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The Portrait System Podcast
Diving Deep Into Marketing & Personal Stories with Sophia Barrett (Re-Release)
00:43:42
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- [00:00]
Nikki Klosser
Hey there, it's Nikki Klosser and I want to let you know about an awesome free giveaway for people on our email list. If you haven't already, click the link in our podcast description or go to theportraitsystem.com signup to get on the list. If you sign up, you'll get a free posing 101 PDF to jumpstart things. It's an epic PDF, so you'll definitely want to get this. Also, just by being in our email community, you'll get deals, sales and information about any of our upcoming events and activities. So head over to theportraitsystem.com signup and sign up.
- [00:31]
Today you're listening to the Portrait System.
- [00:34]
Sophia Barrett
Podcast and I feel like when people are pregnant, I think it's a time where imagination really does tend to flow or they feel like, man, this is what I'm going through right now is like superhuman, right? I'm carrying this being inside of me and like this is insane. And they feel empowered to do something out of the box.
- [01:02]
Nikki Klosser
Welcome to the Portrait System podcast. I'm your host, Nikki Klosser, and this show is here to help you succeed in the world of photography and business. To help you learn to become financially free, doing what you love and so much more. With over 1 million downloads, countless photographers have taken what they've learned from both our episodes and from theportraitsystem.com and they have grown their businesses, quit their day jobs and are designing a life of their dreams. We keep it real and share stories about the ups and downs that come with running a photography business. You'll hear real life stories of how other photographers run their business and you'll learn actionable steps that you can take to reach your own goals. Thank you so much for being here. And let's get started this week on the Portrait System. Sophia Barrett is back for part two. This time, Sofia really opens up and shares her personal story about her why for doing maternity portraits. She also tells us about how she got out of shooting weddings and why this has been so great for her and her family. Sophia also dives much deeper this time into her marketing strategies and about how she has around 70% of her clients coming to her studio from out of town. I just love this interview as much as the first one, so I'm so excited to have her back. Welcome back, Sophia Barrett. Hi Sophie. Welcome back for part two of your interview on the Portrait System. How are you?
- [02:23]
Sophia Barrett
Okay, I'm good. Thanks for having me back. I am so, so, so Excited. I love our conversation last time. So I've been forward to this one.
- [02:33]
Nikki Klosser
I know, Me too. I think this is the first time we've done an actual part two. Like we've kind of done follow ups here and there, like, where are they now? Kind of thing, but we've never really done a part two. You're my first. My first one. Oh, my God. Thank you.
- [02:46]
Sophia Barrett
Thanks for the honor.
- [02:47]
Nikki Klosser
Well, I know there's just a lot we didn't cover and so much that we still had to get into and yeah, I wanted to make sure we got to cover everything.
- [02:56]
Sophia Barrett
Absolutely.
- [02:57]
Nikki Klosser
If you haven't listen to the first episode, it'll say Sophia Barrett. I call her Sophie. Cause that's what she usually goes by. But it's episode 179, so make sure you listen to that one first. I think it's two before this one or three before this one. I'm not exactly sure. But anyways, episode 179. Okay. So I know one of the things we wanted to chat about was how. Well, first I do want to talk about how you left weddings, but before we do that, let's talk a little bit about why maternity portraits were so important to you and why on a personal level and what got you to doing those shoots.
- [03:36]
Sophia Barrett
Okay, sure. So weddings. We loved shooting weddings. Weddings was fun for us. My husband and I, we photographed them together. My husband is an awesome photographer himself.
- [03:50]
Nikki Klosser
Oh, very cool.
