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Natural Talent

before we get too far into the business side of it. I want to talk a little bit about who you are and and how you became a creative person. Because for me, I have always been the odd duck, and I do mean that in every sense of the word, I don't fit in anywhere. I don't even try anymore. It's something that you know at a very young age. I realized that I was. I was different than everybody hopes and and I went through several years of rebellion, your teenage years, that whole shaped head, punk rock girl kind of thing. I did all that. I I eventually settled in, had Children, tried to be normal, realized I didn't really fit in anywhere I tend to be, I've told you, very anxious about relationships. I tend to worry more about what people are thinking than what I'm thinking, so I've had to work myself through that, and I finally came to the conclusion that I'm just different and difference not so bad. So I love this quote. They laugh because I'm different. I laugh because they're all the same...

. And honestly, I finally accepted that I finally accepted that being different is okay, that it's okay to be your unique self. You are your own unique selling propositions. So that's something I've tried to embrace. And I tried to relax, and I found that life is a whole lot more fun when you're not worried about what everybody else thinks. So it is kind of nice to get to the age where you embrace your inner self, Sandy. However, I really would love to see some photos of you. Everybody wants that. I want to see the Mohawk quota, everybody, you know, and I I I'm going to do it. I think one of these days I've hidden it from everybody. But I'm definitely gonna do it because the only reason I haven't killed them is most of them involved things that my mom I didn't want her to see. So they're a little little. I had a lot of crazy friends, but I will do I give you my word. I will post it on Facebook. At least get something up there that will show you what I looked like a throwback Thursday. What's that on a throwback Thursday throwback Thursday. But I mean the reality is for me. We all have different ways that we try to be unique, whether it's clothing or dress or attitude or or the angst re projected the love that we project, it's all. It's all sort of a show. It's a show that we put on because we have a need to be loved, and that's and that's really where it comes from. However, you start to realize that by loving others, you end up learning to love yourself. That's been really important for me. However, we're gonna shift gears again and talk about the natural artists. I'm not going there. So for May, in addition to being uniquely myself, for me, photography was something that I fell in love with. I actually had cameras, those pictures you want to see a revolving documented. From the time I was 14 15 and 16 I didn't realize it, but I always had a camera in my hand. I have volumes and volumes and albums of my friends and parties and events and things. So so I was shooting even before I knew that photography was a career, but it was the turning point at 17 when somebody handed me a media. Sorry, a 35 millimeter with a long lens handed me the camera and said, Take pictures and I said it before. But that moment that I put that camera to my eye. The first time I zoomed out, it was a 300 millimeter lens. Just a little cheap. 35 millimeter camera zoomed out that lens and all of sudden the background compressed and the kids were, you know, the dominant force, and it took my breath away. I honestly remember putting it down and having like, a little heart palpitation trying to figure out, you know what, this WAAS and from there they gave me the freedom to use that camera when I wanted, and so it it became an expression for me. However, I learned really quickly. I was not a natural born artist there, very few people that I've ever met that have natural talent that literally are born with talent, that it comes so easy. I've met a lot of people in the industry and outside the industry artists that I feel like, um, our talented, but very few are natural born artist, somebody like Jerry Kahane's. I spent a lot of time with him on a tour very long tour, and he's somebody that radiates talent, and it just it comes natural for him. I mentioned him before, but my son is somebody that is, has natural talent. His hiss photography is born. We tease them all the time because he obviously grew up with photography. Hey, was handed a camera 11. I was in Japan teaching, and I said, Here, go take pictures I was trying to get keeping busy while I talked. But what he created with those images startled everybody, including Jerry Jones. Was there Doug Gordon, Kevin Cambodia? All of us were like we didn't believe he took those images because he had played in light room and had done some very creative things since then. I think that little push from all those really important v I p people spurred on his excitement, and he's continued to shoot from the time he was 11. He's now 15. He has his own little company. He does very well. His work is just It just comes from him. I've never taught him a single thing. I literally could say that I've never spent two minutes saying This is how you use the camera. This is an after he does ask a lot of questions of other people. We do have this running joke that when he