Poll: working way too much for way too little left over at the end of the year / you are doing everything yourself / up all night editing

If you’ve been listening to the podcast for a while and if you are listening in real time, you know we are right in the middle of open enrollment for this round of Studio Secrets. Doors close for this round on Tuesday, March 28th.

What I help photographers do is create businesses that run like a machine. I’ve been doing this for 18 years now & my studio is set up with simple systems that allow me to go do more of the things that I love to do with the people I love.

Brian & I actually bought an investment property in Atlanta last week that we are going to fix & flip. We couldn’t be more excited to start this little adventure. How in the world do we have the time to take on a project like that? Well, I have a business that pretty much runs itself now. I’ve built the machine.

Owning a business shouldn’t consume your life. You didn’t start a business to just keep being an employee. If you are doing everything yourself, you don’t have a business. You have a job.

I am gonna go out on a limb here & guess that you want to be living more life than being inside your business all hours of the day and night.

So today I’m going to help understand what it takes to build that machine & offer you an opportunity to make a decision that could completely change the way you do business from here on out.

Let’s go here first . . .

WHY DO YOU WANT THE MACHINE?

The machine has a ripple effect

It will impact lives

Your relationship with your spouse
Your relationship with your kids
Your health - physical, mental, emotional
The people you hire on your team & their kids

What does the machine give you?

Dinners at home together
Playing in the yard together
Date nights together
Going for walks together
Vacations

It gives you back your time! It gives you your life!

First you have to have a solid foundation. You need repeatable systems in place. Of course, you need some good marketing strategies. You gotta get your mindset right so that you can make the decisions a CEO would make so that you can move your feet into action. Without understanding how important it is to manage your mind, you will continue to be an employee. You’ll stay stuck there, paralyzed in fear, shut down, avoid the hard things, not show up. All the things you don’t need to be doing basically.

I want to help get you out of that & be able to move forward in your business & life with confidence in the decisions you make as a business owner.

I want you to think about the little local mom & pop restaurants you’ve seen that have come & gone over the years in your town. Most of those business owners start a restaurant because they love to cook & they love to serve people in that way! They are really talented. Sadly, a lot of those restaurants end up going out of business because they don’t know much about business. And they don’t invest in themselves enough to figure it out.

Most of them have no good systems in place to keep things running smoothly, keep them profitable & get bodies in the door.

Things aren’t working.

They crumble under the pressure.

They give discounts.

They make even less money.

They are exhausted.

They decide it’s not worth it.

They quit.

Sound familiar?

This is very similar to what I see a lot of photographers go through. Just insert portraits for food. You probably started your business because you love to create art, just like a restaurant owner loves to create a good meal.

Here’s how it goes:

Things aren’t working.

You crumble under the pressure.

You give discounts.

You make even less money.

You are exhausted.

You decide it’s not worth it.

And here we are with a decision to make - quit or figure it out.

Which one do you want? You wanna throw in the towel or do you wanna give it one more try? Hey, I’ve been at the point of quitting. I’ve cried on the floor. I’ve thrown my hands up in the air. You aren’t alone.

I just decided I had one more round in me. And thank God I did. I’m going to take a side road right here for a few minutes & we’re gonna finish up with what you need to create that business that runs like a machine. Stick with me. It’ll be worth it. You need to hear this today.

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Maybe you’ve had this urge or this nudge to dig deep into your business this year & take it more seriously. You’ve heard about Studio Secrets but you’re still a little confused by it. Maybe you know exactly what it is because you’ve listened to everything, watched all the case studies, read over the emails, hovered over the “sign me up” button.

Maybe you’re on the fence. Maybe you are doubting yourself. Maybe you think you should put it off until you’re ready. Here’s another thing I want to help you with today - making decisions in your business.

Anybody ever get stuck in indecision? I’ve been. I’m going to talk to you about making a decision on Studio Secrets, but this has more to do with your business as a whole than a coaching program I offer. I want you to be able to make quick decisions in your business every single day. And I’m going to walk you through exactly how to do that.

Today I want to help you make a solid yes decision or a solid no decision that you can feel good about. Today I want to help you get out of the land of maybe. You don’t need to live there with any decision in your life or business, not just this one.

So even if you aren’t in the market for business coaching, I hope you’ll continue to listen to this episode all the way through because it is going to help you in your business in so many different situations.

You need to be able to make decisions quickly in business, to be an action taker and put your energy where it is best utilized. I’m not trying to sell you anything. If you see the value in what I offer, then you’ll join me. If not, I’m here when you’re ready. I’m ok either way, but I want to help you while you are here right now, just like with every other podcast episode I publish.

