Mini Sessions Made Easy

We are yet again entering another season of Mini Sessions! I've seen lots of you doing Valentine Minis and I know we personally are gearing up for Spring Minis. Seriously, time is flying by! One of the questions I run into all the time is "How do I price my Mini Session?" In order for you to determine this you have to know your cost of doing business! So grab a pen and paper or pull out your notes on your phone!  Everyone should be pricing your mini session to be profitable.

Before diving in, mark your calendars next week - I've got some live, FREE classes and would love to see you in there! The class is called BOOKED OUT MINIS. Tell your photog friends and join me! I'll do a Q&A at the end as well, so after listening to today's podcast if there are still some lingering questions you can ask away! I only do live classes twice a year and this class is brand new so you don't want to miss out. You can register for the class HERE!

The first mistakes I typically see photographers do is pricing their minis wrong or structuring their minis wrong. In order to accurately price your minis you need to be sure what you're offering is, in fact, a mini. My working definition is a short, 10 to 15 minute session with five images included. Remember, it's a limited number, we are not giving a full gallery. Mini sessions are on a date and at a location that you the photographer chooses. Mini sessions are not just short full sessions! If you have a 30 minute "mini session" that a client can book any time they want - that is not a true mini session. A Saturday time block you chose with a pre-set location determined by you is your mini session! (Off the soap box now haha) That is your structure. And that is where you see mini sessions be profitable!

How do you know if you are pricing your mini session correctly? Do you just look around and try to match other photographers? Do you just throw a number out there? Here's how you break it down to know for sure that you are profiting on your minis! I love math, but I know not everyone here does. So, I'm going to break this down super simple and if you need to pause while making your calculations, do it!

Go in and add up ALL your expenses in a single month. This includes your CRM (Client Management System), rentals or mini session sets, G suite if you have a custom domain, your emailing system (I use Flodesk and absolutely LOVE it - you can use my discount link HERE!)

Here's the benefit of owning your own business - you determine things like this! Obviously, you need to be realistic, but do not pay yourself the same hourly rate as the student working at Costco. Give yourself the space to pay yourself appropriately for your time. The time you spend in your photography business is time spent away from the people that matter most in your life. So you want to be compensated appropriately for that time.

I would say a typical estimation (on the low end) is about 6x the number of hours you spend on the session. So, if you ran your mini sessions for 2 hours you multiply that by 6 and end up with 12 hours. The reason for this is because shooting the session is not the only work involved. There's the marketing, the client communication, the editing, the delivery, etc. This gives you a close estimation.

Listen in on the podcast to know how to plug in all these numbers. I am a firm believer that you shouldn't charge anything less than $150 for mini sessions. Once you do, you're getting into all the price shoppers and super difficult clients. Last week I did a podcast on How to Deal with Difficult Clients and although there is a way to handle them I'd rather not have to! When you price your mini sessions correctly you attract your more ideal client.

Pricing your mini session doesn't have to be difficult to determine. Use the equation, pay yourself adequately for the work spent away from loved ones and don't talk yourself down. It doesn't matter if you live in a small town or your city is oversaturated with photographers! When you recognize your worth so will others. Don't hesitate to reach out for help, I'm cheering you on!

+"How to Deal with Difficult Clients" Podcast

+Booked Out Minis FREE CLASS

+Flodesk

Correct Minis Structure (2:38)

Calculate Your Expenses (4:51)

Determine Your Hourly Rate (6:24)

Calculate Your Number of Hours Spent (7:25)

The CODB Equation (8:53)

It's inevitable, if you work in the photography business you've encountered a variety of clients. I will say the majority are amazing to work with, but there is the occasional difficult client. Whether they're just a bit "needy" or they want the extra communication or are just plain rude. We're going to cover how to respond to difficult clients when you're caught in these situations.

For those of you that are new or haven't checked out my FREE $3K Mini Sessions Blueprint. It's all about how to make $3000 in a single set of minis! I call it a blueprint because it's repeatable. My husband and I finished building our house a year ago now and the builders had a blueprint. There was a floor plan that other families used and we loved it. The builders were able to just follow the steps and build this house. That's the beauty of this freebie - you can keep reusing it! Hope you grab this resource and make the most of it!

