Why I Quit "Shoot and Burn" and Never Looked Back

Summary

In this episode, Christa discusses why she switched from shoot and burn photography to full-service photography and never looked back. She emphasizes the importance of looking at the numbers and setting clear goals to achieve financial success. Christa also highlights the value of building relationships with clients and the satisfaction that comes from providing a personalized experience. She explains how being full-service gave her the freedom to charge her worth and be more intentional with her bookings. Additionally, Christa shares the exponential growth she experienced after transitioning to full-service and the mindset shift that occurred.

Takeaways

• Consider the financial benefits of being full-service and set clear goals to achieve financial success.
• Building relationships with clients and providing a personalized experience can bring fulfillment and create a strong connection.
• Being full-service allows for the freedom to charge your worth and be more intentional with bookings.
• