10. I Can't Even Give Away A Free Session

What if I told you that two little words are single-handedly ruining your business and the entire photography industry?

That's right. I said it.

Model Calls are destroying photographers' businesses. Model calls put the wrong message into the world. They tell your potential clients that you aren’t worth it, and in the long term they damage your brand.

After all, why would anyone pay for portraits when you are desperately trying to give away free sessions?

What if the problem could be fixed by simply spinning things the right way. What if I told you that there is a way for model calls to be done the right way?

Tune in to this week's episode to learn the correct way to build your photography portfolio while putting money in your pocket and without decreasing the value of your end product.
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Transcript

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Karinda Kinsler: 7:29:45

Welcome to mindset and Money Mastery for photographers the podcast, we help overwhelmed photographers make more money while simplifying their business by mastering there, you guessed it, mindset and money. tune in each week for practical and actionable tips to take your photography business up and up. Let's dive right in. I see it time and time again, people posting all over photography, Facebook groups saying, I can't even give away a free session. Nobody wants to work with me. I'm posting model call after model call, and it's crickets or the people I'm getting are terrible to deal with. And let me let you in on a little secret. The words model call are ruining your photography, business. And honestly, model calls are ruining the photography industry. I said it, they are ruining the industry. Because model calls are not good for business. And they create this mentality that there are photographers everywhere that are desperate just to get somebody in front of their camera. So why on earth should anybody be coming to our photographer and paying a lot of money? If photographers are just giving their stuff away for free, these two little words tell a very strong story. A model call says I'm desperate. I can't get clients through the door. I don't know what I'm doing. And I don't value my own time or talent. And it makes our models feel like they're doing us a favor. Like they should be getting something for free. Like you aren't a real business owner. And you sure as heck don't deserve to be paid if you're giving away all these free sessions. And let's take this a step further. A model called a gives away the farm and includes all of the digital files says to everyone that your images aren't worth anything that they're worthless. After all, why would somebody come to you and pay you for a session and pay for their portraits when they've been watching you for months or even years doing model call. And doing these model calls and giving away everything for free. Model calls make your clients feel like they are doing you a favor by coming and being your model. And in the long run are extremely detrimental to your brand image. Model calls create this terrible mentality from your clients. Even when they share their portraits on social media. I kid you not I see this time and time again. I see my friends responding to these model calls. And then I see them sharing the photos. Most recently, I saw a mom post on social media and say something just like this. She said my daughter did a model call for a new photographer, and she did this photographer a favor. The photos are so good because my daughter is a great model. I think she has a future as a model here. Let me know if anyone else needs a model for something she's available. Now, this post could have sounded so much different. If this model call would have been spun in a different way. If this model call would have been done in a way that builds value to this photographers brand. And that builds up the industry as a whole. Now, a model call spa incorrectly. That avoids those two little words can sound like this when people are sharing their images on social media. My daughter was selected for a special portrait session with Kirinda didn't Kirinda do a phenomenal job making her look gorgeous. The experience was amazing. She made it so easy. Most importantly, she gave my daughter an entirely new level of confidence. Just look at her she looks like something right out of a magazine. Karina is truly magic, if you get a chance, I highly recommend working with her. Do you see the difference? And the two types of people? The difference here between these two people is the way that they were approached and the way that they were handled through a model call type experience. Let's think about it this way. How can you spin this in a way that makes you sound in desire? How do you spin it in a way that makes it sound like you're doing them a favor, like you're providing them with a gift like you're providing them with something amazing. Let's step back for a second and look at an example outside of the photography industry. Because I think that this is the best way to show you the difference between a model called done right and a model called done wrong. Let's pretend like we are are talking about sushi? If somebody stands on the corner of the road and says, Who wants free sushi? Would you hesitate? Before you picked up that piece of free sushi? Would you think? Why is the sushi free? Is it not any good? Why are they so desperate to give it away? Is it expired? If nobody's buying it, it must be terrible. Maybe you think is there a catch? This must not be legitimate sushi. This is what happens to photographers, when they are giving away free portrait sessions. This is what happens to photographers, when they are doing model call