Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Creating margin in your life with albums - Shaun Austin Kiss Books
83 Plays3 years ago
Happy Woo Wednesdays! Shaun Austin is the man and I've been using his album company KISS books for 12 years. They are gorg with the best colors and he makes the process so simple. We chat about how albums can create margin and space in your business because you can make more with less clients. Shaun is so passionate about helping wedding photographers have a happy and healthy business. He teaches you how to create an amazing experience for your clients and have every clients have a wedding album to take them back to their very special day.
Bio: Hey Beautiful people, I am Shaun Austin Gordon, founder and CEO of Kiss Books. I love deep conversations, walks on the beach (sounds cheesy but I do), and I love to dream. I am married to this bad ass boss woman that just keeps getting better with time. We have 3 kids that are amazing humans. One of our family mantras is memories over stuff. I love to travel and I am grateful to do plenty of it. On weekends you can find him at a concert with one of his kids, in Mexico with his wife, or playing tennis with friends. If I could have any other job he would be an inspirational speaker. My wife refers to him as Shaun 2.0 now that I have been dedicated to growth in many roles, such as, a husband, dad, son, leader, and friend. I am committed to becoming the best version of myself and I am just getting started. I photographed a lot of weddings in a 15 year career and I started shooting some weddings with friends, as long as it is in a great location.
Promo
If it is mostly photographers I can give away 5 copies of my book and on Kiss credit of $100
Connect with Shaun
https://www.instagram.com/kissbooks/
https://www.instagram.com/Shaunaustin/
Connect with Carissa
Coaching IG: @carissawoo
Photography IG: @carissawoophotography
Download a free guide on how to become a lead generating machine HERE
Watch my free 20 lead generation masterclass https://carissa-woo.mykajabi.com/registration-page...
Thank you to our sponsors Photobooth Supply. Buy the Photo Booth
Recommended
Transcript
Carissa's Coffee Chat & Introduction to Systems for Six Figures
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome back to Get a Heck Yes with me, Carissa Wu. So a big part of my three month program, Systems for Six Figures, is getting on the venue vendor list. It is the holy grail of bliss. Once you get on, bride and grooms will reach out to you and they are hot leads because you were referred by the venue. So I'm hosting a free coffee chat on January 25th, one at 11 a.m. and one at 3 p.m.
00:00:27
Speaker
and I'm going to be telling you all my secrets on how to get on the list. Once I got on my first one, I got on eight that same year. So DME for more information, and I'll link it up in the bio. It's going to be lit.
Interview with Sean Austin of Kiss Books
00:00:41
Speaker
Today I chat with Sean Austin, the founder and visionary of Kiss Books. I've been using his album company for 12 years, and his albums are not just the best, but with the best colors, but he makes the process so simple.
00:00:56
Speaker
We talk about creating space and margin in your business with albums and creating a happy and healthy business for yourself.
00:01:07
Speaker
Welcome to Get a Heck Yes with Carissa Wu. I'm your host, Carissa, and I've been a Los Angeles wedding photographer for over a decade. I've traveled the world, built my team, and seen it all. I now coach wedding photographers, hit 10K a month, and built a thriving business. In this podcast, we are going to deep dive into how top wedding creatives get that heck yes from their dream clients. We are not holding back on the struggles of the business and how to push through the noise. Some healthy hustle, mindset shifts, up-leveling your money story,
00:01:36
Speaker
time hacks because I'm a mom of two, a little bit of woo-woo, and most importantly, self-love and confidence are just a few of the many things we will talk about. I want to give you a genuine thank you for following along my journey. I hope to inspire you every Woo Wednesday so that you say heck yes to listening to this podcast. See you guys soon!
Sean's Journey & Business Philosophy
00:01:58
Speaker
Hey guys, welcome back to Heck Yes. It's me, Carissa Wu. I have a very special guest, Sean Austin, visionary of Kiss Albums. I've been using his company for 12 years and his albums are very simple. They have the best colors, the best customer service. And like I said, they make it very easy on their customers. So welcome Sean, what's up?
00:02:25
Speaker
Thank you so much for having me. That's awesome that you've been using us for 12 years. We've only been around for coming up on 15 years. So you got us from the get-go just about. Yeah, we're both veterans. We've been around the town for a long time, both me and you. And I got the chance to reconnect with you at Evolve workshops right before a pandemic hit in Palm Springs. Yeah, they've had one since then, one of the bigger ones.
00:02:52
Speaker
But yeah, Palm Springs was their first big one. That was such a great one. I love that. Yeah. How, how many like, um, events do you go to like per year? Um, I travel a lot. I'm on the road a ton event wise. I'm probably at like workshops and, um, like if you add the conferences, um, workshops, and then things the size of like evolved probably like eight or nine a year, I, I, we're trying to be specific with ones that we want to go to.
00:03:17
Speaker
The big conferences are struggling and so we're not sure where to invest our money with those.
Creation and Growth of Kiss Books
00:03:23
Speaker
But we're backing off of the big, big ones. WPPI had a great run. We're just not investing our money right there right now, but we love to evolve in the United and the ones that are that size as well as like, I'll just hop out to some of our ambassador workshops and do education there as well. So I love it about eight or nine a year.
