Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Elizabeth Solaru is a luxury cake designer. And today we're going to talk about how you can get those high end clients too.
You're listening to sustainable photography, a podcast all about business tips, inspiration and confidence building. I'm Ingvild Kolnes, the host of this podcast. And after over a decade as a photographer, I now help talented photographer run sustainable businesses. And for full transparency, you should know that I'm a mentor with paid offers, and I will probably mention some of those in this episode.
[00:00:38] Speaker B: Hi, Elizabeth. I am so excited to have you here on the podcast. How are you?
[00:00:43] Speaker C: I'm very well, thank you. Thank you so much for having me. I'm very, very excited to be here. And today of all days, it's actually quite warm in the UK. Yay.
[00:00:53] Speaker B: It is here in Norway as well. It's a proper the middle of summer, even like a really great middle of summer day.
[00:01:02] Speaker C: Same here. And they said it's going to be 32 degrees tomorrow, so we know everything is going to come to a standstill. Wow.
[00:01:09] Speaker B: Okay. Yeah. Because that's not bad for September, is it?
[00:01:13] Speaker C: Yeah, not bad at all. Not bad.
[00:01:15] Speaker B: Yeah. Perfect. So I want everyone to get to know you better, and I want to get to know you better myself as well. So why don't we just start there? You just tell us more about you and what you do.
[00:01:27] Speaker C: Right. I'm Elizabeth Salaru and I'm a cake maker. I work in the UK, but prior to me being a cake maker, I was actually a scientist. I was a microbiologist, and I worked in a hospital for several years doing research, diagnostics, et cetera. And then I just remember one day thinking, I don't want to spend the rest of my life being a lab rat. There are so many things out there for me to do. So I decided to do an MBA. And after my MBA, I got a job in the city as a headhunter. And I was recruiting very high end chief executives, directors, chairman. It was a complete difference to completely different to what I was doing before. So I did that also for a number of years. And then the recession hit around 2008 or thereabouts, recession hit. And I said to myself, if I don't make the move now, I'll never do it. Plus, it was a milestone birthday, a couple of other things. So I decided to set up my own company in the middle of recession. And that's how Elizabeth Cake Emporium was born.
[00:02:41] Speaker B: Yeah, that sounds a little bit scary, but I'm glad you did.
[00:02:46] Speaker C: Same.
And I remember those early days so well because obviously I had no money, I had a second hand mixer and I had to make this work. So I remembered what they trained us to do when I was a headhunter. So we had to make 100 cold calls every week. So these are people we do not know. We just had to call offices of chief executives or directors. And literally we had to get in and get a meeting. And I had no contact in the city, but somehow I never quite managed 100 calls, but I managed to make about 50, 60 a week. So I thought to myself, okay, I've set up this cake company now, maybe I should do the same. So I didn't know where to start, so I took the yellow pages and I started calling the numbers in the yellow pages, and that was how I got my first big break.
[00:03:50] Speaker B: Really? Wow.
[00:03:52] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:03:53] Speaker B: Okay. That's an impressive way to start.
[00:03:57] Speaker C: Yeah. And it was really surprising to me, as you can imagine, because I'd be hearing a lot of no's and no's and no's. And this number, honestly, there was nothing special about it. It was a generic company name. I remember that very well. A generic company name. I called at the other end was a very young girl. I could tell the voice was very young. And she said, do you make cupcakes? And I said, of course we make cupcakes. And I said to her, I'm actually going to be in your area in three days time. Would you like me to drop some samples? And she went, yes, please. We'd love to see them. So three days, I ran around. I got the most beautiful boxes that I can ever find.
The company. I still work with the company, by the way, and the company had just set up. It was just that lady by herself at that time. So she sent me a load of samples and I selected a couple, took the cakes to the company. But I was so scared, I just dropped the cakes and I said, delivery from Elizabeth. And I ran out of the door because I didn't want to know if they didn't like my cakes. I didn't want to be around while they were tasting and got on the bus, headed back home. And before I got home, I got a call from the company saying, lady Elizabeth would like you to come and see her. And I'm like, who's Lady Elizabeth? But I didn't argue. I turned around, came back, and it was actually Lady Elizabeth Anson, the queen's cousin, who was actually the first ever party planner in the UK. As in professional party planner. It was her. I did not know who she was at the time. By the way, I did not know anything about this, so turned around, she said, right, your cakes. Excellent. Love them. Love them. And she placed an order for about 200 or 250 cupcakes, I can't quite remember. And then she gave me a check from a private bank. I had never seen a private bank check in my life, but I was too poor to frame it, so I had to cash it straight away. And that's how my journey started. Really. That was my first proper big break.
