EP 11: Stabilize Your Income: Should You Go Back?

00:00:08 [Melissa]
Biggest pro is extra income in slim time.

00:00:12 [Alison]
My name.

00:00:12 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:00:12 [Melissa]
Y’all, that is a 100%.

00:00:16 [Alison]
Hey, I’m Allison, military spouse and family photographer.

00:00:19 [Melissa]
And I’m Melissa, all three spouse, lifestyle newborn photographer, and SEO expert for photographers.
00:00:25 [Melissa]
Between the two of us, we have a combined twenty seven years in photography and have lived through nine business relocations.

00:00:30 [Alison]
We’ve coached each other through all these challenges privately on Marco Polo, and now we’re bringing our polos public.
00:00:36 [Alison]
On this podcast, we’ll give you actionable steps to help you keep it moving.
00:00:42 [Alison]
Alright, guys.
00:00:43 [Alison]
This episode, we are talking about, should you go back?
00:00:47 [Alison]
The pros and cons.

00:00:48 [Alison]
And when we mean go back, we mean go back to your current location.
00:00:52 [Alison]
That after you move, there are some good reasons why you might want to travel back to your previous location and take advantage of some opportunities.
00:01:04 [Alison]
So we’re talking about big picture planning here.
00:01:07 [Alison]
So whether or not you’ve moved, are you going to plan to head back or depending on what side of your move you’re on, is it worth it?
00:01:14 [Alison]
Should you do it?

00:01:15 [Alison]
We’ve got pros and cons and Melissa and I have each done this and we both have some experiences on either side of it.
00:01:22 [Alison]
So Melissa, what are the pros of going back after you’ve moved?

00:01:26 [Melissa]
Oh, so the biggest pro is extra income in slow time.

00:01:30 [Alison]
Excited to sign out.

00:01:31 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:01:31 [Melissa]
Y’all that is a 100%.
00:01:33 [Melissa]
So when we left Virginia, we had that episode talking about FOMO and booking out your calendar before you leave.
00:01:39 [Melissa]
I’m leaving a a roster of great clients and stuff, and, obviously, I can still fly from South Florida back to Virginia.
00:01:46 [Melissa]
So I think it was we moved in June, and I think it was probably around August time frame.

00:01:51 [Melissa]
I I knew my SEO was gonna take a while, so I just went ahead and decided, I’m gonna go back in the fall and do fall minis.
00:01:58 [Melissa]
For me, it was a chance to see friends and family again.
00:02:01 [Melissa]
I was able to crash at my sister’s house and hang out with her.
00:02:03 [Melissa]
And so we just went ahead and planned out that I would do fall mini sessions.
00:02:07 [Melissa]
And that extra income was great because even though I had money set aside for the move, who’s gonna turn down, like, making some extra cash?

00:02:14 [Melissa]
And when everybody knows in the fall, you’re looking around

00:02:17 [Alison]
and you’re like, everybody’s busy but me.

00:02:20 [Melissa]
This way, you’re like, I’m busy too.
00:02:22 [Melissa]
So it lets me it let me take advantage of that past client roster.
00:02:25 [Melissa]
I had people asking, are you so I was like, yes.
00:02:27 [Melissa]
I’m gonna come back.
00:02:28 [Melissa]
I’m gonna go ahead and do minis and take advantage of that extra income.

00:02:31 [Melissa]
And the thing is, you can do seasonal events, stuff like that.
00:02:34 [Melissa]
So, obviously, I was just telling you guys I did fall minis.
00:02:37 [Melissa]
I did not go back and do, like, red truck minis, which was something that I did before I left because that was gonna be too complicated.
00:02:44 [Melissa]
Trying to find a location, trying to get a truck, also while flying in, and all of that jazz dealing with Northern Virginia traffic.
00:02:51 [Melissa]
I was like, that just sounds like something I would wanna kill myself trying to do.

