How Judith Hill Made 6 Figures Within One Year Of Leaving Her Corporate Job (Re-Release)

Summary

The Portrait System Podcast

Episode: How Judith Hill Made 6 Figures Within One Year Of Leaving Her Corporate Job (Re-Release)
Host: Nikki Closser (Sue Bryce Education)
Guest: Judith Hill
Date: October 5, 2025

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Overview

In this episode, host Nikki Closser interviews Nashville-based portrait photographer Judith Hill, who shares her transformative journey from a corporate career in economic development to building a thriving six-figure portrait business within her first year as a full-time photographer. Judith walks listeners through her practical steps for a successful career change, the value of mindset shifts, how networking and email marketing have fueled her continued growth, and her unique approach to client experience.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Judith’s Background and Transition to Photography

• Corporate Roots: Judith worked 14 years in economic development, helping build Nashville’s business landscape and marketing the city to new industries.
  • “My old boss used to say that your brand is what people say about you when you’re not around.” — Judith Hill (06:10)
• First Entrepreneur in the Family: No entrepreneurial background—her father was a political chief of staff.
• Finding Bliss: Discovered photography after traveling to Italy, followed her passion, learned from community college courses, and found Sue Bryce via CreativeLive in 2011/2012.
  • “I wear this bracelet... it says ‘follow your bliss’... if you follow your bliss or what lights you up, then you’re on the path that was laid for you all along.” — Judith Hill (12:46)

2. The Leap from Corporate to Full-Time Business

• Preparation: Built her photography business on the side for five years before taking the leap, getting pricing and mentorship lined up.
• Overcoming Fear: Plays out "worst-case scenario" thinking and talks candidly about the mindset and identity shift necessary for leaving a secure job.
  • “Fear stands for false evidence appearing real.” — Judith Hill, quoting her husband (11:12)
  • “It’s the mindset shift. You can learn all the other stuff... but you’ve got to get the you part right because we show up as the whole person and it’s so important.” — Judith Hill (55:40)
• Financial Readiness: Had savings, no family obligations, and knew if she failed, she could return to the workforce.

3. First Year: Building a Six-Figure Business

• Leveraged Network: Used connections from her business career, focusing heavily on headshots and corporate clients initially.
• Volume and Burnout: The early high volume of basic headshots led to burnout but gave her valuable income and experience. Later, she became more selective.
• Signature Offer: Now her "combo shoot" (personal branding, boudoir, and fashion) is most popular.

4. Marketing and Client Generation

• Networking: BNI (Business Network International) and women’s entrepreneurial groups helped her develop her "pitch" and referral base.
  • “BNI taught me how to talk about my business in different ways… as much as in my old job I could sell the city, it was a hard shift to sell yourself.” — Judith Hill (18:03)
• Email Newsletter: Her most effective marketing tool:
  • Consistent monthly newsletter with empowering, confidence-focused content.
  • 80% or more of clients are now referral-based, many from her list.
• In-Person Strategy: Regularly hosts groups in her studio, speaks at women’s business events, and arranges strategic coffee or lunch meetings.

5. Client Experience as a Differentiator

• Focus on Service: Judith designed every touchpoint to feel personal, pampered, and memorable.
  • “I don’t want to be a means to an end. I want to build a brand... where someone feels cared for, pampered, seen, and celebrated.” — Judith Hill (03:35 & 24:16)
• Studio Details: Personalized welcome signs, favorite music, snacks, beverages (shout-out to Liquid Death water), hair and makeup, and upbeat energy throughout.
• Aftercare: Sends a candid thank you video with delivered images.
• Reveal Sessions: Prefers in-person, celebratory print and image reveals over instant reveals.

6. Pricing & Sales Structure

• Pricing Transparency:
  • Session fee: $675 (includes consult, styling, hair & makeup, shoot, one image)
  • Additional images: $400 each (a la carte)
  • Collections: Start at $2,500
  • Average sale: $3,500 (32:43)
• Product Strategy: Print + digital collections for personal shoots, digital-only for business branding.
• Upselling: Uses upgrades like larger folio boxes and emphasizes collection over package (“collection” sounds more high-end).

7. Black Friday Email Campaign: "Double Your Dollars"

• Highly Effective:
  • Ran a “double your dollars” promo: clients pre-pay for future sessions and receive double the value (e.g., pay $1,000, get $2,000 towards images).
  • Campaign exclusive to email newsletter subscribers.
• Execution:
  • Sent 12+ targeted emails in coordination with her VA team; made $10,200 in pre-booked sessions over Black Friday 2024.
• Long-Term Effect:
  • These prepaid sessions resulted in $35,000 in revenue as clients upgraded their purchases.
  • Set a 1-year expiration for promo, limited usage to specific (studio) sessions.

8. Social Media vs. Email List

• Prioritizing Ownership: Judith shifted away from social, focusing on her email list due to stability and direct contact.
  • “I want to own the platform where people are coming... If social media is gone, it’s gone.” — Judith Hill (36:13)
• Social as Business Card: Maintains online presence mainly as a digital business card and for prospective clients to reference, not as a primary marketing driver.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Fear and Starting Out:

  • “You’re going to move with fear. Fear is there... when you leave your job, when you raise your prices, when you change genres... you’re just going to move with it. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other.” — Judith Hill (54:17)

• On Client Experience:

  • “I'm Judith Hill, owner of Judith Hill Photography. I'm a professional photographer and hype girl.” — Judith Hill (23:09)

• On Marketing:

  • “Tell your client's story... it's not about you; it's about your clients, and it's about being of service.” — Judith Hill (22:25)

• On Social Media:

  • “Running a portrait business is not a one-person job. You’re a business owner, CEO, and the talent. You can only do so many things.” — Judith Hill (44:46)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [03:24] – Judith’s previous career and how she discovered photography
• [07:16] – Applying corporate marketing skills to building a photo brand
• [08:01] – How Judith decided to leave her job; mindset and preparation
• [13:17] – Following her “bliss” and making the leap into photography
• [15:03] – First-year strategy: heavy networking and corporate headshots
• [18:03] – The impact of BNI and developing a business “pitch”
• [19:29] – Newsletter and referral-based marketing system
• [23:37] – Introduction of the “hype girl” persona and the power of client experience
• [24:16] – Designing an elevated client experience
• [27:29] – Pricing and product structuring for combo shoots
• [32:43] – Judith’s average sale and explanation of packages
• [33:53] – Black Friday “Double Your Dollars” campaign: How and why it worked
• [36:06] – The importance of owning your list, not renting followers
• [44:46] – Outsourcing, social media strategy, and where to focus effort
• [46:49] – Speaking, lead magnets, and strategic in-person marketing
• [54:17] – Advice for new photographers: move with fear, keep going, prioritize mindset

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Recommendations & Advice for New Photographers

• Keep Going: Embrace fear, keep moving forward, and focus on developing your self-value and mindset.
• Own Your Message: Hone your brand narrative and client experience; your energy and approach drive client referrals.
• Strategic Networking: Focus on in-person connections, high-touch experiences, and building a loyal audience via email rather than relying solely on social media.
• Get Help: Outsource tasks where possible (she recommends a VA for consistency with newsletters).

