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The Portrait System Podcast
How Self-Value Transformed Amy Head's Business From Shoot & Burn To Overnight Success (Re-Release)
00:52:31
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- [00:00]
A
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 sign up and and sign up. Today you're listening to the Portrait System podcast.
- [00:35]
B
Looking back now, it was like it was such a simple thing to work through, but for so many people, including myself, it's one of those things that you just can't put your finger on. What's missing and that was the biggest one for me was just self value.
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A
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 in and you'll learn actionable steps that you can.
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B
Take to reach your own goals.
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A
Thank you so much for being here. And let's get started this week. My guest on the Portrait System is Amy Head with Lucid Life Photography. Amy has been a photographer in North Carolina for over 20 years, but it wasn't until just over a year ago that she finally became very successfully financially at it. Amy was a shoot and burn photographer charging next to nothing for quite a long time and she talks through how she made the jump to charging industry standards. Amy also shares with us a little bit about her own self value journey and how this impacted her ability to make money and to grow her business more and more. Amy is someone who just has the most amazing energy and I really loved chatting with her. Okay, let's get started with Amy Head. Hi Amy, welcome to the Portrait System. How are you?
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B
I'm doing great Nikki. Thanks for Having me.
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A
Yeah. I'm really excited to have you here. There's so many different elements of your story that I want to touch on. I just, I feel like we have so much to cover.
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B
Yes.
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A
All right, so let's start kind of at the beginning because I believe you have been in business for 20 years.
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B
Yes, probably a little bit over that. I got started basically in high school. I was on the yearbook staff and went around school and photographing my friends and things for articles for the yearbook. And I ended up graduating a year early and starting school. I initially went in for graphic design and I had. There was a guest photographer that came in and showed his trip to all over and I was instantly hooked and just decided to dive further into photography. So I actually got started when I was about 18.
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A
Very cool. And from the start, did you start a business or was it something you just kind of did for fun and you did other jobs or like, how did, how did that work?
- [03:21]
B
It was a slow burn, but I really did kind of pour my heart into it. I had my daughter when I was 18 and I was actually working in it, so I have a tech side to me as well. But I would always find myself, you know, I was kind of doing it on a part time basis on the side, but I always knew that that was something that I was working towards was to have my photography business. It just took me a lot longer than it probably should have.
- [03:52]
A
Well, okay, so when, when, you know, I was listening to just a br. You know, brief synopsis of your journey and you had said that now, 20 years later, a little bit more than 20 years later, this is the most successful you've ever been, but you became successful, like really successful in kind of a short amount of time.
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B
Yes.
- [04:12]
A
So this is. Yeah, so this is interesting. And you know, I've heard people say before, like, I've been in this business for 12, 15, 20 years and people are not gonna pay. You know, what, what all these other people are saying, they charge. Like, I've. This is not my first rodeo, like it's not gonna happen or whatever. So I kind of like, I like that. Okay. I don't like that you struggled in your business for that long. But I think this is a really good story for people to hear. If you're out there thinking, like, man, I've been at this for so long. And then I see some people coming in who started their business two, three, five years ago and they're like killing it. You know, it's like, yeah, so this will be an Interesting. Like to see how you progressed.
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B
Right.
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A
All right. So you were in it. You knew that you were gonna continue to focus on your photography business. So how did it go, I guess, financially and just stability as far as, like, clients coming in, all of that through that, like, first, you know, 10 years, let's say.
- [05:17]
B
I initially started with, you know, like a lot of people do, shooting anything and everything. I was photographing friends, either their engagement session or their wedding or their children or their babies. And this was way before social media took off. It was, you know, it was just me and just trying to get the word out there. And luckily at that time, I was able to network with a lot of people, whether it be businesses. I was kind of, you know, just fine with going out and introducing myself to other people. Network of friends was pretty healthy. So I would, you know, just doing shoots for my friends and they would tell people. So word of mouth was really good then. And like I said, this was way before social media. So it was more, you know, hands on, getting dirty, just kind of getting out there and hitting the pavement, you know, and slowly it grew. You know, I remember my first photo sessions were $50. And I would. I put as much effort into them as I do now. But, you know, over time, I started really getting into weddings, and that was big for me. And then I got into boudoir. So basically it was boudoir and weddings. That was my bread and butter for a while. And weddings got to be considering, you know, what I charge now and how I value myself and my work now. It was a far cry from where I should have been, but I was doing okay with weddings. On average, I was charging between 3 and $6,000 for, you know, 8ish hours of coverage. I would also throw video coverage into that as well. So starting starting on the level of shooting portraits and engagements and things like that for about $50. And I started with weddings. I think my first wedding, I charged $800. So for some reason, I don't know what. What particular. What I can, you know, attach that to, but charging more for weddings made more sense to me than charging more for portraits.
