Hey Girl, Nice Shot

It is a Francypants Kind of Day

2011-08-01T10:00:00-05:00

Over the years I've been so lucky to meet so many wonderful fun photographers at various workshops and conferences. And Kelli France surely stands out for her exuberance and infectious smile. Being around her means wanting to dance and sing, share a secret, or a good laugh. She is like an energizer bunny who can just keep going and going and stay fashionable while doing it...where she finds all that energy is a secret I'd like to know!

August 1st has been a busy day in the industry - lots of great stuff launching today. Kelli France, aka "Francypants," is launching her new blogsite and her Aug./Sept. Business Makeover program for Photographers TODAY! To celebrate her new site, she's giving away this FREE mini-accordion album template download (until Tuesday August 2 at midnight) to everyone who stops by!

AND if you "Like" her on the Francypants Facebook Fan Page you'll get to download ANOTHER FREEBIE! (You're in for a treat!) She’ll also be celebrating all week long with some crazy-cool stuff like daily give-aways, photo and video posts, etc. Go check it out at www.francypantsacademy.com/blog!

Kelli is now enrolling students for her 6 weeks to chic Business Makeover program. A great alternative to going to a workshop, this one lets you work on the material from home BUT has the accountability of one on one reviews with Kelli AND access to other class members through a private forum. Plus lots of other good things!

The Daily Savvy Steal for Frugal Photographers

2011-08-01T09:00:00-05:00

Is there a spy cam in my house? Because if there is I'm pretty sure my friend Marsha is on the other side of it! A few months back I had the idea to start a site that had a working title "frugal photographer" with the idea that it would have a daily deal for photographers looking to save a few bucks by jumping on the group purchase or crowd savings bandwagon. I even have pages of notes on how I could set it up and a task list including coming up with a better name but it fell below some of the other fun projects I have planned so I never got around to it! All kidding aside, I think it is a GREAT idea.

Lucky for you - you don't have to wait until I have time to do it because The Daily Savvy Steal launched today (brought to you by the same lovelies that write the Savvy Photographer). With daily deals at big savings off retail, be sure to subscribe so you know about the deal of the day!

The Most Wonderful Time...And I don't mean back to school (plus, save $$)

2011-08-01T08:51:19-05:00

Here in Houston it is 100 degrees daily and youth football starts today. School starts in three week and it is hard to imagine that the Christmas portrait season is just around the corner. This time of year has always been fun for me, an admitted template and action junkie because this is the time of year all the holiday card templates come out. I look forward to sifting through the designs to determine which ones I need to purchase to use for my clients...and which special one I'll save just for me!

Year after year I always return to Jamie Schultz. I think I've purchased at least one set of Christmas card templates from her for the last 4 years! I've alway liked her variety in her sets with cards that can work at flat cards, double sided flat cards, and folded cards. And the mix of the number of photos card to card works so well whether you have a family that wants a single family picture on their card or one that wants to have an individual picture of all three of their kids. I've always found her cards super easy to work with and great looking when printed. Sometime the biggest challenge is to narrow it down to a single design (sometimes I can't and I end up getting xmas cards for my son and xmas cards for my daughter to give out at school individually just so I don't have to choose).

I'm personally eyeing the Wonderland Folded Luxe Cards..what about you? Make your choice even easier! Jamie is offering Hey Girl Readers $10 off a purchase of $50 or more! You can use the code heygirl10 upon checkout at www.jamieschultzdesigns.com.

ABOUT JAMIE SCHULTZ DESIGNS - Holiday Cards 2011

Designed to delight your clients with cards to suit every style, the Jamie Schultz 2011 Holiday Card Collection sparkles with a little bit of whimsy, simply classic lines, and a touch of elegance. All card designed are sized to print as press-printed cards and will work with most major photography labs (MpixPRO, Miller's, WHCC, ACI, etc...) front and back files provided for each design (several fold open options provided in each set). Editable text and colors with a simple click of the mouse. Instructions and font list with links included.