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Final Resources

• Website: Judith Hill Photography
• Instagram: @judithhillphoto

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Judith’s story is a blueprint for photographers ready to move from “side hustle” to sustainable, thriving business—anchored in planning, persistently refining the client experience, and building strong relationships through authentic marketing.

Transcript

[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.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

If you sign up, you'll get a.

[Nikki Klosser]

Free posing 101 PDF to jumpstart things.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

It's an epic PDF so you'll definitely want to get this.

[Nikki Klosser]

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 and sign up Today.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

You're listening to the Portrait System Podcast.

[Judith Hill]

And I don't want to be a means to an end. I want to build a brand and a brand identity and create an experience where someone feels cared for, pampered, seen and celebrated.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Welcome to the Portrait System Podcast.

[Nikki Klosser]

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.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Have grown their businesses, quit their day.

[Nikki Klosser]

Jobs and are designing a life of their dreams.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

We keep it real and share stories.

[Nikki Klosser]

About the ups and downs that come with running a photography business.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

You'll hear real life stories of how other photographers run their business and you'll.

[Nikki Klosser]

Learn actionable steps that you can take.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

To reach your own goals.

[Nikki Klosser]

Thank you so much for being here.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

And let's get started this week on the Portrait System. My guest is Judith Hill. Judith is a portrait photographer in Nashville, Tennessee and she left her corporate job to become a full time photographer. Judith tells us all about how she prepared for leaving her job and how she ended up making six figures in her first year and has continued to do so ever since. She also shares with us how she uses an email newsletter to promote her Black Friday sale and she also talks about the other ways she markets to have consistent clients coming in the door even even without focusing much on social media. All right, let's get this started with Judith Hill. Hi Judith, welcome to the Portrait System. How are you?

[Judith Hill]

I'm doing wonderful. Hi Nikki. I'm so glad to be here.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Where are you tuning in from?

[Judith Hill]

Nashville, Tennessee.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Oh, Nashville.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Heck yeah.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

I have that on my list of places that I definitely need to go.

[Judith Hill]

Have you not been?

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

No.

[Judith Hill]

Oh, my gosh. It's so much fun. I was just. We all, we, you know, we're music city and people come here to party. Come on. We always say that it's a drink in town with a music problem.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Yeah, that's funny.

[Judith Hill]

That's what they say in the music industry anyway. Yeah.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Well, I didn't ever listen to country music until the last few years and now I'm like a total country convert. So I have a newfound interest in Nashville for that reason as well as just, you know, that it's a cool city.

[Judith Hill]

You're a Dolly Parton fan, correct?

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Oh, yeah, I've always been a Dolly fan, but, you know, other than that, I wasn't really. Yeah, since I was little, like, I used to dress up like her. Love her.

[Judith Hill]

Yeah, she's great. Dolly Parton and hip hop music are the great unifiers of the world. I've decided, at least in the studio when you're playing music, everybody's like, dolly or hip hop.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Yeah, I love it. All right, so let's talk about how you got started in photography. Or actually, let's back up. And what did you do first? Because I know you weren't always in. Into photography as your career.

[Judith Hill]

That's correct. So I did not pick a camera up until I was about 30 years old. Before that I was vice president of.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Economic development for a corporate company for.

[Judith Hill]

I was at the national, the chamber of commerce. So I had a 14 year career doing economic development. So I was on the team that built the Nashville skyline from about 2004 to 2018.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Wow, that's interesting.

[Judith Hill]

Yeah, so we would recruit, you know, like big corporate headquarters, back office, data center, music companies, health care companies, shared service. So yeah, we, we recruited industry to town and helped the existing ones grow and expand.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Okay. So nothing like, you know, entrepreneurial, like, creative route at all.

[Judith Hill]

No, I'm actually the first entrepreneur in my family. Yeah. And. Well, because I grew up in politics and my dad was chief of staffer, US Congressman, which is sort of how I got to Nashville. Was working for the governor at the time when I moved here. I'm from a small town in west Tennessee and. Yeah, so I came here and started doing economic developments and just really, you know, if things go in seven year cycles and you do something for 14 years, you get. I got a little bit where I could just do it in my sleep, so to speak. It was also more of a marketing arm of like. So there were, we would negotiate incentives, but we were kind of, we were Selling the city. So back in 2004, I would say for Nashville anyway, people did think of us as like, maybe he haul or something like that. Like, they. I would get weird questions like, do we wear. Do you wear shoes in Nashville? But so we would bring people here and we would tell a different story. We would say, yes, we're music, but we're more. So we would sell the city through presenting, connecting, touring people around. And so in that same point, it was a little bit creative from marketing, but otherwise it was really just sort of selling the city. And well, it.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

It's interesting because you had mentioned that a lot of what you do, you think you get, you know, referrals and clients and things is because of the way you, you know, talk about your client experience. And I wonder if that marketing background piece to it helped you with your own business.

[Judith Hill]

Yeah, you know, I've tried. I've been thinking lately about how, what, what were the things that I took from economic development into photography? And I think that. So my, my old boss used to say that your brand is what people say about you when you're not around. And so, so yeah, so we, we had to go out and tell a different story about Nashville. And so that brand identity, that changing the narrative and also finding moments. So moments for people like when they came, connecting them to someone that made a similar move, finding out who their favorite artist was, if there was a concert in town, we would, you know, do our connections, get tickets and things like that and just kind of really sell the city through moments. And if you think about it as humans, we. Our lives are a string of moments. And what we remember the most are the peaks and the pitfalls. So as a photographer, through the customer experience, you can create these beautiful moments and then the images become a representation of those moments.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Right.

[Judith Hill]

So everything from like branding and how you talk about your business and yourself and creating those moments and those memories, that's sort of the big part that I took from my old job into building my own business.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Okay. And I want to hear more about that in detail. But I want to. A lot of people ask me to ask the question when someone, you know, transitions from this full time career into like, what. At what point did you feel like I am ready to just quit my job altogether and make this happen? Was it a financial goal you had? Was it certain number of clients? Were you just like, screw it, I'm just gonna do it? Like, what did that look like for?