My associate team and I have had people asking or demanding for raw images. Have you ever been there? I'm sure you have. We've had clients that are really enjoyed the over communication. For example, they would email and text all the things constantly and if we didn't reply immediately then they were frustrated. As a business we have boundaries in place to keep my team healthy. We try setting office hours and have autoresponders. Regardless, it seems there are always 1 or 2 clients that threaten a bad review. This hasn't happened often so don't stress! My associate team shoots in such high volume there are bound to be a few tricky situations. So how do you respond to difficult clients?

Here's something to remember: odds are the person isn't coming after you personally. I know our work feels like an extension of ourselves, but remember to clients, most of the time they only see the work. The problem may be in or out of your control, so removing yourself emotionally will help tremendously! When you get that uncomfortable text or email - pause. Take a breath and give yourself some space. Another thing I'll do is write my response and have someone look it over. This way if there is some emotion peeking through someone else can spot it.

Contracts are here to protect you! Don't try arguing back and forth. You should be using a contract for every single session. It doesn't matter if it's a full session or mini session of family, friends or strangers. If you don't have a contract I have one called Portrait Contract Template. It was approved by a lawyer so everything inside it legit. It covers you and your clients and is customizable so you can reuse it for every and any session! So when you have a dispute about raw images or delivery time you can refer to the contract that they signed!

Never let anyone bully you or threaten taking you to court. Use your contract and be firm. You can still be kind while being firm. The more confidence you use and holding your ground the more likely they are to let it go. Some clients are going to fight just to fight. If you have things in place that they've signed off on you can hold that to them. I know this is much easier said than done, but when you're doing things right it's easier to stand up for yourself!

Keep in mind, most people that threaten to write a bad review won't actually write it. They're trying to use that as leverage to win in those situations. What kind of compromise can you come up with? Are they asking for a refund on their session? Issue the refund even if your contract says the retainer was non-refundable. Sometimes it's worth refunding to avoid getting into it. Truly this is a judgement call. You can stick to your contract and be very black and white or you can have some leniency to win someone over.

For starters, reply to the review! If people are searching and see a bad review they will also see your side of the story. State the facts, be professional and make things clear. Your response will show you care and that the review is most likely... crazy! After you reply you need to block the person from your business page. You don't want to leave room for a back and forth. You should already be having conversations via email so there's no reason to publicize it.

Overall, stay professional, be concise, and be clear in your communication! Keep your emotion out of it so that you're responding in the best ways that you can. Ultimately, you get to choose how you respond to difficult clients. I hope these tips help and be sure to check out the links mentioned below!

+ My $3K Mini Sessions Blueprint

+Portrait Contract Template

Remove emotion from the situation (8:14)

Always refer back to your contract (10:22)

Speak with confidence and hold your ground (12:55)

Compromise to avoid bad reviews (14:18)

You can recover after a bad review (15:29)

Are you ready to dive into all things COPY?! Honestly for whatever reason family photographers seem to be behind when it comes to writing solid copy. Today I've got Rachel Greiman, who is the founder of Greenchair Stories helping us really break down copy! Here's what I love - she was a family photographer! Who better to give us insight on writing solid copy for family photographers than a copywriter who was one!?

In order for you to really grasp this, it's important you know what copy is and what it is not. A lot of people categorize copy as all the words. But not every word is created equal. There is a difference between copy, content and messaging. Here's the breakdown...

Copy is the words you use to sell. What you see in advertisement anywhere in the world - that's copy. It is what you see in a magazine ad or on a billboard. Copy speaks to the buyer. It is strategic and has a definite message. It's the most important in your business because you're talking to your ideal client through this information!

Content is what you write to warm up your audience. It is blog and social media posts. It's your newsletter. Content words are educational and creative. They are intended to engage your audience further into your business. What you're reading right now is content!

Messaging is a crucial "root" to both content and copy. You always start with messaging. Who are you reaching? Who are you talking to? How can you get really specific about who that person is, what their desires are, what their problems are, what their questions and hesitations are. From there you can write incredible copy and content!

