Ep 95: Ways to Make Money Without Your Camera

00:00:00 [Alison]
There’s so much more that you really are doing, far more than your shooting sessions.
00:00:04 [Alison]
Right?
00:00:04 [Alison]
And the point is that every small business is doing these same exact things.

00:00:10 [Melissa]
Welcome to Get Booked, a photography podcast.

00:00:12 [Alison]
I’m Allison, active duty Marine Corps spouse, family photographer, and business mentor.

00:00:16 [Melissa]
And I’m Melissa, a lifestyle newborn photographer turned SEO expert for

00:00:21 [Alison]
Between us, we have twenty seven years in the industry, nine business relocations, and a lot of lessons learned the hard way through experience.

00:00:28 [Melissa]
We’re here to help you get visible, get clients, and build a business that actually books.

00:00:33 [Alison]
Let’s go.

00:00:36 [Melissa]
Welcome back, guys.
00:00:37 [Melissa]
This episode, we are gonna kinda continue a conversation we already had, which was about ways to make money when business is slow.
00:00:45 [Melissa]
And on that episode, Allison and I talked about all the ways, you know, all the things you can shoot and do with your camera.
00:00:50 [Melissa]
And as soon as we ended the episode, oh, we missed the whole thing of things you skills you guys have that you don’t even realize that you can get paid for, you know, without your camera.
00:01:00 [Melissa]
Right.

00:01:00 [Melissa]
That’s a lot.
00:01:01 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:01:01 [Melissa]
We immediately were like, alright.
00:01:02 [Melissa]
We gotta put a card on the Trello board that says ways to make money without your camera because this one is really personal to me in that when I was making that switch from weddings to newborns and I needed time for my SEO to bake in, I really I needed to find work.
00:01:15 [Melissa]
And I was doing some of the things of ways to make money with my camera, but I needed to make more money than what I was making with some of those side gigs and stuff.

00:01:23 [Melissa]
I had to pair up a resume and, like, try and go and find something else to do to bring in cash.
00:01:28 [Melissa]
And I realized that, you know, at first, it’s overwhelming.
00:01:31 [Melissa]
You’re like, oh my gosh.
00:01:32 [Melissa]
What do I do?
00:01:33 [Melissa]
I’m just I just have been running my business.

00:01:35 [Melissa]
But when you sit down and you actually reframe that and you think about all the things you do in your business There

00:01:39 [Alison]
is so much.

00:01:40 [Melissa]
So many skills you guys have that other businesses are willing to pay you for.
00:01:45 [Melissa]
And so that’s what we wanna talk about this week.
00:01:47 [Melissa]
I personally, like I said, during that time, I ended up getting a job as a social media manager for a local jewelry store because they were looking for someone who understood email marketing, who knew how to write social media captions and post things to Instagram, who knew how to do things on Facebook.
00:02:03 [Melissa]
Eventually, I was running Facebook ads for them, doing things with their website and SEO.
00:02:08 [Melissa]
And I did I actually took some pictures and stuff for them of some of the jewelry.

00:02:11 [Melissa]
It made it easy.
00:02:11 [Melissa]
You know?
00:02:12 [Melissa]
All of those skills that I had in my business, I was able to translate over.
00:02:16 [Melissa]
So we’re gonna go through a lot of that stuff today.
00:02:18 [Melissa]
But I want you guys to really think about, yes, you’re a photographer, but you’re really a small small business

00:02:24 [Alison]
owner for the company to do yeah.
00:02:25 [Alison]
There’s so much more.
00:02:26 [Alison]
And that’s inventory.
00:02:27 [Alison]
We have four main ways you can produce income.
00:02:30 [Alison]
But before you can get into that, this really isn’t about just the slow season.

00:02:34 [Alison]
This applies to anytime you’re moving, anytime you’re repositioning your your the way you do your business, whether you’re targeting a different demographic because you’re gonna go IPS or you’re gonna change your genres.
00:02:44 [Alison]
This applies to all times of the year, not just January, February, and March, that you could apply any of these concepts.
00:02:50 [Alison]
So before we can talk about those other things, we need to change our mindset.
00:02:53 [Alison]
Right?
00:02:54 [Alison]
Just like Melissa was saying, we need to change our mindset that we’re not just photographers.

