If you guys joined us last week, you'll remember Jeff & Erin Youngren of The Youngrens.  These two are amazing photographers & business-people... they run three separate photography businesses here in San Diego which takes an insane amount of work & organization! While we have a million topics we'd like to chat with them about, today we're speaking with them specifically about running an associate photography business. This can be a great way to make some additional income as a photographer, but it definitely takes some skill and business sense to make it successful! Jeff & Erin run Clove & Kin, which is an associate portrait studio completely separate from their other brands, so they're the perfect people to chat with about running an associate photography business! Here are some of our favorite tips from our episode... but be sure to listen for even more awesome info from these guys! Key Takeaways:

1. How do you know if an associate business is right for you?
   1. If you've hit a ceiling in your business: Adding associate photographers to your business is a way to make more money and take on more clients than you could on your own. If you've reached a point in your business where you have hit the limit of what you can accomplish on your own, you may be ready for an associate business.
   2. If you know your metrics: You need to know your metrics in order to know if you're ready for an associate business. How many leads are qualified to hire you? Are you sure you have enough inquiries coming in that have the budget to hire you? You need to know why people are booking or not booking you.
   3. If your systems and workflows are dialed in: When you add associates into your business, you're going to have to be able to handle business on a larger scale. You'll need to be using email templates, workflows, etc. If you can't handle the extra work, you might not succeed in running an associate photography business.
   4. If you LOVE business: You need to be okay with being a manager, leader, and CEO when running an associate photography business. You'll be doing a LOT more on the business side of things, and you need to be sure it's not going to drain you or burn you out.
2. Decide how you'd like to do this: There are two ways to go about running an associate photography business and there are pros and cons to both. You can add associates to your current business, which comes with the benefit of already being established, having a name for yourself, etc. OR you can decide to start a completely new business & make it an associate business. The benefit to that option is IF something goes wrong with an associate photographer, your original business will remain separate and safe.
3. Be careful about legal issues: Make sure you get contracts from each of your associate photographers & be careful about getting all agreements & expectations down in writing. This can be tough, especially if your associate is someone you're friendly with. However, this protects both of you and is just good business practices. Also, you'll need to make sure you define the difference between interns & associates. Legally, this is something super important to keep separate!
4. Learn your associate's strengths & play to them: If you have a business with multiple associates, you'll want to make sure you distinguish them from one another. For example, if you have an associate who loves shooting in ballrooms, don't set them up with a rustic, garden wedding. Make sure you show each photographer's portfolio on your website, and allow clients to select their own associates if desired.

I have to stop there because you just HAVE to download and listen to this episode to hear more. Jeff & Erin give a million more tips about running an associate business in our episode! Also, they had an amazing giveaway last week and this week they have another one!! They're offering their model release COMPLETELY FREE. This release has a $50 value and is an absolutely fantastic resource! To download Jeff & Erin's model release, click HERE! And as if THAT'S not enough, if you download the freebie above, you'll be automatically entered to win a copy of their Associate & Second Shooter Contract ($100 value). This contract is literally step one of preparing for running an associate photography business, so it is a fantastic resource! Related Links:

• The Youngrens
• Clove & Kin
• Bauman Photographers
• Download Jeff & Erin's Free Model Release

Download from iTunes Here