We are in the 2nd week of the “Make More Money with Photography” series and today we’re talking about 6 ways to Make an Extra $2k-$3k in Your Photography Business in 30 days.
This episode was prompted by one of my students who told me she wanted to join my course, so she got scrappy and earned the money to purchase it within a few days. I thought that was SO smart, so I wanted to bring to you 6 ways to bring in 2,000-3,000 in the next 30 days. So whether you’re eyeing something in an online shop, maybe you need a new camera, lens or computer, or maybe you want to join our birth photographer’s certification course, this episode will equip you to bring in revenue quickly!
6 Ways to Make an Extra $2k-$3k in Your Photography Business in 30 Days
1. Offer Themed Mini Sessions
Themed mini sessions could include breastfeeding minis, motherhood minis, or holiday-themed sessions (for Christmas, 4th of July, Back to School, etc). I’ve also done really basic “black and white” children sessions for classic photos my clients loved. I love that mini sessions are unique, so you’re not devaluing your longer sessions like full family session or maternity sessions by offering these. They’re typically quick in and out, which means you can photograph 3-4 families in an hour instead of just one.
That’s what makes them stand out. It’s not just that you’re discounting your existing sessions by making them shorter and cheaper. The way to do mini sessions well without devaluing your brand and full sessions is to make them unique and themed. They’re not regular family sessions or mini maternity sessions all crammed in together, they’re themed and unique.
PRO TIP: Add some upsells after their session is complete (like additional digital files or a small album) to increase the amount you’re earning per client.
For Mother’s Day or Holiday Sessions, you could also consider offering custom products you don’t offer any other time of the year like coffee mugs, t-shirts, or water bottles with your clients’ photos on them. Ornaments are a great idea for Christmas and a coffee mug might be something moms would love for Mother’s Day.
PRO TIP: Research the cost of making each product beforehand, so that when you’re selling it, you know how to turn a profit. It’s common to charge 3-4 times whatever it costs YOU (so if it costs you $12 for a mug, consider charging between $30-$40 to the client.
Example: Charging $150 for a 15-minute breastfeeding mini session means you could book 4 clients in an hour which is $600 or $1,200 for 2 hours of shooting.
Now, I know if I’d heard this recommendation when I was in my first year or two in business, I would’ve broken into hives with anxiety because booking mini sessions was always really stressful for me because I rarely filled them. Here are a few tips to filling your mini session:
- Make them themed, so they’re unique. The fact that it was a themed session almost makes it more valuable and makes me willing to pay more for it, because it’s really specific.
- If you’re new to mini sessions, make them profitable, but also on the cheaper side. Once you have experience booking themed minis you can raise the price.
- Create an interest list before you announce them and open booking (talk about the model call challenge process)
2. Edit Photos for Other Photographers
If you have a knack for editing or just love editing, consider offering this as a service to other photographers. To find the photographers looking for this, search online forums and FB groups for photographers. The photographer will send you their raw files or the unedited images they’d like to edit, then from there it’s just a matter of adjusting contrast levels, color correction, etc. according to their style. You can earn $20-$50/hour depending on your experience level.
Another idea is to cull images for photographers, instead of editing them. Photographers usually have to look at many, many images before they find the perfect one. You could either charge by the hour or offer to cull a session for a flat fee like $25-$50+.
Lastly, if you’re good at Photoshop you can do more detailed edits like composites or background removal. This is the most challenging and requires the most experience, so it pays more too.
Example: Culling for 3 photographers and charging $50 each would be $150. Editing for those same 3 photographers could be an additional $50 each so there is $300 towards the $2,000! Add that with the themed minis and you’re already at $1500.
Plus, if you love editing this could be an on-going revenue stream for you!
3. Post Your Availability for Birth or Newborns on Social Media
You’d be surprised how often we get bookings simply because we posted our availability! It adds some urgency without being pushy. We just post on Facebook or Instagram the months that we are available for birth/newborn photography (and the month’s that we are not) with a call-to-action for them to DM us or comment below if they want more info on birth or newborn photography.
PRO TIP: You could spend a little money on Facebook ads to promote this post for your availability. To do this, you would go to Facebook ads and select the “Create a new ad” option. Just create the ad like you would create the post! I’d start with $10/day and see if you get any bites!
If you book one birth from doing this, you could add $200-$500 to our running total here (depending on how much your deposit is). At this point, you could already be at $2,000, so these other tips can just be icing on the cake (or used another month when you need a revenue boost!)
4. Album Design for Other Photographers
When I used to design my own albums, honestly, it was time consuming and stressful to go back and forth with the client. So, this would be an amazing offering for other photographers, especially wedding photographers!
You could go about this a couple of different ways:
- The 1st way would be to create a template in Photoshop with 2-5 ready-to-go designs that you could use to upload their photos to.
- The second way is to pay to use something like Albumstomp which makes album design SO easy.
