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I am resharing a podcast episode today from 2023 called how I made $7,000 in one day with many sessions. I've talked about many sessions, a few times on the podcast. It's one of my favorite topics. Because I am a huge believer that many sessions can be a great way to grow your brand and make you money, but it does have to be done strategically. And I see a lot of photographers who instead of doing it strategically use many sessions as a way to make a quick buck. And they're not thinking about the longterm effects on their brand. I am teaching a free training with Zenfolio this week and you still have time to register. The training has called make four figures with many sessions. And I would love to see you there. I will put the link in the podcast description. So you can register for the free training that is taking place this Thursday. And if you send me a DM on Instagram with the word Zenfolio, Z E N F O L I O. I can also send you the link to register there. I hope you enjoyed this episode. It's time to make big bucks with many sessions.

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You're listening to Take It Personally, a podcast for photographers about the personal side of business and the art of standing out. Here I'll help you build a business and a brand that is uniquely you. If you want to attract dream clients and stop looking at the competition to decide your next move. If you are ready to show up as a confident branding authority to help you serve your clients and consider your goals and priorities too. If you want to make your mark in a new, underserved niche of photography, then this is the place for you. I'm your host Maddie Pachon, South Dakota brand photographer and educator. I'm a straight shooting, Instagram obsessed, and Instagramer. Diehard Swifty who has built a multi six figure business on the back of brand photography all while raising a family. And I know you can do the same. Let's get ready to take it personally. Hello, today we are talking about mini sessions. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite topics on the podcast. Because it's something that I, um, am coming back to. This is the second year that I've talked about my January mini sessions. And it's really fun to come back to something year after year and talk about what went well, what didn't, what I would recommend. It just feels like this is something that we're kind of perfecting over time, which is like, to be honest, not typically how I roll. I'm usually like a, you know, morning of kind of gal. And so to have something that I continue to come back to and refine feels really cool. So. For those of you who are new to the podcast, I would, uh, encourage you to go back to episode 50 before listening to this one. And in that episode, I talk about how I made 5, 000 in one day with mini sessions. A little bit of background. I offer mini sessions typically once a year. I'll talk a little bit more about the timeline of it all. Um, but up until now, it's been once a year. I do them in January. I do a full day. I offer both brand mini sessions and headshot mini sessions, which is strategic because I want the whole day to be full. And I know that a mini brand session is not for everyone. And yeah, so that's what I do, what I have been doing. And this year, I originally had a goal to hit 6, 000 cause last year I did five. So I thought, you know, I'll do a little bit better than that. And my business coach was like, what if we did 10, 000? And so that kind of got my wheels turning and doing the math and seeing like what was possible. I knew that 10, 000 would be like more easily achieved if I offered an additional afternoon. Um, so like shot more sessions and I didn't really want to do that. And so then the goal became 7, 000. Can I make 7, 000 in a day of many sessions? Um, by the time this episode airs, I will know what my final number is right now. I don't right now. I'm just under 7, 000 with quite a few people still like looking at their galleries, haven't checked out yet. And so when I publish this episode, I will publish final numbers. But I'm anticipating about 7, 000. So that's, you know, 2, 000 growth year over year. And this year just went so well. And so I'm really excited to have this podcast to kind of unpack it. So the first thing that I want to talk about, I'm running a program right now. I guess by the time this episode airs, we will be getting ready to launch the second round of rebrand, but right now this is actually our final week of the first round. And this question came up that I thought was so good. And so I wanted to answer this question first. And that was the whole point of rebrand and the whole point of like my teaching to photographers is to create this really amazing, high touch, high value package that you can charge four figures for when it comes to brand photography. Like that's essentially what we're doing in all of rebrand is like, let's get you to the point where you're charging four figures for brand photography. It's super high touch. really high value. And then, you know, you only have to take a couple of these sessions a month, which for the majority of my clients is what they would prefer. They don't want to be shooting every other day. And so my client asked me, like, if we're supposed to be doing that, then how do we offer that in a mini package? Like everything that we're, that we