Lessons
I LOVE Photography and I Want to Make Money
11:34 2From Photographer to Business Owner
21:15 3Building Your Business To Fit The Life You Want
07:01 4Business Is Business
08:03 5Creating a Simple Business Plan - What To Know And What To Skip
14:29 6Branding And Identity
11:24 7Significance Of Constantly Marketing
11:37 8Social Media Marketing
08:05Internet Marketing
14:04 10Q&A
49:40 11Building Your Own Portrait Space
09:03 12Starting From Scratch - What Matters And What Doesn't
26:26 13Creating a Dedicated Shooting Space
18:00 14Studio Spaces Q&A
15:51 15Money Is A Good Thing
08:27 16Spending Your Money Strategically And Tactically
23:31 17Cash Flow
10:00 18Track Your Margins
07:50 19Understanding Loans
04:41 20Legal, Insurance, Tax
13:02 21Raising Your Prices
12:17 22Investing In This Business
05:22 23Money Q&A With Audience
34:02 24Intro To Websites
01:48 25Building And Launching A Website
11:20 26How To Use Your Website For Marketing
20:19 27Converting Viewers Into Customers
09:56 28How To Showcase Your Portfolio
10:21 29Website And Portfolio Critiques
35:01 30Getting Control Over Feeling Overwhelmed
09:35 31Developing A Workflow For Laser Sharp Focus
23:55 32Maximizing Productivity With Software And Applications
34:47 33The Benefits Of Mono Tasking
05:15 34Setting Expectations For The Shoot
08:09 35Live Shoot: Interacting with the Client During the Shoot
33:44 36A Sales Walkthrough
20:38 37Obstacles To Selling
16:15 38Common Challenges Q&A And Hot Seat
33:32 39The Most Common Challenges In Running A Portrait Business
09:41 40Handling Criticism
17:16 41Persistence and Grit in Running a Portrait Business
07:11Lesson Info
Investing In This Business
Couple things about investing and then we're going to put somebody in the hot seat. Investing in this business, what are some easy things you can do to make a difference in how hard you work? Because I want you to work less hard. One, we're talking about playing defense. One of the easiest things you can do is stop spending things on things that you don't want and need, that don't help you. Every single line item on the things you should purchase should help you or bring you more profit. If it's not doing that, it's not making your life significantly easier, and controlling some stresses, or making you profit then why are you buying it? I have people show up for workshops all the time, who say like, ah I'm really struggling with money. And I'm like, you have every lens and camera and bag available and they look amazing. But why are you struggling to raise your prices? Tell me how this disconnect is working out for you? Again it doesn't matter how much money you're making, if you are wa...
sting it. Doesn't matter what your prices are if you're wasting your money. Invest in simple fixes. This little thing makes a huge difference. What little, I keep calling it pain points, but that's what it is. What little irritations and pain points are actually effecting you bigger than you think. For me, one of the big things is the amount of times I would have my battery run out. Or I wouldn't have an extra charger or I couldn't find this and I wanted to get in touch with a client, but my phone was dead. Or I didn't want to carry my laptop back and forth back and forth with my one charger because sometimes I would forget it and then I'd get to the studio and I'm like, ahh did anybody bring an extra charger? So I just, you know, one day fail swoop, I bought three extra battery chargers. I've got an external hard drive. I've got two Mac laptop battery, cords, chargers. And actually now I have three, one that's a travel bag. One that's in my home right now next to my bed, which I shouldn't do, but I have it there. And one that's just in my studio at all times. And now I never ever have that pain point. So it's a little bit of money to take away the pain. This, oh gosh, this is my most excited. I'm so excited about this. This has changed my travel life. It's a bag, it's a bag, but forever Because I've always traveled and photographed, like a lot and every time it would get to me like boarding a flight I'd be like, I'm so stressed. They're going to try and take it from me. I'm gonna have to fight them for it. I don't want to check it, etcetera etcetera. This bag is the Thinktank Advantage, airport advantage bag. Fits in every regional jet, all the time. And it takes a ton of gear, look at this. Ahh, it fits in the regional overhead of this tiny tiny flight from NC to New York which I do a lot. It goes down every tiny regional jet little hallway, like none of my other bags ever did that before and it carried fricken three camera bodies, three camera lenses, a flash, backup batteries, laptop, I don't even know if it's physically possible that this bag works, but I literally on the way here I went into the thing, and she's like oh we're full. You're probably gonna have to, and I do not have to check that, it will go over that. And she's like are you sure, and I'm like I'm hundred percent sure, and it did and I was so happy. Like it took so much stress away. And go back to mindset. The amount of subconscious activity we have. The way we block ourselves and stop ourselves. I have been asked to come and do portrait shoots on a place where I was just going to present. I'm like, I'm just going to present. I only need my laptop, and this and that. And if I have to fit in a portrait shoot, that means that I have to bring my camera gear. And every time I bring my camera gear it's like a big pain to pack it and go on the flight. And they're going to try to wrestle away from me. And it's hard to get down the aisle. And I have to lift it overhead and it's so heavy. And all these things. And I don't even know that I'm turning down a really nice shoot, for somebody I want to photograph, because the darn bag. That pain point goes away and I'm like yeah I didn't bring my bag, take some photos if you want. It's kinda ridiculous we're that simple, but we are. So stop losing money to stupid fees. That's the other one, I mentioned earlier very very quickly that I run a report on my bank. If you do any sort of electronic banking, or banking on the internet, which I think most people do, you can ask for a simple report that they send you. Contact customer service and say please send me a line item of all my fees and service charges. Just send me that, you can also find it online, but have them send it to you and say I want the last year, please send it to me. And I would like to get on the phone with somebody and figure out some of these itemized fees and service charges and make sure that they're all making sense. I can't tell you how many charges that I've had reversed. How many interest rates, I mean how many service fees have been reversed, I mean like hundreds and hundreds and hundreds. It's just that practice is, slap it on slap it on slap it on until someone says something. That's kinda the, stupid fees across the board. Like I asked legal zoom an issue and I got charged like every month for like nine months from legal zoom. This standard rate that I never applied for a business thing and then I had to call and call again, but that's the practice. Keep charging you until you finally notice and say something and a lot of times people will call and say okay cancel it now. Can't believe I didn't catch that for six months and paid that for six months. No no, you shouldn't pay that stupid fee. Play defense, say no. Credit me back entirely and I'll wait until you do that. And they will like so often they will. But people lose, at the end of the day, thousands of dollars just because of fees and charges across all these sites. Let's stop paying stupid fees.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
a Creativelive Student
This course was fantastic. I learned more on what I need to improve and change in my business. I especially liked learning how she balances all the things in her life. She is a fantastic teacher who keeps you engaged throughout the course. Thank you creativelive and Tamara for producing such a great course!
user-5731db
I thoroughly enjoyed this class, Tamara Lackey is an amazing individual and trainer! I loved what she said about not letting ourselves be diminished by someone else's narrow view... This class touches on many business related topics, I had many "aha" moments and feel excited and committed to tackle various aspects of my business in small steps!! Thanks for sharing so much of you!!!
Heidi Mikulecky
Tamara Lackey is engaging, energetic, knowledgeable and humorous. This two day class is perfect for artists who have creative skills but need development with business skills. I expected this class to be all business, but I was pleasantly surprised that she delved into the physical (studio space), mental and emotional barriers (confidence) that hinder photographers from reaching their goals. Some of my biggest takeaways from this course are not only the business tips but also life lessons. Such a great class!!