Business

Ep 158. Increasing Your Profit as a Photographer

I'm Ashley!

My mission at The Purpose Gathering is to help driven momtogs like you level up, so you can build a sustainable business AND a fulfilling family life. I do that through authentic brand photography and my signature program for mompreneurs: The Efficient Mompreneur.

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Are you ready to turn your passion into more profit?

Did you know that running your photography business efficiently can significantly boost your profits?

It’s really time to cut through all that clutter and really streamline your finances, from slashing unnecessary expenses to stepping into your role as the CFO.

I’m going to offer you some strategies that will help you skyrocket your earnings and put more profit back in your pocket.

I’ll also share insights on the art of raising your prices and implementing a client loyalty program that helps your clients keep coming back for more.

This Week’s Voxer Question: Are you struggling right now when it comes to being profitable in your photography business?

Ways That You Can Increase Your Profit As A Photographer:

#1: Reduce Your Overhead Costs

This might seem super simple, but it’s really important that you identify and cut out any unnecessary expenses in your business, and that will obviously improve your bottom line.

Make sure to check out episode 156 of the podcast, where I share my favorite bank to use for business, how to invest your money, and more!

The episode talks about 4 things I think you should invest your money, in this order.

  1. Education
  2. Software
  3. Gear
  4. A team.

Those four things are really crucial and important when you are growing and scaling a photography business.

2. Create Systems and Workflows

You might be asking yourself how a system or a workflow can make you more money. But actually, what it does is it saves you time, which in turn makes you money.

So it’s really important that when you are thinking about profitability as a photographer, you’re always thinking about your time investment.

When we’re creating systems and workflows, it’s important that we streamline every part of our business.

There are so many different systems that we could talk about, but I think that there are a few that are really important.

  1. An Efficient Client Onboarding – Make sure to pair personalization with your automation! This is all about creating the whole client journey and what different checkpoints you’re going to need to provide information for them

The less you have to think about each of these steps along the journey, the better. You want it to become automatic, and you want it to be rinse and repeat from client to client so that your brain doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel every time.

2. Consistent Editing Workflow- This is one of the things that I hear the most from my students is that they are struggling with.

We are not photo editors as our first primary job, we are photographers.

And although photo editing comes with that, really, we have a lot of other things that we are responsible for. And so, photo editing is one of those first things that you can really start to outsource.

3. Your Marketing Campaigns- Are they effective?

What do you need to do in order to keep steady flows of leads and steady flows of actual booked clients coming through your doors?

3. Evaluate Your Time

Make sure you’re evaluating your time, and you’re actually making sure that you’re spending your time on the right things.

For example, if you are noticing that you’re spending a lot of time on social media, but a lot of your leads are not coming from social media, then maybe you need to reallocate your time.

My favorite time-tracking tool is Toggl. Download the Google Chrome extension to track your time!

4. Raise Your Prices

This one is pretty simple. But sometimes you have to really evaluate your pricing structure and consider if increasing your rates would actually reflect your expertise and the value that you provide.

My rule of thumb is, if you’re getting so busy, that you’re starting to burn out, or you’re just realizing that you are booking so many clients, it’s time to raise your prices.

Naturally, when you raise your prices, you go into a different level of buyers, and then you are going to be working less, but still making more or the same sometimes when you’re first kind of transitioning.

Another reason you might consider raising your prices is if you’re not able to pay yourself, which I’m happy to chat through with you.

5. Get More Clients

My recommendation for getting more clients is to keep showing up consistently so people remember that you are in business.

Next, think about implementing a loyalty system, or a loyalty program that would get your clients to help you do some of the marketing for you.

I personally like to send a gift card as a thank you.

Taking that extra time to reach out and say thank you goes such a long way.

Finally, have something to promote each month.

I’m not saying that you need to have mini-sessions each month but just have an idea of what you’re promoting. And then how have some sort of incentive to offer to increase your bookings.

Next Steps:

I actually have a Get More Clients Workshop!

During this 90 minute workshop I talk to you about my long-term marketing strategy for how to consistently bring in qualified leads, and then how to convert them into paying clients.

I give you my top strategies for booking clients right away. I also give you lifetime access to this workshop. So you can just refer back to it at any time. And then I have a bonus get more clients speaker panel.

I’d love for you to check it out!

Resources:

  1. Get More Clients Workshop – Learn to love marketing with an easy to follow strategy to consistently bring in new qualified leads.
  2. Join the Waitlist for my Free Masterclass, The Profit Shift: 3 Strategies to Optimize Your Limited Time and Maximize Your Revenue as a Mom
  3. Message me on Voxer
  4. Have a question for me? Or a specific struggle you’re dealing with? I’ll address your question on the podcast. Submit your ‘Ask Ashley’ question here
  5. Looking for tips and strategies for making motherhood and business easier? Join Our Free Community – The Organized Mom Photographer
  6. Need support managing your time well and creating systems to streamline your Photography Business? Join the Efficient Mom Photographer (12 Week Group Coaching Program
  7. Local to Gilbert/Mesa Arizona (For Mom Business Owners) Join our in person membership community

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My mission is to help fellow mom business owners experience success in business and in motherhood. As an Arizona brand photographer for mompreneurs, I’m passionate about capturing authentic images that show off my clients’ unique personalities so they can connect with their ideal clients. And as an online business coach for mompreneurs, I LIVE for helping mamas experience incredible transformations that help them build a business they love, without sacrificing their precious time with their littles.

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