If you were a lawn mowing company, what would you do to stay busy in the winter?
You may or may not have guessed right…..
You start a shoveling business!
That’s right – you shovel snow.
Many seasonal business do this. When they have an “S” curve business where there’s a sharp spike UP in business and sharp spikes DOWN in business part(s) of the year, they need to “add another S curve” to even it out and earn great income all year long, instead of taking a loss parts of the year.
This is an excellent example of how photographers can act like the lawn guy and create their OWN income in the slow December through February.
So what can YOU do to create an opposite “S” curve in the winter months?
Well, you’ve got a few options.
You can take a seasonal job shoveling snow…just kidding, I’m here to help you grow your photo business not take on manual labor, am I right?
The other option is to create a new type of portrait session for those post-holiday months.
The key here is that people CAN’T book this session in your “busy season.”
So offering a family portrait special?
Not going to fly…because why would they book you in January when they can in August?
Here’s what I do personally, and what I’ve taught other photographers to do:
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I photograph tween portrait sessions, and it has a twist that gets moms super excited about it. This creates an “S” curve that packs my December-March, the time when I’m usually dead. This adds stability to my business, to get me out of “feast or famine” mode.
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I market them in a way that gets moms emotional about it.
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I share my WHY and moms love it. (Read below!) Here’s the thing – tween sessions aren’t just about my “bottom line” or “making money,” either.It’s also part of my mission……part of what I BELIEVE in…
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I execute my marketing and it takes very little time…
I won’t go too in depth here, because you can learn exactly how I market my session at this link, step by step, so you can create that “S” curve revenue.
Obviously there are other types of sessions you could take on.
So WHY do I choose tweens?
TWO reasons:
#1: Besides the amazing impact you can have on tweens, you ALSO have perhaps even a BIGGER impact on their MOMS…
Because let’s face it, Moms want, more than ANYTHING, to do even something tiny to help their tween feel better about themselves.
But often? They feel shut out from their tweens. They don’t know if their tween is having trouble with the mean girls or not, because THIS is the time in the life of a tween where mom just isn’t “cool” anymore.
#2: You can have massive explosive impact on your own bank account and the way your business runs, when you do these right.
You see, there isn’t a preconceived “way” that tween sessions are done, unlike other markets, where a boucoir session is usually 2-3 changes, includes hair and makeup, and lasts 90 minutes – 3 hours…We have the chance to CHANGE things, streamline things, shorten things, make it much more efficient. Therefore, we make more per hour.
Real stats from my books:
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I grew my income 2.5x for the first quarter I did tween sessions, and exceeded that every year since – ALL because of Tween Sessions
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My average hourly income for tween sessions is $267 (including marketing, booking, shooting, prepping, editing, selling, reminders, and ALL things associated)
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My average senior/family session hourly income is $134 (again, including all time associated)
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My average wedding+ engagement hourly income is $113
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I need to bring in $103/hour in my business just to break even and pay myself a modest salary…..so spending time on tween sessions is a NO BRAINER.
That makes my tween sessions INSANELY more profitable than anything else I do.
Are you starting to see just how profitable tween sessions can be?
You’re sitting here nodding your head. You’re wondering how exactly to implement tween sessions in the slow season even in your area that has a lot of competition. You love the mission behind tween sessions, and are seeing that it can help your bank account while ALSO helping others, adding value to their lives where they quite literally need it most.
I won’t leave you hanging – I have a free class that will show you the 5 steps to booking these sessions, and you can register here.
Are you in?
Before I sign off, I promised to tell you a bit about my mission not just as a photographer, not just as a parent, not just as an educator, but as a human.
It’s my mission to make sure the “starving photographer artist” becomes a thing of the past.
But my mission is ALSO to help tweens have an unshakeable belief in themselves before hitting high school.
It’s ALSO to help moms of tweens finally feel like there IS something they can do for their tween, instead of feeling COMPLETELY helpless! To help SHOW them they are amazing moms that can indeed make a positive impact on their tweens.
If your beliefs are similar to mine, then learning how to book tweens for impact on people and your own business could really be inline with YOU and YOUR mission, and I encourage you to take the next step forward…