- [03:51]
Sophia Barrett
Yep. So we kind of got into it really at the same time. So we learned at the same time. I had some previous knowledge from like one course I took in school and just from playing with cameras from when I was a kid. But, you know, we really. When we started to really focus or when I started to focus on photography, he was right there alongside with me. So we loved photographing weddings, but I wanted more control. I wanted to be able to have more time with the bride. Of course, I wanted to spend more time creating, like, really beautiful portraits and, you know, being at the mercy of the schedule of the wedding day and what the weather is like outside and whatever else. That was really frustrating for me as it is for any wedding photographer. So I wanted to get into portraiture, but I wasn't exactly sure which genre I wanted to focus on. So I was just photographing everything. I started getting into newborns, I started getting into family. I started getting into just, you know, more commercial, like, shoots. I started just doing everything. But this was maybe 2014. I photographed a maternity session. And I just felt this need to do something different with the Maternity session. So I got some glass and I painted a bunch of different. Oh, it was like acrylic, like a Plexiglas or whatever. And I.
- [05:35]
Nikki Klosser
Okay, yeah, I was gonna say, like.
- [05:36]
Sophia Barrett
What do you mean?
- [05:37]
Nikki Klosser
Glass. Okay, that makes sense. Yeah.
- [05:39]
Sophia Barrett
And I painted a bunch of colors onto the glass. I used some water, and I photographed the mother through this, you know, whatever it was that I did. And it was artistic. It was different. She really liked it. It didn't turn out exactly how I wanted it to, but she was happy with the portraits, and I was proud to give them to her to provide that for her. But there was just something about maternity that really resonated with me. So at that time, my husband and I, you know, we had just gotten married in 2011, so we were waiting to start having children for, like, another year. So we started to try to have kids. We're still shooting weddings at this point, and year after year, we're just, you know, not getting pregnant. And that was. It started getting really difficult because we would come into contact. You know, when. When you're in that season, when you're in the season of wedding, you getting married, your friends are usually getting married. Right. When you're in the season of baby making, your family and your friends, people who are close to you, similar age, they're also going through that same phase. So everyone around me was getting pregnant, and, you know, I would have people say to me, you know, what's going on with you? Why aren't you all pregnant? Like, why aren't you all pregnant yet? Why. Why haven't you guys had a kid yet? You all need to hurry up and catch up. You know, my daughter.
- [07:22]
Nikki Klosser
Worst.
- [07:23]
Sophia Barrett
Yes.
- [07:24]
Nikki Klosser
People have no idea sometimes what you're going through. It's just like, shut up.
- [07:27]
Sophia Barrett
Absolutely. Absolutely. People would be like, my daughter needs a playmate. My, you know, son needs a girlfriend when they're older. Or, you know, just different comments. And we'd found out that both of us were contributing to us not being able to have kids. Kids. So it was difficult to deal with because I, of course, I planned my whole life from when I was a little kid. I knew what I was going to. When I was going to get married. I knew when I was going to have my first, you know, my career. I knew this, I knew that. And we had planned, like, we got married, you know, at this time, we'll start having children, we'll have this many kids, and blah, blah, blah. So it was just. That was tough for me. And then dealing with everyone and the pressure that everyone gave me, or, like, stupid stuff like, oh, you're not praying hard enough, or, you need to change the way you live, or you need to, you know, just all this fake information that they thought was contributing to us not being able to have kids. So the doctors told us that the only way for us to have kids was to do ivf. We could do ivf, we could do surrogacy, we could adopt. So we chose ivf. And, you know, we had to pretty much change a whole bunch in order to afford the ivf and to. For me to go through that process of injecting myself and with all the, you know, the hopes that I would have a child, that I would get pregnant, I didn't want to go through that more than once. I don't think anybody ever does want to go through that more than once. So I was determined. I was like, this is it. I'm going to have a child at the end of this process. So, you know, I am sitting on the table, and they're placing the embryo in me. And at this time, they're telling me, by the way, Sophie, you barely had any eggs that we were able to retrieve. And the eggs that we did retrieve were not the best quality. We have, like, seven, and out of the seven, we have two embryos that look like they could work. But then something happened to one of the embryos. So we really only have one that we're going to be placing in you. So I'm like, okay, cool. That's fine. You got one. Thank God this