00:03:42
Speaker
Yeah, I was so excited when you were on my IGTV two years ago. And yeah, I feel like if you're a photographer, everyone should know about you, kiss books. Your books just really stand out from the rest. I think it's because of the website and how you curate your style so perfectly and make the user experience so seamless. But I guess we could just go into more about Xu, like Yangshan,
00:04:10
Speaker
Where did you, where are you from? Like, um, what, where did you grow up and tell me your hobbies like growing up and then how you became this like successful entrepreneur running this empire? Yeah, thanks. Um, yeah, so I was born and raised out in Southern California. Um, I spent, um, a long time out there. I just moved to the Midwest like 10 years ago. So my upbringing was in Orange County.
00:04:34
Speaker
born and raised athlete, creative. I played drums and I played baseball. And then as soon as I started a career, I went into printing actually. So I was running a printing press outside, just outside of high school. I ran a printing press and that's what I say my last real job was. My dad always owned his own business. So I learned a lot of what it's like to live in an entrepreneur's house. The good, bad and ugly. Yeah. What'd you say? What did your dad do?
00:05:00
Speaker
Um, so he ran a few businesses. It was really interesting. My dad showed me, um, so he ran a trucking company does not have his class A license. He ran a mechanic shop, never was a mechanic. He ran a limousine service that he drove for, but didn't really, you know, never had run a limousine service before.
00:05:19
Speaker
So he got into all these companies, the trucking company was the longest one, but it was so interesting to me as I became an adult and an entrepreneur of like, okay, he doesn't have a class A license to drive a truck, but he owns all these trucks. And so it just blew my mind that you could do that without like, what's interesting is he also told me like, you need to be the best at everything in your business, which I don't totally understand. Don't, uh,
00:05:43
Speaker
understand today because I don't believe that I believe they're, if you surround yourself with the right people in a team because today he is, um, you know, him and my mom moved out here as well. And they don't have like a ton to show for like financially.
00:06:00
Speaker
all that they did. And I think that's part of it. He wanted to be the best at everything and it kind of kept him from growing something super big, you know? So he, he's a hard worker. He showed me how to hustle. He showed me how that relationships matter. And he showed me that you don't have to be the one in the seat to drive the truck to own a trucking company. Um, so I do love that. Um, he was in a lot of, a lot of businesses like that. And I worked for some of them, learned a lot from him. And like I said, being an entrepreneur's house, it's like,
00:06:28
Speaker
the good, the bad, the ugly, you get to see all the things, you know, and things are going good, it seems amazing. And then it's like, they say, you know, drought, feast or famine. So did you read the book, The One Thing? The One Thing. Yeah, that's such a good book. Yeah.
00:06:44
Speaker
I think I was in the elevator with you and you had mentioned, you had said this like really profound statement, but you're like, if you don't prioritize
Prioritization and Transitioning Focus
00:06:51
Speaker
your life, someone else will. And it's from the book essentialism. And I was like, Oh, that's so crazy. And I have just met you for five seconds. But are you a big avid reader? Yeah, I read a lot. I read that book every year. That's kind of like one of my entrepreneur Bibles. It really helps me in my life. I no longer play drums. It's partly because of that, like three years ago.
00:07:12
Speaker
I finally hung up the drums because Kiss was just needing more and more of me and to prioritize my life. Either if I don't prioritize my life, someone or something else will. And it was getting to the point where I was doing too many things and not great at any one thing. And I just love the relationship, love the creative industry. And so I gave up drums and I had a really great run. I played since I was really young and I loved it. I played some really cool shows.
00:07:38
Speaker
was playing for churches at the end. And I loved it, but it was time for me to move into like really taking the CEO and owner, founder of KISS, just so much more serious. And since then the fruit show. So yeah, I love reading. Essentialism is one of my favorite books. Oh, that's so crazy. Okay. So you said the last real job was in printing. So how, how young were you then? And then how did you start KISS books? Were you, did you do anything with the wedding industry before that?
00:08:06
Speaker
Yeah. So I was 21, um, 20, yeah. 21 when I actually lost my job as a printer. Um, and so 21 years old and, uh, I went straight into photography. I actually started working for my dad's trucking company. So I managed that as well as, um, went right into photography. So in Southern California, there's no real off season. Uh, it's like,
00:08:28
Speaker
December, you know, uh, you could be shooting on the beach in shorts and flip flops if you want it to. Yeah. And so I was able to like build my photo business where I was shooting 50 or 60 plus weddings a year. So I shot around 500 weddings over a 15 year span as a photographer. And that overlapped with what I do now with kiss. Um, but yeah, I, I was so grateful to be able to photograph so many weddings and be involved in the industry when it went from film to digital.
00:08:57
Speaker
and just all the changes that happen with technology and things like that. I love the relationship matters more than anything and it always has, but I love technology and all the things that are coming along to help us if we allow it to in our business.
00:09:10
Speaker
Wow. Okay. So back it up a little bit. So, okay, photographer. And for that many years, 500 wedding, that's, that's kind of more than I've shot. But, um, so when was it in the business, the photography business where you develop the kiss books? Yeah. Did you find like a need in the industry where you just couldn't, um, find like the right albums or someone album company to make it as simple as you did?
