Mini-session Challenge Day 1: Choosing a Theme and Dates
Episode 43: Show Notes.
Welcome to the five-day mini-session challenge! This challenge is designed to help you plan your mini-sessions for the year. By the end of the week, you will have gained a bunch of useful knowledge that’ll assist you in knowing what to charge, how to upsell your galleries, and much more.
In today’s episode, we talk about the blueprint for your mini-session and discuss the details behind choosing a theme, who is allowed at the session, and the session length. Toward the end of the episode, listeners will hear about what time of day, and even time of year to plan shoots. Be sure to join the challenge and listen in today!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing the five-day mini-session challenge.
- A quick breakdown of what the challenge has to offer.
- Find out what a mini session is.
- Things to consider when choosing a theme for a mini session.
- Who should be allowed to join your session.
- We talk about session length.
- Hear about what time of day you should plan your session.
- Tips on choosing dates wisely.
Tweetables:
“The five-day mini-session challenge was designed to help you plan out all your mini-sessions for the entire year.” — Find Your Focus [0:00:38]
“Mini-sessions are short and sweet. Usually about 15 to 20 minutes per session. The goal is to have more of a high-volume business model so you can book more sessions and have a higher profit in a short amount of time.” — Find Your Focus [0:01:57]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Mini Session Challenge Day 2: Design Your Unique Packages
Episode 44: Show Notes.
Welcome back to the five-day mini session challenge. This challenge is designed to help you plan your mini-sessions for the year. By the end of the week, you will have all of the logistics planned out for minis, you will know what you want to charge, and how you plan to up-sell your galleries – and the best part?
Your host, Logan Fahey is going to walk you through every step. Today, we talk all about pricing, including how to figure out what to charge and how to up-sell your galleries.
By the end of this episode, you will have an idea of how to plan for what to charge for your mini-sessions, along with what your up-sell price will be. Up-selling your gallery is super easy if you run your mini-sessions correctly, so tune in to hear all the tips and tricks to make it a breeze!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Take plenty of time to lay out what the potential profits during your mini-sessions might be.
- Why you should not base your pricing on what other photographers are charging in your area.
- It’s important to think about the preparation time for a shoot to work out your hourly rate.
- Let’s talk about up-selling: Only offer your clients a limited number of photos, with the option to access the entire gallery for a fee.
- Logan provides a real-world example of up-selling and shares the gallery tool she uses.
- The benefits of in-person sales (or IPS) versus delivering the photos via a gallery.
- Manage client expectations by providing them with an after-the-session guide.
- Give clients an idea of what a full session would like like, even during the mini-session.
Tweetables:
“A lot of times, photographers will run [the] numbers and realize they’re only making $7 an hour! We do not want you to be making minimum wage for these mini-sessions. You need to think about all of those things as you are deciding on your pricing.” — Find Your Focus [0:02:30]
“When you are giving your clients information about pricing, let them know that the 10 images are included in their package, but they are able to upgrade to the entire gallery for X amount of money.” — Find Your Focus [0:03:31]
“Up-selling your gallery will be super easy, as long as you run your mini-sessions correctly.” — Find Your Focus [0:06:31]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Mini-Session Challenge Day 3: The Logistics of Planning
Episode 45: Show Notes.
For Day 3 of our mini-session challenge, we talk about logistics and the tools that you can use to smoothly run your photography business. For starters, we talk about how you can get information about your mini-sessions to clients and then book them through email.
After sharing how automated processes can cut down your workload, we look at why you should customize your client management systems to reflect your branding. We then discuss ways to fill your session spots before diving into the importance of having contracts that cover the nitty-gritty details of your mini-sessions.
Near the end of the episode, we explore solutions to handling invoicing, retainers, and reschedules. Tune in for more insights on creating systems that help you book, shoot, and bill for your mini-sessions.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Using Flodesk to schedule emails and inform clients of your mini-sessions.
- Signing up and then booking clients for mini-sessions.
