Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] So I've called this episode tweak it till you make it. And it's an obvious kind of modification of fake it till you make it, although I am a fan of that expression as well, because sometimes we just need a bit of that fake confidence and just proving to ourselves that we're doing it, we're doing it even though there's something lacking. I am also a fan of testing things and making sure that we're paying attention to how we're running our business now and what could be done better. In case you haven't listened to this podcast before, my name is Ingvel Colness. I am a norwegian educator and web designer for photographers and creatives and I'm so happy that you're listening. I get so much inspiration as to what to talk about from just speaking with you, hearing what you have to say. And a lot of it comes from my mentoring group.
[00:01:03] And this last week, we just finished a mini course.
[00:01:08] A mini course all about how to come up with your prices and how to make sure that you have set up your prices in a strategic way that lets you book more.
[00:01:19] Of course, profitability is a huge part of it, but I wanted to take it beyond that and talk about strategy as well. And one thing that came up is how important it is to test things out.
[00:01:37] Because even though you can calculate your prices, you've used all the right formulas and really done things the quote unquote right way.
[00:01:49] That doesn't mean that it's the best way for you.
[00:01:52] And this is really true of anything.
[00:01:56] If you follow all the best social media strategies, or if you do all the things that you know you're supposed to do, that doesn't mean that it's the best way for you. And even though it's working, maybe there's a different way, a better way out there for you. But you're never going to know that unless you try. And that's what I wanted to talk about a bit today, because it's so important that you pay attention. Pay attention to what's working, what's not working, and tweak things. Sometimes we get really stuck and we don't change anything. And other times we get really tired of things not working and we change too much. And that's why I want, want you to just tweak, just modify slightly. If something's working well, great. Can you try something to see if that is going to make things better without completely ruining what's already working well? And that's not necessarily so easy to know what to do and what not to do. And that's one of the many reasons I'm such a big fan of talking about it. That is why I have a coach that I go to whenever I am feeling like something isn't working, when I feel like I know that something could be working better. So instead of me just looking at it from my own point of view, then I'm getting an outsider's perspective who's reminding me that, oh, we already did this, try it this way next time. And I'm sure that that is giving me much better results than if I was just doing it myself and if I was just changing without really paying attention to what working and what might not work so well. I guess one of the key things to pay attention to is how are things going right now? Are you getting bookings?
[00:03:53] Are you getting booking calls? Are you getting people on your website? But that's not leading to anything. Try to find out what's working and what isn't working. Because if you're just seeing the whole big picture of you're not making enough money, that can come from a lot of different things. And just to be clear, it's not like I have all the answers and I do everything right. Right now, for example, I'm in the middle of accepting applications for my mentoring program, sustainable photography. And someone messaged me on instagram just the other day and she was like, yeah, I'm really interested, but what exactly am I getting? Because what I did was I felt like I was getting a lot of the same questions, like, oh, I don't need this one. Out of like a million things in the program, I sit still for me.
[00:04:44] And I decided to simplify the sales page a bit and just remove a lot of stuff. And clearly I removed too much. So I made sure that I went back in and I tweaked it a little bit more and I added some of the same information that used to be there to see if that would help. And sometimes you'll know that you need to change some things just on the basis of one question. You get one person that says that things aren't clear. And other times you need to do things for a while before you can really tell. You need to have some data, some statistics to base things on. So if you pay attention to how your website is being used, you'll see something isn't working. You'll see some people are visiting a page, but nothing's really happening after that. And then looking at that, maybe you can even get someone else's perspective because these things, it's so easy to just become completely blind looking at your own work. But sometimes you might notice that, oh, actually I haven't included any calls to action on this page. Or maybe you're struggling to get your page showing up in searches and then it turns out that you're being a little bit too vague and clever and you're not really including the search terms that you want to be found for. So if this happens to you, don't feel bad. This stuff happens all the time. I make the same mistakes myself where I think that something is so clear and obvious and then I've forgotten to include the most basic important information.
[00:06:25] The other side of this is it's working and I'm happy. But can I do things in an even better way? Can I save time in this process? Can I make more money? Can I work with people that I like even better? Doing slight incremental changes is often better than making big ones. There are some things you don't want to do in increments. For example, if you know that you're not making enough money right now, you do not want to increase your prices just a little bit and a little bit and a little bit. You want to be at the level where you know you have to be based on your capacity. There is nothing to wait for. You have to get there now. That's really, really important.
[00:07:15] Another thing is if, for example, your website isn't user friendly at all, that's something where you can make sure that you preserve all the good information that you have, everything that's relevant, but make sure that your website is user friendly. As I briefly mentioned, mentioned before, this is also in the middle of my launching period of sustainable photography, my mentoring program, and this will be the 7th time I'm launching it. I think that's pretty incredible and it's one of my favorite things to do. Not the launching part itself. I think that's not as fun.