[00:06:21] Speaker B: Wow. Okay. That's a cool story to have. That's really great, because you work with high end clients. That's your niche.
[00:06:30] Speaker C: Yes, absolutely. And I think what happened was I worked with her, and then I started working with a couple of other people, people who assumed, and this is sometimes a good thing. Now, sometimes the way people look at your products is different to where you look at it.
I had just started out. I thought I was not an expert or a professional. I just thought, okay, I'm still learning. That's always my thinking. But people were like, wow, this is excellent. This is great. This is amazing. But I was still saying to myself, I need to learn as much as possible. And because I love learning, I love studying. I was doing course upon course upon course. In fact, I went to America. I remember when I discovered Ron Ben Israel. He's a big name in the Cape world. I literally hunted him down. I then found Ron Ben Israel online. I badgered him, hunted him down, and then he agreed to teach. And he decided to teach in Savannah, Georgia, which is in the southern states of America. So I remember 13 hours flight, two planes, or something like that. And to me, it was the most magical time. And he was so generous. He was so lovely. And I wasn't the only one who came from abroad. There were so many of us and everyone in that class. I mean, some of the big names in cake making today, we were all in that class.
[00:08:05] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:08:07] Speaker C: There was just something magical about that period. So I was just learning as much as I can. And then I got another lucky break because I was asked to appear on a tv show.
There's a big tv show called the Bake off. Great British Bake off. This tv show was the one before. Bake off, same idea, bunch of cake makers together. And then we all competed, and then somebody wins, and I won three times in a row. Wow.
And I remember saying to the producer, I was just arguing with the producer. And I said, no, I'm an amateur. Go and talk to. And I gave his researcher about ten names of cake makers, because I didn't think of myself as a proper cake maker. But he said, no, I want you to be part of it. And then I ended up winning three times. Now, that was another highlight for me, but this is many, many years ago. So those were a couple of the breaks that I got into the world of high end weddings.
[00:09:15] Speaker B: Because if you work with high end clients, versus, I almost want to say, normal clients, there are some differences, aren't there? So what is it important to be aware of or kind of know about before you want to start venturing down that route?
[00:09:35] Speaker C: I think the only way I can describe it is the difference between, say, chanel and H-M-I don't know if you like a high street store. So it's the difference between a luxury store and a high street store. Now, sometimes it's not in the product itself, although I say to everyone, you have to have a good product.
But sometimes it's the layout of the store, it's the ambience, it's the fact that many people are actually scared to go into high end stores is the fact that when you walk into a high end store, the way the products are laid out, it's not crammed, there's just enough. And some are actually kept behind a special glass.
So it's all about that.
To be fair, many of my clients are what I call the aspirational luxury clients. So they're not uber rich, but they've saved up for a very special occasion, and they decided, okay, the cake is one of my top three or top five priorities. Now, that's a very important question to me, rather than are they high end? Are they not high end? I don't care about that. For me, what is the priority of a cake of photography, by the way? I think photography should definitely be number one, and that's because the photographer is the only person recording evidence of what happened on the day. These are your historical records for your family. So I always say to my couple, prioritize photography, don't make it an afterthought. So for me, the same with a cake. So if the cake is an afterthought, then it doesn't matter how high end they are, they're not going to value what I do. But if the cake is one of the key things that matters to them, then even if they're not so called high end, they will save up and they will be a lot more appreciative of the service that I'm offering. And in such cases, I'm actually willing to give the clients extra because they love and appreciate what I do. So that, for me, is the difference between when people say high end and maybe not so high end, but in the high end world, there are also differences. I think I identified about seven or eight different types of high end clients. And then when I broke it down further, because again, I'm a scientist, so I love scientific analysis. When I broke it down further, I was told that if we do cross combinations, we'll probably have about 137 types. But it's not possible to have all these archetypes in a book or in one place.
But my point is, every person is different, and it's not about whether they've got x amount of money or not. It's them as a person and how they react to beauty, for example. Or if they are aspirational or are they label lovers? Because some people love labels. So if it's not Gucci or if it's not this.