outs. They sound desperate, they sound like there's something wrong with it. They sound like nobody wants it. People assume there must be a catch or must not be legitimate. Instead, if someone said, this phenomenal, world renowned chef is setting up a tasting for his brand new fusion sushi restaurant, he will only be accepting 10 people at this tasting. And each and every one of them will be hand selected by the chef himself. This tasting is typically a $300 value. But for this special event, if you're selected, you will get a complimentary seat. Apply here. You'd probably think, holy crap, this sounds amazing. I love sushi. How cool would it be selected? I hope he picks me. You see, it's all about the way you frame your messaging. You don't want to sound desperate, you don't want to sound like you can't even give away a free session. Because if you do sound like you can't give away a free session, nobody's going to want it. It's important that you frame yourself as an expert, that you frame yourself as valuable and limited and you assert to your potential clients that your time and your talent is valuable. Now let's look at these two people who are they're selling sushi or giving away sushi. And scenario one, the person takes an entire plate of sushi to the corner. And he gives it away. Although a lot of people tell him no. And a lot of people look at him like he's crazy. And a lot of people are like, Oh, this has to be bad. He feels like a total failure at the end of the day. Like his efforts were a bust. He didn't get any clients to come into his restaurant. And people who took that free thing. Were so ungrateful. Some of them even complained and it was free. Now let's look at scenario two, the guy who framed his messaging in the correct way. In scenario two, the experience was amazing. The chef put together a five star experience. At the end of the event, social media was buzzing, people were raving about how cool the event was. The chef offered those attendees the opportunity to buy some more sushi once they finished their complimentary sushi, to even take some sushi home to give the same experience to a friend to buy extra drinks, to get dessert to do all of these things extra on top of what he included with his amazing experience. And guess what? He made a lot of money. He made money because people wanted to spend more they wanted to get more they wanted to invest. He set this up as a business person. He set this up in a way that he could still be profitable and make money even though he did it in a way that was meant to bring people into his restaurant. He made money. He was happy. More people came more people were excited to work with him. Whereas guy number one who was handing out that free sushi on the corner, went home defeated, wondering how he's ever going to keep his restaurant a life. Both people served the exact same sushi. Actually, truth be told the guy on the corner handing out the sushi, that his Sushi was even better than the guy that created the experience. But nobody knows or cared because he presented himself in the wrong way. One of these people knew their value and they're worth now I'm gonna ask you in your portrait business. Which guy are you? Are you the guy standing on the corner trying to give away free sushi? Are you going to Facebook groups and saying nobody wants it? Nobody wants my free portraits. I can't even get a model Hall to work. And the model calls that I do have are terrible and I hate the people and they're miserable to deal with, or are you the guy that's framing it in the right way? And providing an amazing experience and giving himself opportunity to make more money at the end of the day? Are you ready to stop being the guy that's standing on the corner, giving away free sushi? Are you tired of it? Then it's time to change. It's time to decide that your time your talent In your energy, your portraits are valuable, and you will no longer give them away, you will no longer be desperate, you will make the decision from this day forward to stop using the word model call to stop sounding desperate to make sure that you are bolstering yourself and your business up to make sure that you're providing an experience to make sure that you're being a good business person and leaving room on the table to make more money. Now, you're probably sitting there going, but how, where do I even began Kirinda. Nobody wants what I'm serving. Nobody wants my sushi. And what I'm going to say to you is that, first of all, as hard as it is to say, and to tell all of you, you have to get your business basics in line, you have to build your foundation, because without a strong foundation, your business will crumble. Without a strong foundation, you cannot give away the sushi, you cannot provide an experience. If you don't even know what an experience is, you need to take a step back, and you needed to build your foundation. Now what is the foundation look like in a photography, business, a foundation in your photography business, start with one thing first, it really starts with your mindset. Because ultimately your mindset could be the number one thing that's keeping you on the corner handing out the free sushi, your mindset and your inability to believe in yourself. And your value in your worth might be the biggest thing holding you back, you have to believe that what you are serving is good enough for people to want to buy it, you have to believe that you are worthy, that your work is worthy, that you are talented, that you should be paid well, you have to believe those things first. So if you have a hint of doubt in the back of your mind, about your worth, your personal worth, or your portraits worth, or your business's worth, or any of those things, and you feel like nobody's gonna buy it, then you need