Book More Clients Photography Podcast - How to Start a Photography Business, Marketing Strategy, How Photographers Make Money

Bonus Episode | The Go-To Photography Planner: The Focused Book

April 03, 2020 Brooke Jefferson
Book More Clients Photography Podcast - How to Start a Photography Business, Marketing Strategy, How Photographers Make Money
Bonus Episode | The Go-To Photography Planner: The Focused Book
Show Notes Transcript

Today on the podcast I have Liam and Mariah Redding. I am so excited for you guys to hear their story and learn more about what The Focused Book has inside and how it came to be. 

Mariah is a mom and photographer who lives in West Virginia. With her amazing idea and his graphic design skills, they created the perfect planner book for photographers.

The book has time frames for every day of the year to log all of your clients and appointment times, as well as monthly and yearly goals. They have also included an expense and income sheet to log anything money-related!

Want to win a Focused Book Photography Planner for yourself?

@thefocusedbook
Shop HERE!

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Check out the photography templates on Etsy.

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Would love to have you in our Photographer Facebook group!

spk_0:   0:00
have you wondered if having a mentor coach would help you further your business? Someone you can ask questions and get advice from? I know I needed someone when I first started, and I'm so excited to offer one on one mentoring to you to find out all the details and how we can work together to give you a profitable and sustainable photography business. You can check the show notes or head to my website. Brooke jefferson dot com. Welcome to the frame your way. Photography podcast. I'm your host, Brooke Jefferson. I'm a wife, Mama to two and full time photographer and business coach. I created this podcast with the aspiring photographer in mind to bring you inspiring stories. Strategies to help you go from zero to multiple figures and tips and tricks to help you get one step closer toe work. Life harmony. Are you ready to frame your way to your dream career? Let's dive in. All right, guys. Today I have Liam and Mariah reading on the podcast, and I'm really excited. Thio hear their story and how the focused book came to be. Mariah, will you introduce yourself to the listeners? Hi, I'm Mariah reading. I am a photographer. I live in West Virginia, but I am in the Eastern Panhandle. So I do photography all around the D M V area. I do have a little two year old girl today is actually her birthday. And, um So me and my husband actually came up with this plan and together, and I'm really excited to give you guys some info about Oh, my goodness. Well, happy birthday to your little girl. I did not know that. That that's so special. Well, now you'll always have something to tell her. Uh, yeah, that's awesome. Well, I am very interested and curious, and I asked all of my photographer guests to kind of give us a little bit of background to how you became a photographer and, um, kind of what your business looks like at this point. Yeah. So, actually, I just started doing photography in December of 2018 on how I started getting in a photography is when I had my daughter. I always loved taking pictures of her and I was a stay at home Mom. I was fortunate enough to do that. And, um, so I'd be taking pictures of her and I loved it. I was excellent. I wonder if I'd like a picture of other people. So I just kind of asked My friends like to let me take pictures of me for free. Um and that's kind of how my business got started. And I absolutely loved doing it. Um, and right now my business is pretty study. It's really also ya. And now I'm just doing photography full time. I still stay at home with my daughter on. I do have a couple of days during the week that I do and also on weekend. So yeah, it's going really good. I'm glad. Well, your start to your photography journey is a lot like mine. I was a mom before it was ever a photographer on, and I had borrowed my mother in law's camera and just loves taking pictures of Braley. And it was fun just doing like those in your home photo shoots. And, you know, we thought we were so creative and, you know, you always look back at your work and you kind of cringe it. Something's you created, and my best friend was like, Hey, why don't you take pictures of me and my daughter and that was my first, like, actual photo session. And then after that, it was just like I mean, six month Within six months, I had a full on clientele. Um, really, Just from the word's spreading and that passion that I had eso I'm literally I'm just like you. I feel like our journeys are very similar. And that's amazing that you're only, like, what? A two year a year and something into photography. I think that's so that's really, really need so on what do you mostly photographs? Um, so at first I was kind of photographing everything on, and I think as 2020 started, I kind of wanted to focus more towards couples and wedding photography. I love that. Is there something specific about couples and wedding photography that likes that fire in you? Like, how did you figure out like that was kind of where you wanted to put your focus. Um, I honestly love just going into a session hearing like what story? He's and just seeing how couples react with each other and, you know, prompting them to do like, little things like this. And then I just love seeing how everybody reacts with each other. My favorite thing is when I asked a photographer like What is your niece or What's your favorite thing to photograph and we all. We're just all have something different that lights of fire, which I just think is super neat. And that is why there will never be too many photographers. I don't care what anyone says, like I still feel like there's room for everyone. And so it's really me hearing that. That's that's what excites you, is hearing people's love stories. And I'm sure you're fantastic at what you d'oh! And so I what I really, really want to focus on today because I've talked about it multiple times. Is your photography planner. How did this even become a thing? So I think itwas back in November and I was kind of just like it was I was just writing out in my notes, like my income and all that