Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] It's Tuesday and that means another episode of sustainable photography. And we've made it to episode 138. When I'm recording this, it's the day before Monday. It's early in the morning and it feels like it's fall already. And I don't think that's really fair because I feel like summer kind of just started. I am just not ready for it to start getting colder and more windy. And I really just don't want to get out of bed. So I'm sitting here with a blanket on, ready to record this episode.
[00:00:41] My last solo was about the booking process and getting in front of more people so that you can book more.
[00:00:49] Today I wanted to talk about how you can make more money.
[00:00:54] And there's a bit of a distinguishment there. We can separate between how you can increase your revenue or how to prioritize differently and actually get more money in your pocket.
[00:01:09] But today I've chosen to talk about how you can increase your revenue specifically, and there's a few different things that you can do. The first is pretty obvious. You can increase your prices. Increasing prices often comes with a fear of what if I then don't book anymore? And that is so common. And if you don't do it in the right way, or if you do it too quickly, and if there's just not enough demand for what you do, then that can be a result of it. But generally speaking, if you increase your prices before you see that you're getting fully booked, then you're on the right track.
[00:01:54] As with a lot of the things that we talk about, there's not like a right or wrong or we can't even set up a formula, a foolproof formula for increase it by this much when this happens. So you have to be prepared to test it out and try it. And most importantly, you have to have the confidence to do it. You have to believe that this is going to work. When I started out, as you probably know by now, my prices were super low. Like they probably couldn't have been any lower. And I gradually increased my prices to reach a sustainable level, a level where my business could both pay for expenses and I could pay myself. And that is not what I would recommend. You have to make sure that your prices are at a sustainable level.
[00:02:46] That means that when you're fully booked at the price level you're at, it should be able to pay for all your expenses, all your taxes, and of course to pay yourself.
[00:02:57] If that is not the case, then you need to raise your prices. Right now there is nothing to wait for. Increase your prices so that your business becomes sustainable. But when you're at that level where everything is okay, it can feel more tricky to increase your prices.
[00:03:17] It can feel harder at a mindset level because you might feel like, ah, I don't know if I can because then I'll start to feel greedy.
[00:03:28] But you're allowed to make the changes and the tweaks that you want to. You're allowed to create the business that you want to have. And by increasing your prices, depending on how much you increase them, of course, can lead to you getting fewer bookings. But the good thing is that when you increase your prices, you also need fewer clients to remain at the level you're at. So that can mean freeing up a lot of time and maybe doing different projects, maybe having more time for marketing so you can get a that extra client or two if you want that. So it's really up to you how you want to do it. But the main thing is to keep track of how many clients you want to have and making sure that you increase your prices accordingly so that you don't get fully booked at the price level you're at without even attempting to increase your prices and testing to see is there room for this. No matter how high or low your prices are, you are always going to hear that you are too expensive. And if you don't hear that, that's probably because you're too cheap. So to sum that up, if you want to increase your revenue, one way of doing so is to increase your prices. Another thing you can do is to see if there's a way that you can find time to do more sessions. Is there something you can outsource? Can you improve your systems? Or are you wasting time because you're just doing things to keep yourself busy instead of doing what actually matters?
[00:05:03] You most likely want to do a mix of these things.
[00:05:07] And it all starts with you getting aware of what it is you do today and what you actually need to do and should do for your business.
[00:05:16] You can write a list of everything you do and then start sorting it into this is what I need to do to actually make money. And this is something I do because I just do it. And this is something that I really hate doing and this is something I spend a lot of time doing. And then seeing what of these things can I and should I outsource, what are these things should I quit doing?
[00:05:42] And is there something that can help me to do it faster and better? And I bet there is. Even though you did something last year that improved things. I bet there's something you can do now to make things even better and to have that continued growth and improvement is really important so that your business won't stagnate. Because if you just stop improving, if you just do what you do, because you've always done it that way, that means that other businesses, other photographers are going to catch up and get in front of you and you don't want to do that.
[00:06:18] The next thing you can do to increase your revenue is upselling and upselling. I feel like it has like a bad ring to it in a way. It feels almost sleazy and I want to change that. So I want you to think of it as what can I add to make my clients experience better?
[00:06:41] What would they need to get more from this? Because I bet there is something that can make things even better for your clients.
[00:06:49] And I bet that if you start thinking about your interaction with other service providers, you're going to think of things as well that could potentially make your experience better. That could be something like getting your takeaway delivered home to you, getting a massage while you're waiting for your eyebrow tint to set, getting a cup of coffee while you wait around for someone to change the tires on your car. There's an endless amount of examples like this. And if you stop thinking about it as selling and feeling awkward and being mean and greedy and instead thinking about your client and what could make things better for them, I think you're going to have a much easier time with this. So to actually do this, you can start by listing everything you do today, all the services you provide, all the offers you have, and writing down what could make this better, what other things can I offer to get my clients a better experience, to give them a better value?
[00:07:56] If you are a wedding photographer, that can look like adding more time on their wedding day, offering them an engagement session beforehand, offering an album afterwards, adding a foster turnaround option, adding on more images. There's so many things and you want to make sure that it all aligns to your values and your business model. But start by just thinking about it and writing it all down and then you can choose later on. In my elopement business, I have a higher price with a lot more included. I don't charge for travel. I don't charge for a slideshow. I don't charge for a quicker delivery time because that wouldn't make sense with my business model and the way that I want my offer to be. But that doesn't mean that that's the case for you. You can run your business however you want to, but I want you to think about it and do what makes sense for you. And just because I include a lot of things in my package doesn't mean that there's not things that I can't ask if they want to add on. I can ask if they want to add on more time. I can ask if they want to add on album or prints. So there's so many options. And you know what your clients want. And if you don't know, ask them. Ask them on a social media poll, reach out to clients that you know well. Talk with them while you're with them and get to know them and find out what they appreciate. The final thing that I want to mention in terms of increasing your revenue is to look at the lifetime value of your client.
[00:09:35] Because if you are a wedding photographer, for example, or a newborn photographer, it's so easy to stop there to think, well, they're already married so there's nothing more I can do for them. But that's not really true, because if you can take their wedding photos, I bet you'd do a pretty good job taking their anniversary photos or even their family photos down the road. If you're a newborn photographer, you can invite your client back for a three month session, for a one year session, for a sibling session. There's so much you can do to make them happy, even after your main service is done. And technically you don't really offer that other service, but you know, you could do a really good job and your clients would really appreciate it. I've been a wedding photographer for the longest time and I don't really think I've ever advertised anything else. But even still to this day, I work with my wedding clients years after they've gotten married whenever they want to do family photos. And that's such a good way both to keep in touch with your clients, to get a bit of that extra revenue in, but you're also top of mind for them. So if one of their friends is about to get married, they're more likely to refer me because they just saw me. So keeping in touch with your clients long term, that's not only good for the immediate sale then and there, but it can also do a lot for marketing and getting more clients and referrals. So I hope this gave you some ideas of what you can do to increase the revenue in your business. And if you have any questions or if you want to apply to be on a mentor call for a future episode. Or if you want help with your business, come on over to instagram. You'll find Megwilkolmes. That's ing Vildkolnes. And send me a DM and let's talk. Either way, you'll hear me again next Tuesday. Bye for now.
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