Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Empowered Coaching Sessions with Guest Becca Lueck
0 Playsin 11 hours
Episode Summary:
For the first time ever, Elena Blair records a live, in-person episode—straight from her home! Joining her is Becca Jean (Becca Jean Photography), a rising star in the industry who successfully transitioned from being a school reading assistant to a full-time, high-earning adventure family photographer.
In this dynamic conversation, Elena and Becca peel back the curtain on how Becca built a highly recognizable brand through her signature "adventure sessions" and a sought-after client closet. They also dive deep into the "why" and "how" of becoming a photography educator. From launching presets to creating high-converting funnels, Becca shares her journey of moving from active income to passive income. Whether you’re curious about adding video to your workflow or wondering if it's finally time to bet on yourself and quit your day job, this episode is packed with tangible advice and a major confidence boost.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
- The Career Leap: How Becca replaced her teaching income and why betting on yourself is better than staying in a "safe" job just for health insurance.
- Adventure Family Sessions: What "adventure" really means (hint: it's not a three-hour hike!) and how to choose locations that engage children.
- The Client Closet Strategy: How providing versatile, high-end dresses creates brand consistency and increases your value.
- Easy Family Films: How Becca added video to her offerings without a gimbal or a sound crew by using handheld slow-motion techniques.
- The Educator Journey: The natural progression from selling presets and templates to launching full-scale online courses.
- Email Marketing vs. Social Media: Why you should prioritize your email list (where 20-50% see your content) over the Instagram algorithm.
Links & Resources:
- Becca Jean Photography Website: beccajeanphotography.com
- Becca’s New Membership: Community and monthly learning for photographers
- Course Creation & Autopilot Sales: Learn how to turn your expertise into a digital course
- Metricool: The tool Becca uses to schedule her social media content and reels
Connect With Me:
- Follow me on Instagram
- Join my Facebook Community
- Visit my Website for More!
Subscribe & Review:
If you loved this episode, make sure to subscribe and leave a review! Your support helps the podcast reach more photographers like you. 💛
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction: Live Recording and Guest Introduction
00:00:00
Elena Blair
Hey, empowered listeners, I am so excited to do something for the very first time. I am recording a podcast episode live in my daughter's bedroom coming at you from home. And um Becca and I already had this episode scheduled and she sent me a message on I don't know, maybe it was Instagram, maybe a text yesterday and said, actually, I'm going to be in Seattle with my husband. Maybe we do it live. And I was like, I think she might have been joking, but I'm like, let's do it. So um here she is. We don't have any fancy recording equipment. You know I am. I just want to get the information out to you.
00:00:33
Elena Blair
And I'm very excited to have her here. So today I have Becca Luick with me. You've probably heard of her. I feel like she's a rising star. Becca Jean Photography will will link all of her all of her goodness. And um I want to talk with her.
00:00:48
Elena Blair
but she and I were already having so many conversations that I feel like you guys would love. So like, maybe we should start recording. But but I want to um share a little bit about how we got to know each other, how she entered into my world and what she's doing.
00:01:02
Elena Blair
And then we're going to talk a little bit about the state of the photography industry and the educator process. So, Becca, I feel like I got to know you in my Facebook group first. Yes. And I noticed that she was um so I have a Facebook group, and a public Facebook group, which will link.
00:01:19
Elena Blair
Maybe some you are already members. And i noticed that she was really active and helpful and just positive, you know, the kind of the kind of person that I look for in any community. But i could I could really just see that she was a positive contributor to the Facebook group. And so at the time we were doing this mentor thing.
00:01:39
Elena Blair
God, that was a long time ago. This is probably about almost 10 years ago because that was like 2017 or 18, which is almost 10 years ago. How is that possible? We're getting old. And i so um I asked her to be a mentor. She did. And she jumped in and was amazing.
00:01:53
Elena Blair
And then Cut through just watching her build her business, leaving her job as a teacher behind, going full time. And then she did take my level two mastermind to learn about becoming an educator, which has now turned into a course that's running right now, course creation and autopilot
Becca's Photography Journey and Style
00:02:11
Elena Blair
sales. um And long story why I decided to do that. Maybe I'll do an episode on that.
00:02:15
Elena Blair
oh yeah But anyway, but what's been fun to watch with Becca and ah other thing too, is she's spoken at my retreat three times. Yes. Yeah. Three times. um I have speakers back that I think are amazing. Cause why not? I think that's, it's, she's such a good speaker, but what's been fun to watch and pay witness to is, is her, her rise. But what I, what I really feel is very true about it is it was very organic and She um just kept showing up, has become, she is a photographer in the Portland area, but she does these amazing on look, like crazy, amazing locations with like a a client closet. Everything that she does is very different actually than the way that I do it. And she also has implemented video into her workflow and teaches about that. There's a lot of cool things to know about Becca. That's what I want you to know. Okay. So we can't talk about every single one of them, but so what I, but what I want to share was that this is, she's a perfect person.
00:03:10
Elena Blair
perfect person for you to see yourself in um because teacher. she did have a job as a teacher I had a job as a nurse. I think a lot of people who are starting as photographers don't ever think that it's going to be possible to replace that income. It's a weird place to be. So I want to talk a little bit about that, actually, um about that process, about how you grew that. If you're seeing us on YouTube and sorry that the video is a little funky, but talk about that a little bit, because I think that's something that people that are listening can probably relate to.