00:02:57 [Alison]
So, I mean, think about how many times a week do you actually photograph a session, wedding, or person.
00:03:02 [Alison]
Right?
00:03:03 [Alison]
Just a couple.
00:03:04 [Alison]
You are spending so much more of your time doing emails, marketing, writing copy for your website, editing photos, building systems.
00:03:13 [Alison]
Right?

00:03:14 [Alison]
We talk about so much.
00:03:15 [Alison]
This is I mean, that by itself is its own umbrella.
00:03:17 [Alison]
Right?
00:03:17 [Alison]
Automations, client workflows, onboarding, offboarding, communicating, what are the next steps, client management, handling pricing, contracts, finances, delivering deliverables.
00:03:27 [Alison]
Right?

00:03:28 [Alison]
Content.
00:03:29 [Alison]
Just the sheer content for social media alone like Melissa was saying.
00:03:31 [Alison]
Social media, Facebook, Pinterest, ads, Google ads, what have you.
00:03:35 [Alison]
There’s so much more that you really are doing far more than your shooting sessions.
00:03:39 [Alison]
Right?

00:03:40 [Alison]
And the point is that every small business is doing these same exact things.
00:03:44 [Alison]
Every single one of them.
00:03:45 [Alison]
And just like you, they’re probably willing to pay somebody else to do it so they don’t have to do that much of it.
00:03:51 [Alison]
So how can we get you in front of that audience?

00:03:53 [Melissa]
The big thing too is before you start going, oh, well, I wanna do this or do that, let’s do a skill audit on yourself.
00:03:59 [Melissa]
You know, start thinking about some things like, what do people, whether it’s a photographer or not, come to you for advice on?
00:04:04 [Melissa]
I mean, obviously, for me, SEO.
00:04:06 [Melissa]
That’s what started out.
00:04:07 [Melissa]
People started coming to me for advice on SEO, and that spiraled out.

00:04:11 [Melissa]
But is there something good at?
00:04:12 [Melissa]
Maybe you’re like, dude, I am the queen of Pinterest.
00:04:15 [Melissa]
I have the best strategy.
00:04:17 [Melissa]
I know how to work things, or are you really great with automations and workflows?
00:04:20 [Melissa]
And you’re like, dude, I can build out an automation for you.

00:04:23 [Melissa]
It’ll save you time.
00:04:24 [Melissa]
AI now.
00:04:25 [Melissa]
I think most of us think about AI as, oh, I just ask it a question.
00:04:27 [Melissa]
People are building out crazy things with AI

00:04:30 [Alison]
tools that

00:04:30 [Melissa]
could work for them.

00:04:31 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:04:32 [Alison]
Not building their own products to sell, but building GPTs to sell.

00:04:35 [Melissa]
Yes.
00:04:36 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:04:36 [Melissa]
Things like that.
00:04:37 [Melissa]
Is there something that you took years to figure out that somebody else will pay to skip?
00:04:40 [Melissa]
There are a lot of times now I will pay you for your expertise.

00:04:43 [Alison]
That’s why we have that’s why I won this podcast.
00:04:45 [Alison]
I I’ve built moved my business seven times.
00:04:48 [Alison]
I want to help other people skip the pain of what I had to go through and do it faster and stronger.
00:04:53 [Alison]
That’s what I’m doing.

00:04:54 [Melissa]
So think about that in your business.
00:04:56 [Melissa]
I mean, maybe for you, the skipping the pain is maybe you know how to shoot with off camera flash really well or something, or maybe you’re really awesome at IPS, and you can show other people how to do it.
00:05:06 [Melissa]
There’s just so many things so what?
00:05:08 [Melissa]
Right?
00:05:08 [Melissa]
Yeah.

00:05:08 [Melissa]
Studio lighting.
00:05:09 [Melissa]
What do people ask you about?
00:05:10 [Melissa]
What do people see?
00:05:11 [Melissa]
Maybe it’s editing.
00:05:12 [Melissa]
There’s just a lot there.

00:05:13 [Melissa]
And what feels obvious and stuff that you’re like, I love this.
00:05:17 [Melissa]
You know?
00:05:18 [Melissa]
And what is obvious to you on things like, I love SEO, so it makes sense to me.
00:05:22 [Melissa]
But to others, they’re like, Melissa, it is super confusing.
00:05:25 [Melissa]
What is your thing that you’re like, I could talk about this all day till the cows come home kind of thing.

00:05:29 [Melissa]
Yep.
00:05:29 [Melissa]
Think about that kind of stuff.
00:05:30 [Melissa]
So really we really wanna encourage you to, like, take a moment and think about what you’re doing in your business that you love, what you’re doing, that people come to you for and ask questions about, and what, you know, is really like, you’ve got the knowledge that somebody else doesn’t get.
00:05:44 [Melissa]
Just start with those things and really narrow in on what it is you wanna do.
00:05:47 [Melissa]
And obviously too, narrow in on things you don’t wanna do.

00:05:49 [Melissa]
If you’re like, this is terrible.
00:05:51 [Melissa]
This, not gonna go with that.

00:05:52 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:05:53 [Alison]
Feel free to pause the podcast right now.
00:05:55 [Alison]
Give it a minute, really think on it, and then come back.
00:05:59 [Alison]
Hey, Allison here.
00:06:00 [Alison]
I have a blog post that is ranking in the top three nationally every spring for its search terms.

00:06:06 [Alison]
Another still blowing up from 2021, I think.
00:06:09 [Alison]
I actually can’t remember when I wrote it, but it’s been a long time.
00:06:11 [Alison]
And it’s the reason I had a wait list in Hawaii before I ever arrived on island.
00:06:15 [Alison]
In April, we’re building that for you live.
00:06:18 [Alison]
Number two is blogging strategically.

00:06:20 [Alison]
Throwing a thousand words and some pics on a post won’t get you traffic or inquiries.
00:06:25 [Alison]
You bring your business, I’ll bring the strategy, and together, we’re gonna nail down custom keyword research, optimized content, and twelve month blogging plan that books for you where you are.
00:06:37 [Alison]
Blog to book, link in the show notes.
00:06:41 [Alison]
Okay.
00:06:42 [Alison]
So next step, we are going to go through we have, like I mentioned, four income avenues.

00:06:47 [Alison]
Each one of these is kind of big and, just out on their own, but we don’t mean for you to do all four.
00:06:52 [Alison]
Just pick one area.
00:06:54 [Alison]
Just pick one area.

00:06:54 [Melissa]
So if you think of four avenues, there’s a lot of things in each avenue.

00:06:58 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:06:58 [Alison]
They’re buckets in and of themselves.
00:07:00 [Alison]
Right?
00:07:00 [Alison]
So don’t feel overwhelmed.
00:07:01 [Alison]
This might feel like a verbal fire hose.

00:07:03 [Alison]
That’s your warning.
00:07:04 [Alison]
So number one, digital products.
00:07:07 [Alison]
So, you know, in the previous episode, we did talk about mock ups, creating those things, but this is slightly similar but different.
00:07:13 [Alison]
Right?
00:07:13 [Alison]
So what we mean is packaging knowledge you already have, designs that you may be able to create or already have of your templates, guides, scripts, workflows to sell through something like Etsy.

00:07:25 [Alison]
Things you probably already have on your hard drive that you’ve created yourself or could create more of if you enjoy doing it, client welcome guides, pricing guide framework, inquiry response email scripts, posing or session prep guides, what to wear guides, Lightroom preset packs.
00:07:41 [Alison]
These are all things that you probably already have, enjoy doing, or could replicate again and again, and then create a build once scalable selling model that could sell over and over.
00:07:52 [Alison]
And so that work you do upfront, you set it up, and you forget it.
00:07:55 [Alison]
Right?
00:07:56 [Alison]
So just remember, you don’t need to create it from scratch.

00:07:58 [Alison]
It’s something you already have, or maybe you just enjoy designing and you can or want to create these things from scratch.
00:08:04 [Alison]
Social media templates.
00:08:05 [Alison]
The sky’s the limit here.
00:08:06 [Alison]
You could do so many things.
00:08:08 [Alison]
You could just get on Etsy and see what’s available.

00:08:10 [Alison]
Shoot.
00:08:10 [Alison]
Website design.
00:08:12 [Alison]
Sell it on Showit.

