Last week after my shoot was over, my client was full of praise and told me that the agent who referred him (he’s an actor), had 3 photographers on his recommended list.
He said, even though I was the most expensive, he picked me, not only because he liked my photos, but because I was the most professional.
The fee for his session was $1,095.
I’m not telling you this to boast.
My point is that there’s something to operating and behaving like you’re a legitimate business instead of just going around collecting money for taking pictures– something I too am guilty of doing when I was younger.😬
Years ago, I remember being at a cafe with someone I was dating and a client called saying he’s right around the corner from my house and he was wondering if he could pick up his proofsheets.
If you don’t know what a proofsheet is (oh you yungon)… it’s like a web gallery but printed from negatives on photo paper in the dark room.
So I interrupted my date, which incidentally was right around the corner from my house too, ran over to meet my client, handed him his proofsheets and ran right back.🤷🏼♀️
And then I got an earful. You see, my date also happened to be a business owner but he was older and the wiser.
He explained to me boundaries and professionalism. And among other things, that my business should have business hours.
And the light bulb💡 went off. From there on, I changed everything.
I even changed accountants! Because my accountant was playing small. He was encouraging me to continue making my money in cash and not take checks or credit cards.
He saw me as a girl with a camera going around taking pictures for money. Probably because I gave off that vibe!
I wanted to grow and somehow I knew that playing small would keep me small.
Giving my clients the ease and ability to pay by credit card would *HELP ME* grow bigger, not cost me more money.
The guy I was dating also helped me get on Quickbooks 👈 coupon code, the accounting software to organize my business and taxes.
With the changes I made, I saw first hand, how the more I behaved like a business, and the less I behaved like taking pictures in exchange for money was a casual pastime activity, the more money I made.
Because there’s credence to professionalism.
Your clients will give back what you put out. They’ll treat you casually if you present yourself casually. In fact, I’d make the case that you’ll attract casual people who don’t want to pay your worth IF you put out casual vibes.
But I really went off on a tangent here… back to my client.
So this was his journey into my world.👇
He emailed me asking for prices and had some really specific comments about the direction he wanted to go.
I emailed him back a value based response (selling my value first, before revealing my prices), with an easy link to book a session, should he choose to move forward and I addressed and acknowledged his comments.
I think my email being super pro (cuz it’s a template I personalize each time, see below) with all kinds of information, questions answered in advance with an easy link to book, sealed the deal.
But his experience prior to the shoot didn’t end there.
He had questions after booking with me and wanted to hop on a call. He asked me when I’m available.
In response, I sent him a link to book a call with me. That link allowed him to access my calendar and to schedule a call without the back and forth of trying to coordinate our schedules.
To him, I made the process smooth and that was worth paying $1,095 for with no regrets.
And what makes this process go so smoothly for my clients only costs me $37 a month using 17Hats as my CRM. 👈Discount link!
✅ So if you haven’t yet leveled up your business practices, start with step one. Create business hours and don’t let clients interrupt your date.
✅ Then, get on accounting software like Quickbooks so you can take credit cards and account for all your sales in one place (even if you collect money from multiple sources).
✅ Use a CRM like 17Hats for automation tools to save you time but also to make you look like a pro and give your clients another reason to book with you.
Don’t make money, or lack of it, be the excuse for not leveling up your business. Because you’ll only make more money IF you level up.
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