00:09:34
Speaker
Yeah, it's simple. That's the key word. I love my album company. I use leather craftsmen back in the day. And they had one on the West coast at the time, a lab on the West coast. So I toured the lab. I loved the album. I loved watching those people make them when I got to do a tour and things like that. So I love the album company, but the process, the simplicity of it was not there. It was, you know, this was at a time where fax machines really weren't a thing anymore. And they still were asking me to fax the
00:10:01
Speaker
the foreman for, um, my order. And so that didn't make sense. And then I was learning to outsource so many things. I had become digital. I was outsourcing my editing. I was, I had a few associates working with me at the time. So I had outsourced a lot of my company, but I still wasn't able to outsource albums. And I was like, there's no way, like I get it. It's a big deal to offer albums. It's not easy. You want it exactly how you want it.
00:10:27
Speaker
Um, yet I couldn't outsource it. It's just a transfer of skills. Whenever you're showing somebody how to do something, you're just showing them a skill. Here's how you order, but I never trusted it because I didn't even trust it when I sent it in. And so I was like, there has to be a better way. And that's really where a kiss came from. You know, um, I was shooting a lot, um, and realize like there, there has to be an easier way to get to albums and.
00:10:49
Speaker
I had already made kiss with leather craftsman, meaning I just limited my options. I said, I'm only going to offer these things. They offer tons and tons of things. It's fine. But for me, I was like, I'm going to offer these eight colors and these a couple of sizes and that was it. And my clients just ordered year after year, you know, 50, 60, all of them are getting albums and stuff like that.
00:11:10
Speaker
So yeah, I have to say, you know, the best colors for sure.
Carissa's Coaching Journey
00:11:16
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. That's evolved. And, um, when we first launched, um, it was one product, you know, an album, a square album, three sizes. We only had eight by 10 by and 12 by all square, um, six colors. We only had six colors. When we launched, we had no options, no cameo, no name on the cover. It was wild, but, um, it took off like gangbusters because so many people were in the same shoes that I was in.
00:11:39
Speaker
This is very difficult to get to these beautiful albums. Nothing against the albums, but it was a system that just wasn't there. And technology was to a place where it's like, we should be able to order this online. We just can't. And that's where kiss came from. Oh, so interesting. So where, what does kiss look like now? Like, I just want to paint the picture for our listeners. Yeah. I remember the first month we went into business, we sold 36 albums and that was in, uh, in May by
00:12:05
Speaker
By December, we were doing a hundred albums a month. Now we do thousands a month. And we're coming up on 15 years in business. I've moved the warehouse from Southern California to a spot in Utah and then to here in Indiana, where I currently reside. And it's been here for about 10 years now. I'm the co-founder. So I started this with my former business partner.
00:12:33
Speaker
that changed about five years ago now. And really, it's come to this place where it's about the system still today. We were the world's simplest book company when we first started. That was our tagline. Now we're too simple. So we're still in the simple world. But to pursue simple means to create margin in your life. It's not just with album. So I educate on how to do that in your life as well as how to do that in your business. The wealthiest person doesn't have the most money. They don't.
00:12:59
Speaker
They have the most margin in their life, whether that's time, whether that is money, you know, somebody that makes a hundred thousand dollars a year sometimes is seen as successful. But I know people that make $40,000 a year that only spend 20,000 of it. And they are wealthy because they get to do what they want. They have margin in their life. They have a budget, things like that. So we've really moved into that space because creative entrepreneurs, the starving artist is a sane for a reason.
00:13:25
Speaker
And I want to help change that in our industry with the people that choose to be around us and kiss, um, the people in that circle. We want to create margin, help show them how to create margin in their life and just become successful no matter how much they make ultimately. And so I, that kiss has come a long way. We've always rooted in simple. I love simple. We were just talking about essentialism. It talks about the simplicities of life.
00:13:51
Speaker
Um, and how to make priority a thing in your life. And, um, I, I love, it's very hard, difficult to get simple. And then when you do, it's almost addictive. It's like, how can I make everything simple? How can I make my refrigerator simple? How can I make my schedule simple? How can I make my budget simple? Once you get it, it's amazing. So we continue to try to make kiss simple where options aren't, um, the enemy. We just have to make it simple to get those options, the cameo, the.
00:14:19
Speaker
So we're actually getting ready to relaunch a new website and book builder in February. It's at least going to be in the first quarter of next year, but we're again, trying to simplify what we currently have to make it as easy as possible to get to the album by still making handcrafted, beautiful out top level products, you know, the album.
00:14:38
Speaker
Yeah, I know you've been really big help in the industry. And you have that knowledge of making things easier for photographers. And I think by the time that this airs, I have already announced that I'm retiring from winning photography. Yeah.
00:14:54
Speaker
Yeah, and I'm going full time coaching. So I'm going to recommend all my students and my future students kiss books because I want to make their life like, as peaceful as possible and have them have a sustainable business that they're not feeling, you know, overwhelmed or burnt out. And you know how it is, like, easy to get in that rut. So I think this is going to help them tremendously.
00:15:19
Speaker
Congratulations, that's very cool. Thank you so much. Yeah, I'm finally taking the leap. It's so scary, but I got to do it.
Influence of Sean's Father & Business Focus
00:15:27
Speaker
I wanted to dig a little bit deeper into like your dad, how he was doing a lot of things, which he was awesome for just not having a degree in it or trucking, but just kind of doing it. But then he kind of was mastering too many things. And then because of it, maybe it didn't propel him to
00:15:47
Speaker
complete financial freedom. How did you take that and learn from it and then use it in your own business? Yeah, I found myself in the same shoes, you know, clearly being raised by, you know, somebody that's like that, I learned a lot of great things from him. But at the end of the day, I was like, I was chasing money. And I felt kind of burnt out. I loved photography.