was little, very little all my kids have raped and raised in the studio. And so I had my desk and all my magazines were under my desk. And, you know, I get magazines from Europe, those air not quite a PG as the ones here in the States. Never thought about it, but they all just sitting in my desk. Well, Nick had a little Castilian created under my desk, so I think from the time about he was three or 41 day about the time he was four errands, like pointing under the desk. And I'm like, what? And I look under and he's slipping through all those European magazines at four years old, and I was like, OK, don't panic. You don't make a big deal about this. You want to say anything? He's a little kid, you know? So of course he scooted away at one point, and I'm moving magazine. So So the joke in the studio is it was that early inspiration of those European magazines that has given him the ability to see the human form the way he sees it, because the way he moves bodies the way he talks to his clients, so to speak is very, very different than me. And I've purposely not tried to teach him because his box is very different than mine. And if I tried to tell him what a client would buy or what you know what sellable? I think I would take his very soul away from him. So I don't know if you're interested. You can check out his work on Facebook. He's he's quite proud. He just had I mentioned a GoPro event that he took images of incredible, incredible athletes in addition to natural board artists. Of course, we talked about some of these people yesterday, and we talked a little bit about how these people impact our lives. And and the one thing when you look at these names, if you really started to break it down, it could be overwhelming. You start to fit, like who am I? What have I done? What have I brought to this life that was so great we can talk about our kids and that we're parents and things like that. But some of these people literally changed the course of history, and and you can become very anxious that, you know, we pale in comparison. But again, like I said yesterday, if you break it down, most of these people did not do this because they wanted to. They did not do it for certainly not for any exposure or pride. These people had to make changes because change was needed because they had to make a difference. And for us, it's making its deciding. How do we make a difference? And I truly stand by the conviction that if you make difference in one person's life, you literally change the path of the world because that one person will go on to change something about their lives that will it affect numerous people? And so it's that wave that we talk about that wave of goodness that just by making baby steps by doing one small thing for one person, we literally change the world. And who knows where we go after this? I told you I'm fascinated with the next the next option Plan B because that the coolest part about it is. We don't know what happens next. So it's very important that we embrace what we have right now that we really continue to strive to be good people. Because if this is it, if you believe this is it, then live it like it is. And if this is just the stepping stone to something greater, live it like it is because it's it's all we have right now and it's all we really know. These people push the limits beyond what was imaginable, making the impossible commonplace for us. Things like lights and music and phones and things that you could never imagine 100 years ago exist and are really way. They're like wallpaper. We don't even consider them just in our history. I mean, you think about just the funny things that we've seen. We went when I was young. The TV set was his biggest this table and weighed as much as a car. My kids would never understand that. I mean, I am still where I was raised was a farming community, a lot of people. It was the old Victrola, so I mean, most people had the old wind up record players and thes air, the ants and the grandma's that we're playing music on Sunday. My kids will never see something like that. We went through that. The process of the first cell phones that were big boxes that were in cars to the Remember the early cell phone that was this big all the way down to these little things. The first, the first Sony Walkman. I mean, you remember the Walkmans that were this big, and now they come on little tiny mechanical devices. So it's It's incredible what we've seen. Look at social media and all the changes, all that the rapid succession. And that's not even in the last decade. I mean, you think about what we've seen, and then you really start thinking about what our Children and our Children's Children will see. It is remarkable the life that we have. So when it comes to being an artist, the definition of create eyes one that I love. I used it often because the definition is actually to produce through imaginative skills. So there are two things happening here. You're gonna produce something when you create something, something has to exist after it's done and imaginative skill. So there two words there that are cool because you have to have an imagination to be a creative person. But you also have to have a skill. It doesn't. You just can't happy accident anything into creation. There has to be those two components, so I know without a doubt, the photographers that air here in this room have