Email Marketing: Setting Up MailChimp

2011-05-10T22:56:34-05:00

I've been a big fan of email marketing for a long time. Yes, our in-boxes are crammed with offers and promotions but it continues to be an effective method for connecting with clients past and future who may be interested in booking a session with you. I believe that when used appropriately, email "blasts" are a pro-active way to direct your market - as long as you don't over-email.

Setting Up Mailing List
First, you must set-up your email list. You have the option of just sending from your email program but that seems unmanagable at best. I recommend going with a service - there are a bunch of them out there. I've been using the industry standard, Constant Contact, for years but recently I've switched over to MailChimp and I've been very happy with them. Why the switch? First, MailChimp is free if you are not a high volume emailer. I've been paying about $32/month for Constant Contact so that is a savings of close to $400 a year!

Once you have completed your basic setup, you will have the option to create a form that you can place on your website to allow visitors to sign up. You can create a page on your website where your visitors complete the form - MailChimp will give you the code to put on the page (look for the “create embeded code” link. It will give you the HTML code to add to your site, or if you prefer, a link you can embed into your site to direct people to a form hosted by MailChimp.

With MailChimp, they send an email to confirm the email address then there is a “Confirmation Thank You Page”. Rather than sticking with the standard "thank you" from MailChimp, you have the option of creating your own thank you page on your site that the visitor will be redirected to after they sign up. This is a great opportunity to not only thank them for joining your list, but giving them some action to take...maybe suggest they visit your portfolio, or some favorite blog posts.

So, here’s what you do...first, create the Thank You page on your site. Then you will need to the create forms page on MailChimp and choose Confirmation “Thank You” Page from the drop down box. You will see that you have the option to put in the URL of your Thank You page.

What this means is when someone completes the sign up process (including confirming their email address) they will come back to this page. This will give you more options in the future to present additional information to visitors when they first sign up plus it sends them back to your site, which is always a good thing.

What system are you using to manage your email list?

Risky Writing: 40 Pages of Change

2011-05-04T15:53:51-05:00

Fifteen years ago I walked into a small classroom at the University at Albany for an expository writing class. I looked around at my fellow students (no doubt mostly English majors like myself) and wondered what we would talk about week to week. I am certain of one thing: I had no idea the influence that class would have for the rest of my life.

Armed with my Strunk and White The Elements of Style (which is still floating around my house) I went in prepared to discuss grammar, punctuation, and spelling. The class was pass/fail and to pass I would have to write 40 pages during the semester. In addition to my own writing I would read and edit the writing of the others in the class.

The class was something of a literary experiment by our professor, Dr. Jeffrey Berman. The papers started out as mere response writing but as the semester progressed it became more personal. When reading some of the other papers I would sometimes find myself so immersed in the writing I would forget to edit. My own papers would be an exercise in self discovery and disclosure. Years later when my husband and I were dating long distance I sent him my papers from that class to get my back story.

The lessons in that class extended way beyond the proper use of a semi-colon. They included lessons on how make your writing believable and truthful. Lessons on getting your message across in the fewest words (something I still struggle with-ha). And lessons on writing what you feel and know.

Writing this blog for the past 4 years I've frequently reflected on that class and the lessons learned. Most of my writing on here is stream of consciousness and I'm sure an editor would have a field day going through it.

But it is written honestly.

When I wrote my post about taking a hiatus from my photography business I had an outpouring of responses - both in comments and via private email. On a call with a friend today she admitted to having cried when she read the blog post and she is not even a photographer. I was a little surprised but at the same time glad that I could touch so many with my words. Thank you Dr. Berman for giving me the tools to connect with so many of my peers.

Was there some experience in your past that you see as a turning point or a connection point for aspects of your life today or in your career? Do you write honestly on your blog as a way to connect with your customers?