[Judith Hill]

Yeah, so I, you know, I was building my business for about five years on the side before I actually made the leap. And I probably waited too long. And honestly that my job was so supportive in that they would, they were like, well, listen, Judith, out to take headshots of these CEOs for our marketing and things like that. So I really, what I did was I just, I tried to just set it up so I could just leave and walk out into my business. So I got my pricing down. I hired mentors within the community to help me transition, like, how do I leave my job? And I really just tried to set myself up to walk right out, but it really wasn't, you know, that easy. And we've talked about this in one of the self value workshops, which is. It's that identity shift.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yes.

[Judith Hill]

And it's so hard. So it's a big one. And it's not, it's just a, a mindset shift, you know, your fear, for example. So I was afraid to, to leave. I thought, gosh, if I fail, I'm going to like, go bankrupt and live on the street. And that's just not true. So I had to, I had to play out my worst case scenario, which was if, if it doesn't work, I just go get a job and. But that didn't happen to me, obviously. I made six figures in my first year and I made six figures from then forward and grew it year over year. So it's just really. To go back to how did I know when I was ready? You can't. Who said it? You can't ride two horses. I'm not sure, but I wasn't doing anyone justice. I was having guilt about like I was, I was, I would skip out a little bit early and I would go do consultations at home. And then I was working on the weekends and I was doing at night. And I wasn't doing anyone any justice. I wasn't doing my business justice. I wasn't doing my job justice. So it was just time to leave. And at the time, I was single, I didn't have kids, and I had savings and I was, I was ready to make the leap. And I just had to really put an appointment on my boss's calendar that forced me to say, hey, I'm gonna be leaving. Yeah, that's what I did.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Yeah, you said some important things in there. I really love the kind of worst case scenario play. And sometimes in therapy, therapists will recommend that where it's like, okay, let's seriously, legitimately talk about what is the worst thing that could happen. Like you said, you could get a Job. I mean, it's. You know, typically when people are leaving one career for another, like you already have the skills and the experience to get another job. You know, it's. I mean, I know everyone has different life experiences and it's not always that cut and dry, but in a scenario where you already have a job and you're just trying to do it, you know, I do like the idea too, that you had your ducks in a row first. That certainly makes it easier once you are out the door. So.

[Judith Hill]

Yeah, yeah, it does. And, you know, I was, I remember at my, My now husband, we were on a walk and he said, you know, fear stands for false evidence appearing real.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Yeah, I love that.

[Judith Hill]

And I was like, oh, you're right. There's actually no evidence that the thing I'm afraid of is actually going to happen. And I've heard it said a different way now. It's face everything and rise. And I, I like that too.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

So it's, it's.

[Judith Hill]

It's just a mind, a mindset shift.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Yeah, we often, I mean, anxiety is often creating stories in our head that likely aren't going to happen. And I'm guilty of that, too. Like, I have this saying that I say every day, and it is. I put it out there to the universe, to God, to, you know, all the things where I'm like, okay, I'm not really a religious person, but I always say, not today, Satan. Not today, Satan. And I don't even know where that came from. And the reason I'm like, I'm just going to say it is because I realize I didn't say it yet today and my husband just took my kids out fishing. So. Not today, Satan. Make sure. But we do, we create these stories in our head that causes anxiety, fear, all of the things where, I mean, if we just focus on that and make that get in our way of ever creating a better life for ourselves, like you said, you were completely indifferent at this job that you had. And I know so many people who are listening feel the same way. They're not. They don't enjoy it anymore. They don't want to do it anymore. It's not fulfilling them in any way, shape or form. Like that is not a way to live either.

[Judith Hill]

So, yeah, you know, I, I wasn't unhappy. I just. I needed something that lit me up. Right. So I wear this bracelet on, on my wrist. It says, follow your bliss. And I've worn it for a long time. And it's a Joseph Campbell kind of theory that says if you Follow your bliss or what lights you up, then you're on the path that was laid for you all along and you will meet people that you are meant to meet and doors will open.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

And.

[Judith Hill]

And so that's what drove me to photography because I had, at 25, gone to Italy by myself and took all these amazing pictures, which. Italy is beautiful. So everybody goes there and thinks they're darker.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

But.

[Judith Hill]

And this was. I had like a little point and shoot camera because this was 2006, and whenever I could get a DSLR, I got one and I went back to school because in 2010, that was the option, right, Is to go to community college and start taking courses. And I just was like, this lights me up. I'm losing time. And I just kept. Kept going with it. And then I. Somebody in my class or in. At school said, you should like, do you watch Creative Live? And so I got on Creative Live and that's how I found sue in 2011 or 2012. And I just was like, oh, so I can hire hair, makeup artist and people can have outfit changes. That sounds awesome. And I just started doing it and I just kept going because I was just. It lit me up so much. So.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

And it's. Yeah. And just speaking of, like the education that was back then, it's so different now with, like all the education that sue has on the portrait system. It's like all encompassing of everything you could possibly need to be a successful portrait photographer. And that wasn't available back then as it is now.

[Judith Hill]

Not at all. I know.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yeah.

[Judith Hill]

In my sessions, I'm a mirror pose. So I get into the pose and I put people in it and everybody's like, where did you learn all this stuff? And I'm like, people ask.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Clients ask me that too. I'm like, I'm the best mentor in the world, actually.

[Judith Hill]

Exactly.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

So you mentioned that your first year you made six figures. How did you do that? Like, tell people what steps you took?

[Judith Hill]

Yeah. So I had been building my business on the side for five years, and I did use my job where I was out networking. I would talk about my photography business. So I really just built this network up and I. But to be honest, the first couple of years, I did a ton of company headshots because people knew me from the business world in Nashville. So I. I did a lot of headshots in this one company. And there's a real estate company called Compass, and Compass is all over the place and they need headshots. And so every time they hired a new agent they would hire me to do that. So I did that. And then I did some, you know, the branding and mother daughter in combination shoots and things like that. But I did a lot of headshots and that's not it. I felt it was. It was a little bit of like, I, I did a lot of making money with my camera, so I'm going to take a lot of things and. But that wasn't really why I opened my business, Opened my business to cultivate confidence and celebrate people and give them this empowerment session. But I did a lot of catch up. That's the answer.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Sit down, Click. Kind of not like a full personal branding experience, but more so just.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yeah, yeah.

[Judith Hill]

Like the correct corporate.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yeah.

[Judith Hill]

Yep. And that has. That's something that I, This, My whole journey is something that I've always been asked to do, that I got burnt out on.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yeah.

[Judith Hill]

Because I'm, I'm a connector. I also understand people's secret sauce really quickly. And so whenever I was doing those and it was like just. I felt like a revolving door.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yeah.

[Judith Hill]

That was not healthy for me. And that kind of led to a burnout after the first year. And I was. I've. I've tried to figure out how to shift that for a long time, and then I just cut it off and then now I, I tried to bring it back through a second shooter.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Got it. That's smart. So what do you shoot now? Like, what is your bread and butter at this point?