imagination. I also know you have skills and we're all in different skill levels. You know, after this many years of photography, I can assure you I am absolutely not the best photographer out there. I pale in comparison to certain people, and I will always because I will always be learning and growing, and the work I create today will be something I'll be highly embarrassed about 10 years for now, I'm sure because we have that opportunity to ever evolve, and and so the frustration is, Do we have to get there or is it better never to get there? And I'm convinced that the journey is what it's all about. It's it's you know, all those analogies of smelling the roses along the way, living in the here and now they really are true, because sometimes We set our side somewhere we want to be, and we're so focused on that that we don't realize that everything we need is happening along the way. Everything that we should connect to is right next to us. It's not where we're going. It's what we're doing on the way there. So all of us are standing on the edge of creativity were right here. We all have different skill levels. We all have different imaginations. What? I started photography. This is years ago. My first camera was my first camera I purchased was an RZ 67. So this was a big box. And I remember when I started I was so nervous to do pictures. These were my first clients, were the church people on the friends and things like that, and I was so nervous, and I kept making mistakes. I kept making basic mistakes, like not putting film in the camera or dumb things that really cost you. And so, uh, I finally I taught myself there were five things on the camera I needed to do. I had to check the I had to turn it on. Power was one turning the button on I eso aperture, shutter speed and putting film in the camera. So those five things were the things that if I did that, if I made sure I looked at those things, I would be OK. So to make it safety, I took a little piece of tape in a little paper and I wrote one through five tiny little words like what they were. And I taped it to the back of my camera. And so when I would go out to do a session and again at this time, it wasn't really paid clients. It was friends and family. I would literally look at the numbers. I try to look professional, be like one turn your camera on, got it to put film in. Okay. God, you know, and all I could focus on was that little box. I just kept thinking If I do these five things, then I'm gonna This is not gonna be messed up. And then excuse me eventually. You know, I started once I felt a little more comfortable camera. I kind of looked up and said, there people out there, I got to do something with them too, you know? And so I started learning, posing and body tilts and things like that and that you don't put point your fingers at the camera needs don't get cut off. I started refining the body, and so then it became my camera and the people. And then eventually, as an artist, you look beyond even the subject and you say, OK, wait. There's a whole world here and there's an environment here. And wait a second. You know what? Trees? Air not supposed to grow out of people's heads. Who knew? You know, all of a sudden you see all those Mickey Mouse ears coming out of people's heads that you didn't catch before. So so little by little, I went beyond my comfort zone, and eventually I was looking at the whole universe, and now it's a photographer. When I'm shooting, I could see everything and that that 1/10 of a second of that shutter. But at that time it was one step at a time. Now, eventually you become comfortable, and the problem with comfortable being comfortable is that you eventually become complacent. This is where once you feel like you know it all, that you got it down, Pat This is where your mistakes air really made because you're lazy, Honestly, And I'm just a guilty of that as anybody else because, you know, once you you're so used to everything is always set up this way. And, you know, I've had major sessions where we just did. It's on Facebook. But there was a session. I hope they're not watching. I set my camera and to be repaired, and it came back. Well, they reset it to J Peg Moan mode. And so when I got back, I just assumed it was always where it always waas. And I didn't see that it was on a a medium J peg. I went out and did a really important session. In fact, it's the three kids that you see on the brakes. Is that family section? That session? They ordered the family, the big group. There were grand parents and sibling is there the big picture? They ordered a 70 inch portrait from that session. It was a that's ah, $17,000 order There on a shot. The whole thing on J peg. Oh, my gosh, I almost had a heart attack. I mean, it's one of those where the first time you looked like Keystone Order anything. Please don't anything. And then they order everything and then a whole lot of it. So so? And that was last fall. So I am fully capable of making mistakes. I do it honest honestly, more often than I would like to admit, but it's that complacency. It's that assumption that when you pick up your camera, everything is gonna be the same. And unfortunately, with complacency, complacency also comes a problem. And that's where you could become average. This is where you start to think as a photographer. I mean, I photographed more babies than probably the