Ep. 42 | How to Have Your Best Year Ever

We’ve made it to 2020! Yay! Today on the podcast, I want to share with you 5 tips to have your best year ever. These are a combination of strategies and trends that you need to implement to keep your doors open in 2020 and beyond!

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It's not too late to set yourself up for success in 2020 if you aren't currently booked out for the Year of 2020 with clients on your books and all the ways you're gonna make money. If that's not you, I want to invite you to join my free online training. How to plan out your 2020 photography calendar and get more clients in your books. In this master class, you're going to learn how to map out your 2020 photography calendar. No more planning last minute events and desperately trying to fill your session spots. How to create a strategic marketing plan to book out your year If you're confused on what to post on social media and email your clients, this is for you the two tools that dramatically change the game in my business and gave me my time back and why Planning or 2020 calendar can result in your best year Ever get ahead of the game and go into the New Year feeling confident and ready to have your best year yet you can access this training at frame your way. Da Brooke jefferson dot com slash replay Welcome to the brain your way. Photography podcast. I'm your host, Brooke Jefferson. I'm a wife, Mama to two and full time photographer in business. I created this podcast with inspiring photographer in mine to bring you inspired stories. Strategies to help you go from zero to mostly figures and tips and tricks to get one step closer to work. Life harmony. Are you ready to bring your way to your dream career? Let's dive in. Happy New Year, friend. We made it. We made it to 2020. I am so excited for this year. I cannot wait to see what unfolds today I want to share with you five tips to have your best year ever. These are a combination of strategies and trends that you need to implement to keep your doors open in 2020 and beyond. So let's die, then. The first tip that I have for you is to make sure that you commit to planning ahead. And what I mean by this is no more waiting till the last second and then hoping to launch something and then crossing your fingers and hoping people come rushing to book your sessions. Kay, I don't want you to do that this year. I'm not gonna do that. This year. I wanna walk into it with a plan and know what's coming and know what I'm offering. So that way I don't feel stressed, and I don't feel overwhelmed. I can feel confident, right? So if you can't commit to planning for an entire year in advance, you can at least commit toe looking at every quarter and deciding what you're going to do. So, for instance, we are now in January. So what you could do is you could plan your January, February and March calendar. Know what's coming. Know what your big items are? So are you going to release many sessions? Are you going to do a style shoot? Are you trying to book on the second quarter full of wedding? So maybe your ideal goal for January and February is to get bookings to get those weddings. Whatever the case may be, I really want to encourage you to plan ahead. So if you did not walk through our calendar training that I hosted on December 2nd, the replay is still available until the end of the month, and you can go watch that and I will teach you how to plan ahead. What do you need to do? Where do you start after you pull that calendar out? So if you need some assistance, go watch that replay. All right? Tip number two, pricing. So we're gonna talk about pricing here for just a second. When I was looking all the past years that I have been in business almost every year, I have either offer different packages or I have changed my pricing and some form. And I really want to encourage you to review your pricing. Look at what you currently offer. Are you happy with it? Are you good with the numbers that you're offering? Are you wanting to dabble in a different area of photography this year? I encourage you to look at your pricing because sometimes this is the one tweak that will change everything for you. It could be the difference in not booking people to now booking people. It could be the difference in the way that you show up in your business. So I was on a coaching call with one of my clients, and one thing that we talked about was pricing and how I'm I asked her how her prices felt. Tow her. Do they make you excited, or do they make you feel like it's almost a burden like, Mmm, I really do so much more. I I kind of don't feel like that number excites me anymore. That's a sign that you are ready to increase your prices to some capacity. Now, with that being said, maybe it's increasing it by $50. Maybe it's increasing it by a couple 100. That's really going to be up to you. And I actually have a pricing formula that I take everyone through in that calendar training. And so that was actually everybody's favorite part of the calendar training. So if you are looking for a formula that is not tedious, that takes you less than five minutes to do. I highly, highly recommend that you go check out that training for that pricing formula. I will be releasing the pricing formula as it's own freebie coming up in about a month or so, so be on the lookout for that. But with your pricing, I really want you to ask yourself, Do you feel fired up about your session? So when someone books. You they k u that price. How does it make you feel? Are you doing enough work to where you feel good about that? Or are you not charging enough? Because you're scared that no one will book you if you increase your prices? Guys, that is a really cool thing. Okay? I have done this time and time again where I've had to increase my prices and it's not comfortable, it's not. And I will tell you something else. As you increase your prices, you are probably going to hear more nose then yes, is up front. But that shouldn't discourage you. You are weeding out the people that just want to hire you for your price versus people who want to hire you for your value and for the person you are. And for the style of work that you do. So ah, that's my tip to you tipped Thio. Go check out your pricing. Make sure that your prices are where you feel great about them. You feel excited to work with the clients that say yes to you and I just don't want your pricing. Teoh, be in the way of you having your best you're ever okay. Tip number three. And this one's huge. And a lot of you are not going to like this, but I'm gonna tell you like it is, because that's what I'm here for. If you thought 2019 was the year of video, just wait because 2020 video is going to take over even regular hosts. Okay, it is vital that you show up on video. That's including stories. That's including live videos, prerecorded videos, YouTube, you pick which ever form a video you're most comfortable with right now. And you start producing content. Now, I know a lot of you just thought, What in the world am I gonna talk about when I get on video? Well, you could talk about a little bit of everything if you are trying to educate your clients. So if you're a wedding photographer, you could be educating your wedding clients on how to create a timeline for their wedding, how to pick address and bridesmaid dresses and a tire that's going to photograph. Well, you could train them on. I mean, just a bunch of things like there's a bunch of topics that you guys probably would block about, So if you wouldn't Balog it, I would ve a log it with the V came. So I want you to start taking all of your blog's you guys have created and start turning that into video content with you teaching it. Okay. Why is video so crucial to businesses? Well, honestly, it's because number one it's the best way to establish authority in your industry. Okay, you showing up is already putting you at the top of your industry because I'm telling you, this is the one thing the majority of people will not do. They will not do it. They won't produce videos. So regardless, if you're producing videos to educate other photographers or you're producing video to educate your photography clients, there is something that you guys could talk about. Teach people how to dress the number. One question is what to wear. Where do I buy it from? What do I do with my pictures? There's 1000 different videos that you guys can create. And the cool thing is, it doesn't all have to be about photography or your business. You could even do some personal videos. Let people get to know you for you because they're going to establish trust way faster by getting to hear your voice and see your face than they ever would with you just making post and hiding behind a screen. So set number three is you need to make video a part of your marketing plan. Okay? Don't let that scare you. It's going to be uncomfortable at first if you're not currently doing this. But I just really encourage you to step into a new, um, to a new zone, right? Step outside that comfort zone and get into a new one and start creating video. You will see a transition in your business once you start implementing this on a regular basis. Tip number four This kind of goes into that is quality content, quality over quantity. A lot of you, including myself, stressed out when we don't show up on social media enough, I'm doing like air quotes when we don't show up enough right? What does that even mean? Everybody schedule is different, and I don't want everyone thinking that you have to show up every day on social media. I think that's really unrealistic, and I don't think that you have to and I am not putting you down. If you are to be honest, in 2020 I plan on showing up on social Media way more often. Okay, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna live on social media either. So the best way that I can describe what I'm talking about is if you are committed to showing up through video and on your instagram stories, then technically, if you think about it, you're spending like a good two minutes out of your entire day to put something up on social media. So if you think about it like that, it's only two minutes out of your day if you put up some stories and video. But a lot of you stress that you aren't doing enough, and you're focused on the quantity of your content. I want you all to be focused on quality. I would much rather you be the type of person that shows up twice a week and makes a Facebook post or an instagram post or something. But that content is gold, right? It's really, really good. It's not just a Hey, I have many sessions that are coming up. Let me know if you want a spot, right? I want you to start telling stories and to start giving us the vision of what you're doing and why you're doing it. I want to know the stories behind things. A lot of you guys photograph amazing people with amazing stories. And I really want you to do more digging into