If you don’t have any idea what I’m talking about, make sure you head over to www.seniorstudiosuccess.com/studiosecrets to get all the details about this 12 month business coaching program. There are some case study interviews on that page & you can also listen to the last few episodes here on the podcast to get a better idea of what it is too. I’ll be sure to link those in the show notes for you.

If you want to set up a clarity call to talk it through, there’s a link on that page to schedule one. I’m happy to talk you through it.

Fridays inside Studio Secrets we share our wins. Here’s a few things that happened this week:

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Here’s why I share them. These are their stories, not mine. And I want you to know that it’s possible for you too.

If you want wins in your business & in your personal life just like these, get in this room where your success is inevitable. I won’t let you fail & I know this group won’t either. You won’t find a better group than this. If you want accountability & support, look no further.

I’m gonna share with you the most common concerns and doubts that I’ve heard on the clarity calls, in conversations online & in my DMs. And then I’m going to help you through a decision making process.

I’m also going to tell you all about Studio Secrets, what’s included & what to expect from that program. But I’m going to start with a quick introduction to me & my work in case you’re new here.

I started my photography career back in 2005, although I don’t know that you could really call it a career back then. I was just learning what all those buttons on my fancy camera did & that aperture, shutter speed, ISO triangle. I bought my first studio in 2007, started concentrating in senior photography in 2009 & never looked back.

I still shoot, mostly because I love it. I love my clients, and I want to be deep inside the industry as long as I can while I am teaching. I want to know what’s going on first hand so that I can help you guys the best way I can. I work with about 40 seniors a year at a $4200 average & 10% or less COGS.

Back in 2018, I got the feeling that I needed to be doing more to help my photographer friends that I saw struggling a bit so I started a blog called Senior Studio Success. From that morphed an instagram course a few years ago, but I really didn’t want to be known for social media. The reason my social media was working so well was actually because of the systems I had put in place. And as I was finding more and more success in my own business, I began to develop my business coaching program, Studio Secrets. It’s grown over the last few years from 3 months to 6 months and now to a 12 month coaching program, that I am so excited to offer. It’s finally what I had envisioned & I love working with my students in that program.

Here’s what I think makes Studio Secrets so special. It’s not a quick fix course. It’s not a course at all, although there is a course component to it. It is 12 months of us together working on 4 key pillars in your business - messaging, pricing, workflow & marketing. And throughout that entire time I am going to be teaching you how to manage your mind and your thoughts as well as manage your time. If you don’t have those 4 pillars in place in your business, if you can’t manage your mind, if you can’t manage your time, then building a business is going to be very difficult for you.

I don’t do band aides on businesses. I want to help you fix it and build it - for good.

So under the Senior Studio Success umbrella, there are a few different components that make it up. The main way I get content out is here, through the podcast. There is also the blog at www.seniorstudiosuccess.com. Then there’s also the complimentary Facebook group I run with a monthly live.

All of these are just channels that I use to get you introduced to the concepts I teach inside those key pillars - messaging, pricing, workflow & marketing. And to get you comfortable and confident with me and my coaching style. So many of you get results just through these free resources, but the main way I work with clients is through my business coaching program, Studio Secrets. That’s where I get to help you transform your business into what you want it to look like.

I’ve mentioned creating a business that runs like a machine. In order to build that machine, you need some key components. And they all have to work together. It took me years to figure this out & when I did, I put it all together inside Studio Secrets, to be able coach you through each one of these components.

Here’s what it takes:

Messaging That Creates Demand
Pricing That You Can Believe In
Workflow That Delivers Excellence
Marketing That Fills Your Calendar
And you can’t do any of those well without the right mindset & strategies to keep you productive.
Productivity Brings More Balance
Mindset Builds Confidence (and keeps you consistently showing up)

That is what it takes, you guys, to run your business like a machine. It takes all of those components working together seamlessly. If one is out of whack, if one is leaking, if one is a little wobbly, you have a pretty clanky & not very efficiently run business.

So let’s talk about what Studio Secrets is a little bit more in depth, what’s inside and what you can expect to learn and implement.

Here’s my philosophy. You need these 4 main components of your business for it to work properly. Without every single one of them, growing a successful business will be very difficult. Can it be done? Sure. But you will struggle. If you have been at this for a while, but something just seems missing, it is probably one of these components. Let’s go through them real quick & then I’ll explain how & why things don’t work when you only have a few in place.