to stop and take a look at your mindset. Once your mindset is all fattened up, and you start to believe that these things are really possible for you, then it's time to dive into your business, then it's time to look at your pricing. To have goals to know exactly how much money you need to be making to live the life you want to live to do the things you want to do, how much money you need to make per client. Do you know right here, and now how much money you need to be making per client? Can you say Kirinda? I need 30 clients per year and they need to pay me an average of $4,000 each that will meet my income goals? If not, that's your next step. After you do that, you need to ask yourself, How can I get my clients to that number? And you need to come up with a game plan? Are you going to charge a large session fee up front that includes all the digital files? Are you going to do a hybrid method of selling art and including some digital files are you going to go pure in person sales and sell wall art and albums and all of the things, decide what you're going to do? Figure out how to set your pricing up next. And once you have your pricing setup, then you need to work on your client experience. Now remember, I haven't said a word about marketing. All of these things have to come before your marketing is done, you need to set your client experience up next, you need to know how to provide the five star experience just like the guy with the restaurant, who invited the people in and provided them with his amazing experience, and left his clients raving about it. That had social media buzzing about what he did and when he provided to them. That's what needs to happen next, then you need to know how to deliver. You need to know how to follow through you need to know how to get those images in your clients hands what however, that might look for you in your business, whether it is WallArt, or albums or digital files or whatever it may be, you need to know what the end game looks like. Once you know those things, then you can do your model call without ever using the word model call. You can do it in a smart way. You can sit there and look at your business and say how do I get people in my door? How do I take people through this process? How do I gift them a little bit and allow them to spend more money and then you put together a plan. And then you invite the people in and you work with them and you give to them graciously and you tell them this amazing opportunity that they have to work with you. And you believe it when you tell them this because you've taken care of your mindset first, and then after you blow their socks off, and you provide this phenomenal experience and these beautiful portraits they're gonna want to throw money at you, they're going to want to get more, they're going to want more of your portraits, they're going to want to tell their friends, they're going to brag about it on social media, and they're going to become your biggest cheerleaders in your business, then after you master that, and you can do that with those people, then your clients will start coming in your door. But ultimately, in the beginning, you do have to drag people through your door. And you can do this with a modified or smart version of a model call just for the love of everything. Please don't use the word model call. So let me explain to you what this can look like in your business. And kind of my rules for this. What you might not know is that I've been in business for 10 years, when I started my business, I did weddings and babies. And back when I did weddings, and babies, I did some really terrible model costs. And in the experience I had and in the process, I dealt with some of the most vicious, ferocious people in the world who turned into nightmares. I still have nightmares about one of these people, guys, I'm serious, like I had some terrible experiences. And what I learned is that when you give people free things, they treat you like crap. And they take advantage of you and they become giant bullies because they want everything for free. So when you give things away for free, you have to do it in a smart way. You have to be clear and concise about what they're getting and not getting. And you also have to do it in a way that builds value in yourself in your business. When I started my equine photography brand, five years in to my business, I knew that I had to build my portfolio, I knew that I had to drag people through my door, I knew that I had to do something to get people to come to me. And what I call passion projects that was born. I call these passion projects, I don't call these model calls, their passion projects, they're things that I do to fill my calendar, or to build a new genre or to speak to my wife, or sometimes I just do them because I want to do them. And because it's important to me for a reason. When I started my business, I did what I call a passion project, or not my whole business, but my equine photography brand. I did a passion project called 365 days horses. And I set out to photograph 365 horses in a year. But I did it in a smart way. And I made money from it, I built value, I built an experience, I built something cool that people wanted to be a part of, and they were vying to be a part of it. I didn't give them anything, they got their session, they didn't get any images, they didn't get a print credit, they didn't get anything. If they wanted their portraits, they had to buy them. And they were told that up front very clearly. And I'll tell you what, when you deal with 365 people in a year, and photographing that many clients in a year, you get really good at being very clear with people about things so that you don't have people that are angry at you or disappointed. It did an image real deal with all of