EP 19: Stabilize Your Income: Associate & Second Shooting

00:00:07 [Alison]
Hey.
00:00:07 [Alison]
I’m Allison, military spouse and family photographer.
00:00:10 [Alison]
And I’m Melissa, also a military spouse, lifestyle newborn photographer, SEO expert for photographers.
00:00:16 [Alison]
Between the two of us, we have a combined twenty seven years in photography and have lived through nine businesses.

00:00:21 [Melissa]
We’ve coached each other through all these challenges privately on Marco Polo, and now we’re bringing our polos public.
00:00:27 [Melissa]
On this podcast, we’ll give you actionable steps to help you keep it moving.
00:00:34 [Melissa]
Alright.
00:00:34 [Melissa]
Hey, guys.
00:00:35 [Melissa]
Welcome back.

00:00:36 [Melissa]
Before we get started into this week’s topic, we want you to leave some reviews, some stars, some words, whatever app you’re in.
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00:00:46 [Melissa]
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Share with your friends.
00:00:53 [Melissa]
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00:00:55 [Melissa]
That way the show, the more reviews and ratings we get, it’ll go higher in new noteworthy, you should list it suggested feed.
00:01:02 [Melissa]
I don’t know.
00:01:02 [Melissa]
And whatever.
00:01:04 [Melissa]
So somebody told me that.
00:01:05 [Melissa]
Hope it’s true.

00:01:07 [Melissa]
Alright.
00:01:07 [Melissa]
So today, we’re talking about stabilizing your income for the move with associate shooting and contract shooting.
00:01:15 [Melissa]
The suckiest part, I think we can all agree, Melissa, about moving our business is a lot of income.
00:01:20 [Melissa]
Oh, yeah.
00:01:21 [Melissa]
Yes.

00:01:22 [Melissa]
I love the joy of raising a moment and working with a family and tiny babies, but I work at this for the money.
00:01:32 [Melissa]
Mama likes to get paid.
00:01:33 [Melissa]
We have jobs and businesses for the money.
00:01:36 [Melissa]
Right?
00:01:36 [Melissa]
And if you have any qualms with that, let’s work on that first.

00:01:39 [Melissa]
There’s some books we can recommend to DM us.
00:01:41 [Melissa]
But this is definitely the worst part of moving.
00:01:43 [Melissa]
And so there are definitely some strategies.
00:01:45 [Melissa]
We’ve talked about one already with affiliate marketing, put in a little work, get paid while you’re asleep.
00:01:49 [Melissa]
Today, we’re gonna talk about associates and contracts.

00:01:52 [Melissa]
So there’s two different sides of the same coin.
00:01:55 [Melissa]
There’s for somebody else, somebody else’s business, and then there’s you creating an associate or contract program and hire people out to shoot on your behalf.
00:02:04 [Melissa]
So the first part, Melissa, you’re gonna take it away because you you know this well.

00:02:09 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:02:09 [Alison]
So I’m gonna talk about shooting for someone else.
00:02:12 [Alison]
So when I started my career, like many others, I started in weddings and I started off second shooting.
00:02:16 [Alison]
And second shooting for weddings can be a great way to make some cash.
00:02:21 [Alison]
And in fact, when we moved down to South Florida and, like, in the beginning and stuff while I was still getting established, that was a common husband I had.

00:02:27 [Alison]
Normally, I wasn’t working weekends anymore at that that point.
00:02:29 [Alison]
But when you move, some suddenly, a lot of the rules you had in place have to, like, flex.
00:02:34 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:02:34 [Alison]
And so you had a hard fast rule of how to shoot weekends, but now you’re like, bills have gotta get paid, so maybe I might have to go shoot some weekends.
00:02:40 [Alison]
So we had talked about me actually, like, going and reaching out to some wedding photographers possibly to second shoot.

00:02:45 [Alison]
I didn’t have to do that, but I think that’s a great option.
00:02:48 [Alison]
I will say this.
00:02:49 [Alison]
I was always paid about $50 an hour for second shooting, and that was ten years ago.
00:02:53 [Alison]
So you wanna look for good photographers who are paying well.
00:02:56 [Alison]
You do need to have at least some experience, I do feel, on a wedding day.

