For 17 years, Maura Kerkezis fit photography in around teaching middle school full-time, coaching, raising her two girls, and caring for her mom. She was busy, and she believed busy meant successful. Maybe you do too.
In this episode I sit down with Maura to talk about how she went from an average order of about $365 to over $81,000 from her biggest orders since May. We cover what she was afraid would happen if she stopped giving away all her digital files, what actually happened, and why she says she’s “not some unicorn.” So if you want to see what’s possible when you finally put a system behind your talent, hit play and enjoy the episode!
Busy Is Not Profitable
For almost two decades, Maura ran her business by trial and error. She looked at what other photographers charged and stayed “in the ballpark.” She delivered 10 to 15 full-resolution digital files per session and then walked away.
- Her average order was around $365
- Selling two 5x7s from her website felt like a win
- When a client asked for something new, like headshots, she’d make up a number and write it on a scrap of paper so she’d remember it
- Every year, her plan for “next year will be better” was simply to book more sessions
“I thought, okay, well, I’m busy. I’m really busy. They must really love me. No, they found a cheap photographer that would give them digitals.”
Admitting What She Didn’t Know
Maura had invested in a teaching degree, but never in the business side of photography. She’d bought a few $200 PDFs and never opened some of them. When she found Boutique Breakthrough, she knew she needed structure. She and her husband made a plan, put the investment on a credit card, and jumped in. Today he calls it the best decision they made.
“I guess I hid behind that teacher-knows-everything thing… I wasn’t admitting what I didn’t know. That was the problem.”
Turning the Knobs: Branding, Pricing & the First Conversation
New photographers usually pull big levers. Experienced photographers like Maura often have to turn a lot of smaller knobs. Hers included:
- Setting one logo and brand instead of changing it every year
- Swapping made-up numbers for a structured price list (and trusting the process even when the prices felt scary)
- Ordering product samples, which gave her a professional, concrete offer she was proud to hold
- Learning the 7 B’s of the first phone call, so she understood what clients actually wanted instead of looking for them in a parking lot
- Following the Shoot to Sell plan exactly, which cut down the time she spent overshooting and over-editing
Working through all of this with a group helped too. Everyone shared the same fears, used the same prices, and trusted the process together.
The Sale That Changed Everything
Maura was nervous going into her first in-person ordering appointment. The sales conversation was the whole reason she’d stuck with digitals. But when the door opened, the little girls hugged her like family, and the grandparents joined in and started asking for pieces of their own.
Her first order was $3,650, about ten times her old average. The client handed over her credit card without hesitating. Maura called her husband and her Boutique Breakthrough friend while she drove home, shaking.
“I didn’t just get lucky. I just have a system now.”
The orders kept coming: $2,102, $1,944, $2,156, $5,667, $3,439, $4,227. A referral turned into a senior portrait session with an $11,400 order. Her lowest order was $1,076.
What About My Old Clients?
Like so many photographers, Maura worried that leaving digital files behind would cost her the clients she loved. Some did say she was out of their budget, and she let them go kindly. Others came back. One client whose wedding and newborn twins Maura had photographed (all digital) returned for the boutique experience and placed a $2,800 order, then raved about finally having art on her walls.
She had been serving fast food when her clients would have loved a sit-down meal. Now she books the right-fit clients instead of as many clients as she can.
Final Thoughts
Maura isn’t a unicorn. She listened, followed the process, and stopped discounting the most important thing in her business: her own value. Best of all, she’s present with her family now. In her words, it’s “a nice breath of being able to have me back in the family.”
“Make chapter two jealous of chapter one.”
So, what will your chapter two look like?
RESOURCES
- Go from Hidden to Hidden to Hired this Season: Get the Formula
- Photography Business Tools to Get Started
- Join Our Facebook Group: We Are Portrait Photographers
- Learn About Boutique Breakthrough
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