There there, poor, sad, neglected blog, I know you’ve missed me. I’m back, and its time to get you all caught up.
Back in March, I held a Lucky Birthday Sale to kick off my last year as a twenty something, and because I’m convinced this is the year my business will finally start to really take off. Nearly 20 families signed up for portraits within 24 hours, and just like that my next three months were booked solid with shoots, sales appointments, editing and deliveries. And when I say solid, I mean SOLID. I was shooting every single day for all of March, 30 working days in a row, and I was sleeping maybe 3-4 hours a night for the entire 3 months it took me to complete all the shoots and orders. By the end of it I was thrilled to have met so many awesome new clients, but oh man was my body run ragged. I happen to have 4 different GI disorders, so lack of sleep and high stress meant I was getting ill (let’s leave it at that) nearly every day for all of April and May.
Now, in retrospect, and after plenty of rest, I have no regrets. I do have some ideas about how I can make my clients’ experiences with EBI even better.
One of the motivations for my sale was to gather feedback during in person ordering sessions. I wanted to know if it was genuinely helpful to visit people in their homes after their shoots to review the images and choose which photos to keep. I also wanted to see what my target market was willing to spend on portraits, and which printed products were the most popular. Fortunately, this turned out to be a very informative exercise.
And so, without further ado, here are 7 things I learned from the busiest 3 months of my life:
1. There’s a very good reason the minimum turn around time most pro photographers promise is 3 weeks. I told people 10-14 days, not thinking I would have nearly as many bookings as I did. I was working seven days a week, just as many hours as humanly possible, consuming wayyyyyyy more coffee than my stomach could tolerate, and still every order was completed the day or night it was due with not a moment to spare. I wasn’t willing to compromise on editing time or quality, and so there was simply no time to sleep. Never again. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. From now on, my official turn around time is approximately three weeks.
2. People almost always bought more images than they planned to. In some cases, clients told me they expected to end up with just a couple of shots to frame on the wall, but ended up loving 20-30 pictures enough to keep and pay for them. This is good news for me and my clients. It means I can afford to lower my shoot fee, with the confidence that most people will choose to buy more images than the bare minimum.
3. Photographing multiples is pretty cool, and something that might just become a specialty of mine. My dad is a twin, some good friends of mine have twin daughters, and I had the pleasure of working with I think 10 sets of twins in the first half of 2014. There’s something so unique and beautiful about the relationship that twins have, its kinds of fascinating to see it in action. I would love to collect enough twin portraits to make a book someday. Secretly, I kind of hope the old “it skips a generation” thing is true… maybe one day I’ll have twins of my own. Can you imagine how many photo shoots there would be???
4. Making a client pay for rush processing is not mean, on the contrary, it ensures that other clients get their orders on time. I didn’t ask any of my lucky birthday sale clients to pay extra for rush processing. And wouldn’t you know it, the majority of them had some kind of deadline in mind for the photos that was less than 10-14 days. I recall Mother’s Day was a big one. Because I already had deadlines scheduled every day, when somebody suddenly e-mailed with a request, it meant I was scrambling to get everything done on time. I had to push regular orders back a day or two, then pay the printer for rush fees (up to 50%) out of my own pocket to stick to the delivery dates I originally promised people. A good chunk of what little profit I made on printed products disappeared in those missed rush fees.
5. I need to get a Square reader so I can accept credit cards on the go. I looked into it years ago before it was a common product in Canada, but nowadays I hear from other local vendors that its very reliable, and totally worth it. Up until now, clients needed money in the bank to pay for portraits via e-transfer, cheque, or cash. With Square, clients will be able to pay using credit no matter where our session occurs.
6. People are hesitant to commit any amount of money to a shoot before they know what their images look like. They also don’t want to waste time wading through 20 different package options. There are so many factors that need to align for the perfect portrait shoot: well rested participants, clear skin, good naps, snacks on hand, bad hair days, it can be nerve wracking! Better to pay just a little upfront, knowing you’ll get a handful of good images for sure… and then go from there depending on how well the pictures turn out. Beginning fall 2014, you’ll see new, simplified EBI portrait packages that make life easier for clients.
7. In person ordering sessions save a lot of time in the grand scheme of things. It really does speed things up to go through the proof images together, pick out which ones should be edited, and discuss products tailored to your shoot, face to face. An hour long session is often 3-4 times faster than you trying to make all the decisions yourself, and e-mailing back and forth until your order is confirmed. Its also the best way to ensure that clients end up with actual tangible printed memories at the end of our time together. In some cases, when clients live a ways away from me, it will still make sense to send proof galleries via the Internet and submit orders online. For local families, I’m going to continue to recommend the in person ordering session as a follow up to every shoot.
And so there you have it, seven lessons learned. Although they aren’t the only seven lessons I learned.
Working my tail off for the first 3 months of my 29th year also helped confirm something else for me: this is what I am supposed to be doing with my life. I know I have room for improvement as a photographer, and especially as a business owner. I also know that nothing feels as good as seeing somebody’s face light up when they see their own images for the first time. I’m good at making people feel comfortable being themselves in front of the camera, and the smiles I’ve captured are genuine. I think I’m on the right track.