00:02:54 [Melissa]
I don’t wanna do that.
00:02:56 [Melissa]
But then the other one I did do was cherry blossoms.
00:02:59 [Melissa]
I did cherry blossom minis because that’s only gonna happen that one time a year.
00:03:02 [Melissa]
I will tell you, I do feel like something like a cherry blossom mini because it’s a one off thing.
00:03:07 [Melissa]
It does give you the opportunity to charge than just a generic, like, fall mini, spring mini, that kind of thing.

00:03:13 [Melissa]
Cherry blossoms are only blooming, like, peak bloom for what, two weeks or so?
00:03:16 [Melissa]
I can’t even remember now, but it’s not very long.
00:03:18 [Melissa]
And I was in DC doing them and stuff.
00:03:21 [Melissa]
So that’s the other thing to think about.
00:03:22 [Melissa]
You also need to charge a premium because if you have travel expenses and stuff, you’ve gotta cover that kind of thing.

00:03:28 [Melissa]
So those really are the pros.
00:03:29 [Melissa]
The pros are being able to hang out with family and friends.
00:03:32 [Melissa]
I know I think one of the cherry blossom ones I my best friend and I went to, I think that was when the Golden Girls movie for Rose Betty White was out.
00:03:39 [Melissa]
And so I got tickets for us and stuff.
00:03:40 [Melissa]
And so it was a great chance to hang out and have fun and just be around everybody again.

00:03:45 [Melissa]
Highlight here too that the seasonal event makes

00:03:47 [Alison]
the most sense because that Sienna mini, that cherry blossom, those fall colors have a natural demand.
00:03:54 [Alison]
People are already wanting them.
00:03:56 [Alison]
There’s a demand already built in and you have to do a lot less work to fill up your time slots.
00:04:01 [Alison]
So you can go back anytime you want.
00:04:03 [Alison]
Those seasonal events are going to be a lot easier to recoup your costs for traveling than,

00:04:09 [Melissa]
Hey, I’m just coming back for the summertime.
00:04:11 [Melissa]
Exactly.
00:04:11 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:04:12 [Melissa]
Because you are traveling, you have additional costs than you had when you just lived there.
00:04:16 [Melissa]
And you guys have to keep that in mind.

00:04:18 [Melissa]
Do not try and fly back and do a whole round of minis and it just cover your plane ticket.
00:04:22 [Melissa]
That’s not getting you ahead.
00:04:24 [Melissa]
If you wanna just cover your travel, whatever, but I personally like to make money at my job.

00:04:29 [Alison]
Hey.
00:04:29 [Alison]
Yes.
00:04:30 [Alison]
I’m talking to you.
00:04:30 [Alison]
How are you feeling about this move?
00:04:32 [Alison]
It’s a lot to process, but I’ve got something for you.

00:04:35 [Alison]
I want you to grab my pre move checklist to make things a little easier.
00:04:39 [Alison]
Even if you’re not sure where you’re going yet, it’s not too early to start.
00:04:42 [Alison]
But you could be losing to CO juice if you dilly dally.
00:04:45 [Alison]
So head over to alisonbell.co, that’s alisonwith1l,bell.co, to get your pre move checklist.
00:04:52 [Alison]
You got this.

00:04:53 [Alison]
Money is a pretty good reason to do anything, especially when it’s easy.
00:04:57 [Alison]
But those travel expenses, like, you need to think about before you ever plan, like, how are you gonna get back?
00:05:03 [Alison]
Are you gonna fly?
00:05:04 [Alison]
If you fly, you are not gonna have a car.
00:05:06 [Alison]
If you get there and you need a car, do you have family?

00:05:09 [Alison]
Are you going to be able to borrow a car?
00:05:11 [Alison]
All of that is going to play into it.
00:05:13 [Alison]
Who’s gonna keep your kids?
00:05:15 [Alison]
Do you have kids?
00:05:16 [Alison]
Is your husband staying behind?

00:05:17 [Alison]
Is this a weekend jot?
00:05:18 [Alison]
Are you gonna take your kids with you?
00:05:20 [Alison]
Take a kid, divide and conquer.
00:05:22 [Alison]
Those are some logistical hurdles you need to figure out.
00:05:26 [Alison]
Studio space considerations.