00:02:59 [Alison]
Now second shooting is a great way to get that experience because you get, like, small bits and stuff.
00:03:03 [Alison]
But if you wanna come in higher prices and stuff, if you can come to the table and say, hey.
00:03:07 [Alison]
Look.
00:03:08 [Alison]
It’s been three, four years, but I used to shoot weddings and I have all this experience.
00:03:12 [Alison]
Like, you are primed to just come in and second shoot for someone because this is actually done it.

00:03:15 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:03:16 [Melissa]
And this is not just a suggestion for fam for wedding photographers to second shoot.
00:03:19 [Melissa]
This is a suggestion for all photographers, real estate, pet, newborn, families.
00:03:24 [Melissa]
If you work with people, you can shoot a wedding.
00:03:26 [Melissa]
And some big photographers have second and third shooters

00:03:30 [Alison]
on a wedding.
00:03:30 [Alison]
For assistants.
00:03:31 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:03:32 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:03:32 [Alison]
You might be carrying it back.

00:03:33 [Alison]
Find them.
00:03:34 [Alison]
For second shooting, that

00:03:35 [Melissa]
was actually?

00:03:37 [Alison]
I joined this was, like, old school.
00:03:39 [Alison]
It was a forum, a wedding forum.
00:03:41 [Alison]
Rest in peace.
00:03:42 [Alison]
It’s not around anymore.
00:03:42 [Alison]
Oh,

00:03:43 [Melissa]
it’s not?
00:03:43 [Melissa]
Oh.

00:03:44 [Alison]
No.
00:03:44 [Alison]
There I will say we now have, like, our own little old people Facebook group kind of thing.
00:03:50 [Alison]
So I there’s I know there’s tons of, like, second shooting groups on Facebook and stuff like that.
00:03:54 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:03:54 [Alison]
So second shooting is a good way to not have to worry about finding clients.

00:03:57 [Alison]
You just, hey, these are my dates available.

00:04:00 [Melissa]
This episode is brought to you by Keep It Moving Coaching with me, Allison Bell.
00:04:04 [Melissa]
If there’s one thing I’ve learned over my seven moves, it’s that every move is different.
00:04:09 [Melissa]
Every business is different and every location is different.
00:04:11 [Melissa]
What has may not be as fruitful for you or vice versa?
00:04:15 [Melissa]
And it’s always overwhelming.

00:04:17 [Melissa]
Starting over again just sucks.
00:04:18 [Melissa]
There are phases of exhaustion, thinking I can’t do this, decision fatigue, or just plain overwhelmed about the next right step.
00:04:26 [Melissa]
That’s where I come in.
00:04:27 [Melissa]
With one on one coaching, we’ll get together virtually face to face.
00:04:32 [Melissa]
I’ll get to know your business, your unique struggles and challenges.

00:04:35 [Melissa]
We’ll work together to decide the next right step for you to keep it moving.
00:04:39 [Melissa]
The goal, relocate and restart your business from the grub faster.
00:04:45 [Melissa]
Minimize income loss and get found quick.
00:04:47 [Melissa]
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00:04:50 [Melissa]
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00:04:56 [Melissa]
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00:05:01 [Melissa]
That’s alison with one l a l I s o n b e l l dot co right now.

00:05:09 [Alison]
Getting into photography groups too and just paying attention for where I just saw one the other day where somebody was like, oh my god.
00:05:14 [Alison]
My second stomach bug that’s going around.
00:05:16 [Alison]
We have a wedding tomorrow.
00:05:17 [Alison]
Can someone fill in?
00:05:18 [Alison]
That can be a great time for you to, like, swoop in.

00:05:20 [Alison]
And I think that’s exactly how I got started with the guy I second shot with.
00:05:23 [Alison]
If somebody was sick or he needed somebody in our area, I swooped in and was like, hey.
00:05:28 [Alison]
I’m there.
00:05:28 [Alison]
I can photograph it.
00:05:30 [Alison]
And I ended up second shooting with him for a long time.

00:05:32 [Alison]
I was shooting two weekends two to three weekends a month with him, and I learned so much from him.
00:05:37 [Alison]
Like, he was definitely very old school, and I learned all kinds of lighting stuff.
00:05:40 [Alison]
So second shooting can be a great way to make some extra income.
00:05:44 [Alison]
There are some other services besides second shooting.
00:05:48 [Alison]
You may let’s say you are a wedding photographer and you’re moving to another area.