[Judith Hill]

My most popular is. Is probably the combo shoot is what I call it, because people want branding and they want boudoir and they want fashion.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Yes.

[Judith Hill]

So I do, I do that. And I do a lot of. I still do a lot of branding. That's really easy for me to speak to from my past experience and just my connections.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yeah.

[Judith Hill]

But those are, Those are the, the two things that I do the most of.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Okay. All right. So, yeah, I feel like a lot of this always comes back to it when you, you know, start getting these consistent clients coming in the door. So much of it is networking and getting yourself out there, and it sounds like you were really, you know, setting the stage for that for a long time. I mean, do you feel like. Like, how long do you think it took you to really consistently. I know you stayed at your job for a long time, but through all this networking and everything, did it, you know, when did clients consistently start coming in?

[Judith Hill]

Yeah, so when I first went full time, right before I left or the last year that I was at my job, I did join a bni okay. And then I was in BNI and I went into leadership for a couple of years. I'm still in bni, like three or four years. So I think the main thing that BNI did for me was because it was very blue collar where I was, so it wasn't really my ideal client. But the main thing it did for me was learn how to talk about my business in different ways. Because you had to get up every week and you had to say something and you had to ask for referral. And so as much as in my old job, I could sell the city all day long. It was a hard ship to kind of sell yourself, you know, and your work, because it's different. So I just. And I'm now in a women's entrepreneurship group called Brain Trust, which is really an organization that is meant to help women scale their business and get to a million dollars of revenue. Because unfortunately, in the U.S. anyway, nationwide, only 2% of women get to a million dollars in revenue. So I'm in this organization that has a mission to help other women and like, getting into that and networking, I would say. Also I took with me a network list of emails. I don't know if they dropped off, but I got really consistent on a newsletter which is. Was. It's probably my number one marketing tool right now because.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yep.

[Judith Hill]

Because now most of the. Most of my business, probably 80% of it or more comes from referrals. And I think that that is because I have a newsletter that's consistent. It's on brand. I give this amazing customer experience from start to finish. And once I did that, and I also did a 40 over 40 campaign and you get really clear on how to talk and your message is you get on the phone with like 100 women. And I think all of those things and just shifting my mindset and how I'm thinking about things really shifted my business.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Okay. So there's a lot to unpack there. One thing I want people to really understand is that, yes, at the beginning, the level of putting yourself out there and networking and all of that, it's a lot. And you have to be consistent with it. And you have to sometimes, you know, go to meetings when you don't want to or go to events when you don't want to, or do a charity thing if you don't want, you know, like. But it's not always like that. It's not always going to, you know, five different networking groups a month. Like, it. It gets better once you really start to hone in on you know, like you said, customer experience, providing really beautiful photos for people. They start to talk about you. So I just don't want people to think that that's how it is forever. I mean, yes, you always have to grease that wheel, but it's not as intense. I feel like once you get going.

[Judith Hill]

That's right. I mean, I. I don't go to that many networking events anymore. I try to be strategic about the groups that I'm involved in and that I lead in. So, for example, I mentioned the brain trust, which is. Which is. Has a bunch of different. I'm probably the only photographer actually in that group. But, like, tomorrow I'm going to be hosting 10 women from that group in my studio. Because I'm always like, get people in my studio. But I think that in the beginning, it's really. You try to get your footing and you try to figure out how do I say things? Like, in the beginning, I feel like I just wanted the words. How do I. How do I say what I'm trying to say? How do I entice people? How do I respond to these objections and all the things that kind of come up. I think that one of the things, if you can tell your client's story, then people will remember that and they will relate to it and they'll hold onto it, because we're going to remember that more than, like, this is what I do and how I do it. If you take it through the client story, then that. That's always good. And then it's not about you, it's about the client. Because I think that's the hardest thing is when you're trying to pitch your business, especially as a creative entrepreneur, because everything comes from you that you have to shift it from. It's not about you, it's about your clients, and it's about being of service.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yes.

[Judith Hill]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

I talk a lot about that in my marketing course where just how to do that, like, how to make it all about them and storytelling and using very powerful snippets of information, you know, taglines, sort of to get people to notice you. Because, as you know, we are in a world of just message, message, message. Like, we're all, you know, receiving something like a billion messages or something every day. And how do we get people to stop on us and, you know, pay attention to us?

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

It's. Yeah.

[Judith Hill]

Do you know a goldfish has an attention span of. I forget what it is, but it's like six seconds and we are less than that. We have an attention span less than A goldfish.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Crazy.

[Judith Hill]

So like now I understand like in part of my secret sauce I think is I'm very much a, I'm a big hype girl in the session. So now in networking events I will introduce myself as. They're just like you have, just tell your name and what you do. I will say, I'm Judith Hill, owner of Judith Hill Photography. I'm a professional photographer and hype girl. And then people laugh or they remember that and they're like. Or they'll ask me what is the hype part?

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Right, well, tell us that because you've, you've mentioned that client experience is extremely important to you. So what, what is the special experience that people get and how do you stand, stand apart from maybe other people in your, in your industry?

[Judith Hill]

Yeah. So I think you know, as photographers, when you, when you do all these like staff headshots, I'm not talking about branding, I'm talking about, you know, a company hires you to do 10 people, 20 people, 40 people, you know, or, or they, you're just their go to person. So when they hire somebody new, they come to you. So but in that, in that you know how people are say that they have like the. Just clients, like I just need a headshot.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yes.

[Judith Hill]

Which makes me feel like a means to an end. And I don't want to be a means to an end. I want to build a brand and a brand identity and create an experience where someone feels cared for, pampered, seen and celebrated. And the way that I do that is, you know, I, on my, I'm hard on the phone because I'm such a connector and I'll just keep talking. It'll be a 20 minute call and then it's like 45 minutes later. And so I, so I try to put everything on my website and then, and give people an option to book there or call. And then from there, you know, a very extensive prep guide. And the prep guides are not in a PDF anymore, they're on my website because that's going to be good at getting people onto the website, going back over and over again. It's good for SEO.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

It's good get them so smart in my world.

[Judith Hill]

Yeah. And then we always do a zoom, you know, to design the shoot and talk through it. I get to meet them and things like that. And then on the shoot day there's a sign they know that we were expecting them and we're here and there's obviously hair and makeup on set. And then I started offering champagne and water and even Water. Like Liquid Death water. Do you know Liquid Death Water?

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

No, I've never heard of it.

