Hello and welcome to my 10 part vlog series sponsored by Pretty Presets. Over these ten weeks, we’re discussing just a few of the different things you need to look into when deciding if you’re ready to venture into charging for your photography and becoming a ‘professional’.

This is week 3 and in this video, I’ll be discussing 5 things you need to be thinking about as a starting point. I’ll also be revealing the very first step you need to be taking to start your business.

Note: if you’re viewing this post in your inbox and there’s no video, click here to view this post on the blog.

{Video Notes}

Can you get a camera and go straight into business? Yes and no. Can you start a business as a beginner? Yes and no.

Thinking about business is the very first step of starting one. If you were to get a camera tomorrow purely for the purpose of going into business, then just thinking about business is the first step.

Some trades/careers where people go into the trade purely for the purpose of business:

• Bricklayer
• Physicians
• Filmmakers

You may be in the thinking stage of starting your business for years before ever beginning to shoot for money. And again, unless you have consistency in your work, you’re not ready to start taking people’s money.

In this video, I’m going to talk to you about 5 things you need to start working on to get your feet on the path to starting your business:

1. Get serious about your education. Eat, sleep and breathe photography. Make learning your full time job or part time job if you have to. Take classes online, join a club, go on photo walks, start discovering what you really love shooting. Hone in on your specialty.
2. Get a mentor. Find someone locally or someone online who can help teach you the ways of photography and business. Find a photographer who will allow you to second-shoot or be an apprentice. I think it’s time for us to stop being so tightly guarded with our secrets.
3. Practice practice practice. If you want to be a photographer, start taking pictures.
4. Start learning about business. Study marketing, learn how people think. Read the blog Psychology for Photographers. I love this new blog and I never miss a post.
5. Get critique. Have your work looked at and critiqued by other photographers who you admire and respect. One way to receive real, honest critique is through things like Chic Critique {you can get on the waiting list for my periodic months of critique here}. Don’t ask for critique from your friends. They’re going to tell you what you want to hear and unless they’re also professional photographers, they won’t have the critical eye needed for giving you advice that will help you grow in your craft.
   

So remember…you have to start thinking about your business as the first step to going into business. Don’t hurry that stage!

Two years ago, I wrote the post No comments on your Facebook – do you get paranoid, too? and in it, I suggested that the world is suffering from comment fatigue. Two years on, it’s gotten ever worse. I, myself, am the recipient of so much incoming information -such jam packed feeds of information- that I can’t possibly personally respond to some of the things I’ve seen/read. Some of which have even been life changing or business changing for me.

While I do think that we need a revival in folks personally responding in thanks and gratitude for the things which keep us educated, informed or entertained, I don’t think we can guilt people into doing it. I do believe that overly simplistic calls to action are needed these days, exe:

“If you like this post, tell me why!”

-or-

“If you like this, click ‘like’!”

However some people simply won’t.

The number one thing I’ve started doing which boosts my confidence that people are even responding to my links is to start employing a traceable link generator like bit.ly to get updates about how many people have actually clicked on links to blog posts on both this blog and the blog for my business, Gracie May Photography.

With a generator like bit.ly you generate a shortlink and you will be able to watch real-time stats for your link. For example, 3 hours ago I posted a link to today’s blog post. Even though I’ve only received 5 comments on that Facebook post, I can see through bit.ly that, in fact, 360 people have clicked through to that post. It even shows me how many people have viewed through Facebook on a computer and how many have viewed it through a mobile device. This can help you determine if you need to focus more on the look of your device-friendly site so you don’t lose potential viewers. Mine is generated automatically through the ProPhotoBlogs theme I use on my WordPress based blog.

Try bit.ly out yourself! See if it can help boost your confidence that people really are out there viewing your work and reading your stuff!

Hello and welcome to my 10 part vlog series sponsored by Pretty Presets. Over the next ten weeks, we’re going to be discussing just a few of the different things you need to look into when deciding if you’re ready to venture into charging for your photography and becoming a ‘professional’.

This is week 2 and in this second video, I’ll be discussing the #1 thing you need before charging money for your services.

