death. Photographers are often the first call when someone loses a loved one. We produce art. Digital files should have a printed counterpart because in the long run, who knows if the digital images will be accessible. Listen in to hear Matt’s advice about dealing with head trash and price conversations versus value conversations. Build that relationship with your client and be the expert so they know, like and trust you.

This is a list of the things we suggest to do:

Value it yourself

Have confidence

Have examples

Start the conversation a different way

Say the hard things

Relationship

Read Full Transcript

[00:00] Welcome to from nothing to profit a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster. Okay. Hey,

[00:16] good morning everyone, or good afternoon or good evening I guess depending on when you’re listening to this. Welcome to the podcast. Today we are talking about how to communicate your value to your customers or how to let them see your value. And Matt and I have some different strategies that we want to share with you today. And my first thought on this is it okay if I start off Matt? Yeah, no, go right ahead. Jump right in. My first thought on this is that sometimes you need to start with yourself and figure out how to communicate to yourself the value of what you do. And having been in this 20 years and seen all the changes throughout the industry and you know, kind of my own journey, I’ve come to some times when I have had to rethink things and had to really reevaluate how I view photography.

[01:09] And so starting out, I had never been to a professional photographer before, so obviously we didn’t necessarily see the value in it and we didn’t really understand what a professional photographer could do. So I learned the value of professional photography by actually doing it. And by being a customer of know, by being a photographer, because you came, you know, from your family business, I was, it was my family business. And so I didn’t know about photography except that when I looked back on any professional photographs that we’d had taken as a child, they were all film and color and they were all fading. And so we didn’t have beautiful portraits of us as children. My mom started dabbling in photography when I was in sixth grade. And so from sixth grade on is when I actually had any, you know, photographs that weren’t just fading and we’re creative or something like that.

[02:02] And so I think first off, you have to think of why you value photography and why it’s important to you. And then it’s a lot easier to communicate to your clients. So as a mom with four kids, I have a hallway that I walked down every time I leave my bedroom to go to any other part of the House that is full of pictures of my kids have diff at different points in their lives. All of them and when they’re seven or eight months old naked crawling around two when they’re all four or five years old. And uh, the first ones are black and white and then I have sepia head shots of their profiles and then I have them all dressed as angels. And so, which reminds me that they are actually angels. When I’m leaving my room to go, y’all, I leave my room to go yell at someone.

[02:47] But for me photography is not just a luxury and it’s not just something that’s like...]]>Today, Matt and Kia, talk about how to communicate your value to your potential clients. Kia suggests starting with yourself. Reflect on why you value photography. To Kia, it’s a matter of life and death. Photographers are often the first call when someone loses a loved one. We produce art. Digital files should have a printed counterpart because in the long run, who knows if the digital images will be accessible. Listen in to hear Matt’s advice about dealing with head trash and price conversations versus value conversations. Build that relationship with your client and be the expert so they know, like and trust you.

This is a list of the things we suggest to do:

Value it yourself

Have confidence

Have examples

Start the conversation a different way

Say the hard things

Relationship

Read Full Transcript

[00:00] Welcome to from nothing to profit a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster. Okay. Hey,

[00:16] good morning everyone, or good afternoon or good evening I guess depending on when you’re listening to this. Welcome to the podcast. Today we are talking about how to communicate your value to your customers or how to let them see your value. And Matt and I have some different strategies that we want to share with you today. And my first thought on this is it okay if I start off Matt? Yeah, no, go right ahead. Jump right in. My first thought on this is that sometimes you need to start with yourself and figure out how to communicate to yourself the value of what you do. And having been in this 20 years and seen all the changes throughout the industry and you know, kind of my own journey, I’ve come to some times when I have had to rethink things and had to really reevaluate how I view photography.

[01:09] And so starting out, I had never been to a professional photographer before, so obviously we didn’t necessarily see the value in it and we didn’t really understand what a professional photographer could do. So I learned the value of professional photography by actually doing it. And by being a customer of know, by being a photographer, because you came, you know, from your family business, I was, it was my family business. And so I didn’t know about photography except that when I looked back on any professional photographs that we’d had taken as a child, they were all film and color and they were all fading. And so we didn’t have beautiful portraits of us as children. My mom started dabbling in photography when I was in sixth grade. And so from sixth grade on is when I actually had any, you know, photographs that weren’t just fading and we’re creative or something like that.

[02:02] And so I think first off, you have to think of why you value photography and why it’s important to you. And then it’s a lot easier to communicate to your clients. So as a mom with four kids, I have a hallway that I walked down every time I leave my bedroom to go to any other part of the House that is full of pictures of my kids have diff at different points in their lives. All of them and when they’re seven or eight months old naked crawling around two when they’re all four or five years old. And uh, the first ones are black and white and then I have sepia head shots of their profiles and then I have them all dressed as angels. And so, which reminds me that they are actually angels. When I’m leaving my room to go, y’all, I leave my room to go yell at someone.

[02:47] But for me photography is not just a luxury and it’s not just something that’s like a piece of furniture or some kind of fun thing. It’s really a matter of life or death in my opinion. Because if when something happens to a loved one, the first person that they call a lot of times is us to find out if they can get the files, if we can print something for them. If the pictures that they didn’t have printed, if we still have them available. And I’ve been through that so many times that when people hem and haw and say, oh, I don’t really want my picture taken or I don’t, I don’t think I look good. I need to lose weight. When people have those kind of reasons or you know, my, I can’t get my son to come in. I’m like, do what you need to do. This is the most important thing. And so if you need to bribe him than bribe your son, I bet it will take dinner to get your son to come in to do a senior pictures. I bet it will take you no promise of a good night with your husband to get them to come in. I mean you can, you can make this happen and it’s so, so important. I think knowing to you that it’s important, it really makes a difference. So that’s number one.

[03:57] Yeah. And that transitions for me into this whole idea that it’s about confidence too. Like if you want people to see your value, you need to be able to like ask for the sale or ask for the booking with confidence. And I think confidence comes from what you were just talking about where if they don’t truly believe in it, they don’t have the confidence to ask for it. And then here’s like, this is where I’m going to transition. So I don’t just repeat everything you just said. What I see a lot of people in our industry doing is they go, they have a situation in a business that they’re confident with, but they’re not maybe making enough money or living. So then they go and they go here from a coach or they go hear from somebody else and they need to raise their prices, but they to make a living, which they need to do, but maybe they do it too fast and then they lose confidence in their business and their business be able to, that their pictures are worth 1,002 thousand or $3,000 or the confidence that people want all our over just digitals.

[04:55] So they make changes too fast and they lose that confidence. And when you’re not confident then and you don’t see your own value in it, then the how has the customer ever going to see the value as well. So like I said, step one is like what you’re saying, you got to believe in how important it is and then believe in what you’re charging for it and how you’re, how you’re operating your business and if you’re confident in both those things and then I think people will see your value no matter where you are.

[05:22] Yeah, I think definitely so. And one of the ways that I tried to do that, especially with having employees is that I, and I try to take their pictures, I really encourage them to get their pictures taken, to put them on their walls. And then if they have family members that are going through, you know, times in their lives where they’re having babies or having new experiences that need to be photographed, then I also, you know, encourage them to bring them in. And then in my own life, I discipline myself to get the pictures taken. So it’s hard when you’re busy to get the pictures taken. But if I’m doing it myself, then how can I be encouraging my customers to do that as well?

[06:01] Yeah. Because yeah, if you don’t believe it, if you don’t live it and believe it, then how are you going to ever convince somebody else? Okay, so then how other, like when I also think about how people see how to get people to see your value is one of the big things for us as like displaying big art, whether it’s in our house or in our studio and unique products that kind of like loudly says like this is what we’re going to do. So maybe you got like 20 by thirties hanging all over your studio or your house and maybe they only order 11 by 14 but that’s okay. Like just being able to show big stuff and say like this is what we do I think adds some confidence and also just says like gives perceived value to what you do. That we don’t just print eight by tens on pieces of paper.

[06:46] We actually produce art and when you have an art hold such a bigger value in someone’s mind than just the average piece of paper. So kinda summarize that as I think you’ve got to think about how to remove yourself from the box that our industry currently is in and figure out like, okay, what can I do different or what can I do that’s special for people that they’ll see valuable and therefore I can differentiate myself from the rest of the industry. Because I really think in some aspects our industry is a little bit in a race to the bottom type of a situation and that can really devalue that someone’s going to do something cheaper, cheaper, cheaper, until you break out of that, that cycle of the race to the bottom.

[07:28] Yeah. I think that’s so true that if you’re offering a product that you can’t build value in, then you need to change your product and it shows something that actually has value and your point of having portraits, big portraits on the wall of having nice albums of having interesting and different products. I know that you’re like us are always kind of thinking, what else can I offer my clients that will inspire them and get them excited about things? And one other thing that we do when we show display our work is a lot of times I will choose something that my client has ordered and then I will put that on the wall. And that way I can say so and so ordered this, you know, or this is on their wall. This was their favorite portrait. And so this helps people to see what other people have done as well. So even though you’re not in their home, you can show at your studio what other people are ordering. And that gives it more social. Oh, darnit. I can never think of that word. But anyway, it helps them see what other people are doing. It gives them ideas.

[08:28] Yeah, for sure. All right. Awesome stuff guys. Hey, on that note, let’s just take a quick break and we’ll be right back. Okay.

[08:34] Hey everyone, tell me if this sounds familiar. You look at your calendar and notice you need clients now so you do a little marketing and get some phone calls. You get busy helping those new clients. They schedule sessions, they place orders and life is good, but once they’re done, your calendar is empty again. The reason is you didn’t have time to market while you were busy. Sometimes your business like a rollercoaster, and let me tell you something. It is, and believe me, you’re not alone. Photographers everywhere have the same problem, but I have some great news. Max Business, Allison Ragsdale, photography after years of trial and error has cracked the code. It works so well. He’s created a new class all about it. It’s called get clients now at dead simple approach to getting photography clients. Everyone at from nothing to profit is excited to share this info with you because this system helped Matt and Allison book hundreds of clients this year at their studio and the best part about this system is that it’s simple to set up and it works while you’re sleeping.

[09:29] No hard selling or creepy marketing. All you have to do is help your clients answer their most pressing questions. Clients love the system and say it is the number one reason they book with Matt and Allison. If you’re interested in learning more about this system, go to photo podcast.com forward slash simple Matt has created a short free video that introduces this system. If you like what you hear, podcasts or listeners get an exclusive discount on the full class, so make sure you go to photo podcast.com forward slash simple and sign up for the free video. It will help you book more clients now and create the business you’ve always wanted.

[10:03] What else do you have in terms of showing bag, cause I have another one but it’s a little bit more off topic. Do you have any other goals that are connected to this?

[10:10] Yeah, I think one of the things that helps people see value, I’m just thinking through the process that our studio is showing the work online. I think being really strategic about your website and your social media and putting that, the workout there because people get excited about it and they get excited about other people seeing it and people liking those images. So I think that’s important. And then when they come in and sit down and talk to you, I think that the final product and the final picture is important, but the relationship and what you’re bringing you, the skills that you have and the experience that you have is so vital. And so when they can get to know me and know what I’m offering and know the skill that I have and what I’m going to do for them and that how interested I am and who they are and what I can produce for them, that I think that that builds value and trust. And I think that’s super important.

[11:03] Yeah. Well yeah cause then like it builds confidence in you, their confidence in you and then so therefore there they value you as an artist more or as a person more really is what you’re saying. And then are more willing to hand you an extra couple hundred dollars because they know like, and trust you. You know in the marketing world we always talk about how can we quickly get them to know, like, and trust you. So yeah, the sooner you can do that the better. So you were just saying you got another one.

[11:27] Yeah. I think when you’re talking about building value, and I don’t know exactly how to do this, I know the concept is really important where you talk about like if you don’t do these pictures then this will happen and so you should do that. You know the bad thing, and I, I really have never liked that in marketing, but I know that it’s important and I don’t know how to gracefully introduce that in. But when I do talk to people and we’re having a very like personal and intimate enough conversation, I will bring up the situations where, where I don’t have people where something just recently a friend of mine passed away and I could not access her digital files. I don’t know where they are. They were, it was over at least 10 to 15 years ago. And I can’t get into those old hard drives.

[12:18] They don’t really work anymore. And so I had printed pictures of her and I was able to print those and have those available for her family. So I copied the printed pictures and then print those for her family. The other thing is I think that my mind has changed and so I was part of a family business and we did all kinds of printing and framing for people and all kinds of great, you know, art for their home. And then when I started my own business, I just took the path of least resistance, which was doing digital files for so many people, you know, not everyone, but for, you know, making it really easy to get digital files. And even though I had a bigger value on those digital files, I’m realizing now that that is not the only product I want to give people. I still think it’s nice for people to get digital files, but for me, I’m, my mind has changed and I think that I w I want every digital file that I sent out to also have a printed counterpart so that the people that I provide photography for, we’ll have prints because in the long run that may be all they have.

[13:22] Yeah. Because who knows where the file is going to go and stuff like that. For sure.

[13:25] Yeah. Yeah. I think it’s hard to say those hard things, you know, to really liken it to, you know, if something bad were to happen. I mean people are like, don’t say that about my kid or you know, so I don’t really know how to communicate that in any other way than just saying things have happened where I don’t have the files for people and I want to have them, so I’m making changes because I feel like it’s just vital.

[13:51] Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I don’t know how to say the negative thing either. But when you’re in a really in depth conversation with somebody, a lot of times they bring it up. You know, like if you’re having a good conversation with them and they’re, they’re starting to build the value in themselves for the pictures. Sometimes they’ll get there and they’ll say, okay, well actually, you know, you’re right. I probably, you know, you don’t even to say size, but then they’ll say, you’re right, I probably should go to the top package because it comes with this. And that would help if this ever happened. And they can kind of bring it up too. But if you don’t have an in depth conversation about their family and about their pictures and stuff with them, then you may, they may never get there, you know? So it’s definitely worth taking the time to speak to them on a different level for sure.

[14:28] Okay. So I have kind of changed it up a little bit and kind of go, I think this might be even my last one. We’ll see. So what I have found, and it kind of goes back to the confidence thing and things like that, is like if you allow your customers to lead lead with price, sometimes that will zap your confidence and then then you don’t think they see your value. And so then you kind of sabotage your own sale either talking about price or just not going as deep as you as you want to. And the truth is they may be coming into you and asking you about price because they don’t know what else to ask. But the truth is they may not even care about price. But what I’ve seen so many times with people that I’ve worked with, this happens in our business, especially during the slow time.

[15:08] If somebody leads with price, it just crushes the whole conversation. And then value is not an issue. You just assume, nope, they don’t value it. They just care about price may be completely not true. So the first step would be like if somebody asks about price, just know that that may not be what they care about and, and just try to, you know, move away from that and get them into things that they actually care about and don’t let it, don’t let that head trash get to you. The second step was then we built our, and we know we built our download what to wear guides and location guides system because we just wanted to lead with something besides price. And so we have people download guides about what to wear. And then typically when people call us now instead of asking about price, they said, hey, I downloaded your guide and I just have a quick question.

[15:51] You know on page three you talk about how we shouldn’t do this. Can you explain that more conversation starts with what to wear or where to go. And we eventually talk about price, but it’s, it’s not the leading thing that kind of just sets the tone. The tone gets set by like, Oh, you want to look good in your pictures? Okay, well we can talk about that all day. Or Oh, you want your pictures to look like this, not this location. So let’s talk about that. And so that’s helped our business a lot is by just changing the way the conversation starts. And that has to do with our marketing and our guides that people can download. So

[16:22] I think I may be done, I’m trying to think of what else I want to say about it, but, okay. So I don’t have it in my head. What all have we said? We’ve said you have to value at yourself, have competent to have confidence. You have to have examples.

[16:38] Yup. And then maybe start the...]]>https://photopodcast.co/?p=2000Mon, 01 Jul 2019 01:23:00 -040019:30nofull1391391Today, Matt and Kia, talk about how to communicate your value to your potential clients. Kia suggests starting with yourself. Reflect on why you value photography. To Kia, it’s a matter of life and death. Photographers are often the first call when someone loses a loved one. We produce art. Digital files should have a…Kia Bondurant and Aubrey LaurenI learned so much from OFAIn this episode, Matt tells Kia about something new he’s doing and basically just lets you in on their private conversation. Over the previous 30 days, Matt did (at Sam’s suggestion), Russell Brunson’s 30 day challenge, One Funnel Away. Matt explains what a funnel is and how they work for your business. Everyday Matt would wake up excited to watch the newest video and implement the next step. Listen in to hear about “who” not “how”. Don’t miss the steps to building an irresistible offer for your clients. You’ll also want to hear the storytelling tips Matt learned. Want to know what the “Dream 100” means? This podcast is for you!

One Funnel Away Link

Kartra Link

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[00:00] Welcome to from nothing to profit a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak, where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

[00:17] Hey, everybody, welcome to the podcast. So this week I decided to do a little bit different or a podcast. I wanted to tell Kaya about something that I just did. And instead of just telling her like we would not normally call her and tell her, I decided that I would record this conversation because I think it would be super useful for you guys as well. So are you ready to hear about my new thing that I just did?

[00:38] Yes. I’m, I’m excited. And it is funny, before you even gave your introduction, I thought, you know, we should tell them that we would be having this conversation one way or the other. And so we’re letting them in on our own little conversation of, uh, something new that Matt’s doing that Kira wants to know,

[00:55] right? So basically what I would do is I just pick up the phone right now and I just be like, [inaudible] guess what? And then we would just start those exact conversation. Okay. So what I did over the last 30 days is I did Russell Brunson’s one funnel away challenge. So let me give you a little bit of backstory. So Russell Brunson is an online marketer, he’s really smart. I’ve, he’s been in my email box for like almost five years, but I feel like in the last like maybe two years, he’s like really hit a stride. He owns a company called Click funnels, which helps you build landing pages and stuff like that. But he does, he does a lot of the education around this, this type of stuff. So anyway, so my buddy Sam Marvin, who’s been on our podcast, sent me this link and he’s like, Hey, you should do this one funnel away.

[01:38] Challenge with me and yeah, and we’ll just do it together and it’ll be really fun. So I was like, all right, fine, I’ll do it. Right. And I literally like Kinda just like didn’t want to do it. But then I ended up doing it and it was so cool. So let me tell you kind of how it works and then I’ll tell you what I got from it. So basically like it’s a 30 day challenge where every morning he sends you a video that it’s all done like in Facebook and he sends you a video and then you watch it. And so he takes you through like building a marketing funnel for your business so you can build whatever you want, but he takes you through. So like the first week is believing that it’s going to work. And then the second it gets more and more tactical as it goes.

[02:13] And I’ll explain all that. So he does that. And so you’ve got a video and was so cool. It’s like, you know, like normally you wake up in the morning and you...]]>In this episode, Matt tells Kia about something new he’s doing and basically just lets you in on their private conversation. Over the previous 30 days, Matt did (at Sam’s suggestion), Russell Brunson’s 30 day challenge, One Funnel Away. Matt explains what a funnel is and how they work for your business. Everyday Matt would wake up excited to watch the newest video and implement the next step. Listen in to hear about “who” not “how”. Don’t miss the steps to building an irresistible offer for your clients. You’ll also want to hear the storytelling tips Matt learned. Want to know what the “Dream 100” means? This podcast is for you!

One Funnel Away Link

Kartra Link

Read Full Transcript

[00:00] Welcome to from nothing to profit a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak, where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

[00:17] Hey, everybody, welcome to the podcast. So this week I decided to do a little bit different or a podcast. I wanted to tell Kaya about something that I just did. And instead of just telling her like we would not normally call her and tell her, I decided that I would record this conversation because I think it would be super useful for you guys as well. So are you ready to hear about my new thing that I just did?

[00:38] Yes. I’m, I’m excited. And it is funny, before you even gave your introduction, I thought, you know, we should tell them that we would be having this conversation one way or the other. And so we’re letting them in on our own little conversation of, uh, something new that Matt’s doing that Kira wants to know,

[00:55] right? So basically what I would do is I just pick up the phone right now and I just be like, [inaudible] guess what? And then we would just start those exact conversation. Okay. So what I did over the last 30 days is I did Russell Brunson’s one funnel away challenge. So let me give you a little bit of backstory. So Russell Brunson is an online marketer, he’s really smart. I’ve, he’s been in my email box for like almost five years, but I feel like in the last like maybe two years, he’s like really hit a stride. He owns a company called Click funnels, which helps you build landing pages and stuff like that. But he does, he does a lot of the education around this, this type of stuff. So anyway, so my buddy Sam Marvin, who’s been on our podcast, sent me this link and he’s like, Hey, you should do this one funnel away.

[01:38] Challenge with me and yeah, and we’ll just do it together and it’ll be really fun. So I was like, all right, fine, I’ll do it. Right. And I literally like Kinda just like didn’t want to do it. But then I ended up doing it and it was so cool. So let me tell you kind of how it works and then I’ll tell you what I got from it. So basically like it’s a 30 day challenge where every morning he sends you a video that it’s all done like in Facebook and he sends you a video and then you watch it. And so he takes you through like building a marketing funnel for your business so you can build whatever you want, but he takes you through. So like the first week is believing that it’s going to work. And then the second it gets more and more tactical as it goes.

[02:13] And I’ll explain all that. So he does that. And so you’ve got a video and was so cool. It’s like, you know, like normally you wake up in the morning and you look at your phone anyways and you’re going get online. It was so cool to open up my phone and be able to go to Facebook and actually watch something that felt like it was getting my day going. And you know, was a lot of value to me. Which was really cool. In addition to that, you also get coaching from um, one of his uh, co owner Steven. And so his Steven’s like more high energy and he does like these Facebook lives in it. And then this lady Julie does like all the, like if you want to do the technology side of this, you do that. So anyway, so you get three people coaching you every day.

[02:48] I did most of the Russell stuff, I did some of the Stevens stuff and hardly any of the Julia stuff or Julie stuff. So anyways, you get that. So then he gives you a, he sends you a workbook, you can also just print PDFs off from online, but he sends you a workbook for all 30 days, which was amazing cause then it holds you accountable to, takes you step by step because everyday is like one small thing and it took me each day, took me about an hour to do. So I would get up out of watching the video, the first video, it’d be 15 minutes and then I had about 45 minutes of work to do when I got to work and it was awesome. It like set my day off perfectly. Um, he sends you some other stuff like and beach MP3 challenge and then one of the really cool bonuses that he sends.

[03:27] Um, and I’ll tell you about like what I got from the challenge, but one of the bonuses he sends his, he asks all the people that are really successful on click funnels, like what is, it’s called the two comma club, but basically people that have made $1 million in a funnel. He asked him a question and this is one of the bonuses he gives you. He says, what if you had to start completely over, what would you do for the first 30 days you were starting over if all you had was your current knowledge and a click funnels account. And so you look at these really awesome entrepreneurs that have built really amazing things and they say, okay, if I was going to start all over, this will be my 30 day plan and there’s like 20 of them that do this and I read through any sends you a book with that.

[04:07] Um, and then you also get interviews online with them included in this. And I, after I did the funnel, I started going through some of those and I’m like, oh my goodness. Yeah. Like there’s these little things that I should be doing on any day. Cause like you read like John Lee Dumas who runs entrepreneur on fire podcast, you’d read his, and on day seven he says do this. And I’m like, I could do that right now in my business. And it had helped my business. So anyways, that was a bonus. That was huge for me as well. So, um, let me know if you have any questions kind of, otherwise I’ll jump into kind of what, um, yes you can you, can you explain, I think we need to back up a little bit. Can you explain what a funnel is? Sure. So it’s basically just like a way, like a website type deal where it gets somebody into a specific products.

[04:52] So like all funnel on our business for example, is that the top of the funnel is somebody can download a what to wear guide for like senior pictures and then it takes them to the next step. So the next step is like, okay, you need to book a consultation. We know you downloaded the guide, so you’re interested in photography. The next step is the consultation and you just keep working. I’m all the way down. Most people have funnels built in their business one way or other. It’s like basically getting customers in to the final sale, but he just shows other ways to do an online versus like more traditional methods. So it’s,

[05:24] and did you use it for your portrait business then? Like you said, to get people into your like what to wear guides?

[05:32] Yeah. So when I did the challenge, I actually rebuilt my whole what to wear guide class for photographers. Okay. So I rebuilt that whole thing. But through that too, I’m tweaking stuff and Allison’s business at the photography business as well. But yeah, anybody can do it. You can be an author and do it. You could be a photographer, you can be a lawyer. It doesn’t really matter. It’s not industry specific at all. It’s like, okay, where are your customers at? Well, how can we attract them? How can we, you know, take them through the journey so they actually become good customers. So that makes sense. Yeah. Okay, great. That’s really good. Okay, so I’ll just kind of take you through this and um, and kind of explain it before I explain what all is in the challenge. And I don’t want to spend a ton of time because you’ll see it in the challenge.

[06:14] And by the way, this whole challenge, it’s $100. It’s just you get all that, all those bonuses and everything. I’ll put a link below. It’s just a hundred dollars. So yeah. And I’ll tell you there’s a catch to the $100 I’ll tell you about in a minute, which was an interesting journey for me. But here, here’s the other thing that’s really the reason why re visited Russell is cause I don’t know about them for years and I’ve done a bunch of his stuff but I started, so I did an audit a couple of weeks ago and and what I started looking at as I said, okay, I want to look at all the really successful photographers out there and I’m on to try to find some common threads that the all of them are doing. And what was so interesting to me that popped up is like I just made a list of like 25 photographers and I started doing a bunch of research on them and I called a few of them and I talked to a few of them and I would say over half of them, one of the things that was the most wasn’t, what’s common about them is they were working with Russell in some capacity, whether it was just going through his classes are reading his books and a few of them are paying like his 10 10 or $20,000 mastermind prices.

[07:14] And it was so interested in me and I’m like, okay, I need to revisit this. And then when Sam was like, you need to do this link, I was like, I don’t have time right now, but I was like, I’m going to do this because that’s the common thread anyways. And so I did it and it was really, really amazing. It was like one of the best hundred dollars over spend my life. Okay. So let me tell you kind of what he takes you through. So one of the things he talks about throughout the whole thing is he has this concept of who not how. And so he wants to say, who can help you do this instead of how do I actually figure out how to do it? And which is really cool because like you don’t have to do everything yourself. Like, okay, I, you know, I need graphics so who can help me build graphics instead of how do I figure out how to use end design to build these graphics?

[07:51] Which is cool. So that was one thing that was really good for me. The other thing that’s really huge in our business right now that he talked about that these are just fundamentals that just reminded me that I have to do this. He talks about if you make somebody a good enough offer that they can’t resist, they’ll probably buy. So we’re going back through, um, our photography business and we’re rebuilding all of our offers so that we’re not just offering like, you know, Oh, you just get a session with, you know, an hour with Alison. Like we’re going through and saying, okay, how can we build this offer? So it looks like it’s got tons of value in it and something that people actually want to buy. You know, so it’s like, okay, you can buy a senior session but you get are what to wear guide, you get our location guide, you know, you get this, get this and all this other stuff.

[08:33] And we actually like build the whole offer, you know, stack of stuff that they get. So they’re like, oh yeah, this is really cool. This is worth the money. So we’re doing that stuff. Um, then he goes through and teaches you how to build stories and like how to attract people using usually in storytelling so that they actually have vested interest in your business, which was good. And he has like a, I’m not going to go too much into this, but like an an empathy bridge story that tells people how you got where you got and stuff and it’s really good. He teaches you how to do that. And then from that he, from your stories, he helps you build like hooks and how to, how to like actually get people to stop scrolling online and actually look at your stuff, which is, which was really cool.

[09:17] And then you know, he helps you then after, after he does all that. So you now you have your offer of what you want to sell. You have your story on how you’re gonna sell it. You have your hooks, how to attract people than he actually helps you. Like figure out how to build the funnel so that you can actually get people in for them to sign up for, whether it’s consultations or a product or whatever it is. He helps you like organize that, which is really cool. So at the end of the 30 days you’re like, you have the whole thing built, which is pretty cool. There’s a lot of people that do this, uh, one funnel away challenge and they do it like every single month. So they’ve done it like 10 times. So they do it once and they do a product and then the next month they do it again when they do the next product they have to do, which is really cool.

[09:55] So I took this month off but I’ll definitely do it again for sure. And then the last part that he does, he talks about marketing and probably the, and again this is nothing that I haven’t seen or known or heard on stage, you know, in the photography industry, but you know, it’s good hearing it again and it’s really well organized and simple. But he talks about the dream 100 and how you need to make this list of a hundred people that you want to work with and you know, just start figuring out how to work with them in different capacities and stuff. Like that and that was really good. So, um, make the list of a hundred people and then when what you actually do is like the first 10 are really obvious, the next 20 are kind of silly. And then like the next 40 are actually really good things that you’ve brought in really good people you never thought about working with.

[10:35] And so you get to this point where you’re like, have a good list and then you can start reaching out to those people, either offering them the offer or just like going to have lunch with them are, you know, following online so you can see what they’re doing. So you can show up to their events or whatever it is. But you can start networking and you know that like, okay, these are the people, the a hundred people I kind of want to go after. And then the groups I want to hang out with, whether it’s for personal reasons, for business reasons or somewhere in between. Um, it’s really good. So anyways, 30 as a 30 day challenge. That was so, you know, just so good to hear some of the stuff. Again, it was so organized and so short and efficient, you know, it wasn’t taken up a ton of my time, like maybe reading a book does or doing one of these really big courses. And at the end I had, I had on my funnel rebill and I’m really proud of what, you know, my what to wear guide 2.0 classes as looks like now and I am just super, I’m just super excited about it. So, um, that, that’s kind of the general thing. Hey, on that note, let’s just take a quick break and we’ll be right back. Okay.

[11:33] Hey everyone, tell me if this sounds familiar. You look at your calendar and notice you need clients now. So you do a little marketing and get some phone calls. You get busy helping those new clients. They schedule sessions, they place orders and life is good, but once they’re done, your calendar is empty again. The reason is you didn’t have time to market while you were busy. Sometimes your business feels like a rollercoaster. And let me tell you something. It is, and believe me, you’re not alone. Photographers everywhere have the same problem, but I have some great news. Matt’s business, Allison Ragsdale, photography after years of trial and error has cracked the code. It works so well. He’s created a new class all about it. It’s called get clients. Now a dead simple approach to getting photography clients. Everyone at from nothing to profit is excited to share this info with you because this system helped Matt and Allison book hundreds of clients this year at their studio and the best part about this system is that it’s simple to set up and it works while you’re sleeping.

[12:28] No hard selling or creepy marketing. All you have to do is help your clients answer their most pressing questions. Clients loved the system and say it is the number one reason they book with Matt and Allison. If you’re interested in learning more about this system, go to photo podcast.com forward slash simple Matt has created a short free video that introduces this system. If you like what you hear, podcasts or listeners get an exclusive discount on the full class. So make sure you go to photo podcast.com forward slash simple and sign up for the free video. It will help you book more clients now and create the business you’ve always wanted.

[13:02] Tell me what questions you have that you think I missed and then they may just be a short episode.

[13:07] Yeah, no, not necessarily anything that you met you miss. But so, um, to go back a couple of things. One, the, the thing I like about it and when you first told me about it, the reason I was like, oh yeah, that sounds really interesting is the concept. Uh, you, I can’t remember exactly how to say it. It’s something that I’ve started hearing lately, but essentially, essentially, um, those who pay pay attention. And so this is a product that he may have been willing to give away for free to get people in, into his, you know, more expensive coaching. But because he’s having you pay, then you’re like, I spent $100, I’m going to do this every day. And so then

[13:49] let me, let me, and let me tell you a little bit more about that. [inaudible] that’s where I was going to go with those, which is so interesting. So it’s $100 and so I’ve known this for years, like digital marketer talks about all the time that like if you can get somebody to even give you a dollar, like it changes the, if fundamentally changes the relationship, you know, they no longer are a tire kicker or they’re actually a customer. Even if it’s just a dollar, they’ve taken out their money and given you a dollar, the relationship is fundamentally changed. So that’s what’s really interesting. But I’m very first video you pay and I’ll just give this disclaimer so everyone knows I would’ve put it in the show notes anyways, but he doesn’t keep the hundred dollars. So my hundred dollars that I went actually went to Sam. So he just gives us, so Sam sent me the link, clicked on the link, I paid $100 I went right back to Sam to re re re punish him for his hundred dollars that he had spent.

[14:38] That gave to somebody else. So Russell doesn’t make any money on this. It’s just like he wants to do it. We’re Russell makes the money as he’s hoping that if he shows you this whole system that you’ll think that clickfunnels is the best option for you. Do this, which may not be true. May you know a wordpress, maybe I use Kartra, you know there, there’s other ones that may be better for you, but he’s, he’s taken a calculated gamble that like, okay I can give this, give this 30 day challenge away for free and pack. It was such good...]]>https://photopodcast.co/?p=1997Mon, 24 Jun 2019 01:13:00 -040022:13nofull1381381In this episode, Matt tells Kia about something new he’s doing and basically just lets you in on their private conversation. Over the previous 30 days, Matt did (at Sam’s suggestion), Russell Brunson’s 30 day challenge, One Funnel Away. Matt explains what a funnel is and how they work for your business. Everyday Matt would…Kia Bondurant and Aubrey Lauren10 Must Read Books for PhotographersIf you’re a regular listener, you already know some of Matt and Kia’s favorite books, as well as have a long list recommended by all of their guests. In this podcast, listen in to hear their all time top 5 must read books and why. Don’t miss Matt and Kia’s “cliffsnotes” so you know which books you want to read first! And they couldn’t resist mentioning a bunch of other awesome books you’ll want to add to your list as well, including, of course, Profit First by Mike Michalowicz.

Matt:

1. 
   
2. Book Yourself Solid – Michael Port (https://amzn.to/2MG3DNp)
3. 
   
4. 
   
5. Hug Your Customers – Jack Mitchell (https://amzn.to/2Xn64oQ)
6. 
   
7. 
   
8. Purple Cow – Seth Godin (https://amzn.to/2JUxm2I)
9. 
   
10. 
    
11. Customer Mania – Ken Blanchard (https://amzn.to/2WC4QsI)
12. 
    
13. 
    
14. High Performing Habits – Brendon Burchard (https://amzn.to/2JWpu0K)
15. 
    

Kia:

1. 
   
2. The Secrets of World of Mouth Marketing – George Silverman
3. 
   
4. 
   
5. Blue Ocean Strategy – W. Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne (https://amzn.to/2MBHBeG)
6. 
   
7. 
   
8. Getting Stuff Done – David Allen (https://amzn.to/2If1Fho)
9. 
   
10. 
    
11. StrengthsFinder 2.0 – Tom Rath (https://amzn.to/2MrpQhK)
12. 
    
13. 
    
14. Boundaries – Henry Cloud and John Townsend (https://amzn.to/2MmTx3t)
15. 
    
16. 
    
17. Love Does – Bob Goff (https://amzn.to/2XppnxB)
18. 
    

Read Full Transcript

[00:00] Welcome to from nothing to profit, a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

[00:15] Hey everybody, welcome to the podcast. Today’s episode is gonna be kind of fun. As you know, probably from listening to the podcast, Kai and I are big book fans and so we wanted to kind of share our top five books for each, I guess just top five bucks. So kind of do you have your top five bucks? Are you ready?

[00:31] I do. Now I kind of have a top five books in lots of different categories into books. So I tried to make this one my business top five, so yeah.

[00:43] And that’s what I kind of did too. So these will be, what’s interesting is I think there’ll be business books, but there’s so much like kind of this self help in there and just about like getting rid of head trash and stuff like that. So, but I think, yeah, the minor definitely business centered for sure. So

[00:55] yeah. Yeah, I always do books that like has kind of shaped my life because I do have certain authors that I feel like their viewpoint on the world has helped me figure out who I want to be. Like Madeleine L’Engle or Anne McCaffrey, which are not really, people don’t really read those very much, but I felt like for this podcast I want him to be pretty specific and do things that are going to help people straight up in their business. So I’m a cyber fraud.

[01:21] That’s where I’m at too. Cool. So do you want me to start? I’ll start. It doesn’t work. Yeah. Yeah, you do your first one. Okay, so the first book, this one I’m doing first because it was one of the first books that we read that actually launched our business and helped us and it’s actually book yourself solid by Michael Port. Have you read that one yet? No, I haven’t. Okay, so it’s a, it’s a general business book. It kind of talks about like basically he has likes on some philosophies in there like a red rope policy, which is basically like not everybody can do business with...]]>If you’re a regular listener, you already know some of Matt and Kia’s favorite books, as well as have a long list recommended by all of their guests. In this podcast, listen in to hear their all time top 5 must read books and why. Don’t miss Matt and Kia’s “cliffsnotes” so you know which books you want to read first! And they couldn’t resist mentioning a bunch of other awesome books you’ll want to add to your list as well, including, of course, Profit First by Mike Michalowicz.

Matt:

1. 
   
2. Book Yourself Solid – Michael Port (https://amzn.to/2MG3DNp)
3. 
   
4. 
   
5. Hug Your Customers – Jack Mitchell (https://amzn.to/2Xn64oQ)
6. 
   
7. 
   
8. Purple Cow – Seth Godin (https://amzn.to/2JUxm2I)
9. 
   
10. 
    
11. Customer Mania – Ken Blanchard (https://amzn.to/2WC4QsI)
12. 
    
13. 
    
14. High Performing Habits – Brendon Burchard (https://amzn.to/2JWpu0K)
15. 
    

Kia:

1. 
   
2. The Secrets of World of Mouth Marketing – George Silverman
3. 
   
4. 
   
5. Blue Ocean Strategy – W. Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne (https://amzn.to/2MBHBeG)
6. 
   
7. 
   
8. Getting Stuff Done – David Allen (https://amzn.to/2If1Fho)
9. 
   
10. 
    
11. StrengthsFinder 2.0 – Tom Rath (https://amzn.to/2MrpQhK)
12. 
    
13. 
    
14. Boundaries – Henry Cloud and John Townsend (https://amzn.to/2MmTx3t)
15. 
    
16. 
    
17. Love Does – Bob Goff (https://amzn.to/2XppnxB)
18. 
    

Read Full Transcript

[00:00] Welcome to from nothing to profit, a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

[00:15] Hey everybody, welcome to the podcast. Today’s episode is gonna be kind of fun. As you know, probably from listening to the podcast, Kai and I are big book fans and so we wanted to kind of share our top five books for each, I guess just top five bucks. So kind of do you have your top five bucks? Are you ready?

[00:31] I do. Now I kind of have a top five books in lots of different categories into books. So I tried to make this one my business top five, so yeah.

[00:43] And that’s what I kind of did too. So these will be, what’s interesting is I think there’ll be business books, but there’s so much like kind of this self help in there and just about like getting rid of head trash and stuff like that. So, but I think, yeah, the minor definitely business centered for sure. So

[00:55] yeah. Yeah, I always do books that like has kind of shaped my life because I do have certain authors that I feel like their viewpoint on the world has helped me figure out who I want to be. Like Madeleine L’Engle or Anne McCaffrey, which are not really, people don’t really read those very much, but I felt like for this podcast I want him to be pretty specific and do things that are going to help people straight up in their business. So I’m a cyber fraud.

[01:21] That’s where I’m at too. Cool. So do you want me to start? I’ll start. It doesn’t work. Yeah. Yeah, you do your first one. Okay, so the first book, this one I’m doing first because it was one of the first books that we read that actually launched our business and helped us and it’s actually book yourself solid by Michael Port. Have you read that one yet? No, I haven’t. Okay, so it’s a, it’s a general business book. It kind of talks about like basically he has likes on some philosophies in there like a red rope policy, which is basically like not everybody can do business with you kind of thing. And that was really good for us so that he starts to make you think like, okay, you have the small set of people that you’re marketing to and that you’re working with and you don’t need to work with everybody. So it’s just a really kind of a general book about business, but it’s, it’s super good and really comprehensive. It’s a pretty easy read. He’s entertaining and he’s got, he’s got some other ones out since that I haven’t read all of them, but um, so my first book, his book yourself solid by Michael Port.

[02:13] What’s like the one thing that you took from that you said maybe that you, you wanted to make it look like you were over subscribed essentially your people, you know, people couldn’t necessarily all I’ll get in. Is that the main thing you took from that?

[02:25] No, that’s more, has more as like his is like a red rope policy. Like, okay, so you’re going to become a portrait photographer and you only want to shoot one session a week while knowing that then you need to have a policy in place that everyone comes to. You has to spend x amount of dollars kind of idea to make it worth it. You know what I mean? That you’re not going to do, you’re not going to do your one session a week on somebody that’s going to spend $50 so he just helps you like build Your Business Plan and then tells you how to protect the business plan and then not then starts to move into how to market that business plan. So it’s like, it’s kind of like planting your and saying okay, this is what our business looks like. And it helps you decide what that is based on your goals and who you are as a person.

[03:05] Yeah. So he kind of aligns your business with you and then, and so when I’ve read it the second and third time I looked, I was in business for years and I’ve read it and I was like, okay, we’re doing this one thing over here and it’s actually not aligned with who we are and what we want to do. So we’d just like could cut it. So it’s just like, it helps you align your business to you and then align your business to your customers and just makes a healthier business. So yeah. That’s awesome. Okay. Are you ready for my first one? Yeah. Yeah. What’s your first one?

[03:32] Okay, so I went through actually my bookshelves because I like to keep my books physically where I can get to them and I actually write, I was writing in them a lot before and I think I’m going to start doing it again because looking back I’m like, oh, I can see what I liked about it when I underlined and I write notes in it. So this one is the secrets of word of mouth marketing by George Silverman. Okay. Haven’t heard of that one? No. Hold on a minute. How to trigger exponential sales through we’re runaway word of mouth, which really, it’s so funny because when I read it probably 10 years ago, I was like, oh my gosh, this is so amazing. But now it’s even more so like more important.

[04:08] Well in here and I, I don’t want to take too big of a tangent, but I haven’t been really struggling with like online marketing stuff. Like Facebook ads aren’t working as well as they used to and things like that. So I’m like, what would I eat? What did I used to do? So that may be,

[04:19] yeah, word of mouth. Yeah. So I’m opening up to page 21 just out of curiosity to see what I liked. And so I have a little note that says senior models, speakers gambles in Ted’s many sessions at stores. Okay. So I don’t know what that meant, but I’ll read you the paragraph that says why easier. The best way to avoid work and still get something done is to have someone else to do it. That’s what advisors, experts and peers do. It’s a way of getting out of people to put in the work and risk of getting, gathering information and trying products. That way you don’t have to take the time spent on research as an anchor. The rest of doing it yourself there for the best way to increase profits is to accelerate your little product decisions. So essentially he’s saying have other people tell other people about your products.

[04:58] Yeah. So yeah, cause yeah, cause then your whole sale system can be much shorter because you’re getting qualified people in that already kind of are down the road and you can have somebody else do that lifting for you. Yeah, yeah. Super Smart.

[05:10] Yes. The secrets of word of mouth marketing by George Silverman. And I think it’s so funny I knew it, I was afraid this was going to happen and then I knew it was going to happen. I’m probably going to have to read this again. Have like, yeah, I’ve dog eared most of the pages in it.

[05:23] That’s all. It’s obviously a good one. Yeah. So what do you think the chances are that we get through our 10 bucks and we, neither of us have read either one of us.

[05:30] Strive not to do the ones that were there that I knew for sure would be the same. So we may have to do as same book. One, two. Okay.

[05:37] Yeah, and I know there’s actually one book on the end that you know where I’m going to finish because I figured I figured you wouldn’t but it just in case somebody hadn’t listened to that doesn’t listen to podcasts regularly, they can get the book. Okay. Anyways. All right, my second book, my second book. Let me find the author is hug your customers. I’m looking it up real quick by Jack. Have you read that one? No. Okay, so it’s this whole book about, it features the case studies of a couple of businesses. The one I remember from the book is this. There’s a company in New York that sells suits and it’s like this little small mom and pop type soup place that actually has a lot of sales people because they’re very busy, but it’s like on a corner in New York, it’s been there for forever.

[06:17] Like you would never go there to buy like a $2,000 suit. But like everybody goes to this place to buy like a $2,000 suit. And the idea is he looks at these businesses and figuring out why they’re so successful and when he finds out is that they have some type of customer database where they keep track of things that are happening in people’s lives so that when they come back in, you can talk to them about what’s going on. So you take Andy, he goes and buys a suit. He mentions like, yeah, you know, we’re doing soccer right now and cars on the road and soccer and stuff like that. They just make a note, no big deal. They talk how they have the conversation. Make a note next time Andy comes in and says, hey, is soccer still happening? You know what’s going on.

[06:52] And he just boom, instantly like, wow, these people care about me. And the conversation just instantly starts like, oh no, no, soccer is over, you know, you know, whatever. And so when you’re there, it becomes a conversation about like friend of friend instead of like salesmen to suit buyer. You know what I mean? Yeah. So it’s really cool. So he features a couple of businesses in this, but the, this is the one I remember. So here’s an example. So this guy buys us really nice suit and he’s like flying. He’s flying to Japan to do a presentation. So he buys a new suit for this presentation and for whatever reason it doesn’t come together and it’s like kind of a mass and it’s like one of their best customers are really worried. The next customer comes in and they’re talking in there and he says, you know, they’re all kind of friends at this point.

[07:32] And he says, well, what’s going on over there? What’s all the commotion was about that? And they said, oh, you know, so and so, or a suit. We didn’t get it done in time. He’s on is on a plane to Japan and it doesn’t have a suit. We feel awful, blah blah. And he said, Hey, I’m going to that conference. I’m just taking the red items to Japan. I’ll take his suit for him. And like, so the guy buys a suit, it takes it somebody else’s suit because like of that relationship they’ve built and actually takes and delivers the suit at no cost and just to do the right thing. But it’s this whole concept that like if you hug your customers, what relationships you can build and what, what it actually does. So just a really cool customer relationship book. It’s feel good stories but also has like systems and it on how to actually do it and stuff like that. So it’s really, really good.

[08:10] I have your card. I love that because when you’re a smaller in a business, you really can’t do that. I mean, I think that’s what makes most businesses successful when they first start out, especially a sales type business. But yeah, it’s been putting it in a system so that everyone that works for you can do it. Yeah, that’s really smart.

[08:28] Well it’s really interesting. We do a pretty good job of this, but we should do a better job. But the way they do it as like, you know, they just like the very first thing they do is say like, Oh, let me look up your measurements real quick. And so they’re not allowed, I mean they’re looking up the measurements with what they’re looking at. It’s all the notes. And then they go over and they say, let me show you our new suits that we got in. Oh by the way, first conversation and then it just takes off. And so anyways, it was just super slick. So, well the way we, we’ve used to do it and we just don’t do, like I said, good job is like we always say, hey, let me pull up, let me pull up your past order and then we can look at all their notes and stuff too. So just an idea. Okay. So what’s your second book?

[09:01] So my second book is called Blue Ocean strategy. Yep. I’ve read that one. Have you read that one? Yeah. Bye. I don’t know the, cause you said w Chan, Cam and then Renee mal born. I don’t know.

