← This Can't Be That Hard
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- [00:00]
Annemie Tonkin
Want to hear something nuts? This month we're celebrating five whole years since the Simple Sales blueprint was first launched back in January of 2025 years. Since then, I have had the privilege of teaching the system to thousands of photographers around the world. And of course, as happens when you're teaching really thoughtful, smart humans, I've also learned a lot too. This month to celebrate this milestone anniversary as well as the first major update to the course in the last three three years, I'm taking it old school and I'm hosting a brand new live training on the whole system where I'll walk you through the Believe framework as well as the six steps of Simple Sales. Then I'll show you a peek behind the scenes at all the exciting new updates. If you don't know about Simple Sales or if it's been a while and you could use a refresher, I want you to come to one of these trainings. Yes, I have an offer for you, but I'm also 100% committed to making everyone who attends feel like they walk away understanding something new and useful for their business. To that end, I also have a pretty epic gift for you when you sign up, which is a big workbook called the Sustainability Starter Pack. To get that and to secure your seat for the training, go to thiscan'tbethard.commasterclass and choose the date that works best for you.
- [01:18]
Host
Hi friends.
- [01:19]
Annemie Tonkin
I feel like I always start out the podcast by saying something about how excited I am for that week's topic. And you know, obviously part of that is a little bit habit, but it's also always true. I started this show in February of 2020, which was right before the world shut down. And every week since then, sometimes more than once a week, I have dropped a new show on a new element of running a profitable, sustainable photography business that you love. Now, I remember when I first started the podcast, I wrote out a list of 25 topics that I might cover if I got that far right. And I remember thinking, how am I ever going to come up with more than 25 topics? But 25 seemed like a big enough number to get started. And I figured that if I made it through half a year and I wanted to keep going, I would cross that bridge at that point. Well, here we are almost five years later, celebrating 300 episodes of this Can't Be that Hard. And at this point, I know there are more topics to talk about than I could ever cover, even if I kept podcasting for the rest of my life. So each week I really am excited to share a new idea or a new strategy or a new conversation that I've had with you. And what's fun about this 300th episode is that it happens to converge almost to the day with the five year anniversary of my official start as an educator. Because it was five years ago this week, back in January of 2020, that I first introduced the Simple Sales System to a small handful of photographers who were looking for an easier way to to profitably run their portrait businesses. So for that reason, as I was thinking about this 300th episode, and because I never publicly shared this recording before, I decided today was the perfect time to release a conversation that I had about a year ago with three photographers using Simple Sales in their three very different businesses. These ladies are the perfect example of why I do what I do here. Over the past five years, I have been so inspired by students like them, by my guests on the show, and by all of you who have reached out with questions. You've participated in our Facebook group, you've joined us in the consistency club, all of it. I appreciate you. I'm cheering you on. And yes, I am excited to share today's conversation with Robin, Annemarie and Christina. Welcome to this Can't Be that Hard. My name is Annemie Tonkin and I help photographers run profitable, sustainable businesses that they love. Each week on the podcast, I cover simple, actionable strategies and systems that photographers at every level of experience can use to earn more money in a more sustainable way. Running a photography business doesn't have to be that hard. You can do it and I can show you how.
- [04:12]
Host
All right. Welcome ladies. Thank you so much for joining me today. I am very excited. I'm not used to interviewing multiple people at once, but I wanted to have a conversation with students of mine who I feel like are relatively recent to Simple Sales and also have spent enough time with it that they have some real results to share. And I chose the three of you not only because I think that you're doing well with the system, but you're doing well in a way that seems attainable to me. This is not some sort of one in a million person that I'm going to bring on here. And that's always when I'm trying to demonstrate my how this system might work for somebody. I always want them to feel like they are getting a real look behind the scenes. So I encourage all of you as you share your stories today, to be honest, be open. But I really do appreciate all of you joining me today. So let's start by having everybody just kind of go around and introduce themselves. Tell me a little bit about what, you know, subject matter you photograph, how long you've been in business, whether you're full time or part time, you know, jump in however you want. And I'm just going to randomly pick. Let's start with you, Chrissy.
- [05:23]
Christina
Hi, I'm Chrissy or you can call me Christina. My pronouns are she and her and I am a family lifestyle family photographer and I have been in business since 2017. I am part time and proud.
- [05:39]
Host
Love it.