Note: if you’re viewing this post in your inbox and there’s no video, click here to view this post on the blog.

{Video Notes}

Before taking anyone’s money, you absolutely need to be able to consistently produce the same level of work over and over again. So many photographers are guilty of displaying happy accidents on their website which they aren’t able to recreate and this will snowball into a whole lotta different problems. If you’re going to be charging for your services, it’s not going to be that simple and you have to have consistency! Take pictures on purpose – don’t shoot for luck.

6 ways you know you’re a lucky shooter:

1. You take way too many pictures.
2. Your sessions take hours longer than they need to
3. You feel panicky, nervous and out of control while you’re shooting
4. You can’t explain to someone later on how you made a portrait or the settings you chose
5. You either shy away from manual all together or you ‘wing it’ and take the same shot over and over with different settings ‘just in case’
6. Your clients are confused as to why they spent hours with you, witnessed you taking a bazillion photos but they only ended up seeing 20 of them (note: clients will ask this anyway, but the less you rely on luck, the less they will ask)

There are a few reasons why this can be dangerous to a photographer who is charging for their sessions:

1. Your clients have gone to your website for a product but when they come to you for their session, you won’t be able to produce the same product for them.
2. Following on from the above, some of you might know of the story of Jesus cursing the fig tree. He was enticed by the leaves of the tree, but when he approached it, there was no fruit. He cursed it and it died. Being a haphazard photographer is like a tree of leaves enticing clients who later find that there isn’t actually any fruit. A business built on these principles can’t last.
3. You will smash your own confidence if you rely on luck. You will feel out of control and deep down inside, you’ll know that it wasn’t really YOU creating the images.

When I look back, I can see that I have learned many things from my lucky shooting days. I learned about composition. I learned about self restraint and, most importantly, I learned how to stop shooting for luck and how to start taking pictures on purpose. Here are the things I wish I knew back then to get started sooner:

1. Learn light
2. Learn your camera
3. Learn posing
4. Try bracketing
5. Have restraint

See the video for expounding on all of the points above.

Oh my I really wish some of my most commonly asked questions were the easiest ones to answer. Alas, some questions just aren’t that easy. But before I try to answer this one, these are my top three unanswerable questions:

1. What camera should I buy?
2. What lens should I buy?
3. What’s better: Canon or Nikon?

And coming in as my #4 unanswerable questions is {drum roll please….}

“How do I know it’s time for a new camera?”

I was a total idiotographer when I started my business. I think back to 3 or 4 years ago and literally just sit here thinking “how the heck am I still in business?!” I upgraded my camera every time something new came out. I bought cameras on credit {ouch} and then bought other cameras before I was finished paying them off. In 2 years, I had a 350d, 450d, 500d, 550d, 7d and 5dmkII. Stupid, right? Why is that succession of cameras stupid? Because the first 4 are all the same camera but with slightly upgraded bells and whistles. I was the Canon marketing team’s dream: blinded by shiny specs and hype. And under the impression that a better camera would make me a better photographer.

So here are reasons not to upgrade:

1. Some other camera looks like a ‘good’ one
2. Because you think a bigger camera makes you look more serious {c’mon…I’m not even asking you to show your face. Be honest with yourself if you’re thinking this way. I have!}
3. Because your pictures aren’t what you want them to be
4. Because the features of the newer model make you feel yours is inferior

It’s funny how I’ve been super in love with my 5dmkII for about a year now. Every time I pick it up, I’m like ‘aaaaah I love you!’ but the DAY the mkIII is announced, I suddenly look at it like ‘oh you’re so not a mkIII’. What changed overnight? Did the outstanding quality of my camera change? No. Did my camera break or something? No. Was it still the same camera I was smitten with just 24 hours prior? Yup. The only thing that changed was a new camera was thrown into the mix. Something else for me to oogle online and plot for how I could buy it, which lenses I’d need to sell to afford it, how I might get by without a backup camera so I could sell both my cameras just to get one. But instead of doing all that -for the first time ever- I just said “humph. Yeah, Canon brought out a new camera. Again.” and that feeling of disliking my mkII just faded away. Because really, I love it. And I will probably run it into the ground before I ever consider another camera.