00:05:28 [Alison]
Okay.
00:05:28 [Alison]
So say you’re a studio space, like you are an in studio photographer, whether you’re natural light, artificial light, what have you.
00:05:35 [Alison]
When does your lease go up?
00:05:37 [Alison]
Are you moving before or after your lease is up?
00:05:40 [Alison]
Can you sublet it if you’re moving before?

00:05:43 [Alison]
Let’s say you decide to keep your studio space storm, but nobody’s there to see if there’s damage.
00:05:49 [Alison]
I don’t know, say a hole in the ceiling, flooding, mold, who’s going to be there?
00:05:53 [Alison]
Are you going to have somebody that’s going to go be able to check-in on those?
00:05:56 [Alison]
Also a consideration.
00:05:57 [Alison]
And if you are having a studio space, what are you going to do with your gear?

00:06:02 [Alison]
Are you taking your gear with you when you move?
00:06:05 [Alison]
Are you going to leave it in the studio?
00:06:07 [Alison]
Do you provide a client wardrobe?
00:06:09 [Alison]
Is that going to stay?
00:06:10 [Alison]
Are you going to divide and conquer it, leave some there, take some with you?

00:06:14 [Alison]
Can you cart your photo gear back and forth?
00:06:17 [Alison]
Is that someone a cart on an airplane?
00:06:21 [Alison]
Are you going to drive back and forth?
00:06:22 [Alison]
The distance between where you’re moving from and to will play a huge factor in here.
00:06:29 [Alison]
Or if you are giving up your studio, if your lease is up before you move, do you need to rent a studio space?

00:06:36 [Alison]
Is there a studio space maybe you could rent back your old space for a hot time?
00:06:40 [Alison]
Maybe you could use something like Peerspace or home studio list if you need to.
00:06:44 [Alison]
Like Melissa was saying before, the pros of cherry blossoms and fall colors, they’re required.
00:06:50 [Alison]
Santa, maybe not so much.
00:06:53 [Alison]
Okay.

00:06:53 [Melissa]
So I will say with the studio space thing and like you’re talking about with an associate, I know a photographer in Houston that they moved to North Carolina.
00:07:01 [Melissa]
She still keeps her studio in Houston and she has an associate that she has left behind and she will fly back like once a month to do sessions.
00:07:09 [Melissa]
And they will schedule stuff for her during that time frame.
00:07:12 [Melissa]
So that could be an option too.
00:07:13 [Melissa]
If you do have a studio space, do you have the opportunity where you could fly back and and be scheduled out for that time that you’re there?

00:07:20 [Melissa]
And then your associate pick up some of the other sessions, the times that you’re not there.
00:07:25 [Melissa]
That’s brilliant.

00:07:26 [Alison]
And that is its own can of worms, because then you’re operating two businesses in two states with two groups of legality and two sets of taxes and all the other business things that kind of top a lot of that.
00:07:38 [Alison]
If you’re gonna do that, please just make money at doing it.
00:07:41 [Alison]
Hire somebody to do some of that’s bookkeeping for you because it’s brilliant.
00:07:44 [Alison]
That’s a little bit of what I did when I left Virginia Beach, but it was temporary.
00:07:48 [Alison]
It was short termed and maximized my kind of nerdy while I was right after I left when I didn’t have any other work going on in Hawaii and then shut that down.

00:07:58 [Alison]
So in our experience, though, with just going back, when we moved from Quantico, Virginia to Virginia Beach, Y’all, that was a weird move.
00:08:06 [Alison]
We didn’t have to give away the entire contents of our refrigerator.
00:08:10 [Alison]
We packed that stuff up in coolers and put it in a new fridge three hours later.
00:08:14 [Alison]
So that was a very easy we should definitely come back because there was a unique situation while we were in Quantico.
00:08:21 [Alison]
There is so speaking of cherry blossoms in the Northern Virginia area, there was this one tree and it’s a cherry blossom, but it it blooms just before cherries.