00:16:10
Speaker
Um, until I tried to do photography and play drums and, um, you know, shoot 60, you know, I shot 64 weddings one year and I had started having kids. And so I wasn't doing amazing at any one thing. And so I started to realize like, maybe it is, maybe it is the fact that I don't have a priority. I have a list of 20 or 30 priorities.
00:16:34
Speaker
And in that same book and essentialism, it says in the 1400s priority was only a singular word. It meant the next most important thing. There was no such thing as priorities. So nowadays we have our priorities list and it's 10 things or 20 things or 30 things. I would not make sense to somebody in the 1400s. And so I realized in my life, I want to be amazing. I want to be great at one or two things.
00:16:57
Speaker
And so I was trying to do all the things that I, there's seasons in my life where I'd have like seven or eight companies and, and do all these things. And I was like, yeah, there's some that's that are in front of the others, but there's not one outlier, you know? And so when we, when we hear people that we may know, like, uh, no of like Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, we know that they do one thing and they do it really well. It's funny. Cause those two people, they're really, really good at like visionary dreaming. They're very smart.
00:17:23
Speaker
And they're not even, a lot of times they're not seen as great leaders because they're so smart and they do all these things for that one thing. We know them for that thing. Even leadership sometimes falls short. There's times where I struggle with leadership and I want to become a better leader. Sometimes it's just better for me to hire somebody that knows leadership really well and helps me as well as they lead the team, you know? So I've started to focus just like you more on the photography industry. And sometimes my team struggles because of that.
00:17:53
Speaker
So then I turn to my team and I try and lead them well. And then my clients start to fall to the wayside. So I've decided I'm going to face the clients and I will work with my team, but that's why I'm the visionary now. I used to be the CEO and I was kind of like the everything at my company with kiss. Now I'm like the visionary. And then I work in and for the company in certain areas, like education, getting behind the camera, doing stuff like this that I love, but my team, they'd be like, what about us at times?
00:18:21
Speaker
Now I have somebody that specifically deals with culture, deals with leadership, that works with them. And I'm grateful for it. It does take hyper focus to do that. I'm grateful for my dad. And we've had our good times and our bad times even in relationships. There are seasons where we didn't talk in things, but I am grateful that he showed me the things that he did. And then I just learned from the things that weren't working for me. And one of those things was I just don't do a lot of things. I kind of pick a lane and I do that one thing as well as I can.
00:18:49
Speaker
Oh, that's so cool. This is like a perfect conversation for me at this time in my life. It's so scary, but I just have to I knew I just had to let go and just say like, no more no more booking because I'm so addicted to like booking, you know, someone wanting me this is what I've been trying to do for so long and I'm addicted to the money. I'm addicted to
00:19:12
Speaker
getting inquiries and people wanting me to be part of their special day. But I think now it's time to just be that visionary of my team and helping other people. So yeah, not being so in the grind because weddings are so long and I'm gone from my kiddos so much. So yeah. I don't mind when you say grind or I call it hustle or whatever sometimes.
00:19:34
Speaker
I'm fine with grind or hustle for a season and with a purpose. So it is only for a season. Some people are going to hustle forever and then we just run into burnout. I'm saying yes to all the things, but if we're going to do it, like during a transition or during a time where we want to like create a certain amount of income for a vacation or something like that, I'm fine with hustle for a season, but it has to have a purpose or we will get burnt out.
00:19:56
Speaker
So I love that you're transitioning right now because what's interesting, there's certain things that I'm like, there's no way I could give that up because I love it too much. Like photography was one of them. I didn't want to give photography up. Then I finally gave it up and the space that it created in my head so that I can do the things that I love for a kiss made it to where like, sure, I miss photography.
00:20:16
Speaker
I can still do it as a hobby. I still get to work with so many photographers and kind of live through them. And it created this space for me to do really well with kiss and work for photographers instead of be the photographer. And so everyone has different seasons in their life, but we like to have as a human, we like to aim. We like to have something to aim at. So if we have a destination, knowing that we're headed to there.
00:20:41
Speaker
It's worth it. If you hit a storm along the way, you hustle through that storm knowing that you're headed to that destination. So many times I don't have the destination. And so I'm out there fighting these storms and I don't know why. If I know where the destination is, then it's worth the storms are worth me fighting
Enhancing Photographer Income with Albums
00:20:59
Speaker
through.
00:20:59
Speaker
Oh, totally. So I kind of know the answer to this question because you know, your albums are gorgeous and simple process, great customer service. But how do you get your heck yes from your dream clients? Like what's your biggest sales technique? Yeah, there's so many times I've been at a booth or at a place like Evolve and somebody says, you know, why would I use you instead of another company? I said, well,
00:21:22
Speaker
What are you looking for is the first question that I would ask and then I would say like I can tell you what separates us I can tell you about all the quality of our book when it comes down to it that quality of our book is not necessarily going to Help you sell to your clients. We think it does but it is about the experience people remember how you make them feel they remember
00:21:44
Speaker
that way over what you do, even as a photographer, I remember being in consultations, clearly a lot of consultations with 500 weddings. If somebody would ask me that, it's like, um, why wouldn't I use somebody else that's more affordable? I say, well, you can, um, if you would like, but, um, what sets me apart is how I show up in the experience that I'm going to create for you. And then I'd walk them through that experience with kiss. You know, you're going to get taken care of from a customer support team. That's great. But my question typically is if you could serve every client with an album, would you want to?