The greatest jump I ever made was from the 7D to the 5DmkII and this is because the 5D is a full frame and that completely changed the game for me. It’s like seeing for the first time. But you know, I knew it would be that way. A friend once said that once you look through the viewfinder of a full frame camera, you will never want to go back to a crop sensor. And I took that very seriously and no matter how many opportunities I had to lift someone’s 5D to my face, I said no thank you. I never even looked through the viewfinder of a 5D until mine came in the mail. Because I know myself. And I wasn’t financially prepared to start wanting a full frame camera yet.

So why did I upgrade?

Of all those silly upgrades, the 5DmkII was probably my smartest. And I’m not saying the 7D isn’t a fantabulous camera because it really is. And I still enjoy it. But even that wasn’t a particularly educated decision. A good decision in hindsight, yes, but it was just the next link in my never-ending chain of cameras. Here are some reasons I’d say warrant an upgrade:

1. You’re nearing the end of your camera’s life expectancy.
2. You have grown out of your camera. For example, when you got your camera you were a new photographer and now you’re traveling to sessions with off camera flash and your camera doesn’t fire a Speedlite remotely. These types of situations mean you’re actually growing out of your camera and that’s good! Really good! {Note: you can just get a radio trigger for the hotshoe on your camera to fire a Speedlite. But even that costs a couple hundred smackers}
3. You need a second camera. I’d never photograph something important like a wedding with just one camera. If you’re going to take these events into your own hands, I would highly recommend having two cameras because any number of disasters can happen that cause you to be responsible for ruining a couple’s eternal memories. So if you find that a second camera is required, you can take this opportunity to upgrade and make your current camera the backup.
4. Because you know the value of the upgrade. Like I said, the first 4 cameras in my list were basically all the same camera. Same sensor, fresher bells n whistles. Slightly bigger screen or better quality video {as if I ever even used it}. So when/if you choose to upgrade, do it because you’re actually upgrading. I don’t consider a slightly newer camera an upgrade. Going from the 550d to the 5DmkII? Now THAT was an upgrade. And I say that because the sensor is actually in a whole ‘nuther universe from the sensor in the Rebel series cameras. So if you’re going to get a new camera, make sure you know exactly why you’re doing it and how it will truly benefit your art.
5. And lastly, upgrade if you feel there are reasons why a different camera will enhance your ability to create art. I don’t mean this whole business of better camera = better pictures. I mean, for example, you struggle with noise because low-light photography is your thing. Or you’re a wide open junkie {welcome!} and you crave that full frame DOF.

Do you think painters just pick up a different brush because it looks like maybe it’ll be better? Or because someone else is painting with it? No. They choose their tools wisely and for very specific reasons.

So that’s the end of this topic for now. But before I go, let me say…I don’t think that a better camera = better pictures. But I do think you can make that argument in terms of lenses. If you feel like your photography is missing something and you can’t put your finger on it, it’s probably more an issue of lens choice than camera choice. So read this and see why I think a majority of the time, it’s wiser to invest in a new lens and not a new camera.

Hello and welcome to my 10 part vlog series sponsored by Pretty Presets. Over the next ten weeks, we’re going to be discussing just a few of the different things you need to look into when deciding if you’re ready to venture into charging for your photography and becoming a ‘professional’.

In this first video, I’ll be defining what I mean when I use the word ‘professional’ and looking at the argument from a few different points of view.

HUGE thank you to Jamie Swanson of the Modern Tog for writing this fantastic post for you today!

Almost every photographer I know wants more clients.

Without clients, we wouldn’t have a business. They’re absolutely vital to success.

We don’t just want any client, we want awesome clients who totally love us and can’t help but to rave about us to all their friends.

Let’s face it: the more our current clients talk about how amazing we are, the more likely their friends are to hire us, right? And with things like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest making it easier than ever for people to tell their friends about the fabulous experience they had working with you, it’s one of the best ways to get more photography clients.