00:08:31 [Alison]
And it is, it’s a magnolia or saucer magnolia, or some people call it a Japanese magnolia.
00:08:35 [Alison]
And it was one base and it was old as dirt.
00:08:39 [Alison]
The sucker was big.
00:08:40 [Alison]
It was bigger than almost any other cherry tree I’ve ever seen.
00:08:42 [Alison]
Of course, it’s not a cherry, it’s a magnolia tree.

00:08:45 [Alison]
But behind it, all right on the edge of some woods.
00:08:48 [Alison]
So completely unkempt, never been trimmed before, is a dogwood tree with their limbs going all the way to the ground.
00:08:56 [Alison]
And so we had this beautiful giant pink magnolia.
00:09:00 [Alison]
So it was bigger blossoms than a cherry, bigger, just bigger everything, cascading, could frame my clients, beautiful.
00:09:06 [Alison]
And behind it was this just sheet of white dogwoods.

00:09:10 [Alison]
Like even if I planted that setup now in my own backyard, it would take fifty years for it to grow into fruition like this.
00:09:16 [Alison]
So it was gorgeous.
00:09:17 [Alison]
And then because it was on base, I didn’t have to travel.
00:09:20 [Alison]
My clients didn’t have to travel.
00:09:21 [Alison]
If they were coming in from off base, it was easier to get to rather than going into DC or Fredericksburg.

00:09:27 [Alison]
And then because it was on base, this was my favorite part, the Marines could wear their cammies.
00:09:33 [Alison]
It was fantastic.
00:09:35 [Alison]
So I was definitely willing to come back for that seasonal and can’t replicate that anywhere else.
00:09:41 [Alison]
So I did the first year.
00:09:42 [Alison]
We were in Virginia Beach.

00:09:44 [Alison]
I went back, executed.
00:09:45 [Alison]
It was amazing.
00:09:46 [Alison]
I think I did two days of many sessions back to back.
00:09:50 [Alison]
I drove my

00:11:20 [Alison]
Myself up.
00:11:21 [Alison]
I had a very inexpensive place to stay, a hotel right there on base.
00:11:25 [Alison]
And then drove I stayed one night, drove up early, did some sessions, and drove back the next day.
00:11:31 [Alison]
Super easy.
00:11:32 [Alison]
Now the next year was not so awesome.

00:11:35 [Alison]
The next year I did the thing.
00:11:36 [Alison]
And anytime you’re planning for cherry blossoms, there’s a natural, I don’t know when they’re gonna bloom, but here’s our target date.
00:11:41 [Alison]
And a whole lot of just weight based on projections and weather and all the other things.

00:11:47 [Melissa]
That’s the thing.
00:11:47 [Melissa]
It’s not even just cherry blossoms.
00:11:49 [Melissa]
If you are coming into town, you don’t get to have a backup weekend.
00:11:52 [Melissa]
Oh, it’s gonna rain this weekend, guys.
00:11:54 [Melissa]
We’re just gonna postpone everything to next weekend.

00:11:56 [Melissa]
I think when I had my stuff, it was like, it’s either this weekend or I’m gonna have to refund.
00:12:01 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:12:01 [Melissa]
This is the only chance I could do it.

00:12:03 [Alison]
You could say, hey, it’s gonna be this weekend with weather backup of the next weekend, but you’re gonna have to make that call before you ever fly.
00:12:09 [Alison]
Or you could say, hey, we’re gonna shoot these on Saturday morning.
00:12:12 [Alison]
If there’s rain Saturday morning, we’re delaying a day.
00:12:15 [Alison]
Just leave your Sunday open.

00:12:16 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:12:17 [Melissa]
I think that’s what I did.
00:12:17 [Melissa]
I think I had stuff set for Saturday and I was like, Sunday is the backup because that was all I could do.
00:12:23 [Melissa]
Because you’re right.
00:12:24 [Melissa]
Trying to change a flight a couple days beforehand is not the most economical solution.

00:12:29 [Alison]
No, not at all.
00:12:31 [Alison]
So that’s what I was doing.
00:12:32 [Alison]
I was in the thick of it.
00:12:33 [Alison]
I start promoting that stuff early mid February and say, Hey, this is happening in March.
00:12:37 [Alison]
These were the dates last year.