should be doing is like this high touch, high value. How do we make that smaller? And I was like, this is such a good question. So here's the deal. It's a really good deal. That's what it comes down to. The mini sessions that I do once a year, if people, you know, if they, let's talk about the, the brand session, not the headshot session, because that's a bit different in a smaller package. But if someone buys a brand session and then they upsell the gallery. So the way that I do these sessions is they pay 350. For the session itself, and that's 10 images. And then if they want more than that, they can buy additional images. So for, I think it's like 25 an image or something like that for 250, they can get the whole gallery. For some of them, that's a really killer deal. Cause some of these galleries are actually huge. Like it's amazing what we can do in 20 minutes, especially if it's a returning client and we're just like really efficient. So it's a really killer deal. All in someone would be spending about 600 for potentially a gallery of like 50 images now, granted it's all one location. It's all one outfit. There's, there's plenty of limitations, but that's still a lot of photos. For 600, that's a fourth of what I'm typically charging for a full brand session. It is a really good deal. That also makes it extremely easy for me to sell. And that's kind of the point of mini sessions. So yes, it's a really amazing deal. If you look at it on paper and you're like, Maddie, why the heck are you charging a fourth of what you typically charge for these mini sessions? Like it might not make sense. But because I'm able to stack them throughout the day and, you know, walk away having made six, seven, 8, 000 in a day of many sessions, it's also a really good day for me. I talked a little bit about this in episode 50, but I love this day. It's one of my favorite days of the year. I get to meet so many incredible people. I set goals for myself, like this last. Uh session day, I think I had I think I ended up counting 25 people. We had some issues with like Cancellations and reschedules because these poor people got stuck a few people literally got stuck in their driveways. I live in South Dakota There's a lot of snow we have an unreal amount of snow right now and the plows had come by and like Locked people in their driveways. Basically it was a bad deal. So there were some issues like that, but I think I had about 25 people on my calendar, that's 25 people who need a headshot or who need a brand session, who I get to talk to and be like, tell me about your job. Tell me about what you do. Why now? Like, why did you book a session now? Did you recently get a promotion? Like, this is why I love brand photography. And this is why I started coaching. I love talking to business owners and professionals. So I get to do that 25 times in one day. Are you kidding? Like it's so much fun. I mentioned this earlier, but these are also so easy for me to sell. And that changed this year. That was the biggest change of like how I approached sales for the mini session day, and now I'm getting ahead of myself. So I am going to pause for just a second and we're going to walk through all of the things that I did this year to make 2, 000 more ish DVD, uh, than I did last year. Okay. So what I did differently this time, some of this is different than last year and some of it is just kind of amplified from last year. Last year, I talked about launching with a wait list. I did that again this year, but I feel like it was amplified. One, I had people on that wait list from last year. Some of them had ended up booking a session from last year. Some of them hadn't, but I already was starting with like a pretty good wait list by the time I launched, I had over a hundred people on this wait list. Now that might not sound like a ton, but when I only have about 25 spots, that's a lot of people, especially like, this is just local. It's not like. I have a ton of people. Sometimes I'll have people drive from out of town, but it's never very far. So it's a hundred local people who are interested in the session. I was thrilled with that. And that was a big reason why I raised the goal with my business coaches encouragement, because it was like, Oh my gosh, I have a hundred people on this wait list. I only need 25 of them to say yes. One of the things that I did throughout the year was anytime someone would get in touch about a headshot or even like they would get in touch about a mini, mini brand session, which I don't offer unless it's on mini day. I would just send them the wait list and say, like, if you want that pricing, I offer them once a year in January. There you go. And so I was building this waitlist throughout the year. And then I started building it more publicly in about October. So I would just post on social media here and there and say like, Hey, don't forget mini session day is coming up in January. Um, you can join this waitlist to be the first to know. So I feel like I was a bit more planful about how I was using the waitlist. I think last year. I started building the waitlist about a month before, and that was fine. I would still, like, I would do that again, but you could definitely see the difference between doing it a month before and building it, like, all year. Um, and that was pretty evident this time. Now, this brings me to the question of, am I going to do mini sessions once a year or make it more