- [07:28]
A
Isn't that funny? I went through that too. I went through that big time. And I remember sue challenged me on that. I was like, there's always going to be weddings in there. Which is funny because look, what happened with COVID when all the weddings went away for a couple years was like, you know, people don't need portraits, they need wedding photos. And it was this big, like, mind block that I Had. And it's just funny. It's funny. But once you work through it, it's pretty amazing that, you know, people want portraits too, definitely.
- [07:57]
B
And I got to the point where I didn't want to do the big weddings anymore, and I wanted to do more smaller, intimate weddings. So I kind of niched down that way. Um, and eventually just. I was able to just recently kind of eliminate doing weddings, elopements, everything. Now if I have, like, a close family member or friend who's gonna elope, something like that, I would probably make an exception. But I knew that I was getting burned out a lot with. With weddings. But at the same time, when I was starting to do boudoir, that really set me in a different direction and started planting a seed for what I really wanted to do with my portrait work. And so I just kind of started following down that path. And I tried for years. So portrait work was just elusive to me. I could not bridge the gap between shooting what I wanted to shoot and charging what I wanted to charge and having other people see that value as well. So that's what took me the longest time between then and now. Yeah.
- [09:20]
A
What do you think? Like, because you had said that you finally got to the point where you are making more now in your 20 years in business than ever. Like, by a lot. Like, what was the. I don't know, like, the change? Did an event occur? Was it just you woke up one day and you're like, screw it, I'm ready. Like, what. What happened?
- [09:44]
B
I guess so. The majority of my time as a photographer and being in business, I struggled. I was a single mother. I went through not one, but two divorces. And by this point, by the second divorce, I had my son. So I had two kids, single parent. And they are my why. They've always been my why. I really wanted to just build this life for them and create. Just create a wonderful life for them. And I just. I couldn't get there. And I just struggled. I struggled with thinking that they needed this image of this family that I had built in my mind. So I put my value in relationships or trying to build this, you know, picture of this family. So it was a constant struggle, but it was all. It all came down to self value. That's what it all came down to. I went through failed relationship after failed relationship, and I just couldn't understand what the problem was, like, what the block was. What's, you know, why is this so hard? And after probably the worst abusive relationship that I had ever been in for about Five years. It was, wasn't physical, but I think on a lot of terms emotional and mental abuse from someone can be just as detrimental to your self value and your self esteem.
- [11:19]
A
Absolutely, absolutely.
- [11:21]
B
So it was a pretty bad situation and I hated having my kids in that situation. And I finally got the courage to make the plans to get out. And little by little I did that. And in the following year after that is when I really started to put myself first. Obviously my children were first, but I knew that in order to be able to pour into them and give them what they deserved, I needed to view myself as important. I needed to have my self value at a level where I believed in myself and I could move forward. So I worked on myself for that, that year afterward. And then I just made an intention at every point after that to just, you know, even a little step at a time was, was progress. It still counted. And basically at the end, at the beginning of 2022, so the beginning of last year, I had just done a lot of inner work. I did a lot of meditation, I did a lot of journaling. I wrote out my intentions and my goals and I literally just took step by step as needed to reach those goals, whether they were small or large. And I started just really pouring myself into listening to sue and the portrait system, the education and everything just started aligning for me. I had been in and out of studios for years and in and out of studios and also I shot out of my home. So I had been in all of these different situations and circumstances and nothing was working until I reached the point of, you know, understanding my, my value and my worth. That's when it changed. And it was such a. Looking back now, it was like it was such a simple thing to, to work through, but for so many people, including myself, it's, it's one of those things that you just can't put your finger on. What's missing and that was the biggest one for me was just self value. And so I, I got into a new studio at spring of last year and I started a 40 over 40 campaign. I turned 40 in 2021. I turned 40. And so I think that you do not look 40.
- [14:04]
A
Just a side, just a little side note.
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B
Thanks. I started really pouring into myself like I said before, and just treating myself. And that I think is what shifted. So doing a 40 over 40 campaign just made sense to me. I still love doing boudoir and things like that, but just women over 40 in general just spoke to me because I fit into that category. I knew what women were going through, whether that was starting, starting over in their lives or starting a new business or just new chapters in general. And it just took off. And I started real quick.
