The 2 Secret Ingredients Any Photographer Can Use To Print Money Every Day

I bet you know a person like this.

Everything she touches turns to gold. When she starts a new project, it’s an instant success. She brings in more cash in a day then you’ve made in months. She celebrates by buying herself little “trinkets” – a new Rolex watch or a red Audi TT.

What makes her so successful? Is it luck? Is it skill? And how can we “drink” in whatever she does so we have a little of it ourselves?

While she may seem lucky from our perspective, she has something that very few people figure out. She controls her actions – and she does so very well.

What? I know, you’re probably wondering what action has to do with it. Here is why it is relevant.

Everyone wants money. And that’s where most people put their focus. They hate their job so they decide to start a photography business on the side to bring in their current income level. They focus in on that dollar number and they do everything they can to bring in that amount of money.

Now you’re thinking:

“Not me. I just love photography and I’m willing to shoot anyone who wants a portrait. Money isn’t the object. I need it to pay the bills, but I’m willing to take anyone as a client and do so regularly to make what I need.”

If this is you, what is the ultimate purpose of every client you bring in? Yes, you’re willing to take in anyone and everyone, but ultimately if you are in business, it is to bring in money. You have to have money to survive, and therefore you have to focus on the numbers at some point in order to bring in enough clients to pay the bills.

Your action isn’t in taking on a certain client. Your action is focused on the end result, which is ultimately bringing in money.

If you owe $1000 at the end of the month, and the only way you will make those payments is to bring enough business in, you aren’t focused in on the clients – you’re focused in on the money. If someone calls and asks for a modeling portfolio, even if you have never done one before, and they offer you a couple hundred to do it, you’re likely to take it, just to meet that $1000 goal.Secret Ingredients Any Photographer Can Use To Print Money Every Day

That’s the difference between your very successful friend … and you.

Your very successful friend understands action. She understands if she puts action on the most important thing in her business, it will bring her in business tenfold. So she does two things and she does those things very well.

1. Focus in on one client
2. Take action to bring that one client in

Rinse and repeat. Again and again.

If she is a wedding photographer, all she looks at finding are wedding clients. And not just any wedding client; a client that meets her specific requirements. She refines that target client again and again until she speaks to that one client so specifically, they hire her on the spot.

If a modeling client calls in, she says no. Even if she is short a few hundred dollars towards her goal. She knows that modeling client will cause her stress, and she won’t perform at her optimal level. Instead of spending hours with the modeling client, she spends the time honing in on a new wedding client. She’ll find that one client. And she will book her. Guaranteed … that’s how she became so successful in the first place.

She does this enough she no longer worries about money. Business isn’t hard to find; it pours into her every day. She’s recognized for what she does. And people think she’s lucky.

And she agrees. She just knows the secret.

9 Things To Do To Drive Your Photography Customers Crazy

I recently wrote a post 13 Ways To Make Sure 2013 Doesn’t Suck For Your Photography Business. I’ve been doing a lot internal planning with my own business for 2013, and I used that post as a trigger for all of you to start thinking about what you want the New Year to bring into your own lives. In order to stick with that theme, I’ve decided to run a “13 Days Of Photography” feature throughout December to help provide you with a ton of ideas and tips on things you can do for your own business starting on January 1st. Here is 9…

Want to know the biggest problem in the photography industry today?

Everybody is the same.

Yep, grab a cup of coffee and surf the web for a while. You’ll quickly find site after site built on a similar platform, or using a similar template, and the only thing that changes is the colors and the customers in the images. It all quickly blends together.

Of course you don’t need Internet access to see it. Head to your local wedding guide. Or pick up a high school newspaper advertising to seniors. You’ll see ad after ad looking suspiciously the same – only the names change, yet everything else could almost be a carbon copy.

What the photography industry needs now is massive disruption – something to make customers’ heads spin and make them really take notice of who you are.

Those photographers are out there. They are changing the landscape of photography as we know it. The only question is will you be one of those photographers? Or will you be one of the many left to blend in to the landscape?

1. Simplify, Simplify, Simplify

Apple. Whether you love them or hate them, you have to admit they have a good thing going. If you are PC, you have hundreds if not thousands of choices. Everyone builds their own PC with slightly different variations. You can get a tablet – you have many different choices. You can get a laptop – again, pick from a huge array of options. But when you choose Apple, your choices are simple. They usually come in threes and your choices are easy to understand. Want an iPad?  You can have an iPad mini, an iPad 2, or an iPad Retina. Once you make your selection, the choices are even easier. Wi-fi or wi-fi with cellular? 16GB, 32GB, or 64 GB? And your order is complete. Easy to choose. Easy to operate. What you expect is what you get.

Now look at your own options. Are you PC or Apple? Simplification can be your easiest way to attract more clients.

2. Reduce complexity

What does it take to do business with you? Do you have a lot of forms to fill out, meetings to attend, and choices to make? How can you create something that requires less time and less to think about? People are busy. Photography is supposed to be a fun experience, not make lives more stressful. Look at your process from an outside perspective. The easier you can make it, the more customers you will attract.

3. Change from the inside out

In many cases, your lack of efficiency isn’t something that targets the customer, its within your own production area. What can you do to become more efficient, giving you more time to spend with the customer? Research apps and find things that make your job easier. Find software packages that combine billing and accounting and production. Work to improve your processes from the inside out.

4. Make your products smart

In this ever-changing world of technology, what makes us more efficient is having things done for us. Think about it for a moment. Don’t you hate buying a new toy, only to discover you don’t have the right batteries to operate it? You have to stop everything and run to the store to complete the project – 30 minutes of time you may not have had. The same holds true with your photography. What if every image came fully framed and ready to hang? What if they came with a hanging kit – hammer, nails and level included? What if you personally went to a client’s home and hung the image for them? Now that’s smart thinking. [Read more…]

26 Ways To Generate Business Into Your Photography Studio

Want to grow your business? Take action. And if something hasn’t worked in the past, try something new. Here’s 26 things you can do to start taking action today, and start bringing in the leads.

1. Submit your stock images to one of the many online stock agencies such as IStockPhoto. Stock companies allow you to build a bio page, and list links to other sites and information. Use this to selectively promote yourself to people that enjoy your work.

Ideas for your photography business - helping you grow your studio

image source

2. Send a press release to your local paper submitting a story idea. Newspapers, television, and radio shows are always on the lookout for a good storyline. Provide them with a story that’s relevant to the season, and makes for good news.

3. Visit a local networking group and offer to photograph the group for the website. Many of today’s networking groups have a website to promote their services. Adding photographs provide a personal touch, and will allow you to capture attention as a photographer. Better yet, offer to take Facebook photos of the individuals. Check out my One Great Idea – Meet Neil Creek to find out how he grew his business with Facebook photos.
[Read more…]