- Customizing your client management system so that it reflects your branding.
- Hear the best practices to use when creating client sign-ups.
- The importance of contracts when running mini-sessions.
- Advice on handling retainers, reschedules, and invoicing.
Tweetables:
“When you are setting up your sign-ups, remember that less is more. I’m going to say that again, less is more.” — Find Your Focus [0:03:18]
“Some families will try to turn a mini-session into an extended-family session with grandparents and cousins. That’s why you need to have contracts.” — Find Your Focus [0:04:53]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Cole’s Classroom Challenge on Facebook
Mini Session Challenge Day 4: Targeted Marketing and Getting Booked
Episode 46: Show Notes.
Welcome to day four of our five-day mini-session challenge. Today we will be talking about marketing your mini-sessions to get the best possible returns from them. It’s one challenge creating a mini-session, but it’s another trying to book them.
We kick off the show by talking about one of the most helpful ways to market your mini-sessions — teasers. We go into what makes a great teaser, how you can roll them out, and what information they should contain. Another great way to book out your mini-sessions is by introducing a waiting list.
People frenzy over waiting lists because they always want to be the first in line. Toward the end of the episode, we mention VIP groups and elaborate on why they can be useful, as well as why you should consider partnering up with local businesses in your area.
After hearing about trade exchanges, we close the show by talking about charity incentives and how to be responsible with your clients. The episode ends with our challenge expectations, so be sure to listen in!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Welcome to day four of our five-day mini-session challenge!
- Introducing today’s topic: targeted marketing.
- We talk about teasers and why they are so important.
- Why people go crazy for “waiting lists.”
- Hear about the value of VIP groups.
- Benefits to partnering up with local businesses.
- How you can incorporate charities into your mini sessions.
- Kate, from Cole’s Classroom, shares her top ideas to get people to sign up.
- Our tasks for you to get working on.
Tweetables:
“Mini-sessions are really fun and we tend to be very passionate about them. But it still might take time to get your mini-sessions completely booked.” — Find Your Focus [0:01:25]
“I typically give my past clients first dibs on my mini-sessions. They normally have between one and two days to book a mini-session before I announce the minis on social media with the sign-up link.” — Find Your Focus [0:03:16]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Five-day mini-session challenge
Mini Session Challenge Day 5: Preparing Your Mini Sessions
Episode 47: Show Notes.
Welcome back to our five-day mini-session challenge! This is the fifth and last segment of the challenge and the topic for today is logistics! That’s right, we will be talking all about preparing for your mini sessions, and you will hear a bunch of tips for organizing yourself and the client so that they walk away with a smile and want to keep coming back. We get into the ins and outs of writing reminder emails, as well as how to give clients all the information they will need once their session is complete in the form of a gift bag. You’ll also hear about assembling a box of miscellaneous items that might come in handy during the shoot, checking the questionnaire you sent your client before the shoot, and a few extra touches you can add to the session to make it extra memorable. Tune in today!
Key Points From This Episode:
- The importance of reminder emails for reminding clients of their time slot.
- A few tips for making reminder emails; automation, information to include, etc.
- Ideas for putting together gift bags to give clients after their mini-session.
- The main point of the gift bag; the next steps card, and what to write on it.
- Including a hand-written note and a referral card in the gift bag too.
- Advice from Logan for putting together a box of things that might come in handy in the shoot.
- Remembering to check what a client stipulated on the questionnaire you sent them.
- Thinking about how you can make the session memorable with extra touches.
Tweetables:
“Something that I get ready, the week of my mini-sessions, are little gift bags. I always include some type of treat. For example, for Christmas, I include Hershey’s Kisses and candy canes. The important part of this gift bag is the next-steps card.” — @ColesClassroom [0:02:15]
“Think about how you can make these mini-sessions stand out as a memorable moment for your clients. For example, with my Christmas mini-sessions, I have a table set up with icing and cookies and sprinkles for the kids to decorate cookies after their session.” — @ColesClassroom [0:04:34]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