[09:11] Yeah, there’s like two professors at a Harvard or something like,

[09:14] yeah, yeah, yeah. So I, um, when I read this book, it was really eyeopening I think because I’ve been in the business long enough, 20 years to see times when everyone’s doing the same thing and you know, they’re getting mad about all the competition and then the business changes some way it goes, you know, black and white to color film or from color to digital or digital prints to digital products. And it talks totally shakes everything up. And then there are people that come out of that doing something completely different than everyone else and they’re in the blue ocean rather than being where the everyone was before in the red ocean where everyone’s fighting for the same clients doing given the same products. And so we have to offer cheaper offerings. And so what I love about this book is I feel like it just kind of informs my decision making all throughout being a business owner is thinking what are, what can we do, what can we offer that no one else is offering right now? Because now when the digital world is pretty much everyone just gives digital files to be a studio that offers framing and albums and printing is a blue ocean.

[10:21] Do you worry is to be the norm.

[10:23] Yeah. Or to be a studio with a studio that’s a blue ocean. Having props, the backgrounds that other people can’t get. So

[10:30] yes, I was talking to grant, you know, our business because we found him on the podcast before and what you’re talking about today about our meeting this morning was about leveraging our studio, like more so than we’re already doing because we pay for it. So we might as well get the most out of it.

[10:43] So yes. Yeah, absolutely. And that’s one of the things that I’ve done this year is creating backgrounds and sets. We’ve spent hours working on creating things that are going to be really fun to shoot and make our Instagram feed look fantastic, but it’s also about creating a blue ocean.

[10:58] Awesome. Yeah. So let me talk about my experience with Blue Ocean real quick. So I read the book, I thought it was like horribly written, obviously written by like two non authors at um, at Harvard, you know, like literally a boring, like I think it was probably a research paper that they just put a card back on it. But it’s so interesting. I read it, I was so bored while reading it and then I’ve thought about it for like literally the last eight years, you know, you read some books and they just like whatever, they come and go in one ear out the other. But I’ve literally thought about that book. So it’s like the concept and it is so profound that it sticks with you. You just have to find a way to get through the actual yeah.

[11:36] Type of stuff throughout the read. Why you will notice that I did not mention that I was willing to read it again.

[11:41] Right, right. It’s such a profound topic and they do such a good job with it. So

[11:48] yeah. Yeah, this is fun. It’s what I like about it is all of our books have been about different things, so. Okay, so that, what’s your next book?

[11:56] Okay, so my next book is purple cow by south of Cook, Seth Goden. A lot of people actually works with blue oceans a little bit. So I read all Seth Golden’s books and he has amazing books. He actually has a book, I think. I don’t remember. I’d have to look it up. What? Like, I don’t know who stole my doc or something like that. But it’s basically all of his blog posts. I read that like every day, like I’ll wake up and just read one of his blog posts. It’s really good. Yeah. So, but anyway, so purple cows, one of his books that came out and it’s about how to do remarkable things so that in a sense like marketing takes care of itself and his whole concept is that like if you do something different and you do something remarkable, people will talk about it. And therefore the book you yes.

[12:35] Similar to blue ocean strategy where it’s like if you’re doing something different than everybody else in leveraging that, then you’re going to, you’re going to be just fine. So I don’t have to say much more because it’s very similar, but it’s a, it’s an entertaining book. Super a south garden. If you don’t follow him as one of the smartest guys in the world and you can watch them on youtube and stuff like that as well. But um, yeah, so purple cow is probably my favorite book. If you’re going to pick one up, it’s probably my favorite, but he’s got like 12 bucks out now. His latest one that’s called like this is marketing and it was really good. Like it’s a really good reset for everybody that I think digital marketing in some aspects of it made a lot of us marketers lazy cause we’re like, oh, we can just run a Facebook ad and people call. Um, and he kind of calls everybody out about being lazy about marketing and his new book, which is good too. But anyways, first one pick up his purple cow. So

[13:19] that’s good to know. I really love listening to Seth Godin and whenever I get a chance, I listen to podcasts. He does, but I get frustrated with his writing because I feel like I can only read a snippet before I feel like I need to take action. And so I can’t just sit and enjoy reading. So it’s not a novel, it’s not a novel or in a bus on a research paper either. It’s a couple of sentences that make you want to get up and go do something.

[13:45] Yeah, he has a really, so he has this really unique writing style. That’s cool. Like, so his blog, I don’t know if you know that his blog is like...]]>https://photopodcast.co/?p=1993Mon, 17 Jun 2019 01:26:00 -040033:02nofull1371371If you’re a regular listener, you already know some of Matt and Kia’s favorite books, as well as have a long list recommended by all of their guests. In this podcast, listen in to hear their all time top 5 must read books and why. Don’t miss Matt and Kia’s “cliffsnotes” so you know which…Kia Bondurant and Aubrey LaurenMelanie Anderson – A Photographer Podcast InterviewToday’s podcast is with Melanie Anderson, who is constantly teaching and giving back to the industry. She has a retail studio space that is full service, including portrait work, extreme volume and commercial work. Listen in to hear Melanie talk about re-inventing herself every few years and how important that is for the mentality of creatives. She’s fired up about the leadership in education in our industry right now. You don’t want to miss Melanie talk about the importance of print. Melanie also talks about grace, body rhythm, being the best version of your authentic self and fully understanding the 5 love languages. Melanie talks about starting every day with what she’s grateful for and with the perspective of being open to serve however she’s called. This a podcast you’ll want to listen to over and over again!

Resources:

https://www.danijohnson.com/

Books:

The Bible

Go for No! Yes is the Destination, No is How You Get There (https://amzn.to/2Q8CikW)

The 5 Love Languages by Dr. Chapman (https://amzn.to/2Q7ddGS)

Connect with Melanie:

http://melanieandersonworldwide.com

Read Full Transcript

[00:00:01] Hey everyone, this is Melanie Anderson and you’re listening. Two from nothing

[00:00:06] to profit. Welcome to from nothing to profit of photographers podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

[00:00:23] Hey everybody, thanks for joining us again this week. So I have my friend Melanie Anderson this week. Um, Kaya and I have known Melanie for years and years and years and uh, we run cross paths all the time. I’m a nice Melany ass on you some a couple of times this year. I saw you at sink this year. We’re going into each other in North Carolina all over the place. So, um, you’re always doing your best to give back to the industry and travel around and, and just for indoor industry. And so first of all, I want to say thank you for doing that, but I’m also, I’m excited to have you on the podcast because you have a lot to share with our audience for sure. So

[00:00:58] yeah, thanks guys. I am so excited for this. So I really appreciate it and it’s a huge honor. So thank you for your time.

[00:01:05] So Kaia when was the first time you met Melanie? Do you remember?

[00:01:09] Oh goodness, this might not be fair. I what I remember is, uh, your video, you are doing video. So that’s what I remember the most about. Um, we started doing video for sync. So

[00:01:21] yeah, I think that’s like when I got to know Melanie as well.

[00:01:24] Yes. So that was several years at what, probably about four or five years ago. Uh, through the relationship of sync and dirty. We just sort of said, hey, we need these videotape, we need behind the scenes and we want to create that for you. And that was one of the first things we’d ever done that big of a deal video wise. So that was kind of cool. And like you said, that was an opportunity for us to all meet.

[00:01:47] Yeah. That’s awesome. Okay. So then I saw you at North Carolina and you spoke on volume, sports and then I saw you at sync. You did a Miller’s thing...]]>Today’s podcast is with Melanie Anderson, who is constantly teaching and giving back to the industry. She has a retail studio space that is full service, including portrait work, extreme volume and commercial work. Listen in to hear Melanie talk about re-inventing herself every few years and how important that is for the mentality of creatives. She’s fired up about the leadership in education in our industry right now. You don’t want to miss Melanie talk about the importance of print. Melanie also talks about grace, body rhythm, being the best version of your authentic self and fully understanding the 5 love languages. Melanie talks about starting every day with what she’s grateful for and with the perspective of being open to serve however she’s called. This a podcast you’ll want to listen to over and over again!

Resources:

https://www.danijohnson.com/

Books:

The Bible

Go for No! Yes is the Destination, No is How You Get There (https://amzn.to/2Q8CikW)

The 5 Love Languages by Dr. Chapman (https://amzn.to/2Q7ddGS)

Connect with Melanie:

http://melanieandersonworldwide.com

Read Full Transcript

[00:00:01] Hey everyone, this is Melanie Anderson and you’re listening. Two from nothing

[00:00:06] to profit. Welcome to from nothing to profit of photographers podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

[00:00:23] Hey everybody, thanks for joining us again this week. So I have my friend Melanie Anderson this week. Um, Kaya and I have known Melanie for years and years and years and uh, we run cross paths all the time. I’m a nice Melany ass on you some a couple of times this year. I saw you at sink this year. We’re going into each other in North Carolina all over the place. So, um, you’re always doing your best to give back to the industry and travel around and, and just for indoor industry. And so first of all, I want to say thank you for doing that, but I’m also, I’m excited to have you on the podcast because you have a lot to share with our audience for sure. So

[00:00:58] yeah, thanks guys. I am so excited for this. So I really appreciate it and it’s a huge honor. So thank you for your time.

[00:01:05] So Kaia when was the first time you met Melanie? Do you remember?

[00:01:09] Oh goodness, this might not be fair. I what I remember is, uh, your video, you are doing video. So that’s what I remember the most about. Um, we started doing video for sync. So

[00:01:21] yeah, I think that’s like when I got to know Melanie as well.

[00:01:24] Yes. So that was several years at what, probably about four or five years ago. Uh, through the relationship of sync and dirty. We just sort of said, hey, we need these videotape, we need behind the scenes and we want to create that for you. And that was one of the first things we’d ever done that big of a deal video wise. So that was kind of cool. And like you said, that was an opportunity for us to all meet.

[00:01:47] Yeah. That’s awesome. Okay. So then I saw you at North Carolina and you spoke on volume, sports and then I saw you at sync. You did a Miller’s thing alongside of me. And you did a lot about how to like implement ideas from a conference. So you don’t just go home with this list of stuff to do and never accomplish anything, which everybody, everybody loved. And I know you’re like a workbook and all kinds of stuff. So I know you talk about a lot of stuff. So kind of tell me, tell our audience if they don’t know who you are, like you know what you do on the photo side and all everything cause you do so much.

[00:02:19] Sure. Um, yeah, that’s a lot. It’s like you almost go, okay, how much time do we have? Because you know, when you like you guys love this industry and have a passion for it. It’s all in. So I have a, a, a retail studio space in western Maryland. It’s about an hour from Washington DC. We have employees and we are full service. So we do all genres of portrait photography. We do extreme volume sports. Uh, so that would be the team and the individuals. We have an incredible banner program and we do a lot of commercial photography and video. Uh, I’m very blessed to be able to travel the world doing motivational programs alongside of photography programs. My specialty is definitely client communication, really connecting with people. And I take that throughout everything that I do from beginning to end in all things. So with relationships in your home life, your family or your marriage, your, your friendships, and then how do you translate that into your clients and to your employees and still have some sanity left at the end of the day.

[00:03:23] Wow. I like the word you just used. You said you’re a full service studio. I feel like so many times people think, you know, you have to, you know, do one small thing, one genre or something like that. But it really makes sense that you, you know, as a photographer you do meet all the needs all the way around.

[00:03:42] So exactly when I have somebody in our community that says, hey, I need a photographer, I want them thinking, call Melanie Anderson. And I will frequently be tagged in Facebook posts relating to that, even if it’s not my client. I want people thinking that. And so the number one question we ask our clients, every single client that calls communicates with us, and there’ll be asked this probably two or three times throughout their touch points with us. How did you hear about our studio? And the number one answer we get is your everywhere. And we’ve worked really hard to do that and that is what allows us to be able to sustain maybe those slower seasons because portrait photography is year round. If I was only high school senior, that is seasonal. If I was, you know, I don’t do a lot of weddings are weddings I do are going to be higher end or relationship based and the commercial photography is year round and it allows us to have a little bit more stability. Although I’m not going to say we’re not immune to feast or famine at seasons, you know, because we are a small business. But what allows us to stay in business 13 years later is a diversification. That’s really important to me, not only as a creative entrepreneur, but as a business in our community that I can serve whatever your needs are, I’m there.

[00:05:07] Yeah, that makes sense. And we’ve expanded our business a lot to cover a lot of things as well, just to get rid of, get rid of that seasonality. Because boy, I tell you what, like if you’re in a seasonal business, the the self doubt and all and kinds of stuff starts creeping in that flow. And like for somebody like me, that’s not a good place to be, you know? So I try to avoid that at all costs.

[00:05:26] [inaudible] same and we can definitely go down that road. You know, the, the mentality of creative entrepreneurs. I talk very openly about that and how we must maintain strong mindset. And that is a daily challenge. Every single day you’ve got to wake up and make decisions. Okay, this is where I’m at today and this is how I’m going to behave and be an act and this is how I’m going to serve today. Because otherwise the alternative is it’s fear and it’s anxiety and his depression. And I’ve been down that road many times. So I, I love talking very openly about that.

[00:06:02] Yeah, that’s, that’s awesome. So let me kind of tell you where I want to go with this. Kind of the main thing of the podcast is like what’s working now. So you can kind of give the audience some nuggets or whatever. So tell us a story about like what’s working now in your business or what you think is working in the industry right now?

[00:06:19] Oh Great. So for me, I tried to reinvent myself every two to three years and I’ve noticed a pattern so that it kind of start in that and why I do that. So I started out as a newborn photographer. I’ve photographed probably close to 600 newborn newborns in my career. And then once I knew I mastered that. So I’m, I’m a big believer the, although I diversify, I’ve mastered certain genres one at a time because we can’t, you know, when you’re a new photographer trying to master all of these things, that could be very overwhelming. So I did start in a certain area and then a few years later I went to high school seniors and dominated that in our community. Then I started taking on volume the team and individuals dominated change in the industry, in our community and how the sports are looked at and how we do banners.

[00:07:08] And then a few years later after that, it was into commercial photography. Commercial Monogamy’s always been a big part of my business. We’ve got contracts with our hospital, with the chamber, with all kinds of businesses. And what I’m doing now is getting into more of that branding styles. So instead of somebody just sitting in front of my camera and me doing like that passport, headshot, photo kind of going, okay, what more can I do to serve? Am I doing enough? And giving them a little bit more alternative for personality. Because many times the people that come into for me are going to also be small business owners and how we can give them imagery to relate to whatever their branding is. So it’s kind of saying, okay, what more can we do to serve? And that’s kind of been my mindset. So what is working now for me is saying, you know, you kind of come off of a year of laziness when you’ve kind of got, you know, you think in your mind, I don’t know how we are about cussing on this, but when you got your shit together and you’re like, okay, hey, you know it’s going and we’ve got a smooth oiled machine and things are great.

[00:08:15] And then all of a sudden you’re like, oh wait a minute. Um, I’ve gotten a little lazy. I need to step it up again and go, okay, back to relationships. So I’m going to take that full circle and say, what’s working for me now is picking up the phone, sending emails, texting clients I’ve had for years that I haven’t maybe seen lately and saying, Hey, you know, what’s going on? What are your needs? How can I serve? And this is some new things that I’m doing. And that would be in the branding, kind of changing the, the vision of our company and really just looking at our and beyond. So I’m now even going, what more can I do that’s maybe an hour away from me and how can I serve clients out there? So that’s really where my, where I’m headed right now and exactly what we’re doing in our studio right now.

[00:09:10] Yeah. And like, you know what I like about the way you think about it as like you, so you do newborn photography forever and then you kind of get a well oiled machine out and you kind of get wax on it. Yep. And I think it’s really hard for just to say, Oh crap, we got to lax and just push yourself back into it. So what you’re doing is you’re, you’re, you’re taking that energy and you’re just pivoting in a little bit different. So I think it feels fresh and new and yes. Like it’s self fulfilling. You know, it’s so true because you know, when, when we’ve been doing this for so long, It really is a well oiled machine. And I could do this with my eyes closed. I’m about systems and processes. I don’t overthink things. I dive in and then I just do it.

[00:09:48] And then I create a process and a system for that. So on the days maybe you’re not feeling well or you’re not feeling sociable, you just don’t have that high energy. Well, I have a system in place that I can still go through everything that I’m doing to my client. It’s still an amazing experience. So I’ve simplified so much in my business and the other thing that I’m doing is I’m constantly educating myself. I’m always learning. I’m hungry for knowledge. And so what I just did was I just came back from Texas school and the last two years I was there as an educator. This year I went as a student and I said, who can I take? Where can I go? What could I learn that is completely opposite of what I’m doing? And so I dived into a program this last week on fine are portraiture paintings.

[00:10:38] I’m going, oh my goodness, this is like so not me. And let’s push myself and go, what can I pull out of that and, and, and put into my business that’s going to create a new product line, a new look, a new feel for clients that may be, I’ve not serviced the super, super high end, the ones that are looking for lifesize wall portraits that are custom framed and have an oil painting to them. And I’m excited to see where I take that. So it’ll be interesting in another six months if we were to have this conversation again, we’ll, I have a whole new product line and a whole New Vision. And I think that’s really important for us as creative entrepreneurs to go, okay, what else can I do and who can I learn from? And really just humble yourself to that and you send somebody else’s class and I’ll tell you, it’s not easy, but, um, it was, I pulled away, you know, several pages of notes of things I’m going to be implementing over the next few weeks.

[00:11:40] That’s fantastic. So let me ask you, you know, as you talked about, you know, what, uh, what your teaching yourself the next step in the next step. Um, it’s funny because I’ve actually done the same thing, like started out as a senior

[00:11:54] photographer and then I, you know, when I would help with a baby session, I would put the bean in upside down. I didn’t know what I was doing. And so I was like, I need to learn how to do this next. And I, and so I definitely identify that with that. But what happens to your existing, you know, 600 newborns? Are, is someone else photographing them or are you transitioning away from them? Like how do, how do you work that way in your business? No, that’s a super serious, great question. Because what happens is, and I’ll be completely honest, you know, the older we get, I, you know, deal with severe psychotic. And so when you’re doing newborn screening, newborn photographer out there, you know, physically just like, you know, for those that maybe have a hard time photographing weddings, you know, that full day.

[00:12:36] And then the physical exhaustion that happens to your body. Well that happens for newborn photographers as well, that the lower back gets to be, you know, so you’ve gotta really be careful in how you photographing, but what had happened or what happens is once you dominate an area in your community, you have a lot of other photographers that come along. And I’m very much an advocate of community over competition. I believe in that. I’m chairman of the board for the state of Maryland Professional Photography Association. So I want, I don’t, I don’t mind, you know, that, that there are others. So what I do is go, okay, how can I step it up again? How can I step it up again and still be of service and a resource. But what happens is, you know, you know, being completely real honest, transparent, and that’s, that’s the way we should be as educators.

[00:13:28] That we’re inundated right now with newborn photographers, with senior photographers, with family photographers. And that’s why I pushed myself even more. And so now I’m going, Hey, I have a studio and most photographers don’t. I need to be using this more. Even though I prefer photographing outside, I like light and energy and you know, newborns I can do with my eyes closed. But now I want to push myself differently creatively. So there are plenty of photographers servicing those newborns. I still have newborn displays at hospitals and doctor’s offices and, and if the client is willing to invest because I am a wall portrait photographer, if they’re willing to invest and that’s my client, come on in. If not, you know, I have other areas that I need to invest my time. And so the, I would say I go anywhere, we’re probably photographing, I don’t know, maybe five to 10 newborns now. It’s not nearly, I mean, gosh, I used to have that in a week when I first started back in the film days. But you know, times have changed. And so what are we going to do about it? That’s what I always say, okay, now what are we going to do about it? Yeah. Well that makes complete sense though. So what you’re doing is transitioning away from those genres that you’ve learned how to do. And, and dominated and you feel like those are red waters

[00:14:52] where you know all kinds of people are there and moving into areas where you feel like there’s more of a blue ocean for you too.

[00:14:59] Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. That’s the only way we will thrive. It’s the only way that myself is going to be able to continue to support my family. And what I’m also doing is being very strategic. Even in the way we’re scheduling. So we’re now going and saying, okay, we’re, we’re going to fill the studio three days a week. That’s it. You know, I, I’m in a season of my life where my children are older now, you know, one is finished college, one is in college, one is in and out of college. And then I have a, a son who’s 17 and in high school. So we have one more year with him. So what I’m doing is being very strategic about that. I will be in the studio Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. If I’m not traveling the other days I am doing whatever the heck I want to do a whatever that means, whether it’s traveling or building the, you know, more on the education. I do a lot of one on one mentorships and masterminds and then allowing me time to breathe and serve and be for my family as needed even more.

[00:16:01] Yeah, that sounds great. So Matt, what’s the next question that we want to ask about this? The next question and then we’ll take a break right afterwards is do you want to talk a little bit about the industry? You’re kind of going there, but what are you fired up about the industry or you know, what, what are you paying attention to or what do you hold true about the industry? I mean, however you want to word the question, but when you think of the industry, what are you, what do you think of,

[00:16:22] Oh, well, you know, I’m such an advocate for our industry, so I am fired up. I love our industry and I love the leadership that’s happening right now with the education. I love that we’re on this platform of print for success and and how vital it is that we have a responsibility as professional photographers. It is our responsibility to educate our clients and to educate other photographers and the vitality of printing. I did an article a few years ago about an image that triggered a memory of mine from when I was a child and how it would never have been in such an emotional experience for me had there...]]>https://photopodcast.co/?p=1989Mon, 10 Jun 2019 01:11:00 -040001:05:30nofull1361361Today’s podcast is with Melanie Anderson, who is constantly teaching and giving back to the industry. She has a retail studio space that is full service, including portrait work, extreme volume and commercial work. Listen in to hear Melanie talk about re-inventing herself every few years and how important that is for the mentality of…Kia Bondurant and Aubrey LaurenShannon Atchley – A Photographer Podcast InterviewOn this podcast, Kia and Matt interview Shannon Atchley, who is known for her lighting skills. She teaches lighting at the Modern Senior Imagine Conference and is teaching at SYNC next year. Shannon is a photographer in a very small town and says word of mouth is so important. You have to set, and then exceed, expectations. Shannon is fired up about how good people are in our industry and how willing everyone is to help. Shannon didn’t go to conferences until a couple of years ago, but she did participate in online forums (I Love Photography). Shannon would either save the 1k for a Sigma Art 105mm, or spend it on sales education. Or a Denny’s background. You’ll have to listen in to get that inside joke. Don’t miss the best advice Shannon ever “received” and the advice she has to share.

Resources from Shannon:

Pictocolor (plug in)

YouTube

Books:

Lindsay Adler posing book

Follow Shannon:

Instagram/FB: atchleyphotography

http://www.atchleyphotography.com/

Read Full Transcript

[00:01] They said, Shannon, actually from actually photography and you’re listening to from nothing to profit.

[00:06] Welcome to from nothing to profit a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

[00:22] Hey everybody, welcome to the podcast. So I’m really excited. I have my friend Shannon Ashley on from northern Alabama and we have a really cool story where we met, I mean it was I guess over a year ago now. We met at after dark, um, and we’ve been fast friends ever since. And so we hung out at sink this year and next year we’re speaking together at sync. And in some aspects I think like you’re like my soulmate of a friend because you’re hilarious and you always make my day brighter and make me laugh pretty hard. So thanks so much for being on the podcast.

[00:57] Well thank you for asking me.

[00:59] Yeah. So Shannon, we are, I’m excited to have you too.

[01:03] Oh, you guys are both great. I’m excited to be here.

[01:06] Yeah. So here’s, let me tell you a little bit more. So it’s kind of, this is how, this is how I met Shannon. So I was, I went to after dark and I was doing like this walk about with Marcy, Marcy and Christy and Shannon was there and I hadn’t met her at all, but she wasn’t, she was there and um, I was talking to Marcy and Marcy is like, yeah, you know, like we’re okay, but have you seen Shannon’s work? And I was like, no, I don’t know who Shannon is. So like as we’re walking around downtown in the middle of Wisconsin, I’m like looking at her Instagram and like dialed lighting, you know, like I would say you’re probably one of the better photographers, Shannon. I’ve ever seen it off. Um, off camera lighting for sure.

[01:41] No. Well thank you. Yeah, I didn’t even realize that. Didn’t realize you were looking at me at after dark except, but they are now. Yeah. But I did not realize that. So that’s, that’s really awesome because you’re so good. You’re in Cape Cod is it’s caught. Yes.

[01:58] Hi. Yes it is fine.

[02:00] Okay. You guys are both great. So that is a huge compliment coming from you. Yeah.

[02:06] Well thanks. Um, okay, so let’s just kind of jump into the questions and kind of go from there.

[02:10] Yeah, yeah, for sure. Huh. So...]]>On this podcast, Kia and Matt interview Shannon Atchley, who is known for her lighting skills. She teaches lighting at the Modern Senior Imagine Conference and is teaching at SYNC next year. Shannon is a photographer in a very small town and says word of mouth is so important. You have to set, and then exceed, expectations. Shannon is fired up about how good people are in our industry and how willing everyone is to help. Shannon didn’t go to conferences until a couple of years ago, but she did participate in online forums (I Love Photography). Shannon would either save the 1k for a Sigma Art 105mm, or spend it on sales education. Or a Denny’s background. You’ll have to listen in to get that inside joke. Don’t miss the best advice Shannon ever “received” and the advice she has to share.

Resources from Shannon:

Pictocolor (plug in)

YouTube

Books:

Lindsay Adler posing book

Follow Shannon:

Instagram/FB: atchleyphotography

http://www.atchleyphotography.com/

Read Full Transcript

[00:01] They said, Shannon, actually from actually photography and you’re listening to from nothing to profit.

[00:06] Welcome to from nothing to profit a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

[00:22] Hey everybody, welcome to the podcast. So I’m really excited. I have my friend Shannon Ashley on from northern Alabama and we have a really cool story where we met, I mean it was I guess over a year ago now. We met at after dark, um, and we’ve been fast friends ever since. And so we hung out at sink this year and next year we’re speaking together at sync. And in some aspects I think like you’re like my soulmate of a friend because you’re hilarious and you always make my day brighter and make me laugh pretty hard. So thanks so much for being on the podcast.

[00:57] Well thank you for asking me.

[00:59] Yeah. So Shannon, we are, I’m excited to have you too.

[01:03] Oh, you guys are both great. I’m excited to be here.

[01:06] Yeah. So here’s, let me tell you a little bit more. So it’s kind of, this is how, this is how I met Shannon. So I was, I went to after dark and I was doing like this walk about with Marcy, Marcy and Christy and Shannon was there and I hadn’t met her at all, but she wasn’t, she was there and um, I was talking to Marcy and Marcy is like, yeah, you know, like we’re okay, but have you seen Shannon’s work? And I was like, no, I don’t know who Shannon is. So like as we’re walking around downtown in the middle of Wisconsin, I’m like looking at her Instagram and like dialed lighting, you know, like I would say you’re probably one of the better photographers, Shannon. I’ve ever seen it off. Um, off camera lighting for sure.

[01:41] No. Well thank you. Yeah, I didn’t even realize that. Didn’t realize you were looking at me at after dark except, but they are now. Yeah. But I did not realize that. So that’s, that’s really awesome because you’re so good. You’re in Cape Cod is it’s caught. Yes.

[01:58] Hi. Yes it is fine.

[02:00] Okay. You guys are both great. So that is a huge compliment coming from you. Yeah.

[02:06] Well thanks. Um, okay, so let’s just kind of jump into the questions and kind of go from there.

[02:10] Yeah, yeah, for sure. Huh. So Shannon, we’re going to start at the beginning here. And so, um, can you share a little bit of, uh, like your expertise or what you feel like you’re known for?

[02:22] I feel like I’m acting, I am known for lighting. Um, you mean in the photography world or with the Bobbitt yes, yes. In the photography world. Yeah. I would say it’s sliding. I actually teach lighting at the modern senior. Imagine. Um, I, I guess that’s it. I’ve really never asked anybody, but like, you know, that’s the venue noticed my art when you looked at my work. So I would say that that’s it.

[02:47] And then what about like under your photography? I’d like with your clients? Um, what do you think you’re known for?

[02:53] Well, seniors, senior portrait photography. I’m pretty much known for that in my area. I do still do everything. I’m in such a small town, the high school across the road from my studio graduates like 60 to 70 kids a year. So, and I, I will say we have about seven small schools around in the area that graduate the sign number. But nobody, we just don’t have any big schools. So I’m in such a small town that I’m really the only, which our town is not even incorporated. So when I say the, I’m the only photography studio in town, that’s not really saying a lot, but, but I really am. So I still do everything even though I specialize in senior portrait photography.

[03:35] Okay. So I have a question about that because I didn’t realize your town was so small. Cutting jokes didn’t know about that. So how, so how do you, how do you stay like sharpen on top of it? Like where that internal motivation, because if you’re the only game in town, like it’d be really easy for you to get lazy and just not do my, you know what I mean? Like,

[03:54] well, it really all kind of started last year and I had never been to really anything, any conferences. I’ve been to nothing until I went to saint class chair because my kids were home. They were getting ready for college and I knew that they wouldn’t be there that much long. You know, they would be headed to college soon. And so I wouldn’t go to anything. One time I, I wouldn’t even go to imaging when it was in Nashville, which is about two hours for me. So when I went to sync for the first time last year, it was like an entire new world just opened up for me. And you know, I realized that even though I had learned a lot on my own, I had learned through books and Youtube is, there’s something about learning with when you’re with other people, with your payers and at conferences. So I really think that motivates me to stay on top of things now because I realized just how much, how incredible it is to be around your peers and learn from them and pick up things, which since I went to saint last year, I went to lots of things since then and I think that keeps me on top of things. I just, yeah,

[04:56] but, and you’ve been in business for like 13 years, like new game in town?

[05:00] Oh No, no. I’ve been in business 13 years, but, and really I look back on the stuff that I was doing five, seven, 13 years ago and it’s, I think the quality is the same as what I’ve been doing in the last year. It’s just more fun, I guess that’s what I should say. It’s more fun when you’re around your peers.

[05:19] Yeah. So you know, five, seven years ago, all you were doing was collecting Denny backgrounds, right? That’s what you,

[05:25] your RV? It’s pretty much Nah.

[05:29] Okay. She has like the complete catalog.

[05:33] Do you shoot for them then? How does that work? Well, it’s just a, you know, if they’ve ever needed anything, if they’ve ever needed a backdrop drop photograph. But I had bought so many from them and you know, I would send them images of the one. So now I don’t know, I don’t work for Dnas, you know, I think they’re a great company. They’re my backdrop company. They’re the only ones I buy back jobs from, but I don’t work for them.

[05:57] Yeah. So you’ve that, that’s really interesting. I just assumed you did. I saw your stuff and I thought, oh well they must just hire her to photograph their backgrounds.

[06:05] No, no. Jordan is the, you know, Danny’s photographer and he’s great, but we’re really good friends and that is just such a great company. They are a family owned company. They, you know, the sisters and Deni still works there. It’s just, it’s just a great family owned company and I just lock them all so much that he bought 305 backgrounds. Call this lady and see what she’s up. I do have a lot of backgrounds. I really do. Yeah.

[06:38] For our listeners, if you go to Shannon’s a Instagram or website that you will see a lot of, uh, backgrounds that you could have similar ones from Denny manufacturing. So that’s what we’re talking about. Um, okay. So Shannon, this is one of my questions for you though, is, you know, you said you had never been to any conferences or things like that until your kids were, you knew your kids were kind of out of the house. Why is that? Did you just like to stay home with them or were you just too busy?

[07:07] Well, I was always busy. My businesses is an APP, been busy for years. I know that sounds crazy, but yeah, there was that, I didn’t want to miss anything that they were doing. I don’t want to miss anything at school, you know, any that were always involved in sports. I always involved in so many things. That was just, it felt like there was no time for that. So once I went off to college, now have tons of free time. So, well, I wouldn’t say no. I’m still busy and I don’t have tons of free time. But I do travel more.

[07:38] Yeah. Yeah. You’re not worried about missing anything. You can make your plans only on your schedule. Really. Exactly. Yeah, that makes sense. Um, okay, so our next question is what do you feel like one of the things you’ve said is you are busy and you’ve been busy all along, so it doesn’t sound like you’ve come up against like a time where you’ve worried about getting business. Is that true? That is true. Okay. So what do you feel like it is the thing that works for you or what do you feel like is really working now for you and your business?

[08:11] I feel like that being in a small town, word of mouth is the most important thing that, that I have going for me and it, it really is. I feel like if you are just good to people and you exceed their expectations and you’re good to them and you take care of them and that’s why I say I love shooting senior portraits and that is mainly what I do. But if somebody needs something else, I’m going to do that too. It may not be my favorite thing to do, but because of it’s almost like a small town doctor, you kind of have to take care of everything. And I do that and because I, I do that, I just feel like the word of mouth and the good customer service is why I’m so busy. And the model program, the model program has really kept busy too. I mean it keeps the model program. I have so many models and of course they are clients. So just right off the bat you’ve got, if I have 25 30 models, that’s 25 or 30 seniors that I’ll shoot that year.

[09:08] Yeah. So do you photograph weddings then?

[09:11] I do not. There is one on my website or on my Facebook page, not on my website, just because it was a friend, a friend that her daughter grew up with my boys and it was just a really, really small wedding. But no, I would never shoot like a, I have no desire. I don’t, I won’t say never, but I have no desire to shoot weddings.

[09:30] Yeah. So you do say no to that you

[09:32] I didn’t say no to that. Weddings are the one that is the only thing I really say no to. I’ll do engagement sessions, but I will say no to weddings.

[09:42] So I have a question. You say, you were saying word of mouth on exceeding expectations is the secret to your business. So I think, tell me if I’m right or wrong answer if you even think about this, but part of exceeding expectations is like setting expectations from the beginning. Right? Cause like I’ll give you an example. I’m not going to go too far down on this tangent Kaia but like I have my house, I’m getting some repair work done in my house. I was giant hole in my living room from my roof. It’s a mess. And at first it was okay, but now like the contractor is like out, you know, I’ll text you guys on Monday and then it’ll be like four o’clock on Monday. We still haven’t heard from him. So then it’s like she set an expectation and then didn’t meet it. And so then it doesn’t feel like very good service, even if in the end result’s the same. So do you think about how you set expectations for people to, to exceed them or do you just naturally kind of do it or what goes through your head with that? Actually

[10:36] thank, I just naturally do it because I’m very worried about, you know, I’ll always want to make sure that my customer service is good. So I don’t, I don’t really set, I mean of course I tell them what to expect, but I pretty much try to, you know, live up to those expectations and then I do, I try to go above with everything. Yeah,

[10:56] that makes sense. So it’s like no matter what you tell them, you’re like, okay, I told them I’m going to do this and now what’s the little bit of extra I could go on it?

[11:02] Well, yes. And if, if Cya tell somebody I would have their gallery up the on a certain day and for some reason I didn’t, then I usually will message you on. I’ll be apologizing and explaining or I don’t know. I always try to make things right if I slip up. So, um, yeah. And I do, I think that’s just good customer service.

[11:23] Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Very good. Um, okay, so now that you’ve really gotten involved in kind of the bigger, uh, photography world, what is the one thing that you’re most fired up about in the industry today?

[11:38] Well, uh, you know, technical things I’m so fired up about, or of course the hospitals, saint flashes, mirrorless camera, you know, all that. But really what I’m fired up about the industry is all of the educational opportunities that are out there. All of the people that are just willing help you. Pretty much the people I’m fired up about the paypal and how good people are in our industry. I mean, do you guys not think that it’s just so incredible when you go to any of these conferences or anything like that? People are just so willing to help you all the time? Eh, you know, if you need anything, they are education or they’re always willing to just reach out and they want you to succeed. I feel like that everybody I’ve run into is trying know, they really seem to be invested in your success. I don’t. Does that make sense?

[12:28] And here’s another way I think about it too, and I, this just came to me the other day, like sometimes you meet like a salty photographer, you know, that’s just like grumpy or burnout or whatever it is. And I think they stick out like a sore thumb, not because they’re more grumpy than anybody else in the world, but because our industry is so good and so willing to help that they’re in a sharp contrast to the average person in the industry. You know what I mean? So when someone is burnout or not willing to help or jaded like you’re like, that’s not normal because the normal in our industry is like, how can I help you? You know, what can I show you? You know, who can I connect you with so that you know, you have the thing that you need to improve your business this week kind of thing. Cause that’s,

[13:12] that is exactly right. And exactly how I fail. Just every age. If you give people the chance, I feel like a lot of people don’t really give people the chance to help them if you’re standoffish. And if you don’t really get in there and interact with people, of course people don’t, are not usually going to go out of their way to just track you down. But if you’re just trying just a little bit, the people that will help you is, it’s just, it’s amazing to me. And I never realized it until I started going to things. And you know, even though I was successful in my bed, in my business was good before I ever went to anything. I’ve already just, just in the past year I have changed so much and it just so much better and it’s better because I’ve had so many people that are just out there willing to help me.

[13:58] Yeah. So, so here’s a question for you. So like when I met you at after dark, you know, you’re, you’re hanging out with all the fancy people, you know, and, uh, and that’s true. Like it’s thinking stuff too. And, I mean, did you just approach those people and just say like, Hey, I’m Shannon. Like, just talk to him. Like, I mean, how did you become fast friends with so many people?

[14:18] Well, you know Marcy, Marcy and Christy know everybody and I was friends with them. We met actually years ago on a photography for them. So even though I didn’t go, you know, out of my little comfort or out of my little studio area, I knew people online, you know, there was so many photography groups. Uh, it was back when pro forum, the one I was on was, I love photography. Y’all probably don’t. I don’t know. Do y’all remember that one? Okay. Yes, I’ll pay. Well what was true mouth? She did. She come up out of that one. I don’t think did she met with a different one for her? There were so, so many at the time. But I love photography was like my main one and I was really a frequent poster, you know. So when you would do the forums, you know, you had your people that posted a lot.

[15:05] So I was a pretty good poster. And so I probably, I knew a lot of people, I knew Marcy from there actually we still have, you know, we still have connections through that group. There are so many ways that you can have connections in the industry even if you’d never go anywhere. And because with online now, I mean, you know, you can thank you. You can know so many people without actually ever meeting them personally. So even though, but I had met Marci in person, Marcy increase the, in our little group from that I had met and the reason we went to, you know, she was speaking at same class year and that was the, you know, we all went to support Marcy is thing cause it was her, she had, you know, that was her first big stage presentation. So even though I didn’t know people, I kind of, they had no paypal, if that makes sense. Throw them.

[15:52] Sure. Tell me, like I said, we’ve only been friends for like a year or so. And um, it seems like you kind of know everybody, but I think some of it I think is your personality. Like you’re so much fun to be around, but then also that makes sense kind of how it all evolved. For sure.

[16:07] Well, and even Jordan from Deniz, I didn’t know Jordan. I did not know Jordan, like joining our great friends, but I did not know him until sync last year. I mean, I had went one year, the trade show was at Nashville and when you’re in Atlanta, and I was so excited because my stuff was going to be in the Denny’s booth. So I actually drove out just for the trade show. So, uh, I had met him at the trade show booth. It was either in Atlanta or Nashville, but...]]>https://photopodcast.co/?p=1986Mon, 03 Jun 2019 01:01:00 -040038:03nofull1351351On this podcast, Kia and Matt interview Shannon Atchley, who is known for her lighting skills. She teaches lighting at the Modern Senior Imagine Conference and is teaching at SYNC next year. Shannon is a photographer in a very small town and says word of mouth is so important. You have to set, and then…Kia Bondurant and Aubrey LaurenChris Scott – A Photographer Podcast InterviewMatt & Kia interview Chris Scott in this episode. He is based in Colorado Springs and he and his wife specialize in helping shoot and burn photographers transition to in person sales and printing. Chris and his wife started out as shoot and burn photographers and switching to in person sales changed their life. Virtual/remote in person sales is a great solution to not having a sales space or working with out of town clients. We just need to educate our clients on what they can do with their pictures. The selling happens in the planning meeting. Don’t miss what Chris would and wouldn’t spend his $1k on – if you’re a consistent listener to this podcast, you’ll be surprised! You definitely want to listen to hear the best advice Chris every received and his mantra for daily life.

Chris’s Favorite Resources

Manychat – chatbot for FB messenger

10x Marketing formula (https://amzn.to/2YyfG01)

https://theprintmakersystem.com/

http://Printmakerpodcast.com 

Read Full Transcript

[00:01] Hey, this is Chris Scott and you are listening to from nothing to profit.

[00:05] Welcome to from nothing to profit of photographers podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

[00:21] Hey everybody, so super excited about this episode. So my friend Chris Scott is on, it’s going to be a little bit different, um, than some of the other podcasts where, where you’ve interviewed photographers because Chris, uh, and his wife actually don’t live very far from me and Carl or Colorado Springs, but they own a swift galleries as well as um, in Chris. You can tell me more about this, but you also have this whole mission right now where you’re trying to move people from shooting burn to in person sales, right? Yup,

[00:50] Yup. Absolutely. So we, we run, um, it’s a, the printmaker system, which is kind of our education side of things and a swift galleries, which is the tool itself that helps people, uh, well people helps photographers show their clients with their photos, will look like on their walls at the right size and then walks them step by step through an entire in person sales meeting. And we really kind of specialize in helping those shoot and burn photographers make the switch from shooting burden over to in person sales. That’s awesome. Yeah. Yeah. And we do that through the podcast too, which is called the print maker podcast.

[01:23] Perfect. And Chi, you’ve never met Chris before, right?

[01:26] No, but I’m super excited when you told me what he was talking about. I just feel like that, um, Chris that, you know, I want to, what I, one of the things I want to learn is why you decided to make that, you know, one of your main things is teaching people how to do in person sales. But from my viewpoint, I just feel like that is a way to really change photographers lives and change it from something that they do on the side to something that they can do full time. So that’s what I’m guessing you’re gonna say, but I’m curious. So,

[01:55] Ooh, interesting. Cause I might come at it from a different, a slightly different angle. So the reason that this is so, uh, that we’re so passionate about this is because Adrian and I did run our own photography...]]>Matt & Kia interview Chris Scott in this episode. He is based in Colorado Springs and he and his wife specialize in helping shoot and burn photographers transition to in person sales and printing. Chris and his wife started out as shoot and burn photographers and switching to in person sales changed their life. Virtual/remote in person sales is a great solution to not having a sales space or working with out of town clients. We just need to educate our clients on what they can do with their pictures. The selling happens in the planning meeting. Don’t miss what Chris would and wouldn’t spend his $1k on – if you’re a consistent listener to this podcast, you’ll be surprised! You definitely want to listen to hear the best advice Chris every received and his mantra for daily life.

Chris’s Favorite Resources

Manychat – chatbot for FB messenger

10x Marketing formula (https://amzn.to/2YyfG01)

https://theprintmakersystem.com/

http://Printmakerpodcast.com 

Read Full Transcript

[00:01] Hey, this is Chris Scott and you are listening to from nothing to profit.

[00:05] Welcome to from nothing to profit of photographers podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

[00:21] Hey everybody, so super excited about this episode. So my friend Chris Scott is on, it’s going to be a little bit different, um, than some of the other podcasts where, where you’ve interviewed photographers because Chris, uh, and his wife actually don’t live very far from me and Carl or Colorado Springs, but they own a swift galleries as well as um, in Chris. You can tell me more about this, but you also have this whole mission right now where you’re trying to move people from shooting burn to in person sales, right? Yup,

[00:50] Yup. Absolutely. So we, we run, um, it’s a, the printmaker system, which is kind of our education side of things and a swift galleries, which is the tool itself that helps people, uh, well people helps photographers show their clients with their photos, will look like on their walls at the right size and then walks them step by step through an entire in person sales meeting. And we really kind of specialize in helping those shoot and burn photographers make the switch from shooting burden over to in person sales. That’s awesome. Yeah. Yeah. And we do that through the podcast too, which is called the print maker podcast.

[01:23] Perfect. And Chi, you’ve never met Chris before, right?

[01:26] No, but I’m super excited when you told me what he was talking about. I just feel like that, um, Chris that, you know, I want to, what I, one of the things I want to learn is why you decided to make that, you know, one of your main things is teaching people how to do in person sales. But from my viewpoint, I just feel like that is a way to really change photographers lives and change it from something that they do on the side to something that they can do full time. So that’s what I’m guessing you’re gonna say, but I’m curious. So,

[01:55] Ooh, interesting. Cause I might come at it from a different, a slightly different angle. So the reason that this is so, uh, that we’re so passionate about this is because Adrian and I did run our own photography business for a number of years and we started out at a shoot and burn photographers. We made about $150 on average per session. And in our first year of switching to in person sales, we went from those hundred $50 average is $220,000 in that first year. And it was absolutely life changing for us. You know what I mean? It sounds overly dramatic. Like it changed her life. Snow. It did. There is, it’s a completely different life when, um, you know, when you’re kind of just scraping by to like, okay, we don’t really have to worry about money. And we can really choose who we want to work with at this point.

[02:45] So we just started teaching some of our friends, this is back when we lived in Nashville. We started teaching some of our friends who are also photographers about what it is that we were doing. And that evolved into starting an APP. It was preveal, uh, that was an iPad app that that was kind of the precursor to where we are now with swift galleries. So, yeah, and, and you know, my, my goal at this point is not necessarily to take people through the exact steps that we did were where it’s like, okay, now I’m going to show, I feel like there’s so much six-figure hype in the, in the industry right now, and there’s really, there are a lot of photographers who don’t necessarily want to go full time, but they want to make this worth their time. And that’s really where we’re focused is let’s take those, those moms, uh, you know, the stay at home moms or the weekend warriors or the, you know, these shooting burners and let’s figure out how we can help them make this worth their while they’re spending this time away from their families.

[03:44] They’re spending this time away from, you know, other commitments. How can we help them just make it worth their time and help them feel as fulfilled as we did? You know, I mean, there’s something, we talk about money a lot. We talk about, Oh yeah, we made you know, x number of dollars a year and all of that. But that doesn’t even touch that feeling that you get as an artist when a client hands you a check for $3,000 and then is like crying and hugging you and thanking you like that is the most surreal thing ever. And there’s something to that as an artist that’s like, wow, I made this money. I didn’t just clock in and clock out. This person thinks I’m worth this. So if we can bring all of those things to these people who are just kind of slogging away day in and day out, then then I think that we’ve done our job.

[04:33] Very cool. Okay. Math, what’s our first question here? I think the start with kind of won’t Chris, what you see that’s working, um, in the industry now. So you know, and you can talk more about how that relates to the printmaker thing or whatever, but in the year, what do you, what do you think’s working for photographers now that you would want our audience to pay attention to? Yeah, so virtual or remote in person sales right now I think is, is a, um, something that a lot of photographers are not really tapping into. So this really fits in line with what it is that we’re doing. You know, trying to take these people who, who don’t necessarily have a sales space or you know, all of this time to travel to and from their clients’ homes or you know, any of that stuff and saying, hey, you know what, you don’t need all of that to do in person sales.

[05:21] Really all you need is a laptop and an Internet connection. So being able to run a full in person sales meeting using something like zoom and obviously I’m going to say swift galleries and being able to get those benefits of in person sales without really all of the, the uh, the overhead commitment, the, you know, the space having to clean up after your kids before somebody comes over, you know, the travel time, all of that. Um, we’re seeing just a huge amount of success with our members doing remote in person sales. Basically just doing an in person sales meeting in realtime. Just doing it all online though. Yeah. And so the right and then in person

[05:58] sales is that you’re going to guide the customer through the purchasing process and not just put it on a website and let them just figure it out for themselves and justify everything up and down and you know, you’re actually there to help them. Exactly. What you’re saying is like you’re still doing that guide and you’re just doing it virtually because you’re on a zoom call where you know, Jeff, maybe chair sharing screens are looking at each other through webcams or whatever and you’re able to still guide them through that process.