Yet the reality is that most of our clients are not these ideal clients we want. Not only that, but you’ve likely had at least one “difficult” client.

Dealing with difficult clients is stressful and time-consuming. We end up spending more time trying to resolve their issue and make them happy than we spend on our ideal clients. If you have several difficult client situations, it can burn you out and start to make you bitter towards your clients, which is a bad place to be.

However, I believe that almost every difficult client situation can be prevented completely, and I’m going to tell you how to do it.

It’s simple, although it does take a decent amount of work. But once you’ve perfected it, not only will you have fewer difficult clients, you’ll also have more ideal clients that rave about you to all their friends.

So what’s the secret?

Manage Expectations.

It’s almost a disappointment how simple it really is, but SO many photographers fail miserably at this.

Think about it. Almost all difficult client issues come from your client expecting something different than you provide.

Let’s consider an example.

The Story of Sally Supermom

Sally Supermom books a child portrait session with you. Sally has never had professional photos taken before, and has only ever had her neighbor, Bob Tographer (who just started his photography business), take photos for her.

Bob spends an entire afternoon photographing her kids, and an hour after he’s done he gives her a disc of 500 images and printing rights for less than you charge for a single small print.

But Sally saw her friend Suzy’s family portraits taken by you, and she fell in love. Suzy convinced Sally that you were worth hiring.

What do you think Sally is expecting to receive from you? If you don’t tell her that she should only expect to receive 15 photos from her session but that’s what you deliver, she’s going to feel like that’s a ridiculously low number because she’s used to getting 500 from Bob Tographer. Not only that, but if she isn’t completely familiar with your prices and doesn’t know that the files are not included and must be purchased separately, you’ve got a surprised customer who is not going to be raving about her experience working with you. In fact, if it’s shocking enough to her, she may even complain to her friends about it. Not good.

Sally Supermom is now disappointed and you have to spend extra time managing the situation to make things better in her mind.

However, had you clearly explained what Sally could expect from her session with you up front, from pricing to number of proofs to every detail that she needed to know about the experience, this situation would be non-existent.

Do you really want Bob Tographer setting the standards of expectation for your business?

If you do not set correct expectations for your clients, someone else will. Chances are, you’re not going to like what they come up with.

When Managing Expectations Isn’t Enough

While most difficult clients situations are preventable through managing expectations, there’s still some situations where you’ve done everything right but you still have sticky situations in front of you that are difficult to respond to.

• The mother-of-the-bride at your last wedding e-mails you disappointed that there aren’t more photos of her side of the family.
• Your client feels the images you took of them are not the same quality as you show on your website, yet they are consistent with your style and quality.
• A prospective client really wants to work with you, but you’re out of their budget.
• A boss or colleague wants you to do photography for them, but you are afraid it’d be a conflict of interest.
• Someone wants you to shoot for free or for good exposure.

In cases like these, it’s important to respond professionally, but it can be hard to find the right words to say to them. Saying the wrong thing can cause even more stress.

The Go-To Guide For Client E-mails: 100+ E-mail Templates for Photographers

My friend & colleague Jenn Brindley and I have created an ebook to help you create a business filled with clients who can’t stop raving about you. It’s called “The Go-To Guide For Client E-mails: 100+ E-mail Templates For Photographers.”

Not only do we give you concrete examples of how to manage expectations and do everything you can to prevent client issues from happening, we also have created over 100 e-mail templates that are ready-to-use for even the most sticky situations.

In addition, we talk about concrete ways to go above and beyond in these situations in order to get clients raving about you to their friends so you can get more clients.

We’ve just released this ebook to the public, and we’ve included a free sample of the ebook that you can download right now with 10 e-mail templates that you can use today.

Get client issues resolved quickly and learn how to prevent them in the future. Stop wasting time trying to find the right words to say. Learn more about the “Go-To Guide For Client E-mails” and get your free sample by clicking here.

Jamie M Swanson helps people get more photography clients and learn to price photography over at The Modern Tog. She also enjoys eating watermelon, gardening, and homeschooling her three young kiddos. You can connect with her by liking her Facebook page.

p

p

p

A ‘composite’ is two or more images pulled together to create one. This video shows you how I combine two so-so images to create one fabulous one!