of a biannual thing? And I don't know what the answer to that is yet, to be honest with you. Um, I do think a lot of why the mini sessions sell as well as they do. is because there's scarcity, right? There's 25 spots a year. They're offered once a year. However, I also realized that one day of the year is not going to work for everyone on the list. And so I have considered doing it twice a year, like once in January and once in July or August, because July especially tends to be pretty slow for me. But also it's slow because I want it to be slow, so I can't decide how much I want to do that, but there is definitely a risk of, you know, when I'm sending that waitlist out to build my waitlist throughout the year, there's definitely a risk of people being like, lady, I am not waiting nine months for a headshot. And I totally get that. Um, waiting six months for a headshot might be too long for people. So I'm considering right now what that would look like to do it twice a year. It makes me nervous that I would be able to replicate, um, these numbers twice a year if it's not, like, quite as scarce as it is right now with only offering them once a year, but it also kind of sounds like a fun challenge. So, stay tuned for that. Do you ever get decision fatigue? I consider myself a pretty decisive person, but as a business owner who makes a million decisions every day, It can feel like a lot. And by the time my husband asks me where I want to go for dinner, I am tapped. If one of the decisions you're making right now as a photographer is, is offering brand photography, right? For me, let me help you. I am offering a free five day mini course, all about making the move to brand photography. In it, I'll answer the five biggest objections I hear from photographers wanting to make the move and give you easy, actionable tips that you can start implementing immediately. To sign up for the mini course, go to maddiepichon. com slash brand photographer. That's maddiepichon. com slash brand photographer. See you inside the mini course. Another thing that I did differently this year was I filled almost the entire day Before I did a single thing on social media. So when I was talking on social media and building that wait list on social media, I was telling people that the email list would get first access to book a spot, um, really trying to like drive home the point that I wanted them to join the email list. I, I have been trying for the past. I don't know, probably three or four years at this point to make it. So the majority of my sales for anything are coming through email rather than social. I just, I love social media, but one, I want social media to continue to be fun for me. I don't want to have to rely on it to drive sales in my business. And two, it's like really unpredictable. So that's another reason why I don't want to rely on it to drive sales. Like, what if I have a launch and Instagram is down or my stuff, is it getting shown to people or, you know, whatever there's, there's a million reasons why I would rather depend on email. So I was really driving people over there. And then just kind of playing it by ear as to how much I would end up booking up before I said something on Instagram. I knew that I was going to say something. on Instagram, but I didn't know when. And so I think Spots opened up to the email list on Tuesday, January 3rd at 10 a. m. I had an email just ready to go out and I did not open it up to social media until January 6th, which was Friday. And so by that point I had the majority of the day full. The morning for sure was like completely full. And then there were kind of some spots scattered around in the afternoon. So that felt really good. And it also made me more confident to sell the remaining spots because half of them were already booked. And so I wasn't coming from a place of like, you know, book now these, these aren't going to last. And like, not really feeling that that's the case you've probably experienced that, or like heard someone selling on, on social media, like you need to book these spots because they're going to fly off the shelves and you can kind of tell the difference, I think, between someone who really believes that and like, wants you to act quickly because they know that they're going to go. And honestly, that's how I felt about the mini sessions, but you can tell the difference between that. And someone who like kind of has that, like that frantic, like scarcity, uh, mindset essentially. And the fact that I had half of the day already booked before I said a single thing on Instagram or sold them on Instagram, it just made me feel more confident to say like, Hey, these spots are going really quickly. Make sure you grab one. So I don't know if that makes sense, but that it just felt really good. Made it easier to sell. Another thing that I did, because these felt so easy to sell, they felt like such a no brainer. Like, I literally, when I think about mini session day, I'm like, why would you not book a mini session? That's genuinely how I feel. Everyone should book a mini session. Everyone needs a mini session. Everyone needs a bomb photo of themselves that makes them feel good. Like, everyone should book a mini session. Because I feel that way. It was really easy for me to reach out to people who I wanted to work with and say, Hey, I think this would be a really good fit for you. And so that's what I did. I sent direct messages to people