is going to work. So, you know, they are placing the embryo. I'm taking video. My husband's there. We're taking pictures. I took photos of that screen, and I was sending it to my friends and family, and I was telling them, like, this is going to be, you know, your nephew. This is going to be your son or your grandchild or whatever. And, you know, I'm waiting that period that you're supposed to wait. I go back for them to see, you know, they're supposed to do a blood test to see if you're pregnant and whatever else. So I'm waiting for them to call me back, and they call me back, and they're. They're like, you know, it did not take. You know, you are not pregnant. So everything, like, just shut down for me, like. And during this time, I was, like, photographing more maternity sessions because pregnancy was on the brain. Pregnancy was on the brain. And because of how much pregnancy was on the brain, I was pouring into maternity, like, I was getting creative with it. It was this. This beautiful state of being that I was aspiring to join, to be in. Right. Myself with my peers. And I was photographing these people with, like, that's going to be me. I'm going to have my own maternity session. I'm going to do it big or whatever else. So when they told me that I'm still shooting maternity sessions, like, I had just finished a session that day. So my husband comes, he leaves work. You know, we're trying to get through it. So we. Like, maybe a couple weeks after that, maybe like a week after that or two. I am starting to have difficulties with my eyes. Like, I'm getting up from a seated position and my eyes are blacking out and, wow. I'm trying to figure out what's going on. We're going back and forth to the doctors, trying to understand. Meanwhile, the infertility doctors are like, so when are you coming in for your next round? So I find out that I now have a disease called idiopathic intracranial hypertension.
- [12:35]
Nikki Klosser
Oh, my gosh.
- [12:37]
Sophia Barrett
Yeah. So this is most likely brought on by all the hormones and everything that I was injecting and how I was, like, messing with my body. So it was most likely something that was underlying in me, something that was just waiting to be triggered, you know, or that could have been easily triggered if I started doing things like ivf. So it's an incurable disease. Basically. My brain acts like it has a brain tumor without it having a brain tumor. So my brain swells. Yeah. And it. What was happening was that from all the swelling and whatever else, my optic nerves were bleeding and they were bruised. So people who have this can suddenly go blind. There's a whole mess of stuff that you can go through because your brain is out of whack. There's stuff going on. Right. So we decide we're not going to do another round of ivf, and instead of ivf, we go through foster. Foster care. And we started fostering. And this is when we decided, okay, we need to be home on the weekends. We can't work on the weekends because we plan on being foster parents, you know, and being available to the children that will be living with us. So what I started to do is we started to somewhat phase out of weddings and I started posting. Right. And advertising and talking to people about my portraiture. Like, we weren't. We went all in because we didn't have a choice. We had to switch from weddings to portraiture so that we could be home more. So What I started to do was I started to do more test shoots. I, at this point, started to really, you know, give myself fully to this creative side of maternity portraiture that I was doing. And I was able to focus in a more. In a better state of mind because we were fostering. And through me fostering, I started to have peace. Like, I started to not feel this crazy need to be pregnant or to, you know, have my own child. Because what was happening is, like, we were seeing that there are children who are here right now who are being abused in the most criminal way.
- [15:26]
Nikki Klosser
Yeah, yeah.
- [15:28]
Sophia Barrett
So, like, that was just hard for us. Even in the foster care system, like, the things that the kids go through was insane for us to witness. So, like, the need. For me, it was ego. Like, I realized that, yes, you know, it would be beautiful to have a child of my own. Right. For me to bear a child and to see my likeness in the child and my husband's likeness in the child. But then after that, right, like, what is really important at the time, right then, it was more important in what mattered more and what the bigger picture was, was that there's children right now right here, and they needed you. Exactly. So we no longer cared about getting pregnant. Like, I didn't care about any of that. We just wanted to become parents to, you know, a child in need. So, you know, through that process, we adopted our daughter. And, like, she's amazing. She's. She's a handful. She's. But she's, like, so bright. She's like a shining star. She's always happy. She's always smiling. She's super.
- [16:54]
Nikki Klosser
How old is she now, Sophie?
- [16:56]
Sophia Barrett
She's six. We've had her since she was three weeks.
- [16:59]
Nikki Klosser
Oh, wow.
- [17:01]
Sophia Barrett
Yeah.
- [17:01]
Nikki Klosser
She's your baby.