average photographer, and you start to think it's a six month old look. It either sits up or it doesn't right. I mean, those are the two things you could do with a six month old, and you can kind of get into that like if you put him on this chair. It's cute. You put him on this floor, it's cute, and those are the two things we do, and you start to become very, very average in your work. It's just too easy to just do what you always do and that is, I think, where we start to fail ourselves. Many years ago, I challenged myself to every session, do something. I had never done a lot of taking this challenge. I think truly do live it on and it's something that I had to be very cognizant up. I had to sit there and say OK, what are you gonna do this time? That's different and the only time I ever feel I failed. My clients are when I don't do that, when I'm so focused on getting done that I don't do that cause at the end of the day I look at the work and I say, You know what? Yep, it's another six months old and they happen to sit up So they got these three poses, but I didn't give them anything that was uniquely theirs, and that's where I feel like it's very rare that I do that because I truly I had to force myself for years to do this and now it's very innate for me to do this. But if I had not done that, I wonder if I would have become bored if if if this would have just been the same old, same old Now I've been very lucky because having gone gone so long in the industry and seen seen the are seeing the flow and the tide of how things work going through the digital revolution, you know? And it sounds silly to say revolution. But for those of us who are on the early the cutting edge, we were the ones paying $50,000 in cameras and working on photo shop 1.2. You know what you can't even imagine It was like you would do in action and then you would get up, go to coffee, go get lunch, come back and you'd be right at 82%. You know, it was like that's where we started. And it was the bleeding edge of technology. But having gone through that, I had the opportunity to spur myself again. And the one thing that I realized on its Not that I hope something big and amazing is coming, but video is actually one. We're gonna talk about that in the show today. Video is one of those things. That is the new revolution for me because it's something that's inspiring me to do more, and the entire end segment of this show is going to be where my heart is right now. And it is an incredible emotional journey because just like digital technology and just like the first camera I had, there's one component that always exists when you're first starting anything and you guys have any idea what that is? What is the thing that spurs us most Sometimes No guesses, fear. Fear can be your greatest ally, because when I have that camera and I had that little piece of tape on it that told me what to do, I was afraid I would make a mistake when I went to digital technology and I started getting into it and it was just overwhelming, and I didn't understand that fear drove me to understand it. Even with video today, I'm not afraid that the world is gonna become videographers and I have to keep up. But the fear of not being able to tell the story and not being able to create is the thing that motivates me. There is a tremendous motivator. Fear is something that we can use as an asset to grow our business. If we choose to. We don't want to live in fear, but we want to embrace change and we want to take that fear and turn it into passion because that's really what's happened. The video work that I'm doing now. A year and 1/2 ago, I couldn't I would never even dreamed of this project. And now it's become pure passion. I have cried every single day with every single session I have photographed because when I show you tonight what these people are saying because it's video because I get to turn to my clients and ask them, You know, things like Tell me what photography means to you and to see them completely melt and to hear them tell you what you mean to them. What you've done for them is breathtaking. I literally sit there and just cry and they cry and it's this big, crazy emotional journey in and it's it's the bringing it all together. It it is. It's completed, that circle of what I waas, what I wanted to be and what I became, and it's it's really need tohave that that record of that. So I'm really excited and anxious. Little, little afraid to show it to you. So when we're talking about you, I want you guys to think about who you're like. Who are you? Most like, Um, are you most like Wile E. Coyote? You know, he had enough sense to buy all those acne products, but just not enough sense to buy dinner. Like, why didn't he just take all that money and go buy a stake? It just didn't make sense. And And this really plays into the equipment that we buy, the tools that we by how much we invest. Sometimes we think that we need stuff and the stuff makes us professional. And that's not true. It is our heart and soul that make I mean, honestly, I think I could shoot with a shoebox in a piece of film. But I can't shoot without my heart. Can't shoot without intent. Oh, are you more like the professor on Gilligan's Island? He could make a radio out of a coconut, but he couldn't fix the hole in the boat. They had all the technology you needed. But why didn't they just get off the island? I