[06:20] Yup. Exactly. So the reason, there are a handful of reasons that we believe in person sales work. So number one is you are there, you’re, you’re that guide, you know, and there’s, man, there’s so much to this, there’s a lot that really needs to happen before the sales meeting. But just with respect to the sales meeting itself, you’re there, you can guide them through it. Um, another really big aspect of it is that everyone is setting aside that time to do it. So that’s a real big problem that we see with online sales is, you know, you send over an email that says, hey, your galleries ready and your client’s going to sit there in their boxer shorts at, you know, 11 o’clock at night or, or worse at five in the afternoon. And then life just gets in the way the kids need to eat and it’s time for bed and you know, all of that stuff.

[07:02] And those images that they genuinely are excited about, they just don’t, they never set aside the time to do anything with them to do something about it. And then you layer on top of that, uh, what we were just talking about, this idea that the clients really don’t know what to do with stuff. You know, everybody talks about, oh my clients only want digital files. Well that’s really our fault. We as an industry have taught our clients that that’s all they need. So if you can step into that cap now and say, hey, you know what, there are other things that you can do with these. And, and if you truly believe, and this is what we believe, that my job is as a photographer isn’t done until I’ve helped you figure out what to do with these, you know, so that, so that I’m doing more than saying, Hey, here are your files. Good luck figuring out what to do with them, you know, something like that. So instead I’m saying, Hey, I can walk you through this. And you’re exactly right. I’m doing this all online so that they don’t have the time commitment and the space commitment. Basically. I just need a blank wall behind me and a laptop and an Internet connection. So

[08:05] that’s awesome. Well, and this is really, here’s a really cool example. Like I’ve always believed exactly what you said that like, we just need, you know, we’re, I mean an educate our clients that there what they can do with their portraits because most people never buy photography. It’s similar to like them buying a car, but the auto industry spends billions of dollars a year trying to educate them on how to buy a car. Yeah. But we, we have, we have an uphill challenge of having to do that without all the advertising dollars. But, um, it’s really interesting. So we just did a dance. We just photographed as dance studio and um, did a lot of tips that we learned from Rose Coleman, who we had on the podcast a months ago. And it was amazing. We actually did more print sales and digital sales. At this and that. And it wasn’t really an incentive to do prints over digital. We just use some of her systems to kind of educate them what, what was possible. And you know, it was definitely 70% sales and 30% digital. This was really cool. Yeah, that’s incredible.

[08:59] Well, I was just gonna say, I, you know, I’ve had, I’ve been doing this for 20 years and so I was totally print and then a partial digital. And then, uh, I started a new studio and I was just like, I don’t want to deal with this. And so I was mostly digital and now my clients are coming back and saying, we don’t want digital files because we’re not doing anything with them. And so I’m actually transitioning all my pricing to have prints go with everything. And I even, I don’t know, I have a sad story that goes along with us. I don’t know, you know, how, what all you guys do to tell to convince people to do it. But, um, I can’t get into my digital archives from 10 or 12, 15 years ago. Like my, those old hard drives, I can’t get to link to my new computers.

[09:49] And so I just had a friend pass away about six months ago and I had photographed her, but I could not get to those files. And so I ended up, we had printed albums of her and I photographed images from the album and use those. And so I’m just like so, so convinced. I’m like, you have to print these because there’s no guarantee that there’s, you know, I mean, apple changes, they’re a little dongle every time they make a new thing. Right. You know, there’s no guarantee I’m going to be able to get to these.

[10:16] Yeah. We, we, we jokingly refer to it as, it’s cool. I backed all my photos up on my space. Yeah. You know, it’s like, yeah, nobody’s ever saying that, but you know, at some point that’s what everybody was thinking and, and you know, this technology’s gonna Change.

[10:31] Yeah. Yeah. That’s awesome. Okay. So real quick and kind of want to you to tell us a little bit more about your story in terms of like, just kind of quickly how you ended up into the, in the software space, um, and kind of that, and then right after that we’ll, we’ll take a break and then we’ll ask you some more questions about where you see the industry going and stuff. So, yeah. So how did, how’d you end up like, and like, I mean in software, I don’t know what you want to call it, but I mean maybe sales as a service, but our software is a service, but how’d you end up there?

[11:00] Yeah, it was, um, it was really just kind of dumb luck. We, uh, yes, we were shooting, uh, weddings and portraits full time, uh, for a number of years. And we were waiting for pro select to make a mobile version of pro select cause we were approached select users at the time and they didn’t do it. They didn’t do it. We literally waited a year and then we, um, we just said, screw it, let’s, let’s try this. Um, and it was one of these things where it was like a, the husband of a friend and I knew nothing about software development at the time. Like I was like, Hey, your husband writes code. Right? Like, and that was to me, that was like, oh, so clearly he can do this. And, um, and we just got really lucky and a, and he could do it and, and that’s, you know, preveal kind of took off.

[11:47] Right. I mean, just immediately took off. It was very surprising to us. Um, and, um, and yeah, that was right about the time that we, we had our, our first kid, we have a, now we have a, gosh, a six year old daughter and a four year old son. And, um, yeah, that was about the time that we had our first kid. We moved from, from Tennessee to Colorado, and it took over our lives, you know, as we jokingly or not, not even jokingly, we thought, you know, okay, we’re gonna, we’re gonna launch this thing and it’s gonna make us money while we sleep. And then like, now we just don’t sleep anymore. You know, it, it just took over. So it actually ended up being a really good transition for us. I, I was, um, recently diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and was starting to, I’d now that I look back, uh, I was starting to really deal with a lot of those symptoms where I couldn’t, you know, we’d get to the end of a, of a doubleheader wedding weekend and I wouldn’t be able to pick things up for a few days or you know, worse.

[12:46] I wouldn’t be able to grab a glass of water in the mornings or something like that. And I thought, wow, I’m just really out of shape. Come to find out now. It was all of this stuff kind of coming up. So all of these kinds of culminated in us moving markets and all of that and saying, Hey, you know what? This is actually a fulltime job. Let’s treat it like one. So we bowed out of, of shooting full time and then just started running software. And from there we made our, our education a little bit more formal, a as opposed to like just sitting down and having milkshakes with friends and talking about what it is that we’re doing. We started, you know, putting together some courses and stuff and that’s kind of led to where we are now with the, with the printmaker system. So what we do now is, um, is a course called the path to a printmaker and it kind of walks people through how to attract the right clients to their business, how to excite them about products, how to, um, and then how to delight them with the sales process that feels nothing like sales. And then we pair that with, with the swift galleries tool, uh, and then a, a community that we call the per maker coalition online.

[13:49] Cool. Yeah, I think so. I think so cool about your platform is like, I think the power of your, of what you’re doing is in the education. Yes. And then it’s like, but you know how the education goes, you watched the new, you’re like, oh yeah, well this sounds all great. Like, okay, I get it. But you know, in the ideal world, of course I would do all this stuff, Chris. And then you’re able to say, well like here’s swift galleries. That’s kind of the shortcut. Yup. You know, to make this happen for you, you know, like where you don’t have to like wreck, wreck your brain around it. It just makes it simple for you. So that’s pretty cool that like, you know, they, they kind of go together.

[14:23] Thanks man. That’s, and that was really our goal was this idea that like, you know, education and tools, it’s all theirs. I mean, education at this point is a diamond dozen. You know, you can find this stuff online, but it becomes this, this kind of mass of like, so we refer to it or to me it’s sort of like I’m dumping like a dozen different puzzles into one pile and then trying to make sense of the mess because I have a ton of access to education, but I really don’t how this fits together. So you know, if you look at like the Facebook groups that are out there like yeah, they’re a wealth of free information, but it’s literally coming at you every few seconds in no discernible order. And you’re like, well how does this tip from this person fit with this thing from this person fits with this step from over here.

[15:11] So we wanted to look and say like, you know what? We’re really stinking good at this. So let’s just build out this full end to end thing that says like, look, we’re going to show you how to sell. Then we’re going to show you how to take that concept of sales and apply it to the tool that we’ve already built. It was literally built to support this sales process in the first place and then we’re going to show you how to launch that. So it really is this kind of end to end solution where you could come in the front end knowing nothing about in person sales and come out the back end, you know, 21 days later with an in person sales business launched and you have the tools, you have the education, you have everything in place. So that was kind of our goal is to take that person who knows nothing about this and say, hey, you know what, don’t worry about searching all over the Internet for it. Here’s everything you need and can you make it better from here? Absolutely. But here’s your baseline. Let’s get you launched. Yeah.

[16:07] Wait, don’t, don’t move...]]>https://photopodcast.co/?p=1983Mon, 27 May 2019 01:42:00 -040042:30nofull1341341Matt & Kia interview Chris Scott in this episode. He is based in Colorado Springs and he and his wife specialize in helping shoot and burn photographers transition to in person sales and printing. Chris and his wife started out as shoot and burn photographers and switching to in person sales changed their life. Virtual/remote…Kia Bondurant and Aubrey LaurenBrianna Gamble – A Photographer Podcast InterviewMatt and Brianna originally met at Seniors Ignite and just reconnected at SYNC. Brianna is in Northern California and is most well known for her destination sessions with her high school seniors and her model program. Last year, Brianna brought on 3 associate photographers, to help her photograph her hundreds of clients and bridge the gap between tweens and seniors. Brianna’s favorite part of her photography business is running the business. Brianna decided what she wants her life to look like, then worked backwards from there to make sure her business could provide that. You’ll want to listen in to how Brianna runs her underclassmen program. Brianna’s team does a retreat every year to plan the year based on their mission statement and core values and also their financial goals so they know what to try and whether it’s working. This podcast is full of amazing tips and advice – this is one you’ll want to listen to again and again.

Internet Resources

Megan Dipero’s FB group – Rise to the Top – actionable tips

Books

Profit First

Clockwork

Connect with Brianna:

Instagram @briannagamblephoto

Read Full Transcript

Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it’s an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.

[00:01] This is Briana Gamble and you are listening to from nothing to profit.

[00:05] Welcome to from nothing to profit a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak. We’re each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

[00:21] Hey, welcome everybody. Another week, another podcast. I hope you really enjoying these this week we have my friend Brianna gamble from northern California and she sent me a bio but I don’t know if I really need to use it but because we have, we met years ago at seniors ignite and just, you know, had some conversations and I’ve always followed you on social media and your work is top, top notch in the senior world. And so yeah. And we reconnected. Where do, where do we reconnect? Just a few weeks.

[00:50] Um, we were at the sink. At the same conference.

[00:52] Yeah. Okay. Thank you. I’m sorry I’m been to so many conferences lately. I can’t even keep track. I’m like, why would I have seen you in Minnesota? But, um, yeah, so we saw each other at the sink and we talked and you told me what was going on and it sounded like you had, you know, your business is doing great and you’d have some associate photographers and so we can talk about any of that stuff that you want to talk about. But what I guess what our audience needs to know is that, you know, you have an awesome, fun, youthful style around senior portraits and you live in northern California. Um, and you’re probably best known, you know, for your model program and your destination session. So, um, go ahead, cover whatever I missed. Okay.

[01:24] So, um, thank you for the intro. So yeah, my studio is in northern California, so we are kind of writing between Sacramento and San Francisco. So we do a lot of beach sessions and we are probably most locally known for our destination sessions where we take a group of girls and we go out on, um, some trips. You’ve gone to Palm Springs, Vegas, La. Last year we went to Disneyland and Portland, Oregon. Probably the most memorable trip was to Hawaii. And then this year we’re going back to palm springs cause it’s probably my favorite place to shoot. And our senior model team also is something we’ve been doing for...]]>Matt and Brianna originally met at Seniors Ignite and just reconnected at SYNC. Brianna is in Northern California and is most well known for her destination sessions with her high school seniors and her model program. Last year, Brianna brought on 3 associate photographers, to help her photograph her hundreds of clients and bridge the gap between tweens and seniors. Brianna’s favorite part of her photography business is running the business. Brianna decided what she wants her life to look like, then worked backwards from there to make sure her business could provide that. You’ll want to listen in to how Brianna runs her underclassmen program. Brianna’s team does a retreat every year to plan the year based on their mission statement and core values and also their financial goals so they know what to try and whether it’s working. This podcast is full of amazing tips and advice – this is one you’ll want to listen to again and again.

Internet Resources

Megan Dipero’s FB group – Rise to the Top – actionable tips

Books

Profit First

Clockwork

Connect with Brianna:

Instagram @briannagamblephoto

Read Full Transcript

Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it’s an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.

[00:01] This is Briana Gamble and you are listening to from nothing to profit.

[00:05] Welcome to from nothing to profit a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak. We’re each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

[00:21] Hey, welcome everybody. Another week, another podcast. I hope you really enjoying these this week we have my friend Brianna gamble from northern California and she sent me a bio but I don’t know if I really need to use it but because we have, we met years ago at seniors ignite and just, you know, had some conversations and I’ve always followed you on social media and your work is top, top notch in the senior world. And so yeah. And we reconnected. Where do, where do we reconnect? Just a few weeks.

[00:50] Um, we were at the sink. At the same conference.

[00:52] Yeah. Okay. Thank you. I’m sorry I’m been to so many conferences lately. I can’t even keep track. I’m like, why would I have seen you in Minnesota? But, um, yeah, so we saw each other at the sink and we talked and you told me what was going on and it sounded like you had, you know, your business is doing great and you’d have some associate photographers and so we can talk about any of that stuff that you want to talk about. But what I guess what our audience needs to know is that, you know, you have an awesome, fun, youthful style around senior portraits and you live in northern California. Um, and you’re probably best known, you know, for your model program and your destination session. So, um, go ahead, cover whatever I missed. Okay.

[01:24] So, um, thank you for the intro. So yeah, my studio is in northern California, so we are kind of writing between Sacramento and San Francisco. So we do a lot of beach sessions and we are probably most locally known for our destination sessions where we take a group of girls and we go out on, um, some trips. You’ve gone to Palm Springs, Vegas, La. Last year we went to Disneyland and Portland, Oregon. Probably the most memorable trip was to Hawaii. And then this year we’re going back to palm springs cause it’s probably my favorite place to shoot. And our senior model team also is something we’ve been doing for the past seven years and people have been following our senior model team locally. And so now we kind of have girls who they’ve been following us maybe since freshman year. And so when they get invited into the CDO, they’re already really excited.

[02:14] They’re already kind of pumped to be a part of it. And like you mentioned, we do have associate photographers. So that’s a little bit, a little bit new. Last year, every year I’ve been shooting around 300 sessions, not all seniors, seniors probably account for about 50% of our business. So 300 sessions a year. That was a, you know a lot for one person. Got It. Yeah. To, to photograph but also to be managing the business and the studio itself. So last year he started bringing on a team of associate photographers. So I have three amazing photographers on my team now and they, they also shoot senior sessions. We offered tween sessions and then we’ve been doing a lot of sessions recently for personal, and then also kind of a bridging the gap between the tween age and the high school seniors. So the underclassmen that actually we just kind of launched a new program specifically for them that’s modeled a little bit after our senior model program so we can kind of get them in as freshmen and sophomores and start working with them in their families.

[03:19] And then when it’s time to sign up for the senior model program, it’s a no brainer. So yeah, we’ve been kind of working on that. And then we have also been revamping our studio to be a little bit more of like a rentable space for shoots and events. So, um, today’s actually our opening day. Um, so it’s a little crazy we have opening today and then a launch party on Sunday. And Yeah, we’ve, I just have had a lot of interest locally from other photographers for my studio space. So we’ve kind of, I don’t shoot a whole lot inside of my studio unless I’m doing blue Duar or personal branding. So, um, we’ve just kind of change things around and got it ready a little. It took a little bit of our personal, um, photography brand out of it so that others can bring their clients into tissue and do meetings and also people are using it for events.

[04:10] So that’s kind of everything we have going on right now. So you’re definitely hitting on all cylinders right now. So, well it’s funny cause I was like, okay. I was looking online going, okay, what do we, what are we talking about here? So, so I had to have a couple of questions for you about your, the scope of your business. So 300 sessions, uh, and then you’ve hired on three more photographers. So how many employees do you have altogether? So, um, in total we have a team of eight. So we have the three associate photographers. Um, I have a studio manager and then we have a production girl who does all of our, so I like to keep my editing in house. Um, and so she does all the editing and all of our print orders and things like that. And we have a couple makeup artists on our team as well, so that we have, we always have a makeup artist available.

[05:01] I don’t like to use too many makeup artists in locally just because like to keep our sal really, really specific and we have really high standards for our team and the experience we want to give to our clients. So I like to have those also kind of in house. So they’re just kind of standing makeup artists on our team. And so is everyone full time or are that some of them contract or how does that work? Yeah, so, um, two of them are full time, the studio manager and our production girl. And then the rest, the photographers and the makeup artists, they are all contracted. And so typically the makeup artists are working a handful of days a week because we do have so many clients that we offer here and make up for most of the sessions. And then the photographers, um, right now they’re each working maybe one to two days a week, just depending, um, how many sessions they have going on.

[05:52] Uh, they associate photographers. We just kind of started having them last fall. So a little bit in a transition period where I’m trying to take, bring on a gamble as a person and turn and bring on a gamble in to more of a brand name for our studio so that people know when they come to us. It might not necessarily be Brianna doing your session, but you’ll still get the same experience no matter who you shoot with. That’s exciting. So how long have you been a photographer? Um, I’ve been a photographer for about eight years and really have just been in business for the past seven. So, um, it kind of started, um, when I was pregnant with my son, uh, just kind of, you know, how to camera documenting life and kind of started getting into it. Um, but really photography for me has always kind of been about the business aspect.

[06:43] I do love photography, but I would say for me, my most favorite part about running my photography studio is the business side. And so that’s also part of why I started getting associate photographers and kind of started outsourcing even the shooting aspect of it so that I could work on building the brand and kind of expanding from there. Um, and then we’ve been in our current studio for three years. We just hit three years in January. So that’s been really exciting. And it sounds like you’ve got a lot of room for growth too as far as number of sessions and that type of thing. Absolutely. I feel like one piece of advice that I’ve heard before that was really great was to grow slowly and intentionally. So I’ve tried to not grow too quickly and adding team members or adding more sessions per year and just growing the business in general.

[07:40] I’ve tried to do really intentionally because I don’t, I don’t want to lose the personal touch that we have with our clients and I don’t want to kind of expand too quickly and then lose everything that people loved about working with our business. But I am excited about the growth and I think we’ll be able to take on a lot more clients every year. And eventually I’m planning to open more studio spaces to kind of expand to other locations. Yeah. Well California is a great area and I feel like there you can develop the business anywhere. Absolutely. Like it did. The Midwest has been traditionally known for having senior photography whereas the coast Dee Dee, you know, don’t necessarily, but I feel like you can, if you go to an area you could just develop it because people want pretty pictures. Yeah. And we’re really lucky because we can shoot year round here.

[08:32] We don’t really, we don’t have to worry about snow. So the only months we don’t, we aren’t really shooting seniors anyway is December and January, but 10 months out of the year where shooting senior session. So it’s really easy to keep that as a year round business. And then even over the winter months we have booed wire and branding sessions going on and um, some in studio tween sessions as well. So it keeps us busy year round, which is really awesome. So what does your like for you specifically, what is your ideal week work look like? I’m assuming when you were shooting 300 sessions, you were shooting a lot of the time. Yes. And so what will it look like now? I’m so now pretty much starting the beginning of this year. I’ve always had a work schedule and um, then really schedule oriented. But the beginning of this year, knowing that we were going into a year where we were going to have a lot of growth and we have some associate photographers on board to take over those clients sessions.

[09:28] Um, I created a schedule where I’m only shooting one or two days per week. And for me that’s really ideal. I last year was shooting like five, five days a week and I usually on a lot of times I had multiple sessions per day and it’s just exhausting and you can’t stay creative and you can’t really give your client 100% of yourself when you’re exhausted. So I’m shooting one or two sessions a week is really great for me. Um, so I have it set up where may work week, looks like pretty much Monday through Thursday are may work days and I’m off Friday through Sunday to spend with my family and helping my son’s class at school. And usually I shoot in the middle of the weekly Tuesday or Tuesday and Wednesday. Um, Mondays we keep for marketing and team meetings and we do a lot of ongoing training with everyone on the team.

[10:23] And then Thursdays I kind of, it’s a little bit of like a, like a flex day. So if we have, if it rains or something and we have to reschedule one of our seniors that can put them on Thursday and I don’t feel stressed out about kind of cutting into my family time over the weekend. But then I also do a lot of stuff just in the studio and kind of planning and things like that on, on Thursdays. So I’ve kind of changed my schedule to be less shooting and more, um, like working on, on the business instead of in the business, which is what I love. Yeah. That’s brave. Yeah, it’s been really awesome. I’m, I’ve, I’m kind of a, um, jump in with both feet kind of a person. So with the whole associate’s char for idea and even renting out our CDO, it was kind of like went from idea into just taking action right away.

[11:12] And that’s probably been my biggest thing is just taking action on things that I really want to do. And I’m, I think Nate from sticky albums said one time, he said, if you take too much time to deliberate about things and go back and forth, you won’t, you won’t be taking action in your business. And I would rather take action quickly and I would rather fail quickly and be able to just recover and move on and bounce back. And so I’ve kind of taken that approach as well after hearing that from him and being like, yeah, let’s just do it. If it’s something we want to do, let’s kind of plan it out. But you don’t need to have everything planned out from a to z to kind of go straight into doing what you want to do. Yeah. Gotcha. Cool. So that leads into my question. Like you’re getting all stuff done, but

[11:54] so, you know, do you have a business coach? Are you modeling after somebody or you know, like where’s your inspiration coming from or are you just figuring out as you go?

[12:02] Um, I do feel like I take a little bit of inspiration from, from people in the industry. I honestly try to, um, I try not to pay too much attention to what other people are doing. Um, I know a lot of people try to kind of keep trying, keep almost like a little bit of tunnel vision on just like what my goals are. And My, my biggest thing is just deciding the kind of life that I want to have and then working backwards to create a plan with my business to be able to give that to myself and my team and my family. And so, I don’t know, I did take a class from Nancy Ray of Nancy Ray photography about team building and leadership and that was really awesome. And she, she’s kind of in the same boat. She is a wedding photographer though. And, um, she has a couple of associate char graphers and a small team. And that was kind of the starting point for me of really adding associate photographers and starting to build on my business without having to sacrifice any family time or any of the other things I wanted to do outside of my business.

[13:10] Cool. Okay. So then my other question is, can you talk a little bit about your underclassmen program? I mean, whatever details you want to share, but yeah, kind of what you’re doing. I mean, I think the concept makes sense to me, right? You’re trying to get people in earlier and earlier, but you know, what are you offering them? What’s, what’s the pitch and stuff like that.

[13:27] Yeah, absolutely. So, uh, we’ve been asked about doing an underclassmen program for a couple of years and I’ve just never really seen any way to go about it without it taking a lot of time and I just didn’t really know the value that we can offer to them. Um, and then David Beckham mentioned he was doing some kind of like a sophomore program and basically the, the girls, they pay a few hundred dollars and they get in and they do a shoe or two and it’s, it’s really a flexible program. It’s not kind of as structured as the senior model program and it just gives them an opportunity to kind of try you out. So for us with our senior model program, they’re committing to doing senior portraits with us up front and they’re paying for that upfront. And for the parents that’s a huge commitment time wise and financially and I wanted to kind of give them, take a step back and say, okay, well what if we just give a program before they even get to that point where they can try us out for a few months.

[14:26] So the program is only six months long. It goes from the spring to the fall. And I did open it up to freshmen as well. Um, we were, I had a lot of parents inquiring about freshmen and so I’m letting the freshmen be involved in it too. And they’re just going to get a couple of photo shoots out of it. And they’re really, they’re really, um, casual shoes. So they’re not styled, we’re not sailing wardrobe. Um, we’re not offering and makeup for these shoots. It’s just a chance for them to get in front of the camera and have a lot of fun and see how, how much fun we can add to their junior and senior year. And I want to make it something where it’s a no brainer that they would come to us for senior portraits because they’ve already worked with us and it was such a small financial investment and time wise that um, it’s just like, well, it’s worth at least trying out.

[15:16] And then what we’re gonna do is we’re, well, here’s another thing, we’re starting a magazine, which I got the idea and a lot of information from a few people at sync when I was there. So the local, it’s going to be a local teen magazine and it’s going to be written by teens for teens. And I’m really excited about that. It’s going to be really just to kind of promote teens in the area that are giving back to their community and reaching goals and doing really awesome things. And um, that kind of goes hand in hand with the program. We’re calling our junior influencer program for the underclassmen. And so they can be part of the editorial team for the magazine and submit articles and interview the people that are going to be in the magazine and things like that. So I don’t know, our, our program, we’re just starting it this year, so they’re going to start next month and we’re going to see how it goes. They’ll do a couple of shoots and then they can do the magazine and we’ll have some community service stuff going on. But I just wanted to keep it really easy going and just get them into the studio at least once a month to just kind of drive home our brand and what we’re all about so that they’re excited to sign up in the fall when they’re a junior.

[16:29] That’s awesome. Okay, so here’s my hair. I think this is the question that this leads to. And if for the everyday listeners of the podcast, you can tell we’re completely off script, but that’s okay. This is, this is going really well. We’re not following our questions, but okay. So you’re tracking all this stuff and you’re trying to get as quick as you can to failure. So talk to me about how you think about something or how you give up something that’s just like not working or like, you know, like the opposite end of it. Trying stuff. I totally get. But when you, how do you just not keep adding stuff and how do you like let stuff go or just, you know, talk about that end of...]]>https://photopodcast.co/?p=1980Mon, 20 May 2019 01:12:00 -040055:47nofull1331331Matt and Brianna originally met at Seniors Ignite and just reconnected at SYNC. Brianna is in Northern California and is most well known for her destination sessions with her high school seniors and her model program. Last year, Brianna brought on 3 associate photographers, to help her photograph her hundreds of clients and bridge the…Kia Bondurant and Aubrey LaurenMolly Keyser – A Photographer Podcast InterviewMatt’s pumped to interview Molly of Boudie Shorts with Kia on this episode of, From Nothing to Profit. To make a long story short: Molly started with photographing weddings, had a client request a boudoir session, she fell in love and switched to boudoir photography full time, and now teaches boudoir; referring her client inquiries to her certified students.  Don’t miss how Molly uses Facebook Live! Molly is fired up about attitudes in the (boudoir) industry and practicing what you preach. It’s about empowering women. Listen in to hear how Molly would recommend you spend (or save) that $1k. Routine is something that really contributes to Molly’s success and she “plans tomorrow, today” – you want to hear how to do this! Don’t miss the important conversation about burnout and depression on this podcast episode. And as Molly says, if you want to become the best you can be, quickly, get a mentor to learn from someone who has already done it so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

Internet Resources:

www.boudieshorts.com/blog

Subscribe to Molly’s email list while on the blog

App: Talkspace (therapist on your phone)

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[00:01] Hey, this is Molly Kaiser and you’re listening to from nothing to profit.

[00:05] Welcome to from nothing to profit a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kaia where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

[00:22] Hey everybody. So welcome to the podcast. I’m really excited today because we have my friend Molly Kaiser and you guys may know her from her Boudreaux work as well as booty shorts, but Molly and I have been friends for years and she’s been on some of my summer nights and I’ve done some work with her and stuff so it’s really excited to actually have this conversation with her. But if you guys don’t know Molly, so Molly, like I said, lives it and the Boudreaux hour, I can’t even say that word correctly. I’m going to fumble it all day long, but that’s okay. Through the associates does all that, you know, by using like appropriate marketing and sales and pricing. And she really focuses on customer experience where she took her business from 81 cents to six figures a year, which is, which is amazing, but like I said, now I know her really well through the fact that she helps other photographers build their business and years just like such an open book to our industry in terms of, you know, your business strategy is you’re shooting your lighting and your pose in your clients’ experience, all that stuff. So, um, thanks so much for being on this. And um, yeah, just tell our audience, you know, a little bit more whatever I missed and go from there.

[01:27] Thank you so much for having me on this is, it’s always a blast to talk with you. Uh, so yeah, basically I always loved photography. I’m sure a lot of you listening, you can totally relate to that. You know, the whole young with the camera story. Right. But I remember in high school I would always get like notes to get out of my boring classes. I would call them like science and math because I want it to go play in the dark room. And so I always kind of knew that I wanted to pursue photography full time. I just didn’t always maybe believe that I could make money with a career in photography. So I interned with some photographers. I ended up going to college to study art and photography. And what I’ve kind of learned in college was it was a lot more about, you know, showing an art galleries and things like that.

[02:15] There really wasn’t a structured, uh, major, if you will, in the UWU system, at least that, you...]]>Matt’s pumped to interview Molly of Boudie Shorts with Kia on this episode of, From Nothing to Profit. To make a long story short: Molly started with photographing weddings, had a client request a boudoir session, she fell in love and switched to boudoir photography full time, and now teaches boudoir; referring her client inquiries to her certified students.  Don’t miss how Molly uses Facebook Live! Molly is fired up about attitudes in the (boudoir) industry and practicing what you preach. It’s about empowering women. Listen in to hear how Molly would recommend you spend (or save) that $1k. Routine is something that really contributes to Molly’s success and she “plans tomorrow, today” – you want to hear how to do this! Don’t miss the important conversation about burnout and depression on this podcast episode. And as Molly says, if you want to become the best you can be, quickly, get a mentor to learn from someone who has already done it so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

Internet Resources:

www.boudieshorts.com/blog

Subscribe to Molly’s email list while on the blog

App: Talkspace (therapist on your phone)

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[00:01] Hey, this is Molly Kaiser and you’re listening to from nothing to profit.

[00:05] Welcome to from nothing to profit a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kaia where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

[00:22] Hey everybody. So welcome to the podcast. I’m really excited today because we have my friend Molly Kaiser and you guys may know her from her Boudreaux work as well as booty shorts, but Molly and I have been friends for years and she’s been on some of my summer nights and I’ve done some work with her and stuff so it’s really excited to actually have this conversation with her. But if you guys don’t know Molly, so Molly, like I said, lives it and the Boudreaux hour, I can’t even say that word correctly. I’m going to fumble it all day long, but that’s okay. Through the associates does all that, you know, by using like appropriate marketing and sales and pricing. And she really focuses on customer experience where she took her business from 81 cents to six figures a year, which is, which is amazing, but like I said, now I know her really well through the fact that she helps other photographers build their business and years just like such an open book to our industry in terms of, you know, your business strategy is you’re shooting your lighting and your pose in your clients’ experience, all that stuff. So, um, thanks so much for being on this. And um, yeah, just tell our audience, you know, a little bit more whatever I missed and go from there.

[01:27] Thank you so much for having me on this is, it’s always a blast to talk with you. Uh, so yeah, basically I always loved photography. I’m sure a lot of you listening, you can totally relate to that. You know, the whole young with the camera story. Right. But I remember in high school I would always get like notes to get out of my boring classes. I would call them like science and math because I want it to go play in the dark room. And so I always kind of knew that I wanted to pursue photography full time. I just didn’t always maybe believe that I could make money with a career in photography. So I interned with some photographers. I ended up going to college to study art and photography. And what I’ve kind of learned in college was it was a lot more about, you know, showing an art galleries and things like that.

[02:15] There really wasn’t a structured, uh, major, if you will, in the UWU system, at least that, you know, taught me how to be a professional portrait photographer. So I actually told myself, I kind of gave myself an ultimatum, like, if you can book x amount of portraits and weddings, like you can drop out of college to pursue photography. Um, and that’s exactly what I did back in the day. Uh, Craig’s list worked pretty well for me, but not a super good strategy today, Fyi. So, um, yeah, basically I shot weddings and very low priced portraits for a really long time. And until I really came across this, I was doing this engagement session and she was a bride to be and we were doing her engagement photos and she took me aside and she was like, Molly, would you be willing to do duar photos of me to give as a gift to my room and I had no idea to be honest with you guys.

[03:10] Like what would work was I, it wasn’t even on my radar at all but I was just like, yeah, when you own a business I think it’s really important to say yes to a lot of things, especially in the beginning. And I’m really glad that I did because what I learned from that session was not only that I love doing good work photography, not only that it’s profitable, but that I can really truly make a really big impact on women’s lives. Like this client in particular, she, she thought she was ugly. She did not like, I didn’t know what she saw in the mirror. She had like no confidence and just from that one photo shoot, like it sounds crazy, but just from the one photo shoot before and after she was a completely different person. Like she was sort of skipping out of the hotel room with confidence and in that moment I was like, this is what I need to do. So over those next couple of years I transitioned out of weddings and interviewed war photography full time, which I did for many years and as of January of this year that are recording the podcast, my fulltime now is on helping my students and actually send any of my inquiries to Mike who are certified students. But um, yeah, I’ve been and I still do photo shoots, just not clients. So I’ve been a photographer for about 14 years now and that’s kind of where I’m at today.

[04:27] That’s really cool. I love hearing your story about the dark room in high school because I was very outgoing, so involved in lots of things. Yeah. And the dark room was my favorite place, just to be able to go there and be so quiet and away from everything and be creative with nobody around. So I definitely identify with that. That’s, that’s neat. So you’ve been doing it for 14 years, full time. And does that include your college years or when you built the business afterwards?

[04:55] I think that includes about one or two of my college years. Um, pretty much all the years that I was shooting professionally and getting paid.

[05:04] Okay.

[05:04] And so you and you built this business in Wisconsin and then you just recently moved to Austin,

[05:10] correct? That is correct. Yep. I built it in a super small, actually you’d like several small towns in Wisconsin with, you know, people are like super conservative there, so people always thought and told me like who are, will never work full time. Um, but it did an adult. Yeah.

[05:26] Yeah. Which is awesome. And I love the watching your, you know, you and I are personal friends on Facebook and watching your journey of you transitioning to Texas. Like, I think you posted the other day, like you were so excited like that spring was already in like in Austin and where all your friends and in Wisconsin are still buried in snow. And like you’re like wandering around like blooming trees and stuff like that. I think it’s hilarious. Like how much you’ve embraced the warm climate of. Awesome.

[05:52] Yeah. So it’s just crazy how much my mood has changed. Moving somewhere with sunshine, like every day I look at my husband and I’m like, I just, I just love it here. So I don’t know, this is off topic, but if you’re ever thinking about moving somewhere, you should definitely do it.

[06:07] Yeah, Phoenix was amazing. I came back and I was like, we did so much every single day and it was cloudy and rainy when we got back to Kansas. So I definitely understand that. So the next question we have is what is working now? And it sounds like you have transitioned out of full time photography work into teaching, which I think makes you even better for our podcast because you kind of can see an overview of the business. Uh, but what would you say like, or what are you teaching your students is specifically working now? Because you said, you know, Craig’s list, obviously advertising on that isn’t something that works. So what would you, what, what, what do you suggest? Yeah, and

[06:47] really quickly too, just for those of you listening, if you’re thinking like, how would she know what works if she’s not taking clients? Which is a totally valid question. So I have several people on my team that are photographers and I test everything with their businesses. So it’s actually really cool. Instead of just testing with my business, I can actually test with several photographers, businesses that live all over the world. So it’s really cool that way. I’m only teaching strategies that are working everywhere. So what we’re seeing right now that works the best, and it’s going to sound really simple, so hopefully you guys liked that. Simple is awesome, right? Uh, building your know, like, and trust factor through Facebook lives. And I know people have been talking about Facebook lives for years, but they still work. And that’s a huge thing is, um, you know, and you don’t always have to be looking for like, what’s new, what’s new, what’s new, you know, you have to find something that works and then stick with that. And for us, that is consistently, so again, keyword consistently doing Facebook lives, uh, to build that know, like, and trust with your clients because especially with boudoir photography, they’re booking more for the trust with you and how comfortable they feel with you. Then your portfolio, which might sting a little bit, but it’s the honest truth.

[08:04] So dive a little bit deeper real quick. So kind of explain like what a Facebook live looks like, you know, for, for your students and stuff like that. You know, I mean obviously it makes sense that they’re, you know, you’re doing it so that you build, you know, that trust, but like kind of, you know, just give a little bit of a glimpse of like what it actually looks like.

[08:23] Yeah, sure. So first thing is you want to come up with a really eye catching title because people are just scrolling through Facebook. They’re just scrolling through social media and you have literally like less than a second to actually catch the retention, let along get them to push play and like watch that Facebook live. So one just one example of a title would be something that I think would really catch people’s attention would be, you know, uh, why do I photograph women in their underwear for a living? I’m pretty sure people would scroll through. And like, definitely you want to know why you do this for a living, right? And then what you would do in that live is you would simply share what you’re going to share, like a breakdown of the Facebook live. So you would say, okay guys, like today I’m going to tell my story about why I photograph women in their underwear.

[09:11] Oh, we’re going to get into the story. And then at the end, you know, if you, if you want to do some kind of fun call to action, you can say like, oh, I’ll be choosing a winner if you want to do a good way. But a basic Facebook live would just be, um, sharing with them. All right, I’m going to tell my story and then I’m going to give you guys a chance to comment below for something really fun. So in the Facebook live itself, you just start out with sharing, you know, this is where I was, this is where I am today. This is why I photograph women in their underwear. And you really want to address any of their concerns throughout the Facebook live. It doesn’t need to be like bullet points scripted. You can read it into your story. But for example, you know, women’s biggest fears with good voir are are they going to look like the people on your website?

[09:56] You know, are they gonna know what to wear? You know, are they going to be too nervous? Are they actually going to go through with it? And stuff like that. So you can kind of weave that into your Facebook live so that way you’re catching their interest, they’re getting to know you, you’re answering those false beliefs that they have. And then in the end you can invite them to do some kind of call to action, like common below to get more information. About a shoot or common below to be entered to win x, Y, Z or something like that. But you definitely want them to be commenting and liking you cause that will boost the post up and get more people to see your life.

[10:25] Okay. Awesome. That is awesome. So let me ask a couple questions. Is this on your personal profile or on your business? So you definitely want to do,

[10:33] do it on all the different avenues. So the, the two biggest ones would be your personal page and your private booed war. A Facebook group if you have one. That’s like a big proponent of our food, our certified program business pages. Okay. I really think this, this page is more for running Facebook ads, but um, you’re going to get seen more in the group and your personal page.

[10:57] Okay. And then do you do like, this sounds to me like you’re sitting there talking in front of the, you know, the phone or whatever. Very like casual, like not a behind the scenes, not putting samples of your work in it, but it’s just like you and the, and the person you’re kind of view and the audience.

[11:17] Yeah, you can do either one. So for this title that I just named the yeah, no. Why do I photograph reference their underwear that I feel like could be really cool just like sitting in your studio or like on your couch. Just super casual. But you could also do one that’s like, you know what, what would you actually do with good work photos? Cause that’s a big one that people ask. Like what am I actually gonna do with these photos? And then in that you could do like a studio tour, you could show off your albums, you could show off the different products you have. Um, so I think a mix of both would be really good. Yeah.

[11:47] But not professional. Like, like live like interactive. Oh yeah, definitely. Like you need like a special camera. Yeah. Just your cell phone. Yeah. That’s so scary. This is like Kyle’s biggest fear. We’ve talked about this. I just cannot handle her face on a computer screen or a camera. Like she just hears it. Don’t get me wrong, I like my face, but I just get nervous. Like what am I going to, I mean, what will I say? Who knows what I would say on a Facebook live, you know, like I can edit things. I just loved the edit process of retouching and editing and finishing things off and so I’m like, oh my goodness.

[12:26] Hello is, I mean, think about it this way, like what’s your favorite social media platform? Consuming wise. Instagram. Okay. And like what do you love about Instagram? Like do you like the feed better or the insta stories better?

[12:39] I liked the feed and then I specifically choose who I look at on the insta stories. Like I don’t look at every single instance story. Like some people go through just everything. Wow. I haven’t met anyone with that answer, so you kind of threw me off there. That’s okay. Just go look at people who’ve junk. I’m like, I don’t want, this needs to be looked good to me.

[12:59] I feel like most people like the stories because they’re real. Yeah. And so like for example, if you’re on a Facebook live and you mess up or like supposedly first of all there’s no way

[13:08] I mess up, but let’s say you do something that you think would be a mess up. People love that.

[13:15] Like they want to feel like they’re actually in a room with your sitting at a table with you. But just to know like, just so you know, this is super normal. My students, they joined my program, we have them do a Facebook live right away and they all completely freak out. So, um, what I tell them to do this for their first Facebook live, simply just

[13:33] take your phone, go lie. And you know, I just have them share in the group like why they’re here. Something simple. So you could go live in a group too. So it doesn’t like not everyone sees it. That’s kind of Nice because it’s like these are the people that you can trust,

[13:49] right? Like I would recommend starting, they’re starting small, like a group of your close friends. But yeah, I do think it’s really important to get comfortable with going live because it’s only going to become more right.

[13:59] Popular. That’s really interesting. So you, so you do that with the people, like you’re going live, you’re creating people that want to know what you’re doing, essentially. You’re creating a following then.

[14:11] Yeah, because like I said, people, you know, they like following wives. But then the important thing is consistency. So even though we’re talking about Facebook live, we can use Instagram as an example. Yeah. If you’re following somebody and you’re watching their stories every single day, and then all of a sudden they just like,

[14:27] don’t make stories for a week. You literally like forget about that person. And it’s the same thing with Facebook class. Like I recommend going live every single day and people will start to really look for those lives and be excited for those lives and they really feel like you’re their close friend. Yeah, I believe it. That’s fun. Wow. What a discipline. So like, I’m assuming you do that yourself for your, like you’re selling to photographers business,

[14:58] Facebook lives. Yeah. I actually just did one right before we started recording.

[15:03] Yeah. And you do it daily?

[15:06] I would say maybe not every single day, but I recommend for my students every single day. Yeah.

[15:11] Okay. So how do you do it? Do you like, say I’m going to do it every day at 10 do you have a list of things you’re going to talk about? Do you put on makeup first?

[15:20] Yeah, so I, I, we actually have a list of different topics that we give to our students and we tell them to plan out their month. We planned it out monthly, so we have them come up with a topic for every single day. And then if they’re uncomfortable with going live, cause like until you’re really used to it, we say just come up with like five bullet points and have them in front of you. That way if you sort of forget what you’re talking about, you can reference that.

[15:43] Uh, what was your second question? Do you put on makeup? Oh

[15:47] yeah. So everyone, I feel like photographers specifically feel like they have to wear makeup to go live. Um, no, I, I don’t think it matters at all. I, I in fact never wear makeup, but, um, uh, for lives, I think people...]]>https://photopodcast.co/?p=1977Mon, 13 May 2019 01:23:00 -040045:26nofull1321321Matt’s pumped to interview Molly of Boudie Shorts with Kia on this episode of, From Nothing to Profit. To make a long story short: Molly started with photographing weddings, had a client request a boudoir session, she fell in love and switched to boudoir photography full time, and now teaches boudoir; referring her client inquiries…Kia Bondurant and Aubrey LaurenCarla Lynn – A Photographer Podcast InterviewMatt’s last interview from SYNC is with Carla Lynn and you need to listen to this one! Carla is bilingual and hearing impaired. She is from Bolivia and came to the US (Nashville, TN) at 18 years old with her new son. She worked 3 jobs and met her husband at one of them. You DO NOT want to miss Carla’s inspirational story. Carla photographs 140 seniors a year and is bummed the rules don’t allow her to go to prom with her street team (model program). Authenticity is what is working for Carla in her business. We should never stop learning, we don’t ever know everything. Carla’s husband is her tech guy, payroll department, etc – just like Matt is to Allison. Make sure you buy a leaf blower (you have to listen to find out why). Rachel Martin taught Carla at Texas School and that was the turning point in her business. Don’t miss what happened next in Carla’s story.

Online Resource:

Creative Live

Books:

Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done – Jon Acuff  (https://amzn.to/2XY1ai3)

The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World (https://amzn.to/2GRrVis)

Love Does – Bob Goff (https://amzn.to/2GTrdkQ)

Follow Carla

@carlalynn (instagram)

https://www.carlalynnphotography.com/

Read Full Transcript

Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it’s an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.

[00:01] This is Carla Lynn and you’re listening from nothing to pop it.

[00:05] Welcome to from nothing to profit of photographers podcast with Matt and Kaia. We’re each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

[00:22] Hey everybody. So Matt Hogan here, um, one, I think this will be the final interview from sync. Um, I’m with my friend Carla Lynn and so I’ll go out with a bang, right? Go ahead and do this. I can go out with a bang. We got that. Okay. So I have to tell you this crazy story. So I met Carla two year, not, not last year, but the year before. And so I was hosting the Millers Lounge and you had come out to hang out with us and we had like free beer or something like that. And we’re talking about pricing and say yes, Joe was there. Yeah. Yes. And so, um, we were talking and you, and you said, you know, I, I, I want, I want to figure out how to sell my albums better when we’re talking about this. And I was like, and you were talking about how good, you know, just like what you were doing.

[01:06] And I was like, well, sounds like you’ve got all figured out. And then I said, how many albums do you sell? And you said, you said, I don’t know. I saw him to like 80% of my clients. And I was like, why aren’t you talking to me about cells of your selling your albums to 80% of the clients? You probably should be teaching everybody here. But anyways, um, I do remember that. And so as one of those things that I just think, yeah, obviously you guys do really well and your business and I think you’re more humble than then you probably should be. Cause I know you guys really kicked butt. So anyway, so I just, thanks for being on this interview. I, I’m so excited. I know. And, and Carlos says she’s never done a podcast like this. So I’m just going to Mike, I feel like I’m a big time person, but this guide, okay, I’m just going to throw curve balls that are left or...]]>Matt’s last interview from SYNC is with Carla Lynn and you need to listen to this one! Carla is bilingual and hearing impaired. She is from Bolivia and came to the US (Nashville, TN) at 18 years old with her new son. She worked 3 jobs and met her husband at one of them. You DO NOT want to miss Carla’s inspirational story. Carla photographs 140 seniors a year and is bummed the rules don’t allow her to go to prom with her street team (model program). Authenticity is what is working for Carla in her business. We should never stop learning, we don’t ever know everything. Carla’s husband is her tech guy, payroll department, etc – just like Matt is to Allison. Make sure you buy a leaf blower (you have to listen to find out why). Rachel Martin taught Carla at Texas School and that was the turning point in her business. Don’t miss what happened next in Carla’s story.

Online Resource:

Creative Live

Books:

Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done – Jon Acuff  (https://amzn.to/2XY1ai3)

The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World (https://amzn.to/2GRrVis)

Love Does – Bob Goff (https://amzn.to/2GTrdkQ)

Follow Carla

@carlalynn (instagram)

https://www.carlalynnphotography.com/

Read Full Transcript

Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it’s an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.

[00:01] This is Carla Lynn and you’re listening from nothing to pop it.

[00:05] Welcome to from nothing to profit of photographers podcast with Matt and Kaia. We’re each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

[00:22] Hey everybody. So Matt Hogan here, um, one, I think this will be the final interview from sync. Um, I’m with my friend Carla Lynn and so I’ll go out with a bang, right? Go ahead and do this. I can go out with a bang. We got that. Okay. So I have to tell you this crazy story. So I met Carla two year, not, not last year, but the year before. And so I was hosting the Millers Lounge and you had come out to hang out with us and we had like free beer or something like that. And we’re talking about pricing and say yes, Joe was there. Yeah. Yes. And so, um, we were talking and you, and you said, you know, I, I, I want, I want to figure out how to sell my albums better when we’re talking about this. And I was like, and you were talking about how good, you know, just like what you were doing.