Messaging That Creates Demand: Some people don’t really know what I’m talking about when I say messaging. This aligns with branding, how you attract people to your business, how you build your audience base and get them to take action.

Under this pillar we talk about your ideal client, your why or deeper purpose. I believe that our purpose is in us, that we do not have this passion in us for no reason at all. I believe it’s put there for a reason & that it is more than likely our purpose in life. I also believe that our purpose flows through our work & that our work does not create our purpose.

Once you know & understand this, your messaging will start to get some clarity. Then everything runs through that messaging - every piece of your client journey, your brand goals, your visual brand, your website copy (which by the way, needs to lead a potential client to take action), your booking process and your consults - all are tied to your messaging. We work hard to get this all aligned and beautiful in your business so there is no doubt about what you do and why you do it.

Pricing That You Can Believe In: If you don’t believe in it, you cannot sell it. So many of you are afraid of selling. And that comes from some level of not believing in yourself or feeling like you aren’t worthy. We will work hard on that, if that sounds like you.

And you’ll learn your numbers - even if you aren’t a numbers person. We’ll set financial goals based on your specific needs and then you’ll figure out your cost of doing business and your cost of goods sold, along with what your hourly rate should be.

Based on all of that in combination with your messaging, you’ll choose the products you’ll offer and set your a la carte prices and build your portrait collections. If you use my collections, you won’t have to worry about selling at all. They are so easy that the client sells themselves. And then I’ll also teach you how to do in person sales and overcome objections in the sales room.

Workflow That Delivers Excellence: If you can’t provide an amazing and consistent experience, you will have a tough time getting repeat clients, referrals or any type of brand loyalty. So I’m going to walk you through every step of the client journey - inquiry, pre-session, session day, session premiere, post processing, order delivery and quality control. You’ll also have all of my workflow tools - magazine templates, email templates, workflow steps - to provide the best experience ever.

Marketing That Fills Your Calendar: The goal is to be booked in advance, right? Well, you have to know how many clients you need (based on those financial goals we talked about earlier), then how many leads or inquiries you need to get those clients and how big your audience needs to be to get those leads.

Marketing is a bit of a numbers game too. We will build quarterly marketing campaigns, start blogging and automating Pinterest, build your SEO & social media strategies, along with text & email marketing too. And because I know you don’t want to constantly be creating content, I teach you how to actually repurpose the content you do create.

Productivity Brings More Balance: If you bounce from thing to thing, this is what you need. If you have no idea what you’ve done all day, but you know you worked hard, you need this.

This is why I will teach you how to manage your time throughout the program, from developing your routines to batching & time blocking, how to run your own CEO day, my calendar system, how to properly plan your week, how to manage a project & tackle daily issues & how to take time off (stress-free).

Mindset Builds Confidence: I focus a ton on how to manage your mind and thoughts. This means understanding the role you should be playing in your business on a daily basis, setting boundaries & sticking to your non-negotiables, and how to value your time too. We’ll tackle all those money mindset blocks. I’ll teach you how your thoughts actually lead to the results you are getting & how to be more intentional with your thoughts. I will teach you how to coach yourself when those negative thoughts creep in. And you’ll hear me say it a million times . . . “trust the process”.

Now that you know what we’ll learn inside those pillars that I teach, let’s play a game, let’s put just a few together & leave some others out to paint a picture of what your business might look like.

I want you to put your hand up in the comments if any of these sound like you.

What if you had solid messaging & pricing?

You might be booking your ideal client & even getting good sales, but it’s an unorganized, frazzled mess behind the scenes. There’s probably an inconsistent experience because your workflow & systems are lacking so there’s no brand loyalty, no referrals or repeat business.

What if you had a good pricing structure & your workflow was on point?

You are probably getting good sales when you get them and you offer a great experience, but there are inconsistent leads & bookings because your messaging & marketing are off. This usually means you are not known for anything in your area & you’re definitely not the “go-to” senior photographer.

What if you had good workflow & marketing?

This is a very common one. You provide a great experience and you’re probably booking lots of sessions, but you are getting low or inconsistent sales. This is usually that all inclusive or shoot & burn photographer. This combination leads to stress and ultimately, to burn out.

What if you had good marketing and you had your pricing in place?

Well, you’re probably getting decent sales but you’re still having to hustle all the time to get clients. Something is missing. The inquiries are still inconsistent, you’re dropping the ball & maybe even disappointing some clients every now & then. It just feels like you’re all over the place & you can’t quite figure out why things aren’t working.