stuff. And I was like, I wonder if there is a photographer planner. So there was one night in particular. I spent two hours looking online interest tryingto I was searching photography book for tires. You plan If it's higher. Few journal and I couldn't find anything. I was on Etsy. I I have no idea. Like nobody's made love. So, um, the next day, actually, I told my husband I was like, Babe, I know that you're very good at designing things. Do you think that we could come up with, like, a book for me? And then that kind of just led to the idea that week can make one for other photographers. If it's helping me, I'm sure it can help other photographers. I'm sure everybody goes through that kind of struggle is not being able to write down their income all their clients info like a full schedule. So, yeah, that's kind of how it got started. Well, I'm a planner fanatic, and I'm like you. I will spend 2 to 3 hours once or twice a year, literally just searching for the best planner. I used multiple planners, and I I don't even remember what made me stumble upon yours per se. I really think it was somehow I thought I assembled upon you guys on Instagram. I do know that. And I was like, Oh, my gosh! Wait. What? A planner for photographers like, Yea, I've been looking for six years for one of these. So I you know, I had talked to you about it, reached out to you. And when I got in the mail, I was flipping through it and I realized it was even better than what I had already ext affected. Because I do a training every year, Um, war photographers about how to plan out there, you know, there, 2020 year is what I just did. And so, um, you had, like, everything in the planner with everything that I talk about in Like you said, I had it in my notes and in my journals and all my phone was tracking your income, having goals, looking at how many sessions it's going to take, you know, to reach that goal. And so I just feel like I hit the jackpot with your planner and I'm so excited to tell everyone about its Yeah, I actually I did. I I asked a ton of people like, What do you want? It's clear. Like what do you think we'll make it best? So I think it was really helpful getting everybody's feedback and also me being a photographer myself. No, in kind of like what I needed. And when we did our taxes this year, I actually found like the book was so helpful because everything was right there knows if that's just so awesome, anything that can help for sure, and I'll be honest at the time of this recording were one month out from our taxes being do. And I'm still not done from last year. So don't worry, I'm I've been doing it. What happened was I'm normally a February 1st turn in my taxes. But this year I had done a free trial of QuickBooks and I had everything in there from January to October. And so I was like, Oh, this is gonna be so easy. Only have two more months to do Well, when I logged in, the free trial had been over and it canceled all my information. Oh, yes, that's and so even when I upgraded, it still wasn't They're So anyway, I'm having to do it all over. It's fine. It'll get done. But yes, that was one of my favorite thing about your planner, too, is that everything is readily available and it's very easy to compare what I did, You know, the prior month versus what I need this month and then the next month. And so I just I'm obsessed with your planner. I would love for you to walk us through. Maybe some of the features we confined inside of your planner. For those who have never even seen it, I would love just to kind of go over a few of those things. Yeah, of course. So, yeah, when you open it, you're gonna have the cover page, and then you're gonna have a full layout of the month that has, like, all the little block so that you can, you know, write down anything that you need to just so you can see the full month span and then Ross gonna have our monthly goals. Paige, I'm gonna ask it. Ask schools, like, how many clients you want this mind what? Your income goal and stuff like that. And then we're also gonna have our expensive page for that month as well as our in confusion in my mind. And I know we're talking about with the taxes and stuff. Um, it was really nice tohave like that expense page. So that you can kind of law everything that you need for photography. And then you can take that off your taxes, which is race. Yeah. Yeah. And then we have, like, the weekly views. And on each specific day, it has time slides from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. So you can put whatever client you have at whatever time. And it's like all there. And then at the end of the month, we're gonna have our monthly reflections and then Ross gonna have, like, a minor tracker. So when you're traveling to photo shoots, wedding stuff with that, you can read it down. How many miles you tracked, and then we also have a note's paid at the end. So it's like that every single month, and there's also a yearly goals and nearly refer elections as well. Ah, it's just My favorite thing is it's all my favorite things. I love to set goals. I love having everything in one place, too, which is super helpful. And like you said, when it does come to things like, Okay, let's see how I didn't quarter one. Let's look back at the 1st 6 months of the year it's gonna be very easy to compare. And I'm really excited to get each New Year's version, because how easy is it to look back and see? Like Okay, Wow. In January 2020 I had way more sessions than I did, you know, for 2021. And so, anyway, it's just it's a really great planner, especially for those of us that still like a good paper and pin, because that is me all the way. And yes, I'm just I'm so excited. And you know what I realize is the entire time we didn't even say that what the name of your planner is? Yep. And it's called the focus book Perfect, which I think that is perfectly named. I'm so one thing I'd love to do is get your husband's perspective on, you know, you bringing the idea to him what it looks like from idea to actual production. So if you don't mind, I would absolutely love to hear his point of view. Yeah, course. All right. So, Liam, I would like to hear your perspective of how the focused book came to be from the time that she kind of brought up the idea And what that journey looks like Toe actually producing the physical planner itself.