[01:06] And I was like, well, sounds like you’ve got all figured out. And then I said, how many albums do you sell? And you said, you said, I don’t know. I saw him to like 80% of my clients. And I was like, why aren’t you talking to me about cells of your selling your albums to 80% of the clients? You probably should be teaching everybody here. But anyways, um, I do remember that. And so as one of those things that I just think, yeah, obviously you guys do really well and your business and I think you’re more humble than then you probably should be. Cause I know you guys really kicked butt. So anyway, so I just, thanks for being on this interview. I, I’m so excited. I know. And, and Carlos says she’s never done a podcast like this. So I’m just going to Mike, I feel like I’m a big time person, but this guide, okay, I’m just going to throw curve balls that are left or right.

[01:43] It says that she thinks it’s just doesn’t know it’s coming anyways. Okay. I introduced you. I don’t, I know you from here, but tell us like, tell us about your studio, where you’re from, all that stuff too. Okay. So, um, I guess I will start with, I’m from Bolivia, South America and I have lived between both countries. My hose, I, I am bilingual. I speak Spanish and English. Should we do this whole thing in Spanish? I can’t speak that much. So you might try that and Spanish, if anybody understands what we’re saying. I don’t, I don’t know enough Spanish to keep up with you. Um, so I am bilingual. I lived in both countries. I am hearing impaired. I have lost more of my hearing, progressively started about 30%. Now I have less than 10% of that and both of my ear. And when, when did this, when did it start from birth.

[02:28] Okay. Nope. Damage from birth. Okay. So you may catch my slurred speech at times. Um, I do here right now. So when I hear myself and I do videos, I’m like, oh my God, do I really sound like this? But anyways, so it’s a good thing. I know here my stuff right now, I’m just like talking to you, you better. Um, but I do need it. Listen to this podcast once you play it back. But anyway, so, um, I was in Bali, I went to Bolivia to do high school and then, um, I actually got pregnant with my son when I just started my year of high school is, I’m 17 years old just starting and I went to a private school and they told me I would not be able to stay in graduate with my senior class. So I, um, finished my junior year, got my credits early and I came to the states with my baby, a suitcase and my mom came to help me and I was 18 years old.

[03:18] Where did you move to? When I moved to Nashville, Tennessee and that’s where I still am. Yup. I came, I was 18 years old when I moved here. My brother lived in Nashville. Um, I needed a male figure in my life to just kinda be there to help me get through it. And I was determined to come and give Sebastian a better opportunity. I wanted him to have a chance. I was like 24, now he’s 23. He’s 23 went now. And so, um, I had them on Christmas Day. Oh Wow. So I have to share that because it wasn’t where they wanted to put in seasons of my life. And um, the Lord gave me a blessing. He’s really blessed me and showed me that he was there with me in the midst of it all. Yeah. So I am 18 years old, no senior year, three jobs.

[04:01] Um, I worked doing data entry, I worked doing retail, and then my third job was at Chuckie cheese at nighttime. So once I put Sebastian to sleep, I could go clean the bathrooms and new restaurants. I could have tokens and free pizza to take him. So I had to share that story because it is how I met my husband. Um, and so he was my boss. Don’t ever date your boss. I dated my boss and John and so anyhow, I married him. We have been now married for 20 years. We’re celebrating 21 years of marriage and I have another son, so we have another son. My husband ended up adopting Sebastian at the age of three. Cool. So that was really a big thing for us. Does your husband speak Spanish? My child does not know Spanish. Your husband? No, my husband’s a green guy.

[04:53] He’s American white boy knows Spanish, but he doesn’t have his name in Spanish. That means the mad at him. So just know that one. Um, but now no Spanish. My kids don’t know Spanish either. We just stuck to English, which shame on me. I know publish shouldn’t have done that. But you know what, I’m not perfect. I own it. So it is what it is. So then how did you end up in the photography? So I um, I started, my kids were little, we’re going to Disney world. My mom, my husband’s like, you need to get a camera. So he gets me a digital, like one of the first kind of level STI or something. So that’s what I had. And we go to Disney world and I take a million pictures and he does that so that I can delete the ones we don’t like so that he’s not spending a fortune and all the film.

[05:38] Right. Which is what we were doing. And I didn’t even really realize that I had this talent. And so, um, I just like taking pictures with my kids on the trip. And then our son played little league, so we started, I would take pictures of him playing baseball and then just posted them in, showing them. And people would literally say, Hey, can you do my child in sports? Can you do my family photos? So I literally had the title of a mum with the Kimma. Yeah. So I’m taking you way back. Right, right, right. Cause now I know that’s not the case anymore. You’re like, no, no, it is not the case anymore. I was a mom at that came for a long time. I did it part time. I did it on this side and I kept the little league portion because it was a good gig that I got where I just photograph the kids when they’re planning to ball games and stuff.

[06:24] Yeah. But I ended up having to, I worked for the, so I’m taking you to about 11 years ago, 1112 years ago, and I worked full time and I’m actually managing and medical practice and so I have a great title, like 25 employees. I am, I work with my doctors and my nurse practitioners. I dress with a cute every day. I have authority title, everything that people would say, this woman has got it, she’s successful and I was broken. I was empty. I actually thought I didn’t want to stay married anymore. I thought I wanted to, I was going to allow my family to become broken and I had to walk away from that to find myself and I was already doing photography in this side, but it wasn’t a full time thing. Yeah. And so I can honest, right. And consider yourself a photographer at that point.

[07:16] Like yes, I did consider myself a photographer, but kind of like the shooting barn photographers because you’re not with charging $75 for all 150 fully we touch image cause you’re not felt like I had to do a lot to give them for the money. Cause you know, I thought they needed a lot of images to get something of value and worth. And so, um, so yeah, I consider myself a photographer in quotation marks, you know what I mean? Yeah. And so, um, I hit rock bottom. I walk away from that and I kid you not, the Lord uses this talent. He had given me all along that I didn’t know to restore me, restore my marriage, my family and say we’re going to do something different. And so I decided to then pursue photography full time. So we’re about 10, 11 years now, 10 years.

[08:07] And I’m like, okay, I can do this. And I had people telling me, no, you can’t, you can’t make a living at it. And it’s a hobby. And some like, oh, just watch me. So, um, and I had to try, I had to give it my all because at the end of the day I felt like I needed to be able to look at myself in the mirror and say I did everything I could and it didn’t work so well. Obviously it has worked out as it has. I have, I mean, I worked out of my home for a while. We did that for a couple of years, but then we quickly got tired of having cereal every single night because we had clients coming into our home and we couldn’t have it smelling like Taco night, you know, so though, a lot of limitations. So I decided to find a space brick and mortar space, retail space, and my husband was freaked out.

[08:54] He’s a numbers guy, analytical, everything needs to add up. Everything needs to make sense. While we’re doing that, I’m like, no, we have to just try this. So I had agreed with him, even if I didn’t earn a paycheck for three years, I had to try this. And so I, um, we gotta be to space. And immediately my husband realized she can do this. So I was there for three years, had shared space with two other photographers and then realize I liked being alone and like being in control of my own space. And so then, um, I went through this place where I asked my own self a lot of questions about who I was as a person. Yeah. What God wanted me and how I needed to manage the gifts that he had given me and then decided to take the leap and go by myself into my own space where I have been for the last three years.

[09:42] Awesome. So yeah. And you do mostly high school seniors? I do, I do. Just high school seniors pretty much. I do little league still on the side, but I do high school seniors. Um, for the last three years in a row I’ve done 140 seniors. So the non contract seniors you’re doing just fine for yourself? Yes. So I talk too much. I did talk to much. Right. Somebody telling me that dead. Okay. So the next question is just like, what’s working now in your business? So like when you think about your business, what’s working now? What’s working out at what’s working good? Um, I’ll tell you, one of the things for me has been just being authentic mouth entity, being real and sharing that to my street team. So my model program, my street team program that I have has been very, very successful for me in my area.

[10:30] It started really as a marketing thing, trying to reach out to the kids in this school is because in my area or the schools have a contract with their school photographers so I can’t go and drop off any brochures or any inflammation. So I had to decide how I could get my name out there. And so at first I would created my street team. Yeah. Um, because the, my clientele is not modeled light material so to speak, even though the definition of models, it’s really changing in the industry. Um, but you know, not like blonde and tall, blonde, tall size zero. Yeah. It’s not my client. My client is a girl that is quirky, that is on struggles with social anxiety, may even have depression. Um, my girl is the one that is walking down the hallway and nobodies glances at her. Yeah. My girl is the one that doesn’t have a prom date.

[11:19] So we’re trying to figure out how to let me be her palm date. But the school was not letting me get in that one because I’m not 20. Got To be under 21. Dang it. Anyways. Um, so that is my client. And so I have these group, but what started as marketing for me with these group of girls has really turned into so much deeper. So it’s building more relationships and teaching these girls or it is okay to be who they are and teaching them to be authentic and true and to know that they are in nap. So I can imagine that they don’t get looks in the hallway. Um, and dates and prom dates. I’ve heard they have pictures taken by you cause I’ve seen your work and it’s excellent. So they probably get a lot of, a lot more attention after people see their pictures because you’re right, they don’t realize how I see them.

[12:07] So I have to show them to and show them and teach them to see themselves different. Yeah. Yeah. I think so. They just do all the chattering for me, which is awesome. That’s really cool. Okay. So let’s just let, let, you’re not talking too much. Uh, so let’s talk about the industry. Okay. Um, and just general, like what are you fired up about in the industry or what, where do you see the industry going or talk about the industry? What do you, when you think of the industry, what do you think about? One of the things that I do love about our industry is I feel like we, especially having been here at sync and hearing the speakers that we’ve had here is really about the connections with the people. That it’s about how we make in them, how will make them feel. Sure. And to me that’s just so much more important than others.

[12:58] The lighting, yes. And all that kind of stuff up for like, it really boils down to what is the impact of that photo having on that person. What kind of impact are you having? So I think that to me is huge. And I worked really hard to come out of the digital world into artwork and products for the home. Cause at first you were just to turn the burner, always a shooting by $75. Carlin is $75 and 50 images retouched. We all want that deal. Now what’s funny is I have had a client, I have photographed all three of her children do that entire span. Her first child with at $75 shooting bone and the latch arts spend $4,000. Right? Isn’t that amazing? So talk about, so talk about your journey and turn into products and stuff like that. So, um, you know, when I first started I was shooting heroin.

[13:43] I didn’t know that there was a whole world out there to pricing. I didn’t know that Ashley, you had to charge more. I could charge for it. Then I just, I don’t know. I lived in my little bubble. I’ve, I just didn’t know there was more to it. But I started going to conferences, educating myself, asking people, learning. Um, I think that’s really important that people need to continue to do in the industry. I don’t know that we have enough of that. I think some people, some of us think we just know it all and we don’t need to keep learning. I don’t think anybody ever stops learning. Right. And when I wear at sync right now, and it’s so interesting because you see a lot of people like here that have been around forever and you realize that you’re sitting next to him, the class that they, they’re, they’re still learning.

[14:21] And so you hope that you continue to be like them or they’re in the industry for 25 years and they’re still learning. Absolutely. I don’t think we ever stopped funding. If we think we have thought, if we think we know it all, then we become way too overly confident about herself then someone who’s going to be better than us at some point. Cause we never stopped. And if you don’t stop learning and changing you, you would still be a Chucky cheese cheese. I know. And you wouldn’t be Carla check he at one point. That was pretty cool. I love being Chucky the kids would start crying and one off and it was the thing for me just to chase those children. Was that the horse nightmare anyway, doing that stuff, I probably still have nightmares about it. They’re like, they’re all like, they’re like your son’s age.

[15:02] They’re like in their twenties probably. They’re probably telling their friends right now. There’s this lady dressed up and chuck e cheese and if she would chase us, but change it from meek. I went from digital damages while my client, we’re not printing, which ironically that story I just told you, if that client had $75 TD once I did who had the two children and a high transition geopolitics, she hands me the CD and says, I need you to order prints from me now. I was like, oh my God, it’s such a me. It was like, oh my gosh, got to do this. Um, and even my own brother had taken a photograph that I had taken up his girls and Cancun and he went and printed it off at Walgreens. He had it setting in his home in eight by 10. And I want, I came over to his house and I look at it and it looks blue.

[15:46] It was green or blue, green, blue. And I look at that thing, you know, I mean if my own brother did it, all he had to do was ask me is they’ll go, hey, just automated by no, he went to Walgreens and get it. So he did it then why would I, why would anybody asked you it definitely. So then it was my image, my time. I work, my effort, my talent, my passion, it’s green and blue, like I can’t have this. So to me that was a turning point. And then, um, I literally just took a leap of faith and walked away from it thinking that they really wanted to digital buys, which they don’t, I think they want the digital files because they feel like they want to have something forever because these are important to them. I don’t think they want the digital file as a product, most of them, but you know, but think about it like when you purchase something, you, if you could have all the]]>https://photopodcast.co/?p=1974Mon, 06 May 2019 01:47:00 -040035:02nofull1311311Matt’s last interview from SYNC is with Carla Lynn and you need to listen to this one! Carla is bilingual and hearing impaired. She is from Bolivia and came to the US (Nashville, TN) at 18 years old with her new son. She worked 3 jobs and met her husband at one of them. You…Kia Bondurant and Aubrey LaurenNate Peterson – A Photographer Podcast InterviewAnother incredible podcast from SYNC with Matt and Nate Peterson. Nate is a photographer in Wisconsin, with his home, wife, and french bulldog in the same commercial building as his studio. Nate is also a speaker, teaching about business mostly. You don’t want to miss Nate’s hockey reflection trick. Nate tells us about his all inclusive album collection that works so well with his senior clients. You’ll want to hear his story about how life changing what we do can be. He’s optimistic about the level of professionalism coming back. What held Nate back from becoming a full time photographer was not being certain he could make a living. He’s proof that you can and you’ll want to hear what he recommends you spend that money you’re making on. Stay away from the “as seen on TV” products. Nate highly recommends understanding pricing and not undercutting the market or yourself.

Online Resources:

Nate is a Convention Junkie

Pro Edu:  https://proedu.com/

Front Row (https://learn.watchfrontrow.com/)

Books:

Worth Every Penny – Sarah Petty (https://amzn.to/2X5f2X0)

Follow Nate:

@npdesignphoto

http://www.npdesignphotography.com

Read Full Transcript

Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it’s an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.

[00:01] This is Nate Peterson and you are listening to from nothing to profit.

[00:04] Welcome to from nothing to profit a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

[00:21] Hey everybody. So this is Matt with another interview from sync and I’m sitting down with Nate Peterson right now and Nate and I actually met at after dark. I know that was like, I don’t know, a year ago. It wasn’t a year ago, it was like a couple months ago. I don’t know, I can’t remember. It all bleeds in all ways to go. We were in Wisconsin in the middle of nowhere and Nate was speaking at after dark and I sat down with them for awhile and talk to him about what he was doing with his sports and volume and all that stuff. And I was really inspired and he has some really amazing stuff going on. So give us a little introduction about who you are and what you do and all that stuff. So, so I don’t butcher it. All right. Well I’m Nate Peterson. I’m a portrait photographer from new Richmond, Wisconsin.

[01:03] Um, we specialize in high school seniors and their families. And then as you mentioned, I also do volume sports and then some corporate work as well. And my wife Teresa and I live in our studio. It’s kind of a commercial building that we built an apartment with and we have our French bulldog curly there and that’s awesome. I, so I’ve always wanted an English bulldog, but, um, I would take any bulldog right now to be honest with you. So is there anything in particular that you would want us to know about you? You know, it would be maybe just spent not looking at your website or whatever. Sure. With my clients are in my area, I guess I’m known for Edgy sports images, but I think more so what I’m finding out is we’re really known for telling the story of every senior we work with.

[01:47] So we take it to a deep level, not just create pretty pictures of them but kind of put their legacy and do an album. Um, on a business level or on a photographer to photographer level. I’m a big proponent of projection sales and sustainable...]]>Another incredible podcast from SYNC with Matt and Nate Peterson. Nate is a photographer in Wisconsin, with his home, wife, and french bulldog in the same commercial building as his studio. Nate is also a speaker, teaching about business mostly. You don’t want to miss Nate’s hockey reflection trick. Nate tells us about his all inclusive album collection that works so well with his senior clients. You’ll want to hear his story about how life changing what we do can be. He’s optimistic about the level of professionalism coming back. What held Nate back from becoming a full time photographer was not being certain he could make a living. He’s proof that you can and you’ll want to hear what he recommends you spend that money you’re making on. Stay away from the “as seen on TV” products. Nate highly recommends understanding pricing and not undercutting the market or yourself.

Online Resources:

Nate is a Convention Junkie

Pro Edu:  https://proedu.com/

Front Row (https://learn.watchfrontrow.com/)

Books:

Worth Every Penny – Sarah Petty (https://amzn.to/2X5f2X0)

Follow Nate:

@npdesignphoto

http://www.npdesignphotography.com

Read Full Transcript

Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it’s an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.

[00:01] This is Nate Peterson and you are listening to from nothing to profit.

[00:04] Welcome to from nothing to profit a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

[00:21] Hey everybody. So this is Matt with another interview from sync and I’m sitting down with Nate Peterson right now and Nate and I actually met at after dark. I know that was like, I don’t know, a year ago. It wasn’t a year ago, it was like a couple months ago. I don’t know, I can’t remember. It all bleeds in all ways to go. We were in Wisconsin in the middle of nowhere and Nate was speaking at after dark and I sat down with them for awhile and talk to him about what he was doing with his sports and volume and all that stuff. And I was really inspired and he has some really amazing stuff going on. So give us a little introduction about who you are and what you do and all that stuff. So, so I don’t butcher it. All right. Well I’m Nate Peterson. I’m a portrait photographer from new Richmond, Wisconsin.

[01:03] Um, we specialize in high school seniors and their families. And then as you mentioned, I also do volume sports and then some corporate work as well. And my wife Teresa and I live in our studio. It’s kind of a commercial building that we built an apartment with and we have our French bulldog curly there and that’s awesome. I, so I’ve always wanted an English bulldog, but, um, I would take any bulldog right now to be honest with you. So is there anything in particular that you would want us to know about you? You know, it would be maybe just spent not looking at your website or whatever. Sure. With my clients are in my area, I guess I’m known for Edgy sports images, but I think more so what I’m finding out is we’re really known for telling the story of every senior we work with.

[01:47] So we take it to a deep level, not just create pretty pictures of them but kind of put their legacy and do an album. Um, on a business level or on a photographer to photographer level. I’m a big proponent of projection sales and sustainable business practices. So if you’re seeing me speaking somewhere, that’s usually what it’s about. Yeah. That’s awesome. Cause I know you spoke at imaging last year. Well I guess it would whatever a couple of yeah and we can’t keep track of dates now like 14 months ago or whatever. And I heard really good things about that and that’s one of the reasons why I sat down with you. I’m at after dark cause I just want to pick your brain. So I’m going to take you on a tangent real quick cause he does this really cool thing you guys should, maybe the image is on his website.

[02:25] So he does. So you live in, in Minnesota, in new Richmond, Wisconsin. But it’s just across the border from southern Minnesota, north of us, north of North America. It feels like. Yes, you do a lot of hockey players and you show this technique, which probably to hockey photographers is really cool. But um, to get the reflection on the ice, you said like that you wet the ice. Yeah. Shoot two 50 gallon pails of water. Is that what they were? Five Gallon Pail, whatever, whatever the big bucket, that bird seed or stuff that comes in five gallon buckets, five gallon. So you uh, you put put them all there and then you just like spray with water and then it reflects pour, pour out the bucket from each side and you’ve got a nice reflection and it looks so good. And I was just blown away and I was like, this guy is about details.

[03:08] I liked this guy a lot. And so that’s really, really, actually one of the coaches taught me that. So really that was, that isn’t even a photography tip. That’s uh, the coach told me. Yeah. Cause it’s like you’re like your own Zamboni machine for like small portion of the eyes. You can tell those kids a thousand times, don’t skate out in front of the bench and somebody doesn’t hear it, they go cut it up and yeah. But yeah, that’s kind of a little secret sauce. Yeah. That’s awesome. Okay, so kind of the theme of the podcast is what’s working now. So tell us a little bit of story, like what’s working now for you and what you can share with us. Okay. Well, what brought me to imaging and what brought me to sync is kind of a little, I guess it’s my original idea whether there’s other people out there doing it.

[03:48] I, I looked at the wedding industry and came up with, I looked at how they had an all-inclusive album in their package. Like I, I don’t photograph your wedding without giving you an album in the package and therefore my baseline prices are higher to get in the door. Right? So, so we, we took that into the senior market. And so we call that the grand experience. And our base package is every senior gets a three hour session with hair and makeup and then, uh, at minimum 10 spread hardcover album. Yeah, that’s awesome. And so like they’re getting, so I, you’re, they’re getting products are coming to you for that and you know, upfront they’re investing this much was, makes a lot of sense. Yeah. And, and the, the downside, I mean it’s, we call it the grand experience. It’s $1,000. So naturally there’s going to be some phone calls saying how much her senior pictures and when you throw out a number like that, they’re expecting a hundred, 150, something like that.

[04:44] And then they have the option to buy whatever. This is just being pretty straightforward that you’re at least going to spend this. And fact is the people that come through the door at that usually spend two to three times more than that. Sure. That makes it, that makes a lot of sense. And so how long, so how long have you been doing that as well? It seemed like a little while. Yeah, we started it. We morphed or uh, what’s my word for that? We moved up from, we had a session like, I think my senior session was a three hour session with hair and makeup for like two 50 and then our album was a little over a thousand and we made like a precommitment bundle, just made it a pre pre offer. So when we were doing the consultation meeting, we would say if you will commit to an album, we’ll knock this certain price off and knock it down to $1,000 plus we’ll give you 20% off everything else.

[05:33] So everybody was that, that was very little barrier there. Everybody was in on that right away. So that we did about six, six or seven years ago and two years later we made it mandatory because if you had enough clients that we’re doing it, why not just like this is who we are and this is what we do. Cause that’s outside of your building. That’s probably what they were talking about anyways. Right, right. They’re talking about like, hey you can go, you can go to Nate and get this thing for a grant. And it’s awesome. And so why not just like make it part of your branding? Yeah. Yup. That’s awesome. So let’s talk a little bit about the industry. Um, if there, if there’s nothing else that you want to share about what’s working now, I could go back on one story. Go ahead.

[06:10] Go ahead. You one story about this, and this is just kind of where it’s where it was to where it is. Um, a few years ago I had a dad come in with the pre consult meeting. We do, we have the parents and the senior come in and get to know them and we’re going over what we say we’re going to go over goals and pricing and investment and everything. And he picked up the eight inch album and he was shaking it at me yelling at thousand dollars for this. And then he threw it on the coffee table in between us and mom was looking just morbid and angry and she finally, she lashes out at him and says like, you didn’t have a problem spending $1,000 on your speakers or something like that. This is your son. And the message was sent and received. Uh, so we did the whole session.

[06:53] Everything went great. He came back two years later with their second son and he entered, when he came back into the meeting, he said, I don’t know if you remember me, but, uh, I, I kind of treated you a little rough last time we were here and, but I just want to thank you for teaching us about experience as a family together and enjoying things together. And it isn’t all material. Um, that changed our whole life. And so holding the line on what you do when, when I say this, like you just said, this is, you know what you do, this is what you do. And on the outside, people know you do it. When you hold the line on that, people can learn to appreciate that and you get known for it. And, but he actually came back and thanked me for changing the way they go on family vacations.

[07:34] They do all this stuff now that’s experienced based rather than materialistic. So yeah. And what’s so interesting too is I think sometimes he was obviously having a bad day, right? And you don’t know why her, I had nothing to do with you. If I had nothing to do with thousand dollars, it probably had something that we would never understand. And sometimes I think we make decisions in our business just because somebody came to our business on a bad day and they said something that they didn’t even really mean or they, you know, is escalated way past what they thought it should be. And then you just like start making changes in your business. Like, well this one person mentioned this and then you go somewhere and you should just probably hold true to where you are because either that one person is an outlier or they’re just having a bad day, right? If it’s not for them, it’s not for them.

[08:13] And a lot of the time it’s just lack of education or appreciation for it and a little massaging, some salesmanship, and you can get people to, you’re not fooling them into believing it. You’re being authentic about it. And I know that 80 to 100 families a year, love what I do. So they’re not wrong. So one every now and then. Yeah, no, of course you can’t please everybody, you know, and some people truly can’t afford $1,000 and other people, you know, just don’t value photography for you. So you never know why, but you should. You say, this is what I want to do for 80 to 100 families a year and you just stick to it. That makes a lot of sense. Yeah. So let’s move on and let’s talk about the industry real quick. So the question is like what does one thing that has you fired up about the industry, but maybe fired up isn’t the best word, but like when you think about industry, what do you think about?

[08:56] Well, I’ve been, this is my 10th year as a professional in the industry. I did it for about five years on the side before that. Um, but I’m, I’m very optimistic, I think. I think the whole, I think more than 50% of the industry is starting to believe this, but I think we’re past the neighbor with a camera era. I think the appreciation for professionals is back even even when somebody owns, I have a lot of clients that do photography on the side, but they say, but I know this is my son’s senior portraits and I’m coming to the professional for this. And I see that more and more. And in the corporate world as well, the giant photography budgets of the past are probably gone, but I have a lot of clients that the 10 years ago we’re doing things themselves or on the side and now they’re, they’re hiring full rate professionals again.

[09:45] Yeah, I think some of it probably is the economy, but also I just think, yeah, our industry has been flattened a little bit and the professional didn’t get pushed out. You know, everybody was worried for a long time as the, as you know, as the industry is getting flattened, all the photographer, the professional’s going to get pushed out and what’s going to be left as these neighbor photographers. And that’s not what happened in the neighborhood. People got pushed out, you know, by professionals and by, you know, iPhone photographers and kind of, um, claps in it. And I just think, yeah, I think it’s back, it feels good. Like peep, peep, images are so relevant in their life now online and stuff like that, that people value what we do again. For sure. Yeah. You know, I think a lot of that too is embracing the new people that are coming into this rather than shunning them away and keeping them as that neighbor photographer, embracing them and helping them rise up to the professional level.

[10:31] Um, what’s the line about all ships and tides rising together, but that’s [inaudible] I’m the president of our local guild and the TCPA and we, that is our stern belief that we, we all, we want to be open armed and help everybody rise to a level so that mediocrity doesn’t become the norm. Yeah, exactly. And I think for a while there we were worried that was going to happen. You know, that media rocker, he was going to be the norm. But it doesn’t seem like that. It seems like a lot of people grew out of it. Everyone’s a lot more people using lighting and doing better in sales and stuff like that. And I just think what the economy is getting better and unemployment being like below 4% or whatever it is now to a lot of people that truly didn’t do it because they want to do it for living.

[11:09] They just did it for to make, to make, to make money. They went back and got jobs now because there’s just so many jobs that are available. So that, I think that helped helped as well. I think. Let me tell you this real quick. One of the bad parts, I think about consolidation in our industry with people going back to work and leaving our industry. As for a while there we had a lot of photographers and the competition was really fierce, but it also, there was a lot of marketing about photography and so somebody may spend $1,000 to market to a group of people and then they may know you or know of you. So they came to you. So you got to benefit from some of those marketing dollars. So I don’t see as many marketing dollars from photographers out. Right. They’re out there now.

[11:46] Um, so I think you’ve got to up up your marketing a little bit, but when people do decide to use photography, it’s nice that there’s not as many people to choose from. Sure. You know, it doesn’t make sense. Awesome. Okay, so the next section is called our lightning round and to just have some quick questions and we can take definitely, you know, a couple of minutes to, uh, um, to talk about these. We don’t have to go through them super fast. So when you were first starting, what was holding you back from being a photographer? Um, I would definitely say because I didn’t come out of school and go into this, I had already had an established career. I worked for a printing company and was kind of the director of technology. So basically an it job, money would be what, what was the belief in what you could make a year in this?

[12:29] Was it a starving artist thing or was it a real thing? And you mentioned after dark in 2009 I went to my first after dark, the very first after dark there was, and I remember seeing a guy, I’ll pull up in his range rover and get out and back then he had the uh, the sparkly genes on that nobody had yet. And that was way before everybody was wearing them. And I thought, wait a second, you’re a photographer, you’re an artist. Hold on. I, my whole conception of her perception of, um, artists was, it was a crafty thing you did on weekends and made a little money. But all of the sudden I started hearing about million dollar studios and that you could actually make some money in this industry. And then through whatever fate plan you want to call it, uh, my, my job started to disintegrate.

[13:14] So the company I worked for had a very narrow mind and they were not advancing with technology. And eventually we got to a point where they were giving 10% paid the deductions and then 10% hours decreases. And I got down to two days, two full days off a week with 20% less pay plus all that lack of hours. Um, so in all my free time, every night, every weekend, and those two days I built my business to the, to a point where it was a small, rather than taking a big leap of faith, it was just a quick step across a little crick into a new career. So yeah, that’s, that’s really awesome. So there was like kind of a transition. I did something similar. Alison ran our business straight out of college and did it for a while, but when I was, I was teaching when we first built it so we could pay our bills and um, and I was able to go from full time to part time teaching, so I wasn’t asked for a 10 for a 10% decrease in pay and hours like I had made the choice.

[14:11] So I actually went from full time and three quarter time to half time, and then I was like, I’m done. And that worked pretty good for us too. So yeah, it’s like, you know, there’s this fear, can you make money? But if you can find some kind of transition to definitely move towards it. So yeah. So just in case you guys here, there’s a little bit of a lightning storm behind us. Like Nate can look, he’s, he’s worried about weather, but there’s actually no, there’s actually no like visible weather, but we can hear it. So if you guys hear some rumbling, it’s not because we haven’t had lunch, it’s just enlightening. So, so if I could give you, if I gave you $1,000 right now and you had to buy something like photo Biz, like photo industry related, what would you spend that thousand dollars on? No question.

[14:48] I would, uh, pull out another six or 700 out of my own wallet. Send it to your thousand and buy myself another pro photo B, 10 light. Okay. So cause yeah, so talk to, so lighting is important to you. I mean, obviously you have great lights. I mean, we saw these at after dark as well, but I mean that,...]]>https://photopodcast.co/?p=1969Mon, 29 Apr 2019 01:38:00 -040027:30nofull1301301Another incredible podcast from SYNC with Matt and Nate Peterson. Nate is a photographer in Wisconsin, with his home, wife, and french bulldog in the same commercial building as his studio. Nate is also a speaker, teaching about business mostly. You don’t want to miss Nate’s hockey reflection trick. Nate tells us about his all…Kia Bondurant and Aubrey LaurenJessica Robertson – A Photographer Podcast InterviewMatt interviews Jessica Robertson while at SYNC 2019. Her first career was a high school teacher, which is something Matt and Jessica have in common. They both loved working with that age group and still do. And they both love teaching (and learning), which is why they love to share what they know with the industry. Storytelling and collaborating with clients is what is working for Jessica. Listen in to find out more about how she does that. And don’t miss what she’s excited about in the industry now. You’ll also want to hear how Jessica overcame her fears when she first started… and how she stays in business now. Jessica’s advice on what to spend money on is based on where you are in your career, which is great. The best advice she ever received she uses on a daily basis and you’ll want to too.

Book:

Rachel Martin: What to Say

Online Resources:

http://www.jessicarobertson.com/

http://www.jessicarobertson.com/for-photographers

https://www.facebook.com/groups/630336874012039/ – Shoot it Straight with Jessica Roberton

Read Full Transcript

Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it’s an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.

[00:01] Hi, this is Jessica Robertson and you’re listening to from nothing to profit.

[00:05] Welcome to from nothing to profit a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kaia where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

[00:21] Hey everybody. So Matt here and I’m going to, I’m recording another podcast from sync without Kaia. Maybe next year we can all convince Kaia to come back here. She comes every year, which didn’t come this year. And so go ahead and just send her an email and let her know she has to come next year. Anyways, I’m, my guest today is Jessica Robinson, so I don’t know much about you because we don’t run in the same, I know we don’t, we don’t, we don’t, we don’t run in those same circles. We should. We should. We will. We will from now. But I just saw Jessica speak at sink and I was blown away by what you guys are doing. So I don’t want to steal your flame cause you already liked did your speech and so you can just tell everybody those slides again if you want. But I’m going to do it from start to beginning. Sure. Um, so tell, tell us real quick about your studio, what you guys are doing and all that stuff.

[01:09] Sure. So our studio was in Ashland, Virginia, just outside of Richmond. We photograph about 200 seniors a year in addition to some families and babies and some corporate work that we do. I started out of my home originally or I started on location really and then to my home. And then we opened our retail space in 2005. Um, our first studio was about 1500 square feet and we lived across the street because the street that you want to be on in our small town. And um, now we have a 3000 square foot studio and that’s been since 2011. I have a fabulous team that works with me. I’m very fortunate to have, um, Karen and Robin support me and help me so that I’m able to really do the thing that I love, which is photography. Yeah.

[01:46] Yeah. And then they’re here this week at sync...]]>Matt interviews Jessica Robertson while at SYNC 2019. Her first career was a high school teacher, which is something Matt and Jessica have in common. They both loved working with that age group and still do. And they both love teaching (and learning), which is why they love to share what they know with the industry. Storytelling and collaborating with clients is what is working for Jessica. Listen in to find out more about how she does that. And don’t miss what she’s excited about in the industry now. You’ll also want to hear how Jessica overcame her fears when she first started… and how she stays in business now. Jessica’s advice on what to spend money on is based on where you are in your career, which is great. The best advice she ever received she uses on a daily basis and you’ll want to too.

Book:

Rachel Martin: What to Say

Online Resources:

http://www.jessicarobertson.com/

http://www.jessicarobertson.com/for-photographers

https://www.facebook.com/groups/630336874012039/ – Shoot it Straight with Jessica Roberton

Read Full Transcript

Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it’s an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.

[00:01] Hi, this is Jessica Robertson and you’re listening to from nothing to profit.

[00:05] Welcome to from nothing to profit a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kaia where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

[00:21] Hey everybody. So Matt here and I’m going to, I’m recording another podcast from sync without Kaia. Maybe next year we can all convince Kaia to come back here. She comes every year, which didn’t come this year. And so go ahead and just send her an email and let her know she has to come next year. Anyways, I’m, my guest today is Jessica Robinson, so I don’t know much about you because we don’t run in the same, I know we don’t, we don’t, we don’t, we don’t run in those same circles. We should. We should. We will. We will from now. But I just saw Jessica speak at sink and I was blown away by what you guys are doing. So I don’t want to steal your flame cause you already liked did your speech and so you can just tell everybody those slides again if you want. But I’m going to do it from start to beginning. Sure. Um, so tell, tell us real quick about your studio, what you guys are doing and all that stuff.

[01:09] Sure. So our studio was in Ashland, Virginia, just outside of Richmond. We photograph about 200 seniors a year in addition to some families and babies and some corporate work that we do. I started out of my home originally or I started on location really and then to my home. And then we opened our retail space in 2005. Um, our first studio was about 1500 square feet and we lived across the street because the street that you want to be on in our small town. And um, now we have a 3000 square foot studio and that’s been since 2011. I have a fabulous team that works with me. I’m very fortunate to have, um, Karen and Robin support me and help me so that I’m able to really do the thing that I love, which is photography. Yeah.

[01:46] Yeah. And then they’re here this week at sync with you as well. They’re really awesome people. So you are, let me just tell you, you are lucky.

[01:52] Oh, I’m so fortunate. I’m so incredibly wishing. Just have this whole podcast and just talk about them as what we should really, really, I mean it’s not really mean, let’s be honest. I just do what I’m told. I, I say that all the time and it’s DDN again, so you can you tell me this, I’m like, ah, I don’t really know. Ask Karen and Robin. I just do what I’m told to do and sometimes that’s way better. That’s what I’m saying is absolutely.

[02:11] Um, so what, what’s one thing that people wouldn’t know know about you, you know, as just like looking at your website and stuff like that? Like what, you know, is there anything, what’s

[02:21] I tell everybody everything about me now. Well, I think one that I started as a, as a teacher. And so I think that that makes me come from a different place. Um, I saw I had taught high school seniors and I really connect with that age. Um, I don’t know if that’s where I had to stop my mental state or something, but I do, I love working with that age bracket and I think that my history and my life previous to being a full time photographer, that really does help. It makes me understand, um, the people that I’m working with a little bit better.

[02:49] Yeah. And so I was hoping you’re gonna bring that up cause I used to be a teacher as well, so awesome. So I taught statistics at the high school,

[02:55] Gosh, five years having points and like come on into heaven were a high school teacher

[03:01] and you taught, uh, photography and biology, so that’s awesome. So when do you remember what years you taught and what years? 2000 to 2005. Okay. So I thought 2008 to 12 or something like that. Okay. That’s probably wrong too. Right? It’s so interesting because I’ve been removed from the classroom for so a little, I’m starting to actually like lose touch with our current seniors. You know, enough has changed since I left. When I first left the classroom, Alison was running the business the whole time I was teaching, but when I first lost the classroom I just felt like I had it dialed. Like I knew exactly how to talk to them and where they were and all that stuff they were into. And now I feel like I’ve lost a little bit, but I mean people are still people, so

[03:36] absolutely. Absolutely. I completely understand that. Relate-Ability um, and sometimes it makes it funny and I’ll make fun of myself in that regard. I’m like, I have no idea what you just said. Who’s, who’s the person that’s your favorite musician? Yeah. And then what, can you spell that for me? I really have no idea what you’re saying. Like genre of music are we talking about? Okay. I haven’t heard of that genre either. You know?

[03:53] No. And some of the artists now have like symbols and then it’s like, I really don’t get that when for the first rapper, that’s just all emojis. It’s coming. Hey, that’s a concept. That’s an idea. I think you should pitch that. Well, I saw on the news that that license plates are now in Florida now can have on an Emoji and then there’s like, there’s like six, I saw it when I was here. I think there’s six emojis. Like the Smiley one, the heart eyes won and you can now you can have customized plans with an Emoji at the end and then the cops like what does that symbol, how do I put that on that yet? I’m just going to pull that person ever. I don’t want to do that Emoji. Right. He’s like a w e f heart eyes. I think it’s, I think it’s a Cadillac. Right? So anyways, that’s all I, I think being a teacher also brought a lot of expertise to our business too. So do you miss teaching or not really?

[04:38] Well that’s why I came back to sync and teaching. So yeah, no, me too. I, I have to do some kind of outlet like that for sure. And I feel so fortunate because there’s been so many photographers that I am still so immensely grateful for. Um, and it is kind of a way of giving back, but it’s also, um, it makes me analyze what we’re doing so that I can give, convey that message, but then it also makes me reassess, are we doing the right thing and getting feedback from others that works for them. And so it’s, it’s, it’s kind of a full circle kind of thing as well. So, and I do believe that when you teach, you are also learning and just because someone’s a student, that doesn’t mean that they can’t teach you something. Yeah, absolutely. I really believe that. And sometimes that comes from yourself analysis, but sometimes it comes from the conversations you have with people. And so I, I love it. I do.

[05:23] Yeah. And I did some teaching here at sync this week. And like just some of the, when I was putting my presentation together I was like, I need a dial that part in my business and stuff a little bit. Like I’m like, I do that, but I know I can do that better. I don’t really know for sure. Okay. So let’s talk about the industry real quick. So the question is wash it before we’d go to the industry. There’s a question before that. So kind of the general question of our podcast is like what’s working now? So when you think of your business, like what’s working now and what would you tell our audience?

[05:50] So for me, when I thought about this question, I think that we have always centered our business and and really wanting to hear that person’s story so that we can visually create an image that matches. And I, I did

[06:06] how you need to include elements that are personal to them because that makes the portrait more important to them.

[06:11] Absolutely. And it do you see it as a collaborative effort. So then mom will go, oh well I’ve got an idea, but I don’t, I don’t, I don’t want to mess this up. And I’m absolutely not pleased. You obviously know your child better than I do. Please tell me about her. And that is a question we have on there. If your friends were to describe you, what would they say? And that’s actually really insightful. Um, so on our information sheet, when we have our consultation, that is something that I look at and I think that people are drawn to images that are a true reflection of them. They want to be special, they went to look different. They don’t want what everybody else has already had. And so if you draw out who they are, which is I think part of our job and understanding who they are, then you can create images that are reflection and they’re also unique and authentic and different.

[06:49] And you also talked to that, talked about how when they look at it in the future, they’ll look back and they have different memories than it just being the senior portrait session has some real meaning,

[06:58] experience, experiences, fun about about a time in their life and stuff like that, which I think is really important. So parents are more connected as images too because they’re like, I’ve seen my kid in that leotard on the gymnastics floor her whole entire life and I can’t believe that we now have these images to um, hold for posterity. It’s really beautiful.

[07:17] So tell us a little bit, you, you alluded this a little bit, but you kind of have a questionnaire. So how do you get this information out of them so that you can use it?

[07:25] So, um, when someone calls in and typically we try and bring people to the telephone, which just current generation is not a big fan out and they’d rather text or message. But we typically have a parent call and to us and we make a connection there. We have that relationship. We tell them it’s a no obligation consultation. Just come in, kind of see what we do and we send them an information sheet and it has a ton of questions and it’s so, it is their homework. We send them videos as well so they can get excited and start thinking about what they want. And then that way they’re not coming in completely blank. So when I say, tell me about your vision, what are you thinking you want to do for your senior portraits? It’s not a blank face. They should have thought about it. And if it is a blank face, then it might be a longer consultation

[08:03] cause, but your worksheet or whatever you wanna call your intake form or I don’t know, whatever you wanna call it, it’s open. It has open ended questions on it together. I’m thinking, yeah

[08:11] it does. Absolutely. It should trigger, oh I do want to incorporate that or I don’t want to. So if something, I mean my kids are involved in so many different things, it’s amazing how they’re volunteering involving her schools. And so when you look at those different things that are involved in that they’ve listed, it can’t just be like, ah, that’s just something I do to be a part of my school. Or is it something that’s really important to them is a driving force in their life.

[08:31] Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Okay, so that’s perfect. So what’s working now is getting that information from the including picture and I saw him from your images I saw at sync this week. Like it makes complete sense when you say thank you. Yeah. So you guys definitely look her up on Instagram and see your work. It’s amazing. Okay. So let’s switch gears real quick and talk about the industry. So the question is like what is one thing that has you fired up about in the industry that may be in a little bit over exaggeration, but when you think about the industry, what do you think it’s going or what, what do you think about when you, what were you, what do you hold true to about the industry?

[09:00] Well, technologically I think we’re continuing to see a lot of changes, you know, and for me, I’ve always used off camera flash and I do think that when we think about ways to make our, our imagery look different from others, I think that that’s a very easy way to do that. Now the evolution of that has changed significantly here in the last few years with high speed sync. And that for me is a game changer. I’m having a family wanting to be done every day, at least by five, um, and not wanting to start until eight 15. That’s kind of my schedule and I only work Monday through Friday. That is huge for me so that I can shoot it on a lower f stop and then, um, be able to crank up that shutter speed. So I think that that’s a huge game changer. But I also think that we as off camera flash shooters are kind of unique because there’s so many are just natural light. But because everything now has gotten so much cheaper and easier to use, um, I think that if people are willing to change, it may be more difficult honestly to differentiate yourself if everyone understands how to use lighting. Um, so I think that that’s really important.

[10:02] Yeah, no, that makes complete sense. So while I’ve been thinking about this a little bit too, because I feel like there’s two types of shooters and I haven’t quite identified, maybe there’s probably 1 million bucks. There’s natural light shooters and there’s a lot of like one light off camera flash shooters and I’m trying to figure out like, okay, if almost everybody is that what, what is like the third group or what is the fourth group that I can be a part of that I can push myself on? You know what I mean? Yeah. I just feel like, I’m like, okay that person, I see a group of people locally and they just carry round reflectors. And then I see, I come here and I see everybody has like a beauty, beauty, a beauty dish with like a sleeve on it. You know,

[10:37] that’s what, how you use that light I think is a way to differentiate yourself. So you know, if you’re more of a fashion kind of photographer then you’re gonna put it up high and kind of shoot it down low. Um, if you want it to be more dramatic, what you do at that light I think is as significant as using. Yeah.

[10:49] Got It. That makes something that’s fair because you probably have more versatility, more flexibility with that light versus like a reflector.

[10:55] Right? Absolutely. And I like being in control and light using an off camera flash allows me to be in more control than if a cloud comes over and I’m using a reflector like, well that,

[11:04] yeah, it doesn’t work. Right. Yeah. Right, exactly. Okay, so that’s really good. So let’s go jump into the lightening round a little bit. These, we have plenty of time, so don’t feel like we have to do these fasteners. Okay. Call the lighting round email. Maybe I’ll just change the name after your son will be the last wow. More lightening round. Just get dropped the mic on that you’ll be the last lightning round ever. Cause I don’t think it fits but, so what was holding you back from becoming a full time photographer when you first started money? So like you were worried that you were worried that like you weren’t met, you wouldn’t make money or

[11:34] there’s a lot of fear as well. So I have a degree in art with a concentration in photography. So I felt very secure in my craft. I knew that I looked young and so that was a difficult aspect from changing from I’m learning this craft and then how do I make that an actual business that can be lucrative and that can pay my bills. And there was fear as well that I didn’t understand this whole part of my career that I had no education on. And so a lot of it was intuitive in terms of this is how I would want to be treated or this makes sense. But there’s a lot of education that kind of went into that. And so I think that it was fortunate actually that I had that time to kind of figure that out. And you talked about under under your sink.

[12:14] I don’t want to keep referencing. That’s great. Everybody’s going to think it’s amazing. Yeah. Awesome. You talked about how your dad helped you a little bit. Absolutely no side of it as well. Right. And asking me those questions, like if you’re going to eat, want to get paid, like how are you going to pay yourself and how much is this going to cost? And, and he talked about a business plan, which I had absolutely no idea about. You know, and I find a really good way of saying what a business plan is to cause even to me as a business person, a business plan. Scary. Yeah. But you said it’s basically just like, uh, I don’t remember how to describe it. Like a roadmap of where you’re going or something like that is, yeah. And I think we want to start with the end and we want to figure out those steps along the way.

[12:48] And you know, even for me, I’m setting those goals and trying to figure out even now what else do I want to do? What else is more important to me? How do I shift my business with everything that is changing? So it’s a constant, constantly evolving plan. Yeah, it was seniors. It feels like it’s reinventing the business every year. And I think that that’s such a gift really. Because if we just sit back and go, oh well everybody loves me, they’re going, of course they’re going to come to me like you’re gonna be out of business quickly. And I think that that’s one thing that I’ve noticed in our industry. We have a lot of people are like, well, this is how I’ve always done it. Well then you’re definitely going to go out of business. Um, and you can’t sit back and say, this is how I’ve always done it.