these people. And the people that wanted to buy portraits did did everyone buy? No, but that's okay, I didn't need everyone to buy. I did it in a smart way. And I built my brands in a way that made me money, and it built my name. And I got out there and I built my portfolio that's sure as heck without doing a model call. Everybody was so excited about it, it was a big deal. Now, I'm going to give you a bit of a warning here. I do not recommend going out and doing 365 anything, it was insane. I had people working for me doing stuff for me. It was a very big process. And it was a lot of work. And I actually did it over two years time period. I didn't do it over a year. I planned it about a year in advance before I started it and did it behind the scenes before I officially put it out there to the world. It was a lot. But it was good. And it essentially was a giant model call. I just never said those words. And I did it in a smart way. This is the same thing that people are doing when they do 40 over 40 projects. I didn't even know 40 over 40 was a thing until after I did 365 days of courses now I know. But it's the same thing that people are doing. There's a lot of ways you can do things like this. It doesn't have to be on a huge scale. It could just be one single session. It can be two or three sessions or it could be five sessions. It could be whatever you want it to be. But the key here is when you do things like this you need to do in a smart way. So here are some rules and some things to keep in mind to make sure that you were doing model calls or portfolio building in a smart way. First of all, my rule is that I will give away my time photographing something, but I won't give way that images, I don't believe in giving away the images. My second rule is if you decide to give away any images limited at one or two images, Max, don't give away more than that. Because if you give away more than that you're taking away our clients opportunity to potentially invest more and spend more money with you. My third rule is, if you're giving away a couple of them, just don't ever say I'm giving you one or two images. Instead, what you say is, I'm giving you a credit to use and make the credit the value of one or two images. So let's say that you sell an eight by 10, for $195, then give a credit for $200. And say, I'm gonna give you a credit for $200, you can use it towards a small print, you can use it towards Walmart and album, whatever you want to use it towards. Because you don't want to put your clients in a box, give them an opportunity to dream, give them opportunity to think big, give them an opportunity to get something bigger, don't put them in a box of thinking, I'm just gonna get my one picture and I'm leaving by give them the opportunity to spend more. My next role is to provide an amazing experience. And when you provide somebody with amazing experience, a big piece of that is being clear and upfront about how things work, what they do, and what they do not get and what they can expect to spend if they do decide that they want more portraits. So anytime that I was doing a session like this, I am always going to tell the person hey, here's what you get. And it gets you one photo, if I was giving a credit for one photo, or you can use it towards something bigger, or an album or Walmart or something like that. But I'm also going to be honest, most of my clients been like five or$6,000 with me, and they're getting an album and multiple pieces of art. And I have clients that spend $1,000, and just get, you know, a few small prints, I have clients who spend 20, or $30,000 with me and buy huge, bigger than life pieces of art. So I just have to let you know, and be clear and upfront about that. Because if you do want more portraits, it is going to cost you money, and you're gonna have to pay for them, I am being incredibly generous by gifting you a session, you should be excited about that, that's a big value. That's a big freaking deal that I'm gifting you that session. And I have to feel a detail inside. And I have to know that when I'm telling my potential clients that and then and only then if you do those things, you can start to make money. While building your portfolio, you can start to build your portfolio in a smart way, you can start to build value in your business, you can start to uplift the industry. The best piece of advice I received when I was starting my business was from a photographer who'd been in this industry for 20, something yours. And she looked at me and she said Kirinda, whatever you do, don't give away your digital files. They're your gold. She said, I remember that every decision you make in your business affects all of us. It affects the people that have been in this industry for years and affects the people who've been in this industry. For generations, we've worked really hard to get this industry where it's at. And it's up to you to uphold what we've worked so hard for. And I was like hole man, I just wanted to start a business to make some money, I guess and take some pictures because it's not in fun. I didn't realize it was as big of a deal. But I was incredibly lucky early on to have numerous photographers who've been in this industry for a long time, give me great pieces of advice. And to say like, value yourself, value the industry. Remember that it's important for the longevity of your business and all of our businesses to do this in the right way. And I vowed to myself in that moment to do things in a smart way that upholds this industry. It's a big part of why I'm here today. This is a big part of why I help other photographers, because I want to make sure that we can do this for a long time. And it's up to each and every one of you to do the same thing when you meet a new photographer, to be