← Book More Photography Clients Podcast | Photography Business, Photography Leads, Marketing
Book More Photography Clients Podcast | Photography Business, Photography Leads, Marketing
RECAST: What It Really Takes to Go Full-Time with Photography
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Brooke Jefferson
Welcome to the Book More Clients Photography Podcast. You can stop spending hours on Google and YouTube because you just found your number one resource for growing a profitable and sustainable photography business. Hi, I'm Brooke Jefferson. I'm a believer wife, mama to two and Oklahoma family photographer. I left the classroom in 2018 to pursue my photography career full time. Now I'm here to help you do the same. In this podcast we're covering the most asked about topics including pricing, marketing, client experience and all things systems and workflows. You won't find any fluff or BS here. Just tried and true strategy. Are you ready? Grab your kids some snacks and charge those camera batteries. It's time to jump in. Today's episode is inspired by Hue listeners. There have been so many of you that have approached me and asked me the question of how do I transition into full time photography? What are the steps that I need to take? What is my exit plan need to look like? And realistically what would you, you know, what is your advice for me in 2023 in real time? And that is exactly what I'm dishing out on today's episode. So I want to travel back in time just a little bit just to give you a glimpse. When I went full time in my photography business, I made that decision while I had a full time job. I was a middle school teacher back in the years 2017 and 2018 and I just really was truly mesmerized by the idea of making this a career. Growing up my family, we did not have entrepreneurs throughout my family we had your typical, you know, you're going to grow up and you're going to go to college, you're going to get a good degree, you're going to go get your 9 to 5 job, you're going to have 2.5 kids, live in a two story house and have the American dream. Anybody else ever sold on an American dream? It may look different for you and I realize that I am speaking to so many of you. We all come from such different backgrounds but for me that was the story that played on repeat over and over and over again and I thought that was my only option. My only option is I'm going to be working in corporate America. Whether that is being a teacher or going to be a nurse or going to work in an office. I always thought that is what it was going to look like for me. And and my light bulb moment came from listening to a webinar which sounds so old school back in the day from Amy Demos I think is how you Say their name. Amy and Jordan. They were former teachers, they are married, they have kids now. But they were, they were telling their story of how they were able to leave the classroom and do photography full time. And it kind of split sparked this, well, if they did it, can I do it type situation. And from there I just hit the ground running. I made the decision that this is what I was going to do and I was willing and determined to make it happen. I was not going to set limitations on myself. I was not going to settle for excuses. I had the mindset of I am going to do whatever it takes to get out of this classroom that I absolutely did not love. It is nothing. It is nothing that I thought it was going to be. It was nothing that college prepared me for and I just did not feel supported in that position. And even my husband was super supportive of, you know, leave, quit your job, go do something else. And I'm so thankful for that because I know not everyone has that. But I also want to be very clear that while my husband was supporting me in ultimately, you know, hey, if you're miserable, then find something else. I want to make it very clear that financially I couldn't just quit and not have anything to fall back on. We were in a situation where we both had to pull in income in order for us to survive. So I want to make that very clear. I have not ever had the privilege of just being able to be a stay at home mom and live off of my husband's income. That has never been a reality for us. It still is not a reality to this day. And so I just want to make that super, super clear because I know for a lot of you, you can't afford to just be without making an income. And that is why we have to consider going full time in photography very carefully. Is it possible? 1,000%. I've done it for myself. I've seen peers in the industry do it. And this is what I've coached to Since 2019, I have helped photographers leave their 9 to 5 careers and do this full time. So yes, it is possible. But I never want you to make a leap or take a jump without first setting yourself up for success. Because that is the fastest way to burn out and that is the fastest way to failure. So all this being said, I'm going to share with you how I would do it now in real time, 2023, 2024, I'm going to touch on the reality of booking months in advance and I'm going to touch on how I can help you go full time in your photography business if that is what you're looking for. So my first piece of advice is, you have got to have a plan. You've got to have a plan. So many of you are winging your business, you are crossing your fingers and just hoping that you're going to get the bookings, but you're not really doing anything to support the bookings. And because of that you are experiencing this feast and famine cycle. It's like a roller coaster all the time. That is not how it has to be. Now, while business has its natural ups and downs, its natural ebbs and flows, it does not have to feel like a roller coaster day in and day out in your business. And it should not. That is miserable. That is not a fun way to run your business. So you've got to make a plan for how am I going to increase my bookings, how am I going to handle my clientele, what is the best marketing strategy for my business and how can I create a profitable and a sustainable business that is going to help my family and help my life and not hurt my family or hurt my life? Right? So here's how I would do this. Now number