Make a new (profitable) price list. Like-TODAY!

Pricing

It’s a big topic, and there are so many ways that you could structure yours.

I have been tweaking and changing my pricing since 2011 and I have tried many different ways.

I’ve copied other photographers price structure❌

I’ve multiplied my cost by 4 and charged that❌

I’ve made a bunch of packages and collections, adding wall art and others additions to each.❌

I’ve tried the “reveal wall” and I’ve tried “you only buy what you love”❌

I’ve offered a folio box and included the digital copy of what you buy.❌

 But nothing increased my sales and made me as much money as what I am doing now (and have been doing since 2016)

Keeping it SIMPLE.

Before we get to structuring your pricing, let’s talk about WHY it’s important to get this part right for a profitable business.

More bookings means more money, right?

Wrong❌

There are a couple of problems with that thinking…

1. If you shoot too much (too often), you will not have time for marketing, or being with your family, or doing things you love, or- you know- sleeping!  Booking more coients, so you can make more money will lead to burn out.  Your goal should be to charge more so you can book LESS. 
   I mean: Why shoot 4 times a week making $700 per shoot, when you can shoot ONCE per week and make $3k from that one client. 
   Makes more sense, doesn’t it?
2. If you are not marketing consistently- then you will NOT be booked consistently. It’s a simple as that. 
   Charging more and shooting less, will allow you dedicated time to make sure you are fuelling the fire with new inquiries and bookings. And running this business (or any business) is MOSTLY marketing.  If you don't like marketing you have 2 choices: 1- do it anyway or 2.don't have a business. Harsh? Maybe.
   but👇🏻
   No marketing =  No clients = No Business

 
Ok fine. You get it. You need to charge more but how much EXACTLY? 

The way to figure out what you specifically need to make per client is to look at your numbers. 

[disclaimer] You should be doing a full CODB (cost of doing business), but for this example, lets use a simple calculator.

(download your own copy of this calculator for free here)

Working backwards, we first determine how much money you need or want to make. Maybe you want to make full time hours to replace your current job, or maybe you just need a bit of extra money and want to do this part time. 

Whatever YOUR situation is, put that amount in the calculator.  Now you can see the amount of sales you need to make PER YEAR to reach that goal. 

For this example let's say you want to TAKE HOME $70,000 per year (this is your NET income, NOT sales)

You can see from this example, that you will need to make approx $175,000.00 in sales per year.

Sounds scary? 

Stick with me.

Next we decide how much you want to work each year. How much time do you want to take off? Do you want to have every summer off to be with your kids, like I did when they were younger?  Do you want to have a long weekend every week?

This is for YOU to decide. 

Whatever it is, put your number of working weeks in the next box…and please don’t put 52 weeks!  You do not want to work 365 days per year!

Then plug in how many shoots per week you want to do.  1-2 is good. 3 is max, AND 3 will ONLY work if you have someone doing your editing for you!  If you are shooting and editing, keep it at 1-2 per week (otherwise, remember, you won't have time to keep your marketing up to stay consistently booked)

Working with our example, let's say you want to have 1-2 shoots per week, so we will plug in 1.5 shoots per week. So 6 shoots per month. 

Sounds doable, yeah? 

Now you see the total number of shoots you will need to do each year, and what your average sale needs to be per client so you can reach your goals.

Download the calculator and play around with the numbers, so you can see how things change based on you working more or less, or changing your money goals.

It helps you understand that charging a low amount just to get more bookings does not make sense…because if that is the case, something will need to change on the calculator:

If you lower the amount you want to charge- then you will need to do more shoots, take less time off, or lower the amount of money you want to make.

Good?

OK. Now that you know what you need to make per client, in this case $2400, then if someone says NO to those prices, THAT'S OK… because if you take the time to shoot for a lesser amount, you are taking away from other clients who will pay you more, then something will need to change on this spreadsheet 

The more you raise your prices the more you will hear no when people inquire…. AND THAT IS TOTALLY OK! Because you don't want to have more clients- you want to have LESS and make the same amount

This is literally just a mindset shift and seeing your goals and numbers like this really helps you with that shift.

Yes, it can feel bad when people reach out and they are interested but when they hear your prices the disappear or say you are too expensive.

I get it… it can be discouraging… and it can make you be tempted to lower your prices…But that's why we did the calculator, right?  To figure out what your target income is per client.

Now you know what you need to make per client, and you can structure your pricing in a way that works for YOU and your business goals.

Alright.  Now go and make that PROFITABLE price list!

NEXT STEPS (WHAT TO DO NOW)👇🏻

If you are still feeling stuck about raising your prices, and you are struggling to understand HOW to introduce your prices, HOW to find more people to actually PAY those prices, and HOW to structure and set up your new price list,

I've put together a mini-workshop, called The Price List Makeover. Which makes pricing simple (even if the thought or raising your prices makes you want to day-drink😅)

For only $17 you will:

• Determine your target price based on your goals (like we did above but we will do it together)
• Put together and design your new simple 3 page price list
• Discuss a simple way to structure you new price list (you probably haven't heard this before)
• Find out WHY you need to have a simple, easy to understand pricing structure (*hint- it's so you can make more money!)
• Bust through any reasons you may have around why you dont think you can raise your prices
• We will discuss why raising your prices may not have worked for you in the past (and what to do about that)
• What to do when people say no to your prices
• How (and when) to introduce your prices when you get an inquiry and if you should put prices on your website

 
By the end of this Mini-Workshop, you will walk away with a brand new, custom-made price list, built for your success that you can start using RIGHT AWAY with your very next client.

Click HERE to grab the on demand workshop for only $17