00:05:51 [Alison]
You could contract shoot for another photographer.
00:05:53 [Alison]
Like, you could reach out to whoever’s in the top, like, five or six spots on Google in your, like, main area.
00:05:59 [Alison]
I would reach out and say, hey.
00:06:01 [Alison]
I’m looking to contract shoot for other photographers.
00:06:04 [Alison]
Do you are you do you need people?

00:06:06 [Alison]
And you may have to start off second shooting, but you could work your way up into being the main shooter, which usually means you get paid more.
00:06:13 [Alison]
More.
00:06:13 [Alison]
You’re basically an associate for them or a contract shooter for them.
00:06:16 [Alison]
And there and then that leads to there are companies out there that that will do that kind of thing.
00:06:21 [Alison]
So I used to be I feel like I’m showing my age all over this, but, like, George Street photo, I think, was one.

00:06:27 [Melissa]
I’ve never even heard of it.

00:06:28 [Alison]
And, basically, they were, like, the booking company, and then they would find photographers locally.
00:06:33 [Alison]
Now I’ve seen ads for Flytographer, Allison.
00:06:36 [Alison]
I think you said what?
00:06:37 [Alison]
AirCam?
00:06:37 [Alison]
Yeah.

00:06:38 [Melissa]
I looked yeah.
00:06:39 [Melissa]
AirCam was really different, but this same concept, same basic, like, hire you out wherever you are photography.
00:06:46 [Melissa]
Flytographer is specific to family photos all over the world.
00:06:49 [Melissa]
English speaking, like, even if you’re in Paris or Germany or Asia somewhere, but AirCam was this it’s an app.
00:06:56 [Melissa]
So it’s all digital.

00:06:57 [Melissa]
You had to have a Wi Fi enabled camera, but it was specifically for Google business listings.
00:07:03 [Melissa]
So, like, they would contract at the Starbucks at the corporate level, and then every Starbucks in whatever area needed to have photos.
00:07:10 [Melissa]
And so they would hire they had people all over the country, and they would pay you, like, $80,100 dollars to go shoot these five things that they want.
00:07:18 [Melissa]
That particular Starbucks had high quality Google My Business listing photos.

00:07:22 [Alison]
And that’s exactly what I did.
00:07:24 [Alison]
It was a company called Main Street Hub, and I think they got bought out by GoDaddy, but it was exactly that same thing.

00:07:28 [Melissa]
Mhmm.

00:07:29 [Alison]
I’ve done this without having moved of just, hey.
00:07:31 [Alison]
Times are slow.
00:07:32 [Alison]
We’re looking for some little extra cash.
00:07:33 [Alison]
What can I do to drum up money and stuff?
00:07:35 [Alison]
Actually, Alice and I were just looking.

00:07:37 [Alison]
I made, like, $1,800 with Main Street Hub because I was calling out.
00:07:41 [Alison]
And it was, like, an hour of my time.
00:07:43 [Alison]
They paid me, like, a $150, so it was I was not rolling in the dough.
00:07:46 [Alison]
But it was an hour of my time.
00:07:47 [Alison]
I didn’t have to edit.

00:07:48 [Alison]
I just showed up.
00:07:49 [Alison]
I shot it.
00:07:50 [Alison]
I uploaded the photos, and I walked away, and I was done.
00:07:52 [Alison]
And as the photos, like, I sent over the invoice.
00:07:54 [Alison]
They always paid promptly.

00:07:55 [Alison]
I didn’t have to worry about it.
00:07:56 [Alison]
I was able to chitchat with some of the the different businesses and stuff and get to know them and everything, but it was just something to, like, make sure you’ve got money coming in.
00:08:05 [Alison]
That’s Yeah.
00:08:06 [Alison]
Allison and I are not saying that this is what you just need to shift your business to.

00:08:09 [Melissa]
Not at all.

00:08:10 [Alison]
This is what you do.
00:08:12 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:08:12 [Alison]
This is temporary.
00:08:13 [Alison]
This is what you do while you’re building up your SEO, while you’re connecting with other vendors and stuff in the area, building your Instagram in that area, taking care of all of that.
00:08:22 [Alison]
This is just a stop gap.