[13:23] And every year, typically around this time,...]]>https://photopodcast.co/?p=1965Mon, 22 Apr 2019 01:58:00 -040035:06nofull1291291Matt interviews Jessica Robertson while at SYNC 2019. Her first career was a high school teacher, which is something Matt and Jessica have in common. They both loved working with that age group and still do. And they both love teaching (and learning), which is why they love to share what they know with the…Kia Bondurant and Aubrey LaurenDan Frievalt – A Photographer Podcast InterviewAnother awesome podcast from SYNC! Matt interviews Dan Frievalt, of Frievalt Photography. He photographs 40 seniors a year these days to make sure he and his clients are getting to do what they want. Listen in to hear how Dan found his sweet spot in terms of session fees, average order, and number of clients. He sat down and really hashed out who he really wanted to work with, down to what movies they like and what athletic endeavors they’re into. Dan is so excited about how many new people are coming into the industry and that it pushes and challenges him. Matt and Dan talk about changing hair/makeup trends and how hs seniors are experts themselves now from YouTube. Don’t miss what Dan recommends you should and shouldn’t spend 1k on. The best advice Dan ever received is “believe in yourself”. Know your client hired you, for you. Your client believes in you. Dan gives great advice about what to do with your “no’s” so make sure you listen til the very end!

Internet Resource:

Movies/Netflix for creativity

Seniors Unlocked FB page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/SeniorsUnlocked/)

Dan does webinars to help people just starting like people did for him

PPA state organizations

Books:

Audible

Blinkist

The Purple Cow – Seth Godin (https://amzn.to/2HXekrI)

Contact Info:

http://www.frievaltphotography.com/home

@danfrievalt

Read Full Transcript

Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it’s an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.

[00:01] Hello, this is Dan free vault and you are listening to the podcast from nothing to profit.

[00:06] Welcome to from nothing to profit a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak. We’re each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

[00:23] Hey everybody. So Man Hoagland here, I’m recording another podcast while I’m here at sync and I’m with Dan unfree vault here. And this’ll be a fun podcast cause I was just looking at his website. Dan and I don’t know each other well. I mean we’ve ran in circles and been at sink a couple of times with each other, but I wouldn’t say, you know, we’ve had a lot of beers together. So all this’ll be as informative for me as it is for the audience, which will be really cool. So, um, thanks so much for being, being on here.

[00:48] Absolutely. Thanks for having me. We should be cracking beers and we probably should.

[00:52] So this, so let me tell you what I do know about you and then you’re going to tell me the real story of what I should know about you. So I know you’re in Wisconsin and I know that you used to be a graphic designer and now you do a lot of senior work and it seems like you kind of blend that graphic design and senior element together.

[01:11] Is that say absolutely. Yeah. You hit the nail on the head. I was a graphic designer for 12 years and you know, always did photography but never felt like the visions...]]>Another awesome podcast from SYNC! Matt interviews Dan Frievalt, of Frievalt Photography. He photographs 40 seniors a year these days to make sure he and his clients are getting to do what they want. Listen in to hear how Dan found his sweet spot in terms of session fees, average order, and number of clients. He sat down and really hashed out who he really wanted to work with, down to what movies they like and what athletic endeavors they’re into. Dan is so excited about how many new people are coming into the industry and that it pushes and challenges him. Matt and Dan talk about changing hair/makeup trends and how hs seniors are experts themselves now from YouTube. Don’t miss what Dan recommends you should and shouldn’t spend 1k on. The best advice Dan ever received is “believe in yourself”. Know your client hired you, for you. Your client believes in you. Dan gives great advice about what to do with your “no’s” so make sure you listen til the very end!

Internet Resource:

Movies/Netflix for creativity

Seniors Unlocked FB page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/SeniorsUnlocked/)

Dan does webinars to help people just starting like people did for him

PPA state organizations

Books:

Audible

Blinkist

The Purple Cow – Seth Godin (https://amzn.to/2HXekrI)

Contact Info:

http://www.frievaltphotography.com/home

@danfrievalt

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Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it’s an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.

[00:01] Hello, this is Dan free vault and you are listening to the podcast from nothing to profit.

[00:06] Welcome to from nothing to profit a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak. We’re each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

[00:23] Hey everybody. So Man Hoagland here, I’m recording another podcast while I’m here at sync and I’m with Dan unfree vault here. And this’ll be a fun podcast cause I was just looking at his website. Dan and I don’t know each other well. I mean we’ve ran in circles and been at sink a couple of times with each other, but I wouldn’t say, you know, we’ve had a lot of beers together. So all this’ll be as informative for me as it is for the audience, which will be really cool. So, um, thanks so much for being, being on here.

[00:48] Absolutely. Thanks for having me. We should be cracking beers and we probably should.

[00:52] So this, so let me tell you what I do know about you and then you’re going to tell me the real story of what I should know about you. So I know you’re in Wisconsin and I know that you used to be a graphic designer and now you do a lot of senior work and it seems like you kind of blend that graphic design and senior element together.

[01:11] Is that say absolutely. Yeah. You hit the nail on the head. I was a graphic designer for 12 years and you know, always did photography but never felt like the visions in my head kind of matched what I could do on film. So then when digital started to get more up and rolling, I already had known Photoshop. It just kind of was a perfect timeframe me to merge the two and take the leap.

[01:35] So when you were doing like Photoshop work and to graphic design world, where are you doing stuff on photos or was it more like like layouts for magazines and stuff like that?

[01:44] Yeah, that’s a good question. It was, it was completely different. I actually, I called myself a graphic artist, which is like a cool name, right. But really is a, I took a lot of other people’s work and got it ready for printing and it was an offset printing, which is what are cool things like magazines and stuff. Yeah. It where I’m in the Midwest, it was a lot of like a, it’s called flexographic printing, which was like carton design labels for Ketchup and paper plates and things like that. So what was really cool as I knew the tools of Photoshop, but then when I, but I didn’t really work on that many fatigue photographs. Right. So it’s cool to see how Photoshop can be used and like the cm, why k world and then the photography world, it’s two completely different worlds in one software.

[02:33] Yeah, it is pretty amazing. And it’s really interesting because you talked to some people and they work, they work in InDesign and different things like that. But it seems like Photoshop is just, it’s so wide spanning that a lot. You can do full design work. I mean, obviously we all do that in our studio as well, but, but then you can actually retouch skin as well. You know, it’s pretty amazing stuff

[02:50] and video now. I

[02:52] yeah, exactly. It’s all in there. That’s pretty amazing. Um, so yeah. So anything else we need to know? I mean w how’s Wisconsin? It’s

[03:00] cold. It’s um, yeah, I talked to him, my wife on the phone this morning. I’m like, well it’s raining but it’s not snowing and I’m in a tee shirt and things are green, so all is good. Awesome. That’s awesome. So I have one question for you about your website and um, and then we’ll jump into some of these questions about like what’s working now in the industry and stuff like that. But on your website, when you click on your session page, let me just click on it real quick and see what it says. It says only accepting 40 seniors to provide the most creative and unique senior session for you. So do you want to talk about that? So, I mean 40 seniors, you know, I mean I was wondering first of all how you did it because your, your work is so amazing. So it’s obviously time intensive and then it’s, I think it’s interesting you to say like, Hey, there’s, I can do 40 so it builds that scarcity and stuff like that.

[03:44] And talk a little bit about that. Yeah, absolutely. Part of its scarcity and the other part of it is for many years I photographed everything like we all do when we start off, until we kind of get burnt out or find what are our key focus is and what we really enjoy. And you know, I was photographing hundreds of seniors and it became a production line and that’s kind of why I got out of the graphic design because I was basically, I wasn’t doing creative anymore. It was kind of a production. Like every day I had deadlines, three deadlines a day and this has to get to the printer and this has to be done and this has to be done. And then when I got into photography, as I got busy, it started to be the same feel and I got burnt out. It was just doing so I decided like, okay, I need to change something, so I need to raise my prices.

[04:32] I need to add scarcity and like only get the people who really want to invest in it. Yeah. I mean cause I was looking at your session, one of your sessions is $450 and it has a $300 add on. You know, so you’re just session fee wise, you’re looking at $750 so like obviously nobody, not everyone’s just going to jump in and get amazing artwork by you. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I, you know, took me years to kind of figure that out too because uh, I used to have a lower session fee. Like let’s get them in because once they see everything, you know, hopefully you’ll be rewarded on the backend what higher sales and in theory that kind of works. But it’s also a business based off of hope as well. It is. Yeah. And that works great for the, for the beginning. But once I became more established, I realized that okay, I needed to start doing minimum orders.

[05:20] What? The minute I put minimum orders up, I found my sessions, people weren’t booking me for for whatever reason, that large minimum. And it wasn’t large. It was like $800 minimum. Yeah. And my average at the time was like 1500 so to me it all, it was the same math but they looked at it around at $200 session fee and a $800 minimum and it scared them off. So instead what I found is actually what I did is it started slowly rising. My raising my session fee throughout the year. So you know, June when I want to fill my schedule in a session fee was lower. And then as my schedule started to fill, I started to just naturally raise it cause I’m like I’m getting too many seniors. I can’t keep up. And, and then people just kept booking and it kept booking. So all of a sudden I round up my only have four 50 was my sweet spot. You know, so it wasn’t like one day I just said I’m going to do four or 50 it was like I played with that number and tell people, you know, kind of what I tell people is like, you know, if every person calls in books with you, that’s not necessarily a good yeah.

[06:23] Right. Because I know, yeah, yeah. You may want to look at that a little bit. Yeah, it’s a good thing. But you will be very tired at the end of the year.

[06:29] Right. So I like, well I’ll just keep raising it until like every third call says no and you know, and, and as long as I’m making enough and booking enough and then that’s my sweets.

[06:39] And that’s really good insight because I think a lot of people like, I mean I’m certain we’ll talk to you here at sink and you’ll say, yeah, I just charged $450 for a session and I have a $300 out on. So, and they’ll be like, wow. And they won’t understand that like that that’s market driven. You know, like you figured that out. Like you did less, you did more. He tweaked it until it was like, oh, that for 50 I book is about as many seniors I want and it’s the right type of senior that I want. You know, and that’s the, so they, they, they shouldn’t just w the advice would be that they shouldn’t just go home and charge it for 50, for the session. They should start working. There’s up until they find their sweet spot too.

[07:13] Yeah, absolutely. And I think a lot of people, you know, they feel self conscious like, oh, it’s in print or this is what I have to do. And um, but it’s like, no, you can kind of ebb and flow like maybe a comparison as a restaurant, like when things are in demand or like lobster is market price. So it’s like, okay, certain times a year this is the session fee because it’s, you know, I’m not as busy. I can do a lower session fee or um, you know, as I get more busy, this is prime time. The session fee is going to be more and don’t be so caught up in like, okay, I set my session fee for the year. I have to stick with it because if anyone calls, it’s just like, well that, you know, they had a deal in that month. You know, it’s not like I feel like I’m ripping anyone off by adjusting.

[07:58] That makes complete sense. I mean I, it makes me think about the whole idea where like when we book airline tickets, like we’re always like, you know, our days are flexible and then we like sat there and we scan and we were like, okay, we’re going to leave on this day and come back to this day because it saves us a hundred bucks or whatever. So there would be people, you know, that would say, oh, okay, well I want to get my pictures done by you. And they were like, well let’s do it in June. It because it doesn’t matter if we do it in June, July or August, but let’s do in June because it’s a little bit cheaper and we’ll save 100 bucks. You know what I mean? And like, then they get to choose whether they want to save money, but then there’s, you know, it’s just a different mentality. Like they’re saving money but they’re not cheaping out on your services. You know what I mean? Yeah, absolutely. They’re making a choice. So that’s really awesome. Okay, so let’s jump into the questions that we normally do for the podcast. So the first one is just a general question, like what’s working now for you in your business? It can be around your photography or your brand, your business, but what’s working now that you would want to tell our audience about that you think is awesome?

[08:56] I just think being unique is like standing out. We’re trying to do something that’s different because like if, if there’s more photographers in the market, you hear that a lot. Like, oh, everyone’s a photographer, everyone’s a photographer. And that may be the case. And sometimes I feel that too, but I feel like, well there’s only one of me and there’s only, I, I’m trying to do things unique and different so that I stand out and like the, again, the, those 40 people who value that and see that, I think that’s why my averages are high as well because there’s somewhat prequalified by this session for your style and my style. Yeah. Instead of, you know, if I’m, if I’m doing the same thing as everyone else, well then I’m just going to go to the cheapest person race to the bottom and it’s becomes a commodity. Yeah. It comes to come out of. Yeah. Yeah. So I think that’s, that’s what’s worked for me always. And I’ve just keep pushing that further and further.

[09:48] So do you see like I typically see like, I don’t know, I want to call it composite stuff cause I wouldn’t even say it’s positive. Like you guys should just look at his work online so you can see what I’m talking about. But do you feel like you attract like sports and athletes more? Cause that’s the type of work I see in the industry. That reminds me of a little bit yours or are you attracting all kinds of seniors as well? Cause I look at your website and they’re not all just like hockey players, you know, so like who all is coming to you for your style?

[10:16] Yeah, that’s a great question. And um, well one year I sat down in the, in the middle of cold, cold winter month, what I was feeling depressed and started making lists and really like identifying who do I want as my client. Who would that ideal client be? That 40. Yeah. Yeah. And I wrote notes and I just, I guess that things like what movies they would watch, what music they would listen to, like, uh, where they would shop. And because I had already been doing photography at that point, like five, six years, I had a pretty good idea. Um, cause I knew which things I didn’t like to do. Right. Yeah, that was clear. That one pretty easy. If you make this list, there’ll be easy. But yeah. Um, and then the ones like, oh, these sessions were fun and this is what I enjoy doing.

[11:02] And so I realize, okay, seniors is really what I, what I enjoy doing. And not only senior, it’s like I realized I didn’t want like the, the, the beautiful drama queen. It could be drama queen and you know, whatever. It’s like I want an athletic female who likes to maybe get clammed up shows and get glammed up that often, but she’s more like a tomboy athlete that can also transition into a cool look. And, and the same thing with guys. I want someone, you know, that one that is, has a hobby or a sport because they are into the session and they’re not just like, okay, mom said I want, you got to get senior pictures done. So I think identifying that really clear. For me it was an athletic, sporty type person.

[11:49] Right. And in the end, so interesting because in the marketing world, you know, you hear all the time, got to like really niche down and do something unique and all this stuff and you hear it all the time. And I don’t see a lot of people doing it. And I just feel like you’re really succeeding at those principles that just like we’re marketing, we’ll take care of itself. You know, you just keep putting out the work that you love to do and working with the people that you, that you want to work with and it just builds the next person, you know? So like, you know, when I look at your work, I can’t imagine that you’re probably like running tons of paid ads and stuff like that. And a sense because it just seems like it’s self fulfilling itself. You know, you’re attracting the right person and they love it.

[12:23] Yeah. Because they were friends would tell their friends and, and, and, and they’re within the same value or have the same value of towards photography, you know, it’s not just like, oh, they have a lot of money, so come here. No, because as you know, money doesn’t equate, you know, I have people pull up in a, you know, a rusty truck and, and they’re, you know, paying just as much as someone who pulls up in a fancy vehicle. Yeah, exactly.

[12:49] About how, how they value it. Um, we talk a lot on this podcast about how our industry, you know, just like you start in photography and you market to your friends and then you run out of friends and family to photograph and then, uh, you, you’re like, well, I guess I just have to go over after rich people. And it’s just so interesting because I don’t think that’s the answer. You know, you just don’t need to chase. I mean, chase affluent people, like that’s not the only answer. Like you can just find people that value work and speak to them and they’ll, they’ll, you know, they’ll reward your art for sure if they value it. So. Absolutely. Okay, cool. So let’s talk about the industry real quick. So the question is, what is one thing that has you fired up about in the, has you fired up about the industry? It could be something that you’re excited about, something that you hold true about the industry. Just when I, when, when we talk about the industry, what do you think about?

[13:35] Well. Yeah, and I, that was a tough question and I thought when I, when I read it and I think the what, what really then pop to mind is, and some people might think this isn’t cool, but I love how the technology and the, you know, of course I’m into the composites and the effects and stuff. So I, I enjoy that. But even without that, I think there’s so many people coming into the industry, which some people look at as a bad thing, but I think it’s good for competition and it pushes me more and it pushes me to create unique things. And that’s really like taken off. Like every parent that comes in, the, one of the first things they say is like, this isn’t like my senior picture. You know? And we were like, yeah, right. And I even say, I’m like, yeah, like it’s crazy.

[14:22] I agree with you. What we’re doing is crazy. But that’s what gets me fired up. That’s what’s cool is all the cool things. I mean people are doing destination shoots, you know, so it’s not just about composites or affects, you know, it’s, it’s the high end experience. It’s, it’s hair and makeup. It’s like all those cool things that we’re doing for a 17 year old who with today’s Internet and social media and bullying and, and presence. Like hopefully, you know, we’re making a difference in how they feel about their self]]>https://photopodcast.co/?p=1961Mon, 15 Apr 2019 01:36:00 -040043:04nofull1281281Another awesome podcast from SYNC! Matt interviews Dan Frievalt, of Frievalt Photography. He photographs 40 seniors a year these days to make sure he and his clients are getting to do what they want. Listen in to hear how Dan found his sweet spot in terms of session fees, average order, and number of clients.…Kia Bondurant and Aubrey LaurenDavid Beckham – Episode 027 – A Photographer Podcast InterviewOn this episode, Matt interviews David Beckham, while they attend and teach at SYNC. David talks about his senior focus and how he wants people to look at his work and ask, how did he light that? David talks about posting his best work, always. David gets fired up and is excited about new photographers wanting to give and meet new people and how fast they’re growing their social media following. Listen in to hear about David wanting to “be good enough” when he was first starting his business. Don’t miss what David would and wouldn’t spend 1k on. And you definitely want to hear what David thinks about his Sony equipment. David also spills about what he’s up to next and you want to be in on that!

http://www.davidbeckhamphotography.com/

Askdavid education site – on FB too: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2124880937744490/

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David: [00:01] Hey, this is David Beckham and you’re listening to from nothing to profit.

Speaker 2: [00:05] Welcome to from nothing to profit of photographers podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

Matt: [00:22] Hey everybody. Matt here. Uh, I have a really awesome guest today, David Beckham. I’m actually here at sync in Florida and we’re actually sitting in my condo and David and I message back and forth and I was like, you got to come over and record a podcast cause if you guys don’t follow him online, you need to, his senior photography is probably some of the best in the industry. And David, we met probably I’d say five years ago, five, six years ago at sea at seniors ignite and we’ve been following each other ever since. So, um, obviously I know you for your senior photography, but share with the audience, you know, kind of what they wouldn’t know about you by following you or you know, where you’re from and stuff like that as well.

David: [01:02] I’ve got a studio that I opened in 2009 in Pickerington, Ohio, which is right outside of Columbus, Ohio. Go Bucks. I had to say that when I opened it, I was doing every kind of photography possible cause I was trying to eat. Now I do just seniors and I say Jess seniors and I do some other things, but seniors is all I market. My website, my, my, uh, social media is all seniors. I focus on a fashion styled of senior photography. So it’s kind of cutting edge as far as that goes. And I found that that separated me from the locals and allowed me to be profitable in and have a good time doing it.

Matt: [01:46] Yeah. So when I look at your photography, what I think of as I see, uh, like just good lighting. You know, I think your lighting stands out and I think that’s what pushes you above the market. You know, like you said, you know, it may be like a little edgy, I don’t even know if the word the word is edgy or not, but um, you know, definitely the lighting. So that looks, it looks modern and current. Um, and definitely doesn’t look like a mom talk type.

David: [02:09] I hate, I hate, uh, too much flash. So I developed even before the high speed sync and the cool technology they have now, I was using alien bees and using them at the lowest power possible with filters on my soft boxes so that I could control the light as low as possible so that I could shoot with a great depth of field a long time ago. And now that the new technologies out there, it makes it even easier. But I want to make all...]]>On this episode, Matt interviews David Beckham, while they attend and teach at SYNC. David talks about his senior focus and how he wants people to look at his work and ask, how did he light that? David talks about posting his best work, always. David gets fired up and is excited about new photographers wanting to give and meet new people and how fast they’re growing their social media following. Listen in to hear about David wanting to “be good enough” when he was first starting his business. Don’t miss what David would and wouldn’t spend 1k on. And you definitely want to hear what David thinks about his Sony equipment. David also spills about what he’s up to next and you want to be in on that!

http://www.davidbeckhamphotography.com/

Askdavid education site – on FB too: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2124880937744490/

Read Full Transcript

David: [00:01] Hey, this is David Beckham and you’re listening to from nothing to profit.

Speaker 2: [00:05] Welcome to from nothing to profit of photographers podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

Matt: [00:22] Hey everybody. Matt here. Uh, I have a really awesome guest today, David Beckham. I’m actually here at sync in Florida and we’re actually sitting in my condo and David and I message back and forth and I was like, you got to come over and record a podcast cause if you guys don’t follow him online, you need to, his senior photography is probably some of the best in the industry. And David, we met probably I’d say five years ago, five, six years ago at sea at seniors ignite and we’ve been following each other ever since. So, um, obviously I know you for your senior photography, but share with the audience, you know, kind of what they wouldn’t know about you by following you or you know, where you’re from and stuff like that as well.

David: [01:02] I’ve got a studio that I opened in 2009 in Pickerington, Ohio, which is right outside of Columbus, Ohio. Go Bucks. I had to say that when I opened it, I was doing every kind of photography possible cause I was trying to eat. Now I do just seniors and I say Jess seniors and I do some other things, but seniors is all I market. My website, my, my, uh, social media is all seniors. I focus on a fashion styled of senior photography. So it’s kind of cutting edge as far as that goes. And I found that that separated me from the locals and allowed me to be profitable in and have a good time doing it.

Matt: [01:46] Yeah. So when I look at your photography, what I think of as I see, uh, like just good lighting. You know, I think your lighting stands out and I think that’s what pushes you above the market. You know, like you said, you know, it may be like a little edgy, I don’t even know if the word the word is edgy or not, but um, you know, definitely the lighting. So that looks, it looks modern and current. Um, and definitely doesn’t look like a mom talk type.

David: [02:09] I hate, I hate, uh, too much flash. So I developed even before the high speed sync and the cool technology they have now, I was using alien bees and using them at the lowest power possible with filters on my soft boxes so that I could control the light as low as possible so that I could shoot with a great depth of field a long time ago. And now that the new technologies out there, it makes it even easier. But I want to make all of my photos look like perfect ambient light, not like flat.

Matt: [02:45] Yeah. And I can see the flash and your photography because I see the catch light. I see some of the shadows, you know, and how you’re lighting, you’re using loupe light and stuff like that. But I wouldn’t say it looks super flashy at all.

David: [02:56] That’s my goal. I don’t, I want people to, how was he doing that? That’s what I want people to think. Yeah. And that’s my number one question from other photographers. How are you doing that? And I always say, just come to my workshop

Matt: [03:08] then I’ll show you. Right. Yeah, to the train. I can definitely see it, but it looks really, really good. All right, so let’s jump into the main part of the podcast and what I want you to do is kind of tell the audience what’s working now for you in your business. I mean we talked about how strong your lighting technique is and stuff like that, but when you think about your business or you think about your photography, what does working in now for you? I think,

David: [03:31] and I’m, and I’m saying this from my perspective because I know it works. I post great photos on all my social media. I don’t post goofy memes, I don’t post a lot of personal stuff. I post great photos and I think that helps separate me from everyone else. They don’t come to my site and see what my grandkids are doing or what my dogs do and they come to my site and see what I’m doing and who I’m photographing. I think I have a good handle on having my models cause most of the people I post are my reps. So I’ve got 40 people that I post. Mostly I post everyone, all my clients, but mostly I’m posting my reps. So it’s a very fashion forward. It’s different, it’s good lighting. It’s cool. I’ll experiment. Um, on my, especially on Instagram and, and, and my website now my story, I’ll get a little more personal, a little goofy, goofy, but on my main stuff where people are going to see my work, I want to put the best that I got out there every time.

Matt: [04:39] And so I think that’s just a really good lesson in terms of branding and general because you’re, you’re making a conscious decision to use Instagram as a, you know, as a place to brand yourself and you’re like, I’m not going to brand myself as a dog owner. I’m not going to brag on myself as the, all these other things. I’m going to brand myself as a good photographer. That Ha that photographs amazing people. And like you said, experiment and stuff like that with so that you’re putting not average stuff out there cause you’re not just posting like average session stuff. Right. I don’t do a lot of behind it.

David: [05:11] The scenes, I don’t do that kind of stuff. People can get to know me through other ways, but I’m focusing on my work as my primary primary way of attracting people.

Matt: [05:23] That’s awesome. All right, so I love that. So let’s talk, let’s kind of switch gears real quick and just talk about where you kind of see the industry going in general are not necessarily where you see it going, but like what are you fired up about in the industry right now

David: [05:37] I, I work with a lot of young photographers that I meet and I go out of my way to meet them. They speak in terms of community, the word community. They use the word community now they’re building their empires through growth, through social media in a way that I’m just learning from them. I like the way that they’re eager to give back and meet other people and do things. I think it’s fresh from the old, how do I get a $4,000 sale? How do I get a $3,000 sale? Now I understand we have to get the $3,000 sales to make a living. But I like, I like the, the new way of approaching photography. Um, I talked to people that have no clue about lighting and they’re producing great things and they’re doing it through post-processing versus getting it right in the camera. Both are equally powerful in the finished image. And, and I like, I like that.

Matt: [06:38] Yeah, no, that’s a, that’s refreshing for me. And we taught Kaia and I talk a lot on this podcast about how, where, you know, the industry holds certain things true. And I liked how you said like it can be done multiple ways in different ways because you hear some of these people that have been in the industry for a long time and they’re like, it has to be right out of the camera. It has to be, this has to be that. And I sometimes I just think that’s not necessarily true as long as it’s right for the customer.

David: [07:02] I hear people my age complaining about how you know, it’s so hard to do things with all these young people that don’t know what they’re doing. They’re putting out bad product, blah, blah, blah. I’ve had the best year ever this last year. Every single year I’ve been in business I’ve had growth because I’m not listening to the negative. I’m looking at new ways to do new things, to reach new people and if we fall behind because we’re trying to sit on what we’ve done for the last 10 years, they used to be successful. We’re going to keep falling behind.

Matt: [07:33] Yeah, and so what I, what I don’t hear a lot of people talking about in our, in our industry then I think you’re, you’re, you’re talking about that I hear a lot like in the marketing industry is when the marketing industry, we talk a lot about how you like the market dictates what is good, what’s bad, what’s successful, what’s not successful. You don’t hear a lot of people in our industry saying that successful because the market says so. They, a lot of people say, yes, that’s good. Yes, that’s bad. Not from the customer standpoint, but from like the industry in like norms. Does that make sense? Like that’s good lighting. That’s bad lighting. That’s good sales. That’s bad sales. That’s a good business model. It’s a bad business model where the truth is good in some aspects. Good lighting is dictated by the market. Like if people are buying that are not bad, lighting is dictated by the market. If if it looks bad to the consumer, then that’s bad. In a sense. It’s bad. We know as professionals what good and bad lighting is, so the light, he may not be the best example, but

David: [08:34] let me, let me get her up there. Lighting’s a great example because when kids started taking selfies 10 years ago, they took selfies. Now they all know what lighting is. They all know and they know in my studio, the window lights amazing. So if they’re going to take a Selfie, it’s not going to be in the back. It’s going to be up where they can get the gray window late. They know how to park their car in the right direction to get wind. The right lighting. Lighting matters to kids now and and good lighting in the finished product matters to them now to where 10 years ago when everybody was a photographer shooting and burning or or doing whatever they were doing, lighting didn’t. Now it does. And, and even now with the new iPhone x with their, did you just Boca out my kid or kind of person focus out of focus out a kid, you know, so they all know what Boca means. Yes. You know this, that the 16 and 17 year olds do. Their parents don’t really don’t have a clue and the photographers all do because we all think it’s funny when the ad came out, but, but they get it now. They come into my studio and they see it and they see, I’ve been mastering that for the last 10 years already. Now I’m popular now. I’m what they want because I can get that look with real photos that they can print on the wall or do whatever else they want to.

Matt: [09:59] All right. You ready for my million or a million dollar idea? You’re welcome to take this and run with it cause you actually Mike, cause here’s such a go getter. If anybody out there is listening and they still this idea, all I ask is that when you name the product you put like mh like in the, the the name of the product or something like that. So you know, I know it was from me. I don’t need any money unless you make a billion then send me 100,000 but I want to make a backdrop that attaches behind the, you’re like behind you in the car so it just stretches in front of your seats. Like just a black thing that’s just fills in your car. It’s kind of dome shape. It goes right to your shoulders. So that when they, when you do a Selfie, it can be a black or gray or white background and that you don’t see the back of the

David: [10:38] calling. You would have to be what, what’s that 17% gray or something. Exactly.

Matt: [10:42] Yeah. But I think if you could find one just like the Velcros in the car though, that that would be awesome. So anyways, that’s my, that’s my million idea, that million dollar idea I’ll never execute on. Okay. So, um, let’s jump into the lightning round real quick. I mean, we’re way ahead of time, so we’ve got plenty of time to talk about these. We don’t have to go faster. Um, so tell me again, how long have you been a full time photographer?

David: [11:03] Full time since 2009 started my first senior. I did in 2001 but I was doing other things. Okay.

Matt: [11:10] So when you think back to those that time, what, what was holding you back from being in a full time photographer?

David: [11:16] When I first started, I wanted to be good enough. So that was my goal was to be good enough. So the getting over the hump that I’m good enough was probably holding me back more than anything. Um,

Matt: [11:31] and what does that mean for you? When you say good enough? Was it like photography skills or business skills or all the above?

David: [11:38] Well, definitely, well first was the photography skills, the business skills. I’m intelligent. I took business classes as I was an engineer before I was anything and I was a youth pastor after that. So I had the people skills, I had business skills. The photography skills is what I needed to learn on. So for me it was making sure I had the photography and then figuring out how to run the business before I went full time.

Matt: [12:03] That makes sense. And I, what’s interesting to me and I, I guess just because I’m on the business side and my wife Alison is on the photography side. Like I didn’t have to go through a lot of that. Like are we good in like photography skills are good enough? I just always thought she was good enough. So I pushed her into owning her own business. But yeah, I can see why that would really hold people back. I mean, because yeah, if you, if your confidence is so important in everything in life, but especially in business,

David: [12:28] but not just confidence, I had to be able to sell it to make enough money to live off of where when I was an engineer it was easy money, you know, to make a ton of money. It was easy. But then I became a youth pastor, so I learned how to be poor and after being poor, it was easy to go into a visit, learn how to run a business and be poor for a little.

Matt: [12:46] All right. That, that makes a lot of sense. That’s hilarious. Um, I could totally see like, yeah, it’s just like a different perspective and you’re like, well, there’s not much more room down than here. You know, I’m, I’m are, I’m already eating saltine crackers. So like if my business doesn’t work out, I’m right where I am. That makes a lot of sense. Okay. So if you had $1,000 right now and so, so we’re at the sink in Florida and you’ve got $1,000 and you were going maybe to the trade show or anything, what would you buy that’s photography later? Like what do you think’s important to buy? So this is kind of advice for other people that may be, you know, spending money or what, what do you think is important for you?

David: [13:23] Marketing. Okay, I’ve got all the equipment I need and, and I could get by with good photography for, could shoot with anything. I keep hearing that as I preached Sony and these people that are afraid to, to actually try this new technology. You know, their first comment is, you know, a good photographer can shoot with anything. You must not be a good photographer if it took you Sony to be one or something like that. So for me, I don’t need the equipment. Um, the marketing is what I need to spend my money on because I know the way I marketed it brings me a new client.

Matt: [14:04] Yeah. One of the goals, right? You, you spend $1,000 on marketing and it brings you back $10,000 you know, that’s kind of, that’s the ultimate goal. So, um, people can reference it back. I’ll tell you the story. I don’t know if you heard the, the episode that we recorded with Jeff Richardson, but he actually sold all of his Nikon equipment and a switch to Sony and then like shot it for like three weeks. So like imagine this, he sells all of his Nikon equipment for pennies on the dollar switches disowning pays full price for it. She was a for a couple of weeks, couldn’t stand the digital view finder cause you know, he’s been shooting for so long, he couldn’t stand it, sold all of his sone stuff then for pennies on the dollar, went back and bought all new Nikon equipment again. And uh, he’s the only one I’ve ever heard of the actually like made the switch and just could not handle it, you know, and it’s real answers, but everybody else had, seems like they made the switch to Sony. Really loves it. So what were you shooting before, by the way? I shot cannon five d three was my yeah.

Matt: [15:14] And everybody says, I said we should not gone. So I don’t know whether, but everybody I talked to that is thinking about leaving Canada to go to Sony talks about just the miss focusing. Yeah. Well and and an icon people. It’s the same. What I’ve heard, what I like about the Sony was I’m a zero right. Cause cause you have eye auto focus. Right. And so it just nails it every tenuous and it’s to the point where I don’t, I took a three, a three step ladder, a three step step ladder everywhere. So if I wanted to change my point of view, I would just climb on that ladder to shoot down at him. Now I just have to raise it up and point it down Adam and flip the little monitor so I can see what I’m shooting. I see the little green square on there.

Matt: [15:59] I know I’m going to nail the shot. Yeah. That’s so interesting. It almost like they almost removed a whole element. Like that wasn’t that important to us. And photography, like having a sharp image was important. But it wasn’t part of the creative process. It was like something that as you’re doing the creative shot, you had to think like technically and then go back to creative and it they almost just like removed it for us. And so now I can be creative. Yeah, I can frame it anywhere. There’s no, there’s no more setting the focus and then reframing. Right. Because, because you can focus anywhere in the F in the picture it, it finds the eye, whether it’s on the corner, in the middle, whatever. So for me, there’s no comparison. Now there’s some color issues people talk about. I kind of like the Sony color.

Matt: [16:46] If there’s anything I’m going to say negative about it. It’s the, you know, the view finder, but yeah. You know, you just to finish out that matters. Not what you’re seeing before you shoot. Exactly. Um, yeah. So that was, that was a super good tangent because just to remind everybody we started...]]>https://photopodcast.co/?p=1958Mon, 08 Apr 2019 01:57:00 -040036:41nofull1271271On this episode, Matt interviews David Beckham, while they attend and teach at SYNC. David talks about his senior focus and how he wants people to look at his work and ask, how did he light that? David talks about posting his best work, always. David gets fired up and is excited about new photographers…Kia Bondurant and Aubrey LaurenTrue Moua – Episode 026 – A Photographer Podcast InterviewThis is a podcast episode you definitely want to hear! Matt and Kia interview True Moua, who is a photographer and educator, based in Wisconsin. She shoots only natural light and has a love for Iceland. You don’t want to miss True’s “all seasons session” and how she does that. You also want to listen in to why she doesn’t do a model program anymore and still does a destination session every year. True talks about how to do Instagram stories. She also talks about how she structured her pricing when she first started out and how to do what she says, not what she did. Listen in to hear how True would and wouldn’t spend $1k – you’ll be surprised! Curious which lens is True’s go to? You might want one too! True says, “Dig deep to find what makes you different and stop following every trend”. Keep hustling.

Online Resources – Google, YouTube, CreativeLive, Sue Bryce, Instagram TV

Certified Madness Podcast

https://truemoua.com/

@truemouaphotography

Read Full Transcript

Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it’s an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.

[00:01] This is true and you are listening to from nothing to profit.

[00:04] Welcome to from nothing to profit a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster

[00:21] from everyone. We are super excited to have true. And how do you say your last name? So it’s [inaudible]. Okay. True. Moolah here today and uh, I have seen her work online for the last couple of years and she is a phenomenal photographer and I’ve seen that she’s does a lot of education and so we’re super excited to have her here today to share with us about her business. And I’ve only seen you’re shooting in natural light. Um, she’s based in western Wisconsin and specializes in creative fine arts senior portraits. And you have a love for Iceland to, is that correct? I do, yes. Well thank you guys. Thanks so much for having me here. I’m super excited to be here, but yes, I am just, I just shoot natural light. I do have like studio equipment, but it’s just isn’t a demand, at least in my area. Uh, so yeah, everything I do is as natural light.

[01:18] That’s awesome. Yeah. I’m excited to have you on here because you’re one of the, one of the first interviews were Kaia and I both didn’t really know you’d be helped before this podcast. You know, typically I’m like, you know, people that we, I say Chi, we should in a reasons person kind of like, I don’t know that person. I’m like, well I do and it’s perfect, you know? But you’re my first people that like both of us are going to be learning from you right now while you’re doing your interview, which I’m really excited about.

[01:40] Oh good. Well, I hope you learn something. I don’t know. I don’t know how much help I’ll be, but I’m excited to be here.

[01:46] So anything else that you want to share? I mean, so, so I kind of said you’re from Wisconsin. Natural light photographer. Okay. Any other things that you would want to share, your family, anything like that?

[01:57] Well, you know, I, I’m actually before photography, I worked in dental for actually 16 years and was actually not looking for, you know, a new career or anything like that. And our son was approaching his senior year actually. And so I kind of fell into this kind of fell into photography. Really.]]>This is a podcast episode you definitely want to hear! Matt and Kia interview True Moua, who is a photographer and educator, based in Wisconsin. She shoots only natural light and has a love for Iceland. You don’t want to miss True’s “all seasons session” and how she does that. You also want to listen in to why she doesn’t do a model program anymore and still does a destination session every year. True talks about how to do Instagram stories. She also talks about how she structured her pricing when she first started out and how to do what she says, not what she did. Listen in to hear how True would and wouldn’t spend $1k – you’ll be surprised! Curious which lens is True’s go to? You might want one too! True says, “Dig deep to find what makes you different and stop following every trend”. Keep hustling.

Online Resources – Google, YouTube, CreativeLive, Sue Bryce, Instagram TV

Certified Madness Podcast

https://truemoua.com/

@truemouaphotography

Read Full Transcript

Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it’s an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.

[00:01] This is true and you are listening to from nothing to profit.

[00:04] Welcome to from nothing to profit a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster

[00:21] from everyone. We are super excited to have true. And how do you say your last name? So it’s [inaudible]. Okay. True. Moolah here today and uh, I have seen her work online for the last couple of years and she is a phenomenal photographer and I’ve seen that she’s does a lot of education and so we’re super excited to have her here today to share with us about her business. And I’ve only seen you’re shooting in natural light. Um, she’s based in western Wisconsin and specializes in creative fine arts senior portraits. And you have a love for Iceland to, is that correct? I do, yes. Well thank you guys. Thanks so much for having me here. I’m super excited to be here, but yes, I am just, I just shoot natural light. I do have like studio equipment, but it’s just isn’t a demand, at least in my area. Uh, so yeah, everything I do is as natural light.

[01:18] That’s awesome. Yeah. I’m excited to have you on here because you’re one of the, one of the first interviews were Kaia and I both didn’t really know you’d be helped before this podcast. You know, typically I’m like, you know, people that we, I say Chi, we should in a reasons person kind of like, I don’t know that person. I’m like, well I do and it’s perfect, you know? But you’re my first people that like both of us are going to be learning from you right now while you’re doing your interview, which I’m really excited about.

[01:40] Oh good. Well, I hope you learn something. I don’t know. I don’t know how much help I’ll be, but I’m excited to be here.

[01:46] So anything else that you want to share? I mean, so, so I kind of said you’re from Wisconsin. Natural light photographer. Okay. Any other things that you would want to share, your family, anything like that?

[01:57] Well, you know, I, I’m actually before photography, I worked in dental for actually 16 years and was actually not looking for, you know, a new career or anything like that. And our son was approaching his senior year actually. And so I kind of fell into this kind of fell into photography. Really. I just, you know, we purchased this camera and I’m Craig’s lists and like, you know, everybody else, it doesn’t really understand photography. He was saying like, you’re going to buy this amazing camera and it’s just going to take amazing pictures for you. Um, and so, yeah, I mean that’s kind of what we thought. I’m like, well, just buy this camera and we’ll take great pictures and we’ll have, you know, amazing pictures for our scrapbook and, and whatnot. And of course, I quickly found out that that is not true. Um, if you don’t know how to shoot manual camera does not focus, then take great pictures at night during football games, then, you know, in basketball courts and whatnot.

[02:52] So I, um, started googling, you know, how to use this camera and was finding that I needed to learn how to shoot manual. And so I’m kind of from there. It basically, it just kind of took off. I, I took a little class on how to shoot manual and really just was falling in love with the whole process and, and one thing led to the next and all of a sudden, you know, in a year I was shooting clients full time and then launched my business about a year and a half after. So it just kind of all happened really quickly. But yeah, I mean I have, we’ve got three kids, um, obviously our son now, so I’ve been doing this for a start. I picked up my camera in 2012 and kind of started playing around then and I’m shooting clients, um, towards the end of 2012 and 2013 really?

[03:42] And then launched in 2014 so a few years now. And yeah, I mean, I, uh, you know, dabbled a little bit in everything in the beginning. I think like most photographers probably do and found that my passion was really with um, teens and that’s kind of what I focus on. I mainly shoot, majority of my clients are girls. Um, but I do shoot boys as well. I just don’t get a ton of um, you know, bookings with, um, with boys. But yeah, that’s basically, yeah, you’re answering questions that I’ve always had. I was like, okay, so w I think because you kind of came out of the womb being an actual artist and not, I know, I’m sure you can look back and go, oh, that was terrible. I felt like the very person images I saw of yours were, you know, just showed a lot of mastery and a lot of intention.

[04:38] Like it looks to me like you kind of, you know what you want, you know what you’re going for, you have really high standards. And so that makes sense. Cause I was like, where have I been? I haven’t seen, you wouldn’t see your work before 2014 and that may be why there, yeah. So how many, like do you shoot a lot of seniors or how, how, how does your business look? You know, in the beginning, um, I think this is probably true with everybody to you. You kind of just do everything and you do as much as you can. And I quickly learned that that was not manageable. So I, every year I feel like I cut back a little bit more. Um, and this year, this past year now I shot 42 seniors and my goal really is 35. Um, and I kind of in the Midwest here, it seems to be true with majority of the Midwest, but at least in my area, I have a really short time to shoot high school seniors really.

[05:34] So, you know, we have deadlines and our kids get to use their senior portraits for the yearbook. And so most of our deadlines our September and October, and so, and most kids don’t want to start having senior portraits done until they’re actually going to be a senior. So most of my bookings are June through September, October. Um, and that’s kind of it. I mean after that it’s, you know, there’s not much of a demand for senior portraits and plus it’s cold here. So, you know, nobody’s really, November is not that pretty, it’s usually pretty, everything’s dead and wet and, um, and then winter of course is beautiful but really hard to shoot in. So I kind of, um, you know, mainly just shoot from June to October. Okay. And then do you, do I’ve, I’ve noticed that you do like multi-season sessions. Is that a lot of what you do or is that just, okay.

[06:26] Um, so that’s something that I kind of started and the really, you know, kind of in the beginning, just trying to find other ways to really create art, um, in a time that obviously like I’m not at a huge demand, you know, for bookings and also was looking for a way to, um, you know, stay active and relevant on my Instagram or social media at the time when I started with just Facebook. Um, I don’t think I got on to Instagram until 2016 or 2016. But, um, so I was finding that, you know, I was trying to be creative and still like, you know, wanting to play with my camera and these off seasons that were not really a demand. And then that just kinda quickly led to people actually wanting to shoot those seasons. And so I thought, well, if I can offer something where my clients could potentially have a shoot every season, you know, that fills my schedule.

[07:22] I’m still making money on those off months. And so I launched this, um, in 2015 was this what I call I’ll season session. Um, and it’s an hour shoot per season. The shoots are shorter, so they are about an hour shoot. Um, and the girls only get two outfits because in the end like they’re going to have plenty to choose from. So, and the kids and the parents love it. They love it because, um, it gives them a chance to be able to like capture their child kind of throughout their senior year because I hear so many times from parents, like it’s amazing how much she’s changed just from her very first session with you to the very last session. So that kind of, you know, started to be a big thing and, uh, and parents were really then marketing, you know, it that way for me. And, uh, so it is, it’s, it’s become a really popular session of mine and I love it because I love shorter sessions.

[08:16] You know, I love just shooting right before sunset, so to be able to like, just go with that, you know, hour and a half before sunset and get everything that I want in that beautiful light, that’s like, that’s like everything I want. So it’s perfect. You know, I was, I think, you know, with my longer sessions, it’s like I can, I can definitely can shoot at anytime of the day. I mean, I’ve trained myself to do that, but I don’t, I don’t love it. Um, so I find a lot of times like I’m just not feeling really inspired and I’m just trying to get through the first hour of the shoot until that beautiful light comes. And then I’m like, okay, now let’s do this. So, so it’s, yeah, it’s been great. I’ve really enjoyed it. That’s awesome. I’m looking at your Instagram because the very first that I pulled up I saw like

[08:56] I saw all these winter shoots and I was like, oh, that’s really interesting. But that makes sense if you’re doing multiple seasons, why you have so many, like all the seasons. And then I was looking, I was just scrolling through and the image that you posted on February 3rd this girl in a yellow dress with, with the hat with us, like Straw hat thing. That hat is amazing.

[09:15] It was like $9 and some websites. So very cheap though.

[09:21] Cool. So everyone should to check out her, her Instagram and go, you know, scroll through it because it’s all amazing hat thing is as wild, right?

[09:29] Nursing. Yeah. You know, it’s, it’s, it’s something, you know, it’s something fun. And just to be able to add like a tiny little piece of her to, to a piece, you know, like a dress or an outfit that they have. I mean, it really can pull things together. So I enjoy all of that. I mean, styling is probably my next favorite thing to do besides, you know, shooting. So that’s great.

[09:50] And so are you shooting, you know, outside of west constant a lot as well or mostly,

[09:54] no, I, so once a year I try to offer a destination shoot for my seniors and the, initially it started out with, um, offering it just to my senior model of team. Um, and I currently do not have a senior medical team anymore and I don’t have any plans of, you know, having one in the future. And there’s many different reasons for that. I mean, I think for me, just because I have such a short time to shoot my, you know, bookings are usually filled by about spring. And so it, my, my girls just weren’t really benefiting from what they could benefit from if they were referring clients. Cause by the time I, I photograph them and they had their images, my schedule was already full. So I, it felt like it was kind of a disadvantage to them. And which is the reason why I’ve taken it, you know, a way.

[10:40] But I still do, you know, find like creative shoots and now I’ll pick models from like my actual clients. Um, cause it’s great. Like they already chose me. I know they love my work and I know they’re going to, you know, market for me. So what about model to, to choose on your own paying clients, but the kids really love it and they look forward to like where I’m going to go the next year or so. I’ve, I’ve gotten just a ton of dms in the last probably few weeks. Just like I wonder are you going to release, you know, your, your next destination. Like we’re ready to sign up. Um, and so, yeah, I try to, I try to offer one destination a year and then I do a lot of, um, workshops, um, during my off season as well. Um, and I love, I mean, I love to teach. I love to help people grow.

[11:23] And so to be able to do those in areas where it’s not like we were negative 35, you guys, like a month ago, it was so literally that gets cold, literally like that’s not even including with a windshield. I believe it was negative 69 or something. Yeah, insane. And it’s like frostbite and a minute, right? Luckily I was stuck in California at the time, but to be able to, you know, be, you know, and just to be able to shoot in a different area to it, we’re just really helps, um, re inspire me. So I try to, um, I try to, you know, set a workshops up in areas, not Wisconsin and that allows me to travel and explore new backdrops and whatnot. And, um, and then, you know, I been fortunate to, you know, have opportunities to speak on different platforms as well that usually they pick beautiful sunny places as well. So that allows me to add some, some of that to my portfolio.