So if you've come across someone who's name dropping their labels, oh, I'm wearing this, or this cost me this, or this cost me that, as soon as people start saying that, I know the type, they are in my head and I know what to say, so I might say, oh, that's interesting, because did you know I did a collaboration with Fendi or I did a collaboration in Harrods? So when you say things like that, you are on the same wavelength, as opposed being modest, because with them, they're name dropping, because they're using it as a litmus test. Do you know these labels? Have you ever done. So the moment you say, oh, I didn't know, or I know the director, or I know this, or I know that they love that with them. Don't name drop too much, let them do the talking, and then drop in, oh, did you see, that's one type of client. And then you have the aspirational client. For example, the easiest way is, oh, I want my wedding to look like Kim Kardashian wore this dress. So, you know, they're aspirational. That's their idol. So you need at that level, oh, did you see when she went to the met gala and she did this, or did you see how she had just random stuff? Seriously. And there's stuff out there.
So that's how you begin to tell and engage with clients on a different level.
[00:14:29] Speaker B: Yeah. Okay. That makes a lot of sense. Definitely. And I do agree that it's a good question to ask, like, whatever service you provide, how important is it to your clients? Because it does make a huge difference. Or how much they value it. So I always pay attention to that when it comes to photography as well. Do they want this or is it just like another thing to tick off on their list?
[00:14:54] Speaker C: Oh, absolutely. I completely agree. And because the reason I absolutely elopement photographer is because I'm a hopeless photographer. It's one skill. I did courses, I bought the camera, I have a professional tripod. It's not me. There are times you give up and go, right? So when I see beautiful images, and the thing about images, and this is important to high end clients as well, is that one photograph can change your product. Just like that. The first time a cake of mine went viral, and I mean proper viral, as in 3 million hits and that sort of thing, really viral, it was a photographer. The cake. I mean, the cake was a cake. Don't get me wrong, it was a beautiful cake. But I'd say about five different photographers, including myself, had taken photos of that cake. But there was one photographer. It was the angle, it was everything. The light, even the styling. He had an idea and that went viral. And there was another cake he took because just so for me to prove it wasn't a fluke, there was another cake of mine that he took again, that went viral. So there was something there about his skill, extreme skill, his eye, the way he saw my work as a work of art. And not many photographers can do that.
And I say this, that they can take a good product and make it an excellent product, an unforgettable product. And that's what we're trying to pitch. When you're pitching to high end people, it needs to be memorable. The first time somebody described my cake, I said one word. She said memorable, because she said, no matter what. And she said, that's more important than excellent product. And I was like, wow, thank you. I know, right?
At the same time, that's interesting for me, photography number one.
[00:17:13] Speaker B: Yeah, I agree. It is really important. Definitely. But when you work with luxury clients, for example, how can you give them the experience that they are expecting?
[00:17:26] Speaker C: Right again, I always go back to luxury stores or a luxury hotel or a luxury concierge.
From the very first email, or from the very first time they approach you, so many people would say, oh, you need to fill in my form. You need to email us with your request.
I don't do any of that. Some of my clients, I mean, I had a client today. That's why I'm all dressed up. Had a client today. I had a delivery, and the client literally sent a whatsApp.
Half a sentence, if that. Something like, love that cake, blah, blah, blah. I was like, fine, don't worry, it's fine. But because they're a repeat client, I knew the drill.
I said, what time? My only question was, what time do you want it delivered? Everything else I sorted out with the housekeeper. But my point is that any which way your client wants to communicate with you, let them.
Don't be so precious. I've seen people go, no Instagram, dms or anything like that. And I understand sometimes some inquiries are a bit random, but let them communicate whichever way they want to communicate with you. I've had orders from Facebook, from LinkedIn. I've had orders from all randoms, to be honest with you. So let that experience be easy.
It doesn't have to be the most luxurious, but it has to be the most convenient. So let it be easy. And then, for example, one thing a lot of people, cake makers do, they post samples. So they might post a sample. But for me, I personally do not like that because I don't think it gives a rich luxury experience. So I do other things that make my cake tasting fun.
I could do a picnic.
There was one we did like a treasure hunt. I know. Weird, random. I know. But again, I let the client take the lead. Do you want me to this or do you want me to that?
And like I said, anything that makes life convenient for them. Some of them might not want to travel.
I've had some of my samples flown by private jet for a tasting. I didn't get the job, but I was like, so you'd be surprised at what clients will do. So my job is to make life as easy as possible and let the experience be as pleasant as possible. So that's what we're expecting, to be honest.