Note: final image edited with Florabella’s Luxe II and Spring action sets.

This is what elizabethhalford.com looked like when I started blogging

I was asked again today how I ended up with my business names. I suppose it does seem strange that my photography business, Gracie May Photography, is a woman’s name. But it’s not MY name. So I shall tell you the tale of my many names.

When I started my business as a baby photographer back in 2009 {or was is 2008?} I didn’t really think anything of just calling it Elizabeth Halford Photography. Which is fine but I just didn’t really think there were any other options. So I bought a domain, printed business cards and started booking sessions. On my website, I started writing about photography. My first ever post was called “Preparing for your session. Dress to match the sofa?” I think it’s still here on this blog today. After writing the first few posts, I saw a job posting on ProBlogger for photography writers for dPS. I did a guest post and out of many others who did the same, I was hired to write for their blog. Did that make me a professional blogger? I don’t know…but I do know that the thrill of 3 million people having access to my blogging was overwhelming.

At this point, I discovered the stats section of my blog and noticed that many thousands of people were visiting my own blog each time a new post went live on dPS. But I really didn’t have anything there! And I was just using the free WordPress template. Panic! I needed to start creating content for my own blog so that dPS readers {who were interested in photography} would have something to read. And Elizabeth Halford Photography {as you know it} was born.

I found myself with two different businesses, but with one name. I was both shooting and blogging as Elizabeth Halford Photography. But did my clients really care about the clone tool in Photoshop? And did I really want them seeing my sales advice for other photographers? I needed to splice my business. I had a greater following as Elizabeth Halford Photography so I didn’t think that changing that name would be good for my audience. Which was only a couple thousand at the time. Hindsight is 20/20. Had I known what I know now, I would’ve changed it to something less about me and more about photography. For instance, I also own the domain for Photography in Plain English. But, alas, I didn’t change my blog’s name, I decided to change the name of my studio instead.

At the time, I was doing primarily white seamless studio shoots. I couldn’t name the business after myself because I already had one with that name. I wanted the name to be quirky and memorable. And not necessarily anything to do with photography. You know that Cadbury’s commercial with the gorilla playing drums? It’s nonsense and makes you say “huh?”. So I thought I’d harness the power of “huh?” to make a more memorable business name. I entered my kids’ names into an anagram generator and came up with Glacier Cake. Yup, that was definitely quirky! So Glacier Cake Photography was born and I spent a year or two saying “no, I’m not a cake photographer”. People were just plain confused and the name was distracting attention from the work.

I needed another name. Maybe I should have stayed more traditional. I didn’t want the brand to overtake the images. And I’d learned so much about branding by this point. Mainly that I was already my brand. And this thing we call ‘branding’ isn’t about logos or colors or emblems. It’s about communicating who I am to the world through visuals. I had to rebrand my entire business. And it had to be about who I am. I renamed the business after my daughter, Gracie May. And Gracie May Photography was born. I ditched the bright funky branding and in-your-face visuals and allowed my brand to become one with my work which was now being created in Hampshire’s great outdoors, not in a studio.

So here I am today with two very different businesses with two very different visual identities that both represent me perfectly. With Elizabeth Halford Photography, I support photographers. With Gracie May Photography, I actually am a photographer and while many of my blog readers frequent that website, my goal there is to support clients and actually do the work of a photographer which is why I don’t dish about my suppliers or editing techniques. Clients don’t need to see that.

I’m now at nearly 12,000 Facebook likes with about 60k unique first time visitors per month. And every day, I thank God for the business He dropped in my lap. And I’m so thankful to Darren Rowse for giving me the opportunity to write for dPS which has opened many doors including writing for three issues of a Canon magazine and other unbelievable opportunities. I love what I do and I love my readers and the community of amazing people that are now surrounding me and loving photography together. Thank you to each and every one of you!

{further reading}

Don’t underestimate yourself {how I went ‘pro’}

Q. “I recently had a friend become engaged. I did the engagement session at full price. She is wanting me to do her wedding and is asking for a discount. How do I approach this? I do not want to set a trend for future clients and friends.”