mean, anybody could make a boat. Honestly, I think I could make a boat and survive. But it's that same that same concept of just constantly, you know, putting all your energy into the tools and not putting your energy into the heart and soul of what we do, which is capturing those moments and being creative. Or are you a risk taker? You somebody that wants to get out there and live on the edge and try something new, like the first person that saw Chicken said, You know what I'm gonna eat? The next thing that comes out of its books? No, I'm not trying to offend anybody, but it is true, like you think about that. Thank heavens he didn't go to a cow first because, honestly, it could have been a different story. So you have to You have to be innovative. You have to push yourself to that next level. You do have to be willing to take risks. And it's not easy. I know that a lot of things we want to do it seems like they're all tied into money. But some of the things that we should be doing have nothing to do with finances. Marketing. You could break down that I need money from, you know, printed pieces. And this that the other. The truth is you could go and talk to a client, just reach out to them and have a conversation with them and tell them how you feel and ask them for a referral and they would be the first person to give it to you. It's the fastest marketing you can get when I explain the legacy project tonight. And I tell you how we're actually booking these sessions. We've booked probably 60 sessions in the last six weeks. How do you book 60 sessions that fast? Because we picked up the phone and we asked, and it blew my mind. Not only that, they said yes, but the response was breathtaking. So I do look forward to sharing that with you. Now, if you're going to see what I'm talking about, you're gonna have to believe what I'm saying. Because the truth is it's trust. This is all about trust all of this business, that management, all of the stuff. You're assuming that I know what I talk about. Your basing my track record off of my finances and the final look of my work. You're probably saying, OK, Looks like you can take a decent picture. Looks like she's made a decent amount of money. Those are two things I want to emulate. I trust her. But it goes far beyond that. I think this trust is that at an emotional level, when I see you guys tearing up and saying things that that I mean, we only really got to spend one night hanging out together. I'm hoping we get to play tonight, so that will be fun. But last night you guys got together and I fell asleep for a couple hours. But I woke up in the middle that I going Hey, they were having fun without We was all, uh, traumatized. But I'm hoping tonight we have to double make up for it. You realize you have to get two nights of fun out of me, so I'm expecting that. But, um, you know, seeing the faith that you put into the the words that you said today Oh, goodness, I am going to lock them in my heart and take them home because, you know, this stuff is boring. It's not the fun stuff we could have. We could spend this three days, I could have said, Hey, I want to do pictures of kids. You would have had an equally good time, but I don't think you would have been anywhere near where you are today. The vision that you have today is based on the boring stuff that we got through because you start to realize that it is the critical piece. So it is important that you believe what I say. I do understand that I don't know everything. I want to make sure you completely are aware of the fact that I do not believe I'm right. I don't even believe in the word, right. I don't believe anybody's right. I think everybody has an opinion and everybody's entitled to it. I just believe that we have an idea or a concept that might benefit you. So in order to see that, I'm gonna have you pick up that mike. They're just because I'm gonna have you read the next slide. If you don't mind when you see it, come up. Just read it out loud. I love Paris in the springtime. Perfect. Now we're gonna all read it together. Let's go ahead. I love Oh, Come on. You guys need it again. Read it again. I can't believe that. Read it slow. Okay, Now read it really slowly. One word at a time, e I have never seen that. You guys scared me for a minute. I'm like, Did I screw up the slide? Your time? Your time. Okay. All right. Okay. How come you didn't see it? The first. The second, the third and the fourth time. I got to tell you, you failed worse than any class I've ever taught. So that's excellent. Thank you. My point. Exactly. How come you didn't see that? Honestly, somebody pick up the mike and tell me why you think you didn't see it. Anybody brave got, I think cause your brain just assume so much in life. Thank you. Thank you. That's exactly it. It's an assumption. Your brain is actually created to fill in gaps. It will fix things, and it will filling gaps so that you never see the problems. So I got to think about that as we go forward. Because we're talking business here. But what we're gonna try to do is reach into your creative brain, get you to think a little deeper. So you didn't see it because your brain fixed it. Wonder how many times in life you miss things because your brain doesn't see it. How many times? And I'm not gonna make you all cry, but that your kids are saying, Hey, my mom, Just minute, Just a minute. And then