[00:20:12] Speaker B: Yeah, I agree. It's all about making it easy. That is really important. And it's often kind of forgotten. Like, we're so stuck in the way we do things that it's like we're not seeing it from the customer's perspective and seeing how maybe complicated we make it or how we could just make it easier.
[00:20:32] Speaker C: Oh, absolutely. And I think you've hit the nail on the head.
[00:20:35] Speaker A: It's a new year, and if you want to start the new year off in a great way, why not go over to ingridcolmes.com shop to find something that will give you and your business a boost?
[00:20:48] Speaker C: You are spot on. Because we are the ones. Because we're the service provider, we forget to be the customer. So there are times I ask myself if I was spending x amount of money on a dress, for example, what would I expect?
And sometimes we are also too much in our own world. And we use certain terminology that the client is looking at you like all blank.
And again, I'm also suspicious of clients who know too much of our terminology because I'm thinking maybe they've shopped around.
Maybe they've shopped around so much, maybe that's why they're mentioning certain things. And I'm thinking that's a bit weird. So again, too much terminology or too little terminology can be a bad thing.
[00:21:43] Speaker B: Yeah, I agree.
It's good to know who your client is so that you can meet them in the right way and use the right language for sure.
[00:21:53] Speaker C: Oh, absolutely.
And not just language sometimes, because language is pretty powerful. But I say to people, sometimes images, images are amazing. Just show them images or videos or something. Because a lot of people are visual learners, because that's why they say a picture is worth 1000 words. So if you know, okay, I might not be able to, if you're not much of a salesperson, because some people, they can't sell and sometimes you don't have to be a salesperson. But if you can have amazing images, then that would do a lot of the selling for you.
[00:22:35] Speaker B: Yeah, I definitely agree with that. I think images can in many cases be very underrated. So it's important that we show them and use them as much as we can. For sure. And when it comes to getting those high end luxury clients, what can we do to start attracting them and to book them?
[00:22:56] Speaker C: Okay, great. That's a fantastic question actually, because the book more wedding summit, my talk was actually on how to book more high end clients. So I spoke about, I think, three things that people need to do. First of all, make sure that you have a good product. Make sure that people can find the product. Because sometimes when I'm coaching, I still had an occasion like that. I went on the website and I could not find the product.
And I'm thinking, why is the product not on your home? Why is it not front and center? Also about you, you as a person, again, make it about them. Yes, a bit about you. Nice personal fun fact, but make it about them. So that's one. And then the third thing that I would say is when you've got the good product, when people can find your product, you then need to charge accordingly. If you charge too low, they'll be turned off. If you're too high, they'll be turned off as well. So you need to charge appropriately for what you offer. And then in terms of a lot of people asking, how can I find rich clients? How could I find rich clients? And I'm like, that is the wrong question to ask.
The right question to ask is, what is the most value that I've ever given a client? So think of the products that you have right now. Think of the most you've ever charged for a product. It could be five figures, it could be six figures, I don't care. Think of a product you can create where if you add another zero to the best price you've ever charged, you know there's a buyer out there. So create that product.
I use the example of couture houses.
Think about it. They create these amazing couture gowns that start at six figures, right? Knowing fully well that maybe only 100 women in the world can actually afford those couture gowns, but they, those couture gowns to get a moment, to get almost free advertising, et cetera, et cetera, to attract attention. And then how do they then generate the money? Via the lipsticks and the perfumes and the off the racks. However, the lipsticks are no ordinary lipsticks. So whereas maybe you might spend five pounds, ten pounds in an ordinary lipstick, they would charge you about 50 pound, 100 pounds for a lipstick.
So my point is, it's the way you position your brand.
So think about couture products that you can create, knowing fully well that maybe only one or two people might be able to afford it a year, but then use that to drive sale to the other pro. Because if you price that product, I say 100 grand, and somebody might think, oh, my God, who's going to pay 100 grand for photos? There are people who would do that. But 100 grand there and then your lowest product is about 5000 or 10,000 pounds, and then your middle product is about 25 to 50. People will start thinking that your bottom end is actually a bargain, so they'll more. So you're actually getting more for the same product, all because you've introduced a high end product at the very, very top end.
And I would say to people at that top end, give it everything you can think of. Whistles and bells, it will make your coffee, it would photocopy for you, make it such a bargain that people are like, wow, I wish I had 100 grand. Because that's the thing. Because I've seen people go from, oh, it's too expensive, I can't afford it to, how can I make this happen? How can I afford this? So you want to move them in that customer journey from, oh, not sure I can afford this, to, oh my God, I'll be an idiot not to buy this.
