← Book More Photography Clients Podcast | Photography Business, Photography Leads, Marketing
Book More Photography Clients Podcast | Photography Business, Photography Leads, Marketing
You're Not a Bad Photographer — Here's What's Actually Going On
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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 Foreign we are kicking off a brand new month with a brand new theme and I am so excited for the topics we're going to cover this month because this one is very personal to me. All month long we are going to be talking about how to build a profitable and sustainable photography business. And if that phrase kind of stirs something in you, then you are exactly where you need to be listening to this episode. And I hope you keep tuning in week after week for all of the topics we're going to talk about in the month of March. So to kick it all off, I want to start with a very honest tough love conversation. You know that I am no BS around here and I'm going to tell you like it is. So if you are ready, grab your pen, grab your notebook. If you're driving, just turn the volume up. You might want to come back to this episode when you are somewhere that you can take notes, but I just want you to really focus in. Try not to multitask too hard unless you're on a walk or you're driving. And if you're ready, let's dive in. So I hear the same things over and over from photographers. Phrases like I live in a small town and there's just not enough demand. There's too many photographers in my area. Nobody in my market will pay what I charge. I I'm not niched down enough and I don't know where to start. If you've ever said any of those phrases, I want you to know that you are not alone. I hear these every single day in the coaching world. Every single day. Especially the one about there being way too many photographers in your area. I definitely know that it feels that way. But all of these things. This might be uncomfortable to hear, but all of these things that you are telling yourself, they're not actually problems, they are keeping you from that profitable and sustainable business that you want. How do I know? Let's break it down because I have thought all of these phrases at one point or another. I have been the photographer that lived in a very small town with less than 2, 000 people, where there were more cows than people and where there was only one small stoplight which they eventually took out. And I lived there for 12 years and I ran an insanely profitable photography business. So I debunked that. The second thing is now I live in an area where there's even more photographers than there was where I lived before, and I'm still able to have a profitable and sustainable business. So that's debunking the second phrase. Nobody in my market will pay what I want to charge. Do you guys know how many times I do get inquiries and they tell me that I'm too expensive or they're looking for something cheaper. But then I get those inquiries that are so excited to work with me, they're like, yes, I'll pay that and I'll even tip you. So I want you to know that there is like, I've lived both sides of this, both sides of the fence. I started as a 50 photographer that everybody could afford, and then I tripled, quadrupled, et cetera, my prices. And. And I have a whole new type of clientele. And the fourth one, I did this for the first two years of my photography business. I just kind of shot anything and everything. And I found it really hard to become known in my area. And so I started to take things out and I started to really focus in on families and seniors. And that ultimately became my bread and butter. Now I'm at a place where I am going into my 13th year as a photographer and because of that I am learning, right, how to again stay in my niche. But I'm getting all these wonderful opportunities to photograph things that I never even thought I would get to photograph. Things like photographing for my church a couple Sundays a month, things like photographing proms and business headshots and things like that. And so I have said all of these, I have thought all of these, and I have overcome all of these excuses and all of these lies that lived rent free in my head. And so I want you to know that if you feel like these are your problems, I just want to encourage you that they're not and that you can overcome these things. There is room for you, I promise you. There is room for you in this industry. We have proven it time and time and time Again, through every photographer I have coached and seen come out on top and hit their goals. And for those, some were even able to leave their full time job. So I know that there is room for you. So I know that me saying this can definitely sound a little harsh. None of it. I'm not saying these are not challenges. These are challenges. The pricing, the saturation, where you live, all of it, they are all challenges, but they are not the root cause of why you don't have the business that you want. And that is what we are going to dive into. So the real reason that your photography business, or, you know, feel stuck or it feels like it's the same thing every year you're not growing is that you need a real foundation to begin with. This is not me criticizing you on how you built your business. It's just the reality of how most of us got into this industry. We picked up a camera, we got good at using it, people started asking us to photograph them and. And then suddenly we had a photography business, except we really didn't have a photography business. We just had some photography skills and we had some paying clients. And that is not the same thing. A real business has a whole lot more to it than just being good at something and getting paid for it. Again, you've heard me say this before. That is the difference