00:03:44
Elena Blair
Yeah, I was working as I wasn't like an official like teacher of a whole classroom. i was an assistant for like a little reading groups. And so but like it was still all day, like 9 a.m. 3 p.m. I guess that's not like all day, but whatever. That's all day. Mostly all day. yeah um And so I was doing that for about five years and I was building my photography business along with that. and it got to a point where I started to really resent the time that I spent at that job and knowing that I could make so much more money in my own business if I weren't at that job. And I knew that, but it was really hard to quit because number one, health insurance, had really good health insurance, and now we're on my husband's and it's horrible, but
00:04:33
Elena Blair
Whatever. It exists. Oh my God. We could talk about that. We could talk about that. Me and Rob actually today were discussing the cost of our health insurance because we're both, he's a technically contract at his place. So we're under my private plan and it went up by like So much. Everybody is dead. It was, yeah, $1,300 a month just for the two of us. Yeah, no thanks. And we get nothing. Yeah, no. Our deductible is like, anyway. much. don't have to talk about that. But not to scare you, by the way.
00:05:04
Elena Blair
One thing I'll say about that is that if you're keeping a job just for your health insurance, you can make more money as a photographer that will bypass that. I'm just complaining about it. yeah like It would not be worth be worth me still being a nurse making $80,000 year and just for the health insurance.
Transition from Teaching to Photography
00:05:19
Elena Blair
Right. You have to think about that. so That's actually one of the things that I had to really think through because I was worried about the health injur insurance. My husband was worried about it. That was one of his biggest complaints. And I was like, hold on a second.
00:05:32
Elena Blair
Yeah, we're going to have to pay more for health insurance, but let's balance how much money I can make. I can charge like I'm I can raise my prices and charge over $1,000 for a session. All I have to do is one session and I've paid for the health insurance. So really let's think about this. And, you know, his mindset is very different from mine. He's a very careful and i am like, let's go. going to be fine. Yeah. So, you know, we balance each other out, I guess. If I didn't have him, I'd probably make some really bad decisions, but...
00:06:05
Elena Blair
That I'm sorry that we're kind of jumping around, but I think that this is ah such a relatable point that when, when you're starting a business, we, if you came from a traditional career, which most people did that start a photography business, I would say not, not many of us.
00:06:21
Elena Blair
I know like one person that has like a master's in fine arts, like for the for the most part, we were just doing another regular job that felt very safe and society or just programming or how we were raised or whatever makes us believe that we need to stay in that safe place. I'm not saying to make an unsound financial decision, but when you become in charge of your earning and your income, you actually really cancel all that out. Yeah. Yeah, you do. Yes. And actually Casey, I interviewed her earlier this week and that, that episode's already live. She, she had a very similar thing. She was a dental hygienist and same thing, staying for the, for those reasons. Eventually you do the math and you're like,
00:07:02
Elena Blair
I'm going to bet on myself and I think I'm actually going to far surpass that amount. but Exactly. Yeah. Anyway. Well, so I was doing that. I was doing like my photography business and my other job for a while. And I was getting to the point where I was so busy with photography that I was just working like crazy in the evenings and And was like, i need to I need to quit this job.
00:07:30
Elena Blair
So we were kind of waiting to see what it was going to look like in the spring because the previous year in spring, I had done really well. And I was like, okay, I just need one more year to like prove that I'm still going to do a good job in the spring and then I can quit. And that was 2020.
00:07:47
Elena Blair
So we didn't work at all in the spring. I didn't get that data. Oh, gosh. Yeah. But I also had no money from my photography business at that time because we couldn't work. So i ended up having to work for another year or so, well, a year and a half at that job, which was a huge bummer. And I cried. Yeah. Yeah. Especially because you had a plan that must have really frustrating. Yeah, I did. And I, every day I had to go to that job. I resented it so hard. It was really difficult, but I did finally quit in September, 2021. So yay.
00:08:21
Elena Blair
So what I, I know the answer to this, but I want you to share it.
Unique Photography Techniques and Branding
00:08:25
Elena Blair
What happened to your photography business when you were able to dedicate full time?
00:08:31
Elena Blair
It grew so much faster and like, You don't realize and you maybe don't think about it, but the time that you have during that entire day, ah one day during the week, you can just get so much done, especially if you have kids who go to school. And so you get to actually spend that time where they're not there to work on your business. And that like you can do so many things and it just makes your business grow like exponentially. It's amazing. that um That was very similar to me. marlowe is now...
00:09:04
Elena Blair
11 so it's been 11 years but when she was a newborn i was still working 24 hours a week as a nurse so two 12-hour shifts um for the health insurance and uh my photography business was really taking off and it went in it was already getting close to six figures in fact i think i the year she was born is when i did hit six figures and i was like i think i can do this let's give it a year.
00:09:29
Elena Blair
Let's give it a year. and if all hell breaks loose, I'll just go back to being a nurse and spoiler alert. I like let my license expire. I would never go back to being a nurse. But when I gave it that year, the year, ah her first year of life, I mean, it was like, I went from hundred to 150,000. Like I grew by like a lot. yeah and it was, I think a little bit of it is that you do have time and a lot, a little bit of it is that now there's no there's no failure option. Like you're just like, well, I don't have anything to fall back on. So I'm going to make this work. there's a little bit of that fire. Definitely.
00:10:02
Elena Blair
Yeah. Which is pretty, pretty fun to see, to prove that to yourself, actually. Yeah, it is. Gives you a confidence boost. Like, look, I did it. Yeah. Awesome. So that's been since 2021. And so tell us a little bit about your business. Cause I do think, um I think your business is unique. I think though that way you run it is is unique. So tell us a little bit about it, what what you do. Yeah, well, so I do adventure family sessions, which, and I also do couples sessions as well, but i I talk way more about the family part of it. But yeah, adventure sessions, sometimes people think that I'm going on like some huge hour long hike or something, but that's not what I mean. Which some people do. Yeah, they do, yeah. yeah
00:10:42
Elena Blair
um But with families like that's not going happen. um So what we do is basically we're choosing a location that has some kind of element of adventure in it. So it's not like you're just going to like the park down the street that has, you know, just a big a big bunch of manicured grass because that doesn't have any sense of adventure to me.