Turn the Music Off

2011-05-02T07:10:31-05:00

Yesterday I was looking up information on the website for our local youth football program. I wanted to find out when the next registration day was and make sure I get my son registered before I have to pay the late fee. As I loaded up the website suddenly I was blasted with some soft of techno music. It almost knocked me out of my chair and I slammed my hand on the "mute" button on my speakers.

I am still shocked at the number of sites that have music playing on them by default. Yes, yours too. If you have music that plays automatically go immediately and turn it off.

I know, I know...you pay all this money to have a beautiful, fancy, Flash based site with slideshow effects and pretty music. Believe me, I understand the allure. BUT I HATE IT WHEN A SITE AUTOMATICALLY STARTS PLAYING MUSIC. I like to have my own music playing or shocking, maybe even a hulu window in the corner while I work and so always having my speakers muted isn't ideal. And I don't want someone else's choice of sound over-riding what I'm doing.

Also, I always want to keep in mind my customer's needs. What if she is surfing sites at work while on her lunch break and doesn't need everyone else to hear what she is doing? Or sitting at a laptop while hanging out with her family? I can't tell you the number of times I've clicked on a link in Facebook posted by a friend only to close the window of the website it opens IMMEDIATELY because music will start blasting out. Guess what, if I'm a potential customer, they probably just lost my business.

Still don't believe me?

Okay, what about a compromise?

Have music turned off by default but give the visitor an option to turn it on. Maybe have a little direction: 'the artist has selected music to enhance your viewing, click here to turn it on". If I'm in a location where I can load the music without interfering I probably will. Once I liked the music so much I just left it running while I worked.

Or option two: create music videos and label them as such. I love Animoto and how easy it is to create music videos. With my pro account they also have a lot of music that as already been licensed do I don't have to worry about getting the proper license for my music (by the way, another no-no is not getting the proper license for the music you use on your site).

It is even worse when the music is automatically started on a blog - I'm even less likely to expect it there and so much more likely to be surprised. And I have noticed it is MUCH harder to find the "off" button on a blog - at least those flash sites tend to have a somewhat standard way to mute the music within the site (rather than muting my entire computer).

What are your thoughts? Am I over sensitive to having the sound? Do you like to have music that automatically plays? Does the benefit out weigh the risk of your client closing the window?

What Are New Clients Worth to You?

2011-04-28T08:09:00-05:00

When deciding on any kind of marketing effort, one thing you need to to is consider how you measure the success of the that campaign. It might be a Google Adwords campaign, a Facebook campaign, or even a booth at a local expo. But when you are spending money to make money, it is important to make sure you stand a chance at making money.

First, you will need to look at what success means for you?

For me, I have a couple of different levels of success. I consider someone signing up for my newsletter a success. Someone purchasing a class or portrait session is a bigger success. Each has a different dollar value and by assigning values to them I can see if my ad campaigns are working for me.

But to assign those values, I need to determine what they are!

Email Address Value

The Annual Value

One quick way to determine the value of an email address is to take the annual revenue and divide it by the number of people on your list. So if you have $50,000 in revenue and 500 email address then that gives each email address a $100 value. You may want to instead look at the annual profits or profits + your salary to see how much you actually make per email address. So if you keep 35%, or $17500 then that would give each email address a value of $35.

Referral Bonus

When new potential clients come from a client referral they may have a higher value because a peer recommendation has a better chance of converting into an actual sale. When a potential client comes from an adWords campaign, you may want to assign a lower value because they will likely have a lower conversion rate. So you may instead choose to play with the numbers, like lower the value of each email address to $25.

Purchase Clients

Since I offer different options for photography classes as well, that is another level of value I can assign. For example, if I have a photography class that cost $125 and someone signs up, well, I know they are worth $125. So that is an easy value to assign.

Value of Existing Clients

Clients you already have are going to have more long term value than potential clients. Therefore it is worth investing in making sure the continue to come to you for your services and they already know what to expect from you! Plus remember, those customers can make referrals which give you even greater revenue.