- [14:50]
A
Amy, I wanna ask you, we're gonna pick up on your 40 over 40 campaign and all that, but I have a couple questions I just wanna back up a little bit, so. Well, first of all, one thing I wanted to say is that I think sometimes sue and I were actually just talking about this the other day. Cause she's got, she's doing a new self value workshop. And something that we were talking about is sometimes people will make comments like with self value, like, it's just, I just have a lot to work through and it's just gonna take a long time. But it really doesn't have to once you're ready. And I feel like you're a good example of that. Like you were ready and yes, you have to mentally, like you have to do the work. And it becomes a daily practice, a daily ritual. Which is, which is it becomes like a healthy, just like fun, exciting way to be, I guess. But it doesn't have to take forever. And I don't want people to think that like, oh, I have so much baggage, it's gonna take me years. Like, it really doesn't need to. It's just when we are ready and we might hear the same thing a hundred times, thousand times, and it might not click, but once you're ready and you hear that thing again, all of a sudden it can click.
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B
Absolutely.
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A
Am I making sense that that is.
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B
Absolutely 100% how I view that. It's the same as being in a relationship that's abusive. Someone else, your friends, your family, whoever can tell you you don't need to be in this situation. And it's not going to click in your head until you are done with it, until you are ready. So the same way thing applies to the self value. And it's amazing how once you're ready and you work through that, that it, everything starts to align for you. I just think that's, it's just as mind blowing how it took all of this time to get to that point. Yeah. But it's worth it. I've learned so much about myself and how to work through things that normally in the past would have either triggered me or sent me down a spiral of depression and, you know, burnout and just the cycle of all of that. And now I know how to, I have the tools now to look at, you know, whatever might come up for me. And I know how to handle it, so it's priceless, isn't it?
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A
Yeah.
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B
And I know how you talk about this a lot on the podcast. It's. It's not what happens to you. It's. It's happening for you, and it's how you. It's how you react. It all comes down to how you react.
- [17:25]
A
I love that you. That makes me feel so happy that you just said that once. Cause I know you listen. You listen to podcast, which I always feel really, you know, grateful and honored that people listen, but that is it. That one thing for me has changed so much about my life. Okay. This isn't happening to me. It's happening for me. How am I gonna move forward from this? It gives me goosebumps.
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B
Yeah. Because everything. Everything that happens to you in your life is a lesson, and it will show up in different ways. And, you know, it might take a million times for it to happen, but it's the same lesson. Once you learn that lesson, then you're. You're free from that, and then you continue on your journey. Yeah. So I think all of these things that come up in your life, it's. It's just a testament to. It's not happening to you. It's happening for you. It's leading you into the path where you're supposed to be, where you're meant to be. Everything that happens to you, it's just all how you react to it and what you do with it and how you move forward. That's. That's huge for me. That's been the biggest takeaway from everything. Yeah.
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A
Well, okay, so. And I want to get back to your 40 over 40 campaign, but I know you had told me before that you. You kind of, like, bootstrapped some of this when you were working your way through all, like, diy when you didn't have the money, you found ways to make it work. Like, can you maybe just give a little bit of an example of some of the things that. One. An issue you were faced when you, like, needed the money, didn't have it, and how you kind of went through that?
- [19:03]
B
Yep. I have become a. A professor at this. Actually. I actually teach a course on all of this that I'm helping, trying to help photographers and, you know, other artists kind of have that same mentality. I've never put anything on a credit card as far as equipment or anything for my business. I have either made it or bought it cheap and done what I could with what I had at the time. So basically, I had it's kind of like robbing Peter to pay Paul. But when I worked in it, I would just take a little bit out of my check and put it towards upgrading my camera or doing something of that nature. I always used super cheap lights from Amazon all the time.
- [19:53]
A
I still do that.