A. Well, firstly, you’re absolutely on the right track. Your thinking is correct: giving discounts sets expectations and further discounts will be expected. Giving discounts does a few things:

1. It sets the expectation that you are a photographer who gives discounts or does ‘deals’
2. This expectation gathers a community of clients who aren’t the best for your business
3. It devalues your brand/product {which, let’s face it, is YOU}
4. It sends the message that what you’re selling is actually worth much less. If you can do a session for just $1, then that’s really all it’s worth no matter how much you normally charge. Think of a car. A car that costs $5k in the summer might just be $3k in the winter when dealerships are trying to bring sales in during slow months. So what can we assume? That they’re still making a profit and so the car really isn’t worth $5k. Suddenly, the value of the car is lessened in our eyes.

For your individual situation, I don’t see any reason why you can’t just say no. You haven’t set that precident already so why do it now? As a friend, you could offer her, say, an added album for her to give as a gift or some other added bonus. So with those things above in mind, let’s talk about a few ways you can approach this right from the get-go {and if you’re already caught in a cycle of giving discounts, keep reading}.

{Self Esteem}

Put your camera down for a second. Because first, we need to deal with YOU. This is a business unlike any other I have run in the past. I have always been self employed. But even when I was doing hair & makeup, which is an intensely personal thing to do for a stranger, I wasn’t as emotionally invested in my work as I am with my photography. We put our finances, sleep, blood, sweat and tears on the line for this love. We work in the freezing cold, the burning heat. We invest a piece of our heart into every single piece of work we produce. And this can make it hard for many right-brained artsy fartsies to put on their business brain and put a number/price/value on their work. Because it isn’t just our work we’re putting a price on. It’s US. And even if we can put a price on our work through easy calculations about hours worked, cost of product and necessary income, it can be difficult to stick to those prices when we don’t see our own value.

This is where self esteem comes in. Now, I’m not about to tell you that you’re a great photographer. Because I don’t know you. Your lack of confidence may be warranted. If you don’t feel that your work is worth paying for and your business isn’t offering you a sensible wage, then you may need to:

• Hone in on your specialty
• Work on your consistency
• Stop shooting for luck
• Get further education
• Have your work critiqued by someone who is qualified to tell you what you need to work on
• Learn to say no

I’ve said it before, but to be a great photographer, you have to be…well…a great photographer. So if you aren’t actually ready to be working in exchange for money and starting up your business, then take a few steps back. And if you’ve quit your day job already, then oh boy…you might wanna go get a job so you can eat while you learn photography.

-BUT-

If you truly are ready for this business and you have all the things in place to start working in exchange for money, then you need to realize that

no one will value you more than you value yourself. YOU set the bar for the value of your services and products and everyone else takes their cues from you.

{Pricing}

The number one reason I’ve found people {and myself in the beginning} aren’t confident about their pricing is because they either grabbed it off someone’s else’s website or pulled it out of thin air. No store just says “yeah I think that looks like it’s worth about $___”. Services and products should be priced according to cost of materials, business overhead and your salary. No one else can make those decisions for you and so you can’t charge something purely based on the prices of other photographers in your area {who aren’t your competition btw}. So if you’re not confident on your pricing and why your prices are the way they are, then you’ll be much more likely to slash your prices and allow others to devalue your work. If you need help with your pricing, I highly recommend materials from Alicia Caine who put my feet on the path to success when I was just a baby photographer.