00:08:23 [Alison]
I we need coming in, What are some options?
00:08:25 [Alison]
Because I certainly don’t want any of our listeners, like, working for Flytographer for the rest of their life because a hundred a hundred and fifty dollars is gonna burn you out.
00:08:33 [Alison]
Like, you don’t you need to be making more than that.
00:08:36 [Alison]
But at times when times are tough and you gotta make it, like, those are some of the ways.

00:08:40 [Melissa]
I just thought about this.
00:08:41 [Melissa]
I looked into the Flytographer with this last move to Hawaii because Hawaii is a pretty big destination.
00:08:46 [Melissa]
The prices were not in my range target range.
00:08:50 [Melissa]
However, I just realized it might be worth it to do a session or two at a lower rate for the backlink.
00:08:56 [Melissa]
I don’t know.

00:08:57 [Melissa]
So did they

00:08:58 [Alison]
give you backlinks for those?

00:08:59 [Melissa]
So they’re linking into I think if I remember correctly, y’all, oh my gosh, you go to Flytographer, you look for your location, and then they have photographers where you can go to their websites from their link.
00:09:09 [Melissa]
So there I don’t know if it’s a follow and maybe it could be no follow.
00:09:12 [Melissa]
I don’t know if that’s worth investigating.
00:09:13 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:09:14 [Alison]
Even if you

00:09:14 [Melissa]
don’t you only did one or two sessions at a really horrifying rate.

00:09:19 [Alison]
But here’s another thing we’ve talked about, like, with model calls.
00:09:22 [Alison]
And if you don’t know anybody to do a model call and you’re doing a free session or something, why not instead go work for a Flytographer, get, like, five sessions under your belt?
00:09:29 [Alison]
At least

00:09:29 [Melissa]
you got aid for it.

00:09:31 [Alison]
If you can use the photos, that may be the only problem.
00:09:33 [Alison]
It may be that you’re contracting you can’t have them.
00:09:35 [Alison]
I think it depends on the company.
00:09:37 [Alison]
Because mainstream, I just uploaded.
00:09:38 [Alison]
They edited.

00:09:39 [Alison]
I didn’t have any anything to do with the photos after that.
00:09:42 [Alison]
I’m pretty sure the contract didn’t allow it.
00:09:44 [Alison]
So look into that stuff.
00:09:45 [Alison]
Just figure out where you are on that.
00:09:47 [Alison]
I think second shooting for weddings is probably the highest paying, but you

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00:10:44 [Alison]
Again, okay.
00:10:45 [Alison]
You’re making $50 an hour, but you’re there all day.

00:10:47 [Melissa]
Can you give up a whole hour?
00:10:48 [Melissa]
It’s a huge commitment.
00:10:50 [Melissa]
At least with, like, AirCam and what you were doing with Main Street Hub, that’s, like, during school hours, assuming you ended during school.

00:10:57 [Alison]
And another option off of that, because Allison was talking about with AirCam and same with Main Street Hub, these were local businesses who needed photos for their Google My Business and stuff.
00:11:04 [Alison]
Another option could be you walk around to some local businesses handing out your business card and saying, hey.
00:11:10 [Alison]
Are you in need of it for this?
00:11:12 [Alison]
Like, that might be that might be another and maybe you’re doing it at a lower rate right now while you build things up.
00:11:17 [Alison]
There’s you get to decide that because that’s your business.

00:11:19 [Alison]
So it helps you network in a new location, learning new places, meeting new people, that can all be helpful, and just having some income coming in.
00:11:27 [Alison]
So that that’s the shoot for others.

00:11:30 [Melissa]
If you just a way of leaving your little breadcrumbs across Google My Business, get your iPhone out, take a few better than normal, better than average, like, indoor, outdoor store shots, edit it a little bit on Lightroom, throw your logo on it, review.
00:11:44 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:11:45 [Melissa]
Just leave those little breadcrumbs.
00:11:46 [Melissa]
Oh, who is this person?
00:11:48 [Melissa]
I think they came in.

00:11:49 [Melissa]
I think is that the cart?
00:11:50 [Melissa]
Is that the tape?
00:11:51 [Melissa]
That’s what we’re going for.
00:11:52 [Melissa]
Just those little breadcrumbs everywhere.
00:11:54 [Melissa]
So option two, create your own associate or contract program.