Define who your ideal client is. Once that's determined you can start writing solid copy and content with them in mind. Essentially your website becomes a love letter written just to them. Some are afraid of getting specific in their copy because they think they're alienating business. The truth is you end up attracting more people similar to your ideal client. This turns your ideal client into clients - plural! If you're trying to be a jack of all trades - weddings, seniors, newborn, family, etc. - you end up being a master at none.

I can remember the day I made the decision to just be a family photographer. I was so nervous to push the publish page on my website! It meant I would have to say no to things. But here's the thing, my no to other things made my YES stand out. And wow did that pay off!

It's really important to own your message in the beginning. You should be in control of it before you invest thousands of dollars in a copywriter. It's similar to hiring an editor. You can't hire someone to edit your photos until you know your style! If you're unsure of your message you don't want someone else writing it. Figure out who your heart beats for.

Then on the flip-side if you keep getting inquiries from the "wrong" clients it may be because your copy is directed to the "wrong" clients. When you know who your one reader is you can really hone in. It may be time for you to change your copy or get help with writing it.

I hope this helps you navigate and even determine where you're at! Define your ideal client, allow yourself to say no, don't try being everything to everyone. You can be a master at what you do and clients will seek you out knowing you specialize in what they want.

Checkout Rachel Greiman:

Green Chair Stories

https://www.instagram.com/greenchairstories/

The difference between copy, content and messaging (3:24)

Finding your one reader (5:53)

When to hire (16:13)

Today we get to talk about my absolute favorite topic ever - Facebook ads! I mean typically, you either love them or you hate them. I just happen be that friend that everyone runs to for facebook ad info. Seriously they are a hot topic if you think about marketing or advertising at all. It's a fresh year and a great time to really start thinking how you can up your game by getting your name out there. Facebook ads don't have to be scary or pricey if you know what you're doing. I so don't mind being your friend that overshares about how to do this today!

Before jumping in, I've got a FREE blueprint for all of you. In case you didn't know, I am a believer of the mini session. They truly are my bread and butter. I've experimented long enough now to tell you all the do's and don'ts. My $3K Mini Sessions Blueprint walks you through how to make $3,000 on your next mini sessions. If you've hit that goal or not this step by step guide is sure to be an amazing resource!

It seems like this becomes a teeter totter decision. I know last year we were all hit with the new IOS update. If you didn't hear, basically, the iPhone's iOS update took on privacy measures that allowed you to opt out of tracking. The kind that tracked what websites you visit and what things you're interested in. For instance, if I googled something like "kid's plates" then all of a sudden I started seeing these Facebook ads for kid's plates! It's wild. After the update (if you opted out) you no longer were "tracked". All that being said it was great for users, but made it difficult for people that utilized Facebook ads.

Here's the good part: I stayed the course through this whole change and still use Facebook ads as my primary source of leads. The changes I noticed heavily impacted the analytics reporting. So it shouldn't scare you away. I would advise, however, if you've never done Facebook ads before to get educated. The world of Facebook is a world of its own. There is a right and wrong way to do them. My hope is to give you a framework as to why you should use them in 2022 for your business! So here's why:

A year and a half ago I posted in facebook groups for free and still believe in that method of advertising. But, friend, the game is changing. Now algorithms make it difficult for your post to be seen. Not impossible! In fact, if you're in my course: Profitable Mini Sessions you know there are ways to play the algorithm to be sure your posts are seen. Overall, Facebook has leaned into the platform people that pay to get their ads seen. I view my paid advertising as an investment in my business. Don't pay if you don't get a return!

Cold audiences are people you've never reached before while a warm audience is people you have. The easiest way to reach your warm audience is through your email list. Hands down. Facebook ads, in my opinion are the easiest way to reach your cold audience. Rather than fighting algorithms you can put in a little money and basically have them do the work for you! Here's the golden ticket: You're paying for Facebook to find your leads. You're not "making the cold call". Facebook will find those that would be interested in your ad!

Yes, it's honestly creepy how accurately it targets people. You can target based on demographics, income level, interests, cities, etc. This really is why it was incredible to use Facebook ads for my associate team. We could choose specific areas to target. Seriously, technology is genius. Now you can put out an ad that literally searches for your exact ideal client!