00:22:14
Speaker
So if they say yes in every photographer that I've run into says yes. And I say like, I can show you how. And that's what's going to separate me as kiss. Cause it's like the albums are the albums. I can show you how to sell any, any album company out there. I can show you how to sell them, but it's not really about that. It's about how you serve your clients. And if you want to serve them every client with an album, I can show you how to. So I lean into education. I lean into our software to make it to where it's scalable for you. It's not easy. If you're shooting 30 weddings a year, doing 30 albums a year is a lot of hours.
00:22:43
Speaker
But I can show you a system of how to do it with you or without you. And meaning I can show you how to get it designed with or without you. I can show you how to price it. And then once you've priced it, how to scale that. And so that's what I do. And I really stand in the room with photographers. I show them if they want to show up and serve all their clients with albums, I show them how to do that. And I have story after story about people that have said yes to that, said heck yes to that. And now they're making so much more money, which isn't always the goal.
00:23:12
Speaker
But that is one of the things. If you start serving all your clients with albums, you make a lot more money, but it creates this space for you to be able to do what you want. That's that margin that I'm looking for when I say pursue simple. So that's really what separates KISS from those out there. And even when I talk to other album companies, I'm like, you have a great product, you know? I would love to even work with some of your clients and show them how to.
00:23:35
Speaker
Um, I have plenty of work to do at kiss, but there's times where I'm meeting with them and trying to keep that relationship open. I'm like, Hey, we are not in competition. Well, I feel like us album companies, I'm not trying to take people from other album companies. I'm trying to show people how to even show up with albums. I'm trying to work with the industry, a huge part of the industry.
00:23:52
Speaker
that doesn't even do albums cause it's big and scary. So I'm like, cool. If you use red tree, they're a great album company. I know the owner, he's a great guy. They create one of the best albums out there. There's no doubt about it. Good choice. I'm not trying to take you from them. If what you have works great, if you don't do albums or you struggle with albums, I can show you how to show up in your business really well and get a heck yes from your clients from, from those brides and grooms that, that come into your studio. That's what I'm all about.
00:24:19
Speaker
Yeah, you're a great educator. I mean, you talked to thousands of photographers. So you definitely know like the the in and outs. But let's get into our hot topic. Tell me about your hot topic and why you chose it. I got in the last like two or three days 18 inquiries.
00:24:38
Speaker
What the heck? Hey guys, you all know me. I'm Carissa Wu and I'm a coach for wedding photographers. I've also been a wedding photographer for over a decade so I've been through it all. I was a shy, awkward girl and I've come so far. I'm now beyond passionate about helping wedding photographers not struggle how I did for so many years.
00:25:00
Speaker
It was six years into my business and I was so tired of being ghosted, nickel undimed, and hearing the dreaded words, we went a different direction. I also knew I needed to find a way to not rely on referrals or paying $350 a month for the knot to get my leads.
00:25:15
Speaker
I didn't want to have anxiety about when my next payday was going to come and I wanted to scale my business. Fast forward to now, I created my very own stack system to help wedding photographers get constant leads and master the dreaded sales call and get a heck yes in 24 hours or less.
00:25:32
Speaker
and charge more than 4, 5, 6K. No more waiting around, guys. This is our livelihood, our artistry, and our passion, and we deserve to be respected, valued, and paid for what we are
Effective Album Selling Strategies
00:25:44
Speaker
worth. I've helped so many wedding photographers. Watch my 20-minute masterclass all about lead generation and closing the sale. The link is in the bio. You don't want to miss out on the wedding boom, and you don't want to miss out on booking your calendar for 2022.
00:25:59
Speaker
It's engagement season, guys. So you don't want to miss this. See you guys soon. So if you could serve every client with an album, would you want to? The reason I chose that is just because knowing that those people that are on here, they are wedding photographers and knowing where the industry is at in the year that we're coming into is going to be very busy. The struggle is if I need to make more money, what what photographers typically think is I need to shoot more weddings or raise my prices.
00:26:27
Speaker
Cool. That could be true. My question would be what else could be true. So I've taken somebody that shot 35 weddings a year, year after year after year, from, from making a certain amount of money to nearly doubling their income just by adding albums. They were shooting 35 weddings a year in 2018.
00:26:45
Speaker
They sold about three albums at no, not, not a lot of profit. I showed them my system. They showed those, you know, another 35 clients, same exact number of clients the next year. And they were able to make 60,000 six zero $60,000 in albums alone by just putting this system in there. So that's what I walk them through a couple of quick tips and tricks for that would be like add an album to every one of your packages. And I have this all broken down a hundred percent, but we don't have that amount of time on this. Um,
00:27:15
Speaker
I have, um, I bought the just fear child's course. Oh yeah. I have the whole system. Yeah. Well, they took that system and they made it theirs. And I absolutely love that. So, um, they do, they add an album in every one of their packages. I was just with them in Santa Barbara last week. So I know we talk about it all the time. Um, but yeah, add an, add an album to every package. It's scary. Cause it's like, do I have to raise my prices? It's like, not a lot. You may not have to at all. Just by adding it, it creates this opportunity for you to serve your clients. Well,
00:27:43
Speaker
So, that's one of the things I would say is like add an album to every one of your packages. Another thing I would say is like start posting about it. First, maybe get a sample. If you get a sample, I'm not trying to sell you a kiss book, whatever company you want to go with, that's fine. Get a sample, order at least one sample and then post about it. Show it on your website, show it on your social medias and start talking about it because your clients are going to come in and ask that question. Tell me what your package is or what do I get for the money that I'm going to spend with you.