[Judith Hill]

Okay, so it's this tall boy can. It kind of looks like a beer, but it's Liquid Death and it's spark. It just. It's. It tastes really good. And everybody's like, oh, I want the Liquid Death water, or whatever it is. So I just kind of elevated what I was offering. Playing the favorite music. And then in the shoot, I keep the energy high constantly just hyping them up the whole time. And sometimes I will just sit my camera down and have a conversation with them if something comes up that we're talking about or connecting on. Yeah, I will often do that. But the whole time I'm like, yes, girl. You know, all the. All the things. But she's really sincere. Because most of the time I'm. I'm. Sometimes, I mean, everybody just looks so beautiful, you know? And after that, I always take a picture too, of them in hair and makeup with the sign. So if you were in, it would say, jhp welcomes Nikki, you're in hair, makeup. And I make sure I take a snap of that. And then after the shoot, I will text it to them and tell them how amazing they are.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yeah.

[Judith Hill]

And then when they come back, I don't do instant reveals because I like to celebrate it. So when they come back, I have a spread depending on the day. If it's in the morning, there's scones and coffee. If it's later in the day, there's like a charcuterie board and their choice of beverage, and then we go through their images and all that. So I just. I'm touching them at every point in the game. And then when I send them their images, I'm terrible with thank you notes, but I can do. I just hop on my camera and I take a thank you video and I tell them just again, how awesome it was and just a little thank you for choosing me, for trusting me. And I upload that with their images.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yeah.

[Judith Hill]

So every point from start to finish through the sales session, I'm elevating that customer experience.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Awesome. All right, so tell us, because you said you kind of do these, like, combo shoots. So how does that work? And how do you. Like, if someone reaches out to you and says, I just want personal branding, are you giving them the option then to add boudoir or fashion or whatever? Like, how are you combining these and how are you pricing them?

[Judith Hill]

I would just go over what I'm doing. Right. So in. In branding, if they Just want branding. Then we kind of talk about it in a way that how do you want to elevate yourself in the marketplace and show up with authority and stand out? What is your, what's your calendar year? What's your marketing calendar? We want to plug into that. We want to, you know, for content, we want different outfit changes. Like, how do you show up at work? What would you wear, you know, on the, like, you know, who's your audience? Like, if you're in tech, are you in finance? Are you in finance? In, in Nashville, in New York and San Francisco, because Nashville's a little bit more casual than New York. You're going to want it to have different outfits for your different audiences and things like that. What would you wear to a dinner? What would you wear to a reception? That's how I talk about the outfits and how they would want to be photographed. And then sometimes I will say, they'll say, yeah, I would say, well, you're getting photographs, so you might as well bring something that's just for you. You know, I also do these combo sheets, which is really the most popular because with like three to five outfit changes, you can really do a lot of different things. So how are you showing up in the world? Outfits are the outward expression of that and we want to capture all the facets of who you are and how you're showing up. So you have an everyday look. Boudoir, you can do your business if you want. You can do fashion, you can do full on glam, you know, or anything in between. You can do a couple of business, a couple of boudoir. Because everybody wants branding and boudoir, you know, so the combo shoot is just kind of, you're here getting professionally photographed. Do you want to do more than just branding?

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Is it priced differently or is it just based on how many photographs they purchase in the end? Like, are you just trying to get them up to another, like a higher package by adding in those extra kind of.

[Judith Hill]

Well, yeah, yes, well, always. Because you want the different outfits and you want it. It's better to do like, yeah, I got to do this business thing, but I want these other things too. So that definitely ends up as a higher sale. They're all priced the same. The end product is different.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yeah, yeah.

[Judith Hill]

And that's. That makes it easy for people. I'm just like, if you really just want business, you can do business. It's all price the same. It's just a digital product for branding and you want to do the combo or contemporary portrait, then you get the digitals, but you also get prints.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yeah.

[Judith Hill]

And the other way I upsell people on the combo, like when they do the print selection or print collection. I also try to say collection versus package. I don't know, it kind of elevates it a little bit, but I do. So I do graphy and the graphy box, which I love because it's so versatile and it's just easy to talk about. And since I've been to the graphy workshop, which I highly recommend, and I've been to the Castle. I mean the Castle, but I've been to the factory. Yes, you can, you can so sell that so much. I mean you can. Not totally that you're trying to, but I'm more passionate about it because I've seen people in the factory making things with their hands and I could talk about that and say I've been to the factory and this is amazing. And so. But the smaller like 8 by 10 comes with the collection. If you want the larger box, 11 by 14, it's just a flat fee on top.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Okay.

[Judith Hill]

So then I try to move them to the higher box. I don't really. It's not a hard sell really. I'm just like, what is in your house? Do you like smaller or do you like bigger?

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yeah. Yep.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

I love that. All right, so. So what's, what's like if someone comes in the door and they just want the, the minimum, you know, of the branding, that pricing start.675 for the session.

[Judith Hill]

And it includes all the things, the pre shoot, design consultation, hair and makeup, fully guided photo shoot, selection of images, retouching. And I do give them one image with, with that just. I don't, I guess I feel that you're spending $700.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yeah.

[Judith Hill]

To get at least an image and then a la carte. Images are 400. Collections start at $2,500 and go up from there. So I think 10. 10 for 2500, 20 for 3000, 530 for 4500.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Awesome.

[Nikki Klosser]

Hey, just a quick break to tell you that since you're here listening, you.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Have access to a really great offer.

[Nikki Klosser]

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.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

So I'll see you there. And you said your most popular package is. Well, you. Okay, so let me back up. I love first of all, that you said my most. What is most popular is people do X, Y, Z. Because people want social proof. As human beings, we tend to do what most other people do. It's, you know, a weird thing that we are as humans. So I love that you do that. But so which pack, like, out of all of. Okay, let me ask this. What's your average sale? Do you know?

[Judith Hill]

It's about 3,500.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Oh, that's awesome. Wow, that's huge.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yeah, very cool.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

And are most of those including some sort of print or folio box, like, could someone just do want only personal branding and get like 30 photos but not have any prints? Or do you, you know, how does that work?

[Judith Hill]

Yeah. So because everything's priced the same, I. I separate them out. And saying that branding is meant for business. It is meant to elevate your brand in the marketplace, is meant to sell yourself, to sell your business. It is meant to be plugged into a marketing plan and it is a digital only product.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yep.

[Judith Hill]

Everything else, combo shoot for individuals, you know, generations, etc, is a print and digital product.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Okay.

[Judith Hill]

The value is in creating the image. That's why they're the same price.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Perfect. Love it. All right, I want to switch gears and I want to talk a little bit about your campaign because you said you had done. We talked about this before, that you had done a Black Friday campaign through your newsletter, which I know you said you get a lot of clients that way. And this is through email, correct? An email newsletter, correct?

