Photography Business Mentorship
Having an eye for photography and the ability to take amazing photographs doesn’t always go hand-in-hand with having great business sense.
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Do You Need Photography Business Mentorship?
Professional photographers don’t need degrees or certifications to get started. Instead, business coaching and guidance from mentorship can provide newer photographers and those wanting to grow their businesses with some pretty solid advantages.
Investing in yourself and your business can go a long way. The more guidance you receive about running a successful business the more likely you’ll see your business thrive.
Photography business mentorship can help stay-at-home moms looking to start their own portrait photography business and established business owners wanting help to grow. Mentorship and coaching at Photography Business Institute offers:
Expert Feedback
One of the best ways to improve any skill is through constructive feedback. And who better to learn from than expert professionals? At Photography Business Institute, you’ll receive regular feedback from coaches on applying both creative skills and business knowledge.
Goal-Focused Guidance
While there are plenty of books, YouTube videos, and blogs online with information on starting a photography business, photographers who choose to work with a business coach will benefit from goal-focused guidance. Mentees work with mentors on their own specific business goals.
Professional Reputation
Guidance from the professionals at Photography Business Institute will set you apart from other photographers. Business mentorship adds credibility to new photographers and established businesses.
Build Community
Meet other like-minded photographers. Mentorship with Photography Business Institute not only helps you to sharpen your skills, but you will also get the chance to expand your community. Photography business friends who are following the same business model you are can offer collaboration and support. Having a solid professional network will inspire you to succeed.
What Mentors Cover
What a photography business coach or mentor can help you with is much different from what is taught in photography schools. Our coaches are working photographs running successful portrait photography businesses who can coach you on real-life scenarios of what is working now. From pricing to sales and marketing, pick up the skills needed to start and run a successful photography business from the experts who know.
Pricing
One of the hardest and most important skills to learn as a photography business owner is how to price your services and products. When you move from hobbyist to professional it is normal to lack confidence and to sell yourself short. A photography business is still a business, however, and a business needs to bring in a profit.
Marketing
As a business owner, you will need to learn how to bring in new photography clients. To do this you’ll need marketing skills. Marketing covers anything from business branding, word-of-mouth messaging, social media strategy, charitable marketing, co-marketing, and more.
How to Reach Your Business Goals
Selecting the right coach or mentor for you will depend on your individual goals. Consider what you want to achieve with your portrait photography business. Are you looking to start a side business? To bring in higher-value clients? To increase session numbers? To replace your full-time income? To gain a full-time career?
Goal Setting is Critical for Growth
Setting goals for your business is crucial for growth. Determining your business goals will give you an actionable roadmap to work on, and allow you to gauge success. Goals also provide motivation. When setting actionable goals it is important to first be aware of where your business is at and where you would like to be going.
Creating Realistic Goals
1. Consider the Present
Setting goals for the future of your business first starts with taking a look at your present situation. If you’re just getting started, this will be a short and easy process.
If you have an already established portrait photography business, some things to consider include the average income brought in per photography session, how many clients you are booking each month, and the efficiency of your business practices. Examine your current situation and find areas you would like to improve or change.
2. Plan for the Future
Once you understand where you are at, you can start making plans for the future. Where would you like your portrait photography business to be next year? This can include some big ideas as well as smaller changes.
The best goals are S.M.A.R.T. goals. This means that they are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based. Avoid self-sabotage and failure by ensuring your business goals fall into these categories.
Reach Your Goals Through Mentorship
The best way to come up with an actionable and successful plan for reaching your business goals is through professional photography mentorship. Photography Business Institute provides guidance on increasing profits, creating marketing strategies, elevating client experiences, and streamlining your business processes.
For Those Just Getting Started
You love being behind a camera. You’ve filled up memory cards with images of your loved ones. You’re the memory keeper at every big family event or trip. You dream of becoming a professional photographer–but you wonder if you’re actually good enough to start charging people.
If you lack the confidence to get started and are wondering where to turn, our Camera to Cash Membership can help you with the basics of good lighting, composition, how to pose clients, choosing camera gear, retouching images, and fine-tuning an effective workflow.