- [05:39]
Christina
And I have to mention that and proud. And I am a full time elementary school teacher. I teach second grade. So I am in the weeds of education and I have two kids.
- [05:52]
Host
Love that. Oh my goodness. Bless you for spending all day with a bunch of seven and eight year olds. That is no small task for sure. Excellent. Robin, why don't you take it from there?
- [06:03]
Robin
Sure. I'm probably a good segue because I share a lot of similarities to Christina. So I am also a part time photographer and proud of it. Been in business since about 2016 and my full time job is I teach at a college level. So she's got the little ones, I've got the big ones, but they probably act just about the same. I primarily do pet photography at this point. I've been working and volunteering in the animal shelter world for about six or seven years now and that's where I got my start in photographing pets. And so that is my primary bread and butter of my business. So I am not opposed to photographing people as well. So I do headshots and that sort of stuff on occasion. But really it's dogs, cats, rabbits, turtles, those sorts of things that I tend to photograph.
- [06:54]
Host
Love it. Absolutely. And Ann Marie, hey, so I am.
- [06:58]
Annemarie
A family and newborn photographer. I've been in business for a really long time. It's over 15 years now and we have moved around a few different times during those 15 years. But yeah, I basically photograph in home families in home newborns on location families.
- [07:15]
Host
Amazing. And so am I right that all of you started simple sales within the last year to year and a half, 12 to 18 months. Okay.
- [07:25]
Christina
Yeah, great.
- [07:28]
Host
Okay, perfect. So less than that even I feel like, you know, simple sales, like any major change in a business, when you start a process, it takes some time to kind of get going on it and then it takes some time to see whether it's really working for you or not. So I feel like we're kind of in that sweet spot where you still remember the details of where you were before and like what the, what the process was. But you're far enough into it that you have some real stories to share. So let's kind of, let's turn the clock back to 12 to 18 months ago and paint the picture for me where you were before. Because no one who is 100% happy with what's going on in their business is looking to change it. Right. So I'd love to hear a little bit about how you were selling your work before and why you were motivated to kind of shop around for an alternative. Annemarie, you want to start?
- [08:22]
Annemarie
Sure. So we moved from Pennsylvania to Delaware in summer of 2021. I didn't know anyone here and I had to start business all over again. When I was living in Pennsylvania, I was like higher priced, all inclusive at the time. I dabbled with different methods, like everything from IPS to, you know, a few digitals included, and then upgrading. And I had landed on all inclusive because I worked with clients year after year and they just always were buying them all. So that worked really well there where I was at then when we moved here, being like hovering just under a thousand dollars all inclusive in a new market was proving to be very challenging. Like, I just was not converting leads. So I started looking around and I found simple sales and I kind of dabbled with it a little bit last year in 2022, I guess I took the course in February 2022 after having like zero business. The entire first lived here. And I was a little bit scared to implement it completely. So I dabbled with it. I did all my cost of business and set the pricing and I tried it and I was like nervous about it myself. So then I pulled back and went back to like my same old structures and I was doing like 15, a package of 15 included. And they could upgrade to all to basically be around where I was at before we moved. And I did really well last year just doing that. But at the end of the year I was like, I want to be better this year. I like, I did hit six figures for the first time last year. However, I knew I wanted to increase my pricing and I just know that it's really difficult once you hit a thousand dollars to keep. Just keep increasing that all inclusive price. So that's when I was like, I already have the course. I'm going to dive back into it and just really commit to implementing it as of January of this year. So 2023 has been all simple sales and it's gone really? Well, like, I'm happy. And so I can. I can really compare the two from last year. Dab with it, but really not sticking to it. And then this year, the entire year, it's been simple sales.
- [10:20]
Host
Nice. So tell me a little bit. I would love to dive just a little bit further into what the hesitation was after you first got the course. Was it when you ran your numbers and saw the price point? Was it the structure? Like, where was it that you were like, I'm not sure I'm ready for this, or, I'm not sure my audience is ready for this?
- [10:42]
Annemarie
Yeah, I think there's two things going on there. One is, like, running the numbers and knowing where I wanted my pricing to be at and those collections, you know, like, at the time, I still had very few inquiries and little work. So there's a number of pieces of the puzzle going on here. So the few inquiries that I was getting, it just felt like at the time, I just wanted to book, like, anything that came my way. It was more me, not the program or not the method. It was like my own buy into it and my own confidence in my ability to sell this method, you know, and so. So that's. I was mostly just being like, listen, this is just going to be easier to book if I go back to 15 or all. Like, I've done that for years prior to being all inclusive. That's easy from my own mental ability to sell something.