00:11:00
Elena Blair
So we choose spots that have water and like rocks to throw into the water or like big boulders to climb on or logs to jump off of and things like that. And so it just feels more like an adventure rather than just standing around. so there's stuff to do. and it makes the session so much easier too because you actually have things to do. And families know this ahead of time. so they're like ready to allow their kids to do that. Most of the time, every once while, you'll get somebody who's like, oh, don't get dirty. And I'm like, wait, hold us hold on a second. Like, obviously, maybe in the beginning, no. But like, no, we've already gotten this stuff out of the way that we need to get out of the way. Let's like, we can get dirty. It's okay. If you are not following her, which you are, if you've been living under a rock is the only way you're not, but um your locations are, well, I live in a similar place. Obviously, she's at my house right now, but the Pacific Northwest has some incredible locations, but I feel like you you must drive a little bit for some of them, though. I do, yeah.
00:11:58
Elena Blair
I usually drive... out into the gorge, which takes me somewhere around 45 minutes to an hour and 20 minutes, depending on where I go. And then I also go to the Oregon coast, which is like two hours.
00:12:10
Elena Blair
And so do you like stack those sessions then? Like you go one weekend to do like two or three sessions or how do you? I try to, not for the gorge, for the gorge, I'll just drive out and then I'll drive home because it's only like an hour or so. um But for the Oregon coast, I charge extra for it. So I know that I'm If I need to spend the night, then I can because sometimes I don't like driving home in the dark for two hours. And just staying at the coast is like self-care for me. So like if I can spend the night, it's so nice. So I do that a lot too. But I try and stack the Oregon Coast ones. And a lot of times I can do that. But
00:12:49
Elena Blair
sometimes it just doesn't work out and I'll still go for one. It's fine. Yeah. Okay. That's, um I feel like that's a, again, I keep saying these are things that people are going to want to hear when you're starting your photography business and you're seeing other photographers and what they're doing. It's like, people want to know like how much driving is happening. And I feel like that's something that's really common in the Bay area too, that people really have to drive to get to the locations.
00:13:12
Elena Blair
um i'm pretty lucky because in seattle the most of our even if it looks like we're like out in the mountains it's like 30 minutes away yeah but um but do have some that i drive about an hour to my like my mountain locations i drive an hour to to and from and it's yeah well don't i think's exactly good dont got an electric car that helps a lot oh that's cool it's a lot cheaper yeah i don't have an electric car that would probably be helpful yeah i save so much on gas now it's pretty amazing yeah that's actually not a bad idea Think about that for future business planning. But um anyway, I think so. What I love about your style, though, um is it is very recognizable. Like I see your stuff pop up and i I'm like, oh, yeah. and But another thing that you do that I think sets you apart is the client closet, which is like.
00:13:57
Elena Blair
French to me. Like I don't I don't even think about what people wear. I know people are surprised by that. I have guides or whatever. But um so talk about that, because that's a bit that's a big undertaking. Right. to Yeah. And it it's expensive. I will say, don't do it unless you're charging enough for this to make sense, because it is expensive and you will become a shopaholic. So watch out.
00:14:22
Elena Blair
But um the mistake that I made earlier when I decided to start a client closet is I was purchasing clothes that only fit one size and they weren't like super stretchy or anything. So really it's only going fit like one type of person. And even somebody who wears that size, if their body is not the exact thing that that dress is made for, then it doesn't really fit. So that's the mistake I made early on. And I wasted a lot of money getting dresses that were not going to fit multiple people.
00:14:51
Elena Blair
I've gotten smarter since then. So now i get dresses that fit multiple sizes. So if you get a dress from like Reclamation or Zeebu BU or one of those, they're really versatile and stretchy. They'll typically fit from like a small to an extra large or a medium to 2X or whatever the range is.
00:15:13
Elena Blair
such good idea. Cause yeah, you're going to spend more money. You're going to spend like $200 on the dress, but fits like you have four dresses. So really you only spent $50 on a dress, which is what you're going spend on another dress by itself. Right. So it makes sense. So, so what, when, does every client do the client closet part or is that an add on?
00:15:35
Elena Blair
No, um they can, and it doesn't cost anything extra because I just want people to have it available if they want to use it. But um a lot of people will still wear their own thing, but even just having the client closet and people seeing what's in it they get a sense of like, okay, i understand what photographs well, and so they'll look for something that...
00:15:55
Elena Blair
kind of goes along those lines. And that's, um from a branding perspective, there are so many ways, like I said, her work is recognizable. There are so many ways to set yourself up from a branding perspective. And I think that you have mentioned two things, and we're going to talk about the third, which I think is really important too here in a sec, but two things that you've mentioned,
00:16:16
Elena Blair
is the type of photo shoot that you do, adventure, and this client closet, which really guides how people dress in your work. Because it's true, when you see Becca's work, the They're not, it's not they're all dressed the same, but they they're dressed in a style. It's this flowy, um earthy tone. i mean, tell me if I'm wrong, but this is just what I'm getting in my brain, just thinking about your work. But it's very consistent.
00:16:42
Elena Blair
And i I know people, like Chloe would be an example of this, actually. She doesn't have a client closet, but her... clients all have a vibe. Yes, they do. It's this it's a very similar vibe. And I would say that mine do too. My clients all have a very similar vibe. Mine's a little bit more laid back or whatever, but that becomes part of your brand, what your clients wear. does. And I think as you show it more than they they're they're coming to you because they want they want you to be able to turn them into your portfolio. Right. So it becomes a big part of, of the branding piece for sure. And there's so many things you can do to set yourself apart in this industry. And those are just a couple of ways that I think are really, um,
00:17:25
Elena Blair
tangible for a newer photographer. So something to really pay attention to if you're trying to figure out how you're going to set yourself
Exploring Education and Online Courses
00:17:31
Elena Blair
apart. But another thing that you do, and I feel like you kind of have owned this space, it's becoming more popular probably because people are taking your class, which is amazing, but is the family films. um component that or offer or add on. i don't know what you would want to call it, but that that was, I feel like you sort of introduced that to our world a little bit in the way that you do it. So what can you say about that and speak to that a little? Where that come from? Yeah, I started...