and I haven't done that before, but it felt so like genuine and authentic. And yeah, genuine is the best word for it because I, I was really excited. And there were a few people that I really was like, I would love to work with you. Like, I would love for you to come to the studio on this day. So letting myself be excited and invite people in was a big difference from last year and it just felt really good. And I think I probably sent like five DMs and I want to say only two of them, but like, it wasn't a massive amount of people who ended up booking because I sent DMS. But one person in particular who I've wanted to work with for years, I sent her a DM and I was like, Hey, this is a super thirsty, but like, I would love to work with you and I'm offering these mini sessions and like, here you go. Here's the link. And I did send these DMs before I announced it on social media. And so again, really trying to fill those spots before I said anything on social. Um, and that was also something that I said to them, like, Hey, you're getting early access, you're getting first access. I'll announce these on Friday, but until then, like, I would love for you to grab a spot. And anyway, one person in particular who I really wanted to work with ended up booking and we had like, it was just so good. It was just so good. And I'm so thankful that I reached out to her and like asked if she wanted to book a session because I have been wanting to work with her. And sometimes people need to be invited, you know, and they can always say no, not the right time. And I had one person who I would really like to work with who said, Nope, we're not interested right now. I was like, okay, no, I had multiple people say that. I had multiple people say that. And that's totally fine. Thank you. We are big fans of free will up in here, right? Like people can always tell you it's not the right time. It's not something I'm interested in, but it can also feel really good to be invited. Because how many times have you thought that you maybe want to do something and then you start spiraling like, I don't know if this is right for me. Is this what I should do? Is this how I should spend my money? I don't think my business is actually like would work with a mini session. Like I had a few people who said, I kind of want to do one, but I don't think it would work for my business. And I was like, hold my beer. Like, let me tell you all the different ways. That I can make this work for your business. So inviting people in and letting them know, Hey, I was thinking about you. I think you would be a great fit. No pressure, but here's the link. That can actually be a really great way to make sales and also to help someone make a decision. Another thing that I did differently with many sessions this year is I slightly raised the price. So this was something that I wasn't going to do until kind of the last minute last year. Headshot mini sessions were a hundred dollars for three images and then upsells if they wanted more or a brand mini session was 350 for 10 images also with upsells. And I like that these are low priced. I'm very happy with the price point. The whole point is that they are low priced. However, As I was thinking about it, I realized that last year I ended up booking a lot of headshot sessions, which is great. Like typically I'm about 50 percent headshots and 50 percent brand minis. And the headshot sessions were just really, really low priced. And again, nothing wrong with that, but I felt like I had a little bit of wiggle room to raise that a bit to give me a little bit more profit. Uh, without making like massive changes. And so this year I raised the price from a hundred dollars for a headshot mini session to $150 for a headshot mini session. Um, this, I think, did make a pretty significant difference. I mean, you're talking about what would that be, like a couple hundred dollars after you have booked 10 headshot mini sessions? So I will likely, I mean, never say never, but I don't super anticipate these prices going up. I like 150. I like 350. If they go up, it's probably going to be looked by like 25 or 50. And again, I don't know that they will, cause I'm happy with the price point, but that definitely did help. So if you're doing a mini session day like mine, and you're doing headshots and brand mini sessions, and you're booking a lot of headshots, Increasing that price just a little bit just gives you a little more wiggle room and makes it a bit more worth your time because a hundred dollars is a really low price point. There's nothing wrong with it. A hundred is great, but I was really happy with 150 and I still booked, I think the exact same amount of headshots as I did last year. I also changed my marketing strategy around mini sessions this year. And that was because of a secondary goal that I had, which was, I want to finish mini session day, having made X amount of money, about 7, 000. And I also want to have my next couple of months booked. Like I want to be booked through about April. And so I knew that it didn't make a ton of sense to focus my marketing just on booking mini session. Because then once mini session day had come and gone, or those spots were booked or someone was busy on that day, like that's kind of where the call to action would end. Like if they can't book a mini session, what else is there? And so instead I focused on just brand photography. the importance of brand