I'll send at midnight, You wake up and go. I never got back to them. I never answered their question. We all and that to me, that analogy, it's not business, but, you know, But I know you guys can relate to that. It's the hang on, just a second, you know, And then at the time goes away. So we're not very cognizant of the coast right down the toilet. Whoa, Okay, We're not talking kids anymore. All right? So your brain will fill in the details. It will make you feel good about things that maybe you shouldn't. All right, So now that we're on this path, which center circle is larger? All right, now you're thinking somebody said 1st Somebody said the other one and a couple of you said the same. You're right. It is the same because you know what's happening now, If I would've showed you that slide first, you would have got it wrong. But what's happening is your brain saying, Hey, wait a minute. She's messing with us here. We're gonna look for something that's not so obvious. So of course you're going to go with the same and you are correct. They're the same size. So So perspective is something that we have to deal with as well. What we see is not exactly what our clients see. It's not exactly what our Children see, etcetera. So we have to start thinking out of the box. And I'm gonna have somebody grab a mic in grabbing on this, and I'm gonna have you play this next game. So in this next one, what you're gonna do is you're gonna look at the chart, but I want you to say the color of the word, not the word itself. So you can go up and down, left to right. It doesn't. Let's actually go across the top. The color of the word, not the word itself. Green, red, purple, yellow, yellow, blue, red, blue. Eso impressed. All right, that's good. That's your good. You got it. That's impressive. Very few people can do that. You are crossed my ice. I wouldn't e see. She got out. She crossed her eyes so that it would turn the TV on T. That's how I do it to. I t do that, too. But if you were to quickly try to do that, it's It's impossible, especially for artists. People like us. It's impossible to see that. And the reason is you're right. Half of your brain is trying to say the color and your left half is trying to say, This is This is literally the world we live in this, this angst that we have, where the artistic side is fighting against that natural number side, that that analytical side and we sit there in battle all the time, a creative person. The reason we struggle is it's easier for us to say the word. Then the color. Somebody who's very analytical forced their brain to see exactly what they're being asked. So that's kind of what art is to me is to me it's that constant battle of being creative and being analytical. Creative people make incredible artists, but a good majority of them go out of business because they're not analytical because they cannot wrap their head around the fact that they have to understand numbers and business and management, some of the most incredible artists I've ever met or some of the poorest people I've ever met. And some of them don't care some of them on their path. They never money was never an issue. It was being a true artist. I totally respect that. Some of us have taken responsibilities families, Children, etcetera. We understand that we have to do more. We have to produce more, provide more. And so we forced our brains into these boxes of this for some of us, like myself, I feel I don't know why art was not natural To me. Understanding people was natural to me. The real gift I have, whether it's teaching or shooting, is that I understand what people are really saying, and I think a lot of artists do. When a client tells me something, when a client says, you know, don't shoot my double chin, I know what they're really saying is this is really painful. I have so much weight here. I hate it. I hate the way I look Please, please, please don't embarrass me. And when you hear that, it becomes very easy for you to take care of their needs when they say, you know, don't make me look fat hahahaha They're really saying I'm really uncomfortable in my body. I don't want toe look fat, Please don't do that to me And and out of every joke, I think that any client has ever said There's some painful truth that exists there and my skill set. You know, I'll just be really honest. I don't have an education. I don't think you guys know some people do. But I didn't go to ninth grade. I stopped going to school. I was so anxious about people and being around people that I didn't even get through ninth grade. I finally proved this to my kids. They were like, We want to see your grades So I pulled them out and I was like, I didn't go to ninth grade. So f f F driver's ed A f. I didn't matter to get my license, but I'm not telling you that to embarrass myself by no means. But the truth is, my education was never learned in a book E. I have street smarts. I understand people. I got out there at a very young age. I got out on my own by the time I was 15. By the time I was 17 I started my business. By the time I was I had 21. I had five kids, and by the time I was I had eight kids. So it sounds like a lot, but But again, it was my passion. It was it was the drive to do things. And I only know how to do them big and crazy. So So why are you listening to me with my lack of ninth grade education? I don't know. You now know the truth. You