{Discounts vs. Offers}

There’s a difference between giving a discount and running a special offer. These are some of the ways I manage my pricing for all different types of clients:

1. I have three different basic sessions listed in the pricing section of my website. This means all different budgets have an option available and I have an option to suggest to just about everyone, even someone who says a certain price is ‘too much’.
2. During my viewing & ordering sessions, I also have different price brackets and collections available for all different budgets so I don’t feel the need to give discounts. If one collection is too pricey for a client, I simply suggest another.
3. I have a 50/50 payment plan available for clients who need to spread the cost of their order. 50% due on ordering with the other 50% due a month later. Products delivered on the final payment.
4. I don’t do specials or sales or offer discounts, but I do offer mini sessions once or twice a year. This feels like a discount to the client but is in fact a whole different product from a traditional session. I’m not saying “you can get my £450 session for £150″. I’m saying “you can get a bite sized session at a bite sized price”. My last mini sessions were £150 with 20 minutes of shooting and 5 digital files.
5. I firmly believe in the reverse of discounting. Instead of giving the same amount of product for less money, I like to offer more product for the same amount of money. So if I wanted to bring in a few extra sessions, I might offer the same sessions as usual but with an added bonus rather than a discount. It still gives an ‘act now’ message and allows you to be generous without devaluing your product.

{Break the Cycle}

So what should you do if you’re already in the rut of being a photographer known for coming down on their pricing? Stop! Like any bad habit, you can quit cold turkey or gradually. But know this:

you will lose clients

You will lose the clients who aligned themselves with you purely because they knew you would give discounts. And you will also lose clients because you’ve already sent the message that your products are worth less than your price. And they won’t be cruel or malicious, but simply put, that precedence has already been set in their brain. And because of our affinity for anchors to help us make decisions, it’s nearly impossible to re-value something in our mind that already has a low monetary value.

You may have already experienced this when phasing out of the portfolio building stage of your business. I’ve said before that portfolio building isn’t about gaining new clients. Because working for free doesn’t work that way.

If you get backed into a corner and pressured to give discounts when it comes time to sell your after-session products, it may be because your clients didn’t know exactly what to expect from the word go. People mask embarrassment with anger. And you may respond to that with a knee-jerk reaction of giving an unplanned discount. You don’t have to publish an item-by-item price list on your website, but don’t keep things top-secret or your clients may get sticker shock and force you into a discount.

Our businesses will always be evolving. I don’t have one single existing client that I had when I started. You’ll outgrow each other. Because, unless you’re already a business genius, you will make mistakes and have to make gigantic changes in the way you’re doing things if you want to survive.

{How?}

Breaking the habit can be approached in the same way phasing anything out of your business is approached. How would you phase out a product that you no longer want to offer? Or phase out of the portfolio building stage? I can’t tell you how to do it. What if you’re one of those people mentioned above who set their prices based on someone else’s? If that’s the case, you may find it easier for me to say ‘do it this way’ than to research the best way forward and then you’ll be repeating the cycle of doing something and not knowing why you’re doing it. Which will perpetuate the cycle of not being confident in your decisions and the discounts will continue. Besides, I don’t know you or your history or your plans for the future so I can’t possibly suggest a one-size-fits-all approach to changing your business practices. Hope you still love me! :)

Put your nose to the grindstone and work it out. Because anything worth doing is worth doing well.

I highly recommend consulting this site for pricing strategies

I photograph…

weddings

newborns

maternity

seniors

funerals

products

commercial

pets

bar mitzvah

divorces

sports

models

famous people

not famous people

AND I CAN WALK ON WATER!

So many photographers out there are do-it-allers. Jack of all genres, master of none. And while this looks good on the surface, I personally think it’s a red alarm.

Now, I’m sure there’s someone out there {maybe they’re reading this} who is literally the most kick-ass photographer in the universe who loves and conquers every single genre well. There’s got to be at least one person like that. But my guess is it’s not you. Sorry.

It was a couple years ago that I broke down in a fit of tears and declared that I was throwing in the towel. Because I hated photographing families {I love it now} and other genres of photography which I felt bullied into. I felt like if I couldn’t do everything and do it like a top pro, then I was an utter failure. And as my long time readers know, that was the day that I trashed my best work and it made my business stronger. So yea…I really do recommend that you discover what you love and what you hate and that will help you form your specialties. And don’t feel bad if you hate photographing newborns {that doesn’t make you a monster} or weddings {that doesn’t make you heartless}. Because as Jenika from Psychology for Photographers has said, “We need to photograph what fills our souls, not someone else’s”.

{further reading}

Saying no to Clients who aren’t a good fit