- [17:04]
Sophia Barrett
So, you know, I started to pour more into maternity and, you know, us going in full force in portraiture, even though we were phasing out of weddings, so we didn't, like, completely stop weddings, we did both at the same time. So weeks for us were full, and then the weekends were full. Right. But I stopped posting weddings. I stopped advertising weddings. I stopped talking to people about weddings. I was filling my calendar with portraiture. I was doing my best to, you know, post that on my Facebook, post it on Instagram. I would. I would do test shoots so that I could have more work up because I wasn't booking. You know, I didn't have that. That portfolio to show. And the more I showed it, the more people, you know, resonated with it. One, because it was different. Right? It was something that was, you know, fantasy, like, or something that a client could feel like. Oh, if I have this idea. Right. And I feel like when people are pregnant, I think it's a time where imagination really does tend to flow. Or they feel like, man, this is what I'm going through right now is, like, superhuman, right? Like, this is just. I'm carrying this being inside of me. And especially if it's their first pregnancy, like, this is insane. And they feel empowered to do something out of the box. Like, they feel empowered to, you know, dive deeper and to capture an alter ego or capture a side of themselves that they really want memorialized. So I think that that's what makes maternity, like, creative maternity, so special and what sets it apart from maybe other, you know, genres of, like, family portraiture or whatnot, because of just how incredible the experience is for the mother.
- [19:30]
Nikki Klosser
Yeah. Yeah. I love that you have embraced it and just, you know, your whole journey with everything. With everything you've done. I mean, like, to be a foster parent is such a thankless job. I mean, okay, I hate to even. Job is the wrong word, but, like, what you have done for your daughter is just the most incredible thing in the entire world. And to not. Like, I feel like maybe some people might have gone in a different direction. Like, I don't want to do maternity because it might be too painful or something. But, man, just, it's. It's so incredible how something that. That you went through was so painful and I'm sure traumatizing. Just the whole thing turned into not only having your amazing daughter now, but turned into this career, because, like, maybe if you had gotten pregnant biologically or whatever, you wouldn't have felt the need to switch out from weddings, and then maybe you would have gotten burned out or. You know, I feel like there's a million different ways this could have gone. And then here you are with this amazing daughter and such a cool career and just wild how things work out. And such a great mindset, too. Your mindset is just. I just love that you took it in the direction that you did.
- [20:54]
Sophia Barrett
Thank you.
- [20:55]
Nikki Klosser
And everyone grieves differently. So if you're out, listen out there listening, and you went a different direction. Like, you know, everyone deals with grief and trauma and all of these things in different ways.
- [21:06]
Sophia Barrett
Absolutely. Yeah.
- [21:07]
Nikki Klosser
So I just wanted to say that, too.
- [21:09]
Sophia Barrett
Absolutely.
- [21:10]
Nikki Klosser
Yeah.
- [21:10]
Sophia Barrett
Just that's what worked for me. That's. You know, I think that if I hadn't started to play around with it before all of that happened, you know, maybe it would have been different. But I'm happy that I was able to. To still, you know, there. There's so many women that I meet, and they have in their mind that the end all and be all is to have a child biologically. And I understand that. I get it, especially, you know, with the way that I saw my life working out. But what hurts me is when I see those women, like, hurting indefinitely, right. And they're carrying that pain for such a long time. Some advice that I give is to just foster in the meantime. Foster care. You know, do some fostering if you can, if it works for you, if it's something that you can that would work with, you know, your life. I think that it's something that truly helps to shape and to shift perspectives on what it means to nurture and to protect and to love. I think fostering really does a great job of teaching you beautiful life lessons. So if you want to have a child biologically or whatever the case, whatever it is that you decide that you want to do, just dive into fostering for just a little bit, you know, help out a child, help out a family, and let that experience, you know, do its thing. And, you know, while you're doing that, help somebody who's in need. I think that that truly saved. Doing that really saved. Saved us.
- [23:18]
Nikki Klosser
Yeah.