00:17:59
Elena Blair
of messing around with family films. Like I had the idea of doing it many, many years ago and I had taken a class on like Creative Live or something about it. And then i thought this sounds too complicated.
00:18:12
Elena Blair
and so I didn't do it, but like, I didn't even try, like I did not even attempt to pick up my camera and put it on video mode and like, just see what would happen. So then years go by and i am starting to get the itch to do video. I'm seeing video show up a lot online and i like really was drawn to it and I was worried about it being complicated. So I found like another class and i took it and I was like, ah, I feel like if I just try it, then maybe i can figure it out. So I went on a trip with my family one summer, like a camping trip. And I was like, okay, I'm just going to my camera. I'm going record stuff. And then I'll figure out what to do with it after.
00:18:52
Elena Blair
because I didn't know how to edit it or anything yet. So i went on this trip and I took all these really adorable clips of my family, just riding bikes on the campground and playing in the water at the lake and all this stuff. So I did put it together and I just used iMovie. It was actually really easy.
00:19:10
Elena Blair
and it turned out amazing and i was like oh my god look at this awesome film that i have of my family now and i want to be able to create this for other people obviously at a smaller scale not not on an entire week-long trip but um yeah so i figured it out and but i wanted to make it easy right so i don't i don't want to make it too difficult for myself because i'm trying to take photos and video at the same session. I'm going back and forth between the two.
00:19:38
Elena Blair
So I was like, okay, I'm not going to attempt to do sound because how are you going to like, especially when you're outside and it's windy or something, like you're not going to mic up your family. That's not going look good in the photos. I'm not editing that out. So yeah I was like, okay, I'm not even going to try and do sound. And so I put a song to it And then I'm like, okay, well also I'm trying to hand hold my camera and it's gonna be a little bit more on the shaky side because i don't i can't use a gimbal because I'm supposed to take photos, like the gimbal's gonna be in the way. So i also am putting all my footage in slow motion, which also helps with camera shake. So if you are a little bit shaky, when you put it in slow motion, it's not as obvious. So that's another way to make it easier for yourself when you are trying to just handhold your camera and not be shaky with your video. So I was beautiful slow like that too. Yeah, exactly. Like I feel like that's what makes them feel like a like like a memory, like so nostalgic. Yeah, it's really, really beautiful. It makes it just feel like, I don't know, more romantic or something. Yeah, yeah totally. that's That would be ah good another word would use to describe it.
00:20:47
Elena Blair
um Well, and what you just said too is like, I never even tried it. There's so many things that we think of about that maybe we think they're too hard and you just have to try it. It's actually not as hard as you thought. It's not. But that's like ah a third thing that Becca does to set herself apart in our industry. And there there's there's so many...
00:21:07
Elena Blair
so many and you all know i don't believe that in too many people in our industry there's a seven billion people on this planet and a lot of them need photos oh trust me it was saturated when i started 16 years ago it will always be the story that people like to tell but the truth but there is some truth to um you know you do want to find something about you that helps you stand out not And I say this a lot, like the most boring thing we do is take pictures. Like it's actually about the memories that we're creating, the experience that we're making for the clients, the something extra that we provide for them that makes makes them come back and makes them, you know, be part of that, part of your brand. And she, those are just,
00:21:47
Elena Blair
what we just mentioned about Becca are three things that she does that are so unique. And I think a lot of us don't really think we have something you unique to offer, but we do. and But even just video, if that was something you wanted to add to your offers, it's a really cool way to set yourself apart, I think. And she has a class. I'll link that in the show notes as well. She spoke about video at our um at the past retreat and it was shit she makes it so simple, which I think is really cool. I love when people make things simple. I have ADHD, so things need to be made simple for me. but um
00:22:19
Elena Blair
So definitely make sure you check that out if it's something you've been curious about. because i think And I also think it's something people are starting to want more of too, now that it becomes yeah a little more of a mainstream thing. Yeah, it's showing up a lot more for sure. Yeah. All right. This is great. This is great this is leading into all the things that I wanted to talk about with Becca. We could talk all day, but um there were a couple of things, but we'll see how much time we have. the next what the What I wanted you to share with listeners is how you stepped into the educator space.
00:22:49
Elena Blair
And um I've been an educator since 2012. Becca was was ah chat GPT-ing something yesterday and she's like, look, you came up as like one of the educators and i'm all the truth is, is I'm just really old. i've been doing this a long time. i have a lot of content, but um I do believe. And again, i think there is plenty of room for educators. I think that we all have something to share. um that could help someone else. And I think that is the sentiment of becoming an educator. It's like so rewarding to help somebody with a skill or learn about business or whatever it is that you're good at to help them
00:23:25
Elena Blair
you know, it's just like you're reaching back to your past self and like pulling them up. and But I want to, that's a, that's a barrier of entry. People are very nervous. I feel like even more nervous than becoming a photographer. Like yes now I'm supposed to say I'm an expert. How am I going to do that? So do you remember how that started for you and what what made you decide to take the p plunge?
00:23:45
Elena Blair
Yeah, actually, the first thing that I did was I decided I was going to sell presets. So it was like a very slow entry point for me because then if I'm selling presets, I don't have to be an expert in anything really other than like understanding how to make a preset. Yeah.
00:24:03
Elena Blair
So I did that first and I made my own preset and I actually like I had a hard time making it too because I, the first round was like so ugly and I was like, nevermind, scrap it, scrap it. But the second one turned out amazing in it. And this was 2019. And since then I've not used any other, I've not needed any other preset other than the one that I made. That's what I use on all of my work. It's, it works for everything, indoor, outdoor, whatever.