Ok, can you see why it just doesn’t work when you have a few of these core components in place in your business? Just like a table or chair, you have to have all 4 in order to have a steady & strong business. THIS is why the machine doesn’t run well. And that’s what I help you build inside Studio Secrets.

So that’s just a little bit about me, my photography business, Senior Studio Success & my signature program, Studio Secrets. We talk from the very beginning in there about your dream business. I believe we all have the ability to be successful and that there is plenty of business to go around. But you have to decide that for yourself too. If you are on the fence, if you are wishy washy, if you are letting all the noise and negative thoughts that creep into your brain get the best of you, then you need to listen to this.

We’re gonna get into decision making mode - how to make any decision in your business, not just Studio Secrets. But that is the one in front of you right now, so let’s go with it. And I’m going to take you through an exercise that you can use over & over again in your business (get your pen & paper out to take notes).

Let’s talk about the problem with being on the fence, the problem with maybe and actually making decisions, whether it’s about Studio Secrets or something else going on in your life or business and why it’s so important to do that for yourself.

Here’s the thing. If you have not signed up for Studio Secrets yet, you actually have made the decision not to. It might not feel like it, but that’s what has happened. You are in the land of maybe, kind of considering it, but not taking action on it. And what that does is burn up the energy that you could be using on something more productive and purposeful in your life. You are wasting all that energy on going back and forth in your mind. And I want to help you get out of that.

So let’s not put off that decision. That is just inaction . . . “oh, maybe I’ll do it later” sort of decision. It’s passive and not powerful in any way. I want you to make a powerful decision - either yes or no - and then commit to that decision all the way. If you were in Unshakable, we talked about this - trusting yourself. That’s where your power is. There’s a big difference between a passive no and an active no.

Let’s go back to high school or your early 20s. Heck, maybe even today. You’re dating. Let’s make it fun. He’s really hot. She’s . . . a dream. But pretend that you are not 100% in love with that relationship. You are still in it, but you are indecisive about whether it’s going to work out or not.

So, you haven’t made an active and decisive no to get out of the relationship but you also haven’t made an active and decisive yes to stay in it either. You’re just sort of there, not really putting any energy in to make it the best that it could be. That’s an exhausting place to live.

The energy that you could be using to find and build an amazing relationship is being used up by your back and forth indecision. What if you decided to stay and commit to that relationship? All that energy would come back & focus on the two of you. That’s powerful and that’s the difference between yes, no and maybe.

So, if your dream is to build a successful senior photography business, to create a business that runs like a machine, obviously I want you to make a powerful yes decision to join Studio Secrets. But if it’s not a yes, I want it to be a no. Do not stay in “maybe”. If you commit to no, then you can move on and put that energy into something else.

Indecisiveness and overthinking is exhausting and will suck the energy out of you. I don’t want that for you. Make a powerful decision and do big things. That’s what I want for you.

Maybe you just don’t know how to make the decision. I’m going to walk you through an exercise to make it easier for you because one decision really does have the ability to change the trajectory of your life, and I believe committing to business coaching could be one of those decisions.

Do not try to kid yourself, saying “I need to think about it” or “I’ll make the decision later”. That is a decision. You are making a decision when you tell yourself those things. You’re already making the decision when you aren’t taking action.

Ok, so there are 3 steps to making a decision.

Understand what your options are. And educate yourself on them.

So your options here in this scenario in front of you, are you join Studio Secrets and take your business seriously right now or you don’t join this round and you do it on your own. So write down your options and then answer these 2 questions:

What decision brings you closer to who you want to be, even if you fail? Don’t miss out on your dreams because you are afraid of failing. Guess what that is? That’s just failing ahead of time by not trying.
What is the best case scenario in 3 years with both options? Pretend everything goes great with either of those options you have - Studio Secrets or doing it by yourself. If you join Studio Secrets and get all 4 of those components strong and in place, what could your business look like in 3 years? If you decide to go it alone, what is the best case scenario there? A lot of times we look at worst case scenarios. Here I want you to consider the best case. Maybe the best case scenario for joining Studio Secrets is that you’re bringing home a steady paycheck of $60k, $80k or $100k a year by getting that machine running. The best case scenario for going it alone is feeling safer, not risking anything, not worrying about what people would think. You could potentially get to the same income level. I don’t know. It depends on your current business, your mindset & the level of accountability you need.

Did you write those down?

Understand what your options are. And educate yourself on them.
What decision brings you closer to who you want to be, even if you fail?
What is the BEST case scenario in 3 years with both options?