[12:20] That’s awesome. Okay. So the first question we have is, um, like what’s working now? So like, you know, our podcasts is always just trying to give photographers, you know, like maybe just like a little piece of information of something that they could explore. So what do you think’s working now or tell a story of what’s working now in your business that you’d want to share with our audience?

[12:39] It’s working, um, as in like booking clients or,

[12:43] yes, sure. Yeah. Anything. Yeah. Like, or what you think? Yeah, I mean it could be about booking clients or something that you’re doing right now, you know, as simple as, you know, not doing a model program or you just think like, yeah, this is actually helping me succeed or helping me stay sane or whatever.

[12:57] Okay. Well, you know, I recently spoke at a conference put on by clicking moms, but a big topic while I was there with some of the attendees was Instagram story and how, you know, they were not posting because they were trying to kind of get like that. Perfect. I mean I was sitting at a table with six other ladies that had attended the workshop or the conference and um, you know, they were trying to post on Instagram, but they’re editing the image and they’re trying to get it perfect and they’re trying to think of the perfect caption. And I had to just stop them because Instagram story, I think if you’re not using it, you need to cause all of our kids, that’s probably, at least in my area, I don’t know about you guys, but in my area, the number one platform for my kids is Instagram.

[13:44] That’s the one that everybody says they’re on. So you know, parents are still on Facebook. Kids are definitely still on snapchat. But the reach on snapchat is basically, I mean, virtually nothing. So if you’re not using Instagram stories, like you need to use Instagram stories. But what the kids want to see, and this is so every now and then I pull kids that I’ve, I’m photograph and I do just kind of a little focus group. So we just go grab coffee or lunch or whatever. We just kind of talk about things. And one thing they told me is like they love Instagram stories. They’re on it all the time. I mean they’re, you know, they’re posting all the time. They’re watching other stories all the time, but they want to see like real things. They want to see like who you are. So Instagram stories is, you know, I mean it’s there for you to market it to tell your potential clients like who, who you are and what you have to offer, but they want to see real things.

[14:35] Kids are not, you know, they know a lot more than we think. They know and they can, they definitely, you know, sent, they know when something is fake and when something is almost like two curated, like your Instagram, you can definitely it. I think, you know, Instagram is there to, to be pretty and, and probably should be curated to a certain point. But your story is, is it’s like reality TV, right? I mean we’re all caught up in reality TV because it’s, well most of it is real and for some reason, even though it’s silly, like we just are drawn to it and then we just get almost addicted to it and we want to just keep watching because we want to know what’s going to happen next. And Instagram stories is kind of the same way. So I, you know, it just had to stop them and tell them like this, they’re not looking for you to post perfect pictures on Instagram stories.

[15:26] I mean, they’re going to click out of there because they know it’s not real. You know? And when your picture is already perfectly edited and you know, you’re in this amazing light and everything, like they know it’s not real. They want to see who you really are. It’s their way of connecting with you and being able to feel like, you know, they, like, they know who you are. And I think that that for sure, like has been working for me. I mean my kids when they show up, they know exactly. Not exactly, but they already have an idea of who I am. Um, and because Instagram stories, like I use it so big for every, I mean all the behind the scenes, like the reality of it all having a, you know, I show the girls coming in the way, they are kind of the whole process to behind the scene, straight out of camera and just like just real like in the moment and to be able to like post right away, you know, cause the curls are like I post straight out of camera before, before the kids even like get in their car.

[16:21] So they know like these images are real and they’re telling their friends about it and so when they’re coming to their shoot, like their friends are waiting to watch them on my story. Yeah. You know, so it’s, yeah, I mean that, I think it’s just been great. It’s been great for me. Every, every time. I, you know, poets like they engagement on my stories is a lot more than the engagement I should get on my feet. Yeah. For sure. And I, you know, it’s funny because that is so true. Like our girls this summer didn’t, they cared more about what we were putting on their story and you know, they were, they were watching and they were, they were watching their own story during the session. Yeah. We stay...]]>https://photopodcast.co/?p=1955Mon, 01 Apr 2019 01:59:00 -040045:38nofull1261261This is a podcast episode you definitely want to hear! Matt and Kia interview True Moua, who is a photographer and educator, based in Wisconsin. She shoots only natural light and has a love for Iceland. You don’t want to miss True’s “all seasons session” and how she does that. You also want to listen…Kia Bondurant and Aubrey LaurenModel Program Q and A– Episode 025 – A Photographer Podcast InterviewMatt & Kia discuss high school senior model programs on this episode of the podcast. They compare the way they each do their programs and how they’ve changed the programs over the years. Seniors are busy these days and want to be part of something fun. Kia talks about making it as easy and simple and as stress-free as possible. Kia shoots with a wider lens for her fun mini sessions so the seniors have a different look than their senior pictures. Make sure to listen in to hear the fresh ideas discussed.

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Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it’s an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.

Matt: [00:01] Hey everybody, this is Matt and Kaia and you’re listening to from nothing to profit.

Speaker 2: [00:06] Welcome to from nothing to profit a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

Matt: [00:22] Hey everybody, welcome to the podcast. So kinda here’s the deal. Okay. I want to ask you some questions and I mean at first I just thought this would be a really good episode for our audience and then I realized that actually a really good episode for me. So in terms of high school, senior model programs, we’ve been doing one for a long time. We’d been doing work for like eight years and I’m, I don’t, I feel like it’s unsuccessful, but here’s the catch. I actually know when I look at my numbers, it’s not unsuccessful. I think I’m just really bored with it. And so I don’t really know what I just want, just like, I don’t know if I even want fresh ideas, but just I kind of want to go through some do’s and don’ts and just to see if I’m actually still doing like what I’m supposed to be doing and I just think it’d be good for our audience to hear us have this conversation. A little bit about model programs.

Kia: [01:09] Okay. So let me ask you a couple questions about yours. Like when you say you’re bored, are you bored? Like you’re like, ah, I don’t want to have to promote it. I feel like I’m saying things that are kind of uninteresting. Like your you board from the promotion side or from the photography side or what? What are you worried about?

Matt: [01:27] I think a little bit of both. Like I just, I’m just like kind of tired of the grind of like launching the model program for another year. And then on top of that I also like, I’m just like, are they even into this? And I just, I, it’s hard for me to realize like, am I not into this? Are they not into this? And I know what I mean, they have been talking about high school kids but they seem to be booking. So I guess they are into it.

Kia: [01:51] So have you started launching it? Yeah. And we’ve got a couple, we’ve got a couple of kids to sign up. Yeah. Okay, great. And so how do you do it? Do you do a, like an application and then you choose from that? Or do you like say you know, send specific invites or,

Matt: [02:06] well yeah, so what we do is we get a list of names from our previous models and seniors and then we send an Instagram DM to them and invite them. And then yeah, they go to our website and they fill out just a, just basically name information, just their contact information. And then they schedule a meeting to sit down with us. And we do individual meetings now. We used to do a group meeting, but we, we’ve, we’ve moved to individual meetings a couple of years ago and then we basically just tell them and their parent about, about the program and I...]]>Matt & Kia discuss high school senior model programs on this episode of the podcast. They compare the way they each do their programs and how they’ve changed the programs over the years. Seniors are busy these days and want to be part of something fun. Kia talks about making it as easy and simple and as stress-free as possible. Kia shoots with a wider lens for her fun mini sessions so the seniors have a different look than their senior pictures. Make sure to listen in to hear the fresh ideas discussed.

Read Full Transcript

Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it’s an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.

Matt: [00:01] Hey everybody, this is Matt and Kaia and you’re listening to from nothing to profit.

Speaker 2: [00:06] Welcome to from nothing to profit a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

Matt: [00:22] Hey everybody, welcome to the podcast. So kinda here’s the deal. Okay. I want to ask you some questions and I mean at first I just thought this would be a really good episode for our audience and then I realized that actually a really good episode for me. So in terms of high school, senior model programs, we’ve been doing one for a long time. We’d been doing work for like eight years and I’m, I don’t, I feel like it’s unsuccessful, but here’s the catch. I actually know when I look at my numbers, it’s not unsuccessful. I think I’m just really bored with it. And so I don’t really know what I just want, just like, I don’t know if I even want fresh ideas, but just I kind of want to go through some do’s and don’ts and just to see if I’m actually still doing like what I’m supposed to be doing and I just think it’d be good for our audience to hear us have this conversation. A little bit about model programs.

Kia: [01:09] Okay. So let me ask you a couple questions about yours. Like when you say you’re bored, are you bored? Like you’re like, ah, I don’t want to have to promote it. I feel like I’m saying things that are kind of uninteresting. Like your you board from the promotion side or from the photography side or what? What are you worried about?

Matt: [01:27] I think a little bit of both. Like I just, I’m just like kind of tired of the grind of like launching the model program for another year. And then on top of that I also like, I’m just like, are they even into this? And I just, I, it’s hard for me to realize like, am I not into this? Are they not into this? And I know what I mean, they have been talking about high school kids but they seem to be booking. So I guess they are into it.

Kia: [01:51] So have you started launching it? Yeah. And we’ve got a couple, we’ve got a couple of kids to sign up. Yeah. Okay, great. And so how do you do it? Do you do a, like an application and then you choose from that? Or do you like say you know, send specific invites or,

Matt: [02:06] well yeah, so what we do is we get a list of names from our previous models and seniors and then we send an Instagram DM to them and invite them. And then yeah, they go to our website and they fill out just a, just basically name information, just their contact information. And then they schedule a meeting to sit down with us. And we do individual meetings now. We used to do a group meeting, but we, we’ve, we’ve moved to individual meetings a couple of years ago and then we basically just tell them and their parent about, about the program and I guess kind of hope that they sign up and see like I can just hear myself being bored in this whole

Kia: [02:41] process, like as I’m describing. Do any like what part of it do you do?

Matt: [02:46] Do I personally do?

Kia: [02:47] Yeah. Like do you, do you sit in the meetings, do you

Matt: [02:49] no, so I do, I do like the promotion of it, rebuilding the program every year to see if we need to tweak it and stuff like that and then do the promotion side of it. And then Allison does the meetings with them and yeah. So that’s that.

Kia: [03:01] And then, uh, I know I’m asking a lot of questions. It’s kind of funny. That’s kind of probably not what you were thinking, but it helps to see, because I feel like you could do the model program a hundred different ways.

Matt: [03:12] Right. So I can definitely tell people a little bit about my model program and then you can tell them about yours and then we can kind of compare notes.

Kia: [03:20] Yeah. Yes. Because so well, or I can just ask, I guess, how about this, I’ll answer the questions that I ask too because I had like a list in my head. So is the model program the main way that you book high school seniors?

Matt: [03:33] Uh, I would say yeah, it’s the majority of them. I mean we book probably, I mean half probably half our, our models half are not our models. They come in later but everybody knows about it. And the, the second half of kids that don’t, our models that like just book regular senior sessions, they tend to be, you know, just like over subscribed, you’re busy. So they just don’t have time to commit to it during the summer. And so they’d just like, I’ll just do my senior pictures with you. Yes, maybe they were like, they, they’re like on a club travel team or something like that.

Kia: [04:02] Okay. So I have been in the business for 25 years and for probably the first 15, well probably 12 years, let’s see. No, probably the first, I don’t know, the first 12 years probably we did not do a model program at all. We sent out advertisements, you know, so we sent out catalogs and postcards and three days sales and we would book our whole summer on advertisement. So we never did a model program and then we started doing one because I thought it would be kind of fun to try it. Um, but it was definitely a small portion of our actual high school seniors did it. But now that I’m transitioned into my new studio, the model program is really the basis of my senior portraits. So it’s at least half if not more. Right.

Matt: [04:47] My husband was saying here, I would say the same thing. We see the same thing.

Kia: [04:51] Yeah. So then what do like what do your models get for being models?

Matt: [04:56] Yeah, so they get like some group shoots during the summer. I’m going to generalize cause we actually have like three levels and they get different stuff. But they basically get group, like the at the beginning level is they get droop shoots and then their senior session. Okay. The middle one I think I have to remember how this works. The middle level we add a custom shoots so they basically get like two senior sessions so they can do two different looks. Would you miss a lot with our sports kids and like if they’re into horses or something like that where we, it’s really for us to kind of break up the session into two because two completely different looks and then the very top level they get their senior session group shoots and then they also get like a destination session. So we typically go to Moab, which is about a three hour drive from us and the sand dunes, which is about three hour drive from us and we do like on location kind of destination stuff.

Kia: [05:53] That’s fun. Are those broken, like do they break down pretty or do most of them just do the beginning one or

Matt: [06:01] last year? Like normally we do. We have a lot in the middle and it was kind of like fades off both sides. But then last year we, we had a lot of, a lot of just the entry level.

Kia: [06:13] Okay. One, you know, I, one of the big things that I’ve noticed is that kids are busy and I think that’s hard. So our program has traditionally been based on doing fashion shoots with local boutiques. Yeah. And then being in a fashion show. Okay. So this is the first year that we have, are not doing the fashion show. Uh, my second daughter is a junior this year and she did the fashion show last year and she said she didn’t care if she did it this year. And I think a lot of the girls don’t really want to have to do it. It’s kind of, it’s, it’s just not as big of a draw. So we’ve dropped that and we are just going to be doing fashion shoots with local boutiques.

Matt: [06:58] Okay. And that was about like, like they just get that in addition to their senior session.

Kia: [07:01] Yeah. So, so when you call them group shoots, that’s what they are as the fat. So it was just more of a fashion edge to it.

Matt: [07:07] Yeah. And ours is more like stylized, like we have kind of themes to each one.

Kia: [07:11] Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So it’s, it, what is interesting is I just sat down with the girl. We also used to do group meetings and now we do individual meetings. Uh, because uh, mainly because our individual meetings, we want them to be more about planning their senior portraits. Yes. Yeah. Not necessarily as much about the program, but I sat down with a girl last night who had been painted to, you know, had watched everything, knew about it all, had been paying attention to our social media and was ready to do it. And she didn’t really, she didn’t really know what it was. She just it to be one. And so I think we’ve been doing it the way, like the way we’ve been doing it with our Instagram, it’s called style music magazine for the last maybe four years, I think for probably four years this way.

Kia: [07:58] And I just think that it’s just starting to build more and more the social media and the cache of being apart. So this year has been, is by far going to be our most successful year with it already. We are probably like, you know, we’re mid February right now and we’re probably where we were last year at the end of May. Okay. And so were are just your booking rate is so far up there and it’s just, I think it’s because we’ve, uh, our social media has just been really, really fun. Uh, we’ve been just doing a lot of fun things. I know that sounds funny, but I’m just really fun and really happy and that’s the track that attracts people for sure. Yeah. Yeah. And it’s just mine.

Matt: [08:45] What do you think, like what do you think they were most of the high school seniors are most excited about to be a part of it? Like is there one particular thing that they’re like pumped about?

Kia: [08:55] Yes. So

Matt: [08:57] we, last year during my senior sessions and mainly those sessions were my style muse models. I did a food theme, a happy food theme. And so we did, uh, the, the paper backgrounds, all the different colored paper backgrounds, and then I would brought in food, so cupcakes and pineapples and a coke cans and, uh, lacroix cans and did everyone donuts. I, so I photographed every girl with some sort of food doing like cute, like kissy faces and winky eyes and surprise faces and that type of thing. And I think that like super commercial look has, um, been really attractive to these girls. Okay. That’s good. That’s good to know. Yeah. Yeah, it’s been, it’s just bright, fun commercial and sort of looks like it could be in a magazine. Totally.

Kia: [09:56] Yeah. And it was just something that I wanted to do, you know, I was like, I want to try this. And I, and what’s really funny is they created so many fights and a Abra who works with in the orders would say, oh my goodness, these er, these pictures are driving me crazy because the girls want them really the bad. And the moms are like, I’m not buying a picture of you drinking a lacroix. And so, um, so yeah, they just made our social media look really fun.

Matt: [10:24] Yeah. So maybe I need to like do an audit of my social media and make sure like that. Yeah, we’re doing that. Cause I mean that’s really easy to do. That’s just a mind shift, you know?

Kia: [10:34] Yes. Yeah. Because I think that that moody, like the Darker Moody Look is trendy. I just don’t know if it’s attractive to the high school scene,

Matt: [10:44] especially when you’re asking me to be part of a program. They want to be a part of something fun. They don’t want necessarily want to be a part of something dark, you know? Yes. It’s probably very subconscious to them, but that’s probably a reality.

Kia: [10:56] Yeah. So the other thing we did that we changed this year is, uh, we made our buyin cheaper just because, uh, we, we knew we wanted to up the volume, you know, number of sessions.

Matt: [11:09] So we’re doing, this year we did a little bit of a drop to

Kia: [11:12] [inaudible] just because once they see the pictures, they love them and then we’ll order them. So getting them in the door. And then one other thing we did is we, like I said, we took out the fashion show and we’re, our goal with it is just to make it as simple and easy and stress free as possible for them because they’re just so busy. And so, uh, so yeah, so that we’re just sort of like, you don’t have to go to anything except for, we’ll make sure you get to one fashion shoot. We will make sure that happens for you.

Matt: [11:42] Right. So talk a little bit about buy-ins. I’ll just explain how we do it. So we have the three different levels and we did something a little bit different this year with our price drop and I’ll explain in a second. But basically what they’re doing is they’re just basically putting a deposit down for their senior session. Is that what they’re doing for you guys as well or,

Kia: [12:03] yeah, it just pays for, there are entry level session fee.

Matt: [12:06] Okay. So what we did is we, we were going to lower our price to get more people in this year because we had been raising it over the last like three or four years. And we’re starting to get to a number that it was like, well we probably should have a few more people in this. And so what we actually did is we actually dropped our price for them to be a part of it with a deadline. So like if they book in February, they get it at the cheaper price. But if they get, if they book after that then they have to pay them what everybody paid last year. So I think is good because then we actually have some deadlines cause one of the things that we’ve always struggled with in the past, it’s like when we’re not well we don’t have reasons for them to buck.

Matt: [12:47] They just, they can take like three weeks to book somebody in a sense because they’re thinking about it and then they go to do all their sports and their stuff and we just fall off the radar because they’re just trying to do, accomplish everything in life. So we’re like okay we just need some hard deadlines for them to do that. So, so our, our, our pro to get in with what the discount, they can either get into for 500, seven 50 or $1,000. So then af after February it’ll be seven 50, 1,012 50 is what it will be. Okay.

Kia: [13:22] And they pay that at the time.

Matt: [13:23] They pay that at the time and then they’re done. That money goes towards their senior order. Okay. So they basically get their session for free. We went to her session free.

Kia: [13:35] Uh Huh. Yeah. That’s great. Yeah. Ours is $100. Okay.

Matt: [13:39] No. Yeah. And so, yeah, no, there’s not a wrong or right way to do that. Yeah.

Kia: [13:42] Yeah. It makes it simple. Yeah. Yeah. So what we’re doing too, it’s not necessarily to create the urgency, but it is creating the urgency is our different fashion shoots are going to all have. Um, like you said, you do yours themed and I was hoping to make them all, uh, launch related to this year because that’s my word of the year. So, uh, like maybe a hot air balloon for one, you know, walking with a big bunch of balloons in the city for another. So just those type of themes. And so, uh, we’ve been telling the girls about our plans. We don’t have them scheduled yet. Um, but we are telling them that we are letting them sign up in order. So the first people to sign up for the program or the F get first dibs on which fashion shoot they do. Okay.

Matt: [14:32] Do they just do one or can they do more than one?

Kia: [14:34] Well, they do one of the boutique fashion shoots. Okay. And so, um, so they get to choose. So the sooner they sign up, then the sooner they will be able to choose which fashion shoot that they want to do. And so that has been a really great way to, you know, I mean it’s, it’s, it has created urgency. It wasn’t specifically designed for that. Um, but then another thing we just did is, because it’s been, we were just talking before we started the podcast. It’s been a really cold, really a wintery winter here in Kansas. And I was getting tired of not shooting, uh, because I just didn’t have stuff that I could do. Typically. I’m, we’re doing the fashion shoots already, but we just could not get outside and yeah, I want the fashion shoots this year to be outdoors type things. And so, uh, we decided to do these little mini sessions because we used to, when we would have our group meetings, we would also do like a little, we would call it a, um, like an interview shoot.

Kia: [15:34] And we would do something themed according like one year it was like tropical themed and we would do like a little tropical shoot, but a lot of times the girls weren’t ready and they didn’t know if they were signing up yet. When I took the pictures, they would just decide later. And so, uh, then last year we, we switched from doing the shoot at the initial meeting and we had a big party on Cinco de Mayo, which was really fun. And that was kind of our, you know, sign up and you can come to the party. And we photographed them there. But this year we uh, with felt like that was too many things for them to have to go to a, because of the, the boutique shoots in the fashion show, we just wanted to simplify it. So we did away with the party and then like I said, we just added in these little mini shoots and so we did a Valentine’s mini session with whatever girls could make it in and it’s just in the studio. And so we have some of those lined up and each girl if they want can do one of those mini sessions. And those are so great for social media. They were, they were so excited. Hey, on that note, let’s just take a quick break and we’ll be right back. Okay.

Speaker 4: [16:42] Hey everyone, tell me if this sounds familiar. You look at your calendar and notice you need clients now. So you do a little marketing and get some phone calls. You get busy helping those new clients. They scheduled sessions, they...]]>https://photopodcast.co/?p=1952Mon, 25 Mar 2019 01:57:00 -040031:23nofull1251251Matt & Kia discuss high school senior model programs on this episode of the podcast. They compare the way they each do their programs and how they’ve changed the programs over the years. Seniors are busy these days and want to be part of something fun. Kia talks about making it as easy and simple…Kia Bondurant and Aubrey LaurenLeslie Kerrigan – Episode 024 – A Photographer Podcast InterviewLeslie Kerrigan is the creator of Seniorologie and also has her own podcast. Leslie has run her own senior portrait studio for 10 years and started Seniorologie to educate herself and also share what she is learning. Conference 12, put on by Seniorologie, is in Nashville this year. You don’t want to miss this podcast episode! Listen in to hear what is working for Leslie these days in her business and what she’s fired up about in the industry. Leslie gives great social media advice you won’t want to miss. Camera brands, education and business are hot topics in this podcast.

Internet Resources:

Find somebody amazing to learn from in marketing or business, not even in the photography industry.

Seniorologie FB group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/SeniorologieCommunity/)

Seniorologie.com

http://www.conference12.com/

Books

Work Party by Jacelyn Johnson (https://amzn.to/2C9ibgJ)

Nasty Galaxy by Sophia Amoruso (https://www.amazon.com/Nasty-Galaxy-Sophia-Amoruso)

Purple Cow by Seth Godin (https://www.amazon.com/Purple-Cow-Transform-Business-Remarkable)

Read Full Transcript

Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it’s an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.

Leslie: [00:01] This is Leslie care again and you are listening to from nothing to profit.

Speaker 2: [00:06] Welcome to from nothing to profit a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster. Hello guys,

Kia: [00:23] we are so excited to have Leslie Kerrigan with us today. As you can hear, she is great on the podcast already. She does her own podcast and she is the founder of see neurology it, which has a great Instagram account. And uh, I think you do, um, conventions and that type of thing. And so we’d love to hear more about you and your history and senior photography. Leslie.

Leslie: [00:46] Yeah, thanks for having me. And Yeah, so I started senior photography and my own personal business, Leslie Kerrigan photography, Gosh, probably about nine or 10 years ago. And right around the same time I was trying to find information and learn about senior photography, um, and it wasn’t really finding what I was looking for. So I created senior urology to help other people as I learned. So I kind of used it as a learning platform for myself, but also to share what I’ve learned with others cause I thought, well maybe they need to learn as well. So I started seeing urology and it started out as just a blog that interviewed other photographers and shared inspiration from other photographers. And then it quickly grew into in person workshops. And then that grew into what we have now, which is a conference once a year called conference 12 yeah, that looks really fun.

Matt: [01:44] And where’s that?

Leslie: [01:46] So...]]>Leslie Kerrigan is the creator of Seniorologie and also has her own podcast. Leslie has run her own senior portrait studio for 10 years and started Seniorologie to educate herself and also share what she is learning. Conference 12, put on by Seniorologie, is in Nashville this year. You don’t want to miss this podcast episode! Listen in to hear what is working for Leslie these days in her business and what she’s fired up about in the industry. Leslie gives great social media advice you won’t want to miss. Camera brands, education and business are hot topics in this podcast.

Internet Resources:

Find somebody amazing to learn from in marketing or business, not even in the photography industry.

Seniorologie FB group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/SeniorologieCommunity/)

Seniorologie.com

http://www.conference12.com/

Books

Work Party by Jacelyn Johnson (https://amzn.to/2C9ibgJ)

Nasty Galaxy by Sophia Amoruso (https://www.amazon.com/Nasty-Galaxy-Sophia-Amoruso)

Purple Cow by Seth Godin (https://www.amazon.com/Purple-Cow-Transform-Business-Remarkable)

Read Full Transcript

Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it’s an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.

Leslie: [00:01] This is Leslie care again and you are listening to from nothing to profit.

Speaker 2: [00:06] Welcome to from nothing to profit a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster. Hello guys,

Kia: [00:23] we are so excited to have Leslie Kerrigan with us today. As you can hear, she is great on the podcast already. She does her own podcast and she is the founder of see neurology it, which has a great Instagram account. And uh, I think you do, um, conventions and that type of thing. And so we’d love to hear more about you and your history and senior photography. Leslie.

Leslie: [00:46] Yeah, thanks for having me. And Yeah, so I started senior photography and my own personal business, Leslie Kerrigan photography, Gosh, probably about nine or 10 years ago. And right around the same time I was trying to find information and learn about senior photography, um, and it wasn’t really finding what I was looking for. So I created senior urology to help other people as I learned. So I kind of used it as a learning platform for myself, but also to share what I’ve learned with others cause I thought, well maybe they need to learn as well. So I started seeing urology and it started out as just a blog that interviewed other photographers and shared inspiration from other photographers. And then it quickly grew into in person workshops. And then that grew into what we have now, which is a conference once a year called conference 12 yeah, that looks really fun.

Matt: [01:44] And where’s that?

Leslie: [01:46] So the conference conferences in a different city every year. And this year it’s in Nashville, Tennessee.

Matt: [01:52] Oh, awesome. That’s really cool. Yeah, I’ve, I’ve been to Nashville for gungy conferences. It’s a really like conference friendly city. I really liked it. Yeah.

Leslie: [01:59] Right. Yeah, it’s a great city. It’s not too far from me. Uh, but you know, we actually had conference 12 in Denver, which was one of our most popular ones. So Denver was a great place to,

Matt: [02:10] yeah, I think I, that’s where I grew up. I don’t live there anymore, but yeah, Denver so centrally located. And sometimes I think it’s just forgotten about as like a major Midwest city, you know, but it seems like it’s pretty easy to get in and out of Denver for a lot for people from both coasts and stuff like that. So that makes sense that it’s was probably one of the more of the popular ones. And then you guys have guest speakers? Yeah,

Leslie: [02:34] speakers, the conference 12 since 12 is the year, you know, the 12th year in school, they’re seniors. So then the conferences, that’s why it’s called conference 12. And then we have 12 different senior photography speakers who teach 12 different classes. So it’s kind of a well rounded. You get education from a lot of different people with a lot of different styles and, and you know, backgrounds and stuff like that. Yeah, I’ve been your release. I always find it fun to see how you kind of trickle out who all your speakers are. Yeah, we have fun. But then you also do senior photography yourself as well, right? Yes. Yes. So I have my own personal, um, senior photography business. I, um, really that’s all I shoot. I mean, every now and then I’ll shoot some other things. But the majority of my business is high school seniors. In fact, just last night we had our class of 2020 model informational meeting here at my house. So I’m kind of recovering from that today. I saw you had really cute cookies with your logo or is it wasn’t your monogram on it?

Leslie: [03:39] Leslie Kerrigan photography. So it just said it. Okay. P across the front. So, and they were actually really yummy. We’ve actually had um, prettier cookies before that didn’t taste so good, like shaped like cameras and they were so pretty, but then they didn’t taste good. So I went with the tasting good route last night. That’s fun. That’s really fun. Um, so, uh, you can answer are we have a list of questions that we’d like to ask and you can answer them from both what you know about the whole industry or from your business. Personally, we would love to hear any, any sort of expertise. So, okay, so Matt, where are we going now?

Matt: [04:16] Talk about like what’s working now. So when you, when you think of what’s working now in the senior portrait market, what, what comes to mind Leslie?

Leslie: [04:26] Well, for me personally and my personal photography business really showcasing and experience and you know, going back to what I did last night, the model program, those things are working really well. For me personally, I know that across the country it really varies depending on your market. So I’ve learned through senior Ologie and through, you know, meeting a bunch of different photographers all over the country that the senior market is different depending on where you live. So, you know, it may be more popular as in it’s been around for awhile sort of on the west coast where they have to hire a photographer in order to have a photo in the yearbook. But for me it’s kind of a newer thing because here in the south they don’t get to put whatever photo they want, the yearbook, they have to go to the school appointed photographer and have the black drape kind of on the plain backdrop photo. So to have me in addition to that is sort of a newer phenomenon. So it’s, you know, a little bit newer have an industry here, which I love because when I started, nobody even knew what senior photography was other than that traditional yearbook photo. So, um,

Matt: [05:47] I think you’re in, you’re saying like nine years ago, like there wasn’t really a senior market for you. Now you guys have had to kind of just build it.

Leslie: [05:55] Yeah, I totally, what city are you in? So I’m located in Greenville, South Carolina. Um, and again, everything in the south, I like to joke about this, but it’s really true. Uh, all trends, no matter what they are, move from west to east, north to south. So we are absolutely the last people that do anything. Um, so yeah. So when I decided, hey, I think I want to do senior photography, there really wasn’t a market for that in my area. People are like, what are you talking about? What senior photography? Um, so I really had to create sort of a reason why anyone would hire me after they already had the yearbook photo taken.

Matt: [06:38] That’s so interesting. Like, yeah. Cause you know, I feel like when people talk about senior photography, they talk about the way they just described it, the way you just described it. But you always just assume like, yeah, that was like 2,500 years ago. But like you guys are still living it. Like you’re still doing the super traditional yearbook pictures in South Carolina and your, and then this, the model program and this kind of lifestyle senior portrait stuff is kind of still new, which is really interesting.

Leslie: [07:07] Yeah, totally. That’s really neat. So now let’s move on to the next question. Uh, because this fits in perfectly. What is one thing that you are most fired up about in our industry today? Like what makes you really excited about what’s, what’s happening? Oh my gosh. I mean I love seeing how it, to me, what started out as a little more posed portrait style is really big. And then now it’s kind of going into more of a lifestyle, um, style. Um, so I love seeing that because I feel like, you know, it’s great to get a few post photos of course, especially here in the south where we’re, we’re super traditional. Parents loved that, the smiling post photo. But I think the girls and the seniors are really getting a little more excited about more of a fashion blogger lifestyle type photo where you see some movement and you see, you know, um, perfectly post photos.

Leslie: [08:07] So I think that’s exciting. I think the model program is always exciting because for me it changes every year. You know, my program started out with only four girls that I had to beg to be a part of it. Now it’s grown into, you know, I have over a hundred apply every year. So it’s fun to see how that’s changing as well. Those things get me excited. But then in the industry as whole as a whole, I really liked to see the huge movement for education for high school senior photographers and the abundance of, you know, places to learn because I really, I’m a strong believer in no one person has all the answers. So to be able to have choices of where you might learn about this business is exciting.

Matt: [08:53] That’s really awesome. So let me, let me of dig a little bit deeper because I’ve been in this conversation in my own head and maybe you can help me with it. So like you’re talking about how how the industry has changed a little bit and how’s the senior market has changed a little bit. How do you feel like social media has changed in the last couple of years or even in the last year? Have you seen any kind of big changes there?

Leslie: [09:16] Well, I think social media is changing daily. So yeah, I mean, you know, what was once a Facebook ruled world is now gone to hardly any high school senior is on Facebook anymore and they’re all on Instagram and snapchat and all these other avenues for social media. I said that in and of itself has changed. I think, you know, with photographers in general, posting about all sorts of things from education to their own actual work has changed. I think I see a lot more of that people branching into the education world. And posting about that. So that’s exciting. But yeah, I mean it’s one of those things when you’re in a teen, a heavy industry, you gotta keep up with all those trends. So, and of course it’s, it’s a little hard to keep up with every social media aspect. So I always say pick one that you liked the best that teens are using and really hone in on that one. So Instagram for me is that I don’t really snapchat because I feel like I can’t dedicate myself to several channels. I, I feel like I can do one really well. So that’s what I’m doing now. But you know, you have to be able to change if that then changes, cause you never know. Instagram may change just like Facebook did. I mean maybe teens, we’ll leave that sooner or later, who knows?

Matt: [10:36] Yeah, it’s always a, it’s definitely always a moving target that’s for, that’s definitely for sure. Yeah. Okay. So we’ll jump right, we’ll jump into our lightning round real quick. And these are just kind of questions that can, that can kind of happen fast. But at the same time, if we need to spend a few minutes really diving into them, we, we can cause we got, we got plenty of time. Okay. So when you were first starting out, Leslie, what was holding you back from being a full time photographer?

Leslie: [11:04] Probably fear, which I think can hold us back from a lot of things. You know, would I get enough clients? Would I make enough money doing this? So fear holds us back from a lot of different things. I mean, he’s still, to this day, there are many ideas floating through my head, but I don’t always go with them because maybe I’m scared that nobody will like that idea. But I think you have to just put yourself out there and really work your tail off to accomplish it if it’s something you truly believe in and want to do. Um, so I just think overcoming that fear is one of those things that you just, you have to do in order to be successful. You can’t, you can’t do it halfway. You have to do it, you know, with all your intentions and your full attention. So you can be successful.

Matt: [11:54] And was it just like fail of, I can’t even speak about that fail fear of failure or was it like fail? I don’t know. Like what, was there one particular part that you were, you were worried about or was it just general failure that you were worried about?

Leslie: [12:09] Why do you think there’s always a fear of failure? In fact, this week, senior urology podcast is all about fear of failure. Um, so I think in business, no matter what business you are, you are in photography or whatever, there’s always that fear that it might not work out. But I’ve done a ton of stuff that didn’t really work out. I mean, I’ll be honest, I’ve put workshops out there and gotten zero people signed up for it. I have, I try to rep program that first year and really didn’t get referrals out of it. I’ve done, I’ve done all of it. So I’ve failed a million times. So I think the thing that more than failure, fear of failure is to get back up and try again. So I just keep trying and keep putting things out there. And hoping something sticks to be honest. And how did you get into photography?

Leslie: [12:59] W did you go straight into it or were you doing something else before? Oh, no, I actually, um, so I went to college for journalism. So, um, I started my first sort of job I guess was, um, in a hospital PR department. And then from there I went to work at a paper company, which was headquartered in my hometown. Um, so I was like an inside sales person, met my husband, we had cubicles across from each other and then he wanted to go back and get his masters at Purdue, which was in Indiana. And at the time we were in South Carolina. So I went and you know, we got married and we moved to Indiana and I worked in the events department of Purdue’s memorial union. So I planned weddings and things like that at Purdue. And then from there I actually started this crazy kind of how it all works out.

Leslie: [13:56] But then from there I started an invitation company. So it’s kind of always in sort of the events planning. You know, I went from event planning to actually creating invitation for these events, uh, which was kind of my graphic design sort of interest. And then from then I had kids and I wanted photos of them. So I thought, well, I’ve always been interested in photography. I never taken a course or anything like that on it, but I started playing around with it, teaching myself. Um, so yeah, it’s totally self taught. I attended a one or two workshops back in the day that really gave me a foundation. I don’t know if you guys ever heard of Nicole van, but that was one of the very first workshops I attended. And she really kind of gave me the foundation of even how to even take a photo, what exposure was and that sort of thing.

Leslie: [14:48] And then I, you know, kind of dabbled in everything like a lot of people. So I took photos of kids’ families, you know, newborns, weddings, whatever, and just kind of figured out that for me, I related better to high school seniors. I liked the fact that they wanted their photo taken as opposed to babies who maybe don’t or are husbands and families that don’t want to be there at all. So that kind of started the ball rolling and, and again, it was not really done in my area and everything else was being done. Um, and I’m the kind of person that’s like, okay, I want to, I don’t really want to compete, so I want to make myself different enough so I don’t feel like I’m competing with all the other photographers. So that was seniors for me because a lot of people weren’t doing it, so it just kind of fell into place from there. That’s neat. It’s always interesting to see

Kia: [15:42] how our life experiences can make us good photographers, even though we all come from such different backgrounds. So yeah, absolutely. That’s really neat. Hey, on that note, let’s just take a quick break and we’ll be right back.

Leslie: [15:56] Hey everyone, tell me if this sounds familiar. You look at your calendar and notice you need clients now. So you do a little marketing and get some phone calls. You get busy helping those new clients, they scheduled sessions, they place orders and life is good, but once they’re done, your calendar is empty again. The reason is you didn’t have time to market while you were busy. Sometimes your business feels like a rollercoaster, and let me tell you something. It is, and believe me, you’re not alone. Photographers everywhere have the same problem, but I have some great news. Matt’s business, Allison Ragsdale, photography after years of trial and error has cracked the code. It works so well. He’s created a new class all about it. It’s called get clients now a dead simple approach to getting photography clients. Everyone at from nothing to profit is excited to share this info with you because this system helped Matt and Allison book hundreds of clients this year at their studio and the best part about this system is that it’s simple to set up and it works while you’re sleeping.

Leslie: [16:51] No hard selling or creepy marketing. All you have to do is help your clients answer their most pressing questions. Clients love the system and say it is the number one reason they book with Matt. And Alison, if you’re interested in learning more about this system, go to photo podcast.com forward slash simple Matt...]]>https://photopodcast.co/?p=1943Mon, 18 Mar 2019 01:21:00 -040036:14nofull1241241Leslie Kerrigan is the creator of Seniorologie and also has her own podcast. Leslie has run her own senior portrait studio for 10 years and started Seniorologie to educate herself and also share what she is learning. Conference 12, put on by Seniorologie, is in Nashville this year. You don’t want to miss this podcast…Kia Bondurant and Aubrey LaurenSam Marvin – Episode 023 – A Photographer Podcast InterviewToday, Matt interviews Sam Marvin Photography, while in Idaho speaking at their convention. Sam is an amazing high school senior photographer in Boise, Idaho. Sam is all about encouraging self confidence and self worth. You don’t want to miss what is working for Sam in his business and how he uses his model program. Sam talks about change and how senior clients are literally different every year. Listen in about how much social media has changed and is still changing. Matt and Sam talk about snapchat vs instagram. Fear of failing and being in our own way is what holds us back. You don’t want to miss what Sam would and wouldn’t spend $1k on. Sam recommends looking for just one nugget in books and conversations. Sam’s parting guidance includes making sure to find your why

Book Recommendations:

Book: Start with Why, Simon Sinek

Clockwork & The Pumpkin Plan by Mike Michalowicz (https://amzn.to/2Er5u2l & https://amzn.to/2IwWHzS)

Find Sam Here:

CIC Pro labs – print company https://cicprolab.com/

Samuelmarvin.com

@sammarvinphotography

Read Full Transcript

Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it’s an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.

Sam: [00:01] This is Sam Marvin and you are listening to from nothing to profit.

Speaker 2: [00:05] Welcome to from nothing to profit a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kaia where each week they talk to photographers. I wrote what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

Matt: [00:22] Hey everybody, Pat Flynn here. Hey, today I have an awesome episode. I’m actually in Boise, Idaho with my friends Sam Marvin. Um, I actually spoke at the PPA Idaho Convention this week and while I was here I was staying with Mark Lewis, Sam and having a really good time seeing what he’s doing in his studio. So we thought while we had a minute before his model meetings has senior model meetings tonight, we would do a quick podcast. So for, if you guys don’t know who Sam Marvin is, he’s obviously in Boise, Idaho and he has an amazing, amazing business up here with high school seniors. Um, does a really good job. So you should definitely check out his, his websites, stuff like that. But we’ll definitely ask him some tough questions today. So, so besides being my friend Sam, what else do we need to know about your studio? Or what is something that people wouldn’t know about you by just looking at your website?

Sam: [01:13] I would guess that the most, the one thing that people wouldn’t get just out of my website is how passionate I am about really encouraging self confidence and individual worth amongst our teenagers. And um, that’s, that’s kind of, I think the one hardest thing that I try really hard to convey. But it may not come across as well.

Matt: [01:36] Yeah, no, and I think that’s why your business is so successful up here. And you know, we didn’t even get a chance to go to grocery stores without be running into clients and people that wanted to stop and talk to you. So obviously you’re doing a good job of making those relationships with your customers. So I want to kind of jump right into it and the, the segment may be a little bit longer than normal, but I want to talk about like kind of what’s working...]]>Today, Matt interviews Sam Marvin Photography, while in Idaho speaking at their convention. Sam is an amazing high school senior photographer in Boise, Idaho. Sam is all about encouraging self confidence and self worth. You don’t want to miss what is working for Sam in his business and how he uses his model program. Sam talks about change and how senior clients are literally different every year. Listen in about how much social media has changed and is still changing. Matt and Sam talk about snapchat vs instagram. Fear of failing and being in our own way is what holds us back. You don’t want to miss what Sam would and wouldn’t spend $1k on. Sam recommends looking for just one nugget in books and conversations. Sam’s parting guidance includes making sure to find your why

Book Recommendations:

Book: Start with Why, Simon Sinek

Clockwork & The Pumpkin Plan by Mike Michalowicz (https://amzn.to/2Er5u2l & https://amzn.to/2IwWHzS)

Find Sam Here:

CIC Pro labs – print company https://cicprolab.com/

Samuelmarvin.com

@sammarvinphotography

Read Full Transcript

Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it’s an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.

Sam: [00:01] This is Sam Marvin and you are listening to from nothing to profit.

Speaker 2: [00:05] Welcome to from nothing to profit a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kaia where each week they talk to photographers. I wrote what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

Matt: [00:22] Hey everybody, Pat Flynn here. Hey, today I have an awesome episode. I’m actually in Boise, Idaho with my friends Sam Marvin. Um, I actually spoke at the PPA Idaho Convention this week and while I was here I was staying with Mark Lewis, Sam and having a really good time seeing what he’s doing in his studio. So we thought while we had a minute before his model meetings has senior model meetings tonight, we would do a quick podcast. So for, if you guys don’t know who Sam Marvin is, he’s obviously in Boise, Idaho and he has an amazing, amazing business up here with high school seniors. Um, does a really good job. So you should definitely check out his, his websites, stuff like that. But we’ll definitely ask him some tough questions today. So, so besides being my friend Sam, what else do we need to know about your studio? Or what is something that people wouldn’t know about you by just looking at your website?

Sam: [01:13] I would guess that the most, the one thing that people wouldn’t get just out of my website is how passionate I am about really encouraging self confidence and individual worth amongst our teenagers. And um, that’s, that’s kind of, I think the one hardest thing that I try really hard to convey. But it may not come across as well.

Matt: [01:36] Yeah, no, and I think that’s why your business is so successful up here. And you know, we didn’t even get a chance to go to grocery stores without be running into clients and people that wanted to stop and talk to you. So obviously you’re doing a good job of making those relationships with your customers. So I want to kind of jump right into it and the, the segment may be a little bit longer than normal, but I want to talk about like kind of what’s working now in your business. Like, what do you think being a high school senior photographer, like what would you tell other photographers that they need to be focused on besides, you know, making those relationships with their clients and building self worth? But besides that, like what do you think working right now really well in your business?

Sam: [02:11] In my business, I think, uh, the thing that really does work is, well, I mean the, the biggest challenge in the senior industry is that you really are trying to please two completely different types of clients at the same time, uh, being the student and the parent. So I mean, as far as really what’s working for me, it’s the interaction on, on social media and our model program is probably the strongest aspect of our business. Um, and again, it just kind of boils down to a, that really devoting a lot of time and effort and attention into doing things that encourage that self confidence and building people up and not, you know, because I’ll tell you the one thing I’ve learned about this industry is girls are meaner than anything.

Matt: [03:05] Yeah, no, I agree. And you may not even see it, but you know what, sub tweets and just the way they treat each other and stuff like that, it, it can be really bad. And so it’s ruthless. Yeah. So I think it’s awesome that you guys are aware of that and actually try to combat that in some way, you know, and bring them together and do really cool things. So for a second to kind of talk about your model program and what you think the most important aspects of it, because you’ll have your, you’ll have your first model meeting tonight and I mean you’ll have a ton of girls here and most of them will sign up and it’s, it’s pretty amazing what you guys are doing up here. But what do you think some of the most important aspects of your model program or what gets people excited about it? I think, let me say this. I think longterm they learn about that self worth and they learn about how to be nice to each other and stuff like that. But why do you think they’re going to be show up tonight and want to be a part of it?

Sam: [03:52] Um, I think because of the exclusivity, um, wanting to be a part of something cool but also wanting to do something that not everybody can do. We do a lot of fun things throughout the year. The, I think really stand out and obviously it’s part of our marketing, but like we, we go to a big summer vacation area, uh, McCall Idaho and spend a day on the lake we boat and just have fun and barbecue, play volleyball, just do stuff to kind of almost in a sense team building. The whole goal is to really give the girls an opportunity to get to know each other. And I think one of the things I love about our model program is I’ve seen so many girls that have built really strong friendships with other girls from this that they never would have bet

Matt: [04:37] cause they went to, they go to different high schools and so they wouldn’t necessarily know each other until you put them on a volleyball court together. You know, at the lake kind of deal. Yeah. That’s cool. I think it’s also, I think in one of the important parts about that is you kind of taking them all to a neutral, like a neutral ground. Right. And taking them away from the areas that they know and stuff like that. And it’s like putting them all in like a strange place, which they probably have been there before, but then it’s like they have to start fresh, you know, they don’t have their stomping ground and stuff like that. So then, you know, they can start to build those relationships and they’d have an experience together. And once I have the experience together, that goes a long way for friendship for sure. Absolutely. Um, kind of what else? So you guys, do you guys do the Lake Day? Um, just tell it, just tell us a little bit more about your,

Sam: [05:22] oh, well, my model program is actually, it really is a hybrid of a bunch of different model programs. I, I try to consider myself always open to education and learning. I, I would hope that, I never feel like I’m so good that I stop, but I do see some tendencies to, to like kind of put it aside because I feel like I just got too much going on. Um, but I, I’ve really, over the years I’ve developed a couple of different model programs I take little pieces from and that’s how I’ve made mine, one of them that I learned a long time ago was the, our fashion show. And despite, it’s a really challenging thing to do, the event itself, the event itself, it’s, it’s honestly, it’s kind of a nightmare. And, but, um, every year I ask our girls, I’m like, what was, what was something that really stood out to you?

Sam: [06:12] And it’s so, I mean, just falling in line with our mission statement, seeing how much the girls, when they get up on stage and they’re just like terrified. They’re shaking and they’re like, oh my gosh, I can’t walk this 60 foot runway. And they walked down that runway and they’re a little bit fumbly and they pose at the end and all of a sudden they come back and they just got the biggest smile on their face and they’re stressed and like they’re supermodels and the next time out there, just like the, the hype is there and they are just rocking it. And I hear it from so many of them and so many of their parents like just the change that comes over them. So despite this as a big hurdle in their confidence properly. Yeah. And despite the fact that every year I’m just like, I don’t ever freaking want to do that again.