00:11:59 [Melissa]
So two sides of the same coin.
00:12:01 [Melissa]
So this is what I did when I left Virginia Beach.
00:12:03 [Melissa]
I was leaving Virginia Beach in the height of the busy season.
00:12:07 [Melissa]
So Virginia has a winter and so people didn’t start coming for vacation until June.
00:12:13 [Melissa]
I was actually leaving early July, but the clients would come in through August, sometimes even September.

00:12:20 [Melissa]
And so I wanted to really take advantage of that knowing that I was that I had enough SEO juice to to pull that off.

00:12:29 [Alison]
Hey, fellow photographers.
00:12:30 [Alison]
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00:13:02 [Alison]
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00:13:08 [Melissa]
So what I did is I had a couple photographers that were available after I left that were able and willing to shoot on my behalf.
00:13:17 [Melissa]
I paid them I paid them more than $50 an hour.
00:13:20 [Melissa]
They had to do more than just show up.
00:13:22 [Melissa]
So I set up a whole workflow because they were not only organizing and running the session full on without me, they were organizing a reschedule if there is bad weather.
00:13:32 [Melissa]
They were reaching out to the client to make sure they had the exact location.

00:13:36 [Melissa]
They were doing more than just showing up.
00:13:37 [Melissa]
So that’s worth more in terms of payment.
00:13:40 [Melissa]
And so they were I had a whole flow where they I asked them to reach out via text at a certain time.
00:13:45 [Melissa]
I had them make sure the weather was okay.
00:13:47 [Melissa]
I said, here are the weather backup options according to these people.

00:13:50 [Melissa]
I had done the vetting.
00:13:51 [Melissa]
I did the processing.
00:13:52 [Melissa]
I sent them all the information, the names, ages of all the kids who what to expect the address and everything.
00:13:57 [Melissa]
And then they had to do all the, like, week of sessions orchestrating.
00:14:01 [Melissa]
And then within twenty four hours, I asked that they just drop that on Dropbox.

00:14:05 [Melissa]
I edited.
00:14:05 [Melissa]
I did the IPS, and that was it.
00:14:08 [Melissa]
And I had several of those sessions happen, and they were they went really well.
00:14:12 [Melissa]
I’m really glad I did it because it accounted for probably six worst six weeks worth of income that I would not have had otherwise because I was putting my thumbs in Hawaii and moving.

00:14:22 [Alison]
It’s funny.
00:14:22 [Alison]
My husband used to always bug me about having associate shooters and stuff.
00:14:26 [Alison]
And I was like, but no.
00:14:28 [Alison]
They want my experience, and they want me to be the person photographing them.
00:14:31 [Alison]
And I’m pregnant with my first, and I sent out an email saying, hey, by the way, I may not be there for your wedding, but I have this backed up and blah blah blah blah of these second shooters.

00:14:39 [Alison]
Nobody was like, oh my god, Melissa.
00:14:41 [Alison]
No.
00:14:41 [Alison]
You need to be at my and I learned really quick.
00:14:44 [Alison]
All they cared about are that the photos look like what’s on your website.
00:14:47 [Alison]
So if you’re looking for an associate shooter, don’t get so hung up on yourself that they’re hiring you specifically.

00:14:53 [Alison]
As much as we all wanna believe that with our websites and everybody’s connecting with us, they’re connecting with your photos.
00:14:58 [Alison]
They’re connecting you can still With your style.
00:15:01 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:15:01 [Alison]
Your style, your personality, other people that are similar to that that are providing

00:15:06 [Melissa]
I will say to caveat that, I push a brand that is fast, fun, and Fun.
00:15:11 [Melissa]
And I don’t know of anybody else who works as fast and as fun as I do to be Yeah.
00:15:16 [Melissa]
But that is something that’s teachable.
00:15:18 [Melissa]
That is something that I can find somebody that is capable and willing to execute a similar it won’t be it’s never the exact same, but a similar approach and experience.

00:15:27 [Alison]
And I even take them on shoots before you leave.
00:15:29 [Alison]
Hey.
00:15:30 [Alison]
You’re gonna come train with me.
00:15:31 [Alison]
Like, maybe you’re basically paying them as an assistant.
00:15:33 [Alison]
Like, they’re gonna carry your bag.