[Judith Hill]

Yes.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Okay, so tell us a little bit about that. A Black Friday campaign, because Black Friday is going to be right around the corner and I think it's really important to utilize it as much as you can, so.

[Judith Hill]

Absolutely. And I. So I had tried Black Friday sales before and I've not done well with them. But last year I did extremely well with the Black Friday sale and I only sold it to my newsletter audience.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Okay.

[Judith Hill]

And I really got very strategic with my newsletter probably in 2020 and 2021. Just, it's in. I don't talk. I mean, everything is a very empowering confidence kind of message. And so we're very consistent with it, we put it out the first Tuesday of the month. It has a very big open rate, and people will email me back sometimes, but I'm very consistent with the email, so. And I have a VA team that helps me be consistent. That's the only way it's consistent, to be honest.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Oh, yeah.

[Judith Hill]

I have a great VA team. Yeah.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

That's nice. I need. I need one of those.

[Judith Hill]

Yeah. Yes. I mean, they're stateside and they're really wonderful, and they get it, and we're boxing all the time and, you know, stuff like that. But. And the VA team is one of the reasons it was so successful, because I would never blow my people up as much as we blew them up for Black Friday. But I was. What I was trying to figure out was, how do I. What is a Black Friday? Like, what could it be? I don't want to say 50% off or whatever. So I did double your dollars. So we did double your dollars. And my VA researched how much they need to. How many emails they need to send out. So we. I think we sent out 12 emails or more.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

I feel like I'm bothering people. It's so ridiculous. It's like if we're bothering them, they'll unsubscribe and then.

[Judith Hill]

Exactly.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Oh, well, you know, it's like. But you're right. There is like, if you follow anybody who has a really strong email presence, I mean, they will send multiple emails a week.

[Judith Hill]

Yes. Yes.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yeah.

[Judith Hill]

And the reason I started to focus on emails, too is that I want to own. Own my people, not own them, but I want to own the platform where.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

People are coming, because social media is going to. Once it's gone, you lose it all. You lose all of your followers or whatever.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yeah.

[Judith Hill]

Yes, exactly. And so there's also a rule of thumb out there that if you get in front of someone 80, 80% of the time, they will do business with you. If they. It's like 8 out of 10 or something. It might be bigger now, but we did a double your dollars. So if you bought 400, you got 800. If you bought a thousand, you got a thousand.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

You got prepaying. Prepaying.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yes.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Okay.

[Judith Hill]

Yes.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

So they're prepaying a package or just any amount towards a photo shoot.

[Judith Hill]

Correct. Any amount. So I, in that Black Friday weekends, made $10,200.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Nice. That's awesome.

[Judith Hill]

Yes.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

And then. But then you have to do all of the shoots. Like, how do you know how many. Like, around how many people you had to photograph and were you Able to sell more after that. Like, how did that all work?

[Judith Hill]

Okay, so that was 12 people. Thirteen people.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Sweet.

[Judith Hill]

So 13 people paid. I had people that spent 2,800, 400. A thousand. Lots of a thousand. So when they came back for their session, they had $2,000 to spend, for example, so that is includes the session fee. Everybody, let's see this flat front. That $10,000 has turned into $35,000.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Awesome. Because once they come in and spend that, you take so many photos that they want more.

[Judith Hill]

Yeah, I just. It's the same. It's the same session, same approach. Just on the back end. When they come back for the reveal, I say, okay, you have $2,000 to spend. Well, actually, I'm going to back out. The session fee, 675 out of that. So I'm terrible at math. That makes it probably 1425.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Yeah, something like that.

[Judith Hill]

1325. You have 1325 to spend. And they all got a collection. And most everyone at that point, you're going to get 20 or 30.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yeah. Yep.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

It's great.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Very cool.

[Judith Hill]

Yeah, it was. It was really cool.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

And it's kind of like I feel like once they've already. And I know this isn't how it is for everyone, but for a lot of people, money spent, it's already gone. So if they're going to spend a little bit more, it's.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yeah, yeah, very cool.

[Judith Hill]

And the beautiful thing about that is also I set myself up to. I had people booking all through. Through the year. I still have four people left to photograph and they're all coming in in October and November. So outside of just my regular stuff, I had people booking all throughout the year. I set that up.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

And on the Black Friday, do you know, off. I know you have a spreadsheet or whatever. I don't know if you keep track of this, but how many people are repeat clients versus maybe just new clients who had been following you for a while. And that was. Made them what. What made them like, pull the trigger to actually do the shoot. Because there are times when I will have. And I know I've said this before, but someone will ask me about my pricing or whatever and inquire and they're not ready to book at that time for whatever reason. Could be financially, could be they don't like how they look at the moment, whatever, and then two, three, four years later they come back. But I feel like that could be something that could push someone over the edge who've been wanting to book to actually pull the trigger.

[Judith Hill]

Yes, yes, that's. That's absolutely correct. Most of the people were. Are repeat clients or someone I had done. I had done a headshot for and they booked.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yeah.

[Judith Hill]

Something different.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

I'm telling you. Past clients, we ignore them too often. Too many people are ignoring their past clients. And these are some of the best clients. They already know our everything. They know the experience, they know your pricing, they know you like.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

It's.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

They're just the best to market to.

[Judith Hill]

Yes, yes. And now I will say that. So I'm going to do something different this year. Number one is I'm going to say it can only be applied to certain things because I had like, somebody that wants lifestyle. I don't really focus on lifestyle, but yeah, okay, I'm going to be doing that, you know, but everyone else, most of the people came back and did. It's mostly this, the studio sessions. The other thing that I did that I won't do this year is I reached out to. To certain. So some. It's interesting. One person, one or two people did. We're doing another promotion that I had or another campaign that I was running. Actually, I reached out to a handful of people that came in that were individual and said, I would love to come back with my. My mom or my daughters. And so I reached out to them and gave them a special for family photos at. At the holiday time.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Okay.

[Judith Hill]

And so some of them did both of the promotions. Right. So they still like got the highest package because you have so many people. But so it still worked out in my benefit. But yeah, it's. You don't need to run two things at the same time. Just do the Black Friday. Double your dollars.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Okay. So it seems like there are some parameters around it. One, it seems like there should be an expiration date.

[Judith Hill]

There is. Yeah. I give people a year. I gave them until I gave them a year. That's why now I have people like pushing up against it, trying to get in in October, filling up my calendar.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yep, yep.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Okay. So expiration date and making it specific about the type of shoot they can use it for. And maybe like, you can't use two offers in one or something. I don't know. But if you're still gonna. I don't know if you're still gonna make money on it, I guess.