Sam: [06:53] Right. Like I see it and like I just, it’s hard for me when it, when it false so much in line with our, our real core values that I just couldn’t, I can’t take that away from, unless I can figure something out that really could work better. Right. And know exactly what’s on just, and I think when they’re sitting there about to walk out on stage, it’s like they’re dealing with all their confidence issues. Everything that’s ever been said to them or anything that they’re thinking about themselves. It’s all right there on the surface. And then some of it just completely melts away on their walk back. Like, oh, all those lies I’ve been telling myself, yeah. Are now gone. And that just changes their whole life, I’m sure. Yeah. And it, it really, it’s bizarre because it’s almost like a visible melt when you say it just melts away.

Sam: [07:39] It’s, it’s almost just so visibly obvious that it happens. And it honestly, it just caps everything for me. And um, and, and it’s a great opportunity kind of in the beginning of our model program for them to, to meet each other and then all of a sudden it’s from there. It’s like most guards are down and it’s just really kind of a pickup time from there to get to know each other. So how early in the model program, I mean, I know we’re here in February and how early do you do the lake day and how when you do the, the, the, uh, fashion show? So our fashion show will actually happen the very first part of me. So they’re juniors and they’re walking the runway as a senior model for us. But the end of the school year. Yeah. Yeah. And, and that’s the end of their junior year.

Sam: [08:27] But the idea is obviously to, to generate some buzz about them and about us. And then we do lake day typically right before the 4th of July because we try to make a USA red, white and blue theme. And then we try to drop a video right around 4th of July that has something to do with, you know, happy birthday America or just something, you know, something fun. It’s kind of themed. Yeah. That’s really cool. About how many models we’ll use sign up in a year. Typically sign up the highest year ever had 55 and the lowest year, which was actually this year we had 28 we started out with 32 but we ended up with 28

Matt: [09:03] yeah. And it’s so interesting and we’ve seen the same thing in our business. Not that the model program is getting smaller, but as you refine your business and you start clipping some of the edges, it just naturally gets smaller. But it’s not smaller. Worse. Like you were telling me earlier, like you had a smaller motor model program but you made just as much money, which it’s like you were, you’re not, you’re not, we’re talking about it. Like we kind of value our success on the amount of volume we do. We do. Yeah. So when we’re down in sessions, we’re thinking we’re losing, but the need to look at the numbers and you actually are in the same place. So it’s like a dream come true where you do as much money but less work like glass sessions. But while it’s happening and you’re like, yeah, we’re going down in flames, were going down in flames.

Sam: [09:49] I weigh so heavily. I, I’m a numbers guy. I love numbers. Like it just, it jazzes me. Like I looked through my numbers all year long and I’m like, okay, I got to be right here to be good. You know, when we started out last year with fewer models, I knew we were more qualified models. Like I knew there were more qualified customers. And the, the great thing was is that I knew that we had trimmed certain things to make it better, but the fact we were down, I was just stressed as hell. I was like, oh my gosh, my year has just gone. I’m screwed. I’m finally hit my peak and I’m on the, yeah. Is that the way down? And even into October I was just like, oh my gosh, we’re down. Like we were, we were down 30 seniors from last year, but we did $20,000 more in sales. And I didn’t really see that until the end of the year. I started doing profit and loss and stuff. And I’m like, man, I gotta get my head out of these numbers. Yeah, because

Matt: [10:41] it actually worked out for you. But I can imagine that journey through the year, you’re probably just talking to your wife, Michelle, and just like we’re losing. But we’ve seen some of that in our business as well. And I don’t think it’s a bad thing, but like you said, you and I think our co have a lot in common in the fact that like sessions equals number of sections equals success. And that’s not always dementia. That’s always the most important metric, you know. Okay. So let’s shift gears a little bit and let’s just talk about the industry. It was really cool being that pp a Idaho this week I spoke and Tim Walden spoke. So I think this is kind of a fresh question. Like what is one thing that that like you’re fired up about the industry or that you hold as true with industry. You can talk about how the industry’s changing and whatever you want to do, but like when you think about the industry, what do you think about

Sam: [11:28] change? Yeah, like, um, I think I’ve always tried to embrace change, but I don’t care who you are. Sometimes it’s scary. So, but I think change is really where it’s at. But another thing I’ve, I’ve really noticed is just kind of how the trends happen and when you’re in the senior industry changes literally every year. Yeah. We talked about you guys while we were driving around

Matt: [11:54] that like it feels like every single year you’re reinventing your business. It is.

Sam: [11:58] It literally feels like that. And I think that’s really the wave that people get tired of it and it’s like, you know, cause you just want something to be consistent and it just, it’s never consistent. Like, I mean there’s certain things that can be consistent, but your client, your customer is literally different every single year. And so,

Matt: [12:21] oh and we were talking about this in the car too. I’m sorry to keep saying that to the podcast audience, but when we talked a salmon, I had a lot of conversations this week and I think the class of 2020 is going to be different than the class of 2019 and the reason is is because for 12 years they’ve been following the class of 2019 and so they see what they do and they don’t want to be the same. They want their own identity. They want to see that they see things differently. It’s no different than siblings. Right. The younger brother doesn’t want to be a lot like the older brother, cause he sees him get in trouble a certain way. He sees them act a certain way and he’s like, I’m never gonna act that way because I saw what it did. And it becomes their own personality. Each class becomes their own personality as well because they’re following the previous class. And I joke that they actually have like a phd in how not to be the class before because they’ve been fallen for 12 years. They have, uh, most of their lives, they’ve been looking at that class above and saying, I’m not going to do what they do. So it’s just interesting. But so yeah, so you have to reinvent it because what one class cares about one year, the next class doesn’t care as much about it

Sam: [13:26] and sometimes it can be just like drastically different.

Matt: [13:30] Yeah, I totally agree. So what changes are you seeing right now? I mean, I know it’s going to be unique to your market and unique to your business, but what do you kind of seeing right now?

Sam: [13:39] Right now? Um, I think one of the biggest changes I’ve seen is I, I’ve really watched a crazy roller coaster with social media and how we went from a time where everybody literally put just everything, every part of their day on social media and out there and the food they ate. And now the platforms, the way they’ve kind of rolled out, I’ve noticed that there, it’s almost like it’s the unwritten rules. And I think we were kind of talking about that and trying to figure out the unwritten rules. Like, oh, I can’t, I can’t post a picture more than once every three or four days. And, and it’s got to be a perfect picture and I can’t post a Selfie, which is what’s funny is they even call a picture that I took of them a selfie. And I’m like, like, did you forget what a Selfie is? It’s, it’s actually where you hold up the camera, take a picture of your, and they’re like, well, I can’t post a selfie because I posted one of those like three weeks ago. And so it’s like, it’s bizarre the changes that happened in social media and how they govern the teenage world.

Matt: [14:43] Yeah, no, exactly. Because they, it is their brand and it is their portfolio. It’s their profile online and everything. And it’s, yeah, like they do, they care so much about it.

Sam: [14:54] That’s really interesting that you say that. Cause I never considered, I never really thought about the fact that kids right now are literally becoming brand geniuses.

Matt: [15:04] Yeah. No, I think about how much time Sam you spend building your brand every day and we talked about it all week and they do the exact same thing and they are laying in bed and trying to calculate exactly what they should be putting online and whatnot, putting a line because they know everybody can see it and it’s just, it’s so calculated now. And it used to not be used to just be this fun place you just threw stuff on and people liked it and commented and um, there’s this really fun place, you know, like just to interact. And now it’s way more calculated than I’ve ever seen before.

Sam: [15:37] It’s almost like you got to get a degree in social media just to, yeah, but then it changes all the time. Like what we’re talking about right now. It wasn’t true three years ago, three years ago. It wasn’t that long. I know. I don’t think it was true a year ago. Like, I mean the, the amount that has changed just...]]>https://photopodcast.co/?p=1938Mon, 11 Mar 2019 01:24:00 -040036:34nofull1231231Today, Matt interviews Sam Marvin Photography, while in Idaho speaking at their convention. Sam is an amazing high school senior photographer in Boise, Idaho. Sam is all about encouraging self confidence and self worth. You don’t want to miss what is working for Sam in his business and how he uses his model program. Sam…Kia Bondurant and Aubrey LaurenAllison Tyler Jones – Episode 022 – A Photographer Podcast InterviewIn this episode, Kia interviews Allison Tyler Jones (http://atjphoto.com), all by herself, while Matt teaches at PPA Idaho. This is Allison’s first podcast, but she’s a veteran speaker and has been a photographer for 14 years. Kia was blown away the first time she heard Allison teach. Allison says her photography business was never just for fun, it has always been to support her family. She shoots exclusively in the studio, specializing in family and kids. Listen in to hear the 3 pillars that are working now in her business. Allison is excited that our industry overall is starting to become more positive. You don’t want to miss what Allison would and wouldn’t spend $1k on. You’ll love Allison’s take on the Oscar Wilde quote about being yourself, as everyone else is taken. You also don’t want to miss Allison’s personal habit that contributes to her success or her parting guidance.

Resources

Internet Resource:

Audible (Get two free book here)

Books:

Essentialism by Greg Mckeown (https://amzn.to/2XgFWMR)

The Pumpkin Plan by Mike Michalowicz (https://amzn.to/2Er5u2l)

Read Full Transcript

Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it’s an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.

Allison: [00:01] This is Alison Tyler John’s and you are listening to from nothing to profit.

Speaker 2: [00:06] Welcome to from nothing to profit a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kaia. We’re each week they talk to photographers and what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

Kia: [00:23] This is Kiah today and I am interviewing Alison Tyler Jones all by myself. Matt is speaking at a convention today and so this is a first for me to do a solo interview and I think it’s at first for you Alison to do a full podcast.

Allison: [00:40] It is. I’m excited.

Kia: [00:43] Yeah, we’re so excited to have you here. Uh, although this is a first for Alison to do a full podcast. She is a veteran speaker and has been a photographer for uh, Gosh, how many years?

Allison: [00:56] Um, I think 1414

Kia: [00:59] years. Okay. I know it’s, it’s hard to know how long when you get our bios. So I first saw Alison at actually the national convention and I had not known who she was and I sat in her program and was blown away by how professional she is by how well she knows how to run a business and by how great her photography is. And what I loved about it is that she had come into photography, not from like a mom’s of the camera, which is, you know, very typical for women and also not from a, uh, like, uh, you know, like a big corporate job or something and wanting to do something else. She came at it from already being in the artistic industry. Uh, and so Alison, do you want to tell us more about yourself and your expertise?

Allison: [01:46] Sure. Am I, as Kaia said, I came into this industry a little bit sideways. I had a, on my own retail store. We were the first scrapbooking store outside of Utah. And I had that business for about 12 years in the late nineties, early two thousands. And, um, when we were selling that business off, I thought, well, I’ll just take six months off and I’ll just do a little bit of...]]>In this episode, Kia interviews Allison Tyler Jones (http://atjphoto.com), all by herself, while Matt teaches at PPA Idaho. This is Allison’s first podcast, but she’s a veteran speaker and has been a photographer for 14 years. Kia was blown away the first time she heard Allison teach. Allison says her photography business was never just for fun, it has always been to support her family. She shoots exclusively in the studio, specializing in family and kids. Listen in to hear the 3 pillars that are working now in her business. Allison is excited that our industry overall is starting to become more positive. You don’t want to miss what Allison would and wouldn’t spend $1k on. You’ll love Allison’s take on the Oscar Wilde quote about being yourself, as everyone else is taken. You also don’t want to miss Allison’s personal habit that contributes to her success or her parting guidance.

Resources

Internet Resource:

Audible (Get two free book here)

Books:

Essentialism by Greg Mckeown (https://amzn.to/2XgFWMR)

The Pumpkin Plan by Mike Michalowicz (https://amzn.to/2Er5u2l)

Read Full Transcript

Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it’s an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.

Allison: [00:01] This is Alison Tyler John’s and you are listening to from nothing to profit.

Speaker 2: [00:06] Welcome to from nothing to profit a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kaia. We’re each week they talk to photographers and what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

Kia: [00:23] This is Kiah today and I am interviewing Alison Tyler Jones all by myself. Matt is speaking at a convention today and so this is a first for me to do a solo interview and I think it’s at first for you Alison to do a full podcast.

Allison: [00:40] It is. I’m excited.

Kia: [00:43] Yeah, we’re so excited to have you here. Uh, although this is a first for Alison to do a full podcast. She is a veteran speaker and has been a photographer for uh, Gosh, how many years?

Allison: [00:56] Um, I think 1414

Kia: [00:59] years. Okay. I know it’s, it’s hard to know how long when you get our bios. So I first saw Alison at actually the national convention and I had not known who she was and I sat in her program and was blown away by how professional she is by how well she knows how to run a business and by how great her photography is. And what I loved about it is that she had come into photography, not from like a mom’s of the camera, which is, you know, very typical for women and also not from a, uh, like, uh, you know, like a big corporate job or something and wanting to do something else. She came at it from already being in the artistic industry. Uh, and so Alison, do you want to tell us more about yourself and your expertise?

Allison: [01:46] Sure. Am I, as Kaia said, I came into this industry a little bit sideways. I had a, on my own retail store. We were the first scrapbooking store outside of Utah. And I had that business for about 12 years in the late nineties, early two thousands. And, um, when we were selling that business off, I thought, well, I’ll just take six months off and I’ll just do a little bit of photography and tell I decide what it is that I’m going to do. But one thing is for sure I’m not going to make another hobby into a business. And so 14 years later, another hobby was made into a business. But I came from that aspect of when I had my scrapbooking store, the intention always was to make a profit that it had to support my family. And so when I came into a photography, uh, even though I started thinking that I would just do it for a little bit of time, the intention was always that it was going to be a business.

Allison: [02:45] And once I realized that this is what I was going to do, the intention was we’re gonna, uh, make it into a business that’s going to support my family. And so that was from the beginning. It kind of never was. Um, just for fun. Yeah. Well, it seems to me like when you do things, you do them in a really excellent way. And so even fun to you is doing things well? I’m assuming doing them all the way. A constant, uh, constant maximizing I guess you would say or I don’t know. Trying to always improve is something that’s really big for me. It’s also the thing that puts me in the fetal position in many, many aspects of my life. But it is something that I, I’m always striving to do better. So do you still scrapbook? No, that’s so sad because that kind of ruined me scrapbooking for my family.

Allison: [03:42] I always done that ever since I was a little kid. And then once I, once it was a business, I just didn’t really do it for my family anymore. I was doing it as samples for the store and um, so it kind of, it kind of ruined that for me actually. It was really sad. That’s when I have always have this vision of myself as like making these beautiful scrapbooks and creating these amazing moments. And I actually, the only scrapbook I have is a Christmas one and it’s not really even a scrapbook. It’s just like a, a book that you can like ride in. But I cut up all everyone’s Christmas cards and put them in every year and then write on it. And it’s like, well, but I’ve done 20 years and I think my last year. So I’m like, okay, well, wow, that’s awesome. Well, I, you know, with the scrapbooking store, actually, it’s funny because I had always, you know, I like many people, I love photography from when I was young and I was the photo editor of the yearbook when I was in high school.

Allison: [04:44] And so when I started that business, I thought, I really thought it would be more photography. Like I thought we were going to do, uh, have dark room because this was pre digital. I thought we were going to have dark rooms, we’re going to be doing Polaroid transfers and all these cool art journals and this really, really photographically heavy, uh, thing. And then I realized that everybody just wanted stickers and scissors that cut paper into weird shapes, you know? And so, um, but I realized that there was actually a lot of money on that. You know, we did about a million dollars a year on a $20 average sale. So we, we run a lot of volume through that business and it was a good business for a long time, but uh, you know, nobody really wanted to photography until the very tail and as everything was going digital then it was funny because all of our photography classes kind of took off and everybody wanted to do photography at that point.

Allison: [05:34] So you thought it was going to be more like kind of fine arts fucking but you it was more crowd. Totally. Yeah. Nobody, nobody can get Polaroid transfer. What like, I mean we did do a few of those classes but I’m really, everybody just wanted to pile on, you know, 50 stickers and, and, and it was fun. You know, we definitely went, went out and like an archival standpoint in acid, this and that. But you know, it was really, really fun. I look back now and I, I when we first started and we were, you know, putting up all these racks of stickers and all that stuff. I said to my business partner at the time, I said, you know where this is all going, we’re going to end up back where we started with, with like black pages, black photo corners, black and white pictures with like the little, you know, the little late, what is the word I’m looking for, the border around it. And then Hawaii, you know, riding in white pencil, we’re going to all come back from all this like excess back to this streamline. Simple. And it’s like when you look at artifact uprising and a lot of these places now that are, you know, fulfilling. That’s exactly what it is. It’s, I’ll come back to that really simple spare clean. So it’s kind of funny.

Kia: [06:40] Well that is interesting because when I heard you and had a scrapbooking store and then I saw your work, which you really just described your work, black and white, simple, clean. I was wondering where the connection was and it makes more sense that you had assumed it would be more of like an art based and now you’re your APP at. So let’s segue into your, your uh, current photography business because that ad, it sounds to me like your current photography businesses even more successful than your scrap booking business. And so, uh, this, the name of this podcast is from nothing to profit. What’s working now in the photography industry. And so I, we would love to know kind of what, what are you doing and you’re in your studio now with your photography now that you feel is really working well. Okay.

Allison: [07:24] So our studio, I am, I do exclusively studio work. I gotten to the point where I really, we don’t do any location and I specialize in families and kids and my business is basically based on three pillars, which is that it has to have an artistic fields. So it’s our, that at least my tagline is art that happens to be your family. I want our longterm relationship with my clients, so I’m not a one and done. I don’t want to create a marketing arm that’s just going to chat, jam a bunch of people in my funnel. I’m hoping that some, some of them, well we’ll buy and then I don’t care if I ever see him again. So we’re really based on relationship and referral. And then, uh, the other pillar is a finished product. So, uh, we create pieces of art for our client’s home and that’s where we start from.

Allison: [08:18] That’s what we’re speaking from. The second, the very first phone call we’re talking about finished products. We do not sell printable digital files, so are a longterm relationship and a finished product. Those are the three things that my business is based on. So it, it’s working for us and that, um, we’re not competing with the, anybody that’s a shooting share model in our, in our market. Uh, we just, I don’t really, we don’t really see ourselves as is in competition in that respect. It doesn’t mean that we think we’re beyond competition or whether we think we’re so cold. It’s just that that’s, we’re just in a different business. We’re providing fine art for the home. Uh, we’re helping solve those kinds of problems. We’re not so much focused on, oh, what’s this cool. We’re not some, we’re focused on the shooting. We definitely want to create something amazing and fabulous for that, but it is for their home.

Allison: [09:19] And so that’s really what’s working for us is that I’m not, I’m trying not to be distracted by everything else that’s going on because I started out in my home for four years. I, when I saw my scrapbook in store, um, I didn’t, you know, want it to just go into overhead overnight because I didn’t have a business established. And so I have a home that has a basement. And so for four years I shot out of that basement and did a sales sessions in my dining room. And then once it was kind of taking over the house and I could see that I was at a certain level of income and I knew that I could support, uh, that I could still be profitable and have a studio, a rental, you know, be able to pay studio rent. Then we made the leap to s s downtown studio.

Allison: [10:08] And we’ve been there since 2009 and so, um, once, so when I was shooting from home and in the basement I was doing maybe 40% studios, about 60% location. And then as I went into the studio just more and more, the more I, I’ve always loved studio work from, from day one. I’ve loved it and I love the ability to control the light no matter what time of year when no matter what time of day. And I love, uh, I love the relationship with the subject. I love that interaction. And so I just felt like that when I was either introducing props or a lot of background or environment, it was detracting from the, to me, the most interesting part of the image, which was the person. So I just, the more spare and clean I got, the happier I was with what I was doing. And then it also happened to be that as I was not running around, you know, for three hours getting to and from a shoot and breaking it up and putting it up and taking it down, it just was so great. The studio just seemed to really be a great fit for me.

Kia: [11:16] Well, and you, uh, because you do the studio lighting and the really simple images that plays into the three pillars of your business. It’s so funny because I’m like, ah, I should be taking it. But you’re your simple simple images obviously look more like art, but, and then your, you know, the simple images are going to go in any home, but also because you’re doing similar images over time that lets you keep that relationship where you’re not creating one specific look for one specific time. So that’s really interesting. Hear that.

Allison: [11:53] Uh, so my next question for you is what are you most fired up about in our industry? Um, what is something that you’re excited about? Something that you’re worried about? Just uh, you know, you, I know you just spoke at the, again, didn’t choose speak this year emerging. Yeah. At the national convention. And so I’m assuming you saw trends and kind of thought about it a bit. So what are, tell us what you’re most fired up about the photography industry now. The thing that I’m most excited about as I really feel like, you know, 2003 was when it was the first year that more people shot digital then found. And so, you know, exponentially that’s just grown. And here we are. And I think that we had that a ton of people coming into the industry kind of churning around down at the bottom, editing 24 hours a day, not seeing their kids.

Allison: [12:46] A lot of women, a lot of women not valued and not valuing what it was that they were doing. Like, oh well it doesn’t take me that much time so I shouldn’t charge that much or whatever, you know, fill in the problem here. You know, and I, it’s interesting to me to see people that have, uh, you know, and our trade organization would say that they’re the, at the bottom, there are a lot of photographers that are new that are coming in and they kind of churn around the bottom at about the two year mark. And usually they wash out at about two years. They’ve just had it. They, they’ve, they’re editing themselves blind. They’re tired. They’re not making any money. It’s horrible. And it’s taking away from their family. They have no life. But if they can get, if they can get some education, some point in that two year period and realize, oh wait, I actually have to charge it.

Allison: [13:34] You know what I’m worth. I actually have to, you know, make this into a business and take this a little bit more seriously. Um, they can do really, really well. And so I, I saw a lot of that when I was at imaging this year. There are people that are just out there doing really, really well. And I’ve, um, I belong to a group of photographers. Um, it’s a group called XXV. Um, and it’s just, uh, you know, some of the really great portrait photographers and a commercial photographers and we s we all sat in a room in spring of last year and every single person that stood up said, this isn’t my best year yet. And so I think that’s pretty amazing when you hear the dire or if you get online, like, I mean, my gosh, if you go on to any Facebook group, it’s a doom and gloom, oh my gosh, everything’s going to hell in a handbasket.

Allison: [14:28] There’s so much competition. All these mommy, mommy know moms with the camera or just ruining, you know, ruining the whole industry. And it’s not true. It’s not true. So the, you know, the, the, um, the recession’s over people are spending and that they’re not going to just spend on just anything. There’s a specific thing and it’s going to be a specific thing for, you know, Kai, you’re going to have a different thing that people are spending with you then they would spend with me. But I think those who are willing to really figure out what their secret sauce is and how they want to do business and what the value of that is, um, are going to do really, really well. And that’s true of any industry and any time in history, uh, but this is the best time in history. It’s the baby boomers have them the largest amount of disposable income and the history of the world.

Allison: [15:18] And there, those are definitely my clients because that’s that older mom, um, that the millennials are hitting their stride in their careers and they’re starting to, I’m starting to see a little trickle of millennials, Coleen saying, um, you know, I just want a real photographer. And I’m like, well, what does that mean to you? And they’re like, well, you know, I mean, we’ve been going with my luck. Sister in law has a nice camera or somebody in my neighborhood, you know, and we just want somebody that is just like knows what they’re doing that can tell us how to dress, can tell us what to do and that we’ve heard that y’all, you know, printed out and come and hang it on our wall. And that’s what we want. I just don’t want to have to deal with it anymore. So, uh, you know, we’re not catering to a DIY clients how we’re catering to people that want to have something done for them.

Allison: [16:04] So that I think that those things are, I see more and more of that and I think that there’s enough business out there for everybody. And I feel like that the, our industry as a whole is starting to become a little more positive. You’re always going to have the negative naysayers out there who are going to, you know, just say that it’s all going bad and it’s never going to be good. But usually those are people that are either scared or what. There are people that, um, maybe they had it good at one time and never really evolved their business.

Kia: [16:36] Yeah, I think that’s definitely true because I’ve been in the business long enough to see you the transition from film to digital to see the transition from proofs to, you know, in person sales. And so every time that there’s a change, there are people that don’t have a vision and are just used to doing what they’re doing. Uh, but one of the things that you were just saying is, uh, I think what, what you’re seeing is that the consumer is starting to have more money than time. And so as a, you know, photographer, we’re in both a product in the service industry. And so to be able to help them gain more time, which is what you’re doing, uh, they’re, they’re not having to figure everything out. You’re consulting with them, you’re planning, right? Yeah. So, but you’re helping people trade their money for more time and service, so,

Allison: [17:25] right. And what I found is that even people that have a lot of money and there is still, it’s, it’s rare to find somebody who will take responsibility for something, who will...]]>https://photopodcast.co/?p=1935Mon, 04 Mar 2019 01:11:00 -040042:28nofull1221221In this episode, Kia interviews Allison Tyler Jones (http://atjphoto.com), all by herself, while Matt teaches at PPA Idaho. This is Allison’s first podcast, but she’s a veteran speaker and has been a photographer for 14 years. Kia was blown away the first time she heard Allison teach. Allison says her photography business was never just…Kia Bondurant and Aubrey LaurenGary Box – Episode 021 – A Photographer Podcast InterviewThis is an episode you do not want to miss. Gary Box is on the podcast today. Kia has known Gary since the first conference she attended. Gary is starting his 30th year of being a full time professional photographer. Matt says Gary’s Facebook group (link?) is the best photographer FB group. Gary thinks basic lighting fundamentals is missing from the education world. Gary is excited about the new technology like hi speed sync. Listen in to hear how Gary got into photography. Hear what Gary suggests you do and do not spend your $1000 on. Make sure you pay close attention to the best advice Gary received. Gary’s personal habits that lead to his success include being a recovering workaholic. He works hard and is hard on his work.

Recommendations:

Texas School PPA- https://www.texasschool.org/

Godox lighting

FB group link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/insidetheboxphotogroup/

Inside the box hacks (Kia recommended)

Books – Audible

The Storybrand by Donald Miller (https://amzn.to/2RUcYTW)

Seth Godin (https://amzn.to/2TlElmy)

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Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it’s an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.

Gary: [00:01] This is Gary box and you are listening to from nothing to profit.

Speaker 2: [00:05] Welcome to from nothing to profit, a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

Kia: [00:21] Hello everyone. We are so excited to have our friend Gary box here today on the podcast. And I have to tell you that I have known Gary probably from actually the very first photography conference I attended. Gary was there. I brought pictures of a high school senior doing ballet or dance or something in a CPA background. And we talked about it. He was speaking at it and for some reason, Gary, you wore, you had some teeth, like some, some, uh, like main mangy nasty teeth that you put on as a joke. Billy Billy Bob Teeth. Yeah. And so, uh, so I have known, yeah, over 20 years. And Gary, you have been such an amazing influence to the photography industry as a whole. And then just, you know, seeing what you do as a photographer over the years with high school, senior photography and then sharing and how much you shared. So I’m super excited to have you on here today because I think you’re a great example of creating profit in the photography industry over all kinds of changes. And so I think you have a lot to add to us today.

Gary: [01:35] Thank you, Kai. I’m really glad to be here. I have been in the industry for quite a while. I’m starting my 30th year professional full time and you know, I’ve run the gamut of things. I’ve gone from high volume. We were doing 1100 sessions a year at one point with nine employees to medium volume and mid priced and you know, now I’m doing a lower volume and a higher price. So I’ve Kinda got a little bit of a experience with, with all three business models.

Matt: [02:03] That’s awesome. So here’s Gary, here’s how I know you. So years and years...]]>This is an episode you do not want to miss. Gary Box is on the podcast today. Kia has known Gary since the first conference she attended. Gary is starting his 30th year of being a full time professional photographer. Matt says Gary’s Facebook group (link?) is the best photographer FB group. Gary thinks basic lighting fundamentals is missing from the education world. Gary is excited about the new technology like hi speed sync. Listen in to hear how Gary got into photography. Hear what Gary suggests you do and do not spend your $1000 on. Make sure you pay close attention to the best advice Gary received. Gary’s personal habits that lead to his success include being a recovering workaholic. He works hard and is hard on his work.

Recommendations:

Texas School PPA- https://www.texasschool.org/

Godox lighting

FB group link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/insidetheboxphotogroup/

Inside the box hacks (Kia recommended)

Books – Audible

The Storybrand by Donald Miller (https://amzn.to/2RUcYTW)

Seth Godin (https://amzn.to/2TlElmy)

Read Full Transcript

Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it’s an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.

Gary: [00:01] This is Gary box and you are listening to from nothing to profit.

Speaker 2: [00:05] Welcome to from nothing to profit, a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

Kia: [00:21] Hello everyone. We are so excited to have our friend Gary box here today on the podcast. And I have to tell you that I have known Gary probably from actually the very first photography conference I attended. Gary was there. I brought pictures of a high school senior doing ballet or dance or something in a CPA background. And we talked about it. He was speaking at it and for some reason, Gary, you wore, you had some teeth, like some, some, uh, like main mangy nasty teeth that you put on as a joke. Billy Billy Bob Teeth. Yeah. And so, uh, so I have known, yeah, over 20 years. And Gary, you have been such an amazing influence to the photography industry as a whole. And then just, you know, seeing what you do as a photographer over the years with high school, senior photography and then sharing and how much you shared. So I’m super excited to have you on here today because I think you’re a great example of creating profit in the photography industry over all kinds of changes. And so I think you have a lot to add to us today.

Gary: [01:35] Thank you, Kai. I’m really glad to be here. I have been in the industry for quite a while. I’m starting my 30th year professional full time and you know, I’ve run the gamut of things. I’ve gone from high volume. We were doing 1100 sessions a year at one point with nine employees to medium volume and mid priced and you know, now I’m doing a lower volume and a higher price. So I’ve Kinda got a little bit of a experience with, with all three business models.

Matt: [02:03] That’s awesome. So here’s Gary, here’s how I know you. So years and years ago I was in the pro form and you were really active in that. And uh, I didn’t really know you at the time and I, it’s interesting, we’ve gone circles wrench on them, we don’t really know each other that well even today. And then I kinda lost track of you and then about a year ago someone was like, you need to be in Gary Boxes, facebook group. And I was like, okay. So I just was like, request and you approve me. And it is like the best I. and I’ve said this before, not when you were here, I said this on a previous podcast. It is the best facebook group for photographers by far.

Gary: [02:37] Well thank you. I’ve put a lot of time into it and you know, one of the things that I’ve tried to do is keep out some of the negativity and, and bad attitudes so that, you know, the creatives can, can thrive in that environment. And I try to mix a both business and artistic elements, both of them into that group.

Matt: [02:59] That’s awesome. Um, okay. So yeah, so I don’t. So tell me where you’re located because I don’t even know where your studio is.

Gary: [03:03] Okay. My studio is right on route 66 highway in Sapulpa, Oklahoma. That’s just a little ways outside of Tulsa, kind of. I’m really a blue collar town. Most of my business comes in from other areas and uh, it’s just a great place to be. We have really low cost of living and great friendly people here.

Matt: [03:23] Awesome. Awesome. Okay, so I’m going to jump into the first question and because you kind of already talked about your expertise and I mean I think 30 years speaks for itself, so we’ll just jump into kind of what you think is working now. So you know, tell us a story of what you think is working in your business or what you think is working in the industry right now.

Gary: [03:40] Well, one of the things that I’ve always stood by is there has been a lot of change in our industry and I’ve watched, and I’ve gone through it. I was one of the early pioneers in the digital world and helped a lot of people make that transition. As the digital world has come down in cost, obviously the market has become flooded and there’s been so many people out there teaching and so much, but one of the things that I see is something that’s lacking now in today’s teaching or just core fundamentals, you know, just basic lighting fundamentals and honestly that’s, that’s how I have, how I’ve done my photography for years. I try to be current and up to date, but I still try to hold those fundamental things, you know, close to me like, you know, simply where does the light go and you know, good exposure and things like that. And I think that’s something that’s really missing in our industry right now is people teaching good, wholesome fundamentals. They all want to know the cool stuff, but not something as basic as where does the light go?

Matt: [04:43] Well, and sometimes I think they want to fix some funding with a pre for the pre-sentence. They’re just lighting it correctly at the beginning, you know?

Kia: [04:49] Exactly. Yeah. I’ve been seeing some APP just like editors on instagram and they’re just absolutely beautiful images, but what they start with could have been so much better if they just would have done the work in camera. It’s crazy. Yeah. And you definitely can teach lighting. I saw on your facebook group the other day, your video of your, uh, all your equipment, your equipment, a hallway with all of it. I don’t know how many you, you’d like tripods and nightstands, you had. And I was like, oh my goodness. Gary knows this stuff. Definitely.

Gary: [05:24] Well, you know, I have a large studio. It’s about 6,000 square feet. I’ve got several shooting areas and, and I liked to work real efficiently, so I just keep equipment setup and all these different areas.

Kia: [05:34] Yeah. That’s so fun. Yeah. People should definitely go to your facebook group and watch some of the videos of your ad laced, the latest ones where you’re hacks a inside the box hacks. And I thought that was really fun to see. So yeah. Yeah, it looked like it. So, uh, what is the one thing that you are most fired up about? In our industry, like whether you’re excited about it, whether you’re about it, just,

Gary: [05:58] you know, what, what are you thinking about these days? Well, for me personally, one of the thing that really excites me is as I’ve slowed down in volume, I am finding more time to be creative and to uh, you know, to flex my creative wings and do stuff that’s different and no pun intended out of the box and I’m really, really enjoying that. For years I was just so focused on making money, making money and I, and I did that well, but I didn’t really get to enjoy what I do well enough. So that’s more my personal view than industry wide, industry wide. I mean we continue to see technology changes that makes it easier for us to do our jobs really well. And that is just incredibly exciting. A new lighting, um, you know, that the high speed sync and all the things that are available now are just absolutely incredible tools for us to use.

Matt: [06:50] Because Gary, and here’s my question for you. Like when you started photography, were you still like lighting a match for the flash? And it was like a flash bomb,

Gary: [06:59] 30 white that far back. But a funny thing about lighting is, you know, whenever I was 19 years old and that was what, maybe 20 years ago.

Matt: [07:10] Right, right.

Gary: [07:11] Yeah. I actually bought a set of Novotron lights at the camera store in Tulsa. I financed him. It was a thousand dollars for Novotron pack and three heads and, and that was my start into lighting whenever I was 19 years old. Did you know I still use that Novotron set every single day. It’s the hair light over my main shooting area.

Matt: [07:33] That’s awesome. Yeah. Like some, like some stuff just never dies, you know what I mean? Like when it’s built well it just lasts forever.

Gary: [07:40] Yeah, I think it’s been repaired twice, but I mean it just keeps going. So. Okay, not joking about the numbers. That thing has been in use for a 35 years.

Matt: [07:50] That’s awesome. That’s a good use of your money I think. I think I broke even on that. When you’re, when you’re 19 and you spend a thousand dollars, like that’s a big deal. And so you gotTa make sure you get your money’s worth for sure. So absolutely. Um, okay. So let’s, I mean this is going fast, which is good, but let’s, let’s jump into lightning round. We can definitely take some more time. You know, lightening round implies that they’re fast answer but we can definitely take some more time. So when you were first becoming like a full time photographer, what do you think was holding you back from becoming full time photography? Or did you just kind of jump into it?

Gary: [08:23] Well that was kind of back in the stone age. Um, but you know, one of the things at that point in my life as I was still young, I was starting a young family and you know, income was it. So whenever I had opened my studio I was actually working for a camera store and I spent three days a week working in the camera store, three days a week working in the studio in five nights a week in the dark room, printing for people. So that’s how I got my start. And that helped me transition the earning gap between leaving a comfortable fulltime job and being a solely dependent upon my photography. So I was able to over the period of about nine months kind of ease my way into it. And I think that’s a big challenge for a lot of people is how do they make that change? How do they walk away from knowing they’re going to have that paycheck every two weeks to, oh my God, I hope I booked something so I make some money today. And I think that’s probably one of the greatest challenges.

Kia: [09:23] Did you always know you were wanting to be a photographer, like out of high school and that type of thing?

Gary: [09:28] Oh God, no. I changed my mind like four times while I was going to college and photography wasn’t even one of them. I ended up studying marketing and photography was a hobby. I got started in high school and I actually had thought, hey, it’d be great to work for an ad agency because I’m creative and I can do some photography and all this. And the, what happened was, um, I was working in the camera store and the studio that had been in my town for 22 years, the old guy decided to shut down and retire and it’s like, wow, okay, there’s opportunity staring me in the face. So it was perceived as I bought out his studio, but I really didn’t. He shut down and moved out and I basically went in and leased the space the next day and took over his space. So that story. Yeah, the perception was that I bought out, it was a, it was, his name was ray sledge, sledge hammer. And um, he had was, he was retiring and getting out and that’s how I got my start is I just jumped in and took over this space and started. In fact, the funny thing is initially people would come in and they would sometimes write me a check and make it out to sledge photography. That’s where they had used to be going and yeah. And the bank always took the bank, took them no big deal.

Kia: [10:50] Okay. So if you had a thousand dollars right now, what would you buy? That’s photo related.

Gary: [10:57] Oh, that’s Kinda hard for me because I’m one of those people that whenever I see something I just run out and buy it without delay. So, which is why I have so much equipment. So

Kia: [11:08] let me, let me word it this way. Like if you were giving advice to somebody new in photography and they, they had a thousand dollars, what would you tell? Where would you tell them to put their money?

Gary: [11:17] I think I would tell them to go with education, a really good comprehensive education plan a. and I don’t know if that’s the answer you’re looking for. If you’re looking for just a piece of gear education is it, you know, and take a comprehensive education, you know, sign up for a Texas school class or you know, one of my in studio workshops or something. When you go to short programs, you get little bits and pieces, but when you go to a comprehensive program like like a Texas school class, whether it’s mine or one of the other 42 amazing instructors there, you’re going to find that you’re going to get all these little pieces, but you’re also going to get how these pieces work together and that’s really essential because if you take a piece from me, a piece from you, a piece from Kaya, you know, they might not all fit together and Mesh perfectly well, so you know, how I sell albums is directly related to how I shoot for albums and that’s the importance of a comprehensive education from. From a great instructor.

Matt: [12:17] Yeah, because sometimes it’s about. It’s about the nuances, right? Like, like you said, like I’m able to do albums this way because of all these things behind the scenes.

Gary: [12:26] Absolutely. All those pieces have to work together like a puzzle.

Kia: [12:29] And so the Texas school you’re referring to is the professional photographers of America as a school in Texas. That’s a week long and so the instructors there are really there to teach something that the whole gamut of whatever their subject is, so you learn a lot and that type of a situation or in a workshop and someone studio,

Gary: [12:51] you really do. Texas school is the Texas School of professional photography. It is by far the largest affiliated PPA school and you can find them at Texas school dot Org online. They just opened registration that’s coming up the end of March, beginning of April. And you’ll find classes. They’re from, you know, pure artistic, how you do painting in Photoshop to pure business to uh, and my, my particular program encompasses a full range. I talk about marketing and pricing and sales. I talk about photography, lighting and posing backgrounds and locations. I talk about efficient workflow so you can get it done and get home to your families faster.

Kia: [13:38] Yeah, that’s great.

Matt: [13:39] Yeah. And it’s cool to like Texas schools format is so long because it’s not like you get, you know, we’re going to give Gary 30 minutes on stage to tell to tell you about his whole business in 30 years career, you know, and then you’re done. Like you actually get time to like sit with people and really work with them, which is awesome.

Gary: [13:56] That’s right. It’s like reading the complete novel instead of the cliff notes.

Matt: [13:59] Yeah.

Kia: [13:59] Perfect. Yes. Okay. So you’ve got a thousand dollars. Number one you would buy, you would do some sort of comprehensive education if you weren’t doing education. Like what’s, what’s the piece of equipment that you think is like the best new thing out there that’s really like you’re excited about whether you have it or whether, whether you would want to buy it.

Gary: [14:18] Well one of the things I’ve been fired up about the past couple of years is the. I’m a big fan of the [inaudible] sliding. They have brought really high performance lighting down to an incredibly affordable price and it just does an amazing job. And so, you know, that’s one of the places that I tell people there’s a lot of people that are so weak on lighting and so light investing in that lighting and learning the difference, getting out of that, I’m a natural light photographer, a mode because you don’t understand lighting, you know, learn and let it separate you from the masses of people out there with just point and shoot cameras.

Kia: [14:57] Well, I think natural light. What’s funny about natural light photography is when I started doing natural light photography, most people only did flash and they didn’t, couldn’t really even see the light. And so I really think if you have, like you said, both sides of it, you know, both understanding how to work a flash, how to create the light that you want and how to see it and get it, then you’re going to be a fully rounded photographer too.

Gary: [15:23] Absolutely. I, you know, I pride myself on being able to lie down, handle pretty much anything that throws my way to studio lighting, lighting up a whole cathedral. I have lit up football stadiums that night. Just can you throw at me, you know, I can handle it

Kia: [15:39] with your personality alone, right?

Gary: [15:43] Maybe

Matt: [15:44] that’s awesome. Okay. So here’s the next question. So if you got to. So if you’ve got a thousand dollars, what is the one thing that you wouldn’t spend it on in the industry? Like, you know, it doesn’t have to be a particular thing, but I mean, what’d you not, you know, by a 19th lens or would you or what? What’d you do? You know,

Gary: [16:03] you know, I wouldn’t spend it on actions and presets and things like that. I think that that’s a huge weakness and people use it as a crutch and you know, if you, uh, if you learn to develop your own...]]>https://photopodcast.co/?p=1929Mon, 25 Feb 2019 01:21:00 -040034:42nofull1211211This is an episode you do not want to miss. Gary Box is on the podcast today. Kia has known Gary since the first conference she attended. Gary is starting his 30th year of being a full time professional photographer. Matt says Gary’s Facebook group (link?) is the best photographer FB group. Gary thinks basic…Kia Bondurant and Aubrey LaurenMatt Hoaglin Social Media Q and A – Episode 020 – A Photographer Podcast InterviewYou don’t want to miss this podcast! Matt is teaching at PPA Idaho in Boise, so he bounces ideas off of and asks for Kia’s perspective on social media so get prepared for his program. They start with goals, like brand awareness and how you measure that. Matt runs Facebook and Instagram ads to current customers, in addition to new potential and repeat customers. Listen in to find out how and why. Matt suggests you audit the platforms you use to make sure the voice matches your brand. They also get into retargeting. If someone goes to Allison Ragsdale Photography, once they leave the website, Matt can set things up where they’ll see ads on Facebook and Instagram to download our free guides. Which leads them to discussing lead magnets. Kia brings up how actually creating the lead magnet or the content creation can be the stop so Matt suggests using templates and writing prompts. Then you have to make a plan and schedule your posts. Last, but before you start, figure out how you’re going to track your results.

Read Full Transcript

Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it’s an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.

Matt: [00:01] Everybody, this is Matt Hoagland and you’re listening to from nothing to profit.

Speaker 2: [00:05] Welcome to from nothing to profit, a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

Matt: [00:21] All right guys, so here’s the deal. This is going to be a little bit of a different podcast and hopefully people give us feedback whether they like these kind of random conversations. You and I have an or if they definitely want us to do many, many more interviews with people, but I was putting together this outline because I’m speaking at pep a Idaho and they actually gave me a huge time slot to talk about social media. So I put together an outline and I kind of want to just some of your feedback to see how you think about some of these things as well. So yeah, if I can bounce ideas off of you, that would be awesome because I think people, people will definitely get a lot from this. Okay. So the first big idea that I wanted to talk about is like kind of goal setting for social media and here’s, here’s how I think about that.

Matt: [01:07] Your social media goals need to be aligned with your company goals. So there’s kind of three types of types of goals that I think about. Like one of them is just brand awareness goals, like you’re just trying to get seen. Then there’s the goal of getting new leads and customers are. Then there’s the goal of retaining existing customers. So there’s icing. I think there’s only three I can think of, but what I see a lot of people do with their goals around social media as they, their goals only live in social media. So like they’re like I want 10,000 likes, that’s a social social media goal and they don’t necessarily connect that to a business goal. Does that make sense?

Kia: [01:45] Yeah, I think that’s really good because like right now I’m working on putting together my goals for the year and I. and so we’ve been discussing the fact that most of our goals are like achievement goals. Like, you know, like you said, 10,000 followers or likes or you know, booking this many sessions and they’re all like achievement goals and we don’t get rewarded very quickly with that. And so I would definitely like to know, like how, what are other ways of like evaluating what you’re doing to see if it’s working for you or other ways of looking at it to see if it’s working for...]]>You don’t want to miss this podcast! Matt is teaching at PPA Idaho in Boise, so he bounces ideas off of and asks for Kia’s perspective on social media so get prepared for his program. They start with goals, like brand awareness and how you measure that. Matt runs Facebook and Instagram ads to current customers, in addition to new potential and repeat customers. Listen in to find out how and why. Matt suggests you audit the platforms you use to make sure the voice matches your brand. They also get into retargeting. If someone goes to Allison Ragsdale Photography, once they leave the website, Matt can set things up where they’ll see ads on Facebook and Instagram to download our free guides. Which leads them to discussing lead magnets. Kia brings up how actually creating the lead magnet or the content creation can be the stop so Matt suggests using templates and writing prompts. Then you have to make a plan and schedule your posts. Last, but before you start, figure out how you’re going to track your results.

Read Full Transcript

Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it’s an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.

Matt: [00:01] Everybody, this is Matt Hoagland and you’re listening to from nothing to profit.

Speaker 2: [00:05] Welcome to from nothing to profit, a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

Matt: [00:21] All right guys, so here’s the deal. This is going to be a little bit of a different podcast and hopefully people give us feedback whether they like these kind of random conversations. You and I have an or if they definitely want us to do many, many more interviews with people, but I was putting together this outline because I’m speaking at pep a Idaho and they actually gave me a huge time slot to talk about social media. So I put together an outline and I kind of want to just some of your feedback to see how you think about some of these things as well. So yeah, if I can bounce ideas off of you, that would be awesome because I think people, people will definitely get a lot from this. Okay. So the first big idea that I wanted to talk about is like kind of goal setting for social media and here’s, here’s how I think about that.

Matt: [01:07] Your social media goals need to be aligned with your company goals. So there’s kind of three types of types of goals that I think about. Like one of them is just brand awareness goals, like you’re just trying to get seen. Then there’s the goal of getting new leads and customers are. Then there’s the goal of retaining existing customers. So there’s icing. I think there’s only three I can think of, but what I see a lot of people do with their goals around social media as they, their goals only live in social media. So like they’re like I want 10,000 likes, that’s a social social media goal and they don’t necessarily connect that to a business goal. Does that make sense?

Kia: [01:45] Yeah, I think that’s really good because like right now I’m working on putting together my goals for the year and I. and so we’ve been discussing the fact that most of our goals are like achievement goals. Like, you know, like you said, 10,000 followers or likes or you know, booking this many sessions and they’re all like achievement goals and we don’t get rewarded very quickly with that. And so I would definitely like to know, like how, what are other ways of like evaluating what you’re doing to see if it’s working for you or other ways of looking at it to see if it’s working for you. So yeah, that’s good. I like that.

Matt: [02:26] Yeah. And I mean because at the end of this program I was going to talk about like how we can like have key performance indicators to figure out if this stuff is working and stuff for sure. But you know, I just think social media goals, I think the first idea is social media goals have to be aligned with your business goals.

Kia: [02:42] Okay. So what’s an example like that? Like so of each of those.