This is what we saw with my associate team. You can constantly have ads running. Facebook doing the marketing for you. This way you're not having to exhaust yourself with the posting in groups, responding to people, commenting on posts, and messaging and all the things! It saves time and energy! YAY! Not to mention you can set up automations for getting them booked. So it really streamlines the process.

Facebook ads aren't for everyone, but I am a Facebook ad freak! I've seen it work wonders in my industry and believe it could help. If you're stuck, reach out to me. I'd love to share my knowledge!

+ My $3K Mini Sessions Blueprint

Facebook is a pay to play game (8:03)

Facebook ads make it easy to reach a cold audience (11:48)

You can get specific in your targeting (13:33)

Facebook ads are a lead generating machine (16:35)

Can you believe it's 2022?! We're sharing our first podcast episode of the year - and I can't believe it's actually happening. I'm so excited about today's episode because we're really diving into what healthy hustle looks like in our businesses. I don't know about you, but for us, the fall was just crazy busy. As we come out of such a busy season and have the chance to slow down, it's the perfect time to reflect on what's been going on, what's working and what's not.

But, before I get int all that… I want to share my new FREE guide with you: My $3K Mini Sessions Blueprint. It’s a step-by-step guide of what to do to make $3,000 on your next mini sessions. Whether you’ve hit that goal before or just want to see if there’s other ideas to try, grab this free guide. It’s jam packed with tons of great information for you!

The word "hustle" has become somewhat of a buzzword in the creative industry. It's means a lot of things to all of us - some good and some bad. During the height of our busy season, I was talking with my mastermind girls about what it looked like for them. It really sparked this episode. But, anyway. I'm a huge advocate of working from a place of rest, not one of hustling, so it's really interesting to think about the seasons in which hustling is more appropriate for us. If you ask me, there's 100% a wrong and right way (and time) to hustle for our businesses. I don't want you getting caught up in the idea of hustling to get things done to the point that you're broken when all of its' over. So let's walk through how to create a healthy hustle in your business.

There's three main indicators that your hustling isn't healthy. The first one is boundaries. A healthy hustle has boundaries. You have to decide what your non-negotiable are and stick by them while you're in these seasons of hustling towards your goal. These could be things like putting your kids to bed, having a family dinner each night, or always leaving a day open for a family day. Whatever it is: decide on it at the start. If you try to change your ways mid-way through the busy season, you're going to have such a hard time. Trust me on that one!

The second thing is that you need to be taking care of yourself. Even in the midst of your busiest season, take care of you. Your self-care might look different, but it's still important. And seriously, sometimes just the extra five minutes sitting in the car at night is totally self-care! Self-care isn't always about massages and nail salons. Sometimes it's just turning off work when you said you would - or lighting a candle and reading. Whatever it is for you, make sure you do it.

Finally, work hard but only hustle for a season. Like I mentioned, I'm all about working from a place of rest. I truly believe that hustling comes in seasons. It shouldn't be your only mode of existing. Having a set end date (for example, not taking any sessions in December after a long fall) brings so much hope and comfort. Your seasons may look different, but try to remember that they're just seasons and should ONLY be seasons. Not all the time.

So I wanted to give you kind of a framework of how to know if you're hustling well or if you're hustling in an unhealthy way. So here is some kind of lenses to look through when you're looking at your hustle: if you are hustling and you're feeling like you want to quit or you're feeling like you're at your breaking point or you're so exhausted that you wonder if your clients are even worth it, then that is not healthy. Healthy Hustle does not leave you wanting to quit or just dreading working every single day. A Healthy Hustle leaves you reassured, knowing that your clients are being served well. I want more than anything for you to feel prepared for busy season and really in your heart to know that you're going to hustle well. So if you need that accountability, you need that encouragement, whatever it is, reach out to me. I want to help!