[Judith Hill]

Yeah, it doesn't. Maybe it doesn't matter necessarily. It didn't. It didn't matter for me, really. It was just kind of like you're taking advantage of two promotions, which at the end of the Day. It doesn't really matter, I guess. But yeah, very cool. Yeah. And I think that that was also because I had built up my audience through the newsletter for now over a year and people know what to expect. You know, they, they knew they wanted to do it. Like one, one woman booked it her for her husband because he was a little bit jealous of like the mother, daughter and he was like, well, I want to have my session. I want some business photos and I want to be photographed. Our daughters.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yeah.

[Judith Hill]

So that was super cute. So he came in and did that, but. Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Very cool. Very cool.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Yeah, I really like that. And I feel like Black Friday people are kind of ready to spend. They're looking for a deal. And I know sometimes we have to be careful about how much we're discounting or whatever, but even some of the most luxurious brands around the world will have a Black Friday sale. I feel like it's that time where it's very acceptable to do it regardless of, you know.

[Judith Hill]

Yeah. I think, you know, with, with campaigns, the difference between a camp and I would consider the Black Friday a campaign because it was a lot of thought put into it and a lot of back end work versus like a promo for a marathon headshot day. It's just like I need some influx of cash. I'm going to do that. And the campaign is a longer game and people are already in the mindset of spending money. Right. And so they either know they've got something coming up next year that they want to do or they want to do this again or what have you. But if you're in the, if you're. It's. That's why the Hallmark holidays are great, you know, like the Mother's Day, Father's Day, all of those things are good because people already buying gifts and spending money and so that's why it works so well.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Yeah, I really love that and I love that you're doing it through your, like you said, your email list and your newsletter. Now are you posting anything on social media, like make sure you're on my newsletter or my email list or whatever to get people to know that if you want this special deal, you have to be part of my email community or are you just using the people you already have there?

[Judith Hill]

I should do that this year. I only use the people I already have. That's a great idea. But yeah, I mean, it's. The email is. I don't know how many people are on it now. It's. But it's pretty big. So I. And I only did it to them because it's exclusive.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yeah.

[Judith Hill]

And, and anytime that, if you don't, I guess if you're not familiar with, with how things work, it's, it's a little bit difficult to, to sell a Black Friday on social media unless they're already kind of in your world and a client potentially. That may not be accurate actually. And I honestly, I got really overwhelmed and really busy and stopped doing social media for almost six months.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

It's, I'm not, I'm with you. It's, it's a beast.

[Judith Hill]

It is a beast. It's trying to keep up with all the things and the reels and TikTok and it's.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Yeah, it's like bang your head against the wall. I mean there's such a benefit to it. But once you convert people to your email list, that's where it's at.

[Judith Hill]

It is because you own that. Nobody's going to take it away. And you know people, you have their attention. I feel like social media. So if you, here's the thing. This. Running a portrait business is not a one person job. You are a business owner, you are a CEO and you are the talent and you can only do so many things. And I have, I've tried to outsource my social media before, but they don't. No one can capture my voice the way that I, Yeah. How I post about my clients and what I have to say. So I really have to own that. And, and, and when you get busy and you're trying to do all the things, it can get overwhelming. And that's what happened. But honestly it didn't really. If, if you want to look at, I mean if you, you want to probably look at the, the ways that people come to you and spend 80% of your time there.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yes.

[Judith Hill]

So if it is. Every time I speak in front of any kind of group, I will get clients.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yeah.

[Judith Hill]

Even if it's, I mean I just did something recently which was a room of women entrepreneurs that have reached at least a million in revenue and I, I was asked to come talk about how to take better photos out on the iPhone posing tips. And then I created a whole landing page for them with some videos and.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Things on my listener. Oh, I love this. I love, love, love this.

[Judith Hill]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

So it's a good lead magnet to get them on your email list.

[Judith Hill]

Exactly. And, and some people signed up for my email right then like while I was speaking because I was, I got pinged later. But so I think, you know, it's like, and Also if I go to coffee or lunches one on one, like if I'm strategic about that, I'm almost always going to get some shoots from that. So yeah, yeah, for me it's referral, it's one on one, it's getting in front of people, it's newsletter more so than Google or even social media. Although I do get something from social media. But I try to spend my time where it's going to, you know, be a good ROI.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Yeah, 100%. And also I'm going to say this again like you have had a lot of experience now saying your pitch and speaking in front of people and fine tuning what's getting you, you know, the words you're using, storytelling, all the things that's, that it's getting you the clients and that's something that people, you really, I didn't mean to be like people, you really. I just mean, I meant to say people need to really focus on that. You've got to fine tune that. Your message, talking about them and your service and what you're going to do for them and all of this is so important. You can't just show up to a meeting and expect to get 100 clients. Like it's all, it's just a. Yeah, just a progression of things.

[Judith Hill]

So yeah, I mean I think people, because when you figure it out, when you're talking to people, they'll say I want that, I want to do that. And it's really just, you know, you've got to own it and get confident in it because. And people are going to feel that and they're going to, they're going to talk about it and they're going to want it. And also like the other thing I will say about social media really quickly is that one of the things that I was like, gosh, I have to get back on there because my husband is a big extrovert and, and talker and when he's out talking to people, he'll pull up my Instagram and I'm like, oh, it's kind of old, I need to get on that. But then I realized it is my digital business part. Like it is so easy to just point to Instagram and then scan the QR code, start following me and see it right there and you can see how I talk about it. You can see my work and all of those things. So I really view it as more of a digital business card.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

It's true. And you don't have to be on social media all the time and looking. You don't even have to look at anyone else's shit. All you have to do is just go on once a week and post one of your favorite photos, say something that makes it relatable or, you know, talks about the experience or just something about the client, and just then shut the app and you're done. You know, but you're right, that does happen. Like, my son wrestles one of my kids and one of the wrestling moms that was on his team, we friended each other on Facebook and she knows I'm a photographer and she was able to find my stuff that way. And, you know, I just gave her a quote to do this whole big. Her whole company that she has to do with some sort of financial wealth planning or whatever. Her whole company, they all need headshots and she's like hooking me up with all this stuff. And if I wasn't on Facebook, I don't think I, you know, and I don't even know if I have the job yet. I've given them a quote for all the things for like 25 people for new headshots. Plus they want some, you know, office shots anyway. But if I wasn't on Facebook, that would not have happened. So, yeah, one of those things.

[Judith Hill]

And those, those kind of jobs that you're talking about are like I said in the beginning that I was getting burned out with headshots, but. And now I'm very strategic with. With how or who I take. So even though I have a second shooter and we have worked out a deal where I'm doing all this legwork and you're showing up and shooting and calling, it's a contract situation. I don't want to do a W2. And so we've worked out a percentage deal.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yeah.

