Discover how veteran photographer Susan Michal uses dance school photography to build a steady stream of high-value portrait clients without spending money on ads. In this episode of The Professional Photographer Podcast, Susan shares her step-by-step method for turning volume dance school shoots into profitable portrait sessions, including how she books $2,800 fairy sessions and even $18,000 family portraits simply by showing up in the community.

Episode Highlights 🎤💡:

(11:08) - You have to be willing and able to work with people. Because I don't care if you're selling landscapes, you still got to sell it to somebody, because a rock is not going to buy a landscape. A person is going to buy a landscape. We're in the people business.

(26:22) - It's all about relationships. Photography is all about relationships. And you can be closed off and not friendly and not benefit from those relationships, or you can realize that every time you interact with someone from one of these schools, that is a potential family session, a potential wedding, a potential anything that could lead to a $20,000 portrait sale.

(30:50) - I just don't think photographers always think as far ahead or outside the box as they need to. And really and truly, all we're talking about is very basic business models. I mean, this is how a lot of small businesses work. We just happen to be photographers. I think photographers get caught up in the fact that we're artists, and they don't often realize that we're business people first, really, because the art is about 10% of your business and the business is 90% of your business. And if you can't handle the business, then the art is never going to flourish.

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