00:12:38 [Alison]
Obviously we have to be flexible keeping that in not so fine print at every turn.
00:12:43 [Alison]
And as we’re like tracking this is happening, there’s this freeze right as the, magnolia trees are budding.
00:12:51 [Alison]
They’re all in full blood stage.
00:12:53 [Alison]
We came we became darn near botanist that year.
00:12:56 [Alison]
But they’re completely they’re like these tight buds.

00:12:58 [Alison]
Some of them had opened, and there’s this overnight freeze.
00:13:03 [Alison]
Kills all the buds.
00:13:05 [Alison]
The cherry blossoms were okay, but the magnolia cherries, within twenty four hours of that freeze, the National Park Service was saying how the buds are dead, they’re not opening.
00:13:15 [Alison]
See you later.
00:13:16 [Alison]
So much for the magnolias this year, next year.

00:13:20 [Alison]
How do you come back from that?
00:13:22 [Alison]
That’s an act of God, that’s mother nature.
00:13:24 [Alison]
I can’t, I can’t put in fake buds all over her big ugly tree.
00:13:29 [Alison]
And so I did plan c was executed.
00:13:32 [Alison]
I refunded everybody everything because that’s all you can do.

00:13:37 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:13:38 [Melissa]
I know I had the last it was cherry blossoms.
00:13:41 [Melissa]
And it all of a sudden, we had this, like, freak storm come through literally in the middle of the day.
00:13:47 [Melissa]
Like, I had clients waiting in the car waiting for it to come through, but it was this crazy, like, hail snowstorm.
00:13:53 [Melissa]
It was the weirdest thing ever, and it came through, like, right in the middle.

00:13:56 [Melissa]
And then after that, it was beautiful, but, like, nothing had been on the radar.
00:13:59 [Melissa]
Like, I’m standing there with my clients.
00:14:01 [Melissa]
I’m like, just hang out in your car for a minute.
00:14:03 [Melissa]
That was the one time that I did have because we all have it.
00:14:05 [Melissa]
You all have that one client that’s gonna blow up your phone.

00:14:07 [Melissa]
It’s why can’t we reschedule?
00:14:08 [Melissa]
And you’re like, because I’m flying out.
00:14:09 [Melissa]
That’s just not gonna happen.
00:14:10 [Melissa]
I have a policy of bless and release because I can’t I just don’t need to hold on to somebody else’s money and the hassle of them trying to get it back from me.
00:14:19 [Melissa]
So for that client, I was like, here’s your money back, and then I blackballed them from my list.

00:14:24 [Alison]
Do what you gotta do.
00:14:25 [Alison]
Keep it all or keep it all happy.
00:14:27 [Alison]
So yeah.
00:14:27 [Alison]
So that and and all of this was doable.
00:14:30 [Alison]
I think it was worthwhile for all of us that I’m at this point home because they were seasonal.

00:14:34 [Alison]
I have I’m from Charleston.
00:14:36 [Alison]
I would love to be able to go home and get work done, do some work, fund my trip, write it off as a as an expense, build a small clientele in Charleston and be able to go back more often.
00:14:47 [Alison]
But the fact is there are no seasonal events like this in Charleston.
00:14:53 [Alison]
Yes, there’s summer, but summer is all summer.
00:14:56 [Alison]
It’s not a two week event.

00:14:57 [Alison]
It’s not a two week season.
00:14:59 [Alison]
I don’t have a big clientele down there where I could like create some kind of minis to happen.
00:15:05 [Alison]
And so I’ve had a very difficult time, like, trying to create that down there.
00:15:09 [Alison]
I don’t spend a whole lot of effort on it either, but so that’s just another consideration, like, when you’re trying to build up or what considering whether you should go back.
00:15:16 [Alison]
Like, it is much more difficult to just try to create something out of nothing if there’s not already a, an existing demand.

00:15:24 [Alison]
So

00:15:25 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:15:25 [Melissa]
And one thing I don’t think we’ve really thought about too or covered is you could book full sessions.
00:15:30 [Melissa]
If you don’t have to book many sessions, you could reach out to some of your clients.
00:15:35 [Melissa]
Hey, I know we do annual photos every year.
00:15:38 [Melissa]
This is the timeframe you would normally do them.