+ My $3K Mini Sessions Blueprint

The Healthy Hustle

What makes it healthy

How to know if you're in an unhealthy hustle season

Welcome back to our LAST episode of the Business Journey podcast for 2021! Today, we're talking about how I prepare for the Q1 of 2022! I seriously cannot believe that it's almost 2022. How is that possible? I know I've said that the last few episodes, but it really is true. I hope that this episode inspires you and helps you feel more prepared for the start of the year!

Really quick... one other way to be prepared for the start of the new year is to check out my $3K Mini Sessions Blueprint. It’s a step-by-step guide of what to do to make $3,000 on your next mini sessions. Whether you’ve hit that goal before or just want to see if there’s other ideas to try, grab this free guide. It will help you plan your minis for next year with even more confidence! Now back to Q1 planning!

When we talk about the first quarter of the year, I mean January, February and most of March. It's a slower season for most family photographers and it's a great time to be strategic about the work that you're doing. I want to share everything I do to prepare for the new year with you. It's easy to get caught up in just resting since we all survived the holidays and busy season, but I want to encourage you to use this time wisely.

The first thing I do is get my huge 2022 wall calendar from Kat Schmoyer printed and put on my wall. Get yours here - Kat’s Quarterly Calendars! This allows me to look at the year as a whole. I get mine printed at Staples and then get it up on my office wall, but you could use it online too! Once it's up, I begin to fill it in. I always start with family tings - birthdays, our vacations, and anything we've committed to as a family. Next, I add what I may have committed to for the business - conferences, speaking engagements, travel. And from there, I decide on some mini session dates for the spring!

Once my calendar is setup, I look at what I call my "business parking lot" (thanks Kat!). This is a place where I put ideas that need to be done or I want to do but don't have the space for in that moment. These might be things like updating my website portfolio, my client guide, or whatever. So during this slower season at the start of the year, I pick out a few of these projects and decide when I'm going to do them. It's a great time to evaluate the blogs that you might want to do. And I always encourage you to review our workflows and automations in this season, too! Take the time to decide on projects you can focus on now - like Pinterest. PS - want more help  with Pinterest? Check out our Behind the Lens masterclass on that!

The third and final thing I do is plan out my Q1 goals with the help of Lara Casey's Powersheets. PowerSheets aren't planners, but they're systems to help you define your goals. This allows me to look at yearly and quarterly goals. I like using Kat's Quarterly Calendar to lay out the focus once I know my goals. They might be something simple like just nailing down spring mini dates, then it's also doing promo shots, and all of the steps in our Mini Sessions Playbook. Those all become goals for that month in Q1!

I hope these three steps help you think about how you want to prepare for Q1 this year! I don't know about you but we had a crazy busy fall season and I'm excited to slow down, reset, and regroup going into the new year! Take advantage of your slow season and get ahead for 2022! I believe in you!

As we get closer to the end of the year, I thought it might be fun to recap your top five episodes of the Business Journey Podcast. It's been a great year and I'm still blown away by all of the support for the podcast! So, thank you for that. I can't believe we've been doing this for almost a year and providing you with more educational content through our podcast than ever before. Our team thought recapping these five episodes would be a great time!

Kristina is a member of our team - our content writer. When she took over our blogging, it was a huge sigh of relief because we knew everything would be optimized, well-written, and we'd be sharing our content and beautiful photos easily. In Episode 34, she walked us through what family photographers should be doing when they blog. It's a super practical episode for all of you photographers!

This was a super fun episode! Both Natasha and Stephanie are just amazing humans but they're also great at short form videos like Instagram Reels and Tik Toks. Their episode helped so many of us break down some of the mental barriers we have around Instagram Reels. They had great tips and tricks, especially about batching Reels and it made everything feel reasonable. This is definitely a must-listen if you're struggling with short form video!

I LOVE that you all loved Episode 20 because I think it can be a real concern for so many photographers. Mini sessions are my jam and so I loved breaking down so many strategies on the podcast all year long. But, when I first started doing minis I had almost no client base, so I walk you through my strategies to book out your mini sessions, even if you've got no clients currently. As we get ready for a new year, it's worth a listen. I hope it encourages you to give those sessions a shot this year!