- [23:19]
Hey, just a quick break to tell you that since you're here listening, you have access to a really great offer offer for our listeners only. We have a special promo code you can use to get 50% off the cost of membership. Just go to theportraitsystem.com or click the link in the description and use the promo code PODCAST50 to get 50% off of a membership. We rarely discount membership, so this is a big deal. As I hope you already know, the membership is how I and so many guests on this podcast reached our success. And it gives you access to countless amazing videos, an awesome community, and all the tools you need to build a massively successful business. So use the code podcast50Now to join the community and to start building the business of your dreams. I'll see you there.
- [24:06]
I mean, exactly what you said. I really love what you said about, you know, initially it's like, oh, I want to see if my child, like, looks like me or whatever. But in the end, when I. When I. I don't even really see myself in my children, like, in the end, I want to know that they are loved and cared for. It doesn't matter where they came from, if they came from me or someone Else. Yeah, you know, it's. And you're right. There are so many children in this world who are. It just. It's almost like. What is it called when you. Like a defense mechanism where some people, I don't even think want to. Your brain can't even go there to what happens to some of these kids. But it is happening and it is real. It's.
- [24:50]
Sophia Barrett
Oh, yeah, yeah. And if you know that, if you know, like, even in just within an organization that is meant to. To protect the government, all of that, it's. You're dealing with people who could be so evil, so disgusting. So, you know, and if you are a good, loving person, you know what I mean? You are a good person that has the money, the time, the resources, the space that could protect that child from something so evil or protect those children from something so evil while. Even if you're not going to adopt while they look for someone to adopt them. Like, I just. You have no idea what you'd be doing for. For, you know, a family if you could do that.
- [25:53]
Nikki Klosser
Yeah. Oh, man, it is. It's just. It's crazy. Everything. All of it. And I'm just so happy that you found your daughter and she has you and to be able to pour your heart out into your business as a result of all of this and change. You know, something I was thinking about is, and I know people want to know this is how do you switch over to something that you're so passionate about? Like, there are a lot of people out there who maybe shoot weddings who are like, I don't want to do it anymore. I would prefer to do maternity or newborn or seniors or whatever it is, but they just feel like they are so entrenched in weddings and that money is coming in and, you know, how did you guys make that switch?
- [26:40]
Sophia Barrett
You just gotta start doing it and you have to be able to show that work. If you don't have the work, if you're not spending your time, like the time when you're not shooting weddings and when you're not managing your business, you know, you need to spend the time creating the work. So if you have to schedule test shoots, find models, you know, reach out to mothers that, you know, you have to have that work to show, and then you have to show it and show it a lot. If you have on your portfolio or on your website a mixed message, then it's going to be really difficult for your people to find you. It's going to be difficult for your people to. To sit on your page and to sit on your Instagram or, you know, your Facebook and feel like they found a home because there's. There's a mixed message that's there. So you really need to have that work to show, and then you have to really spend time pubbing it. You have to really, you know, show that to people, have it on your Instagram and just focus on it. So for me, that's what helped me make the switch is really focusing on that portraiture side and not spending as much time. I really stopped advertising weddings. I stopped posting weddings on my platforms. It wasn't what I wanted to shoot anymore. I didn't want to do that. So I did not advertise it. I had enough referral business and I had relationships with wedding planners. Of course, if you're in the wedding industry, you're going to have these relationships where business can come in and you need to do it at a pace that makes sense for you. You need to look at your numbers and see where your money's coming in so that you can make that transition as gradually as you need to. But we had business that was still coming in with wedding planners that we had relationships with here in Atlanta. But I stopped advertising weddings because I didn't want new business that, you know, wasn't coming in from referrals to continue to book up, you know, my schedule. Especially because of the fact that we, again, we had to stop working on the weekends anyways. We couldn't work on the weekends anymore. So if you know that, for instance, you're going to be making that switch, if you know that you're going to have to maybe have a couple slow months, maybe you spend the time ramping up your weddings for a bit so that you can have a little bit more money in your account for that slow season.
- [29:33]
Nikki Klosser
That's great advice.