- [11:28]
Host
Yeah.
- [11:28]
Annemarie
And I also, you know, it seemed simpler at the time, like, more streamlined. You're getting an email and you're just, like, hoping that they're going to buy it. So, yeah, that was what I ended up doing was just going back from my own. My own inability to buy into the method because it felt a little bit cumbersome at the time.
- [11:47]
Host
Yeah. It's not a small system to learn. There's definitely a lot of moving parts. When people dive in, they often have that initial sense of overwhelm and that sense of like, oh, gosh, oh, gosh, I'm not sure. I love the fact that you came back to it, because I think it's one thing for somebody to kind of push through that overwhelm when they're first going through the course. It's another thing entirely to come back to it a year later and say, okay, let's give this another shot, but I can't wait to chat a little bit later about the results that you got, because I think they speak for themselves. That's amazing. Okay, so who wants to go next? Tell me a little bit about where you were before you found simple sales, what you were struggling with and then what it was that attracted you about the method.
- [12:30]
Robin
So I'm happy to go. I think I came across simple Sales. I think it was actually an ad on Instagram or something. And it was one of those things where my entire photography journey has been part time and I only started doing sales and stuff stuff as a way to essentially be able to do the rescue photography that I do. So it was kind of, I ended up getting a studio and that was mostly so I could photograph shelter dogs in the, in a studio space. And so I was charging for it in order to be able to pay for the studio and the equipment and stuff like that. So it was never a big goal of mine to have a large income come out of this. It was more of just I needed to be sustainable. But I started doing my taxes and looking at my income and stuff like that in December of last year. And I think it was just kind of kismet that like your ad came up and it was, it promised no in person sales, which is everything else that I have seen. And as a part time photographer I have no time for that. Like that is not of interest to me. I work, you know, a full time job and then a part time job and then I do photography. So I was looking at my numbers and realizing that for the sixth year in a row I was going to be in the hole. And it was one of those things I was like, like, okay, maybe I should try to make a little bit of money off of this. I was doing a similar kind of all inclusive packaging on the very cheap end of things. And one of the things I liked about the course was I was forced to look at my numbers and cost of goods sold and all that sort of stuff. And it was very eye opening to kind of realize that I was really undervaluing myself. And so I kind of got into it as a way to quit doing that. So as I was doing the portions of the training and stuff like that and realizing I was doing that, it ended up being a big shift in the way I kind of do things. And even just the way I kind of look at my business, it's not just like the third thing that I do. It's been a big difference, but I really enjoyed learning new things about myself.
- [14:32]
Host
I think that's fun. I love hearing that after, you know, I guess you said, you know, we're talking about six, seven years in business to, to sort of have this whole new Chapter that was very much my experience too where I had no real sense that I was in anything other than like the middle of my business or even like at the peak of my business. And then to find that like things could change so dramatically was eye opening is a good way to put it for sure. Christina, tell, tell us a little bit about your story.
- [15:06]
Christina
Awesome. So in 2021 I had a really big year. I did a rebrand and there was a lot more people willing to go out and about and they want photos or they want me to come in their home. So the demand was there and at the time I was all inclusive. I had even changed my pricing twice. So I was charging between like 500, $700 all inclusive. And in the fall I just worked myself to too much. Like I was exhausted. So in November I was like, okay, what education can I invest in for the slow season? And I saw your information about simple sales and it just kept going in the back of my mind of like maybe I could do this. Oh, I don't know, would people pay that much to work with me? Like there was a lot of doubt. But I ended up jumping in, taking the course, working through it in about two weeks or so. I mean again I'm full time and I was able to implement it in about three weeks. I did have Covid during that time so I know it all was like a crazy storm of January 2021, 22, excuse me, I did simple sales and I changed to pick time and I changed to dubsado all in a month and had Covid fog. And if I could get through that, anybody could do it.