photography, the confidence boost of having great photos of yourself, like why you should book a brand photography session. And then during the promotional period of the mini session day, the call to action, that's what changed. So the call to action was book a mini session, mini session day is coming up, book a session here. But the content was more focused on general brand photography. So this is a little bit nuanced, but I, for example, then I would not be saying things in a social media post about look at all the ways you can use only 10 images. because ideally I want them to book a big session. Like I want them to book a full session. And so I'm not saying things like, look at all the things we can do with only 10 images or look at all of the photos that we can get in just 20 minutes. That was definitely an underlying result, but I was more promoting. Here's why you should invest in brand photography. Here's why having these photos is so important. Here's how it makes your marketing easier. Those types of things. So it's a small shift, but it made a really big difference. And I ended up with six inquiries for larger brand sessions. And again, I'm still doing consult calls for those, but as of right now, I'm booked through about March and I'm anticipating that that will just continue over the next couple of weeks. Again, this is, I'm recording this at the end of January. So that felt like a huge win for me. And I know that that's what was happening because I had people sending me DMS and saying. Hey, I'm not available for mini session day, but I actually am interested in a full session or, Hey, I have a small team, so I don't think that we make sense for mini session day, but I would love to talk to you about a full session. So that feels like a really huge win that I can walk away from a 7, 000 day. And have a pipeline of full sessions that are ready to schedule for the next couple of months. So that was a change from last year. And I absolutely love how it all worked out. The last thing that I did, and this is something that my business coach has been really pushing with me over the last couple of months, I tend to kind of like fizzle out toward the end of launches, I get really excited at the beginning and then I'm like, just kind of stopped talking about it. And so that was something that I did not want to do this time because with something as small as a mini session It is extremely likely that people will book up until the 11th hour. And I know that, but it's really hard to keep talking about something when you're like, you know, thinking, Oh, no, one's going to book. So I was really conscious this year about promoting up until the very last minute. And I ended up booking a mini session the day before the shoot. And I had like maybe an hour left on my calendar to book. Like I was pretty booked up and I still ended up booking a last minute mini session because I promoted up until the very end. So that was really, I'm so glad that that happened because I think it's very easy to just fizzle out toward the ends of launches. You're like, Oh, people don't want to hear from me anymore. Everyone is bored of this content. Like everyone is just sick of me. And so to see it work out the way that I hoped it would was really cool. I also think that this was a little bit easier to do because again, my marketing was not book a mini session. My marketing was the importance of brand photography. So it felt a little bit. easier to keep talking about that and then just slide in, Hey, book a mini session, as opposed to focusing really heavily on here's why many sessions are so great. So those are all of the things that I did differently or amplified from last year's mini session day. I'm so pleased with how this day went. Like it really is one of my favorite days in my business. Getting to meet all of these entrepreneurs and professionals. It is truly such a joy to be able to talk to all of these people and just like spend the whole day at my studio and create amazing photos for them and talk about how they're going to use them and know that they're going to use these images to grow their business or to grow their own personal brand. Like it's, I absolutely. Even if I made less money, I would continue doing this day. And I think that that is a big reason as to why it's worked because I, I so love it, like it's really such a joyful day for me. And on top of that, to be able to continue to come back year over year and refine it and really make it better, not just for me, but also for my people feels really good. Thank you so much for listening to Take It Personally. If you haven't already, would you head over to iTunes and leave us a review? This is the best way to let other photographers know about the show and help keep us creating content you crave. And if you want more tips and tools to build your personal photography brand, head over to my website, MaddiePichon. com. Here, you can access my downloadable ultimate personal brand session shot list to get your clients singing your praises and browse my blog for more trade secrets to help you hone your craft and grow your business. Love to learn while you listen, visit MaddiePachon. com and click on podcast for all things. Take it personally. From show notes to recent episodes and incredible guest profiles. Remember friend, the most important part of any brand is the people behind it. Branding and business is personal, so let's take it personally.