That is the whole point of creating that very high end, high value product.
[00:27:25] Speaker B: How do you do that in your cake business? What is your levels, if I can ask?
[00:27:32] Speaker C: Oh, well, I mean, let's put it this way. During COVID when NFTs were all the rage a lot of people get, I just decided, OK, I'm going to create an NFT and I'll make it a million dollars. Now I knew nobody will.
Who's going to buy cake NFT for a million dollars? Obviously it included me flying out to any country in the world to create the cake for you. In life size version, I added a few bits and pieces. I added a few. I collaborated with a jeweler, we added jewelry just to make it a bit more exciting.
Did I get any takers? No, I didn't because I knew I wouldn't. But I got a lot of interest from tech billionaires, AI billionaires, people who are very much into the software, who are like, wow, a cake maker doing an NFT. That's strange, that's unusual. And it was a conversation. So that's my point. So you can find ways.
You're a photographer. If you say to someone, okay, we're going to create the ultimate photography package, there's going to be ten photographers for the day. We will fly out to XYZ and we're yours for a million or 100 grand or whatever.
I think sometimes what worries people is they might say, oh, a lot of people would say they might make fun of me or they might think I'm crazy or blah, blah, blah. What if one person actually buys that package? Would you care if somebody said crazy, like you've got a million pounds in your bank account? Would you really care what anyone's. So I think sometimes we just need to take a few risks. It doesn't have to be as extreme as that, but just create that package. Create it first and you never know because then you begin to position yourself as another level. But you can still offer your normal box standard services, but you can then use that to position yourself into another category.
[00:29:34] Speaker B: Yeah, that's really interesting. Are there specific platforms that you would recommend to start getting those kinds of clients if you want to do more high end and luxury work? Or what would you do in terms of marketing?
[00:29:50] Speaker C: That's a very good question.
I'm actually writing a book. I'm hoping the book by the end of the year, early January, so I've literally listed where you can find rich people. Okay, yeah, I've literally listed. But in terms of platforms, believe it or not, rich people are on Instagram.
They are. But sometimes some of them are under assumed names. A lot of their accounts are set to private.
So a little tip, if you have a favorite brand. So, for example, my favorite brand is Chanel. Right. And what I do, I might go on Chanel and look through some of the comments, look at, pick out a name where if they comment, Chanel has personally commented back, or a couple of high end people or a couple of influencers, they have commented back on that particular name, then you know that's a high value person. That's a high end person. So you can do that. So that is a little tip, a tiny tip, because I have a section in the book where I've said, okay, even if you might be like me, as in I sometimes don't want to go and network in person, although the best way is going network in person, but sometimes I don't want to go network in person. So how do I find high end people? I promise you, social media, Instagram, LinkedIn. LinkedIn is amazing.
Yeah, because people's jobs are listed.
[00:31:36] Speaker B: But when you find these people, do you just contact them directly? Is that the approach, or do you wait for them to find you?
[00:31:44] Speaker C: Oh, no. Okay, so this is what you do. You can do it both ways, but you got to be very subtle about it. The mistake people do is a first date, right? So on a first date, you don't ask somebody to marry you on the first date before you've even gone out. So that's what many people do, right? That's what they do. So first thing you do, just be commenting. It can be a month, six months, a year of constant. Because remember, they're very wary, they're very distrustful because many people want to use them for money. So you've got to be genuine. If they are talking about an area of interest that you genuinely are interested in, and this is important, then you comment and you go. You comment and you go. If they respond, don't go all fangirl. Oh, my God. They respond.
Chill. If they respond. Thank you, thank you. But keep commenting. They need to see that consistency. So what? Remember, I used to be a headhunter, so this is what I did.
I did this like the back of my hands. So need to see the consistency. After a few months, six months, you can then ask a ten minute meeting, a five minute meeting. Would you be happy to jump on a call. I know your time is precious. And make sure, and this is important, again, if you get the opportunity, you do not exceed the ten minutes or 15 minutes or whatever. Let them be the one saying to you, oh, I've got more time. Let's chat. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So that's the entry level. That's like an entry level. And once you start talking conversations, there's one at the moment, I've been invited to a launch that he's having, et cetera, et cetera. Because we spent six months LinkedIn, just. He's been watching my post. I've been watching his posts. I agree with him sometimes. Sometimes I disagree.