- [19:55]
B
I know, I mean, I, I appreciate the more expensive equipment and, you know, first, depending on what it is, some things I'll invest in that. But at the time where I was, I was 18, 19, 20 years old. And I was so passionate about doing what I was doing and learning my craft. But I was also teaching myself at the time. So there wasn't a lot of, you know, 20 years ago, 22 years ago, there wasn't social media, there wasn't online resources for photographers. It was online forums and chat rooms and sharing just information with each other and just experimenting and trying things out yourself. But I would basically either take money from my regular 9 to 5 job until I was able to start making enough to, you know, get more on my own with photography. I had hair and makeup artists for my boudoir sessions and they were not always the most reliable people. So I taught myself, I taught myself how to do makeup and hair and then that's what took me down the path of going to cosmetology and aesthetic school and getting licensed in that. So everything that I did, it took me down a path to get more knowledge, more experience, and just not being afraid to experiment with either lights or posing. And the other big obstacle to learning all of this is I used self portraiture as a way to experiment. So I did shoots of boudoir of myself. I experimented with makeup, looks and lighting and all of that. So I was my own guinea pig and just, I was just kind of, I had my hand in like everything. I've always been an avid learner and I'm like a professional student, I guess, but I was just never afraid to fail. I was never afraid to try. When I started in the business, I was like I said 18. I remember doing one of my first wedding shows and everyone looking back now, I know that's not the case, but at the time I felt like everyone was kind of looking down their nose at me, who was this young kid trying to show up and do all this. And I just felt like I never fit in in the industry. And so I was just kind of a lone wolf. And so that's part of why I just decided, well, I'm just going to teach myself and if I need help, then I'll figure it Out. So it was just a lot of not being afraid to fail, not being afraid to keep going and keep trying something different. And that's just been the constant. And all of this time that I've been a photographer and learning different techniques or skills to make myself more marketable, to make myself stand out more, like using, like learning makeup and hair and making my own backdrops and just, you know, all these different things. I feel like in the long run, it's made me more well rounded as a photographer and allows me to give a better experience for my clients. That's the biggest takeaway from that.
- [23:21]
A
Yeah, I love that. You know, one thing we didn't talk about quickly is will you tell people first where you live? And also because you mentioned boudoir a couple times, but, like, is that your main focus of shooting? Like, just tell people what you. What you do?
- [23:35]
B
Well, I'm in Gaffney, South Carolina now, which is right out about 45 minutes outside of Greenville, South Carolina, and 45 minutes outside of Charlotte, North Carolina. So I'm kind of in the middle. I just recently relocated to Gaffney to a new studio because I was primarily in the Greenville Spartanburg market, which is a big, very quickly growing area. But I primarily shoot just feminine portraiture and personal branding now.
- [24:03]
A
Okay, cool. All right, so let's. Let's kind of skip forward really quick. Now, before I know you said you were, you did shoot and burn started at 50 bucks. At what point did you make the shift to charging industry standard?
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B
Just this last year.
- [24:23]
A
Last year. Okay. Yeah. So pretty recent.
- [24:25]
B
Yeah.
- [24:26]
A
Now I can hear people out there. Oh, but my clients are going to freak out. I'm going to lose all my clients. Like, and these are valid feelings to have. I had the same feelings. I am not in any way, shape or form minimizing how people might feel around that. I just want to kind of like, I don't know, all these objections, like, let's move. See how we can help move people past them, I guess, is what I'm trying to say. So how did it work for you when you switched over?
- [24:52]
B
So slowly over the years, I incrementally went up a little bit. And on average, my portrait session, well, my boudoir session, because that was the. At the time, it was primarily the type of sessions that everyone knew me for was about 3:50. And that would get them a shoot with hair and makeup and the, let's see, like 25 images. And sometimes I would throw in an album. So in that span that was probably five years. Ago. Five. Yeah, three to five years ago. So I had kind of stuck with that and I went up to 450 and then when I opened the first studio that I had in 2022, because I actually went from one studio to another larger one in a span of three months. I don't know. I'm very big on educating my clients. I'll do videos all the time to update them on new products or a new type of session that I want to do. I've just been very open with my clients and I've had steadfast followers and fans and clients, I call them fans because some of them really, really are. They literally are there for me no matter what I post. They're big supporters. They've been with me from the beginning. So I've just got just a very big supportive group. So everyone. I felt the need to explain to people as each time I was increasing the pricing and the majority now, you know, you have a few people who balk at that and they're like, well, I'm sorry, I'm just not going to be able to be your client anymore. And that was fine with me. I knew there were going to be some growing pains, but the majority of people were completely understanding of that. Well, that makes sense. You know, you, you give this amazing experience and I've never felt as beautiful as I have when I'm with you during a photo shoot and you do all of the hair and makeup and all of that. You all, you know, the experience is worth it basically is what the feedback I was getting. So after doing that self value work and realizing, you know, I use the pricing calculator on the website, which is an amazing tool, if anyone is listening, that has not tried that, that it's, that's a priceless tool to have.
- [27:15]
A
So eye opening, isn't it?
- [27:17]
B
Yes. So I did that a few times and I played around with numbers and really using that pricing tool, that's kind of the key to finding how to kind of connect the gap with what you're charging now and struggling and burnout and just everything kind of weighing down on you so much to. I'm creating the life that I want to have for myself. I feel like that's one of the biggest keys is realizing what you need to make to cover your costs and to turn a profit and to also break down how many shoots you actually want to shoot per week, per month, per year. I just think that that tool is phenomenal. But did I answer the question correctly?