00:24:28
Elena Blair
um So that's how I started. so that was 2019 that I made that. And then um i kind of started adding smaller little things like guides and templates and things like that to my shop. But then I knew that i wanted to go bigger and create a course, but I wasn't quite sure how to do it. And Elena had just decided to start her mastermind, her level two mastermind, which is now her course. But it was about creating an offer for photographers and how to sell it and market it and how to create a course. So she knew that I was educating and um always trying to help people in her group. And so she reached out and asked if I wanted to join her mastermind. I was like, oh, my God, this is like exactly what I needed. How did you know?
00:25:19
Elena Blair
They say that to this the teacher finds the student when the student is ready. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. So that was, when was that? May 2022. Yeah.
00:25:31
Elena Blair
And i have it written down, by the way. I don't just pull that out of my brain. We were getting timelines before we started. We've both been around a while, so that makes it yes makes it easy to forget. Yeah. So I started doing her mastermind then. And then I think at the end of that year is when I came out with my first course.
00:25:51
Elena Blair
And, um, it was amazing. Like it went really, really well. And then since then I've created like 5,000 million courses, if that were a number. Yeah. It's, it, it, that's how, that's how it happens. So yes, I had a level two mastermind. It's now called course creation and autopilot sales. We're actually in the run right now. 20, 20 people are 20 women are going through it right now. Such amazing classes being birthed right now too, which I think is so cool. But, um,
00:26:18
Elena Blair
What I, what I think is one of the most challenging parts of becoming a course creator. So when, when I think of a photography business, so we're, so if you're listening and you don't want to be a course creator, just stop listening right now. you You can, don't get overwhelmed, come back in a year when you're ready. But um to me, marketing your photography business is actually kind of easy. Once you figure out the foundations of your brand, And you have a strategy that works because there's, you don't need that many people. You need like 50 to 200 people to be a full-time photographer. 200 is bonkers. Like my most highest volume year was 2019. I did 180 sessions.
00:27:00
Elena Blair
And truthfully, it's because I was like newly divorced and just wanting to fill my time. Probably, I don't know. I had more time on my hands. And I guess there are some studio photographers that probably do a higher volume like that. But 180 sessions is a lot of outdoor sessions. I don't actually know how I did it. Yeah. Hard pass. So my point of saying that, though, 180 people is not very many people. that's the The marketing for for your photography business is actually very micro. You are a local marketer. However, the advice online is...
00:27:29
Elena Blair
Get by go viral thousands of
The Power of Email Marketing
00:27:31
Elena Blair
people all this you don't need that you do not it's actually if you learn marketing systems that work eventually you will not have to market your photography business it just runs itself yes which I know that that's probably where you are as well we both we do about this I did 69 sessions last year how many did we we talked yeah I think I did about 70 yeah yeah and I'm hoping to do 50 this year I'm bringing it down because I'm educating more But the truth is, though, when you step into the educator space, you do have to feed the beast. there you You are a content creator a little bit, um for lack of a better description. Yeah, I feel you have to be on Instagram and you're not going reach anybody. That's where photographers live. You have to be on so on something social. You have to be Instagram where people do it on TikTok. If you want the younger crowd, I think. You have to be on, you have to have a way to get the people into your funnels. um And that's really what on online education and online an online educator becomes is a a funnel. i'm a fun I love funnels. actually think they're really fun. But, um, so that is what I'm going to ask you, because this is something that my current girls, the 20 that are in the group are really struggling with that I'm trying to explain to them. And I may be, maybe you can give some insight is that people think, okay, ah how do I have to start a fully separate brand or can I have this all exist under my photography brand? And I i say, and you can tell me if you think I'm wrong, but I think you do this too. I'm like, you're a photographer. You're teaching about photography. So speaking as an expert about photography on your photography brand, it makes you seem like an expert to your clients. It doesn't matter. It can all live under one umbrella. i agree. yes Yeah. Most people won't manage two brands. That's really the main reason why you shouldn't do it. it
00:29:13
Elena Blair
You are likely to fail at one of them, unfortunately. I hate to say it, but um so to talk about that transition and how you deal with that, because it feels very seamless to me, but I know for a lot of people, it that's a big hurdle.
00:29:27
Elena Blair
So how did that happen for you? Yeah, well, I noticed that like a lot of photographers who are just starting to educate, they're like, oh, I'm not sure about, you know, talking about this and my clients are going to see and that's awkward and weird. And I'm like, wait a second. Your clients are going to see and they're going be like, wow, look at my photographer. She knows what she's talking about. Like it makes you seem even more awesome and cool. And and and an expert. Yes, exactly. yeah But yeah.
00:29:58
Elena Blair
Yeah, I think the way that I started was just talking about the presets, right? Because that's how that's what I started with. And just trying to get photographers to realize that I am starting to educate now and and getting more followers that are educators or that are photographers. And having them sign up for my email list, that was like the thing I was trying to do was get them on the email list because yes, while people can find you on Instagram, just having them live on Instagram is not really the way because what if you lose it?
00:30:32
Elena Blair
Most conversions. Yeah. that's You guys have heard me say this probably too. Like you don't own Instagram. I know. Yeah. you have no control over the algorithm. Any Instagram expert that tells you that you're going to be able to beat the algorithm, it's just not true. um And i we she and I, we we have a regular Instagram conversation going on, I feel like. But at the beginning of this year, I was like, God, i don't know what's going on with Instagram, but it like took a dump. And it probably is because I took two weeks off and I wasn't there. And so the algorithm was mad at me and it took its back to being a little more normal, but I had to like start feeding the beast. Yes.
00:31:07
Elena Blair
And, um, that is, that is the, you know, one thing that is definitely necessary, I think as becoming an educator, but that being said, you can schedule and batch all of that stuff and be strategic. It doesn't mean that you're just like on Instagram all the time, and you have but you do have to, you do have to show up and create content to get people into your funnels, onto your email list, which is what that is. I spent a day in early January and I scheduled all of my posts for the entire month of January.