You could charge the photographer $150-$250 for this service, especially if you’re paying for Albumstomp AND if you’re the one doing the design edits with the client.
PRO TIP: Offer this to the photographers you’re already editing or culling images for!
5. Offer Baby Plans for Past Newborn or Birth Clients
So, this is my go-to if I need a cash injection! Our baby plans are only for newborn clients. We do a sitter session around 6 months, a birthday session at 1 year and also an 18-month session (which is usually a family session too).
We offer the baby plan to most of our clients in our client workflow, but occasionally they don’t purchase on their ordering appointment and we need to follow up.
Go through a list of your clients from the last 3-4 months, determine who didn’t join the baby plan and shoot them an e-mail offering it to them! The e-mail can be super simple, but it should say something like, “Hey, I wanted to reach out and offer the baby plan for your newborn from our last session. It includes a sitter session at around six months of age as well as two other sessions throughout childhood: one on their first birthday and another 18 month portrait come they turn two.”
The e-mail can also include prices–“we charge $150 total to join the baby plan and you’ll order your favorite photos afterwards, just like you did at the newborn session.”
Also, this is a reminder to get those baby plan client who’ve already booked scheduled! This in and of itself could be $500-$1000 from 1 client’s order!
I love baby plans because they are a big boost in the LTV (lifetime customer value). This is important for all businesses because the main advertising expense comes with booking the client, so once they’re a client look for ways to add on services to increase what they’re spending with you. It enhances their experiences and it boosts your revenue and LTV!
6. Offer an Upsell Past Clients or Existing Clients
Here’s what I mean: offer a product to an existing client they either didn’t know about or haven’t booked yet.
Some examples would be:
- offering a maternity session to a birth client
- offering videography in addition to photography to a birth client
- offering an album upgrade to a birth or newborn client
- add more pages to your clients’ album
- add newborn photos to a maternity album to make it a combined album
- or how about a wall gallery for a client who has booked maternity and newborn with you? They could pre-purchase before they see their photos (and maybe you could offer a small incentive or discount for them to do this)
So think, who do you have right now as a client who would benefit from something else you offer?
This will, again, bump up your LTV while giving them some extra goodies too!
Soooo much good info, right? So what should you do now? If you’re thinking about all these ideas, start working out those details right now! Which 1 or 2 ideas stuck out to you that you can start to implement right away?
It’s so important to have a strategic marketing system you use every week and every month, but there are ebbs and flows in business and sometimes you need a little cash injection!
If you’re looking for passive income ideas for photographers, we have a great episode called 10 Passive Income Ideas for Photographers. Don’t forget we’re doing a “Make More Money with Photography” series and next week I’m going to share how to use testimonials to book more clients and increase revenue.
If you’re enjoying this podcast, please hit SUBSCRIBE wherever you’re listening and thank you so much for leaving the show a review on iTunes! I read each and every one and it helps this podcast reach more people so thank you!
My friend, if you have a passion – it’s not an accident. Not everyone loves photography, or event planning, or real estate… whatever your passion is, it’s there for a REASON. What are you going to do with that passion? Get out there and make it happen! Have a great week y’all!
MAKE MORE MONEY WITH PHOTOGRAPHY PODCAST SERIES
Episode 49: How to Create a High-Touch Experience for Your Clients to Get More Referrals
Episode 50: 6 Ways to Make Extra $2k-$3k in Your Photography Business in 30 Days
Episode 52: Why is Your Marketing Not Working? Listen Up If You Have No Idea What’s Wrong!
Episode 53: Simple Ways to Improve Your Money Mindset
Episode 54: How to Get Started with Paid Ads in 2021
The Beauty in Birth Certification Course for Birth Photographers
If you know that you are supposed to be a birth photographer, but you get tripped up with all the ‘what ifs’ that come along with photographing such a big day, The Beauty in Birth Certification Course for Birth Photographers is currently open for enrollment!
Inside the certification, you are going to learn:
- How to set up your business to become the go-to professional birth photographer
- To master your birth photography camera skills
- How to fearlessly conquer any lighting situation
- Confidently know when to arrive at the birth each and every time
- Learn how to craft stunning birth images
- Learn how to post-process images to give your clients the best results
PLUS, $2000-worth of bonuses including The Beauty in Birth’s Birth Photography Model Call Process so that you can book up to 5 photography clients in 30 days.
To know more about the course, go to certifiedbirthphotographer.com
Questions, Comments, and Reviews
Do you have a question? Submit it here: www.taviaredburn.com/ask and I might answer it on the podcast!
Leave a review on iTunes! Check out www.thebeautyinbirth.net/podcast for instructions.
[…] sure to check out a similar episode called 6 Ways to Make an Extra $2,000-$3,000 in Your Photography Business in 30 Days – that was released back in June of 2021, but it’s a good one and of course we’ll link it […]