[Judith Hill]

But like, if it is just, for example, last week I photographed 10 women, women in wealth for Regions bank, because that is my ideal client. So I'm going to take that. If Bridgestone North American headquarters calls me again to have to photograph their executives, I'm going to do that.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Right.

[Judith Hill]

And then I'm going to show up, you know, and hype everyone up and take really great photos that everyone loves. And, you know, and I've gotten business from that. I've gotten people that have come back to me twice or more from headshot companies. Like, when I'm thinking about like, this is my ideal client, I'm going to go do that.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yeah.

[Judith Hill]

Even though it's not my favorite thing.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

So what shoots do you give to your associate then?

[Judith Hill]

I now I try to give everything. Just because I'm really focused on giving that experience and doing the studio shoots. And then I'm also working on some education stuff. So I try to give everything. Unless it makes. Makes really good sense for me to do it, like the women in wealth or executives at a major headquarter company, then I'm going to do that because. Yeah, because you know it. Because I'm a person that just. I'm going to show up. You're going to get 100 of me no matter what I'm doing.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yeah.

[Judith Hill]

And so I'm going to. If it. If it makes sense business wise, if you're my ideal client, then I'm going to give you a little taste of what it would be like to come for the bigger experience.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

It's fantastic.

[Judith Hill]

It's in everybody's best interest.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yeah. It's awesome.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Well, thank you. Thank you for sharing all this. This is great. I'm excited for you. You'll have to let us know how the next campaign, the next Black Friday sale goes.

[Judith Hill]

I will. I will double your dollars. I came up with that myself. I was pretty proud of myself.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

It's awesome. Very cool. I do have a couple questions that I always ask at the end of each episode. And the first one is, what is something you can't live without when you're doing a photo shoot?

[Judith Hill]

I'd be black.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Like as in for a reflector or to take away light or like black to take away like. Or like a couple or. You paint.

[Judith Hill]

Yeah, Well, I can't. I, you know, I tried to paint a be flat one time. You can't paint be black. No, they were blow. They like.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Yeah, they totally warp. I've done it.

[Judith Hill]

Yeah, I did that early on. So I use it for reflector, for absorbing light. And as a. The black I always use as a backdrop. I mean, it's probably in almost every shoot is a black backdrop light.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Vlad, I should clarify, when we're saying V flat, we're talking about foam core.

[Judith Hill]

Correct.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Not the big, like, poly boards that we paint that don't warp or whatever, but the right foam core.

[Judith Hill]

Yeah, yeah, the foam core. Yeah. And I've also painted poly boards, but yes, the foam core. V glass. Yeah, it's probably the thing. Even. I even have these. I've cut them up smaller. Even if I end up going on site, I always have a little B flat or something. Yeah.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

All right, number two, how do you spend your time when you're not working?

[Judith Hill]

You know, my husband and I like to entertain a lot. So we have a lot of house parties. I, you know, I have been. Here's something new, newer. I'm like, I'm loving sprinting. I know this is weird, but are not the norm. But I really love sprinting. It helps with my like distress and.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

I love sprinting too and things like that.

[Judith Hill]

So, you know, being active outside, hiking. I mean we have a lake house so we go on the lake a lot. Camping, just, just friends and outdoors.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Sounds fantastic.

[Judith Hill]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

All right, number three is what is a photography product that you would recommend people?

[Judith Hill]

I love my pro photos and I love my spider holster. I would say that right now I have the Stella light in front of me. I mean those are all great, all.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

The things my spider holster there I was doing a shoot like a month ago and I didn't have my holster and I was like, like I was like naked. It was horrible.

[Judith Hill]

I have the hand grip and the belt, so I'm all in on the spider.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

All right. And number four, what would you tell people who are just starting out on this whole photography journey?

[Judith Hill]

Just keep going, keep. Just put one foot in front of the other. Get your, your branding message down. You're going to move with fear. Fear is there. What does Steve say? It's the same mountain, different altitude.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Yeah. Something like, I know she has so many different quotes. She has something terrible with remembering points.

[Judith Hill]

You're just going to move with it because fear is the biggest challenge. Right. It's going to be when you want to leave your job, it's going to be there when you want to raise your prices, it's going to be when you change genres, it's going to be there. Anything. When you have to put yourself out there, it's going to be there. You're just going to move, you're moving with that and you're just going to keep, just keep putting one foot in front of the other. That's just keep, keep doing, keep, keep going. And really it's the biggest piece and it's not woo woo. It is the mindset and that's what you're going to. I mean, because look, photography is a skill that we learn and, and then what we wrap around that is the business, the brand, the experience. So once you've got that skill down, you just, you figure out the rest and it all comes from you. And so you've got to get the you part right because we show up as the whole person and it's so important. It's so important. It's really, I mean that's what they know. And everybody wants to know the words, they want to know how to market and they want to know how to price. And that's all out there. And you can get that. But you have to like the, the shift in how you're showing up is everything.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

And you've been doing that work with sue, self value workshops, like with all the. Just everything. So it's, it shows. For sure.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

For sure.

[Judith Hill]

Absolutely. You know, one of the things that even lately, sometimes if I wake up in the middle of the night, I'll be like, no, I choose to believe in myself. I choose to bet on myself. And it's really just, you know, that mindset, you have to, you have to really come. I mean, and that's what I love about and have always been drawn to with sue is that she brings the self value with the business because it's just so vital and people don't talk about that. But I mean, in every entrepreneur circle that I'm in, it's not even photographers. They talk about resiliency and embracing the suck and all of those things. And you have to develop that. That's the biggest piece I that, that you can learn all the other stuff. You'll figure it out. But you've got to really cultivate, you know how you're showing up.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Agreed. All right, Judith, where can people find you online?

[Judith Hill]

Judith Hill photo for social media. And then my website is Judith Hill Photography.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Fantastic. Well, thank you, thank you again for being here. And will I see you at the conference?

[Judith Hill]

Yes, I will be at the Portrait System conference. I'm actually running a photo bay.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Oh, good.

[Judith Hill]

If you're there and you're shooting, I will be running a bay. And I'm excited to see everyone.

[Associate or secondary speaker (possibly Judith's husband or assistant)]

Yeah, sweet.

[Judith Hill]

Awesome.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Well, I will see you in less than a month.

[Judith Hill]

Yes, like three weeks maybe.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Yeah, I gotta pack.

[Judith Hill]

And I got my sailor hat.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Oh, nice.

[Judith Hill]

For the party? Yeah, for the party.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Awesome. All right, my dear, I will see you then. And until then, I hope you have a great couple weeks.

[Judith Hill]

Thank you so much.

[Podcast Host (likely Sue Bryce or a co-host)]

Bye Bye.

[Nikki Klosser]

Thank you so much for listening to the Portrait System podcast. You, your five 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 SubricEducation.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, 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 Brice education dot com.