I'm so happy that one of my earliest podcasts became one of the most popular ones! Episode 2 was a super fun one to record, too.  We put it out right before spring mini sessions hit and we were able to help so many photographers get ahead of the curve. We broke down a few easy things to do to make your mini sessions in the spring a success. And honestly, you can use the tips any time of year so go take a listen to that!

And now, drumroll please....

I LOVE that family posing was the topic you all loved most of all this year on the podcast! I know that posing can be a tricky thing for family photographers and I've always wished there were more resources for photographers on it. A side note - we started a YouTube channel this year and I've done some videos on this topic, too! Anyway - I'm glad to know you love all things posing and this episode is a great start!

If you missed any of these episodes, I hope you have the chance to listen to them! Thanks for making 2021 such a great year. I'm so happy that I've had the chance to get to know so many of you and work with you all!

Oh! Don't forget... if you haven't downloaded it already, I want to share my FREE guide with you: My $3K Mini Sessions Blueprint. It’s a step-by-step guide of what to do to make $3,000 on your next mini sessions. Whether you’ve hit that goal before or just want to see if there’s other ideas to try, grab this free guide. I hope it helps you reach new goals with your mini sessions.

+ My $3K Mini Sessions Blueprint

+Blogging for Family Photographers, Episode 34

+Instagram Reels, Episode 9

+Book Minis with No Clients, Episode 20

+Prepping for Spring Mini Sessions, Episode 2

+Posing for Family Photographers, Episode 6

+YouTube Channel

+Blogging for Family Photographers (3:26)

+Instagram Reels (5:15)

+Book Minis with No Clients (7:15)

+Prepping for Spring Mini Sessions (9:05)

+Posing for Family Photographers (11:06)

I’m so excited to finish up my Case Study of 2021 with you today! Last week, I talked about my accidental discovery - building an associate team. For this episode, we’re going to talk about how going full-time in my business went in 2021. This year, Daniel and I both went full-time in the business while raising two toddlers and moving to a new city. To say it was a lot is definitely an understatement. But we had a great year and I'm excited to share more with you!

But, before I get int all that… I want to share my new FREE guide with you: My $3K Mini Sessions Blueprint. It’s a step-by-step guide of what to do to make $3,000 on your next mini sessions. Whether you’ve hit that goal before or just want to see if there’s other ideas to try, grab this free guide. It’s jam packed with tons of great information for you! 

Now, onto the good stuff! When we moved to Nashville, Daniel (my husband) and I both went full-time in the business. I always thought I would stay part-time and keep my church job, but when our move happened… us going full-time kind of did too. And it turned out to be such a blessing: one we didn’t even know we wanted. It has been an incredible season to live in, with the freedom and flexibility to travel and do what we want. I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t an adjustment period, though. 

Before this, we’d had our kids in daycare since we were both working. Now, they were suddenly at home with us. And at the start of our move to Nashville, we were living in a townhouse. It was definitely cramped! Daniel and I would take turns being with the kids while the other worked, but it just… wasn’t working for our family. So, pretty early on, I decided to set specific work hours. I know that I’m a morning person and am pretty much useless by the afternoon, so I determined Monday, Wednesday and Fridays from 8-12 would be my work time. Whatever I couldn’t get done in that time, I outsourced. 

However, our kids were going to a drop-in daycare during this time. And it was wasting our time - we’d spend almost an hour round trip driving to get our day started. So that was pretty tough. But I knew right away, the set hours were HUGE for me. I was being responsible with my time and it helped me plan ahead. Once we moved to the new house, we kept up the daycare for a bit longer before we decided to look at hiring a nanny. It turned out to be the BEST decision. My kids were happy. I could work and step out and be with them when I had time. We finally found our rhythm! 

The other big change that came with both Daniel and I going full-time was our travel schedule. We kind of went a little crazy, I think. We were so excited because we just couldn’t travel before with our jobs. Now, all of a sudden, we were traveling a lot. We managed to photograph a lot of sessions and document them for Behind the Lens, my membership for photographers. But, it was a LOT of traveling in a little time. We quickly realized that we needed to be more intentional and give ourselves breaks when it came to traveling. That's a change we're making for 2022!! 