And disagreeing is actually a good thing. But don't be rude. When you disagree, you can actually say, well, some people might suggest that otherwise. Or I've heard other people say, xYz, what do you think? Because agreeing, agreeing, agreeing. You can actually say, here's another perspective. Here's another point of view. Blah blah blah, blah blah. And then you start getting the meetings, and after that you might start getting the business. So that's my point. It's a nurture relationship.
I found XYZ on Instagram going from a first date to, would you marry me?
[00:34:37] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:34:38] Speaker B: Yeah.
That's really good advice. What about. Because I know that a lot, especially for weddings, it's kind of important to have relationships with, for example, planners and stuff. Is that necessary? Do you need to know planners? Is that the thing that's going to help you the most, you think?
[00:34:57] Speaker C: It really depends.
Many planners, especially high end planners, you got to look at things from their position. They want to showcase the best to their clients. So if you can have a relationship with a planner and you consistently show them that you are amongst the best and you know their work and you know their style, that is great. However, there are planners that would try different vendors all the time. There are planners like that. And there are planners that are loyal to certain vendors as well. So the ones that are loyal are actually great because just keep being consistent, being consistent, being consistent, and you may get an opportunity to work with them. Now, there might be a situation where you might not be again.
Every year there's always a new flavor of the month. The new it photographer or the it florist or it venue or whatever. And people go with the flow, our industry, I'm sorry, but sometimes we can be very fickle. People go with the flow. That's good in a way, because you then need to say to yourself, if these planners did not exist, would I still get work. It's not great to be overly dependent on planners, and it's not great to put so much pressure on planners either. So my point is, form those relationships.
Develop those relationships and nurture them. But don't put all your heart into that because I used to be a headhunter and I need to look for my own clients and not rely on somebody else. So I had to go out and hunt for my food, literally, because if I didn't get those clients, I didn't get my commission, although I got a salary. But you had your bonus on top of the salary, so I was motivated to go out. So the same way as well. I've actually been in positions. Yes, I'm a cake maker, but I've actually given planners work.
But don't be overly reliant on planners because they only do so many weddings a year, especially high end weddings, which take a long time to plan, a long time to get right. They're dealing with a lot.
Again, sometimes we put undue pressure on planners. It might be better to develop relationship with the venues, actually, it might be better to develop really good relationship with the venues, especially if you're a photographer, because you've got something you can offer them. You've actually got a skill. Because venues can never have too many photos, daytime, nighttime, summer, winter, springtime. So many variations that you can give them. So, yeah, that'd be my advice about that.
[00:37:57] Speaker B: Yeah, that's perfect. When it comes to working with high end clients, do you see that there are any challenges that you might want to be aware of when you work with those kinds of clients?
[00:38:11] Speaker C: Oh, absolutely.
Okay. I'm not going to give much away, but it's around expectations.
For some people, it's around expectations. For some people, it might be around respect. Like a mutual respect. I have been so blessed. I've never, ever had a disrespectful client or a horrible client. I've just been so, so lucky.
And maybe because sometimes I might turn them down before they become a client. So there's a way you can politely move them on to maybe somebody else. So expectations in terms of relationship, in terms of respect, and if clients are expecting, if they're paying a great deal of money, they're expecting you to solve any issues. So to give an example, I've been asked to take cakes abroad a number of times.
I will contact me and the venue, the director of events, the chefs. We will all have a meeting via.
Yeah, yeah. Don't worry, Elizabeth. Everything is fine. They'll give me the.
Because there are times I have to measure doors as well to make sure the door is wide enough in the cake, blah, blah, blah. And then I arrive and the story is completely different.
The first thing could be the chef saying, I haven't got any space for you in the kitchen, or it could be, nobody told me you were coming.
So again, I have to think of it from his perspective, because he's got 300 guests to feed morning, noon and night.
My little cake is the least of his problems.
So I need to think of a plan b. I've had a situation where he said, no, you can't use any of my cold rooms because they're full. He showed me and they were full. And I wouldn't want to taste a cake where you had salami and cheeses.
So even something like that. Anytime I go to a new country, I find out where the electronic shop is. So if I have to buy a fridge, I buy a fridge. I find out if we have to rent a cold van lorry, a refrigerated lorry when I arrive, because there might not be any room then even my hotel room. How far is it from the venue? Because they might tell, don't worry, we have transport. And then a sports car turns up. It happened. So it's just things like that that you need to be working with them. And I can't be calling the clients or even the wedding planner, because the wedding planner, it might be, might be trying to salvage the flowers that have suddenly wilted because somebody left the cold room door open.