- [29:34]
Sophia Barrett
Yeah. For that time while you're transitioning over. But in any case, you have to just be clear. You have to be clear with your message, with what you show and what you advertise.
- [29:49]
Nikki Klosser
Yeah. I remembered thinking, okay, I've got, you know, six weddings left or whatever it was. And I remember feeling like I have to post at least some sneak peeks or these clients are going to be upset. And I don't want to hurt their feelings. I didn't want to, but I was like, that was the last of it. Like, I just posted a couple photos from each wedding and then hurried up and posted a bunch of portraits and some personal branding and some seniors, you know, and just like, just so it would bump it down a little bit, but then the client wouldn't be. I didn't, you know, I didn't want them to feel like I didn't love their photos or something. It was just. I was just trying to change my marketing, you know.
- [30:25]
Sophia Barrett
Exactly.
- [30:26]
Nikki Klosser
So, yeah, I mean, I think, like you said, that there are going to be times when it's a little bit. When you're just switching over that it might be a little bit slower. But I almost feel like, and I've said this before, where there is this kind of mindset shift where you might not be booked out for an entire year. Like portraits, you tend to be booked out, you know, if you're really, you know, consistently bringing in clients. I'd be booked out for a couple months, you know, maybe six months at the maximum. I think is the most I've ever been booked out for portrait shoots. Well, I've heard some portrait photographers say they're booked out for like a year, you know, so, I mean, I guess it just depends. But it's shifting that mentality that your calendar isn't going to be completely full, like it a year in advance, like it would be for weddings.
- [31:15]
Sophia Barrett
Yeah, absolutely. And then you need to figure out what can help you advertise and what can help you. Once you figure out that formula, you have to just be consistent. So you have to be consistent on Pinterest, you have to be consistent on Instagram, you have to be consistent on Facebook with your referrals, how you're reaching out to your past clients. You know, are you sending out gifts, you know, once a year or twice a year, you know, what are you doing with your email marketing? Are you making sure that you're at the forefront of, you know, their minds? Are you constantly making sure that, hey, I am your portrait photographer, I am your portrait photographer. For whatever genre it is that you focus on, whatever it is that your people, you know, expect from you or want from you, you just have to be consistent. And you're constantly doing it. When I was doing weddings, I didn't have to advertise as much because I had planners coming to me and telling me, hey, this is the next client. This is the next client. This is next client. Of course we would, you know, make sure that we were in magazines, for instance. We would constantly send out submissions, constantly be on blogs as much as we could, just sending out our things in that way. Instagram wasn't a huge thing for me at that. It didn't exist. But that's how we did it. And I think that people underestimate referrals and repeat business. And what you do with your past clients, you really have to make sure that you are continuing to have that relationship with them. Because in portraiture, that's where a lot of your business is gonna keep coming back.
- [33:08]
Nikki Klosser
Now, as far as marketing in general, for what you do now, is there anything that you, you know, aside from, like, the past clients and that sort of thing? And I know in your first interview, we talked about how people will start following you way before they're even pregnant. Like, I want a maternity shoot with you down the road, but I'm curious, is there anything specific you do for marketing that kind of keeps. Keeps in.
- [33:33]
Sophia Barrett
Sure. So I do email marketing and I. I'll send. And I don't do this often because I don't want to be spammy with, you know, the people that do, you know, subscribe or do accept that. So when I send emails, it'll be for, you know, special occasions, things that, you know, that I really want them to know, important, you know, moments or what have you. But I do send out emails throughout the year. And then we do advertise on, so Instagram. I didn't used to have to advertise on Instagram so much, but of course, since they, you know, whenever, period, it was when they made that last change to make it so that you have to pay to advertise. We do. We will pay. Not a whole lot of money, but pay.
- [34:29]
Nikki Klosser
On Pinterest.
- [34:30]
Sophia Barrett
On Instagram.
- [34:31]
Nikki Klosser
Oh, on Instagram. Sorry, I thought you said Pinterest. Okay, yeah, yeah, Instagram. Got it.