warm and be welcoming and to share the knowledge that you've learned and to say like, Hey, look, this is hard. It's hard to make it here. But let me help you. Let me give you the resources. Let me share with you like the fact that you can't charge $250 for a session and make a living doing this. It's impossible. Let me share with you that you can sell wall art and you can have albums and your clients can have these products hanging on their wall for generations. And you can make money doing this. It's up to you to do that. It's up to you to prevent the next photographer that pops up in your town from being the guys Hang on the corner passing out free sushi. And you know, the thing is, is that I hear this time and time again. I hear people saying there's a million other photographers in my town. There's a million cheap photographers, there's this, there's that, oh, this is why nobody wants to pay me money. You know what, there will always be a person carrying around a Louis Vuitton purse that paid 50 times more than the purse they could have gotten at the department store, or Walmart, there will always be the person that's willing to pay for something that they value. The other day, guys, I went to the mall, and I was looking at this cute pair of ankle boots. I turned it over and I thought, man, no, I don't need those looked at the price tag. No, those are too expensive. The same girl here goes to the horse show the next day. And I look at a pair of $500 tennis shoes. And I'm like, Hmm, those are really nice. I like those. Maybe I should buy myself a pair of those. Y'all seriously, if you don't know $500 tennis shoes, it's a thing. Just Google golden goose. It's a real thing. So the thing is, is that I was not that person that was willing to buy a pair of ankle boots and spend a couple $100 on a pair of ankle boots because I wouldn't wear them that much. But a pair of tennis shoes that are beautiful, and gorgeous. And just like staring in my soul that I could wear all the time. I thought twice about buying this tennis shoes. And then I thought to myself, this is exactly what happens to our clients. Our clients will spend the money, players are happy to spend the money on things that they value on the experience on the name on the beauty of something just because they want to doesn't mean it makes sense. You would does it make sense for anybody to buy a $500 pair tennis shoes, no. And actually, there's some that are a lot more expensive than that. But people buy $500 pairs of tennis shoes all the time, because they want to write because they see the value, because they see the brands because they see the experience that it is to wear those $500 tennis shoes. I don't know, I haven't even tried them on honestly, they might not feel any different. But they look like they feel different. They're really nice. And you look at them. Okay. And like, it's just as simple as that. So whenever you are in the phases of your business, where you're building, where you're growing, where you're trying to build your portfolio, just remember this. Remember that it is imperative that you provide something that is amazing that you provide something that people are excited about, that you build value into what you're providing that you make it an experience that you make it a cool thing that you tell everybody, I'm really freaking valuable in it's a big deal that I'm gifting this to you. And you should be excited for that. And then it's important that you don't give away the farm, it's important that you maybe give a little taste of the farm. But don't give away the whole thing. Give people the opportunity to spin more money and to invest more with you. And they will, they will unless every time. But don't forget to be clear. Don't forget to be upfront. Don't forget to make sure that people are prepared for that opportunity and that possibility. So when it hits them and they do want more. You don't regret it. I'll be honest guys. I've had clients that haven't paid a penny for their session, spend and $20,000 with me, and they do it happily and excitedly and they're like, Heck yeah, let's do it. So there's a big possibility that you can make money even when you're building your portfolio and building your business. To make sure you're doing things in a smart way. I hope that you find this valuable. And I hope that anytime you think about giving something away in your business, or you think about doing a model call, you ask yourself, Am I being the guy handing out free sushi on the corner? Or am I the guy who provided the amazing experience and had the world buzzing about it at the end of the day? And who walked home with money in his pockets? Which guy Am I being? Which one do I want to be and if you find yourself being guy number one on the corner, just remember, you're gonna walk home with pockets full of stinky sushi at the end of the day. I hope that you're able to start using this in your business. I hope that you're able to start making money even when you're building your brand. And I know that each and every one of you are capable of doing this and that this is possible for you. If you build a strong foundation, but without your foundation, all it takes is one tiny little earthquake. One clients that isn't happy more one bad experience in your world will come crumbling down. Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to support the podcast please make sure you share it on social media or leave a rating and review. As always, you can check out the links and resources in the show notes over at master your mind money.com To catch all the latest for me, you can follow me on Instagram at master your mind money. And don't forget to join our free Facebook group photography business tune up with Kirinda Kay, thanks again and I'll see you next time