00:31:39
Elena Blair
And I was posting almost every single day. And I was so proud of myself. Don't ask me if I'll do it again. i didn't do it for this month. What do you use for scheduling? um It was a combination of scheduling within the Instagram app and also Metrocool I just recently got.
00:31:56
Elena Blair
And that's really cool because you can schedule stories on there if you want. You can schedule trial reels, which is really cool. Oh, that's cool. That's actually what I did last week as I scheduled...
00:32:07
Elena Blair
ah like 70 trial reels to go out like five a day. um That'll grow your following. Yeah, exactly. It's an experiment. We'll see. mettro What did you say it's called? Metricool. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. That's cool. Metricool. use Later, but Later doesn't have um the ability to schedule reels. Or at least I don't think it does. We use it for stories and for posts, but. You can schedule reels on Metricool and you can choose the cover image too. You have to like look into that. Because reels I do schedule in the app. Mm-hmm.
00:32:41
Elena Blair
I do schedule them though. You will rarely see something 99.9% of the time that you see a piece of content, unless it's a direct to camera story. I do do those live, obviously. But if you see anything that happened on Instagram, it did not happen in real time. I schedule everything. And and that's for my own my own sanity and boundaries on spending time there. Like I i just...
00:33:05
Elena Blair
have to do that to yeah yeah and i think most educators do and that saying that is that if you're going to start this that will be part of your marketing strategy is some sort of social media presence and um if you don't like social media then you'll just have to schedule the social media presence like it's yeah it's not that hard you can do it and when people say they don't like social media i'm like how many hours did you spend on instagram yesterday right yeah you just don't want to use it for your business you don't know how to use it for your marketing I'm sure if you looked at your app, you were on social media three or four hours yesterday. So what if you were using that to grow grow your business instead? yeah Yeah. Anyway, that's just a little call out for all of us in our addiction, but which I have. One thing that bothers me about scheduling within the Instagram app is that you can schedule it like well up to a month in advance or something like that. But if you decide that you want to reschedule that reel, you can only reschedule it for one week.
00:34:00
Elena Blair
I don't think I've ever tried to do that. That's really frustrating. So like if you change your mind about when you want to talk about this one thing you're like, oh, actually rather talk about that in a month, then you have to continue to move it every week. Oh, that's annoying. Yes. That's really annoying.
00:34:16
Elena Blair
and that is't I didn't know that. Yeah. But that's annoying. Okay. Well, um that's just a hot little tip on on a content management, which is definitely part of it. But have you, so i guess what I will say, just to piggyback on that though, is that to not scare somebody who wants to become an educator is that this content creation, you, you're already a content creator. Like you are a photographer.
00:34:42
Elena Blair
You have behind the scenes of you at photo shoots. You have, you can literally record yourself editing stuff. Like this is something you already do. Don't be scared. And I think that it's a lot of, ah a lot of it is like a limiting factor. There's a lot of, um,
00:34:57
Elena Blair
A lot of educators, and we don't have to say any names who like have, you know, glam teams and professional videographers at every shoot and all the stuff. You don't need any of that. The barrier to entry is actually very low. What people want is the transformation that you're going to teach them. They want the the bit of knowledge that you have, how to shoot video, how to pose families, you know, thinking of my classes, how to be a school photographer. Like we all have these different things that we can teach, but if you're afraid of showing up, then you'll never do it. And you're sitting on a lot of income.
00:35:32
Elena Blair
Yeah, the more that you show your face, the more comfortable you get with it. So like at first it was really weird to like put my face up there on the like on stories or whatever. But then, you know, you just have to you have to realize that like people are going to connect with you more if they see your face. And if you show up even when you're not looking like super perfect, people actually like that because they'll connect with it and they'll be like, oh, well, I don't have to. I don't have to like be some super glammed out person in order to feel like I can do whatever it is that she's talking about. You know, I don't know. and You feel more relatable if you're not like always showing up perfectly, I think.
00:36:11
Elena Blair
And this is something that I say about marketing your photography business, too, is that m I challenge my mastermind members. with this one every time we talk about social media is if you share a a post today, you're listening to this and it's a photo of you and you talk about yourself in some way about what you do, why you do it, whatever, why you're here, who you are, even little things like, Hey, I like chips and salsa. It will get three times the engagement as if, as then, as if you, then if you posted a photo of your clients and told a client story, I don't make a lot of social media guarantees because again, like I said, we don't own the algorithm. That's something I would guarantee. i guarantee. And it happens time and time again. And it's because people, they want to see the content creator and they want to see the person behind the
00:36:58
Elena Blair
work that is being shared and they want to connect we're all lacking in connection so do that and see if it works for you but that's really what what ends up happening as an educator um and uh i think that me and you have this in common is that we're just not afraid to just do it like i told my my course creation girls this today i said we're not like curing cancer here like what's the worst thing that's going happen if you put an opt-in out and nobody gets it. Or you make a reel and nobody responds. Like nothing, nothing, literally zero things are going to happen. It's just experimenting. It's just trying things out. It's seeing what your audience likes. It's seeing how people connect with you. And nobody's paying attention. They're not going to be like, oh she put that reel out and nobody commented on it. Literally nobody, only us. Only ourselves. If only being at our stuff if only that many people were paying attention. Right.
00:37:52
Elena Blair
And yeah that would be cool too. So like either way. The other thing that I think is really funny about social media now that we're that we're pivoting on this a little bit, but is that sometimes I'll have a real go viral, you know, like I consider something sort of viral if it gets like 15,000 views or sometimes 100 or 2000. I think my most is like 100,000 or 200,000 it's usually one that I'm like, this wasn't even that good.