Matt: [02:47] Okay. So like if you, if you’re just wanting to get seen, right? You just want your brand out there so people see it. Then what you do on social media may be different, may have different calls to actions or you may have been doing different things with your clients to get to get seen, right? If you’re just brand awareness, you may say, Hey, one of our goals is to get one of our seniors to post on our behalf every week or something like that. Oh, okay. I like that we’re getting new leads or customers that call to action may be, you know, book a free planning session, you know, pick up the phone and call the call to action I think is different. So if your business goal is to get more customers, you may have to do social media a little bit differently and then retaining existing customers is a completely different goal, right?

Matt: [03:30] You maybe you’re just posting pictures of people you’ve already taken and that makes them feel good. You know, there’s, we do and we do an ad campaign. We did this really crazy thing and social media. Let me go down this rabbit hole real quick. So as people, as people are going through our, whatever the word I’m looking for, going through our system right from, from the beginning consultation all the way through ordering and picking up their pictures. There are different steps, right? So like we, the first step is we have to get them ready for the consultation and then we have to get them ready for the session and then we have to get them ready for the order appointment and then we have to get them ready to pick up their stuff and leave us a review. So there’s different stages and we actually run campaigns on facebook that helped them see that.

Matt: [04:13] So and so we have ads that we run on facebook when they’re looking at when they’re getting ready for their consultation. We do a lot of inspirational slideshows or we’ll do like little videos of sessions so they just get excited about it. But when they go, when they get ready for their session, we’ll do a lot of ads that are around like our what to wear guide or you know, in our pictures that point out, you know, certain things are props and things as well. So like the message changes and then when they get ready to order what they see with our ad campaigns is they see like Walmart and things like that and we can actually running ads to the people who’ve already booked with you. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And so the idea, it’s so, so interesting. So I did it as a task because I went to, I think I was at traffic and conversion summit in San Francisco a couple years ago and they were like, we should do this because you just use custom audiences on facebook and instagram and if people want to know more about it, they can reach out to me.

Matt: [05:12] But what they said, you know, we do this like subliminal marketing to these people. And so I tried it. I was like, just what the order, right. I was like, okay, I’m going to put together a short video, you know, not no words, just music and just show them a bunch of wall art in our studio and see what happens. And so I ran the ad and I just saw, you know, people were liking it and people were watching it and like, you know, just the normal phase facebook statistics and then people started coming in for their order and they’re like, you know, somewhere I saw, you know, a picture that looked like this and they, they didn’t realize that they even saw it on facebook because they’re just scrolling through it. Then I’m like, oh, like this? And they’re like, yeah, that’s the one I want, that’s what I want. And they like came more prepared for their order. And so now I’ve kind of done that for different stages. The order in one is by far the most effective, but we just tried to like hit them in as many places as possible. Right. We talk to them on the phone and we email them about this stuff. But now I’m also trying to do the same messaging on facebook and Instagram, so they see it there as well.

Kia: [06:11] Huh. That’s really interesting. So do you find that that like rather than just sending them an email with the information that them getting an ad is like making the order better?

Matt: [06:25] Well yeah, because you’re all, all we’re doing with those ads is just educating them that there’s possibilities because people don’t know how to. People don’t know how to shop photography. Right. So we’ll just get. We’re just giving them ads and I’m not going to run. I don’t want to spend a million dollars front end that facebook ad to a bunch of strangers that are interested in photography. But if I had a cat, if I have a captured audience and I can run wall our ads or album ads to those people and it increases my sales by a certain percentage. It’s worth it all day long. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, cool. Because most people know. Yeah, most people have never seen that. I don’t even know that they can do these amazing albums and you know, so if I can, if I can show them on facebook as well as showing them when I’m at our studio, it’s just a win win.

Matt: [07:05] Yeah. Okay. Cool. Okay. So I don’t know if we’re going to get through all of this, but it must be sorry. No, it’s good because I just really want your feedback and hopefully we have these nuggets that will help the audience as well. So the second part, as I said, like what’s, what is possible, so I was gonna have them audit their platform url on each platform, each social media platform, audit their followers out of their competition and their audit, their current strategy. So I think the main one doing all those platforms. Well I’m just saying because everybody’s business is different. Right? And so they usually

Kia: [07:41] and tell them to choose their top two platforms or something. Because to me I’d be like, I have to ask all these questions about all these platforms. And so, you know, if you take five times, one, two, three, four, five, six, you know, like your, your ended up with like 30 questions. Sure. So I think you should tell them, pick your top one or two platforms and audit those. Okay. And so here’s the idea. You should add pinterest.

Matt: [08:08] Okay, perfect. So here’s the idea behind behind the audit, the platform as I think. I think we just get, I don’t know if we get lazy or we just get confused or complacent or what the word is, but subconsciously we know that certain platforms are used for certain things. And we talked about this when we, you and I interviewed when I interviewed you about instagram and that there’s certain platforms for certain things. So like Linkedin is the obvious one, right? Like it’s very business centered. It’s used for that. But what happens I think sometimes is that we get lazy and we put instagram content like on facebook and it doesn’t mean so like I just want to. Yeah. So I just want to spend a few minutes and saying like what are, what is the purpose of these platforms? You know, what’s the purpose of facebook, twitter, instagram, linkedin, snapchat, pinterest, whatever. They all are, I, what’s the purpose of it? Why are people there? And then what’s the voice of the platform? Because you and I have talked about this. I don’t know if we’ve actually pointed it out or not, but the voice on snapchat is like very catty and very funny and like there’s a lot of people that just don’t resonate with it. Like when it comes to brands like your brand, your brand may not fit their. Yeah.

Kia: [09:20] Yeah. It definitely doesn’t work with my brand because my brand is happy and cheerful and that kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah. I see that.

Matt: [09:27] And so you know, you’re not going to put dog ears on, you know, that doesn’t work with what, what you’re trying to do and necessarily so, so. So anyways, I want them to look at the platform. I also want them to look at their followers like who’s already there, who’s already resonating with what they’re doing. Like, you know, just getting some insights about who is actually following them. There’s some really cool tools like you can do like a 15 day trial of sprout social and it basically does like a whole audit on your, on your social media platforms and produces all kinds of really cool insights. If you don’t want to do the free trial, you don’t want to pay for it. You can also do, um, just the insights that are inside of instagram or facebook. It has lots of information for you and then they can look at their competition and that’s kind of a slippery slope. But then I also want them just to audit their current strategy. Now since they’ve thought about the platform and thought about who their followers, I want them to look at their social, their current strategy and say, is it working? Is it not? This is where you’ve enlightened me is they’re kind of like auditing their aesthetic on their platform and saying, am I actually doing what’s native to the platform and native to my brand, you know?

Kia: [10:33] Yes, absolutely. Yeah. And I think especially because photography is such a visual, it’s a visual product and so if you, if, if it doesn’t connect with the, the, with your brand and with the platform you’re putting it on, then people are not going to be drawn to it, they’re going to be confused and uncomfortable with it.

Matt: [10:54] Right. Okay. So then the next thing is like ideas of what they could do. And so we’re talking about like how know stories and just posting in general and this concept of retargeting which is super powerful. So let me explain the retargeting for audience real quick. Yeah, you got to do. That was going to be my question. Okay. So retargeting, it’s the idea of like some people call it cookies and all these other things on the internet, but like if somebody goes and you’ve seen this happen, you go to a website and then all of a sudden their ads follow you around on social media forever. Not Forever, but know

Kia: [11:27] for sure. If I look up a pair of snow boots, I’m fine. Snow boots everywhere I go.

Matt: [11:32] Yeah, exactly. So it’s very easy to set that up and so I just want to make, make people aware that that’s something you can do in your business and it’s something that we do in our business and we focused really heavily on that like a couple of years ago and that was one of our best years that we’ve ever had and I need to read and we’d really took a year off not doing it a well of a job on it, but I needed to do a better job of setting up retargeting ads. So if someone does go to my website then we chased them down trying to get them to download our like what to wear guide or something like that or our location guide so that we can actually do that through through

Kia: [12:06] Google or facebook or

Matt: [12:09] we do it through facebook and instagram are the easiest ones to set up. You can do it through Google as well, but we just do facebook and instagram because it’s really easy. And so we just make an ad that says an ad that’s like a what to wear guide ad com. Com download our guide and we just chase them down for like 10 days after they visit our site. So okay. So then that leads me into just talking to people about like this concept of lead magnets or what to wear guides and things that they can create that people can download and the whole purpose of that is to, in marketing is trying to get somebody to raise their hand to show you that they’re interested because.

Kia: [12:43] So let’s talk about and lead magnets a little bit. So what is a lead magnet?

Matt: [12:47] Yeah, so it’s like a, it’s a downloadable. It’s like one of those that’s like a, a pdf or a video somebody can watch. They can basically trade their information for free for some kind of resource that gives them value. So the two most, the two most common we use our which were guides and location guides.

Kia: [13:04] Okay. So let me ask you a question about this because like when I think about making one, I’m just like, Ugh, I wish I had a template of someone else’s that I could copy. When I’ve downloaded templates of other people’s. When I do it, it’s, I just, it’s just like, like what would you say is like the way to do it, like would you say open up a document in pages or photoshop or whatever and then just just start putting it together. Like how does that make sense? Like I feel like a lot of times for me it’s just the actual physical making, the, the what to wear guide or whatever it is that it just is my stop like keeps me from doing that repeatedly.

Matt: [13:47] Right. And so I have like people can purchase my templates and I’ll leave a link to that below as well if they want to a starting point. So to me it’s basically like what question is my, my audience asking and then what are the answers and I just put that on a page, you know. So it’s like what should I wear to senior pictures? Yeah. And then within there is like the do’s and the don’ts and then like what color should I wear, you know, like warm tones, cool tones and then give them some ideas of different looks that they can go with. You know, just kind of give them names so they’re like, oh, I, you know, I actually liked that look and now I know what it’s called and I can talk about it. Okay. So I just,

Kia: [14:27] when you do that, do you feel like it, like there’s a vow, like the single sheet versus a 10 or a 50 page pdf or video, what do you think the best size is?

Matt: [14:42] Yeah, so I think ours are like 14 to 16 pages, but half of them, half of them are just full size images, you know, because half of it’s our portfolio, half of it’s helping them answer questions. Okay. Yeah. So how often do you update those? I don’t know. Every couple of years when we get bored with the pictures, but it’s way more about us than, than them then their clients, their clients are going to be happy with it because it’s, it’s very general. Not necessarily super specific like what you should wear in 2019. Right, exactly. And so we have um, so we have one for high school seniors, girls, high school senior boys. We have one for families, one for headshots and one for what am I missing? Like babies or something, maybe engagement. So that’s what we have. Okay. So, so there and the information is almost identical.

Matt: [15:30] We just change out the pictures and there’s a few tweaks that you have to do to the content, but for the most part like the do’s and don’ts of the same. Right. Don’t wear wrinkled clothes to those session, you know? Yeah. Okay. So when you’re doing that so that you can get their email. Yeah. I mean it’s. So it’s multiple, multiple purposes. It can. The main goal is when someone is looking for a photo session, the one of the very first things they want to talk about is what to wear. And so I wanted to be able to give them the resource to answer one of the early questions so that they raised...]]>https://photopodcast.co/?p=1926Mon, 18 Feb 2019 01:11:00 -040031:38nofull1201201You don’t want to miss this podcast! Matt is teaching at PPA Idaho in Boise, so he bounces ideas off of and asks for Kia’s perspective on social media so get prepared for his program. They start with goals, like brand awareness and how you measure that. Matt runs Facebook and Instagram ads to current…Kia Bondurant and Aubrey LaurenGrant Andrew – Episode 019 – A Photographer Podcast InterviewReady to shake things up? Today, Matt and Kia interview Grant Andrew, Matt’s friend and business coach. Listen in to hear them talk about how important the message is you’re putting out to your ideal client. The person running the business, is the message. Who are you, what do you have to offer, what do you love? Then, who does that work for? Who are you excited to work with and photograph? Grant suggests you try a lot of things, see what works, then do more of that. When you’re first starting out, it’s a discovery process. Recognize when something “sparks joy”. And it’s a living process as you grow and evolve. Be careful who you are accepting advice from to begin with. Seek out voices you resonate with on a bigger plane. “Detect your purpose” – Stephen Covey Ask your employees, family, friends – what do they see you enjoying and also avoiding? Embrace the great exchange.

Book Recommendation: 

The Greatest Salesman in the World (strange read, but 10 great nuggets in the middle):  https://amzn.to/2B8FC98

Reach out to grant:  grant@grantandrew.net

Read Full Transcript

Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it’s an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.

Grant: [00:01] Hey, this is grant Andrew and you’re listening to from nothing to profit.

Speaker 2: [00:05] Welcome to from nothing to profit, a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

Matt: [00:20] Hey everybody. Welcome to from nothing to profit with Matt in Kenya. So this week we have a really amazing guests. He’s actually one of my friends and he also does some business coaching for me. His name is grant Andrew and the reason grant is on here as Kaiser actually never met him. Kyle just met him like 30 seconds ago when we jumped on this recording but I wanted to meet him because he helps me a ton but we had this really interesting conversation and grant I’ll try to just summarize it real quick and then kyle and I can kinda. You can Kinda, you can tell your version of the story and then Chi and I can kind of ask you additional questions. But grant and our grant, I were having this conversation where he we’re talking about, I’m speaking at a PPA, Boise, well I guess it’s Pdpa Ppa, I Idaho and a couple of weeks and he was asking, well what are you going to talk about?

Matt: [01:06] And I said, well, you know, talk about marketing and stuff like that. And then I was making this joke about how every time you go to a marketing seminar they spend like half of their talk talking about like avatars are, who your ideal client is and you know, I said, you know, I’m not going to spend all this time just spending the time making people who figure out who their ideal client is because I feel like, again, joking that everybody in the photography industry thinks their ideal client is people with millions of dollars. And that’s, you know, whenever like who, who’s your ideal client? I don’t know, somebody that’ll spend eight grand with me and you know, they have a billion dollars in grant money. This really interesting comment. And we had a very short conversation. But then I cut them off because I wanted to continue the conversation here at the podcast and he’s in cramped, correct me if I’m wrong, but you basically said that the message you put in front of somebody is more important than the actual avatar of the person because again, I want to see, I don’t...]]>Ready to shake things up? Today, Matt and Kia interview Grant Andrew, Matt’s friend and business coach. Listen in to hear them talk about how important the message is you’re putting out to your ideal client. The person running the business, is the message. Who are you, what do you have to offer, what do you love? Then, who does that work for? Who are you excited to work with and photograph? Grant suggests you try a lot of things, see what works, then do more of that. When you’re first starting out, it’s a discovery process. Recognize when something “sparks joy”. And it’s a living process as you grow and evolve. Be careful who you are accepting advice from to begin with. Seek out voices you resonate with on a bigger plane. “Detect your purpose” – Stephen Covey Ask your employees, family, friends – what do they see you enjoying and also avoiding? Embrace the great exchange.

Book Recommendation: 

The Greatest Salesman in the World (strange read, but 10 great nuggets in the middle):  https://amzn.to/2B8FC98

Reach out to grant:  grant@grantandrew.net

Read Full Transcript

Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it’s an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.

Grant: [00:01] Hey, this is grant Andrew and you’re listening to from nothing to profit.

Speaker 2: [00:05] Welcome to from nothing to profit, a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

Matt: [00:20] Hey everybody. Welcome to from nothing to profit with Matt in Kenya. So this week we have a really amazing guests. He’s actually one of my friends and he also does some business coaching for me. His name is grant Andrew and the reason grant is on here as Kaiser actually never met him. Kyle just met him like 30 seconds ago when we jumped on this recording but I wanted to meet him because he helps me a ton but we had this really interesting conversation and grant I’ll try to just summarize it real quick and then kyle and I can kinda. You can Kinda, you can tell your version of the story and then Chi and I can kind of ask you additional questions. But grant and our grant, I were having this conversation where he we’re talking about, I’m speaking at a PPA, Boise, well I guess it’s Pdpa Ppa, I Idaho and a couple of weeks and he was asking, well what are you going to talk about?

Matt: [01:06] And I said, well, you know, talk about marketing and stuff like that. And then I was making this joke about how every time you go to a marketing seminar they spend like half of their talk talking about like avatars are, who your ideal client is and you know, I said, you know, I’m not going to spend all this time just spending the time making people who figure out who their ideal client is because I feel like, again, joking that everybody in the photography industry thinks their ideal client is people with millions of dollars. And that’s, you know, whenever like who, who’s your ideal client? I don’t know, somebody that’ll spend eight grand with me and you know, they have a billion dollars in grant money. This really interesting comment. And we had a very short conversation. But then I cut them off because I wanted to continue the conversation here at the podcast and he’s in cramped, correct me if I’m wrong, but you basically said that the message you put in front of somebody is more important than the actual avatar of the person because again, I want to see, I don’t want to put words in your mouth, but you said something along the lines, like, your ideal client can be a millionaire that’s willing to spend $8,000 with you, but if you don’t know how to talk to that person, it’s kind of pointless.

Matt: [02:08] Right? Is that where you were kind of saying?

Grant: [02:10] Yeah, I mean, I think, um, I’m just, um, I’ve done a lot of work in marketing and, and, and I hear this, you know, these terms come to light. And I, I guess it’s, um, it’s a little bit just like what’s oftentimes I feel like when we, when we start a task, right, we gravitate to like the, the easy part, you know? So it’s sort of our units. I always joke, it’s like the American thing, right? You’re like, I want to get into camping, so you go buy a tent because going to the store and buying something that’s obviously, you know, that’s the easy part of campaign, right? Whatever you’re into, you know, I mean, you know this with fishing, right? You see people all the time or like I want to get a deficient, go spend, you know, $2,000. And then you’re like, well, how’s the fishing? It’s all in the garage. So in some ways, like, you know, when I talked to, when I talked to marketing folks and we talk about personas, we talk about avatars and all that. It, it feels similar, especially we’re talking about small

Grant: [03:00] businesses that are run by one person or a couple of people and there’s really a, a personality in the business, right? I mean, when you’re talking about someone who is, um, you know, say a photographer who’s largely working solo, I think that the Avatar can easily become a distraction. And so, you know, in my mind, just a couple of places to go before that. I mean, right, is to actually kind of really understand who you are and what you’re, what you’re able to offer, what you’re, what you’re capable of offering. And one of the things I think gets lost in that avatar conversation is like, you know, like I could be anybody who has money, right? To your point who has $8,000 because whatever they need, that’s what I am and I’m sure we all have stories where that really doesn’t work that way. So I think it’s just important to kind of begin with the first things and not begin with sort of the easy things. And that was, that was kind of our conversation there and just the jumping off point for this larger conversation is, you know, wow, um, how do we, how do we actually do the hard work maybe as opposed to the easy work that gets us started and um, you know, with, with that slight introduction, I’d also like to say thanks for having me on because this is a lot of fun and I’m sure we’re going to push the boundaries of, of a thought process as we often do.

Matt: [04:20] Yeah. And in this car, as I was thinking about this conversation coming up to this point, it made me think about, I read a book and I want to, I think, I think it was a Dan Kennedy book, I’d have to, I’ll link it in the show notes, but it talked about how to market to affluence affluent people. And one of the main points I took from the book was like, the average person doesn’t know how to market to an affluent person because you don’t even understand what it’s like for them to spend $40,000 on a coffee table. Right? Like you’re like $40,000 may be all the money you make in a year, you know, and they’re, they’re willing to just go drop it on a coffee table, you know, like, it’s so, like it’s just different conversations. And so sometimes I think a lot of photographers fail because they’re marketing to somebody who they aren’t necessarily as well.

Grant: [05:06] Right. And I think ultimately, you know, we’re, we’re, we’re, as marketers, we’re trying to project or broadcast a message. And the question is what’s the message? And I think in the case of, um, you know, have a, have a business that’s run by someone, there are the message and so you know, you, you start with who are you and what are you good at and, and where are the places that you really add value and, and who you’re going to talk to and how you’re going to connect with them as all downstream from that.

Kia: [05:38] I feel like I’m standing in a club, you know, and like a room and I’m like, look, bouncing back and forth between you guys. And it’s funny because normally I’d be like, all right, I’m out. I’ll talk to you guys later. Find a conversation where I’m the center of the conversation. Just sorry. But so what you’re saying grant is essentially that figuring out your Avatar is easy in your viewpoint, but figuring out who you are is more difficult and something that we typically have

Grant: [06:07] void. Well, yeah. I think in a true sense figuring out your Avatar is very difficult. But I think that if you start on that process before you’ve done the internal work, then it’s like, then it’s like, well, who’s my avatar? If I want to sell $8,000 packages, people with $8,000, we’re done. This was easy. Well, it’s got to be something missing here, right? Yeah. Because the real question is,

Kia: [06:34] is what are you trying to sell and who are you going to attract? Because that’s a very different person than just the general person out there with a lot of money and the. And the other thing is, is maybe your client isn’t someone with a lot of money, but it’s someone who values what you do so much that they’re willing to change what they do to make it happen.

Grant: [06:56] Yeah, exactly. And once again, how would you know that or how would you find those people? You know? So I guess I guess if I, if I were to sort of lay this out a little bit, I’d say to me that sort of persona avatar idea. Yeah.

Grant: [07:08] It’s sorta like the third step, right? So the first thing is you have to know yourself, who are you, what do you have to offer, what do you love? You know, what, what is, uh, what, what, what’s working for you, right? I mean, because here’s the thing, if you’re marketing something or you’re selling something and you’ve chosen a market, uh, so you’ve chosen a really serious market, maybe you’re trying to appeal to business people, you’re trying to talk to, you know, corporate clients or whatever, right? And that’s not you, that’s going to be awful. It’s going to be hard, right? So right away, like people are going to get this sort of like, man, it looks like this guy is really working to do marketing that’s gonna, you know, you’re going to see smoke and you know, here’s your screeching and stuff. Um, so, so you have to know yourself and then you have to know who your approach works for in part of that is going out there and doing a bunch of work and then examining what’s resonating, what, which clients, what, what types of clients or what types of jobs are like easy for me, I just do this stuff.

Grant: [08:08] I show up, I do my magic. You do your magic. This works so good for both of us. This is amazing. Now we’re starting to see where this is, right? If we, if we haven’t gotten to that step and done enough work to, to uncover that a bit, then the persona or Avatar is like all aspirational, right? I’d like to sell to people who are 40 to 60 who have a lot of money.

Kia: [08:27] Yeah. You know, it’s a really interesting and the photography industry, you see this happen over and over where there’s a superstar who does one thing really well and then so many other photographers, you know, they buy their package or they hear them speak and then all of a sudden they’re using the same language, the same imagery, same type of imagery, the same business model. And like you said, it screeches, you know, it’s like there’s something off here. It’s not, this isn’t quite right because essentially what they’re doing is just trying to replicate what someone else has done instead of figuring out who they are.

Matt: [09:03] Mrs Smith’s inauthentic authenticity for sure.

Kia: [09:06] [inaudible]. Yeah. Yeah.

Matt: [09:08] Well, so here’s how I see the photography. Again, I’m stereotyping to prove a point, but what I see is that a lot of people start, they purchased a camera, they photograph, you know, all of their friends and then when they run out of their friends they go get educated and then the next thing they do is they did make the jump from all their friends who paid them, you know, nickels and pennies, which is, which is fine. And then they go, you know, I only want to sell $3,000 packages and I just think that’s where a lot of people fall down and like I don’t. Then they’re like, oh, well there’s not, there’s too many photographers, you know, trying to go after the exact same person versus like trying to find your own little niche and then just, you know, hustling inside that niche and just kicking butt.

Grant: [09:49] Yeah, I think, I think this idea that I love is that this type of this type of work, and this is one of the places I think people get get stuck, right? So, so matt, you know, you guys are, you guys are pretty mature in terms of business models and ways and so you’re at a point of trying to ask a question. Like when you go to build a process or you go to fix something or you go to enter a new market, you’re looking at, is this scalable? Right? Can we do this at size? Can we do this at speed? I think that people start to ask those questions too soon and that creates part of this problem because the work of figuring out who you are and who your thing works for doesn’t have to be scalable.

Grant: [10:34] So you say, well, you know, I just ran a general ad and, and you know, in a week I booked five different kinds of jobs and I shot a family and I shot a portrait. Then I and I and I went to a school and I did and there’s no way I could do that at scale. Well, if you’re new, there’s no need to do that at scale. What you’re doing there is actually getting data and the data gathering process is not, doesn’t have to be at scale because we’re not trying to figure out like we’re not trying to make a million dollars a year. We’re trying to figure out where’s the vein that I should go dig down on. And, and when you do that, you do all these little test holes, right? You just go out and you just like, you want to do a pattern that says, okay, last week I did 10 things, which of those 10 things kind of worked for me? And so, so once again, people hear someone like you talk about some of your challenges in business and they’re like, wow, I got to be careful. I don’t do something that doesn’t scale well at this point you just need to do anything. If you’re early in the process you need to do something and then once you start to see what works, finding something that scales is like a later more mature conversation.

Matt: [11:35] Right. And grant you and I spent a lot of time talking about like, you know, making sure we’re doing work that is filling our buckets, you know, because you could go and try to be somebody else or you could, you know, go into a niche that just isn’t natural to you and it’ll just wear you out, you know, and they’ll just wear you down. But if you’re working with people that fill your bucket, then it’s like a different process. It’s not like you don’t have to go to work everyday, you know, you just get up and do your job and it’s just fun.

Grant: [12:00] Absolutely. But, but to do that, you know, and I think desperation plays a role here as well, right? So, so if we’re underfunded, undercapitalized in business, we’re kind of ahead of the curve, you know, we can, you know, at some level it’s like, you know, you wind up doing anything you can for a dollar, right? Well, once again, people look badly at that, right? So, so even in that example, Matt, I would say, yeah, you want to be doing work that works for you, but give yourself some time to find that, you know, and recognize you’re gonna have to take your lumps on the way to it. Um, you know, and, and, and, and in that sense, when you do something and it doesn’t work, when you do something and it’s difficult when you do something and you say, wow, I can’t do that over and over again, that becomes a filter that helps you find your way. And when you start to find that way really clearly, then you start to look at the other end of the equation and say, okay great, who is this working for? And, and now what do I do?

Matt: [12:56] That’s okay, here’s, here’s our proposal I have in a sense, and tell me what you think about this. Because as an industry person, it’ll be interesting to see your point of view. Like with what grant just said, I think. I think there’s an opportunity for photographers out there to say the work that I enjoy and the work that was easy for me and the work that felt good at the end of the day was an $800 sale or a $500 sale and they can scale that versus the versus the industry is trying to convince them they have to have a $3,500 sale every time they turn around.

Kia: [13:29] Yeah. You know, this is actually pretty interesting. I just talked to a photographer friend the other day and we were talking about like, you know, I was just asking about his business, how many sessions you did, what was the average was and he said, I think that people killed their businesses, literally killed their businesses by having too high of an expectation for their average sale and then they build their business around it and they just lose clients as they go. And I really, I do think there’s a tolerance in certain, you know, just depends on where you are in that country and where you are in the genre of what you’re photographing. That there’s a certain tolerance that people are like, yes, I’ll be spending a thousand dollars, or yes, I’ll be spending 800 or whatever the number is. That’s just, that is an easy sell and then you, then you go over on the other side of it and it’s a hard sell. And I actually. It’s kind of a funny conversation, but like we are. That’s what I’m literally doing in my business right now is trying to find that sweet spot that’s right below. It becomes a hard sell

Matt: [14:35] exactly because it’s just so much more work and I totally agree with the conversation that you had where I see photographers just killing their business and they’re going from photographing families and making nickles to, you know, not trying to find that sweet spot and going straight so well everybody tells if I’m going to be a successful photographer, I have to have $3,500 average, which we can have a whole conversation about how our industry inflates their averages. But I just don’t think that’s the sweet spot for everybody. You know, there’s a, there’s a few superstars in our industry that, that do that and they’re happy with it and they’re, they’re natural at it and that’s great. But I just don’t think everybody in the industry has to follow that way. And it makes me think a lot with it being conferences season right now and people going to imaging and WPPI. I just, you know, it just makes me cringe when I just know some of these people are going to go on stage and convince people that they have to have the $3,500 average. Obviously the higher the average, the better for the business. Right. Because in theory there

Kia: [15:29] you do, you have a $3,500 average and only photograph 30 clients. That’s, you know, or you could have a $2,500 average and photograph 100 clients. Those are two very different businesses.

Matt: [15:42] No, I...]]>https://photopodcast.co/?p=1921Mon, 11 Feb 2019 01:52:00 -040039:22nofull1191191Ready to shake things up? Today, Matt and Kia interview Grant Andrew, Matt’s friend and business coach. Listen in to hear them talk about how important the message is you’re putting out to your ideal client. The person running the business, is the message. Who are you, what do you have to offer, what do…Kia Bondurant and Aubrey LaurenKia Bondurant Instagram Q and A – Episode 018 – A Photographer Podcast InterviewOn this episode, Kia and Matt talk about social media strategies, specifically Instagram. Businesses are more accepted on Instagram than on other platforms. They talk about finding the best platform to connect with your clients. Kia did an experiment comparing results from a print catalog versus an Instagram ad. 59% of internet users use Instagram and 80% of those follow businesses.

The aesthetic of your profile is important, making sure your pictures are cohesive. Consistent editing style can give you cohesiveness. Kia’s aesthetic is bright, colorful, fun and playful. Kia suggests if you want to add something new into your aesthetic, make it a part of every shoot so you have a bunch of new, different images to sprinkle into your social media.

Kia explains top 9, you’ll want to listen to this! Kia doesn’t think IGTV is going to catch on. While snapchat isn’t a natural fit for Kia’s business, Matt is interested in the ad side of snapchat. Kia’s images do the advertising for her. The fun you see is authentic and something you want to be a part of.

Downloads

Kiabondurant.com – download for top 5 things to know about instagram

Read Full Transcript

Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it’s an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.

Kia: [00:01] Hi there, this is Kiah bonderant and you are listening to from nothing to profit with Matt and Kaya,

Speaker 2: [00:08] welcome to from nothing to profit, a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster. Hey guys,

Kia: [00:24] excited today. Matt asked me to talk about some social media and instagram strategies and we were having a side conversation and we wanted to bring it to you guys to share it with you. So Matt, tell everyone what you were thinking.

Matt: [00:40] Yeah. So where were you? Just where the conversation we’re just having that was so interesting is you were talking about how like businesses are accepted on, on instagram and people follow businesses naturally on instagram versus like you don’t follow a lot of businesses on facebook and stuff like that. Well people in general don’t. And then you were showing me some stats where it was like the amount of likes that a business. If a business posts on instagram, the amount of likes they get versus if they were to post that on, on, on facebook. So I don’t remember the stats. Like I remember one of them being like Victoria secrets or something like that that you’re showing me. And it was like, you know, they post something on facebook and they get like 2000 likes, but then they post them on instagram and they’ve got like 200,000 likes. Yeah,

Kia: [01:25] you’re a, you’re a math person, Matt. That’s exactly right. It’s from a, I found on the Internet it was a news whip is the name of it. And uh, yeah. So I think the thing is when you think about social media, and I kind of put all of this together when I was speaking to a group of photographers and I wanted it to be really start really simple because I think when photographers are looking at what they do for social media, they just get confused. Like, where do I go? What do I do? Am I on Pinterest? Am I on facebook? Am I on Linkedin? Google plus? Like, where do I spend my time, what do I grow? And so I was just looking at what works for me and also, you know, doing some research online and the biggest thing I found was...]]>On this episode, Kia and Matt talk about social media strategies, specifically Instagram. Businesses are more accepted on Instagram than on other platforms. They talk about finding the best platform to connect with your clients. Kia did an experiment comparing results from a print catalog versus an Instagram ad. 59% of internet users use Instagram and 80% of those follow businesses.

The aesthetic of your profile is important, making sure your pictures are cohesive. Consistent editing style can give you cohesiveness. Kia’s aesthetic is bright, colorful, fun and playful. Kia suggests if you want to add something new into your aesthetic, make it a part of every shoot so you have a bunch of new, different images to sprinkle into your social media.

Kia explains top 9, you’ll want to listen to this! Kia doesn’t think IGTV is going to catch on. While snapchat isn’t a natural fit for Kia’s business, Matt is interested in the ad side of snapchat. Kia’s images do the advertising for her. The fun you see is authentic and something you want to be a part of.

Downloads

Kiabondurant.com – download for top 5 things to know about instagram

Read Full Transcript

Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it’s an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.

Kia: [00:01] Hi there, this is Kiah bonderant and you are listening to from nothing to profit with Matt and Kaya,

Speaker 2: [00:08] welcome to from nothing to profit, a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster. Hey guys,

Kia: [00:24] excited today. Matt asked me to talk about some social media and instagram strategies and we were having a side conversation and we wanted to bring it to you guys to share it with you. So Matt, tell everyone what you were thinking.

Matt: [00:40] Yeah. So where were you? Just where the conversation we’re just having that was so interesting is you were talking about how like businesses are accepted on, on instagram and people follow businesses naturally on instagram versus like you don’t follow a lot of businesses on facebook and stuff like that. Well people in general don’t. And then you were showing me some stats where it was like the amount of likes that a business. If a business posts on instagram, the amount of likes they get versus if they were to post that on, on, on facebook. So I don’t remember the stats. Like I remember one of them being like Victoria secrets or something like that that you’re showing me. And it was like, you know, they post something on facebook and they get like 2000 likes, but then they post them on instagram and they’ve got like 200,000 likes. Yeah,

Kia: [01:25] you’re a, you’re a math person, Matt. That’s exactly right. It’s from a, I found on the Internet it was a news whip is the name of it. And uh, yeah. So I think the thing is when you think about social media, and I kind of put all of this together when I was speaking to a group of photographers and I wanted it to be really start really simple because I think when photographers are looking at what they do for social media, they just get confused. Like, where do I go? What do I do? Am I on Pinterest? Am I on facebook? Am I on Linkedin? Google plus? Like, where do I spend my time, what do I grow? And so I was just looking at what works for me and also, you know, doing some research online and the biggest thing I found was that instagram is a place where businesses are more accepted than anywhere else where people follow businesses, they want to see what businesses say and they reward businesses with likes. And so like, just like you were saying, that stat is you’re going to get, I don’t know what’s that as a thousand times the number of likes on and on. Yeah, yeah. On instagram versus facebook for a post.

Matt: [02:39] Yeah. Think about it. And you’re totally right. Like when I think about like, oh, businesses, businesses marketed to me on facebook. I’m like, Ugh, it just feels like cookie. But then, but then when I’m like Instagram, I’m like man, I follow 50 percent people and 50 percent businesses and I love seeing what businesses are posting on instagram.

Kia: [02:57] Yeah, that’s the, that is, is because facebook is more of like a relational. You want to catch up with people, you want to know what’s going on with them. But then instagram is all aspirational and so if you’re looking at a business and they post a really great picture of a fishing rod and uh, and uh, the, you know, someone fishing in a way that you’re like, oh my gosh, I want to be there. That’s what you’re on instagram for, is to see aspirational things and get, you know, be excited about new things.

Matt: [03:28] That’s true because of the fly fishing industry will speak up on this. Like I follow these brands on instagram and I liked seeing all their pictures and the fish that they catch and the locations that they go. And I’m like, man, I just picture myself like I want to go to the Seychelles and I want to catch giant fish and it’s awesome. And then when I go to facebook I don’t want to see that. But I do. There is a couple fly fishing groups that I want to, I want to jump into and talk and build relationships with people in. Yeah. So it’s totally different. Yeah.

Kia: [03:54] Yeah, yeah. And I feel like when I post something on facebook, even if it’s business related, I’m not promoting on facebook, but you know, just posting about what I do in business, the people that respond are all people who care about me personally. They know me personally. Whereas if I post something on Instagram, I may get a response from someone I’ve never met before who’s a photographer or you know, someone who’s a potential, you know, portrait client. And there’s just a big difference who even as caring and looking at the images and responding to them.

Matt: [04:27] Right. Okay. So this goes back to a conversation you and I had a long time ago, not a long time ago, but we’re actually one of the, this was like the conversation we had right after. We’re like, we’re going to do a podcast together and you’re like, you’re like, we don’t even spend a lot of time on snapchat. And I was like, that’s really interesting. And I didn’t quite understand why because I knew all of our high school kids were there. But as I

Kia: [04:48] were saying, I don’t spend time promoting or using snapchat as a business.

Matt: [04:54] Yeah, that’s what you were saying and I was kind of blown away because I was like really getting into it, but as time has gone on and I’ve understood how you view social media, it makes sense because like snapchat is not that inspirational place, you know, like the audiences there. So there’s an opportunity there but it’s not the necessarily the, the native platform for us to put out our work and inspire people to book with us.

Kia: [05:19] Yeah. And I think we only have a certain amount of time as photographers and so where are we going to spend that time? I can’t do all the potential and social media platforms. I can’t do all of them at all, but I can and I can’t do very many of them well and so I do have to choose, you know, where are people going to be and so it really depends on what clients I have and who I want to connect with because if I’m trying to do portraits a families, babies, a grandma’s, then facebook may be a great place and I know a lot of people who have a lot of. With facebook and I know you do, don’t you?

Matt: [06:00] Yeah, but not as much as. Not as much as we used to. Like when I did it, I did an audit just recently of all of our stuff and I mean instagram is by far the most, the most, the most traction for sure. Like, like no matter how I measure it, right? Like the amount of DMS that we get that book people, the amount of likes we get, the amount of shares and all that, like all that information. When you look at all those metrics, like no matter how you want to break them down and just instagram like bubbles to the top on all of them now.

Kia: [06:26] Yeah, your social engagement just really makes a big difference. Yeah, and even if you compare it, you know, if you’re talking facebook versus Instagram, which I think both of those are valid and you should have a plan for both, but I do put the lion share of my work into instagram at this point. I know that pinterest can really work for people, but that is way down. You know, it’s, it’s the lion shares instagram then a little bit facebook and then a tiny bit pinterest and then I really don’t spend any time with twitter or snapchat or linkedin or Google plus any of those type of things because I don’t feel like they’re the best way for me to connect my clients.

Matt: [07:04] Well. Yeah, because every platform has a purpose and like a white way to exist on that platform. And if they were all the same they wouldn’t all exist. Right. So when you think about photography business, I think instagram is the most natural fit for what they’re trying to accomplish at instagram and what we’re trying to accomplish as a business. Like those are the most compatible.

Kia: [07:25] Yeah. And they’re going to be the most supportive of what we do. So this is kind of interesting too. I actually did a, we’ll call it an experiment this year where I put out a print catalog and uh, I’ve, when I was putting together this program and talking about social media and instagram specifically, I compared the time I spent versus the reach versus the return on my investment for print catalog versus an instagram ad. And you’ll, this is kind of amazing. Uh, I spent 60 hours on my print catalog putting it together. Uh, I spent 30 minutes on my instagram ad. I spent $2,000 mailing and printing the catalog and I spent $30 on the instagram ad and I had less than 1500 viewers. I know for sure because of how many. I mailed the catalog too, and I had over 9,000 viewers on my instagram ad. Isn’t that amazing?

Matt: [08:21] No, it’s crazy like the amount of reach that social platforms give you now is just uncomparable to what we used to do 10 years ago for marketing. You know, it’s different because it was noisier. Okay. It’s maybe it’s not even noisier because. Because direct mail used to be super noisy but it’s noisy or so you have to work a little bit harder. But like the amount of engage, reach engagement you get for like little time and little money is, is amazing.

Kia: [08:48] Yeah. Yeah. And these, here’s some interesting stats. It says 59 percent of Internet users between the ages of 18 and 29 use instagram and that, you know, for high school seniors, which is what I was gearing this, uh, you know, research toward that is exactly our target market. So 60 percent really have overall internet users are on instagram and then 80 percent of those users follow a business on instagram. So like we said, business is, is something that has really valued and follow it on instagram.

Matt: [09:22] That’s like acceptable. There was another conversation along the same lines of that. So I don’t know if I want to stay on, on the ad thing because I, I, to me, it just makes so much sense, you know, like it’s just like, it’s so much cheaper, so much better to run instagram ads and I mean even if you were paying like an ad agency to run you a set of ads for 500 bucks, it’s still a fraction of the cost of that print is a, the outreach and stuff you get as is amazing. But one of the things that you were also have talked to me about in the past in how in terms of getting followers and getting engagement is the, you’re the aesthetic of your, of your, uh, I guess profile, right? Yeah, for sure. And so I’ve been doing a lot of thinking around that and I think allison and the rest of our staff does a pretty good job, but I think we have to get it even more dialed in. Um, so explain to everybody what you mean when you say how important is aesthetics of your profile is on instagram?

Kia: [10:21] Yeah. Well, I, so I’ve put together, we’re pulling all of this from that. My top nine things you need to know about instagram and social media and so aesthetic is one of those top nine and I think it goes back, it starts out with who are you trying to reach and then putting your aesthetic together. And so when I first heard the word aesthetic, actually it was my daughter and she was referring to tumbler and that was a couple of years ago and she kept saying, oh, they have this really greatest static or I love their aesthetic and the way that she was using that word. It’s a e, s, t e h e t I c. I was like, it was a new kind of way of using the word aesthetic. And uh, essentially what she meant was putting a collection of images together in a way that makes them cohesive. And so on Tumbler, there would be a picture of pink smoke, a picture of let, you know, like just the legs and high heels with like pink to hose on the legs and then, you know, white high heels and then a pink painted gun like pepto Bismol pink. And that was like an aesthetic essentially saying danger and softness and mystery all in a really girly color Palette. And so that was,

Matt: [11:40] was it specific because when you think of guns you don’t think of like girly colors at all?

Kia: [11:44] Yeah, yeah, yeah. So there was this aesthetic and I was really kind of fascinated by it. And then when you look through instagram, especially in, you know, the larger accounts, there’s often a very specific aesthetic where the images all are cohesive, they all go together. And so, uh, if you know your brand, which is one of the first things that you have to do is figure out your brand, figure out who you’re targeting with that brand. Then you put together an aesthetic where you’re, where, what you post all looks good together. And so it doesn’t necessarily have to be super dramatic. So like, if, as long as you’re, uh, as long as you’re editing of your images is really is a consistent. Like I feel like with Allison’s instagram there is a consistent aesthetic with hers because you’re editing is all really consistent, you know, where it’s not, it’s not super bright, it’s not super crazy colors, it’s all fairly natural. And I, I dunno, you know, natural simple.

Matt: [12:49] Yeah. And Joe Jefferson, um, I don’t remember if we actually said on the podcast or we had a side conversation after the podcast, but he called it earthy and I thought that was perfect. Like Allison’s aesthetic is earthy know there tends to be in nature and the pictures, it tends to be earthy tones if she’s going to lean one way versus the other, she’s going to lean to like, you know, like browns and things like that. Versus like, I mean in a sense where the polar opposite of what your aesthetic is because you’re so bright and playful and ours is just more, more earthy.

Kia: [13:19] Yeah. Yeah. So my three words that would describe my business are vibrant, authentic, and inspirational. And so when I think of inspirational to me, a lot of times that’s happy, you know, inspiring people to be happy. And so my aesthetic is definitely bright, playful, you know, fun colors, fun expressions. And uh, so I tried to put that right.

Matt: [13:43] Like I said, some of your pictures where you’ve done like ice cream cones as a prop, you know, like that just says fun.

Kia: [13:51] Yeah, for sure. And I actually did that this year with my, with my high school senior sessions. I brought that in where I used a bright background and some sort of playful food prep and created a whole whole set of images, a whole series that I could use a sprinkling them in an, in my social media and that is something that you can actually do, you know, his plan, what you’re going to be shooting. So, so maybe let’s say allison wanted to put something new into her aesthetic and so rather than, you know, going and doing one single shoot, she could just add that into her sessions throughout the year. Like maybe smoke bombs, you know, or something like that where she does that every couple sessions and has that as something that she can put into her aesthetic, you know, so yeah. Yeah. So, and in a way to figure out your aesthetic is to look at other inspirational accounts because uh, you know, some people will use like a specific preset on so that they have an orange cast to their images. Uh, and so when you can look at that and then also look at who your target clients are and what they’re doing for their aesthetic. Because our high school seniors, I have a big range of what they’re posting on their social media. Some of them have a very specific look of what they’re trying to accomplish.

Matt: [15:13] Then you go to somebody who’s account and you realize that they only have like 15 pictures or something on it too because I’ve deleted everything else that doesn’t match their, their aesthetic or their brand, you know, it seems, you know, it seems crazy for us to talk about how a high school senior has their own brand. But absolutely they definitely do. They definitely do. And if you work with high school seniors, you know that. And also if you think back when you were a high school senior, you had, you had an image or a brand you were trying to put forward all the time, you know, that’s just the, that’s just part of being that age. Yeah.

Kia: [15:44] But I don’t think it’s going to specifically just be with high school seniors I think that they adopt or you know, high schoolers adopt early what, uh, what everyone’s going to do. And I just saw one of my, like family clients on their social media. I can see that they are now starting to put the same filter on all of their, all of their family snapshots on their instagram. And so I think it’s going to filter down to everyone. And I think that’s kind of fun because for me, I look at that as an opportunity to connect with them and go, okay, what are you doing on your social media? How can I create images that will go with that? Or how can, how can you buy into what I’m doing and put what I’m doing on your social media. And so that leads right into, you were asking me about the top nine and what that was. And my husband, Andy Bundoora is a, he is not a photographer, but he hangs out with a lot of photographers and he was just with a guy who’s got hundreds of thousands of followers on instagram and he was explaining to andy about his top nine and how that was the most important thing to his social media. And he said, what he, what it is, is when you open up the instagram app and you go to someone’s profile, that’s what you see is their top nine reese most recent posts. Most reasonable.

Kia: [17:11] Yeah. So you see their top nine most recent posts. So it’s not their top nine of the year. Um, and so when you go to someone’s instagram profile and use...]]>https://photopodcast.co/?p=1917Mon, 04 Feb 2019 01:45:00 -040032:43nofull1181181On this episode, Kia and Matt talk about social media strategies, specifically Instagram. Businesses are more accepted on Instagram than on other platforms. They talk about finding the best platform to connect with your clients. Kia did an experiment comparing results from a print catalog versus an Instagram ad. 59% of internet users use Instagram…Kia Bondurant and Aubrey LaurenTeri Fode – Episode 017 – A Photographer Podcast InterviewYou don’t want to miss this podcast when Kia and Matt interview Teri Fode (@terifode)! Teri has been a professional photographer for 15 years. She also owns and operates Voice Your Brand. Teri specializes in photographing seniors and their families. What’s working great for Teri now is telling the story of her brand on her Instagram stories and going deeper than just sharing behind the scenes. Teri believes our industry is missing the fact we need to market like influencers. We are the face of our brand. But be intentional about it. What is it in your life that people can connect with? Listen in to see what Teri recommends you purchase to help move your business forward. You also don’t want to miss the best advice Teri ever received and uses to this day. Learn about Teri’s personal habits of focusing on the top 3 things she wants to get done and spending 60 minutes a day moving the needle forward/working “ON” her business.

Teri’s Online Recommendations:

SocialMediaexaminer.com

Book Recommendations:

Building a Storybrand by Donald Miller (https://amzn.to/2VXZwg6)

Why Simple Wins – Lisa Bodell (https://amzn.to/2Mfqs6C)

Teri’s Free Branding Resource:

Brandmybizstory.com

http://voiceyourbrandgifts.com/brandstatementguide/

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Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it’s an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.