So working out this scenario further using some basic numbers (try this with your numbers and see what happens):

Average Sales Per Client: $500

Number of Years Client Retained: 3

Client Value (sales x years): $1500

Number referrals (1 per year): 2

Referral Value (referral x client value x : $3000

Client Lifetime Value (referral + client values): $4500

Year One: 100 clients x $500 = $50,000
Year Two: 200 clients x $500 = $100,000
Year Three: 400 clients x $500 = $200,000

So with only $500 in average annual revenue from clients with a 3 year relationship and two referrals from your client you are looking at a $4500 value. So if you start with 100 active clients that's a value of $350,000 over a three year period. Of course, that assumes everyone remains and everyone makes at least one referral a year. But it also shows how important it is to retain clients. But there is actually a time factor to consider as well because you don't have unlimited hours to do that work so realistically you may only be able to have 200 clients a year if you spend 10 hours per client and work a full time 2000 hours per year. So that does start to limit your potential at the $500/client mark but that will still put you at the potential for $250,000 in revenu over a three year period. Be careful about your expenditures and that can make a difference in your paychecks.

Now, boost your average sales per client per year and things get really exciting.

So, take some time to consider what existing and potential clients might be worth to you. That will help you determine the success of your campaigns (more about that to come).

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

2011-04-13T10:19:35-05:00

First, a confession...My last paid portrait session was in December. And I took on a VERY limited number of portrait sessions last fall. Instead I referred past clients and new contacts to a handful of local photographers whose work I admired.

Sound crazy? Why would I do that during what would normally be the busy time?

To be honest, I was completely burned out. After over four years of working hard, investing in my education and equipment, taking time away from my family, and putting clients first, I knew I needed a change. A big one! So I just shut it down. No new sessions. No new clients. No bookings for 2011 – at least for now.

What drove me to this point? I had finally gotten my business to the point where I was actually able to pay myself, which was nice. But I felt like the job had really taken over my life. I couldn’t enjoy an outing with my family without feeling guilty about that editing that needed to be done. But that wasn’t want finally drove me over the edge.

It was not wanting to take my camera out when I was with my own kids because I was so sick of dealing with photos.
It was the dad that called to bully me about my pricing after his family session because he wife didn’t review the pricing with him ahead of time.
It was the daily call (at least) from a mom wanting to schedule a session but wanting everything included in the session fee - including the disk of high res images.
It was getting the feeling that consumers just don’t see the difference between a quality image and one that is not.
It was cringing when a friend would post an out of focus image on Facebook and everyone would scramble to say how great it was and ask if they could take a photo for them.
It was seeing a number of photographers operating illegal businesses where they were changing insanely low prices but not paying taxes, insurance, etc. because they considered it a paid hobby.
It was seeing some REALLY REALLY bad photography and seeing friends recommend those photographers to other friends because they were “affordable”.

I was very reluctant to start this business even when I did (5 years ago) – I wasn’t a great photographer yet. I was inconsistent. I struggled with exposure. I over edited. I had some of those same friends asking me to take pictures and I didn’t want to do it for free so I charged a low price and tried to figure out what I was doing. But I did have a legal business entity. I paid taxes. I went to workshops to train, practiced in every spare moment, and worked to get better. We invested some of our savings into getting the equipment and training I needed. I invested hours. I had child care so I could work at it more and I improved quickly. I wasn’t willing to be the McDonald’s of photographers: cheap and low quality.

After I ramped up and got to the point where I was consistent and confident I raised my prices. A lot. I added new products, new packages, more more more. I tried every template and every product and tried to figure out how to incorporate it into my packages to be able to charge more. I spent so much money on samples only to either never sell any or decide not to sell them. I was overwhelmed by choice and my bank account felt it. Looking at my expenses in the early years, there was definitely a bit of a buying spree that rarely resulted in me earning more. I didn’t always carefully consider each purchase instead I would say “I have money, I want that”.

