Hey guys, welcome back to the Podcast. My name is Jena. I’m your host here, founder of Senior Studio Success and my signature business coaching program, Studio Secrets. Now that we have that out of the way, I am so excited to be here with you today because I just got back from one of the best weeks ever. Brian & I got in yesterday from a great trip to Orlando, Florida for my most favorite senior photography conference ever - SYNC.

If you listened to the last episode, I told you that I’d come back with a full report. So here I am & I also have a little surprise for you today too. This is one that you do not want to skip. So stay with me until the end.

Ok, if you don’t know about SYNC (use code JENNIFER5485) . It is an amazing conference focused on the world of senior photography. There’s also a big concentration on team & individual sports photography, so if you are in the volume world, this is a great opportunity for you too. This was the 15th year anniversary of SYNC & Darty & Michelle Hines did not disappoint. I never think they can top the year before, but somehow they manage to do that year after year.

The speaker line up was fantastic. All of the extra touches that they added were incredible, like always. I’m not going to do a full breakdown of the conference because I think you should just come see for yourself. Tickets are already available for next year at the cheapest price you will ever see for this conference. I’ll add a link in the podcast description & show notes for you.

Today I’m going to concentrate more on some of my main takeaways from things I learned from the speakers, from the conversations I had with photographers all across the country and from observations of other businesses. I’m gonna take a topic, riff on it for a few minutes, add in my perspective & then it’ll be on to the next one. These are in no particular order. Some of it’s heavy. Some of it’s light. It’s just my jumbled list of notes I jotted down this morning.

Figure out what really matters - to you and to your business.

Loyalty matters. Messaging matters. Brand matters. Mindset matters. Faith matters. This was proven to me over and over again from the time I got to this conference to the time I left.

We tend to forget what matters most in the busyness of business. But let me ask you this . . . what mattered at the beginning of your career? What really mattered on day one? Look at the things you are doing now. Look at the things you worry about on a daily basis now. Those are the things that actually matter to you now. Maybe it’s time to get back to day one.

Stop getting wrapped up in the nonsense of business. Stop glorifying the go go go. Take a few minutes to be quiet, remind yourself WHY you are in business anyway. If there’s something you’re worried about or something on your to do list that doesn’t align with that, get rid of it. Get back to the basics - your people, your message, your brand, your why.

Make the most with the time you have.

I saw way too many burnt out photographers this year. You are stretched way too thin. You are doing too many things that don’t matter. We only have so much time in a day, in a week, in a year. The way we spend our time is the way we spend our lives.

So here’s my question to you. Is the way you are doing business now, the way you want to live your life? No? Awesome! Hey at least you know! And here’s the best part - you have a choice. You can stop & change course. You sure don’t need my permission, but if it makes you feel better, here ya go!

Think about the things that eat up the most time in your day. Should you really be the one doing them? I won’t get into that too deep here because if you’ve listened for a while or if you are a student of mine, you know this is one of my big things! I hope you will pause to reevaluate your business & the way you have been using your time lately. THAT is actually time well spent.

Know your market.

I love a big sale just like any of us do. I love challenging myself to get better & better at sales every day. I want to touch on a tricky topic here. And I will do it in the most graceful way possible for me. I am known for sticking my foot in my mouth, so let’s see how this goes.

Double digit sales are so tempting to chase. I think we should all strive for them. I 100% believe they are possible and attainable. Here’s my question and concern. While yes, they are attainable, are they sustainable?

Here’s what I’ll offer up to the conversation that so many of us have had. While yes, they are possible for any photographer, for most (and I hate to break it to you) those sales are not consistently repeatable. Does that mean I don’t think you should go after them? Nope. You should. But I want you to be very careful about being tempted to build your business on that model. Here’s why . . .

This is what I was getting at when I said “know your market”. Don’t confuse what I am saying here. Please don’t take it out of context. Please, I’m begging you not to do that. Because I fully believe it’s possible & that you should push yourself & not make the “that won’t work here” excuses. Hopefully I’ve made myself clear on that.

But it all comes to this. In some areas it will be easier to get double digit sales simply because of the population size, because of the median income and because of the type of people who live in a particular demographic.

So before you go & change your business model, do your research. Understand what your market can tolerate and what your people value. That doesn’t mean just your city or county. You should be able to pull clientele from a nice hour radius. Understand your area’s numbers before you go changing yours. Understand your area’s people so that you know how to market to them.

Example: I live in the highest income county in Georgia. I also know these people. Very well. They value experiences for their families - vacations, nice boats because we are surrounded by the lake. They value education. They value competitive sports & are wanting those college scholarships. The majority live in modest homes here actually. They are humble, kind, and family oriented. Yes, there are outliers, but they are usually the ones on the lake with the entire back half of their homes full of glass to enjoy the lake views.

