Hey guys! Welcome back to the podcast. If this is your first episode, please know that I am so happy you found this podcast & I hope you love it enough to subscribe. I’m here every Wednesday with new content & there’s plenty of past episodes for you to binge on!

Life update #1: We survived 2 graduations in one day! Brian’s son & my son both walked the stage on Sunday. It was a crazy long day, but it was a great one too. I only cried like 27 times too. Not too bad, right?!

Life update #2: I’m saying “I do” in 13 days!!! Yep, it’s on a Tuesday at an undisclosed location & I’m not giving you anymore details. You’ll have to watch my instagram stories to find out more ;)

Life update #3: I got a phone call I really didn’t like yesterday. The basement of the 1950’s house we’re flipping flooded. So, that has set us back just a little bit. It’s really more like a crawlspace, but it’s one that you can walk under & it’s got a few inches of standing water right now. Thankfully it’s not a finished basement, just concrete. But it is an issue that we’re having to tackle. Here’s what I’m choosing to believe. This is happening FOR us, not to us. I’m not quite sure how yet, but I fully believe it happened for a reason.

The good news is that trim & doors are in. Countertops are in. Flooring is going down. And then we can put the finishing touches on the inside. Landscaping & then a sign is going in that yard!

If you’re interested in that sort of thing, you can follow our adventure over on instagram.

Ok, I mentioned this on the last episode. I have some very exciting news coming your way. I’m not ready to tell you what it is just yet, but it’s something you’re not going to want to miss. So if you aren’t on my email list (meaning you don’t get the Friday weekly wrap up emails), get on it here: www.seniorstudiosuccess.com/heythere

Alright, housekeeping is done. Let’s get into today’s topic. It’s a question I’ve asked myself over the years, just like you have, I’m sure.

Why is it so dang hard to find people who actually value photography?

It’s frustrating, right? You create all the beautiful images, but nobody wants to pay you for them. They have to all be cheapos. That’s gotta be the problem, right? It has to be!

Or is it?

Plot twist. What would you think if I told you that’s not the reason at all why it’s tough to find people who value photography?

You might think I’m crazy. Well, I kinda am. But hear me out because I’m about to tell you the real reason.

You might not like what I say at first. But then you will.

Ready? Let’s go!

Here’s the thing.

What you look for, you will find.

This has nothing to do with your value as a person. Let’s get that out of the way right now. You are loved & valued beyond measure.

Sometimes we get it twisted. We take the no’s as personal rejections. We take the price objections to mean that we aren’t worth it.

You’ve got to learn how to separate your value as a person from the value of what you offer. And I know that’s tough because what we do is personal to us. We are creating it with our own hands and with our own eyes. It feels very personal to us when we get told no. But I just want you to be able to clearly separate your personal value from the value of your work.

You were created with purpose and your value as a person is immeasurable.

Now, let’s talk about the value of your offer, your service, your final products and why some people do not see the value in it.

I’m gonna share a story about a coaching student of mine. Yvette has been in Studio Secrets for a year now. She is an amazing woman with a heart of gold. She came to me because she was working really hard but didn’t have much to show for it. Her average sale was around $750.

We know how this goes, about half of that goes to overhead & taxes. So, at the end of her 10 or so hours with a client, she actually made about $300 for that session AND the beautiful images she created.

After being in my world for a little while, Yvette started understanding what I’m telling you today. You attract what you put out into the world. She was scared, thinking people wouldn’t pay her anymore than that. There was a lot of anxiety around pricing.

I know her story is not the only one out there like this. I see it every day. Maybe it’s your story too.

We just had our first Studio Secrets Awards this week & I was so happy to give Yvette the award for most improved average sale. This lady has increased her average sale by $3000! Her average sale is now over $3800!

You know how she did that. She changed what she believed about herself & about her clients.

Your thoughts create your experience. It all begins & ends with us.

Until you fully believe in the value of what you do, you will not attract clients who believe in it either.

Your beliefs come through in your marketing.

Your anxiety and doubts come through in your marketing.

Your marketing needs to feel more like “hey, I got you” instead of “I need you”.

We’ve all seen not so good marketing. You get that icky feeling just looking at it, don’t you? When you read the copy, you just feel a little queasy, right?

Guess why? Because the person who created it felt a little icky putting it together. There was doubt and fear over it. Doubt that it would land or stick, fear of what people would think. Anxiety over whether they were doing it “right” or not.

What we believe, we create for ourselves.

So if you want to easily find people who value what you offer, it starts with you.

I tell my kids this all the time. Control what you can control & let the rest just fall into place. One of the most amazing things we can control is our minds & the way we choose to view the world. So . . . .

Stop telling yourself that you don’t know what to say.

Stop doubting that they are out there.

Stop worrying that you are more expensive than your competition.

Stop stressing about what people will think.

Is your marketing about you? Or is your marketing about her?

Seriously, when you sit down to write an email, a blog post, a social media caption, a video script . . . what are you thinking? From what place are you creating?

Is it “gosh I hope this one gets a lot of views” or “I hope I can encourage someone today”?

Is it “oh yeah, wait until they see badass images” or “I hope she sees what everyone else sees in her today”?

Is it “ugh, I’m so over instagram” or “I hope she feels understood and seen today”?

We talked about this topic on one of our recent coaching calls in Studio Secrets. Marketing is not about you. It’s not about proving yourself. Marketing is an act of service and an act of love. Marketing is about making someone feel a little bit better than they did before they came across your content.

Provide value. Make it about them. And begin to believe more in the value of what you offer. Finding clients who value what you do is that easy.

My hope in putting this out into the world today is that you’ll believe just a little bit more in what you do & why it’s so important.

You are valuable. What you do matters. You are making a difference and an impact on these kids’ lives.

Think about it for a minute. You are showing them that it’s possible to run a sustainable business and have fun while you’re doing it. How cool is that?

You get to speak life into them at their sessions. You get to be someone who listens, someone who encourages them, someone who can show them how valuable they are & create beautiful & powerful images that shows them how we see them, how their parents see them, how God sees them.

That, my friends, is invaluable.

Believe it. Believe it so much that it shows up in the way that you talk, the way that you create social media, the way that you write your instagram captions, the way that you record your reels. That’s how you find people who value photography.

The beautiful thing is that you can take ownership of this! It doesn’t happen overnight. But little by little you can shift the way not only how you view & value your work, but how your clients do too!

I said it last week & I’ll say it again. Let this be the year that it’s different.

Let this year be the year you start believing in yourself, in the value of what you offer & in your clients.

Let this be the year for more free time with your family, more date nights, more fun days with your kids, more lazy Saturday morning breakfasts around the kitchen island, more throwing the ball in the backyard, more weekend adventures, more impact on the people you want to help in life because you have more money and capacity for it.

Let’s work together NOW to start making this shift so that this year can be vastly different for you 💗

If you are ready, send me a DM that says “help me please”. I will know exactly what you are talking about, and we will get to work.

Let me know that you were listening today. If you had any aha moments, I want to know what they were. My DM’s are always open. If you have questions about how to work with me, I am an open book. And I do love it when you share! Your sharing is why I am able to continue this podcast every week. You leaving a review - HUGE! Thank you for the ones who left them last week. I appreciate you so much! My goal is to help you & photographers just like you build more profitable, productive & purposeful businesses so that you can spend more time doing what you love with the ones you love. That begins for so many right here on this podcast.

Ok. Let's continue the conversation over on the Senior Studio Success Facebook Page. Or you can send me a DM over on Instagram. Have a great week y’all!