00:28:13
Speaker
If they see an album in every one of your packages and they've seen it on your social media and they've seen it on your website, they may still ask that question. Hey, can you take the album out of the package and just charge me less? If they've seen it in all three of those spots and you say, no, it's not a big no, it's just like a no and this is why.
00:28:31
Speaker
because I want to create an experience and I want you to have your work, I want your story printed so you can look at it every year before you go to dinner to celebrate your anniversary, four, five, six years in. I don't want you to just have to see it on your device or text me. You've gotten this text a ton of times. You're still shooting. Hey, can you send me a link to my images? It happens all the time. Why? Because they don't have it on their wall or they don't have it in a book on their table. So I paint a picture.
00:28:58
Speaker
and put them on the couch looking through it each year as a tradition. I do. I do the same thing. That's what it's about, you know? This is no, this is no Shutterfly. Trust me, you're not gonna make it. I have brides that I didn't shoot their wedding. They come to me saying, can you make me an album? And I don't because it's not my photos, but it's just like, you're not gonna do it. Trust me, like you're gonna get busy after your wedding. There's a lot.
00:29:25
Speaker
of other things to do besides making albums. So just leave it up to the photographer that knows your photos the best. Okay, so number one tip was to add an album to all your packages and paint the picture, tell them the story why why why. And number two was post about it, share about it, put it on your website, put it on your Instagram. And then
00:29:45
Speaker
Tip number three. Yeah, it would be like half samples. So I would flip two and three even. I would say order samples so that you have something to post. We even have photos that we've taken that you can use for your social media until you get samples. But people love to touch and feel it. So having a sample, even though we're in a time where Zoom may be the way that you meet,
00:30:04
Speaker
showing them, like just pulling an album and starting to show them what they're going to get, even though it's not photos of them. When you see photos of them, then they're sold for sure. But you start to show them that album. Now they're way more in, you know, they know that you believe in it enough to have samples. And then if you ever are in person or you can get them in their hands at the engagement session or whatnot,
00:30:25
Speaker
showing them, you know, it's why we do test drives in cars, you know, they want to put you in that car and get the feeling of a fresh new smell car. One that has, you know, AC and like seat warmers and a sunroof. I want you to see all those features because again, yeah, that's perfect. The experience that you're going to create with them. So I would say have samples, definitely have samples because I'm not trying to sell you a kiss sample. I'm really not.
00:30:49
Speaker
But the fact that if they're able to see and touch and feel it is the next level as well, if they can do those things, then they're way more likely to understand the value of it. Because if you do put this next to a consumer book out there, they feel differently. You can feel the quality of it. If you put it in their lap, they're going to be like, oh, I can see the value and why you charge what you do for this particular thing. And then you just start to tell them the story. You make them the hero. That's what Don Miller says. Yeah, sorry, Brad. Make them the hero.
00:31:17
Speaker
What is it going to look like when they're photos? What is it going to feel like when they're sitting on a couch flipping through the album remembering what it was like on their wedding day? So those are the three things that say add it to every single package, add an album to every package. I can walk you through that. DM me or reach out to my team.
00:31:32
Speaker
have lots of tools for that. Order samples. And then when you get that sample, do an unboxing and post it on your story on Instagram. Do a tick back about it. Because then people are going to be like, what's interesting is when you do that, you're going to get some of the stuff that you just referred to. I've told photographers to do that. They post about it. And then people that follow them that they didn't even photograph their weddings. They're like, Hey, I never got an album. Can you do mine? It's like, well,
00:31:55
Speaker
I need the rights to the photographer and maybe, maybe not, but like you start showing it, your clients start to expect it. And then, you know, with those samples, post about it, create a spot on your website. We have some great tools for that as well. Just share as many places as possible, because here's the thing. Most photographers in our industry, and this is not a dig. This is not like, um, this is not me digging at the industry. Most of them are picture takers.
00:32:19
Speaker
because we believe we're a service-based industry. We're called photographers. That's a service. You're gonna pay me to take pictures of you. So here's what I charge for that. So I'm gonna take pictures and I'm gonna give those to you.
00:32:31
Speaker
The dig I will take a little bit is I believe it could be a disservice to your clients because that's what they think they're asking you for. But then when they go and try and make an album, it is very discouraging for somebody that's never done an album, never been a professional photographer to go and use any software out there. There's some of the best software out there. We've created a system that they can't use, but you can as a photographer. It's simple, but it doesn't mean it's like,
00:32:56
Speaker
It's so hard when you're emotionally attached to those photos to get 100 images. Yeah, your story is not an easy thing. Yeah, would be the professional in the relationship instead of being a picture taker that takes pictures and just gives them to your clients. Be a creative entrepreneur that creates an experience that documents it that then walks them to that finish line holds their hand and walks them to that and give them the exact album that they want.
00:33:20
Speaker
The finish line being them sitting down somewhere and flipping through, remembering what it was like. What we do for a living is magical. Photographer stop time for us to go back and look at it. That is really, really cool. There's no doubt about it. So that is a gift. How do you want them to view that? Is it always going to be on a phone? That's fine. These phones are amazing. They're an extension of us. I can not imagine doing life without it.