can pack up and go if you like. What I do know is I was able to take the angst in the passion those two sides and put them together and make them one whatever it is that I am. So it's kind of fun to share this with you, because to me, being honest is so much more fun than being right on. That's the truth to me. I would rather tell you the honest truth about me in my life where I am than to be right all the time. So creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. And I love that quote because to me, if you were to look at a really session of mine, I think you know, we as artists always showed the best image, the prettiest picture we have just like yourself. Every session I do. I have the good ones and the bad ones there will be edited, and you will always see the best of what I dio. But every day I make mistakes like shooting really expensive jobs on JPEG mode. Uh, every day I struggled to learn every day I set the bar slightly higher, so I have something to look forward to. And I know you guys air are getting that all down pat. So I'll let you finish writing. All right, so with that in mind, with the idea of keeping the creative side of understanding that there is no right and there is no wrong and nothing I have to say is right and nothing I have to say is wrong, we're gonna go ahead and get back into the marketing the business side of that, we're gonna get started. Really teaching and educating you more about photography business. Now, today, having been on creativelive, I debated a lot whether or not I wanted to do this piece because for a lot of you I did a full program a year and 1/2 ago about Belize babies. It was the baby program, so I was gonna pull it out of the show. But then I really thought about it. I thought, you know, really to be true to myself. The baby program is where my entire companies foundation waas. And it is where I made all of my money. It's also the springboard to my success. It's also, um, to this day, the business that continues to keep me busy. January, February, March keeps money coming in the door. So So before I go into this one, I've changed it up a little bit. But before I go deep into this, I want you guys for those of you have ever seen this, I want you to take what your vision is. Whether you're a pet photographer, event photographer, whatever it is I want you to apply the concept I want you to in your mind starts trading what I do for what you want to do, and it's easily done. All of this work. So so. For May, bellies and babies was an easy one. When I started 20 something years ago, most photographers we talked about this industry was predominantly male. There were no one out there that specialize in Children. If you're a new photographer, it's hard to imagine that because it's just we're just flooded with baby and Children photographers. But back then, nobody did it. The average professional photographer would say. We start photographing kids when they're 3 to 4 years old, like they didn't even want babies in the studio. That was a nightmare for most photographers. So So the idea of specialization to me, It wasn't that I came into it that way. It's just what I knew and what I enjoyed. The good news is that I didn't see coming is there were a never ending supply of clients. They're always babies being born. That's the cool thing is no matter what size town you live. In a small, tiny town rural town, somebody's having a baby there, So if you could create a business that that works for that community, you have that opportunity. But the rial truth, it's about lasting relationships. This sort of brings you to that. As I said, the end of the program, the Legacy project, every client that I photographed from the Legacy Project so far, and we photographed probably 2030 sessions already. Every single one of them is a baby plan client. So if I were ever to say to you that what I'm about to say is the truth, this would be one. Because last time I talked about the baby program, I told you that it was about relationships. This time, I know it's about relationships you will see. I will show you a few videos today, and every single one of them will say I started withstanding the baby program and it said quickly, But if you really think about your like while the kids 15 years old, you know that kids years old and you start to go Whoa! That's a long relationship, Teoh. I mean, how many of you shop at the same target for 15 years of the same grocery store for 15 years to create a relationship that bring somebody back year after year after year. It's pretty intense, so more than ever, I believe that that is what that program did for me. I think that it could be done for other genres as well. The baby program is pretty simple. For me, it was about having a low entry price. It's called a loss leader, something to instigate that clients to say. I want Teoh, I want to go there I want to buy. And usually it's a money issue that you want a low price to get them in the door. The ideas that includes milestones and a product so typically in a baby session, its three months, six months in one year sessions and they get a product. But the product they do not get that until they complete that one year session, so they have to spend the year with us and then they get. That's that Siri's. Now we have two types of products in our studio. I should say two types of sessions. We have an associate session