We’ve also had to learn how to work together. Not only work together but run the business together. WE’ve had to learn to set boundaries for family time and work time, as well as how we communicate about it all. I learned pretty quickly that I can’t turn off the business stuff. I’d be making dinner and talking about it all and he’d have to remind me I could stop. I’ve really learned how to leave it in my office and get better at outsourcing because of that! He’s also helped me come to terms with the fact that I need hard deadlines to complete work. If I don’t have those, I wind up holding up the whole team and no one wants that! Together, we’ve learned so much and I wouldn’t trade it for the world now. 

It’s been an awesome year. Overall, I've been just really pleased with how things have gone and we've learned so much and we're really, really excited for what next year has in store. I hope your year is ending well and you’re excited for 2022, too!! 

+ My $3K Mini Sessions Blueprint

+Behind the Lens Membership

Life in Nashville (2:17)

Finding a Routine (4:00)

Traveling More (9:04)

Learning to Work Together (10:45)

This time of year is so special because everyone’s looking back on the year and reflecting about what’s happened in the past 12 months. And so are we! For the next two episodes of the Business Journey Podcast, I’m doing a case study of my business in 2021. These episodes will be a little bit different than what we’ve discussed before, but I hope it inspires you to take a look back at your own year and celebrate how far you’ve come! 

Before we dive into all of that though, I want to share my new FREE guide with you: My $3K Mini Sessions Blueprint. It’s a step-by-step guide of what to do to make $3,000 on your next mini sessions. Whether you’ve hit that goal before or just want to see if there’s other ideas to try, grab this free guide. It’s jam packed with tons of great information for you! 

One of my team members suggested this case study and I have to admit I think it’s a fun idea. 2021 has been a huge year for us personally and professionally, so I think it will be fun to reflect on it all. Perhaps the biggest change for our family was moving to Nashville last November. This has been our first full year living in Nashville and being away from our families. We’ve grown our business living here. I know so many of you wonder about starting your business, or growing your business, when you’re living somewhere new. So I hope this breakdown is helpful for you! 

So my family and I moved to Nashville in November, while we built a house that wouldn’t be done until March. So in between, we were living in a townhouse. The first part of the year definitely felt cramped for space. It was an interesting season for us: two working adults and two toddlers in a small house. But we made it work. This was also the first season I was away from my long-standing clients in Dallas, so I had to figure that out at the same time. We managed to make two trips back to Dallas to capture mini sessions. It was kind of scary because when you book tickets like that, you can’t really change dates easily! So we had to commit to those big trips. It was around this time that I realized despite wanting to serve these clients, I couldn’t physically do it myself. That’s when our associate team came into play. 

I didn't want to turn families away who wanted photos! So, we discussed building an associate team in Dallas. If you're not familiar with what an associate photographer is, basically it's somebody that you hire and train as a photographer to shoot under your brand. The main photograph handles the marketing and client communication, editing, and delivery but the photographer is a team member. It was super helpful in the busy seasons to have more “me’s” running around taking portraits. Around this time, I also hired my first full-time employee, Bonnie. She’s in Dallas and I knew I wanted to teach her to shoot like me, so she became my first associate photographer. We quickly realized that we were going to have a super busy spring and were going to need more photographers, so in March, I actually separated my associate shooters into their own brand: Wisp & Willow Photography. 

In literally 24 hours, we put together their online pages, CRM systems, pricing, and brand. It was crazy. I just showed up on Monday and told the rest of my team we had a new brand. It was seriously a whirlwind but it worked out in the best way possible. Because we separated the brands, we could clearly market to families in the areas we had associates for - and it was such a good decision. Before long, we had the entire spring booked out for our small team. And that’s when I started to realize that this accidental discovery was one of the best things I could have done for my business. 

We fully expected things to slow in the summer, but they didn’t. Clients were booking the associate team for full sessions - maternity, newborns, extended family sessions… and it never stopped. When the fall came, we knew we wanted to offer fall mini sessions for the team, too. It was around this time that we realized that we may want to consider expanding the team into other cities. We began building a team in Nashville, in Houston, and just kept booking. With more Facebook ads, we were able to reach new audiences easily and keep our schedules full! In the height of the busy season, we had 12 photographers going. I mean, how crazy is that?! All from this accidental team. What a happy accident! 