00:33:42
Speaker
But I don't always want to be looking at randomly photos or my wedding album like this, like flipping through it. Cause then TikTok's there. And so is all the other distractions and email and all that stuff. What I want to do is commit to it's, it's essentialism esque where it's like, I'm going to do this one thing.
Albums' Impact on Memories & Relationships
00:33:58
Speaker
The priority right now is for me to sit down.
00:34:01
Speaker
with maybe my wife, with maybe one of my kids and flip through my album. And so by doing that, I don't have any distractions other than this right here. So if I sit here and flip through this album, it's an experience that I've created as a photographer for my clients. So by focusing and doing the one next best thing, the experience changes. A focused mind is very hard for us. It's hard for us to be in the present moment.
00:34:24
Speaker
being anxious, anxiety, depression are a thing right now because we have a hard time being in the moment. If we are present and in the moment, it is hard for us to have anxiety because we're not worried about the future or depressed about the things that have happened to us from the past. Now those are real things and those, you know, if that's what you deal with, I've dealt with some of that in my past and had to get help for that. There's a reason for it.
00:34:45
Speaker
Um, and, and I don't have any issues with you having that or dealing with that. Please take care of yourself. I want it to be safe for you, but a lot of those things sometimes can come from just having a hard time being in that moment. And I tell you what, when I have this thing out, I'm very rare. If I have this, we have a rule at our table. No, no phones at the table, because it's very hard for me to be, even if I'm picking music, but a lot of times I'm looking at an email or something for my client. I'm not present with the people that I'm right in front of. Yeah.
00:35:13
Speaker
And so I'm trying to create that in our industry. Sure. I own an album company and I can show you how to serve your clients with albums. But really when it comes down to it, what I care about is your clients, these people, there's hundreds of thousands of kiss books in the world now because of the company that we have done and the way that photographers have shown up. I can picture them sitting down and flipping through those albums. And that's what I care about is them having a moment remembering what it was like.
00:35:38
Speaker
on their wedding day when they made these big commitments to each other and getting back to that. There's seasons in our life where marriage isn't always easy. You're like, hey, I don't like you right now. But I remember what it was like to like you because of these photos. So how do we get back to this? And so that's what I'm committed to and absolutely love.
00:35:58
Speaker
Oh, that was so good. I wanted to say two things. First of all, well, that was so good. When I do have the first call with my clients, I'm not doing any more of I'm teaching my students, but I do really explain the album, like how important it is, like, your memories like this is
00:36:14
Speaker
it really takes me back to the day. And like, I just can't believe that was us, like with, you know, 175 people surrounded us, like he picking me up, like going down the ground, grand entrance, with like our hands in the air, like I really can't believe that was us. And it gives me the chills looking at my album. And another thing I wanted to say was, yeah, when I am having a hard day, and your marriage is very up and down, like,
00:36:40
Speaker
I do look at our album and it really takes me back to a place where like, yeah, we were so in love, like how can we get that back? It's so powerful. And another thing I wanted to add was, I think what you're trying to do or you are doing already is you're bringing happiness to a photographer, like you're really setting the intention of
00:37:02
Speaker
Hey, I want photographers to have be successful, but I also want them to have a happy life. I don't want them to be depressed. I don't want them to be anxious. I don't want them to be overwhelmed. And that's something that's like really powerful that I'm going to take away from this episode with my coaching program like
00:37:19
Speaker
hey, I want you to be a successful photographer, but I want you to be a happy person. And that's not working your ass off where you're completely burnt out to the ground where you're like crying after a wedding. And I think with albums, like it's going to help you definitely shoot less and make more. So I'm really, I'm really proud of what you accomplished in your business.
00:37:41
Speaker
Thanks Chris. It means a lot that you're hearing those things and going to take it to your, your coaching and your program and you did it in your own business. When it comes down to it, the avenue to those happiness is joy. It's having gratitude and it's just being grateful for that moment that we had together, whether it was like 10 years ago when we got married or whether it was last week and we're able to see those photos. Like I said, that's magical that we get to do that as photographers.
00:38:06
Speaker
And we also get to take our clients to this finish line where we can put them in that place where it's like, Hey, I want to create a tradition in your life. Every year. I want you to sit down at least once and spend some time flipping through your album, remembering what it was like to look at each other that way. Cause we're not always going to look at each other that way. But I saw the future on the wedding day. It's like, everything's magical. You had 175 wins little, you know, you've been married. So you had 175 guests. Are you ever going to buy all 175 people dinner again?
00:38:34
Speaker
probably not. No, because it was special. Like you said, I'm going to do this because I want them to come celebrate with me. I want them to see me get married and make this commitment to each other. And so that's a very special day. And so you're sometimes we look better than we ever have on our wedding. We feel all good. We're making these big commitments. We can see the future in each other and that's what's beautiful. Even the people there can see the future in your relationship and they're there to help you
00:39:01
Speaker
Cause that so why not continue to go back to that just to remember hey, this is our starting point This is how far we've come good bad and ugly sometimes but when it comes down to it I want to look at you like I did in our first dance when I was like, oh my goodness Like I am so grateful for today. I can see our future. I want to get back to that moment. That is a beautiful thing I'm grateful that you're able to
00:39:24
Speaker
take that to your future clients as well as like you've done that in your business already. And so thanks so much for recognizing that and I'm grateful to just multiply that through our industry. For those that want it, for those that want to offer that to their clients, it's totally doable. It's scary.