[00:07:57] Usually we have a mini course or a masterclass or something upfront, which is a lot of fun. But the actual, like remembering to post and send emails and stuff, I think that's pretty stressful. Anyway, whenever I have those kinds of launches, I always talk with a lot more people than I normally do. And I just think it's so interesting to see how everyone's so different and running their business in such different ways. I think it's really inspiring and I think it's one of those things where it just becomes so apparent that there's not a one right way of doing things. And that is something that I really focus on maintaining within my mentoring program. The goal of the program is definitely not that everyone ends up in the same place and everyone should do everything in the same way, but rather figuring out what's important to you and how can you have more of that. And since I've been getting a few questions on the mentoring program, I thought, what better place to talk about it than here?
[00:09:07] When I first made the program, I wanted it to be something different, where it's not just plain business education, as in this is how you do it. But I wanted to go through how you could make your business, your business, a place you could really thrive, a place you could make really your own. So we start with talking about what's different about you, what's unique about you, what do you most enjoy to make sure that whatever we do next is in line with that. And then we work on improving what you're already doing, your processes and your workflows and sales and all those things. We talk about setting goals and planning, which I know everyone's different. And again, going back to that, you don't have to adopt all the pieces and all the strategies if you don't want to. But that's the flow of it. We talk about who your ideal client is. We go through pricing and finances and making sure that you have everything under control before we go on to talking about branding and marketing.
[00:10:26] And that's been the flow of it for all these years. I launched the first version back in 2020, so it's been a few years and quite a few students by now and it's still going to be like that, but it's also going to be more focused on what you want and making sure that you get to the place where you want to be. So if you join and you tell me that I want to focus on increasing my prices, I'm getting enough clients. But for me that is my goal. That's why I'm joining the program. Then we're going to work on that to make sure that that is where you end up. If you tell me that I'm working way too much and I'm doing everything in a very complicated way, I need to improve my systems, then that is what we're going to focus on. And that part of it that's new, that's something that I've added as of this round we're starting on now round number seven and I am really excited about it because I think that when it comes to a program like this, a program that is really from the ground up. It's so easy to think that, oh, this is probably for beginners. I'm way past any of this, but it's really, really not. This program is not designed for beginners. It's designed for established photographers who have clients who knows what they're doing, but they want to run things in a better way, whatever that looks like to them.
[00:12:03] Because there's so many ways that you can improve the business you have today, whether that is wanting to make more money, wanting to have fewer clients, wanting to work with different clients, wanting to have better systems, wanting to have accountability and support. So there are so many angles to this. I have to say that it's not for everyone and that is why it's an application only program.
[00:12:32] If you want to know more, you can send me a DM, you can find the link in show notes and you can send in your application. And that is simply because I want to make sure that you are a good fit for our group. We have a great community. Everyone takes really good care of each other in there. And it's also because I want to make sure that you get what you need and what you want from this. So if I don't think you're a good fit, I will tell you that I don't think it's right for you. And that might seem a little bit scary, but I think it also shows the integrity of the program that if you decide to invest in this and if you want to spend your resources on doing the work, then you know that I'm going to do my part to make sure that it is worth it to you. We're starting in May and I really hope that you'll consider it because I'm sure that you'll benefit from it in so many ways. But definitely send me a DM on Instagram. You'll find Megwilkolnes send me an email, send in your application and let's talk about it. The next time I launch it will probably be at the end of the year or maybe even early next year, and at that time the price will be higher. We have just had a pricing training and if you weren't there, I'm really sorry you missed it because it was really good. And one of the topics that we talk about is increasing prices, and it's time that I increase my prices, too. The price of this one year program has been the same for as long as I've had it, and it's time that I increase it because it is worth it. But let's get back to the topic. I want you to think of a part of your business that you think could be even better.
[00:14:24] Whether that is a part of your workflow, part of how you respond to a first inquiry, how you hold a booking meeting, a part of your website. I want you to write down something good about it, and I want you to write down what you think you could do differently. And then I hope you're actually going to try that for the next few booking calls for a couple of months on your website and then see how it goes. See how that changes things. And that reminds me of one important thing.
[00:14:58] Try not to base your business decisions on your feelings.
[00:15:05] Try to keep track of how things are actually going, because that is the best way for you to see what's working and what's not. Because your feelings and your memories, they're going to play tricks on you all the time. But if you're keeping track of it, then you'll know. So definitely write down why you want to change it and how things have been working so far, and then make the change. Stick to it for a while, and then see if you want to go back or if you want to try something else, or if this is how you want to do things from now on. Good luck, and I can't wait to be back here again next week.
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