00:15:34 [Alison]
They’re gonna actually, they’re gonna shoot some behind the scenes stuff for you.
00:15:37 [Alison]
So that way you’re paying them and you’re getting something.
00:15:39 [Alison]
And then they’re getting to watch and see how you you run a session.
00:15:44 [Alison]
And it’s not just, oh, you’re not getting anything out of it.
00:15:46 [Alison]
But then that way, they can see exactly how you run your sessions, and so you’re getting them.

00:15:50 [Alison]
Exactly.
00:15:51 [Alison]
Exactly.
00:15:51 [Alison]
And then I

00:15:52 [Melissa]
actually put a whole lot of stuff in writing too of, hey, Here’s your and I had an agreement.
00:15:56 [Melissa]
Like, it was like, hey.
00:15:57 [Melissa]
Here’s what I need from you in the timeline.
00:15:59 [Melissa]
Here’s what you can expect from me in the timeline.
00:16:02 [Melissa]
Who owns the photos?

00:16:02 [Melissa]
All that kind of stuff.
00:16:03 [Melissa]
I’m not a lawyer, but this is not it’s completely different than just a sec to come in and help out.
00:16:08 [Melissa]
And actually, when I had to drop everything and go back to the East Coast, March, April time frame, I, thank God, had to do this exact same thing.
00:16:16 [Melissa]
I was so grateful that I already had those systems in place for an associate tutor because as soon as I literally dry I had a week notice of, okay, as of next Thursday, you’re leaving for two weeks.
00:16:27 [Melissa]
And I had three sessions that I had to figure out what to do with.

00:16:31 [Melissa]
And I had two photographers take them over for me.
00:16:34 [Melissa]
And that was one, a benefit of networking and having friends that I trusted.
00:16:37 [Melissa]
You came

00:16:38 [Alison]
out of my mouth.
00:16:39 [Alison]
I was gonna say go back to that episode about networking and stuff like that and meeting people before you even get there because you never know what’s gonna happen and having that connection.
00:16:48 [Alison]
Otherwise, you’re like, I don’t know anybody here.
00:16:50 [Alison]
What do I do?
00:16:50 [Alison]
And that was another thing.

00:16:51 [Alison]
I reached out here to people that I first met to create, like, a referral network.
00:16:55 [Alison]
Let me refer you, and if you’re busy, refer me.
00:16:58 [Alison]
And then that helps with this kind of thing.

00:17:00 [Melissa]
Oh, that gets to another gripe of mine in the photography industry.
00:17:03 [Melissa]
Y’all.
00:17:04 [Melissa]
Okay.
00:17:04 [Melissa]
Realtors have finder’s fees.
00:17:07 [Melissa]
My uncle is a real estate agent.

00:17:09 [Melissa]
He’s always found a realtor in whatever city that we go to, vetted them, interviewed them, did a whole process, trust him implicitly, and he got paid for it by the referring realtor that we signed on with.
00:17:21 [Melissa]
We need that as photographers.
00:17:23 [Melissa]
Like, I I totally get, like, free flowing, like, just send them my way or whatever.
00:17:28 [Melissa]
No.
00:17:29 [Melissa]
Like, this is business.

00:17:31 [Melissa]
If somebody is using their SEO and their work and they can’t shoot something, we need to have a formal finder’s fee.
00:17:38 [Melissa]
Now, the trouble with that is how do you know they actually book them?
00:17:42 [Melissa]
It starts with us.
00:17:44 [Melissa]
Just offer it up.
00:17:45 [Melissa]
Offer up a finder’s fee when somebody refers to you.

00:17:48 [Melissa]
And not a credit, not a discount.
00:17:50 [Melissa]
You pay them cold hard cash for sending them a booking.

00:17:54 [Alison]
I’ve gotten Starbucks cards before.
00:17:55 [Alison]
Does that count?
00:17:56 [Alison]
It’s a start.
00:17:57 [Alison]
I’ll take it.

00:17:57 [Melissa]
I know.
00:17:58 [Melissa]
I wanna I wanted to start with a five and having a have a zero in it at least.
00:18:02 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:18:02 [Melissa]
It’s not a one five zero.
00:18:04 [Melissa]
Okay, y’all?

00:18:05 [Melissa]
Personal gripe.
00:18:05 [Melissa]
So box over.