00:08:13 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:08:13 [Melissa]
I mean, honestly, I think you could probably go out too and post in a photography group if you’re good at design and say, hey.
00:08:18 [Melissa]
Does somebody want 10 custom Pinterest pin templates that I’ll create for you?
00:08:22 [Melissa]
And, you know, you’d probably get some people raise their hand on that because my husband is so funny with, with him teaching now.
00:08:28 [Melissa]
He was, oh, I ended up going out to Etsy, and I bought this thing, this template for, like, a dollar 25 because he was like, it would take me thirty minutes to do it myself.

00:08:34 [Melissa]
I was, dude, I do that all the time.

00:08:36 [Alison]
There’s a whole teacher pays teachers for him specifically.

00:08:40 [Melissa]
Oh, don’t worry.
00:08:41 [Melissa]
I don’t think he knows about that yet.
00:08:42 [Melissa]
I’m gonna have to teach him, but I was, oh, I will a 100% go out and buy a template at least to get me started versus doing something from scratch.

00:08:49 [Alison]
So that’s a huge

00:08:50 [Melissa]
thing at design skills.
00:08:51 [Melissa]
Yep.
00:08:52 [Melissa]
Alright.
00:08:52 [Melissa]
So avenue number two, consulting for small biz other small businesses.
00:08:55 [Melissa]
That’s obviously my story there.

00:08:57 [Melissa]
Even now, I do consulting for other businesses on things that I’m good at, you know, like running Facebook ads and stuff.
00:09:03 [Melissa]
It’s still very minor.
00:09:04 [Melissa]
But even now, I’m still doing cons taking those entrepreneur skills and applying them for your local businesses that are in your area for other online businesses.
00:09:13 [Melissa]
I think too, like, other photographers.
00:09:16 [Melissa]
But, you know, in general, there’s restaurants, boutiques, fitness coaches, realtors.

00:09:20 [Melissa]
Realtors always, I think, are looking for VAs and stuff like that, people to help with.
00:09:24 [Melissa]
Anyone’s got a local business and they need help.
00:09:26 [Melissa]
They need help with their business.
00:09:28 [Melissa]
A lot of times people get bogged down in the business and they can’t work on it, as I’ve said before.
00:09:33 [Melissa]
And so they’re willing to hire someone to work in it so that they can continue to grow it.

00:09:37 [Melissa]
One Alice worked with boutiques and stuff like that to help shoot for them and things like that.
00:09:41 [Melissa]
So if you find one with common clientele

00:09:43 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:09:43 [Alison]
I that’s best case scenario.
00:09:44 [Alison]
I mean, work with people you already know, like, and trust, and that could use your support and value your opinion and input.
00:09:50 [Alison]
But best case scenario, befriend a children’s boutique if you’re a children and newborn photographer.
00:09:55 [Alison]
Go do some social media with them.

00:09:56 [Alison]
Go get in front of their same clients, and then you’ve already got some built in collaboration and and history there.
00:10:01 [Alison]
Regardless of what your niche is, there’s got to be some other business with the same target demographic, whether you shoot senior, families, or newborns, maternity.
00:10:11 [Alison]
Think tag team first.
00:10:12 [Alison]
Right?
00:10:13 [Alison]
So there’s so much you can offer between social media and email and website copy structure, photography.

00:10:19 [Alison]
You can direct content days.
00:10:21 [Alison]
You don’t necessarily have to be the photographer.

00:10:23 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:10:23 [Melissa]
And, you know, it’s funny.
00:10:24 [Melissa]
When I was I was at a retreat last week, and one of the other girls who was there, she is a consultant for this brand.
00:10:31 [Melissa]
I think it was kids clothing or something like that.
00:10:33 [Melissa]
And literally, she meets with the lady twice a month for an hour call, and she just gives her ideas on things the lady can do in her advertising and marketing.

00:10:40 [Melissa]
It’s a lot of money from it.
00:10:41 [Melissa]
I was, I need I need your person.
00:10:43 [Melissa]
So be you would be surprised some of the things that other small business owners need help.
00:10:47 [Melissa]
They need creative help.
00:10:48 [Melissa]
Maybe, like you said, it’s not it’s not that you’re shooting something, but you’re coming in and you’re telling them these are the shots you need to get.