00:38:17
Elena Blair
or I didn't even put that much thought into it. Yeah. Like, like the one that I'm like, this is going to be a banger. It just like dies on the internet. So that's just proof that a lot it's, it's just trial and error, um, getting, getting this stuff out there. But where i want to circle back here is that she and i are both talking about funnels and that we're we're using social media as that entry point but the truth is sales happen in any business you could be selling socks and i could i would say that this is the the same it um in email yeah and um this is how i book out my photography business and this is when i'm creating a new class or offer that's how we launch that too and um you own your email list
00:38:56
Elena Blair
end of the day you can move the whole list to another platform like you literally own it people can unsubscribe obviously but the ones that are staying subscribed and. Amy Nunez- So talk a little bit about your the learning curve there, because that is something I teach in course creation, that is the.
00:39:13
Elena Blair
I will die on this hill. like Email is the most, a second to search engine optimization, love that too, but email is the most high converting sales machine you have.
00:39:27
Elena Blair
And even if you only have like 20 people on your email list, by the way, we all started at zero. So don't tell me you don't have anyone on your email list. We all started at zero. but you can grow it. So talk about that. Cause that, that feels scary to people for some reason, opt-ins, email lists, you know, an opt-in just means a reason for someone to get on your email list, like to simplify it. So yeah,
00:39:45
Elena Blair
Yeah. Talk about that process. I feel like my first opt-in was something about, well, the first time I created an opt-in, it's actually for my clients. And it was like, what to wear for your photo session. And so then when i started um marketing to photographers, I had already known how to make an opt-in and make like a small little funnel, but I didn't know how to make a little bit of a larger funnel because it at first it was only just like here's your freebie and then i didn't ever send any more after that um but now it's now i have a funnel for my clients as well but yeah just it's really not that hard but of course that is coming from somebody who is kind of techie so like
00:40:29
Elena Blair
I can figure stuff out pretty easily, but yeah, that's why I always say like, oh, I say it's not that hard, but I consider myself techie, but I um am definitely willing to try to figure something out. And when I, when I first learned about email marketing, um it was in let's see, it was like 2016 or so when I realized that I was teaching classes with other platforms and and um never getting their emails or, and and one of and one of the runs of that class, I said, how did you guys find out about me? And these people had found out about me on like my website and my social media. And I was like wait a minute, I've been growing this other company's email list instead of my own. Maybe I should figure this out. And so I i went, took to the internet and
00:41:19
Elena Blair
the reason I'm telling this long story is that I started getting advice from super entrepreneurs, big big time marketers, and they were making it feel really complicated. And it was very like scary. And you know they're talking about having people on staff to manage their email list. and funnels that and lead pages and all of these like all of these things and so i was like okay all i need i needed my brain able understand it is i i already had people that i emailed for my photography business i was like i just need a way to make a bucket of people that might want my education and so i just that was the only distinction i made in the beginning these are the people that i'm going email for photography these the people that i'm going to email for my classes and um my opt-in was very simple
00:42:00
Elena Blair
it was I don't even remember what my first one was but it was like a really easy posing guide or something downloadable. Right. I can't remember my first one. Yeah. And when I sold my first class online or it by myself, like without a third party person, it was in 2017. And i sent it to that one section of my email list. It wasn't separated by topics or now my email list is complicated. Like those people that I was scared of in the beginning, but it wasn't more complicated over time. Yes. And that first launch I made, you know, $20,000 or something in one. It wasn't repeatable because I wasn't good at funnels yet.
00:42:35
Elena Blair
But I didn't have a really big launch and it was all on my email list. And that was when I was like, okay, I got to keep this up and figure this out. And i and that's my point of saying that is that like start simple.
00:42:47
Elena Blair
You just need a way to get in touch with these people. That's really all it is, a legal way to email them. And then it will will go from there. But yeah, email marketing is... It's amazing.
00:42:57
Elena Blair
It is. It's It really makes the biggest difference. If you don't capture those, then who are how are you reaching everybody? Because social media doesn't show everything to everyone. But email will get to way more eyes than anything that you're going post on social media. Social media, you are killing it if 1% to 3% of your followers see your stuff. And if you look at like, go you can go look at my mine or even back as you've probably noticed that that's probably what the percentages are. Like the higher you're following, by the way, the harder it is to reach your followers. Right. Because when you have like less, it's like the um just like a math situation. But when you send an email, it goes to 100% the people you sent it to. So there's that piece. yeah it literally goes to every one of them. Like it went. But um good open rates are 20%. Our open rates are about 50 because we're pretty strategic.
Sharing Knowledge and Abundance Mindset
00:43:48
Elena Blair
But 20% is huge. 20% of the people that you send are going to open that email. That's like way, way better than social media. three Yeah. The numbers just, and if we want to get into SEO, if you show up on the first page of Google for a search, um the you are the person who searched for that thing is 60% likely to click on your page. So SEO and email, are it's like, why wait? You know, you got it. You got to focus on those things. But yeah, way better use of your time than social media. Yes.
00:44:19
Elena Blair
but you're and a day When you become an educator, you do have to show up. But yeah but i I really feel like um once you you really know what you want to feel, be an expert in, once you really feel passionate about the the real transformation that you're going to create for somebody, then it's like fun because you're You're not there like blowing smoke up someone. You're literally helping them, yeah you know, and that is so rewarding, i think.
00:44:43
Elena Blair
I don't know. Yeah. Well, I think it's easier to talk about too when you realize that, when you realize like, okay, the thing that I'm doing is actually going to help people. So it's not that I'm like, oh, I just want to make money and try and get people to give me that money. But it's like, I'm going to help these people if they don't.
00:45:00
Elena Blair
get this thing. so it makes it easier to talk about. Because I know sometimes it's easier to sell other people's stuff than your own because you're just like, oh, well, it's me that I'm trying to sell. But you just have to think about it in another way. it's You're not trying to sell yourself. You're trying to sell what it is that you're going to give to people and their transformation after they after they get what you're going to give them. And makes it easier.
