Thank you for showing up here on the live today or watching the replay or for hitting play if you’re listening to this on the Senior Studio Success Podcast. I cannot wait to dive into this topic with you.

Today we’re going to talk about money.

We’re going to talk about sales. We are going to talk about making real money, not just dabbling in this thing we call a photography business.

I’m gonna give you a little back story first. When I was in college I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I just knew I was supposed to go & I was gonna come out with a piece of paper that said I deserved a great job.

Well, about 2 years into this adventure I still had no idea what that would look like. So I decided to go into education. One of my favorite things to do when I was a little girl was line my stuffed animals around the walls of my bedroom & teach school. They were my students & I was the teacher. I tried to get my brother to play school with me, but he was a horrible student.

So off I went to change my major & go into early childhood education. I didn’t last long there once I figured out that there were little children involved.

This is why I ended up specializing in seniors too apparently!

Ok, after that failed attempt I drug myself to the career office of my college & begged for help. They put me through 3 days of aptitude testing only to be told that I was the perfect split between marketing & accounting. Seriously, right down the middle - 50/50.

These two majors couldn't be farther apart, but at least I knew why I was having such a tough time figuring out what I wanted to do with my life.

I went with accounting. Took an internship doing corporate taxes & loved it. My Type A brain couldn't get enough of the details & I absolutely loved putting all of the tax documents together in the neatest files ever for our CPA. Ruth was her name. She was the sweetest, most gentle woman & the best boss I ever had. I wanted to be Ruth when I grew up.

Until I figured out that I'd be putting in 60+ hours a week for someone else. I did that for one tax season before I decided that wasn't for me either.

I couldn't do it. My creative (umm marketing) brain wanted freedom. I wanted to be home with my kids. I didn't want my world to revolve around the IRS & their deadlines.

I wanted fun - even if it was very strategically planned out on my calendar kinda fun.

So I said goodbye to my tax job, raised babies & started a photography business with my horrible (back in the day) Sony camera that I had no idea how to use.

But I'm so thankful for that degree & that part of my life because I learned so much about myself & about what it really takes to run a profitable business.

I love a good spreadsheet.

I love a balance sheet & I especially love a profit & loss statement.

Why? Because without those numbers, we don't know if we'll ever get to those 6 figures. Without understanding those numbers, even if we do get to the 6 figures, we may or may not be profitable.

Not all 6 figures are the same, right? I could have 6 figures in sales & bring home a whole lot more than someone else who had the exact same number in sales. And vice versa.

Why?

Because not all sales are equal.

There's a lot of number dropping in this industry. Let’s be honest about that. A lot of celebrating a certain milestone in sales. I call BS on a lot of that. Why? Because the sales don't matter. They do, but they don’t.

Don't show me your sales. Show me your bottom line.

Show me the profit.

Show me how much you get to bring home to your family every single month on a consistent basis.

Show me how what you do is making an impact on your kids, your spouse, your future.

That's what matters.

How To Make 6 Figures In Photography

When it comes to making 6 figures in sales, there are lots of ways to make that happen.

You could have one $100,000 sale, two $50,000 sales, four $25,000 sales, ten $10,000 sales, twenty $5,000 sales, forty $2,500 sales, one hundred $1,000 sales or four hundred $250 sales.

What kind of business and life do you want to create? I personally don’t want to work with four hundred clients a year. That sounds miserable to me. But you have to decide what you want. I can’t tell you what’s right or wrong for you. That’s your decision. That’s where you start your pricing.

It’s a numbers game. If your goal is to hit 6 figures in sales, then is it attainable at your current sales average? We aren’t even talking about profits yet. You need to know your sales average & how many clients you’re currently working with each year. If you haven’t been doing this very long, you’ll need to play here to figure out this balance between what you want your average sale to be & how many clients you can handle each year.

So the first thing is to figure out what kind of business & life you want.

Then you have to figure out how to get there. And that means really understanding your numbers.

What Numbers Are Important For Profits In A Photography Business?

There are lots of numbers to figure out here - your cost of doing business, your cost of goods sold, what your a la carte pricing should be, how your collections should be priced & put together. Long term goals & taxes too.

I’m not going to get into those today, but they are something to consider in a very serious way if you depend on this income, if you want to transition into this career full time and I would even say, if you are willing to spend this much time on it.

The way we spend our hours & days are the way we spend our lives. If you are going to work this hard for something, please set your business up in a way that you have some left over for later in life when you can’t shoot anymore.

You’ve got to get your pricing right if you want to hit your goals.

Let’s go through each one of these numbers that you need to understand.

The Cost Of Doing Business (CODB)

Most photographers make the mistake of calculating their cost of doing business as it currently sits. But that’s not the goal here. The purpose is to grow & with growth comes more expenses. With time also comes retirement & an exit strategy. As a business owner, you need to know what it will cost you to live later on in life when you don’t have a business paying you.

Sometimes (and I’ve been very guilty of this) we don’t want to know what the real numbers are. Because if we know what they are, we have to face them. And we have to fix things because we know what we’ve been building isn’t sustainable.

And that’s uncomfortable. Anybody else like to be uncomfortable? Yeah, me neither. But this is where you get better. This is where you figure it out & make the changes that will make an impact.

A lot of expenses get missed here too, which really throws this number off. And when you project too low here in your cost of doing business, you also price yourself too low. Then you get to the end of the year & realize you really didn’t make what you thought you were making.

The Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)

This is how much it costs to produce a product. Numbers get messed up here too if you don’t know exactly what goes into this calculation. This is not just your lab costs. Again, when this number is wrong, you end up with a lower profit margin & less money in the bank. Something I’m sure you want to avoid.

A La Carte Prices

Before you ever get to building collections you have to understand what your a la carte pricing should be, especially on things that are custom designed like albums, collages or storyboards, and the time it takes to create a digital image. These are the most underpriced items on every price list I look at. It’s a big problem in this industry. We undervalue ourselves and what we provide so much. I’m on a mission to change that. Ask any of my students & they’ll tell you. They are making waves. They are changing the industry one business at a time. They are going out on a limb. They are facing the fear & raising the standard so that we can all do better.

Portrait Collections

Oh my goodness. Where do I even start? First, there are a lot of ways to put together collections. And they all have their pros & cons. The best way is a simple-to-understand way for your clients to purchase. If it’s overly complicated they will gravitate towards the easiest decision & that’s usually the cheapest option on your menu. Or they will end up in complete decision fatigue & not be able to finish their order because of the overwhelm. Obviously, you want to avoid that at all costs. So simple is best when putting together your collections.

Ok, we’ve gone through the numbers it takes to understand getting to those 6 figure sales. I know numbers aren’t a big love for creatives. If you need help with any of this, figuring out your cost of doing business, your cost of goods sold, a la carte, collections, choosing the right products, I have something for you that you’d be crazy to say no to.

How To Price Your Photography & Transition To In Person Sales

Getting inquiries & leads, pre-booking consults, how to close the deal, understanding all these numbers, getting your pricing done right once & for all, transitioning to IPS or just getting more confident in it, overcoming the objections in the sales room - I’m teaching all of that in my brand new program called Accelerator.

This program will be $999 when it’s released on January 19th, but you can get it on pre-sale right now for $777.

There are payment plans available. I’m telling you, this is a no brainer offer, an investment you will get back hundreds of times over when you implement what I teach you inside.

This is going to blow your mind! This is the perfect time to get it right. You will make every dime back & more, over & over & over again.

CLICK HERE TO GET IN ON THE PRE-SALE OF ACCELERATOR

Senior Photography Business Coaching With Jena Golden | How To Price Photography | Marketing For Senior Photographers

I’ve been talking about making big, bold moves this year. If that’s something you wanna do too, here’s your opportunity for one. I’ll see you inside.

Now if you are here on the live with me I’m going to stick around for questions. That’s one benefit of being on the live calls with me inside the Senior Studio Success Facebook group. This part won’t be on the podcast, so I’m going to say bye for now if you are listening in.

Let’s continue building more profitable, productive & purposeful businesses so we can spend more time doing what we love with the ones we love.

Have a great week!