spk_1:   13:01
Sure. So basically, in December, early December 2019 Mariah was looking for a planner for photographers and she went through etc and Google and just couldn't find a product that she really liked. Andi, I'm a graphic designer. So she came to me and asked if I could put together some kind of a product that she could use it her business. So I went to, uh, drawn something up for, and I gave her the first version of it, and it was completely off the mark. Um, and she was very honest with me, and she just told me very specifically kind of the aesthetic that she was looking for a minimalistic planner. I had a lot of photography throughout the first version, so we completely kind of scrap that version and went back to the drawing board. Okay, so your cat is going crazy right now. Um, but we went back to the drawing board and we kind of put together like a mood board through Pinterest. And, um, I just started going through and laying out some different options for fonts and graphics. and colors that we could use and where I approved of them. So I began drafting up a concept and she was very involved. She's an incredibly creative person, from the concepts to actually the first version of the book, and we took us about two weeks from the start of the idea to get a first draft put together. And I have worked tirelessly to make sure because we came up with the idea in December. And if you're gonna have, ah, planner, you kind of wanted to launch to the very beginning of the year. So I went into overdrive. I would come home from work and work on the book until I went to bed. Sometimes that wanted to in the morning, and that went on for about two weeks since we had a version that we were just in love with. And we found out that Barnes and Noble offers this really awesome online, um, software for people who want to self publish their own books. And we purchased the first version and, uh about took about two weeks till we got him in and I texted me and she said, These are perfect and I was so excited. She sent me some pictures and we went ahead and I came home and we did. We that night actually went to Wal Mart, and we just bought up all this different way. Could do product photography with it. So from beginning to the end, it's just been an awesome experience, too, To do this together and to really come up with something from scratch. She had the idea on dhe. She really helped me execute after couldn't have done it without her.

spk_0:   15:55
I That's, uh, I just I'm kind of speechless because I love I love the dedication it took, and I love that you guys were able to do this together. I'm actually really jealous. I didn't come out with the planner myself. It is, but because I don't think you guys understand, like I'm a planner fanatic, and it would just make sense for me to launch a planner. But I'm glad that you guys did, and that I stumbled upon it because it is awesome. And it's such a great tool for photographers in their business because I think it's important tohave things on paper as it was in your phone. I'm sure price can agree. And I'm sure you guys have even, You know, you guys probably thought about that as well as faras marketing or planner. But it's just it's an important tool. I think awesome that it's something that is completely separate from everything else. And I think you guys did a tremendous job. And I really hope that more photographers will purchase a copy and see why I love it so much.

spk_1:   16:59
Yeah, indefinitely. I just wantto go back to that point about putting something down on paper. I know we've become a very digital society, and that was kind of the idea is when there are very technology has been so helpful, especially for small businesses and photographers to be able to track stuff. But the one the number one thing that I think that people want to put down on paper and that you need to put down on paper is your goals. I'm so to actually have that written down concrete somewhere and bound in a book that can keep everything together, you know, very neatly and organized. So have your goals written down in front of you, and to really dedicate yourself to know that you put that concrete down somewhere where you can erase it so that you can look back over time and say, you know, this is what my goals were And this is what the results ended up being, and kind of reflecting on how you can improve your business. I you know where I had a great idea and I'm just glad that we could bring it to life.

spk_0:   18:03
I could have said that any other myself. I am just clapping everything that you just said up because it's so true. I'm really, really big on setting goals, writing them out, looking at them, revisiting them and, you know, again tracking your goals in. I love that we're given a place in your planner Thio put down our goals and to measure them and to see exactly what it's going to take. And so I'm just really proud of the whole the whole planner. And I really hope that people get their hands on it after listening to this episode.

spk_1:   18:40
Thank you. And we greatly appreciate your support. One of the number one things that you know I have specialized marketing outside of graphic design. Um, and basically the idea Waas. We want to create this very genuine authentic product and then, you know, for the niche market of photography and start to build really mean meaningful relationships with people who are passionate about, you know, the same things we are. And just the fact that we found you and your podcasts and of all the amazing work that you're doing for photographers was really a blessing. So we appreciate all the support that you've given us.

spk_0:   19:15
Absolutely. Will you guys, this was so incredible. And also thank you guys for willing to give a planner away to a photographer through sharing this podcast and through sharing your account and, you know, getting connected to your planner. I, like you, said. I think at the end of the day, you know, it means a lot when you can get connected and have this community of people who truly do want to impact the businesses of other people. And I'm really glad that you guys were willing to come on and do this and just kind of this piece of self listen away, especially with the crazy times we're living in. I think it now more than ever. We're going to get to see a sweeter side of humanity. And I'm really glad that you guys get to play a role in that, you know? You know, beside me and I'm just excited. So thank you both for being on the show today.

spk_1:   20:08
It was an honor. Thank you.

spk_0:   20:10
You and where can we find and get connected with the focus book? Um, so you can find us on Instagram. Just search in the focus book. And you can also find us on ad See under the focus book as well. Awesome. Well, again. Thank you guys so much. And for all my listeners, go type that in and get connected. Because I promise this is the planner that you need right now. If you haven't already and you were loving this podcast, would you take just a second and hit that subscribe button? This will automatically deliver new episodes to your phone every Thursday. And if you want to go above and beyond, I would love for you to leave and honest rating and review. This helps other photographers find the show and get the support they need. Thank you so much for listening, and I'll meet you back here next week