- [28:03]
A
No. I love where you're going with this because. And another thing too, and I know I say this a lot, but hey, just a quick break to tell you that since you're here listening, you have access to a really, a really great 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. When you really break down how much you need to make per shoot, it takes away all of the emotion. It's not like, oh, I think I'm so amazing, I'm going to charge this much, or who do I think I am charging this much? Like literally you have to charge this much in order to meet your goals. And there's something about shifting it, taking the emotion out of it that just is, I just, I don't know, just really helpful.
- [29:23]
B
I just think that that's, that's such an invaluable tool to have and the fact that it's there available for you on the site along with all of the other classes and videos and all the self value talks and just, just everything, it's just, it's kind of everything in one that you would need to either start or scale your photography business. And it was, it was always there for me. You know, I remember watching sue in like 2013 and I was like, wow, she just makes so much sense and so much sense. But that won't work for me. So even back then in 2013, I didn't see it, that it was possible. It took me all this time to get to that and now it's, it's like, you know, 20 years ago, if this was available to me, it would have saved a lot of time. But then again, maybe you weren't ready. Yeah, I wasn't ready. Everything that happens for you is, you know, it's a lesson. So there were other things that I had to work to, to get to this point where I'm at now, but the, the excuses that, that other photographers might have with the biggest thing I hear Because I was there. I can't charge that much where I live. I live in a small town, so Gaffney has 12,000 people.
- [30:42]
A
That's a small town.
- [30:43]
B
Yeah. And I went from Greenville, which is, you know, it's one of the top places to visit or live these days. It's growing unbelievably fast. And I felt like I was almost getting drowned out in Greenville because it's. It's very saturated. And that's another thing a lot of people say, well, there's so many other. It's so saturated. And I used to be one of those people. I used to be so concerned if someone else was having a boudoir special or a promo or shooting something, and now it. If you put your blinders on and you stop focusing, you put your blinders on and stop focusing on what everyone else is doing, what everyone else's website looks like, what everyone else is charging, and you just focus on yourself and what you need to do and stay in your own lane. That's where you're going to get the most progress in what you're doing.
- [31:37]
A
Yeah, I grew my business and kind of scaled it rather quickly. And if I think about really why. Why was it that I did that? You know, how did I do that? And trust me, I had all the fears and the scariness and my money issues where it was a shit show. So I went through it all. I did. But my ability to grow and scale is exactly what you said. I had my blinders on. I was in Seattle, Washington, where there's probably like eight photographers per square block. I mean, it is incredibly saturated. But at the time, I didn't think about it. I didn't notice it. I had no. The only reason I knew what one other photographer was charging was because she was also in the same networking group as me. The first networking group I joined, she was charging 150 bucks. And I'm like, well, shit, you know, what do I do now? But I wasn't like, well, now I need to charge 150. I was like, how am I going to convince these people that me charging with a session fee and the smallest package is $1,000? How am I gonna show them that what I'm gonna give them is worth that? And I focused on building my relationships and talking about what I do and how I do it and how I hit their pain points. I made them feel special. I genuinely just bonded with people, and I provided professional, standard, beautiful work. And it didn't matter what this other person was charging anymore. It Just didn't. And that person's work could have been amazing. I have no idea. Cause I just didn't, you know. Blinders. Exactly. And you know, and I probably could have, you know, the one thing I probably could have done is just like, you know, joined more of the photography community groups and gone to the networking events and stuff. But I think I was just so hyper focused on spending my time building my clientele as opposed to building relationships with other photographers. And I did. Okay, I'm sorry, now I'm going on a tangent. I made some amazing photographer friends in Seattle, I truly did. But my main focus and how I spent my time was focused on clients, clients, clients, clients. I think sometimes as photographers we get stuck trying to market ourselves to other photographers in this really weird way. Yeah, anyway, that's my point.
- [33:57]
B
Yeah, I completely agree. I that the word hyper focus that you use is perfect because it allows you to focus on what you need to. Because all of the other shit going on around you isn't affecting anything with your business and your clients. You don't worry about what everyone else is doing, you just focus on what you need to do and figuring out where you can improve, where you can create a better experience, where you can maybe learn a different technique to help you with a lighting situation that you want to, you know, learn more about. It's weeding out all of the unnecessary stuff around you and focusing on what, you know, what you need to do to get you from point A to.
- [34:42]
A
Point B. Yep, that's exactly right. And I think there, there is, I mean you had a fire under you. You know, you're single, mom of two kids. Like part of that is too, is like just really wanting it. I think that's part of it too.
