VIEWING AND SALES SESSIONS WEBINAR

The other day I asked how many people would be interested in a FREE online web seminar about sales and viewing sessions.  WOW.  There were a lot of you!  So, here's the deal.  I'm going to offer two webinars.  Here are the details:

When: Thursday 12/9 @  3:00PM & 7:00PM EST  

Where: Online - on your computer.  You have to sign up here to get the link: 

Cost: FREE.  Really.  There's no charge.  This one's on me :)

What: A 60 minute webinar on preparing for, and conducting in-person sales sessions.  Though it will be primarily targeted to viewing sessions in a controlled studio environment, I've also got a few things that I think you'll be really excited about even if you DON'T have a studio.

WHY WRITE A BOOK?

Last week, I announced at Pictage's PartnerCon, that I was releasing a book: "Starting Out Right: Photographers Resource Guide."  I'm super excited about it, and I wanted to share with you a little about why I decided to write a book.  

Over the past year, I've been fortunate to work with over 100 photographers through the one-day intensives, and other workshops.  For me, this has been such an incredible adventure as I've had the chance to help people take a look at their photography business - and make it work for the long haul.  

We work through things like understanding how much it costs to be in business, Forecasting and managing your expenses, pricing to make a profit, developing a brand and marketing strategy, working with clients and managing their experience, sales, and workflow.  We spend a lot of time and it requires an investment by photographers to make it worth while.

At the same time, there are thousands of photographers that don't have access to a business intensive, or any kind of business help.  That's exactly why I spent a year putting this book together.

This book is a blend of theory and practice.  It's full of information about how to set up and grow your business, as well as practical resources that help you do just that.  Almost 25% of this book is made up of resources like pricing guides, financial tools, worksheets to help you with expenses and cash flow, client process guides, sample contracts and order forms, workflow tools and more.  These are things you can take and put into practice immediately.

Starting and running a business is hard.  That's why 95% of small business don't make it past year five.  The good news is that yours can be one of the ones that do!  Even though it's hard, I wanted to provide a resource to photographers to help make it just a little easier. 

So, that's the whole point behind this.  It's not a magic formula - you still have to do the hard work.  Hopefully though, the concepts and tools in this book will make it just a little easier.  Hopefully it will give you a place to start.

The really cool thing is that the book is available both as a physical book AND an e-book.  Both of which are available on December 10 (actually, the ebook will be available for download about a week earlier).  Because I think this is such a valuable tool - if you pre-order the book (before the ebook is available 12/1), you actually receive BOTH the ebook and hard copy for the pre-release price of $99.00.  

I'm confident this will be a valuable tool for anyone looking to grow and build a photography business that will last.

FOCUS: A TWO DAY BUSINESS OF PHOTOGRAPHY INTENSIVE

Some of you are familiar with the ONE DAY INTENSIVE workshop that I've done in various cities this winter/spring.  One of the most rewarding things for me has been to walk along side a variety of photographers and dig deep into what it means to build and run a successful business around this photography thing we do.  For me, that's really the goal of this entire site.  

Although I've LOVED the ONE DAY INTENSIVES, there's a part of me that wanted to do something deeper, and more focused.  So, this June, I'm hosting a Two Day - Business of Photography Intensive, here at our studio.  We'll cover much of the same material, but in an even more intentional way.   This is a great opportunity to really invest in your business in a way that will make a huge, long-term impact.  

Because I'm hosting it at our studio, in Grand Ledge, MI, it's much easier logistically to take more time with the material.  It's also limited to just 10 studios, so that everyone has a chance to really develop a plan.

We'll focus on these four areas:

Day 1: THINKING AND ACTING LIKE A BUSINESS

Getting a grip on the numbers

Expenses | Budgeting | Cash Flow | Pricing | Making a Profit

Creating Systems and Workflow that Work

Client Relationship Management

Image Editing and Processing

Sales Process

Outsourcing

Day 2: DEVELOPING AND GROWING YOUR BUSINESS 

Understanding and Developing a Brand

More Than a Logo | Marketing that Makes Sense

Building Your Base | The Advantages of Targeted Advertising

The Client Experience

Clients vs. Customers | The Most Important Person in the World | Your Most Valuable Assets

There are still two more ONE DAY INTENSIVES, coming to San Diego and New York City, and I'm super excited about these as well.  Click over to that link for more info about each of those.

DATES: JUNE 28-29, 2010

LOCATION: THE BRIDGE STREET STUDIO, GRAND LEDGE, MI

COST: $400 Includes all materials, lunch and snacks for both days. You'll also receive tools that help you plan and manage expenses, develop pricing, get your business on a budget, develop contracts, manage your client relationships, make sense of your workflow, and more.

To register, simply click below to add to your cart: