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In this solo recap episode, I discuss the most important points and takeaways from my recent chat with Portrait Photographer Brent Watkins.
Here’s a recap of what I rant about in this episode 🙂
1. Being a “photo technician” will be the easy part of what you do, when you’re running a photography business.
This is an important point. Many people get into photography as a business think they’ll be taking more photos. But what they don’t realize is that they’ll really be doing more of the business-y stuff, like marketing, invoicing, and follow-up. Logistical stuff.
Here’s something interesting I did for kicks: I made a list of every step involved with interacting with a client from the day they tell me their interested in booking a photo shoot, all the way to after their shoot has happened, and I’m delivering the photos. Know how many steps it was? 25. I kid you not. And you know how many of those were actually taking photos? Basically two.
2. Treat your old clients right. Keep in touch with them. Keep them coming back.
They’ve already spent money on you. They’ve worked with you. They should like you and trust you. Therefore, it makes sense that it will be easier to get them to spend money on you again, as opposed to bringing in new clients that haven’t interacted with you yet.
Ways to keep in touch: Send occasional email updates. Send them cards or mailers.
3. If you’re not good at selling, consider hiring someone else sell for you.
If you think you can’t afford, think again. You could hire them on a commission basis, like 10% of every sale they make when a client orders physical products. Or 10% of a session a new client books.