- [16:33]
Host
I am a big believer that photographers in particular photographers who are working part time, like who make their money as a photographer in the part time in you know, less than 40 hours a week, have to be really choosy about where they put their time and energy. And I think that systems automations, you know, trying to be as efficient as humanly possible is the best way to be able to show up and continue with a part time gig for any period of time. Because otherwise it really does. I mean I have seen so many people just burn out because they're stretched too thin in too many directions and they feel like they're not able to kind of show up fully in any of those ways. And when you've got all the automations going or the systematized processes happening in the background with the stuff that doesn't need you, doesn't need your like hands on it every single time, that's where you're able to then make the time and space and energy to show up for the session itself, which is like the. A number one thing, and then, like, customer service when you need to put out those fires. So I love. I love hearing about all of that, but even more exciting than hearing about the hesitation and the, like, jumping in is, you know, what came next? Who wants to. To dive in and sort of give me the. The, like, what happened when you first launched? Where was, you know, where was your head? How did your clients receive it? How, you know, was it smooth? Was it a lot of, like, fires that you were putting out in the beginning? Tell. Tell me all the good stuff.
- [18:11]
Christina
So one of my fears, I don't know if someone mentioned it, is keeping your clientele, like, are they going to be on board with this? Are they going to leave you and say, hey, you're too much money? And so the first two people that booked that I did the call with and they booked were previous clients. And they had worked with me in, like, 20, 18, 19, like, way back when I was charging, like, nothing. And this was just so exciting to me that they loved the idea of it. And the way I approached it was, look, this was the way I did it before. And once I kind of sent you your gallery, it was like, you're on your own now. Bye. And I have such a great experience that I offer my clients that getting the images is so exciting. And I let them know all the things that would be servicing them. And that was the biggest surprise, I want to say, in the first year is how happy clients are and how excited they are to get something tangible in their hands. And that was just the big thing that I didn't realize. As I was going through the course, I just kept thinking about, how is this going to work for me? But I also now realize it's so much that you're giving your clients that they benefit from.
- [19:29]
Host
Amazing. Yeah, that is. It is hard to keep it in mind when you're coming from that sort of scarcity mindset of, like, I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to at my prices. I'm not sure if this is going to work. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. It's so easy to get hung up on the price point. But truly, when you look at the confidence that you are giving your clients in moving forward and their knowledge that they are going to walk away with something that is worth investing in, it really can make all the difference in their buying decision in their Just enjoyment of the process altogether.
- [20:06]
Robin
Yeah, it was very similar when I started, so very similarly. I kind of did all the training and stuff in a two week period during my winter break from school, implemented it within two weeks, switched all my systems, all that sort of stuff. And one of my biggest concerns too was, am I going to get my same clients back? And there were a few that would be okay with not coming back. It was fine. But there were some I really, really liked and pleased to say that, you know, I just, I rolled it out. I had a new website, I had all the new things. I did everything from scratch, essentially. And it was actually pretty well received. It took a little while for clients to start coming back in. I definitely still had some slow months and where I was a little bit concerned of, okay, maybe, maybe this is not the right thing for me to do. But once everybody started getting the hang of everything, pretty much everybody who was working with me routinely before came back. It was one of those things where I just went full hog and I kind of embraced it. The ups, the downs, the roller coaster I had in the past year. And I'm at the top of the roller coaster right now because everybody has really enjoyed the system and the idea that they don't have to like come in and sit with me and pick images and do all those sorts of things. They can kind of do it on their own time, but they're still kind of regulated so that they don't have an unlimited amount of time to do it. And I love that that is part of the system that reiterate to us over and over again. Like, don't give them, you know, six months to make decisions on things. Give them a week. They seem to enjoy it and they love sending me pictures of products they get and, you know, stuff like that. And they're like, oh my God, this was amazing. Which is really nice to see because I wasn't really having a whole lot.
- [21:51]
Host
Of that many of us, I mean, I know we are busy, but our clients are busy. And so, you know, they say, well, maybe it'll save me a couple hundred dollars if I do it myself, whatever. But if they never get it done, they don't get the satisfaction of getting it done. So I love the sort of shortcut that print credit affords them and gives them this opportunity to just kind of like have it show up ready to, ready to hang or ready to put on the coffee table or whatever the case may be.
- [22:17]
Annemarie
Anne Marie So starting this past, you know, January of 2023, when I decided to like go full into simple sales. Since I was still in a unique position where I didn't have a ton of repeat clients in my new area. As the year went on, that did come up. But early on in the year when I started, I found that the most important thing for me was just to really commit to it. And once I committed to it, I think, you know, then it just took off. The hesitation a lot of us feel if you're like experimenting with a new pricing structure is to like try it. A few leads don't book, then you pull back, you go back to what you're used to and then kind of feel like a hot mess. And it's like reducing your own confidence in what your offer is. So once I just closed out all that noise of the other possibilities of different pricing and just went full in like I every single inquiry I'm sending the exact same response. Obviously tweaked for the client, but just the same structure pricing and was able to internalize the sales language around it. Then I started converting those leads so much more successfully. So as the year went on I did get some. Like in this fall busy season, I did have some long time repeat clients, some that have worked with me for eight plus years and they were used to kind, kind of me keeping them on the all inclusive model at a little bit of a lower rate because they've been with me for so long. And they booked sessions with simple sales through like mailing list email that went out in the end of summer, like, hey, here's how you can book your session. And they just booked and bought their package all through pic time and it all went really smoothly. So I'm happy to say that it's really, it's gone, it's gone very well.
- [23:55]
Host
All right, so let's talk about the course itself before we get to the, to the, you know, prize at the end. Let's talk a little bit about, you know, what you liked about the course. And I know I'm asking you to go back to a two week window a while ago, but did you feel like it was structured well? Was it thorough? Was it missing anything? Were there any parts that you really loved? Robin, you want to start this time?
- [24:18]
Robin
I went start to finish within a two week period. I was putting in like, you know, six hour days to work on everything. It was very well structured for me. I like that it was piece by piece. And one of the things, things that I keep coming back to, which is like in the very first part of the training was ideal clients and Bluebird model and that sort of stuff. But it has been one of those things that has radically altered just my relationship with my clients that do decide to book. It's a moment where we don't have to spend a lot of time to realize we're not good matches for each other, you know? And so it's. That part's been really nice. And the course itself just kind of like, exposing me to new ideas and new ways of thinking about my business was really nice. I don't think there was any really any part in there that I was just like, no, this isn't for me, or anything like that. Definitely the worksheet and just the whole idea of ideal clients and Bluebird clients and stuff like that were the things that probably were the most important for me. And I'm actually doing the worksheet again to kind of run my numbers again to reevaluate. Like, did this work well for me this year, or do I need to change my models again a little bit?
- [25:31]
Host
That is exactly what all of us should do every year in terms of revisiting what we're doing, seeing what works, what doesn't work, leaning more into what is working, and getting rid of the stuff that's not. And when I was designing the course, we'll just talk about the calculator when you're running your numbers. For many of my students, if it's not the first time they've run their numbers, it is the first time that they have run them in any real depth and looked at all the different components. That calculator took forever to build out, and it is a beast. But I think it really gives people not only a complete vision of their business finances, but also it gives you the ability to see. Like, okay, I don't want to. Maybe I don't want to charge quite this much, but I still have my goals that I want to achieve. So I can play with these other levers. I can turn this up or turn this down. You can run it multiple times and see how it goes. You've got now a year's worth of data that you can look at. Lifetime access to the course means you get to go back in, play with that again, and test and see. And that is now 14 years into business. That's how I do it every year. I go back, say, what's working, what's not, what's serving me, what's not, and use the numbers to be the piece that kind of ties it all together. I love that.
- [26:53]
Christina
I love the calculator. But my perspective on the calculator is a little different. I knew my numbers, but my favorite thing about the calculator is figuring out how much time you spend on sessions, how much time you're willing to dedicate to your business. And it sets this boundary and then it sets realities of how many photo sessions can you actually do so that you're not going beyond that. And then overworked and stressed. And so it makes things a little more realistic on what's attainable in your business. And that is my favorite part. And it's kind of freaky. Like I look at 2022s and then this year for 2023, when I planned it out, it is really scary, close to what the goal was, how many sessions I was going to be able to do. And that was my favorite part of the course. And it's even helpful to revisit it mid year if something isn't working out, like go back in and like you said, anime, you could tweak a couple things and say, okay, well I don't want to work as much or I want to change this. Now, especially in families, if things, things happen in your household and you can't work as many hours, how can you make that adjustment so it, you could do it right then and there.
- [28:11]
Host
Annemarie, what about you?
- [28:13]
Annemarie
Well, one thing I appreciate about you and the way you lay out your course is you're just a very organized structures and systems kind of person and it shows. So there's pretty much like all of the tools that someone needs to completely change over cost of doing business calculator. Very helpful for me to see the difference between how many sessions I needed to shoot to hit a certain goal and then just the package structure itself of how many digitals would be ideal in to hit the certain income goals that I was looking to do. But beyond the cost of business calculator, I just really appreciate all of the templates that you have in place for.