- [34:59]
B
Yes, definitely.
- [35:01]
A
Okay, so let's fast forward a little bit, talk a little bit now about your pricing. Do you do packages? Do you do a la carte? Are you doing digital print? Like kind of give us an idea there.
- [35:13]
B
I do a starting point of 2500 for six image folio box and then it goes up from there if someone wants to. I'm kind of, I've just recently raced them again within the past couple of weeks because of the first month of our pricing series with the 12 month startup. They were almost where, you know, the pricing was almost where it needed to be. But I've just recently kind of increased it again and now I'm trying to get to the point where it's pre purchase a package only, but I still have it on my site to where if someone wants to just do the session, the experience and One image, it's $600, the image a la carte is 500. And just, you know, I've priced the packages accordingly so that it's makes the most sense if you, instead of doing a la carte, it makes more sense to get a package.
- [36:12]
A
Okay, awesome. All right, so and if people are wondering what the 12 month startup is, that is an amazing program through the portrait system. So if you're a member, you have access to that and it takes you through all the different parts of business. Posing, lighting, pricing, selling, all the things. So very cool.
- [36:31]
B
Yeah.
- [36:32]
A
Okay. So you started mentioning before about your 40 over 40 campaign when I really interrupted you.
- [36:37]
B
I'm sorry.
- [36:38]
A
So tell us a little bit about that.
- [36:40]
B
So the 40 over 40 campaign for me was kind of a passion project. That's how it originally started. And I know that turning 40 myself, year or so prior to that, it was really important that women understand that life is not over after 40 or 50 or 60. And I know that there was that pain point because I experienced it and just falling victim into, or not falling victim, but just kind of losing yourself and your own passions and what you used to get excited about earlier in your life, you know, after becoming a mom or becoming a wife or pouring yourself into your business, your family, what have you, we pour into everyone else and we don't take the time for ourselves. So this was just an extra way for me to help people see their value and find ways to celebrate their lives. And it works for women of all walks of life, no matter what their situation or their relationship status or their parental status, just, it's just a full day of pampering to experience, getting glammed up and getting the celebrity style treatment and having your own magazine style photo shoot and the stories from these women that I, that I have gotten to meet or reconnect with because a lot of them have been repeat clients have just been so rewarding for me because you know, you hear, you hear everyone give excuses like I can't spend that much money on myself and I can't, you know, my husband would kill me if I, if he knew how much I was spending. But what is the end result of that? You're investing in yourself. It's, it's the same thing that as photographers we tell each other as far as raising our prices and investing in our own education and learning more things and becoming a better person, business owner, parent, you know, everything that we do personally, we're trying to share the same message with our clients. And just experiencing that in my own personal life and then being able to relate that to my clients has just been just easy for me. But the, the stories have been very inspiring. They're very thankful. They finally feel seen, they finally feel like it's okay for them to treat themselves to something nice every once in a while. And, and the biggest thing is, you know, you have a lot of clients who say, well I can't do that because I need to lose weight first or I, I'm too old to, to do this. And I have a no excuses policy. I have an answer for everything that they give me. And so once they see that even before and after images from other clients like, oh, okay, these people, you know, you don't need to be a certain size or you don't need to be a certain, you don't need to fit into a box in order to have this type of session. And I've had women who bring in their best friends and do like girls day out and it's just, it's just a wonderful experience because time goes by so fast, life is so short. And I would rather these women experience this type of thing now and understand their value now versus down the road saying, oh, it's something I wish I would have done but you know, and it's just been rewarding and it's just something that like I said initially it started off as a passion project but now I think it's something that I'm going to do every year.
- [40:20]
A
Yeah, it's awesome. It's very cool. How are you finding clients in general?
- [40:26]
B
Well, like I said, a lot have been repeat clients that have been with me from the beginning. I have clients through when I used to work at salons and spas. So I kind of pull from different areas of that I've worked in. But I do a lot of Facebook ads too. So I have a Facebook group and I do networking events and I have events at my studio. So this year I am doing a year of self care. So similar to the way the portrait System does the 12 month startup, I'm doing one event every month at my studio to help bring self care into awareness for women. So I'll do these events where I'll have either I'll collaborate with other business owners or other service providers that can, that are in the self care and you know, similar industries that can come in and either speak to my clients or we'll do meditation circles or we'll do sip and shop or you know, just different Things, different ways where women can learn about how to take care of themselves and how to, how to do nice things for themselves. So just a lot of different things. But I try to just stay current with like networking events and social media and all. It's a lot. It's a lot. I need to outsource a lot of it, but I'm getting better at letting go of the reins a little bit.