00:45:22
Elena Blair
Yes. And I always you know say that, like teach with integrity. you don't ah People who teach just inspiration or sell inspiration, they just they don't have as long of a lifespan as educators because people get pipped to that pretty quick. Like, oh, I didn't really actually learn anything or yeah get any kind of transformation. But if you have something that you can help someone with, it's really pretty cool to see that transformation happen and you really are helping people. Yes. So that I will say, we can end this on that factor. Actually, I like talking about abundance and I think more um heart-led people that have money do good things in the world. and therere
00:45:56
Elena Blair
If you are a photographer, there is a a cap. Now, you can raise your prices and raise your prices and bring on associates and do more photo shoots and stuff. And there might be someone that tells that'll tell you, well, you can charge $10,000 per family shoot. Maybe you can. i don't. But that there is an ah when you're exchanging time for dollars, which is what you're doing as a photographer, there are there is you're only one person there's only so much and what she and i both have associates too so you can do that but when when you're selling something digitally it's actually literally endless the amount of um digital stuff that you can share and sell and so how has that been for you and how has that felt when you first make your first like five thousand dollars with one thing that you it's pretty crazy so how does that feel Oh, yeah. The first time when I put out the course that I made when I was in your mastermind, remember just like watching my email to see when like if sales were coming in and every time I'd see one, I'd be like, oh, my God, look at someone bought it. And it's like so exciting. And then, yeah, once you're you've finished your launch and you've made like ten thousand dollars and you're like, what?
00:47:04
Elena Blair
yeah How did I just do that? Yeah. I guess this was worth my time. Yeah. That might, in 2012, when I wrote that first ebook, which I don't think ebooks sell like they used to, but it made 10,000 in one week. And so I got, I was with another company, so I got 5,000 and I'm, it was like mind blowing to me of that, and that was before I was making as much as a photographer too. So I was kind of like, whoa, I could, I can create something which does take time to create. You do have to create it. And you do have to learn about launching and funnels and stuff. But then once you get that going, that one thing can just make money forever. Yep. We update it. We just updated schools last year, which was a big undertaking. um It was a huge undertaking. But and but and still, though, it like that class, the original class I wrote in 2017, is still making money every single year. And I think that's one of the things that is so cool about becoming an educator and learning about passive income. And when we say passive, like...
00:47:58
Elena Blair
There is, there you know, there's tending, but once you get a good funnel going, it really is very true. We wake up every morning and I look at my, like my, um you know, accounts that host my classes and there's always, even if it was like, and I i celebrate anything. If I sold a a preset, I have presets too. I'm like, cool, 25 bucks just in my bank account that I did nothing to do.
00:48:19
Elena Blair
tos to make like right I didn't have to I slept last night and that $25 is in there or sometimes it's like $2,000 or $5,000 or more so it's really pretty cool and I think it's a really natural step for a lot of people to step into the educator space and I do believe there's enough room for all of us There is. We all have something that we can teach. It's like, do you do something better than someone else? Yes, you you have to do. There's something that you do in your own way that somebody else would be excited to learn.
00:48:51
Elena Blair
Yeah. or even like you and I both teach about family photography, but we teach it completely different. You could buy both of our classes and learn something totally different. And um that is the truth across the board for anything. I was really, yeah really quite, quite abundant. I love I love thinking about it. And I know so many people who do it such so well.
00:49:11
Elena Blair
Okay. Well, we could talk forever. a we could. but We could talk forever. um Tell everybody where they can find you. We will link all of the things and tell them ah tell me about your new, your new endeavor too. Oh, right.
00:49:24
Elena Blair
a good time. Okay. um Yes. So I think by the time this comes out, it will be available. So i have a new membership that will be starting. Well, yeah, by the time this comes out and it's,
00:49:37
Elena Blair
Not only about learning, although it is about learning something. Every month I'll have two different little classes to learn like something targeted and and really actionable. But um it's also about community. So one of the biggest things for me in my learning journey has been community. And a big part of that is because of you, Elena. So thank you. Big fan. where We are meant to be with community.
00:50:02
Elena Blair
a tribe. like We are. We can go a little crazy working on our own. So it's very helpful to have community. Yeah. And for like that support and like for people to lift you up, but also to really just chat out whatever thoughts and ideas you have, hear how other photographers do things, realize that certain things are possible that you had no idea were possible until you heard somebody else say how they do it. So all of that super helpful. So yes. So my membership has to do with community and learning and yeah, the the link will be in the show notes. Yeah. Awesome. And she also has a ah ah course suite. So she has classes that you should check out. We'll link that as well. And then we will link her Instagram. We want to say what it is though. Yeah, it's just at Becca Jean Photography, B-E-C-C-A, J-E-A-N. Awesome. And we'll also link her website. You definitely, I'm sure, have already heard of Becca because she's been in my communities for a while. But if she is new to you, well, welcome. You're going to enjoy her content. and she's also just so um giving with the content that she shares, and which I love. I love when photographers do that because...
00:51:08
Elena Blair
there is enough business for all of us. I know this for certain.
Closing Remarks and Listener Engagement
00:51:12
Elena Blair
And that was something we didn't get into, but the state of the photography industry is alive and well. There are so many thriving photographers. The water is warm.
00:51:20
Elena Blair
jump in It's a beautiful career. It's so rewarding. I am so glad that you were here. Thank you for listening to our first episode done in my daughter's bedroom. In person. In person. Yeah, I actually am going to be ah um recording one live at WPPI on the WPPI podcast stage. So that'll be the second.
00:51:40
Elena Blair
in person. And yeah, thank you so much for being here, everybody. Make sure that you download these episodes, that you leave us a five-star review so more people can find out about Empowered. And I will see you in the next one. Bye.