- [34:35]
Sophia Barrett
So we'll pay on Instagram to advertise, especially like shoots that do very well or posts that do very well. We'll go ahead and we'll advertise that. But I am consistently posting. So if I consistently post on Instagram, I'm going to consistently get leads to for consultations. So especially, you know, if I, if I boost a post that I knew got something like, you know, three times as much likes as my normal amount of likes on pictures on Instagram, I know that I will get more leads for consultations, more requests for consultations. And then Pinterest, I am doing my very best to pin like three pins a day. So that has helped a lot as well. Pinning on Pinterest has. People will call me just from Pinterest. I saw that is awesome on Pinterest. It was beautiful. I needed to know who the photographer was. I clicked on it, I saw your website and they went ahead and booked a consultation so I'm constantly posting on Pinterest. I'm constantly on Instagram. I am doing a better job on Facebook. But when it comes to advertising, that's what we're doing. But so much of my business, I would say over 50% comes from referrals. It comes from people who. You photographed my line sister. You photographed my cousin. You photographed my husband's best friend's brother's wife. But it's. It's really, you know, the world is small, and it's not. I'm not photographing people who are here in Atlanta. I would say maybe 30% of my clients are from here.
- [36:37]
Nikki Klosser
The rest people are traveling to you.
- [36:39]
Sophia Barrett
Yes, yes. Majority of our clients are coming from all over. And they know.
- [36:46]
Nikki Klosser
Yeah, I'd love that. I mean, I'm not having any more babies, but, yeah, I would travel to you.
- [36:54]
Sophia Barrett
There's so many, like. And they know each other. Like, everybody knows each other. It doesn't matter if they've traveled to me from California or from Seattle. They know somebody who's photographed with me. Right. So for me, what I believe is a huge contributor to that is the experience that I provide the client because they leave the studio and they want to tell others about the experience that they had in the studio with me and my team or leading up to their shoot. So many people have bad experiences getting photographed. So many people. Right.
- [37:38]
Nikki Klosser
It's true.
- [37:39]
Sophia Barrett
You have so many people who will, you know, say they're a photographer and they might do good work, but they don't know how to connect with the client. They don't know how to make the client feel comfortable. They don't know, especially if they're pregnant, right. And they are swollen or they're dealing with pain or, you know, if I have a client that comes in and I know nothing about creating a beautiful experience, and this maternity client comes in and she passes out, right? Because she was holding her breath while she was being photographed and, you know, whatever else. And that's happened to me on different. Like, I'll say twice where I've had a client. She just didn't want to breathe while she was being photographed. She would hold her breath. I could tell something was a little off. Are you okay? Are you okay? I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm good. Don't worry about it. And then, literally two seconds later, you know, passed out, comes back to what we're doing at that moment is turning on the meditation music immediately. I'm bringing out a humidifier with essential oils or whatever I need to do. I'm sitting them back in the makeup chair. I am reclining their head.
- [39:02]
Nikki Klosser
It's like a day at the spa, ma'am. Yeah, it is. It's like a day at the spa.
- [39:08]
Sophia Barrett
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Because I know how much that is going to speak for me after they leave, and because that's what. How I would want to be treated if I'm going through all of that and I'm carrying a human being inside of me. You know what I mean? I don't want to have to. You know, I kind of put them through it when I pose them right. When I. When we go through posing. So everything else is really about making sure that they're good, that they feel comfortable, that they feel at ease. They need water. We're running to grab them water. They, you know, need a tissue. We're running to grab them the tissue. You know, we're touching up their. Their hair and their makeup while they're on the. Like, just really making sure that they feel pampered. Because that referral. That referral business that I get is huge. So, you know, I know that that will. Will help to do the work for me.
- [40:04]
Nikki Klosser
Yeah. That's fantastic. I like that. You said you've been using Pinterest. I've been looking into using Pinterest more lately. I've kind of avoided it. I just hired someone to help me because I just. My brain doesn't want to do anything else that I'm not already doing.
- [40:21]
Sophia Barrett
I agree.