- [41:58]
A
Yeah. You know, sometimes people want to know, like, what's the one thing that I need to do in order to get clients in. And you know, and some people have that one thing where it's just specifically SEO and they just know exactly what to do and they spend their money and their time on SEO. But I feel like the majority of people really do have their hands in a lot of different marketing pots through in person networking groups, through social media, through referral programs and, you know, local charity events. I mean, there's just so many different things. So it sounds like you're kind of similar.
- [42:37]
B
Yeah, and I'm trying to narrow that down this year and I think for me, a lot of it has been just trying different, trying out different things. Facebook ads tend to work really well for me. Facebook ads worked and allowed me to book out six months in advance. Yeah, that's great. That definitely worked for me. It may not work for other people. Joining a BNI or other local network group tends to work for other people. I tried it. It's not for me because I can't commit to specific schedules like that. So I think if someone's really stuck, I would recommend to just try a few things. Pick a few things and experiment with those and see if you start getting more engagement or if, you know, it starts progressing well for you. And if not, try something else. I, like I said, I'm a, I'm a professional learner. I'm either watching videos and training on marketing or social media. I'm always learning because there's, with technology and the way everything is now, there's always something to learn. You, you're never at a, at a peak or a plateau where you don't have anything else to learn. There is always something new to learn. So if I feel like I get to a point where, okay, I have a, I feel comfortable with my ads, I'll move on to something else or, you know, I feel like my lighting is good now. So let me, let me learn a little bit more about posing and helping my posing flow. So I just think that, you know, never stop learning is a big, is a big One. As far as finding what works for you and bringing in the client. Yeah.
- [44:32]
A
Yeah, I love that. I love that. Well, this has been really great and really inspiring, and, you know, I know a lot of people out there are going to listen to this and really take to heart a lot of the things that you said, because, you know, you can tell that you're so sincere and so genuine, and I'm just. I'm so glad that after all this time, clearly you're passionate about photography. You've been at it for a long time, and I'm so glad after all this time, it's just. It's. It's paid off, and you're doing so much better at, you know, financially. Why? You know, it's. It's just. It's awesome.
- [45:03]
B
Yeah.
- [45:03]
A
Thank you.
- [45:04]
B
Like I said, it's been a really long road, but it's all. You know, whether you learn the lesson early or later, it's all worth it, and it's all meant to take you where you need to be. And I definitely feel like I'm exactly where I need to be. You know, I just see everything shifting. For me, it's happened in this past year, and I just. 2023, for me is going to be just amazing. And additionally, besides that, you have to believe in yourself, and you have to know that that's where you're going. You can't. Oh, one day, I hope that this will happen. I think it's all about believing and seeing it yourself and taking the actionable steps to get there and not just, you know, waiting on it to just fall in your.
- [45:49]
A
In your lap. Yep.
- [45:51]
B
Yep.
- [45:51]
A
Waiting for it to fall in your lap. Like, that's just not gonna happen.
- [45:54]
B
No.
- [45:56]
A
Yeah. You really have to work your way towards it, that's for sure. Someone. Someone once said something to me. They're kind of, like, trolling me, and I don't know what the deal was, but. And they said something to me about how well you had sue, like, gave you your career. And. And I had to laugh because I'm like, listen, my clients had no idea who Sue Bryce was unless they were a photographer who booked a shoot with me. You know, sue never went to my networking groups. Sue didn't build my website. Sue did not take one photo for me. Sue did not do. Literally. I learned exactly what everyone else is learning. Because she gives everything away on the portrait system.
- [46:38]
B
Exactly.
- [46:39]
A
I might have been able to have, like, a lot of personal conversations with sue, and I was so grateful. She's one of my best friends, and I'm very fortunate. But when it came to me and my business, sue did none of, like, literally nothing.
- [46:52]
B
Yeah.
- [46:53]
A
For my business, like, that was all me. So I just wanted to put that out there because someone was trolling me recently, and I was just like, oh, God, come on.
- [47:01]
B
They're in a negative mindset. They have their own blocks to work through. That's all. I would say.
- [47:07]
A
You are not kidding about that. That's for sure. But. And I know this person, unfortunately. Oh, well, not super nice to me, but that's. Anyways, it happens. It happens. Okay, so go ahead.