00:10:54 [Melissa]
This is the stuff you need to have.
00:10:55 [Melissa]
Because maybe you’re like, I don’t wanna shoot this, but let’s bring somebody in.
00:10:58 [Melissa]
Or you’re directing somebody else who’s using their phone to, like, shoot things in a boutique or something, and you’re like, hey.
00:11:02 [Melissa]
Don’t forget.
00:11:02 [Melissa]
Get this, get this, get that.

00:11:04 [Melissa]
That’s all knowledge that you have as a photographer that even if you’re not the one behind the camera, can help guide that, and people are looking for that kind of thing.

00:11:11 [Alison]
And even just being a fresh pair of eyes from the outside looking in, I experienced this in my own business where I’m just too close to what I do to to create clear messaging sometime.
00:11:20 [Alison]
I’m just too in the weeds.
00:11:21 [Alison]
And so you are a fresh set of eyes with information they need to clarify their message, create content, answer questions, or find the void that they’re missing because they themselves are too in the weeds to see it for themselves.

00:11:35 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:11:35 [Melissa]
And especially working with another photographer, that’s a big one.
00:11:38 [Melissa]
You already know their business in a general sense.
00:11:40 [Melissa]
Obviously, you don’t know the intricacies of their day to day, but your business is, you know what their market you can understand it so much quicker and to be able to help them out.
00:11:48 [Melissa]
And especially most of us as photographers, we have some kind of design eye.

00:11:52 [Melissa]
Like, we at least get it a little bit.
00:11:53 [Melissa]
We may not be web designers, but we at least know, like, how to put together an Instagram reel or something.
00:11:59 [Melissa]
Right now, I do not have the time to sit there and figure out how to do Instagram reels and where you piece all the photos in and it looks really cool.
00:12:05 [Melissa]
Please, somebody else create that.
00:12:06 [Melissa]
Like, don’t a

00:12:07 [Alison]
different app altogether.
00:12:08 [Alison]
It’s CapCut.

00:12:09 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:12:09 [Melissa]
But that’s Or this they, yes.
00:12:11 [Melissa]
And I’ve downloaded it, and I still don’t know how to use it.
00:12:13 [Melissa]
So I’m just whatever.
00:12:13 [Melissa]
I’m moving on on it.

00:12:14 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:12:15 [Melissa]
Looking for another photographer who’s looking for a virtual assistant or somebody to help them in their business.
00:12:20 [Melissa]
And it’s one of those things too.
00:12:22 [Melissa]
If you can find somebody who maybe their off season is different than yours Mhmm.
00:12:26 [Melissa]
Then that can be really great, like, depending on where their location is and stuff.

00:12:29 [Melissa]
I know when I was in South Florida, we were busy from November to May.
00:12:34 [Melissa]
And then from May to November, newborns were fine.
00:12:36 [Melissa]
I know they don’t like to do weddings at that point because it’s too hot.
00:12:39 [Melissa]
Nobody wants to do outdoor family.
00:12:40 [Melissa]
But that was opposite of Virginia.

00:12:42 [Melissa]
That could be something where, you know, you could have somebody that you’re helping during their off season

00:12:46 [Alison]
Good idea.

00:12:47 [Melissa]
You know, and and supporting them kind of thing.
00:12:49 [Melissa]
Thing.
00:12:49 [Melissa]
But there’s so many things you already are positioned for that you could help another photographer with.
00:12:55 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:12:55 [Melissa]
Hey, quick break to tell you about something that could change your business.

00:12:58 [Melissa]
One of my students, London, was stuck relying on referrals and social media before she joined, found, and booked my SEO group coaching program.
00:13:05 [Melissa]
Less than a year later, she’s ranking on page one of Google, raised her prices, and left her 6 figure job to go full time with photography.
00:13:12 [Melissa]
If you want results like that, I’m hosting a free master class called the five SEO mistakes killing your photographers.
00:13:18 [Melissa]
I’ll show exactly what’s keeping you invisible on Google and how to fix it.
00:13:23 [Melissa]
The link to register is in the show notes or head to pictureperfectrankings.com/mistakes.