- [40:23]
Nikki Klosser
So I'm like, how do I. Okay. Anyway, so I just hired someone to help me do some Pinterest work. I mean, simple things like you said, pinning a couple times a day and labeling it and describing it. And I know there are, like, courses and things out there on how to use Pinterest or whatever. I just never have really, you know, gotten too much into it. So, yeah, I'm gonna. We're getting that going here this week, actually. So I'm excited to see how that. How that goes.
- [40:47]
Sophia Barrett
I think you'll see, like, changes real fast. Like, you'll see how it affects your business quickly. I think that, you know, I. I know I can see when I. When I don't spend time on it, how it affects the business. And when I do spend time, you know, making those pins. And they're not complicated pins. Right. But when I do spend the time doing that, it really does make a difference. Like, immediately, I'll get people who will say, I found you on Pinterest.
- [41:15]
Nikki Klosser
Yeah. Well, I'm excited I'm excited to hear you say that. Awesome. So people are pinning your pins, and then does it link back to your website or is it linking to your Instagram or both?
- [41:29]
Sophia Barrett
So right now, my pins link back to my website. Sometimes I'll put, like, a link to Instagram as well, but I always do put my Instagram profile name on my pins, even if it links back to my website, so that if somebody wants to just, you know, copy and paste so that they can see that they can. But, yeah, right now they link mostly back to my website.
- [41:57]
Nikki Klosser
Okay, cool. Ooh, I'm excited. Now it's like an untapped thing I've never tried or used. So I'll get going on it and report back everyone how it's going. So, yeah, very cool. Well, thank you for coming back again and for just being so open and vulnerable. And I know there are other women out there who are, you know, experiencing what you have with infertility and just. I have two friends right now going through ivf, and it is no joke what they put, what your body goes through. And, yeah, I hope that with the, you know, the condition that you have now, I hope it just stays, you know, I don't know if remission is the right word, but.
- [42:42]
Sophia Barrett
Well, I'm not in remission right now, but I'm managing it, so I was in remission. I think stress. Stress completely, like, jacked that up for me. But I'm definitely on a journey of living as healthy of a lifestyle as I can, so. And that's helped a lot. So I'm managing it, and I'm living a full life. I'm happy. You know, it's just. I just had to make changes. And at the end of the day, sometimes experiences like this are the things that save you, you know, so they help write your path. They help you refocus on what's important and what you should be focusing on. So that's what I'm doing. And, you know, I'm thankful for my life. I'm thankful for, you know, where I am in my life and for my family, for my husband, my daughter. The rest of my family life is good, so I'm happy. I'm blessed.
- [43:42]
Nikki Klosser
Yeah. Well, thank you. Thank you for sharing all of it.
- [43:45]
Sophia Barrett
No problem. Thanks for having me.
- [43:47]
Nikki Klosser
Yeah.
- [43:47]
Sophia Barrett
This is definitely a pleasure.
- [43:49]
Nikki Klosser
Awesome. All right. Hopefully I'll meet you in person soon.
- [43:52]
Sophia Barrett
Yes, I know it's going to happen soon. I know it will.
- [43:56]
Nikki Klosser
So are you going to the Portrait Masters Conference?
- [43:58]
Sophia Barrett
I won't be. I won't be this year, but I'm hoping I'll be there next year. Yep.
- [44:04]
Nikki Klosser
Or something.
- [44:05]
Sophia Barrett
Yes, absolutely Incredible.
- [44:07]
Nikki Klosser
All right. Thanks again Sophie.
- [44:08]
Sophia Barrett
My pleasure.
- [44:10]
Sue Bryce
Thank you so much for listening to the Portrait System podcast. Your 5 star reviews really help us to continue what we do. So if you like listening, would you mind giving us a review wherever you listen? I also encourage you to head over to sue briceducation.com where you can find all of the education you need to be a successful photographer. There are over 1000 on demand educational videos on things like posing, lighting, style, styling, retouching, shooting, marketing, sales, business and self value. There's also the 90 day startup challenge plus so many downloads showing hundreds of different poses. We have to do checklists for your business, lighting PDFs. I mean truly everything to help make you a better photographer and to make you more money. Once Again, that's Sue briceducation.com.