- [47:20]
B
No, I was just going to say, it's. The tools are there. Like, when I started there, none of that was available. And I think that's why I just went down this rabbit hole of learning all of these different things and teaching myself all of these different things. But now you don't have to do that. There are resources available. There's tools available. There's an endless supply of education available. It's up to you to take the steps to learn it and to put it into action. You can't just. You can't just say, well, it won't work for me because I don't have the money. I don't have the. You know, I don't live in the right area. Whatever your excuses are, you have to, you know, put those aside or work through your. Whatever blocks that it is that you have. But the information is there for you. It's just, are you going to use it? What are you gonna do today to get you closer to where you want to be?
- [48:16]
A
Yeah, I love that, too. In my Facebook group, I have a Facebook group for photographers. And on Mondays, sometimes I'll say, all right, what are you working towards today? What is on that to do list that has been hanging over your head that will feel so good to cross off that list? Like, what do you. You know, what is it that you're gonna do today? Cause I think sometimes we just. We see our to do list and we get crippled, and we just don't. We just don't do any of it. So I love that you said that.
- [48:41]
B
I think that's normal. I think there are days where you feel like you're so overwhelmed, or if you struggle with anxiety or depression or anything like that, that's okay. You can feel the way that you feel. Maybe take a nap or just, you know, but do something today that's going to put you a little bit closer to your goal. You don't. You know, I struggle with being a workaholic a lot. And I've learned to be, you know, set my boundaries and take time for myself. Now I try not to sit and just binge watch shows on Netflix constantly, all day, every day. I think, you know, it's okay to do that every once in a while.
- [49:20]
A
But definitely it depends on.
- [49:23]
B
It's just what's important to you. How important is it to you? So it's just, you know, the smallest amount of action and progress is, you know, even if it's a small amount, if you're working towards your goal, that's. That's all that matters.
- [49:37]
A
Yeah, absolutely. I love it. Well, thank you. I do have a couple more questions for you 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?
- [49:50]
B
Music.
- [49:52]
A
I don't know music.
- [49:53]
B
I don't know why more people. I don't know why everyone doesn't say music. I have to have music now, whether it's something I ask my clients, if it's their particular type of playlist. But I, I love all music and it just, it gets me hyped up, it gets me inspired and I, you know, depending on what I'm doing, I, I can either listen to some old 70s rock or I can listen to country. It just doesn't matter. It just, it's kind of the soundtrack to my life at all given points. So, yeah, definitely music.
- [50:25]
A
Awesome. All right. And number two is how do you spend your time when you're not working?
- [50:31]
B
I love going to theme parks and live music, checking out live music concerts, trivia, that kind of thing, and, you know, spending time with my family, this biggest thing. I really want to start traveling more this year, so.
- [50:47]
A
Very cool. Where would you, where's your, like, number one place you want to go?
- [50:52]
B
Well, honestly, Arizona was my top, one of my top places in the US And I got to go for the conference last year and I'm actually get to go again next week to Sue Studio for that live recording for the 12 month startup.
- [51:09]
A
Oh, hell yes. Awesome. That'll be so fun.
- [51:12]
B
Yeah.
- [51:13]
A
Very cool. All right, number three is, what's your favorite inspirational quote?
- [51:18]
B
It would be success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it. And that's by Maya Angelou. She has a lot of great quotes.
- [51:28]
A
But yeah, she's quite the amazing woman. That's for sure. I love that quote too. All right. And I know you kind of already gave some really great advice around this, but you know, just to kind of sum up, what would you tell people who are just starting out in this.
- [51:45]
B
Business if you're just starting out? I would say to trust yourself, believe in yourself, and don't be afraid to experiment and to start with what you have, where you are. And as cheesy as it is, the sky's the limit. That's literally. I couldn't believe in it more than I do now. I used to think that that was super cheesy before, but now I really believe in it.
- [52:13]
A
Awesome. Very cool. Thank you. Well, this has been really great, Amy. I loved having you on and I hope we get to spend some time in person, you know, coming up. I won't be there. I won't be there for the recording, but I'll be at wppi. Are you going to wppi?
- [52:31]
B
I am not. I was, but I'm not. But I'm going to the Portrait Masters conference. The future.
- [52:36]
A
Awesome. Very cool. I will be there as well.
- [52:38]
B
All right.
- [52:38]
A
Sweet, sweet. Well, thank you again, Amy. Where can people find you online if they're looking for you online?
- [52:44]
B
My website is Lucid life photo and beauty.com and I'm on Instagram and Facebook as well under Lucid Life photo and Beauty. Perfect.
- [52:54]
A
All right, well, you take care and we'll chat soon.
- [52:56]
B
All right. Thanks so much.
- [52:57]
A
Nikki. Thank you so much for listening to the Portrait System podcast. Your 5 star reviews review 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 soupriceducation.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 briceducation.com.