00:13:30 [Alison]
The next one, the third one, virtual services with with an angle.
00:13:35 [Alison]
So, basically, done for you services or setting yourself up as a VA for generic virtual assistant stuff.
00:13:42 [Alison]
I really like this one for my military spouses, people who know they’re gonna move soon, whether you’re military or not, or who move frequently.
00:13:49 [Alison]
Your and your knowledge, again, makes you valuable, and it’s it’s all interchangeable with different businesses.
00:13:54 [Alison]
Right?

00:13:54 [Alison]
So things you could be doing, you could be doing setting up Dubsado, HoneyBook setup for other creatives, not just photographers, Flodesk email sequencing, so creating those welcome emails, writing the emails, setting up the back end for them, even if you’re not writing the email itself.
00:14:10 [Alison]
Pick time or gallery management, blog writing for photographers.
00:14:13 [Alison]
Hello.
00:14:13 [Alison]
We’ve got a whole workshop about this.
00:14:15 [Alison]
Everybody should be doing this for your SEO.

00:14:17 [Alison]
Okay, guys?
00:14:17 [Alison]
Blog writing, you can either be writing the blogs, managing the blogs, scheduling them, or just managing the content, the marketing side of it.
00:14:24 [Alison]
Social media management, we just went through a whole bunch of that.
00:14:27 [Alison]
Joining a virtual assistant service, So you can just contract with a company that how to work as many hours as you want.
00:14:34 [Alison]
So I know Squared Away is one where they their entire team of VAs are military spouses all over the world and country, and so you can work for as little as ten hours a week.

00:14:44 [Alison]
You are contracted, so it’s not quite as flexible as doing it yourself, but you also don’t have to do the work of going to find your jobs as much either.
00:14:52 [Alison]
So I really like this for spouses that are moving, you’ve just moved, you’re building up your business, or even just in the slow season for a short amount of time.
00:14:59 [Alison]
And then, of course, you could be the outsourced editor.
00:15:01 [Alison]
You can edit for other photographers.
00:15:03 [Alison]
Ground can also be seasonally.

00:15:05 [Alison]
You can also hire yourself out for another outsourced editing company and edit as you’re able and not have to worry about the finding clients portion.
00:15:13 [Alison]
I love all of these because of the portability being virtual.
00:15:17 [Alison]
You can do it anywhere in the world, anytime, from a hotel room, from your desk, no matter what your season is.
00:15:23 [Alison]
So I think those are those options are fully PCS proof.

00:15:26 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:15:26 [Melissa]
And then, obviously, I think teaching and coaching is kinda that other thing.
00:15:30 [Melissa]
And here’s the thing.
00:15:31 [Melissa]
Teaching and coaching too, it doesn’t have to be photography or any of the suit right now.
00:15:36 [Melissa]
Maybe you are an amazing mom who has nailed something, meal planning, or I don’t even know.

00:15:42 [Melissa]
Like, there can be other skill sets.
00:15:44 [Melissa]
Maybe you’re amazing at at decorating homes or something, and you love to just sit on Pinterest and put together pinboards based on somebody’s style, and you’re selling those, or you’re teaching and coaching type on that kind of thing.
00:15:56 [Melissa]
There’s so many other options that you can do for teaching and coaching.
00:15:58 [Melissa]
It doesn’t have to be like, oh, I’m teaching my photography stuff.
00:16:01 [Melissa]
Now if you are bang on with your photography and you’re like, yes.

00:16:05 [Melissa]
I am am I am an artist.
00:16:07 [Melissa]
I’m not a marketer, which is why maybe I’m not getting as many clients right now, but my work is fabulous.
00:16:12 [Melissa]
Teaching that to other people can be a big thing.
00:16:14 [Melissa]
Could you get some of the things,

00:16:15 [Alison]
like iPhone photography.
00:16:17 [Alison]
Moms.

00:16:17 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:16:18 [Melissa]
That’s a great one.
00:16:18 [Melissa]
Because a lot of times, moms are wanting to take better pictures and stuff Yeah.
00:16:21 [Melissa]
And just, you know, walking them through some of the basics.
00:16:24 [Melissa]
You know, you can do things like a free workshop to grow your list or warm up an audience.