00:15:40 [Melissa]
How about I go ahead and schedule you for this particular Saturday?
00:15:42 [Melissa]
And then you stack another family that same timeframe.
00:15:45 [Melissa]
And if it’s your full price sessions and you make good money off of them, like, it could be worth it to fly back to do one or two sessions.
00:15:52 [Melissa]
The biggest thing is putting them all in the same area.
00:15:54 [Melissa]
Like, you don’t wanna be flying back once a week to go do one session.

00:15:57 [Melissa]
But if you can do two sessions on Saturday and two sessions on Sunday with past clients at the same time frame they would normally do them, depending on what you charge, you could be making dollars for one weekend with just full sessions.
00:16:09 [Melissa]
So it doesn’t have to be minis.
00:16:10 [Melissa]
Keep that in mind.
00:16:11 [Melissa]
That’s a good point.

00:16:12 [Alison]
That’s a good word.
00:16:13 [Alison]
So yeah.
00:16:14 [Alison]
So consider all that.
00:16:15 [Alison]
There’s pros, money, client roster, seasonal events, and getting to see friends and family.
00:16:21 [Alison]
And then your cons, travel expenses, studio considerations, maybe having an associate shooter in your place, and then of course, weather.

00:16:29 [Alison]
So hopefully you found that helpful.
00:16:31 [Alison]
If you have any questions about this, remember, Melissa and I do this.
00:16:34 [Alison]
This is our jam.
00:16:35 [Alison]
We love talking about all this stuff and we will help you out if you are moving your business.
00:16:39 [Alison]
Don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

00:16:41 [Alison]
Our links are in our show notes.
00:16:42 [Alison]
My freebie, if this is any feeling any kind of overwhelmed over this, there is a free pre move checklist for your business in the show notes.
00:16:50 [Alison]
You are welcome to get that at any time.
00:16:52 [Alison]
Use that, make sure it’s useful.
00:16:54 [Alison]
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out.

00:16:56 [Alison]
And Melissa, you have a Where to Share checklist?

00:16:59 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:17:00 [Melissa]
Whenever you guys are doing blog posts and stuff like that, I just want to make sure that you are sharing them.
00:17:05 [Melissa]
Don’t hit publish on your blog and then walk away and be like, I’m done.
00:17:09 [Melissa]
You are not.
00:17:09 [Melissa]
But the good news is you can use that blog post to create so much content for your social media and stuff like that, that instead of sitting down going, what am I gonna post to Instagram today?

00:17:18 [Melissa]
You can be like, oh, that’s right.
00:17:20 [Melissa]
I wrote a blog post.
00:17:21 [Melissa]
I’m gonna start sharing that.
00:17:22 [Melissa]
The where to share checklist will walk you through all of the different places to to share your stuff, Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, Google My Business, all of that jazz.
00:17:29 [Melissa]
So once you hit publish, you’re not done, but you have done the majority of the work.

00:17:33 [Melissa]
So now it’s just a matter of making that blog post work for you.

00:17:37 [Alison]
Yep.
00:17:37 [Alison]
Slice and dice, baby.
00:17:38 [Alison]
Alright.
00:17:39 [Alison]
Until next time.
00:17:39 [Alison]
We’ll see you guys later.

00:17:44 [Melissa]
Thank you so much for listening.
00:17:46 [Melissa]
If you’re enjoying this show, would you do two things for us?
00:17:48 [Melissa]
First, leave a review.
00:17:50 [Melissa]
Just stars would be awesome.
00:17:51 [Melissa]
And two, forward this episode to a biz bestie, mil spouse, or anyone facing moving their business.

00:17:56 [Melissa]
We’d love it if you shared this episode with even just one person.
00:17:59 [Melissa]
If you have any questions, reach out to Allison on Instagram at alison belle photog or Melissa in her Facebook group, Raise Your Rank.
00:18:06 [Melissa]
Check the show notes for links.