which Helen and Stephanie photographed those those who include the three months, six months in one year, and they include At the end of the year they get a nice little folio. This is a Bay photo folio, and it includes an image from the three months, Six months in one year. The entry price is $99. Now just isn't f Y I. An associate session is normally $75 that folio is 150 something dollars. So for 99 bucks, they're getting a pretty screaming deal. They're getting a lot of our time and they're getting a lot. They're getting a nice product at the end now. The idea behind this, of course, is nobody is gonna wait an entire year to get pictures of their newborn to take home pictures of their newborn. So the idea is they're gonna purchase things at three months, six months and one year, and it works Now. There's also the Master Siri's, which is what I photograph. I do have my master's degree through P p a. Eso I cover the master syriza differences. There is an extra session. It's the newborn session. This is if they contact us before six weeks, they get a complimentary session and then of course. We cover the three month a six month and one year the differences. They pay a premium. They pay $250 but they get a frame with finished images. Now that frame in my studio. If you were to come by that frame for me, we sell that for starts at 3 99 So they're getting the frame and all that time of mine for $250 so they're still getting a great deal. Interestingly, though, we didn't realize this when we started this, but it's really awesome having an associate photographer. It's really easy to qualify the clients because a client that calls and takes the low price. Helen's a tremendous shooter. She's been with me 11 years now, so she's She is equal to me as far as, in fact, her baby. Her sales averages are slightly higher on her six month, and I'm sorry the six month sessions because she is really into props and creative ideas. I'm more of traditional like a chair and a child is all I want. She's like the bulls in the baskets and all that stuff, so she outsells me on some sessions because she puts more into it because that's her personality. But the interesting thing is the client will pick based on money, and they they end up going with her. The client that knows my work that has been referred by somebody where they say you have to work with Sandy. They'll spend a little bit more, and traditionally those people end up being are higher spending clients anyway. So it's It's kind of a nice to have those two options now. You could do that without an associate. You could have two choices for people as well, because it gives you a little clarity on how they're going to spend as far as long term on the clients. But the idea really is to create a program that clients buy into when their babies were born and they stick with you over the years. Now let's say you don't love babies. We can apply this to pet photography. One that we do in our studio. That's easy to do is a family program where AH client, maybe Pre Buys an album will show you some beautiful fideo albums and a photo albums. Later, they buy an album, and each year. You add to that album, or each year, maybe they pay a package price. You know, we'll just make up a number 5 99 or 8 99 or $1500 it includes a family portrait for the next 10 years or whatever it is, you can make your own programs. But the idea is creating a commitment when somebody financially commits you. Yes, well, emotionally. Commit to you. When you create these images and you create that experience, they won't go anywhere else. So I really want you to listen. When you hear these videos coming up, I want you to listen deeply and again there at the very end of the show. These air people I've worked with for 10 15 or more years listen to what they're saying because they without being prompted, we just throw them a question and they explode. Information. It's the most valuable marketing information I've ever gotten my life because it made me realize that everything that I loved actually worked, that it actually made it made sense. It made money. I do want to know, just for those of you who are interested in the baby plan, the newborn session just is enough. Why I has the highest sales average out of anything we do. If I could get that baby and before they're 10 days old, it's a three times higher cells average than when they're six weeks to three months. That has everything to do with the emotional connection. When you just have a baby, your first baby, especially you're so emotionally connected to that that you invest well into that. After three months, they're kind of paying for diapers, and, you know, they've been dealing with this baby for a while. They still love the baby, but it's not quite that same emotion now. I don't take advantage of my clients. I don't over sell my clients, But I also recognize that this is the prime time for my business to actually get in there and give them something they can never get again. Those newborn pictures. You'll hear those in the videos to when clients talk about those newborn pictures and how quickly that time went. I feel totally justified that they spend a couple $1000 because I know that those moments were so fleeting that if we didn't capture them, they would never remember them at all, so so I can sleep very well at night knowing that it's good for me and it's great for them.