00:16:28 [Melissa]
You can obviously graduate to a paid workshop, mini courses, one on one.
00:16:31 [Melissa]
I mean, honestly, with SEO, I started off with offering one on one calls.
00:16:37 [Melissa]
And so I did one on one coaching calls, and then that graduated into doing done for you for other people.
00:16:42 [Melissa]
You know?
00:16:42 [Melissa]
And then we’ve added on now we do the group coaching instead of the one on one coaching.

00:16:46 [Melissa]
That stuff can grow as much as you want or you don’t want kind of thing.
00:16:50 [Melissa]
If you’re like, maybe once a month, I’m just I mean, even mentoring other photographers.
00:16:54 [Melissa]
I used to get a request for people for business mentoring.
00:16:57 [Melissa]
Ten years ago, I was getting that.
00:16:59 [Melissa]
Before I was known for SEO, people would just reach out, especially locally, like other local photographers.

00:17:04 [Melissa]
And, yes, we all have the whole thing.
00:17:06 [Melissa]
Oh, can I take you out for coffee?
00:17:07 [Melissa]
And I’m like, here’s the link to book a mentoring call with.
00:17:10 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:17:10 [Melissa]
Oh, I try to make it good for them that they’re gonna get a lot out of it, but I’m also like, I’m not gonna do a coffee chat with everybody and give away all my information for free.

00:17:17 [Melissa]
You deserve to get paid for what you know.
00:17:19 [Melissa]
You can obviously, yes, help as much as you want, but you deserve to get paid for your knowledge.
00:17:24 [Melissa]
So don’t don’t feel bad on that.

00:17:25 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:17:26 [Alison]
And I felt the same way when it came to relocating my business.
00:17:29 [Alison]
I mean, I’ve done it seven times now, but two or three moves ago, I can’t even remember.
00:17:33 [Alison]
I was looking around super frustrated, banging my head against the wall going, I am not the only military spouse photographer.
00:17:39 [Alison]
We are a dime a dozen.

00:17:41 [Alison]
Just had to have done this better and has to have a system.
00:17:44 [Alison]
And for as much as I looked around, I could not find it.
00:17:46 [Alison]
I could not find somebody Mhmm.
00:17:47 [Alison]
Who had done it the way I wanted it to be done, as quickly as I wanted it to be done.
00:17:51 [Alison]
And so I did everything I could, piecemealing stuff from so called experts, mentors, Instagram people, all these things.

00:17:59 [Alison]
I took courses, all these things that, you know, we’re talking about, I was the consumer of, and I created my system.
00:18:05 [Alison]
And now here I am trying to share it and wanting to share it with you guys because there is a better way.
00:18:10 [Alison]
Right?
00:18:10 [Alison]
So I’m teaching and coaching the things that I have learned so that you can skip all that pain point.
00:18:15 [Alison]
Speaking of which, discovery calls are open through April 30, and I am closing down for the summer.

00:18:20 [Alison]
So I closed down about, I’ve decided this year I’m gonna close down for about six months out of the summer during the heavy busy season when, you guys are traveling, when I’m traveling, when photography is super busy here in Hawaii.
00:18:31 [Alison]
I’m only gonna be available until April, and then it’ll pick back up sometime late fall.
00:18:36 [Alison]
Make sure you get on that workshop list, the wait list for that.
00:18:38 [Alison]
So the workshop is coming up in April, and then there’s gonna be two more in the fall.
00:18:42 [Alison]
So get on to that.

00:18:43 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:18:43 [Melissa]
Actually, Alta that I thought was really good.
00:18:45 [Melissa]
She’s talked about these courses and stuff that she’s taken in the past and become an expert on.
00:18:50 [Melissa]
Dude, I can’t tell you how many times I see a new course come out where somebody’s offering something, and I’m like, I love that.
00:18:56 [Melissa]
I want those results, but I do not have time to sit there and go through that course.

00:19:00 [Melissa]
There are times I would pay almost to send somebody through that course and then come back and do that in my business.
00:19:06 [Melissa]
So Yeah.
00:19:06 [Melissa]
Think about that.
00:19:07 [Melissa]
The biggest thing too to think about this is you don’t have to be the expert on it.
00:19:11 [Melissa]
You just need to be further along than the person you’re teaching or the perspiring kind of thing.