Building an associate team - creating more of ME - has been such a blessing. But I want to be clear: we aren’t doing it alone. One of the other things we did right away for the associates was outsource their editing, too. Because of the extra help, we’ve been able to keep up with demand. It’s been incredible to be able to serve these clients who I wouldn’t be able to physically serve otherwise! Although building this associate team has been a whirlwind, we’ve learned so much and I wouldn’t have learned any other way! 

Going into next year, we’re excited to help our associate team grow with more intention. We’ve learned from the mistakes we’ve made this year and can’t wait to implement better workflows, communication, and team experiences. It’s exciting - we have no idea what the future will look like but, we know it’s going to be great! Tune in next week to hear more about my transition to full time in 2021 and how that looked with my family at home, too!

+ My $3K Mini Sessions Blueprint

+Wisp & Willow Photography

Introduction (2:13)

Moving to Nashville (2:35)

Associate Team Start (5:20)

Building a New Brand (8:37)

It kept going... (12:19)

Lessons Learned  (17:15)

As we get closer and closer to the end of the year, "goal setting" becomes a popular buzzword in the creative industry (and beyond). I'm a huge fan of goals so I wanted to share how I set goals in my business each year. Whether you love goals like me or  would rather not set something, join me on this week's episode. These tips might surprise you!

But, before we dive into all of that though, I want to share my new FREE guide with you: My $3K Mini Sessions Blueprint. It’s a step-by-step guide of what to do to make $3,000 on your next mini sessions. Whether you’ve hit that goal before or just want to see if there’s other ideas to try, grab this free guide. It’s jam packed with tons of great information for you! Now let's jump back to goal setting for your business!

Like I said before, I'm a goal person. I'm an Enneagram 3 and I just love setting goals because of it. Checking off lists makes me happy and I think that kind of is the same thing for goals! So today, I wanted to give you an inside look at how I set goals in my business each year. So let's dive into it!

Each year, I set yearly goals which are 2 or 3 overarching goals I have for that year. Then I also set quarterly goals. I do that each quarter at a time. So, I'll set my yearly goals and Q1 goals in January. There's prep work involved in setting goals. You don't just sit down and decide what to do. Look at what's been happening, what worked well and what didn't. I love the system that Lara Casey teaches with her PowerSheets! They break down the whole process so it's less overwhelming and I truly do see results year after year.

In addition to PowerSheets, I use Kat Schmoyer's printable calendars. She has a quarterly printable calendar and I love printing it, framing it, and using my dry erase markers on it each quarter. I think it really helps me break down my quarterly goal into smaller, reasonable chunks of focus. PS. We did a whole interview about how to plan quarterly for your business - make sure you take a look, she's literally the Calendar Queen! When I sit down and go through my goals, I make sure to update everything at once so I'm ready to start tackling goals.

When it comes to actually setting goals, I use a system called SMART goals. It stands for smart, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based goals. These are the lenses I look through when setting my goals each year and quarter. Basically, you want to make sure that the goals you set actually matter for your business and are measurable - this will vary goal to goal. But you want to make sure that you can actually SEE progress. Remember your season of life while planning your goals, too. That's something I think many of us forget. Attainable and realistic mean two different things depending on your season of life. And remember, you can always refresh or change your goals too!

One of the biggest lessons I've learned about goal setting is to be flexible. Each quarter, I take a look at what happened and what's ahead. This helps me refresh my goals. You shouldn't feel like you're stuck with the same goals all year long. It's actually why I don't like New Year's resolutions - they aren't flexible! Be flexible and kind to yourself.

That's a quick overview of how I set goals each year and quarter! I want to hear what goals you've set and how you lay them out for yourself! Are you using Power Sheets or a calendar? Or just a list somewhere? Now is the perfect time to sit down and decide what's on your goal list for 2022!  What do you want to feel this time next year and how are you going to get there? You've got this!!!

+ My $3K Mini Sessions Blueprint

+PowerSheets and Accessories

+Kat's Quarterly Calendars

Tools I Use (2:10)

SMART Goals (5:55)