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This four week Camera to Cash Workshop offers both a boost in confidence for new photographers and help with technical skills for those who want to start charging clients. Each week, students receive constructive feedback from our expert coaches. These are live sessions where you will share new photographs, ask any questions that come up, and receive helpful, constructive critiques.
This workshop will take just a few hours of your time each week for four weeks and can be joined live online or watched when you have an hour to spare. Get guidance on incredibly important business and creative skills at your own pace. Affordable for new photographers who want to start making money from their craft but aren’t sure if their photography skills are good enough.
Jump Start Your Business With a Workshop
If you want a workshop that will transform your portrait photography business in 60 days, our Boutique Breakthrough online Workshop has what you’re looking for. Go over strategies and insights to bring in higher-value clients and increase business profits.
One struggle shared by all photography business owners is finding balance between work and personal life. Boutique Breakthrough will help you reach your goal of booking clients who spend over $1,000 per session. Increasing profits per client will help you find more time for family, friends, and personal fulfillment.
Workshop Breakdown
- 10 sessions with photography business coaches
- 30 days online with 30 days of additional support and personal coaching
- Individualized critiques
Boutique Breakthrough Breakdown
1. Legalities and Branding
Starting a business is not always glamorous. The first steps involve legalities such as getting a business license and figuring out state sales tax. While these processes aren’t as exciting as others, making sure your business follows all of the legal practices is crucial.
The coaches and mentors at Photography Business Institute can examine your current branding, portfolio, and website, to evaluate what changes are needed to make you a profitable boutique business. You’ll get actionable guidelines to boost income and your confidence.
2. Your Reason Why
Knowing why you want to be in the photography business will give you guidance on every decision you make. Understand how a boutique portrait photographer differs from a digital-image photographer, and how to set your business apart from the rest.
3. Pricing and Picking Products
While the right price point for your business will differ by photographer, location, and market, mentors will go over how to set your pricing to ensure boutique portrait photography success. As a boutique photographer sales will not end with the session fee, and you will also receive help choosing the best premium products and prints to offer your clients.
4. Selecting Samples
Samples give your clients a good idea of the quality of products and prints they can expect. Knowing how and where to order the most impressive product samples for in-person client consultations is important.
5. New Client Inquiries
Effectively responding to new client inquiries will help you book those high-value clients. This helps with finding the right clients for your business, and how to elevate communication.
6. Marketing Strategies
Attracting your ideal clients takes a thoughtful marketing strategy. Our coaches can give you advice on how to network with other businesses, how to build your online presence, how to market your business without spending tons of money, and more.
7. In-Person Consultations
Stop emailing potential clients back and forth, and speak to them in person. In-person consultations will bring your business higher profits and happier clients. We show you how to effectively conduct this important step of the sales process.
8. The Sales Presentation
Switching to in-person sales presentations will see your business selling more images at higher profits. Our coaches will go over how to build the best experience for your clients.
9. Boutique Sales Appointments
Watch example boutique photography sales presentations and go over tips to see you booking $1,000 + clients. Submit your own sales presentations for expert mentorship and critique.
10. Referrals
Asking your clients for referrals can be a tricky thing to navigate. Get advice on asking for referrals without it feeling forced or salesy.
Founder Sarah Petty
Photography Business Institute founder Sarah Petty is a professional portrait photographer with decades of experience and thousands of clients. She was named one of Professional Photographers of America’s Most Profitable Portrait Photographers and co-authored the New York Times Best Seller Worth Every Penny: Build a Business That Thrills Your Customers and Still Charge What You’re Worth.
Sarah Petty started her own boutique portrait photography business after working for over two decades in marketing with top international brands like Coca-Cola. She has an MBA and believes that creating her strong brand led to her current success. Sarah Petty has now started Photography Business Institute to help coach and mentor other boutique photographers to find their own success.
How to Get Started
At the Photography Business Institute we offer coaching, mentorship, and workshops with expert advice. If you wish to get started or expand your current photography business, we can provide you with the support you need.