- [28:48]
Host
Us when it comes to starting a new process. I have in the past, it's like you can get 80% of the way there and you're like, you've bought in philosophically, you're ready to go, whatever, and you kind of lose it or you can lose it in the nitty gritty, like in the details. And so when it comes to things like, okay, great, I have to start this new system and there are 25 emails that are part of that system. Yes.
- [29:15]
Annemarie
Because there are a lot of emails.
- [29:17]
Host
Yeah.
- [29:17]
Annemarie
And you're walking through like this package collection One like. And here are the emails for collection one. And the reminders and setting all of the triggers. It's. It's gold right there, what you've given. Yeah, yeah.
- [29:31]
Host
I figure. I have no doubt that people change the emails a lot in order to accommodate their own nuances and voice and all that sort of stuff. However, having a place to start makes it so much faster and easier. So that was my goal when I put all those templates together. Yeah. Great. So I want to talk a little bit and I just want, since we are kind of looking at the before and after, you guys have given us an amazing sort of story of how simple sales work. Who wants to or is anyone willing to share their kind of year over year, the difference, like, tell me about where you were before versus now when it comes to. If you want to. If you're willing to share dollar numbers, that's great. Your time, your confidence, any of that sort of thing. I'd love to kind of get the comparison.
- [30:25]
Robin
So, like I mentioned earlier, I had never made a profit in my business prior to this year. So last year, and I'm just looking at like the amount that I brought in is all I'm comparing at this stage. So last year I brought in around $10,000. This year, I just calculated I'm just over 27,000 this year bringing in. And that does not include three sessions that I have yet to deliver. But I think that communication piece and encouraging it has helped a lot in this respect.
- [30:57]
Host
Nice. Yeah, that education piece, and I always call it education, but it really is communication and it's meeting people where they are. And it's one of those things where we all start out intending to be good communicators and explain things and all that sort of stuff. But when you are busy either putting out fires or trying to reinvent the wheel, every single time, things get lost, things get missed. It is funny how in a creative business, being more organized actually ends up helping you boost your creativity and where it counts. Right. I love that. That part that you are seeing the results of that, because I have certainly felt that, but I don't know that I've ever put it into words that way. That's so good.
- [31:42]
Robin
Yeah, yeah. Once things become a little more automated and yet still personal, it's like you're walking a tightrope with it. But once I really started automating a lot of the communication pieces, it left me time to actually build the relationships that I wanted to build.
- [31:59]
Christina
Well, I'm an elementary school teacher and we have Data meetings all the time. And I'm like, I love it, I love it. So I have some numbers. So from 2022 to 2023, just this past year, my net profit went up 129% and I doubled my profit. And when I did simple sales, I started January 2022 going into 23, I had doubled my profit from 2021 and that was again, net profit went up 94%. And what's interesting is the number of signature sessions that I did between 21, 22, 23 are all close to be the same amount. And, and I can't compare apples to apples because in 2022 I had launched Simple Sales, but a lot of the sessions I had already had scheduled were my old pricing.
- [32:59]
Host
Sure.
- [33:00]
Christina
So I still had a double of the profit. I think the big difference from last year to this year in 2023 was that I started doing simple sales structure for my Mini and I didn't do that, which that was, everybody, please do it for your midis because that was a game changer. This past year, almost everybody has either done the highest collection or the medium collection and that has been a huge, huge change. So I'm happy to say last year, you know, I was able to put money in a 401k and this year I'm able to put money towards a renovation towards our house. So like little things that can help your life and just be exciting to celebrate.
- [33:49]
Host
Yeah, I mean the thing with a part time business is that you may not have the money goals that, you know, you look around and people are talking about like, oh, I want to hit six figures or I want to, whatever the case may be, part time jobs are, or you know, part time businesses should have good solid boundaries put around them in terms of your time. But they should still be something that is worth that time even if it is only part time because you are giving up time that you could be putting toward other things. So I am very excited to make that a worthwhile expenditure of your time and hopefully an enjoyable one as well. Because I think that as creatives like we all, the reason that we got into business was because we were hoping to take this thing that we love doing and then make it so that we can justify the time we spend on it. All right, Ann Marie, so why don't you give us the full timers perspective on how this has sort of changed the balance of your business.