one, you've got to commit and then number two, you've got to make a plan. And then inside of those two things is where all the work happens. So number one is if you're truly committed to going full time in your photography business, you need to identify two things. Number one, you need to identify your timeline. When is this going to happen? Are you trying to make this happen in six months, in 12 months, in two years? You've got to have a timeline. And the second thing that I need you to identify is what is your full time income number? What is the number that you need to profit in your photography business to match or succeed your current 9 to 5 income? Those are the two places to start. And then once you can identify these two things, then we get to create the plan and the roadmap for how quickly this actually happens for you. And then guys, I would be here all day for hours and hours if I seriously broke down every little step there is. Because basically what you want to do is you want to do a business audit for your business and figure out where are the holes in my business, what do I not have set up, what do I need, where am I losing people, where am I leaving money on the table? And then how do I 2x 3x 4x what I'm currently doing so that I can make that profit goal that I want to make. And there's so much that goes into this. And this is why when I do work with photographers, either inside of my blueprint program or on a one on one coaching basis, this is where we literally get in there and rip your business apart. Because every single photographer is different. You all have different time lines and different goals and different needs. And so to tailor a custom plan, you truly do need a coach in your corner. And I will say that. And this is not just to constantly pitch myself on this podcast, although this is how I help you, right? This is the paid version of how I help you is behind these closed doors. The podcast is just me giving freely, encouraging you, sharing parts of my strategy. But then the deep dive happens in the coaching and in the blueprint program. And so we'll circle back to that here in a little bit. But just a few, like an overview of what you want to do. Once you've got that timeline mailed and the amount of profit, you've got to again, dive in and have a business audit. And you've got to get really real with yourself again. What are you missing? What is going well? What is not going well? What is your biggest struggle? What is your biggest win? What makes you different from the other photographers in your area? And then that's when you start digging into, okay, I'm going to create this marketing strategy for myself. I'm going to have a solid booking process and a brand identity. I am going to have this entire client experience crafted out that's going to help get me that client retention and help, you know, my clients want to talk about me to others and bring me the referrals and the word of mouth, etcetera, etcetera. Okay, so everything builds on each other. Some practical points that I want to share with you, though, is I would not ever make this jump without making sure that you don't have three, four, maybe even six months of all of your bills covered in a savings account. So you want to create financial cushion for yourself because photography does ebb and flow. You know this by now. Even if you've been in the game for one year, you know that there are certain months where it seems like it's a lot easier to book clients than others. And so while we can definitely work you up to that consistent bookings, you're still going to have a slow month here or there. Like, please don't hear me wrong, even I still have a slow month from time to time, but I'm still usually hitting my booking goals. No matter what. And so with that being said, you just have to get really clear on, you know, what does that look like for you? You know, so you want to. With that being said, you want to make sure that you are setting yourself up for financial success. Because if you take a leap and you have zero cushion to save you, you're going to feel very pressured and show up to your business and not do a very good job doing that. You're going to be taking bookings out of desperation. And I'm telling you right now, people can smell desperate from a mile away. Don't be that photographer. It's not a good look for you. It's not a good impression. It's not ever going to help you. It's only going to honestly push you into a corner. So make sure that you are saving up three, four, five or six months worth of all your business bills are being covered and all of your personal bills that you're responsible for right now are covered. And, and so go do a financial deep dive, figure out, you know, what am I responsible for? Those of you that budget, you already know this. For those of you that are like, I don't even look at my bank account. I just hope that there's enough money in there. You probably need to definitely go through some money mindset. You also probably need to figure out like, you're going to have to get on a budget of some sort so that you know what you need to make in your photography business to be able to survive. The way that I teach my clients is we typically have two numbers that we shoot for. There's a survive number and a thrive number. The survive number means that you are coasting, you are making just enough to cover your business bills and your personal bills with a little like a tiny little bit left over for a tiny little bit of cushion. But that's your survive number. That's your bottom line, your minimum. You have to have this in order to survive, then you have a thrive number. And this is typically the number of where you want to be. So if you're currently making $2,000 a month in your photography business, but you want to double that and start making four to $5,000 a month, then that is going to be your thrive number. So maybe you need 2000 to survive, but 4000 is your thrive number. You're going to have those two numbers and that helps us with strategy and pricing and all of those things. So if you ever come into the blueprint program or when you do, I should say, then that is where we will go into depth