between having a business and having a hobby. You can have a hobby that pays you pretty well, but if you want a business, a business is going to be the longevity of what you do. It is going to be the legacy, right? Your business is going to be what is not only profitable, but also is going to sustain you through all the crazy ups and downs that life is going to throw at us. Because if we've Learned anything since 2020, the world is very much a roller coaster. It's always a ride. It is a crazy, crazy ride. So I want you to start thinking about, okay, what is the difference? Do I have a glorified hobby or am I running an actual business? Okay, you've got to think marketing strategy. You need to know who you serve and why you do what you do. Marketing is more than just social media. Need to have a whole strategy. It's going to be multiple channels, right? And not just throwing something up and hoping enough people see it and book you. A real business has systems, systems that support everything that you need. It supports your pricing, it supports your client experience, it supports your brand, it supports all these different facets that come with having a photography business. And most photographers, if we're really Honest with ourselves are missing a lot of these things, and they probably don't even realize it. You may not even realize that you are missing some key components of having a photography business. So you keep showing up, you keep working hard, and you're wondering why you're not gaining any traction. You are not failing because you are a bad photographer. Right? You're just struggling because nobody ever taught you how to run a legitimate business. And that's where I come in. That is exactly where one of my photography clients, Chantelle, was when she found this podcast. She was in her second year of business, super talented, by the way. She was showing up, but she knew that something was missing and she couldn't figure out what it was. She described it as knowing something was wrong but not being able to put her finger on it. Is that how you feel right now? She only had three paid shoots in her entire first year. Not because she wasn't good enough, but because she just was missing those key pieces, the foundational elements. Right. That would have made booking clients a lot easier. She needed to be visible and she needed to be bookable. But once she identified what was missing and she was able to really put these key foundations in place, she added six sessions to her books in just a matter of weeks. Okay. A matter of short weeks in the program. Her talent was always there, but her business foundation was not. And so I hope you are picking up what I am trying to put down for you, that there again, there's a difference between having all the pieces in place for a profitable and sustainable business and then again, a glorified hobby that is making you some money. So what does this business foundation look like? Let me give you an honest picture what this looks like without you going into an anxiety or panic attack. Because what I'm trying to do in this episode is I am trying to give you clarity, not anxiety. So please hear me when I say that. Here's where your business strategy starts. Starts. It starts with your goals. Not vague goals like, I want to make more money in my business, or I want to be fully booked. That's great, but you've got to get specific so that we can work it backwards and put it into your marketing strategy. So you need to have very specifically, how much money do you want to make in your business? How many clients do you have the availability to serve? Right. Look at all these things. Figure out what are you doing it for. If you tell me, I want to make $50,000 a year. Why? If you tell me, like, if we peel the onion Layer. Someone told me they want to get out of their teaching job, they want to do this full time. Why? Because they want to be more available for their kids because they are in the toddler early school aged years. Why? Because when I was growing up, I had parents who worked nine to five and they missed everything and I feel like I missed out on so much time with them. And you keep going and you keep going and you keep going and here's the thing, you will hit a nerve. You will hit something in you that just sets you on fire and it doesn't matter what people throw at you, you are going to wake up every day with that purpose and that is going to drive you to take the action that you need to hit your goals. So when I tell you that the first step, and this is where I always start with every single coaching client I have, this is where you will start. If you ever take my fully booked method, this is where we start. Because if we don't start here, you will never hit the finish line that you think you want to hit. It's because this matters so much. It's not fluff, it is strategy. And anytime that I start feeling unsure about my photography business or I'm wondering why am I not showing up the way I want to? Why am I not booking the amount of clients that I thought I would be booking at this time of the year, I get honest with myself and I take it back to my goals every single time. So if you don't have clear, concrete goals, I want you to start right there. From there, the next foundation is all about your ideal client. You are not showing up every single day in your marketing strategy to book anyone that will pay you. You need to be marketing to a specific person who genuinely needs what you have to offer and that values you. That's very important. Not everyone will value you. I always give this example, not to throw my mom under the bus, but just to show you that we all have a different perspective. We when it comes to photography, businesses, industries, pricing, all the things. My mom asked me a couple years ago how much