- [34:50]
Annemarie
Just to put it in perspective, prior to moving I was homeschooling my kids and was not really having full time hours to dedicate to this. So. So since our move, my kids are in school and I do, I really am putting all my time while they're gone into it. So last year was my first year of having that option to work full time and I was not using simple sales 2022. I did end up hitting six figures for the first time. So I was like, worked my butt off. That was my huge goal and I just barely made a hundred thousand. And then this year implementing Simple Sales completely, it, it's been mind blowing. My goal was to just increase revenue like by 50k. I wanted to be realistic but still try to like just okay. I was so pleased that I hit 100k, but I'm like, well, it's always good to grow. Let's just, you know, set the goal for 150. And early in the summer 150k like came and went and I couldn't believe it. So then I was like, well, I'll just set it for 170k. Fall came, September came, and I was already at that goal. And so then I set a really big goal for myself that I never thought was possible with this little business. And I set the goal for 200k. And I'm happy to say that goal has come and gone and now I'm looking at 230k and the year is not quite over. So I'm like, mind blown, mind blown by this change. It's really changed our life in a significant way.
- [36:14]
Host
That's incredible. I mean those are, those are amazing numbers. And more than anything, it's not that the numbers in and of themselves are amazing.
- [36:23]
Annemie Tonkin
They are.
- [36:24]
Host
But that, that growth and that sort of rate of growth is amazing. Do you have sort of insight on what in particular? Is it the amount of money? Is it the number of people you're booking? Is it the amount of money that people are spending? Is it the upsells and like additional spending?
- [36:43]
Annemarie
Yeah, I did run the numbers so that we could have a little bit of that data. So last year I photographed about 100 famil families without mini session. Actually some of those may have even been mini sessions. Last year, just remember I shot a hundred families and I made a hundred thousand dollars. So I was averaging a thousand dollars. You know, some spent more, some spent less. But that was last year. This year I have some mini sessions, but not counting those, there's very few of those. I photographed 160 families and so I'm averaging, I think it worked out to be around 1500 or so each. And so my pricing has gone up this year. Last year my highest package put me at 1200 and only like I said, the average came out to a thousand per client. So half were upgrading and half weren't. And that's what led me to look back into simple sales is going well. I want, I don't want to only be making a thousand per client. I want to bump that price up. So simple sales allows me to get over that thousand dollar hump more easily. According to Square, most of my clients are buying my highest package right now. The simple sales has allowed me to ra. Raise those prices in a way that I don't think I can do with an all inclusive model. It's just. Yeah, all right.
- [37:55]
Host
I really appreciate you guys taking all this time. This has gone over what I was even anticipating and you have been very generous with sharing sort of the full behind the scenes. So I would love to just close with a quick, you know, what would you say if someone asked you whether this was a good course to invest in, whether the system might be a good thing for them to investigate?
- [38:17]
Robin
Yeah. So as a part timer who was not making a profit, I in no way, shape or form regret doing it and my business is a lot better for it. So I say go for it. You're gonna make your money back probably with very little effort and very little time.
- [38:33]
Christina
My husband is a CPA and he works with a lot of photographer clients and he says that this is the one education that is a return in investment. So listen to your cpa. I highly recommend the course. And when you dive into the course and you have questions, like Robin said, there's the community.
- [38:55]
Annemarie
Yeah. I do not regret the purchase one bit. It's been amazing to just push me to a new level and just come out of my comfort zone. But with a lot of guidance and support through the community. You're really active in there, but really the tools in the course, you've given everything that someone needs to take the jump into a new pricing structure.
- [39:13]
Host
So. Good. Well, everyone, I again very much appreciate your time and willingness to share. I know that it's a lot to ask anybody to take an hour plus out of their time, especially during the holidays. And the fact that you are willing to come on here, I know, is hugely helpful to everyone out there who's listening and sort of considering this for their business. So on behalf of them and certainly on behalf of myself, thank you so much. Keep killing it. I can't wait to hear more about how things are going and yeah, we'll be in touch soon.
- [39:45]
Annemie Tonkin
That's it for this week's episode of this Can't Be that Hard. I'll be back same time, same place next week. If you like the show, be sure to check out thiscan'tbethard.com to explore all the resources we have for photographers. And of course, it would mean the world to me if you would leave a review of the show on itunes or Spotify. As always, thanks so much for joining me. I hope you have a fantastic week.