and all of that and figure that out for you. The other thing is make sure that you are running a legal business you like. You've got to make sure you're doing that now. It is recommended. I told a client this yesterday on a coaching call and I will say it here too. An LLC is recommended for business and eventually you all need to get there. Everybody eventually needs to get to an llc. But I also want to help you breathe a sigh of relief. If you're not an LLC yet, you are automatically a sole proprietor, which means that you still need to show your photography income during tax season. Again, I'm not a cpa, I'm not a certified professional, but I am telling you that this is my best advice for you is that it's okay if you haven't registered for your llc, but you need to be planning to do that, especially if you're going to be doing this full time. But you still need to make sure that you got every like all your legalities are good to go, that there's nothing that you're doing that's under the table. There's nothing that you're doing that's going to get you in trouble. You just need to make sure that you have everything that you could possibly need for your business in the protection and legal sense. Okay, so those are the top two things before you ever take that leap into full time photography. Now, really quickly I want to touch on the reality of booking months in advance. As you all know, times have changed drastically for many, many reasons. The pandemic was the biggest thing that I think just shifted the way the world sees things. And before the pandemic, so 2019 and prior. And so I've had a business since 2014. So for 2014 to 2019, all five years, I was able to book honestly, even sometimes a year out in advance. Mainly I was able to do up to six, seven, eight months in advance for family portrait sessions, which is unheard of these days. What shifted is people now do not have this. They don't feel safe dreaming too far and planning too far into the future. So they're now doing shorter term planning, which is why a lot of you are struggling with last minute bookings or why can't I get past just one season 1/4 at a time? I just want you to know that this is normal right now. I don't know if things will shift and change in the future the further we get out of just the way that the pandemic impacted our worldview and the economy shifts and changes, eventually I'm sure we'll see another upswing. But right now I just want to tell you the reality of booking month in advance. Unless you are a wedding photographer or an event photographer of some kind. So your birth photographers, newborn photographers, if you're anything else than that, it's probably going to be more difficult for you to really like there's just if you're setting a goal for yourself that you want to book your calendar 9 to 12 months in advance and you're not one of those niches, it's going to be a lot harder for you. And so I just want to give you the sigh of relief and the reality that you need. And that is that if you can start booking three to four months in advance, you are doing really well. Meaning that from right now looking at your calendar to about four months, that's where you want to be seeing the bookings flow and you want to continue to market for those future months so that you can see that. Okay, so that's the reality of booking months in advance. I'm not saying it's not possible to go further than that, of course, it always is. But right now it's typically normal to see the two, three and four months in advance and not so much past that at this time. Okay. So if you are, I mean guys, like I said we could do a whole series on this, but really this is rather than a stage topic, this really is like a one to one topic depending on you and your business. So the last thing that I want to say here is that the blueprint program that I have, it has been restructured. So maybe you heard about it in 2020, 2021, 2022. Well, we've restructured it in 2023 to where it is actually going to be the accountability that you need, the coaching that you need. You're going to get a one on one call with me and then you're going to have the opportunity to see me once a week and dive into your business. We've restructured it because we realize that photographers don't just need a DIY course where they can watch a lesson and then implement it. What you need is you need the hand holding, you need the accountability, you need a place to go for the mindset help the days where it's rough, when you have questions every single week in your business. And so I've redesigned the blueprint program to be that for you. So now you're going to be able to see your results faster, you're going to be able to go through the blueprint program quicker and then actually complete it, which is amazing. So if that is something that you are interested in, you are ready for more consistent bookings. You're ready to hit your profit goal. You're tired of diying all of this. You know, you've gotten your business to where it is right now, but you're having a hard time getting it to the next level. Then I want you to come schedule a call with me. You can go to Brook jefferson.com blueprint you'll see a little button to book a call with me. It's a 30 minute free call. No pressure. We're going to have a conversation specifically about your goals and what you what what does that roadmap look like for you? And then we are going to talk about and see if the blueprint program is a good fit for you. So I want to invite you, if that's you, come book a call with me. I would love to discuss this. If you're in a full time job and the times on the calendar and are not available, you can't meet at those times. Then just shoot me an email. Brooke brooke jefferson.com Let me know. I am more than happy to schedule in an additional time for you so that we can sit down and really talk about your goals for your business. But I hope that this inspired you and gave you some practical tips for how to transition your photography business into a full time career. You guys know where to find me. I'll see you in the Facebook group. All right guys, that's it for today's episode. I'll catch you guys on the next one. See you next week.