00:18:06 [Alison]
It makes sense.
00:18:07 [Alison]
Someone refers someone to me and they book, let’s say, a membership, that client’s worth it could be $5,000.
00:18:13 [Alison]
Right?
00:18:13 [Alison]
Like, it’s totally worth sending them a $100 to say thank you for sending me a $5,000 client.
00:18:18 [Alison]
There it is.

00:18:19 [Melissa]
We should we should push that movement.
00:18:21 [Melissa]
We should.
00:18:22 [Melissa]
Okay.
00:18:22 [Melissa]
Hashtag finder’s fees for photographers.
00:18:24 [Melissa]
That’s actually really good.

00:18:26 [Melissa]
That’s actually I really like that.
00:18:28 [Melissa]
Alright.
00:18:28 [Melissa]
So, yeah.
00:18:29 [Melissa]
So the things to consider when it comes to an associate or contract program is, one, your style of photography.
00:18:34 [Melissa]
If you are a studio shooter and you’ve got studio and wardrobe up in the mix, yes, that’s a level of complication and consideration you need to think about.

00:18:43 [Melissa]
If you’re just on a wedding, it’s a lot more straightforward, a lot more simple.
00:18:47 [Melissa]
But what is what to what degree are you orchestrating the session?
00:18:50 [Melissa]
So if you are taking on a a whole client and you’re setting up the time, the location, if you’re doing a wardrobe consultation and executing the session and editing it and doing an IPS, that is gonna be far more valuable and should be paid more than just showing up and shooting it.
00:19:07 [Melissa]
So think about to what degree you’re coordinating everything or whether or not you should just have a finder speed for a roof.
00:19:16 [Melissa]
So those are the things to consider.

00:19:18 [Melissa]
Any thoughts?
00:19:19 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:19:19 [Alison]
I think that pretty much wraps it up.
00:19:21 [Alison]
We get it.
00:19:22 [Alison]
Moving sucks and you’ve gotta replace your income somehow.
00:19:24 [Alison]
These are just a few options.
00:19:25 [Alison]
Like, Allison and I are trying to come out.

00:19:27 [Alison]
We’ve got a whole series on this.
00:19:29 [Alison]
Like we said before, we had one on affiliate marketing.
00:19:31 [Alison]
We’ve got some others coming up.
00:19:33 [Alison]
I can’t remember what their topics are, but we’ve got a few other ideas in the pipeline for this.
00:19:37 [Alison]
Oh, I see.

00:19:38 [Alison]
We’ve got, like, licensing, stock photography, that type of thing.
00:19:41 [Alison]
And then we’ll talk about even getting a part time job if you need to, and what are some ways you can use your skills that you have as a business owner to parlay that into a job that you’re not gonna hate and you don’t have to be at forever kind of thing.
00:19:52 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:19:52 [Alison]
So, yeah, I hope you guys really enjoyed this episode.
00:19:54 [Alison]
Check out Allison’s checklist in the show notes.

00:19:57 [Alison]
How to move

00:19:58 [Melissa]
how to move your business.
00:19:59 [Melissa]
Yes.

00:19:59 [Alison]
How to move your business.
00:20:00 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:20:00 [Alison]
And if you guys need help with blogging, I have launched the blogging club that we talked about a couple weeks ago in the podcast.
00:20:05 [Alison]
So go join in there and, start knocking out those blog posts and raising up those rankings.
00:20:11 [Alison]
So important.

00:20:12 [Melissa]
Have a good one, y’all.
00:20:13 [Melissa]
Bye bye.

00:20:20 [Alison]
Thank you so much for listening.
00:20:21 [Alison]
If you’re enjoying the show, would you do two things for us?
00:20:24 [Alison]
First, leave a review.
00:20:25 [Alison]
Just stars would be awesome.
00:20:27 [Alison]
And two, forward this episode to a Viet Mill spouse or anyone facing moving their business.

00:20:32 [Alison]
We’d love it if you shared this episode with even just one person.
00:20:35 [Alison]
If you have questions, you can reach out to Allison on Instagram at alison belle photog, or you can find me, Melissa, in my Facebook group, Picture Perfect Rankings.
00:20:45 [Alison]
Check the show notes for links, and we’re so excited to have you guys here.