00:39:40
Speaker
big scary thing sometimes, but it's still worth it.
Personal Development & Closing Thoughts
00:39:43
Speaker
Yeah, me and you are both connected because you know, just hearing you right now, like you are a hopeless romantic. You're in it for the love. And just like you said, like when you stop photography, like you still are a part of all these photographers lives. So you're still feeling like the love in every Wednesday. And
00:40:00
Speaker
printing this to make, yeah, we freeze time and with albums, you really freeze time. But I'm going to go into some fun rapid fire questions. But the first one is what is your biggest parenting advice? Yeah, by far my biggest parenting advice that I had to learn over time was don't shame your kids. Instead of telling them I told you so we set rules and boundaries for a reason. But
00:40:27
Speaker
connect with them, get in the in the issue with them. They know they've messed up. They don't need us to continue to tell them that they want us to know that we're for them and we're in it with them. So I just stopped shaming as much as I can my kids and I just want to be connected with them connection over shame 100% of the time. That's so good. Okay, what is BK and you on your sweatshirt?
00:40:49
Speaker
Yeah, become you. So it's becoming the next version of you, you could be who you want to be today. And you could be just a little bit better than you were yesterday, you're making progress towards becoming the best version of you, a beautiful you a patient you a successful you is inside of you, we just get to carve it out and choose that today or not, it's totally up to us. So become you that's what it stands for is just becoming the next version of you. Oh, interesting. So is that like another company that you're starting?
00:41:16
Speaker
It's my personal brand. I haven't fully launched it yet, but I've been doing more keynote speaking than I have been doing just on albums. And it's more about the psychology of why we have a hard time showing up for ourselves. So yeah, it's going to be its own brand. It's B K M U dot today, become you today.
00:41:32
Speaker
And I will launch it in the future when I'm doing more speaking. But I started to wear it to remind me when I look in the mirror, I'm like, Oh, yeah, I have my to do list and my to be list. I read it to be list each day. And this reminds me, Oh, yeah, who do you want to be today? It's not just about getting your to do list on and making all the money. Because if I'm a jerk, the whole time I do that, that's not who I want to be. That matters more than the to do list. So yeah, it's going to become a thing. And I wear it when I do speaking and stuff like that.
00:41:57
Speaker
No, I love that. I think, you know, this coaching business has not been easy for me. It's definitely like a new target market from brides to photographers. And I was running on a treadmill listening to like how Ed Rod the miracle morning guy. Yeah. And he said something like, it's not
00:42:13
Speaker
the actual like trying to hit the goal or hitting the goal, it's who you have to become to hit the goal. And it just like brought me the tears because just even doing this podcast, like who I had to become to even, you know, put on these interviews and become a good host. So it was just, it's like always becoming like that better version of yourself. So powerful. Yeah. Cool. Okay. So tell everyone like where to find you your Instagram handles and how to get their first album in their hands.
00:42:43
Speaker
Yeah. So I personally, you can follow me at Sean Austin, S H A U N A U S T I N. I still manage my own, um, Instagram, um, for professionally at kiss books. I actually don't manage that one, but I work with the team that does at kiss books. You can reach out to us there. Kiss.us is our URL. Go make an account, reach out to me, DM me. If you need any information on it, our samples are, you know, we discount our sample so that you can start and get in there.
00:43:09
Speaker
But we are here, my customer support team and customer success team is what we're calling it now to really help photographers succeed, is there to help. My team is amazing. I'm so grateful for them. And they love our industry just like I do. And we want to see photographers succeed. So just reach out to us in any of those avenues. I'll respond to my direct one as of right now at Sean Austin, and then Kiss will take good care of you as well.
00:43:32
Speaker
Cool, and lasting words to any wedding professional and wedding photographer. Yeah. Just in general. Yeah, it is a beautiful thing that we get to do, but it's not always easy.
00:43:43
Speaker
There's seasons that will run into burnout and things in our life start to affect what we have in our professional life as well. Taking care of yourself is one of the most important things. It is the most important asset that you have is you. So make sure to get enough sleep. Make sure to eat right. Make sure to take care of yourself and become the next version of you. Become the best version of you because every day we wake up, we have this beautiful thing.
00:44:06
Speaker
Their mercies are new in the morning, which I absolutely love because it's just an opportunity. Things aren't problems. They're either problems or they're opportunities. They're the same exact thing. So I try and see things as an obstacle and the obstacle a lot of times is the way it's not a problem. It is a possibility for me to learn and an opportunity for me to grow. There's a beautiful version of you inside you. There's a patient version inside you. There's an amazing parent. There's an amazing partner.
00:44:31
Speaker
There's an amazing, everything is there in you for the taking. And so become that, just carve it out, commit to it and then show up each day and just become a little bit better than you were yesterday. You may not be that photographer, that name that you know, but you, I want you to become the best version of you and so do they. So learn from them, hone your skill, but become you because that's the one thing nobody can be.
00:44:56
Speaker
everyone else has taken. So become you. That is a beautiful thing. And I cannot wait to see you become the next version of you.
00:45:09
Speaker
Thanks for joining me this week on Get a Heck Yes with Carissa Wu. Make sure to follow, subscribe, leave a review, or tell a friend about the show. Take a screenshot and post to IG. Tag me. Also, don't forget to download my free guide on how to become a lead generating machine. See you next time, wedding pros.