00:19:16 [Melissa]
Yep.
00:19:16 [Melissa]
If I don’t wanna take a course on Pinterest, but I want you to take it, then you can teach me much quicker, hopefully, on how to do it or even better.
00:19:23 [Melissa]
I’m gonna have you do it for me.
00:19:25 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:19:25 [Melissa]
So that that way, you know, I just don’t have the time for that part right now as much as I used to.

00:19:30 [Melissa]
So keep that in mind too that, like, when you’re worried about, like, oh, I don’t think I’m qualified enough to teach or coach or anything like that.
00:19:36 [Melissa]
There’s always somebody who is behind you.
00:19:38 [Melissa]
And I actually love working with coaches that aren’t a ton of steps in front of me.
00:19:42 [Melissa]
I want them to be two or three steps in front of me because it’s what it’s like

00:19:45 [Alison]
to be in your step in your shoes.

00:19:47 [Melissa]
Exactly.
00:19:47 [Melissa]
They still remember what I’ve gone through, but they’ve already figured out how to get past that, and they’re onto something else.
00:19:53 [Melissa]
So keep that in mind too.
00:19:54 [Melissa]
There’s definitely a photographer behind you that would love to have some of the knowledge you have.

00:19:58 [Alison]
Yeah.
00:19:59 [Alison]
So to wrap it all up, don’t try to do all four of these avenues, and there are four of them.
00:20:04 [Alison]
They are digital products, consulting for other small businesses in person in your local area, virtual services, and then teaching and coaching.
00:20:13 [Alison]
So pick one of them after you’ve done your little audit of what you love and what your strongest suits are, and then just do what you think you can.
00:20:22 [Alison]
The lowest lift with the highest reward and alignment.

00:20:25 [Alison]
The goal here, we’re not telling you to start a whole second business.
00:20:28 [Alison]
That’s not the goal at all.
00:20:29 [Alison]
It’s just a little bit of income when your photography is a little lower using what you already know.
00:20:34 [Alison]
So Yeah.

00:20:35 [Melissa]
The skills you already have.
00:20:36 [Melissa]
Yeah.
00:20:36 [Melissa]
Because a lot of these can be ten, you know, five, ten hour a week jobs.
00:20:39 [Melissa]
It depends on how much you wanna do it.
00:20:41 [Melissa]
You may only need just a little bit to carry you through kind of thing, and this is something you could pick up and turn off, you know, and that kind of thing when you need to.

00:20:48 [Melissa]
We’re not trying to say, oh, photography’s dead.
00:20:51 [Melissa]
You guys need to do all these things.
00:20:53 [Melissa]
Not it at all.
00:20:54 [Melissa]
But it is the slow season right now for most photographers.
00:20:57 [Melissa]
It’s cold, and I am seeing a lot of people who are asking these questions of money in the slow season.

00:21:02 [Melissa]
And so we’ve already covered, like we said, we’ll link it in the show notes, the episode of how to make money with your camera.
00:21:06 [Melissa]
But these are ways that I think you guys don’t even think about of ways you can make money without your camera, that I promise you, you know more than somebody else.

00:21:14 [Alison]
Alright.
00:21:15 [Alison]
Thanks so much for listening, guys.
00:21:16 [Alison]
As always, reach out to us on Instagram if you’ve got fun stories or questions.
00:21:21 [Alison]
See you later.
00:21:21 [Alison]
Bye bye.

00:21:24 [Melissa]
Thank you so much for listening.
00:21:25 [Melissa]
If you’re enjoying the show, would you do two things for us?
00:21:28 [Melissa]
First, leave a review.
00:21:30 [Melissa]
Just stars would be awesome.
00:21:31 [Melissa]
And two, the episode to a biz bestie, no spouse, or anyone facing moving their business.

00:21:36 [Melissa]
We’d love it if you shared this episode with even just one person.
00:21:39 [Melissa]
If you have questions, you can reach out to Allison on Instagram at Allison Belle Photog, or you can find me, Melissa, in my Facebook group, Picture Perfect Rankings.
00:21:48 [Melissa]
Check the show notes for links, and we’re so excited to have you guys here.