your clients and start telling their stories or tell us, you know, what was your vision going into the shoot? What were you focused on? We need more narrative and story based things. This is why people love Netflix, shows, movies. They're all telling a story. So anyway, I want you to focus on quality this year over quantity. Okay, in my last tip for you and this is Major is focusing on one thing. Okay, so what I mean by this, you can take this however you want to take this. But my example is I am focusing my full effort and attention on one platform. So I'm so exhausted and tired of trying to be everywhere possible. It has seriously, like, made me feel so bad when I can't commit showing up everywhere. And I was just spreading myself too thin. So I made the decision a few days ago that I am shutting down my Facebook group for the podcast listeners, and I am moving everything over to Instagram. All my training's challenges, all the endless value. Everything that I could possibly give away for free, to encourage, inspire and empower you is going to be on Instagram. Why? Because I felt like my Facebook group having to show up. There was a burden. It was time that I was stealing away from other things, like playing with my kids or recording another podcast episode or something like that. So I'm really trying to simplify my business and focusing on one thing. Another area that I'm really focusing on, our serving my family's and definitely trying to keep my retention rate of my client's between 70 70 to 90%. I am hoping that, like I said, up to 90% of my session spots will be filled by past client. Why? Because I am invested in their family. I'm invested in who they are, and I want them to come back year after year because they trust me and they love me and I've become a part of their family I have made so many friendships through this business with my clients, and I'm forever grateful for that. And I will keep doing this as long as possible because I love to show it for people. I'm such a people person again. Any a gram tight, too. I'm a helper. I love to serve. I love to encourage people, and I dress. I'm really focused on nurturing those relationships in hopes that they do come and book me again because I'm telling you, I'm still standing here and have a thriving business because I've invested in people in relationships. So I'm really shifting. My focus is to one thing at a time, rather than trying to be on Facebook and tic Tac and instagram and email and all the places, so I just I really want to encourage you. If you feel like you're spread too thin, you feel like you're all over the place. Then I really encourage you figure out what's the one area you want to grow? Are you wanting more visibility to your Facebook business page? Or are you wanting more visibility to your instagram? Are you wanting to grow your email list? Let's pick one thing at a time cause so many people are feeding us. That success happens on Lee if and when you are everywhere at all times and that is a lie. Okay, so simplify it. Choose one thing to focus on. And then once it's master, once it's working, then if you want to try to add something else than at something else later, okay, But we are. We're busy. We're busy. Everyone is right. We don't need to be in all the places at once. So I hope that you got freedom from that statement. I hope that you will implement this for sure, because it's going to change your business and your life. So what's recap? The five tips, strategies, trends, whatever you want to call them to make this your best year ever is the number one planning ahead again. If you missed the training, you're more than welcome to go watch the replay. Frame your way dot Brooke jefferson dot com slash replay number to check out your pricing. Review it. How does it make you feel? Do you need to increase your pricing even though it's scary? Definitely. Review your pricing. Tip. Three Video is King Okay, Make sure you implement video into your marketing tip for quality over quantity content. Tip number five focusing on one area at a time. If you follow these tips, strategies, whatever, you will definitely set yourself up for your best year ever. I also want to invite you into my brand new membership site for photographers. If this is something that you are remotely interested in, I'm so excited. We already have members. I've been doing my coaching calls with them this week, and it's been amazing to get to know them and their business. So if you're looking for trainings, you're looking for other guests. Photographers are come in and share their expertise with you. This might be the place for you, So if you want to check that out, its frame your way dot work jefferson dot com slash membership. I highly encourage you to check it out. We definitely want to see you there. You get so many amazing benefits, I'll let you read all up on the website for what all included. But guys, I'm so excited this year is going to be absolutely incredible for your business, for my business and for this podcast just wait, That's all. I'm gonna say there are some amazing people that are going to be airing episodes in the next 90 days. I'm so excited. Have a fantastic day and we will chat next Thursday. I want to be featured on the podcast. I'm currently looking for photographers who are interested in a coaching session that will be recorded and aired on the podcast in 2020. To apply to be a guest on the show, please visit Brooke jefferson dot com slash apply.