December 29, 2005

• I WAS THE CHEAPEST PHOTOGRAPHER AROUND WHEN I WAS 24…
  BUT READ THIS NEWSPAPER ARTICLE
  

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  I’m
  in the middle of collecting my show and tell examples for my upcoming
  National Tour, and on this tour my dead set goal is to help wedding
  photographers be successful in the BUSINESS of wedding photography. 
  Until now, my lectures have generally been about photographic
  techniques, how to shoot better digital, etc.  For the first time I’m
  doing a program about the biz. Merchandising, pricing, contracts,
  booking, etc.  
  
  

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  I came across
  this very interesting article in my warehouse from the Los Angeles
  Herald Examiner.  I was 24 years old, fifteen months out of college,
  living out of my parent’s little apartment and operating out of a
  bedroom.  Three months after this I went on my first 26 city national
  lecture tour for Art Leather on how to be successful in wedding
  photography.  I was so impatient then to get things done.  In my first
  year I booked 49 weddings for a $150 fee (no time limit!  No required minimum purchase!  Insane!), and did over $64,000 in revenue and put $16,000 in savings.  Double that roughly for the equal in today’s dollars.
  

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  How
  I did it was due to merchandising.  I spent my senior year in college
  with a notebook in my hand sketching notes and a concept to accomplish
  two things in wedding photography – 1) book a LOT of weddings and 2)
  earn a lot with each wedding I booked.  That planning worked!
  

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  I
  charged lower than anybody anywhere in my fee.  Even in the 1986 when I
  did $177,190 on 63 weddings, I was only charging $275 to shoot a
  wedding.  Some of my long-time followers will remember these lectures
  and the anger it stirred among some – how I was so inexpensive in my
  fees, but wound up with average sales higher than anybody else.  I
  believe I was still charging a $275 fee the year I bought my first home
  for $400 grand at age 26.  Looking back – that was the power of
  merchandising.
  

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  The reason I’m
  doing this tour is to help photographers see clearly how effective
  clever merchandising can work, and how very very basic rules can have
  wicked success.  The most bizarre thing is in today’s market, I see
  literally NOBODY doing the merchandising techniques that I used in
  those days.  So for those who can make my seminar, I’m going to reveal
  the strategy to freaking nail down a merchandising workflow that will
  produce multiples.
  

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  To see the full-sized article (don’t laugh at the photo, ok?) CLICK HERE (you may have to click to zoom once your browser opens it)
  

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  If
  you want to come and hear me personally tell my story and how these
  merchandising techniques can help you increase your business in the new
  year, CLICK HERE.

  • 12:59 pm
  • 2 Comments