I’ll say this. Just because it’s possible a few times, doesn’t mean it’s possible all the time. I would rather have 40 $5000 sales a year than a few $10,000 sales. Know your market. Know your numbers. Know your people.

Yes, challenge yourself. Yes, get as much as you can. But be careful not to price yourself out of your market.

Stop worrying about what others think.

I’ll tell ya what. I’ll be changing some things in my coaching business and in my studio after this conference. I got so much clarity around a few things I had personally been struggling with. I’m so thankful for the conversations I had around the dinner table on the last night of the conference. Josh & Sam, thank you. I needed to hear some of the things you said more than you’ll ever know.

Look, I can get stuck in a rut of doing things the way I’ve always done them just like you. And I was worried way too much about what other people would think if I changed some things up. No more of that. I’m sure those thoughts will still get me from time to time. I am human after all. But I’m done letting that get in the way of my priorities.

So let’s talk about priorities.

We will have some overlapping ones. We will have some very different ones. I think more than anything this conference did was reaffirm that I’m doing a lot of things right. I don’t chase every dollar. I don’t work 12 months out of the year. Nights & weekends are still so precious to me because of who I get to spend them with. And I’m so thankful that I started my business out not working those hours. I know that’s not possible for everyone, especially the ones starting out with other jobs. But if you have the flexibility in your schedule, I would just challenge you to try it. If you are working those evening & weekend hours out of the fear that you won’t book the client, get rid of the fear. Because I know for a fact that it does work everywhere.

Here’s why I’m such a stickler for life priorities before business. Because getting off course just 1% can completely derail you over time. It will wreck your health & your family. Ask me how I know. I’m happy to have that conversation with you privately.

If you need to realign your business with your priorities, now’s the time. The longer you wait to make these adjustments, the further you will get from what matters most to you.

I will definitely be realigning some things in my business this month & get back on track with some things I let slip.

Identity matters.

This seemed to be a common theme throughout SYNC this year, and I loved it. Actually I think Darty was snooping in on my jump start class & made his opening night topic based on that so, thanks Darty. Haha! I’m kidding actually. What I think is so cool is how everything aligned so that we heard the things we needed to hear most.

Call it the universe. Call it the stars aligning. Call it a coincidence. I don’t call it any of those things at all. And I think because I know where Darty & Michelle’s faith stands, they wouldn’t either. You can see a God thing when you’re looking for a God thing.

So what am I talking about? Well, I called it WHO over HOW. Darty called it WHO before DO. There were several other speakers who touched on this topic too. It was a common theme throughout the conference and none of us had even spoken about our topics.

Who you are being in your business (and life) is vital to the success of your business. You have to show up like the person you are striving to be long before you are ever that person. And that takes making a decision to be that person every single day. If you’re one of my coaching students, you know this. I talk about it all the time. We have to make decisions like the business owner we want to be 5 years from now, not from your current reality.

Forgive me because I don’t know where this originated in order to give proper credit. But I do remember it having an impact on me when I first heard it. It’s the concept of BE. DO. HAVE.

You have to BE the person you want to be before you can DO the things that person would do in order to HAVE the things that person would have.

In photography terms, if you want to HAVE a six figure business, you have to DO the things a six figure business owner would do but you can’t DO or HAVE those things until you are BEING that person first. It’s kinda backwards. You have to work in reverse a little bit.

Here’s what it all boils down to for me personally. I might get a little preachy, but I hope you’ll stay with me here. “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind”. Does that sound familiar? If you grew up in church, I bet it does. It’s from Romans 12. To me, this solidifies what we are all talking about. Change starts in your mind. Mindset is so important that it found its way into the Bible.

Here’s the New Living Translation:

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

I’m not going to say much more than that, but this continues to prove itself true to me over and over again. I’m so thankful to be involved with a conference that aligns with my values. Thank you Darty & Michelle for not holding back & allowing us a place to come together to transform our minds, our hearts & our businesses.

Now I told you that I had a surprise for you. And I don’t like to disappoint. So, if what I’ve said isn’t enough to convince you to come to SYNC (use code JENNIFER5485) next year, here are some of my best friends to give you a little insight into what SYNC means to them too.

DON’T MISS MY SPECIAL GUESTS RIGHT HERE!! (you’ll have to listen to the end to see who they are!)

Obviously we have a lot of fun here too. I’ve known some of these guys for 12 or more years now. I’ve made lifelong friends that I will forever be grateful to SYNC for. I can’t wait to see you guys next year!

If you have any questions about SYNC, reach out to me on Instagram.

Have a great week y’all! I’ll see you online.