I was playing at running a business instead of actually running a business.

Over time I realized I needed to stop buying every new product that came on the market. I know, not as fun for blogging on here when I’m not trying as much new stuff. But, I actually simplified what I offered. I revamped my packages to make them more flexible. And when I did that I actually started to feel like I was getting some traction. I was busy and my revenue per session was where I wanted it. But I still wasn’t making as much profit as I wanted to and I was still spending so much time. Throw in high rent for the loft space I was renting and two hours a day of commuting and it is no surprise I got burned out. Not to mention a failed experiment with associate photographers that was a very expensive trial.

Fast forward to 2011. I haven’t scheduled any portrait sessions yet this year. And it has been a welcome break. It has allowed me to put more focus into the photography classes I teach. It has allowed me to quietly enjoy a part time job. It has allowed me to love photography again. I actually took my kids out for some quick new portraits – something I hadn’t done in a VERY long time. Over the weekend I brought my camera on a hike and really enjoyed taking pictures. This break has been very good for me.

Last night I had a dream. In the dream I was having a fantastic portrait session with a beautiful and vibrant little girl. And I woke up missing the portrait sessions.

Photographer's Kick Start: Advanced Training

2011-04-07T21:46:21-05:00

So excited to announce that today I launched my new product on Photographer's Kick Start - the Advanced Training Materials. These materials provide the framework to allow a phtoographers to offer photography classes to their customers. More and more photographers are being asked by their customers to help them learn how to use their cameras to take better pictures. While not replacing the need for a professional photographer for milestone portraits and special occasions, moms want to be able to take better photos during those everyday moments and now you can help get them there.

We've had our Beginner's Photography Class purchased and taught all over the world. Now we also offer and Advanced Photography Class as well. And save money by purchasing the bundle together.

The Advanced class includes the materials to teach the advanced photography class including the following outline.

Class Outline:

Review of the Elements of Exposure
Creative Shooting Modes
- Program Mode
- Tv/Shutter Priority
- Av/Aperture Priority
- Manual Mode
Composition
Depth of Field
Focus Methods
Changing Focus Points
White Balance
Camera Menu

USE CODE "LAUNCH25" FOR 25% off your purchase during our initial launch. Discount code expires 4/10/2011.

The first 30 people who purchase the Advanced training or Bundle will also get a bonus - The Photographers Web Marketing Guide by Zach Prez ebook will be included in your download.

Learn more...

Featured Sponsor: Go {4} Pro

2011-04-07T09:37:29-05:00

A few years ago I received an email from a fan of Hey Girl, Nice Shot letting me know she was inspired to create her own blog about the trials and tribulations of starting a photography business. We all have different journeys, different approaches, and try different products so it seemed like a great addition to the sharing that I think is essential to building a better photography community. That email came from Leah, and that blog turned into Go {4} Pro.

Leah has since grown her blog beyond documenting her personal journey and into something much bigger with lots of great content, contests, and tutorials. And she looks great doing it!

About Go {4} Pro
"We picked up our camera's to create, but have you created your business to thrive? Leah Remillet created Go{4}Pro three years ago when she decided to go for pro. Pulling from her background in marketing and sales, Leah was able to create a profitable business with a 4 to 6 week wait list in the first year. Leah openly shares her knowledge about marketing, branding and sales freely with the photography industry through her site Go4ProPhotos.com. Go{4}Pro is a place to come for daily inspiration, business tools, marketing design and personal business coaching. "

If you have not already been over to Go {4} Pro I definintely recommend visiting and getting your daily inspriation and advice. Plus, she's in the know about what is new in the portrait photography world! And if you want Leah to help you look good - check out the Go {4} Pro Shop.

Go {4} Pro is a sponsor of The Photographer's Kickstart and has included a goodie in the virtual swag bag for our new advanced training or training bundle release coming Thursday April 7th!!!