I would charge to do something for her coworker. I'm pretty sure she was asking me how much I would charge to do a senior session for a senior. I would have to drive an hour to go see and like to do it at their, around their school and stuff. And so I told her my mom was like, what? That is so exciting. Expensive. Because she's just not in this industry. She doesn't understand. And so I know, like my mom would not pay my prices. She probably would if it was me, but if it would have been any other photographer asking, she probably would not have paid my prices and moved on to the next person. I say that because I want to remind you that again, you're not showing up for anyone and everyone that will pay you. You're looking for your specific people that you really get excited about and that you know that you are meant to serve. When you're crystal clear on who that person is, your marketing gets so much easier. I really hope that if you get anything from this, you will believe me on this because I get so much pushback about niching down. It is a tried and true marketing strategy and I would not continue to say it if I did not believe in it and if I did not see it work for other photographers. So if you are scared to niche down, can I just encourage you? Can you just say, brooke, I'm going to trust you and I'm going to do this for six months and I'm going to watch my bookings change? Okay, this is one piece of the puzzle, but if you're unwilling to do this, you're never going to be willing to do the things that I tell you. Okay? Then from there you have an ideal client, we're figuring out your niche and you're starting to feel confident in that. Then the next step is pricing. And I know that this is such a loaded topic in our entire photography industry and it's one that we are going to come back to and we're going to have a whole episode on this month because it is that important. Okay? Profitable pricing is not about looking at what everybody else around you is charging. And then you just trying to make your pricing better or cheaper or whatever has nothing to do with what everybody else is doing. It's about understanding the value of what you offer, going back to your goals, aligning it with your life, and having the confidence to charge those prices. I hope you're hearing me okay. I hope you're hearing me because I truly am just trying to show up on this episode and just lay it all out. I'm just trying to show you what is necessary in order to have that profitable and sustainable business. And then from there, right, we've gone through all these things and then from there it just keeps going. So after that, after you've got all of this solidified, then it's moving into the next part, which is learning to market your business in seven different ways. Not all at once, but learning to master each one as you go, there's seven little buckets, if you will, of marketing your photography business. The more you know, the more you master, you're going to watch your visibility just increase. And it is amazing to watch. And then from there it is systems learning, the back end of your business, the taxes, the legal, etc, when you have all of that right, that's one big nice pie or pizza, all the little pieces of a pizza. When once you have all of that in place, then you start to experience this profitability and sustainability piece that I am always talking about. So if you're listening to this right now and you are like she is describing me to a T, I want you to know that this is exactly what my coaching looks like inside of my Fully Booked method program. It is my A to Z strategy for building that profitable and sustainable photography business. And I built this from everything that I learned the hard way. Okay, I'm giving you a shortcut. That is what this program is meant to be. It is one that I wish I had when I first started. And I don't just say that and I give you a crappy course. That's not what this is at all. This is the perfect version of a go at your own pace. You watch the lessons I've put together and that I am teaching you. And then from there you're also getting weekly coaching from me back and forth as you submit your your homework forms. So we cover goals, ideal client niche, profitable pricing, social media marketing, local marketing, referrals, email marketing, your website, se, SEO client systems, and again, all of it comes with personalized coaching. So you're going to be learning a specific topic each week. You're going to go apply it to your business. I'm going to look at it, I'm going to give you feedback. You're going to move on to the next thing and that is how you build it. In order A to Z. Exactly how I explained everything to you earlier in this episode. So if you are ready to stop guessing and finally have the photography business of your dreams, one that you are seeing those leads hit your inbox. You're seeing the bookings come through, you're watching your bank account increase. Then I want you to come check out everything the fully Booked method has to offer. You can go to brookejefferson.com fully booked. If you have questions, you of course can email me. Brooke brookejefferson.com we have testimonials all over the place and I would just be so honored to walk you through this next phase and watch you have these light bulb moments and be so proud of yourself. Would love, love to have you. So we are just getting started this month on all these juicy topics. I want you to stay with me each Thursday in March because each episode is going to build on the last. So today was our foundation mindset episode and we're going to keep going. Next week we are going to talk about how to double your bookings without lowering your price or living on social media. And that is one you will not want to miss. Thank you for listening and I will see you next week.