Ok, let me go through the little details of what it means to sign up for this round of Studio Secrets, then I want you to use that process for making that yes or no decision. If you still cannot make it on your own, book a clarity call with me & I will help you through it.

Here’s what Studio Secrets looks like:

12 months of group business coaching
THE COACHING: Twice a month group coaching calls
THE COURSE: in-depth modules broken down between those 4 components to build that machine - messaging, pricing, workflow & marketing + the mindset & productivity work to go along with it
THE COMMUNITY: A private Facebook community that is crazy supportive with everyone learning and implementing the same things together.
THE VAULT: magazine templates, model team launch plan, email templates, trello boards, workflow, consult & sales scripts, everything
The investment is $3000 for all of that - the coaching, the course, the community & the vault.
There are 6 seats available right now for this round.
And there are also payment plans - 3 months & 6 months and I just sent out an email this morning with a private link to a 12 month plan. If you need that to make it financially easier on you to do this, let me know.
You can join for $265 a month right now.

Here’s what this really gives you - the machine, the ripple effect, your time back, your relationships back, your life back.

So that’s it. Now it’s decision time. I’m not going to pretend that it’s not a big decision. It is. And it’s an investment. I fully get that. But I believe and know from the tons of examples and wins already inside Studio Secrets from my students, that you will get that initial investment back in sales over and over and over again.

Whatever you decide, I just want you to feel good about it and commit to it fully, whether that’s a yes or a no, just don’t stay on the fence.

Some of you are right here and you know that you are a solid yes. You’re going to get off this live, go to that Studio Secrets sales page and add it to your cart. And then you will completely freak out, pace the floor & question everything. Guess what? That’s natural. Wanna know why? You’re human. And you have a brain that wants to remind you of your past and keep you safe.

This thing is new and unknown. Your brain will throw out every excuse for you to stay out of harm's way, to not risk it. Guess what? That same brain has the ability to remind you of your reason why you said yes. So get ready for the freak out. It’s the same thing that happened when you decided to get married, to have kids, to buy that first house, to move to another state. It’s survival mode and it’s completely normal.

Here’s what I’m telling you. Listen to that yes and take immediate action to complete your decision and commitment to yourself. Trust yourself.

Concerns / Obstacles - these are just opportunities for growth in your life really.

Financial Commitment

Is it really worth it? I’m going to tackle this one head on. Yes, I believe it is 100% worth the investment. I believe you will get your investment back in 1 to 2 sales. If you haven’t watched the round table interviews, go listen to those photographers. They will tell you in their own words that you will get every penny back & then some.
Guarantee - If you do all the work & don’t make your investment back, I will give you that enrollment fee back to you.
Payment Plans - 3 month, 6 month, 12 month

Time Commitment

This will be like a semester of college really. There will be some tougher weeks than others. There will be some spans of time where you have to dig deep, stay up late or get up early to get the work done. Here’s what I ask of you - about an hour a day or 5 hours a week, however you want to break it up. If you can commit to that, you are going to be able to do this with no problem.

Doubting That You’ll Stay Committed

This comes up a lot. Why? Because you are focusing on the past. You are letting your past influence your decision. But today is a new day and I am a new coach and this is a new opportunity. I can see your activity level inside the course and I will check in on you. I won’t let you fail and neither will this group of amazing photographers inside the community.

Not Sure I’m Ready / Good Enough

Can we just acknowledge that we’ve all done things before we were completely ready? Probably a lot of times in your life, right? And guess what? You’re still standing.
And there’s no such thing as good enough. Everyone inside Studio Secrets is at a different starting point. You can never be too early or too late to run your business correctly. And we will work through all of that inside. Like I said, mindset is a big piece of this.

Ok you guys, I don’t think there’s another thing I could possibly tell you about this program. If you are still on the fence, book that clarity call as quickly as you can so we can get you to this yes or no decision.

Alright, let me know you're listening! I love knowing you guys are out there! Take a screenshot, post it & tag me in your stories so we can connect!

If you’ve found this podcast helpful for your business, would you hit pause & take 2 minutes to leave a rating & review wherever you listen? It helps so much with getting the word out about what we are trying to do here - create a better situation for all of us, pushing you to build a more profitable, productive & purposeful business so that you can spend more time doing what you love with the ones you love.

Ok. let’s continue the conversation over in the Senior Studio Success Facebook Group. I’m always up for a good business chat. Or you can find me over on Instagram. Send me a DM there. Have a great week y’all!