You'll be surprised.
And also the higher end the event, and because there's so much detail, the more chances are for things going wrong.
So me, I'm the least of anybody's problem.
So I then need to say, okay, I call it my crisis management list.
What can go wrong? For example, the cake table. What if it collapses? And that's near me before, where the venue set up the table and we placed the cake on it. It was a ten foot tall cake and the table went.
Luckily, we were still holding the cake. We quickly grabbed the table.
So it's just little things like that. What do you do in a situation like that? So, yes, people want to work with high end clients, they want to earn more money, but I tell you, it's a lot more stress. So many things that I've seen that can happen, that can go wrong. But like I said, because they had a team of other photographers, the day was saved. So things like that, it's about thinking five steps ahead, ten steps ahead to what can possibly go wrong.
[00:42:36] Speaker B: So if someone is still after knowing that, it might be more challenging. Want to work with luxury clients, high end clients, what advice do you have for them to kind of steer them in the right direction?
[00:42:50] Speaker C: The first thing I'd say is to find somebody in your particular field that works with high end clients whose work you admire. So go see how they branded themselves, how they position themselves. Go back.
My approach is, I've always done the scientific approach, so I will research a person. What were their photos like in 2011?
When did the change begin to happen? How do they make that change?
Usually it's about positioning. So it could be something as simple as trying to network with other vendors that work with high end clients. And many of them might not give you time of day, but that's fine. It's okay. Keep trying to network. Or you could say, you know what? There's me. I know a dressmaker, I know a venue. We're not there yet, but we want to get there so you can come together.
One thing that really helped me was I did a lot of shoots 1015 years ago. I did so many shoots. Anyone that asked me, I'll just do a cake with a shoot that was good and bad. In a way. It was good because I was getting a lot of images out there, but it was bad for my positioning. And then I then started being a bit more careful, bit more choosy, who I work with. And then I started organizing my own shoots, and I did a couple of shoots, and they went viral. So one was a Frida Carlo, very high end, very, you know, beautiful, blah, blah, blah. So I did a Frida Carlo shoot. Then there was a spring fever shoot that I did with just white Hewletts. So I just learned to brand my shoots to select my photographer very carefully. I know I keep coming back to photographer, but there's a reason.
Select other people very carefully. And when you are in charge of a high end shoot, this is why I can never be a planner. The details are too much. They're just too many to remember. And then I had to remember that each vendor who was providing a product, I need to get beautiful shots for them.
So each shot is actually so many things I learned during that process. I had to learn to have an editor's eye.
Even when the photographs are ready, I'll think, okay, which ones should I submit?
So it's just little things like that.
So, yeah, I would just say, start looking at simple things, like even organizing your own shoots, and it doesn't have to be uber expensive. One of my most viral shoots, we use somebody's back garden, to be honest. But nobody knew it was her back garden because we angled the shots really carefully.
So there were things you can do with what you have right now. You don't have to spend oodles of money. That might come later, but for now, use your skill, your talent, your creativity to try and get you to position yourself where you want to be.
[00:46:01] Speaker B: Yeah, I love that. That's perfect. Thank you.
So we've covered quite a lot now, both in terms of what the high end clients are and how you might be able to position yourself and actually get those clients. And if someone wants to keep learning from you, Elizabeth, where do they go? How can they find you?
[00:46:20] Speaker C: You can contact me again. I make it life easy on Instagram. I'm Elizabeth Gig emporium on LinkedIn. I'm Elizabeth Salaru.
So, yeah, even on Facebook again, I'm Elizabeth Salaru on Facebook. So you can contact me any of those platforms, and I will respond to you. I coach, I mentor, and, yeah, I help people who want to level up, who want to improve their businesses or they just want to charge more.
And then we have a process that I take them through, and a lot of it is about confidence as well.
[00:47:00] Speaker B: Yeah, that's perfect. Thank you so much for having this talk with me. I feel like I've learned a lot, so thank you.
[00:47:06] Speaker C: Thank you so much. It's been such an opportunity to be on this platform, and, yeah, thank you. Appreciate it.
[00:47:25] Speaker A: You just listened to an episode of sustainable photography. Please share this episode with the photographer you care about.
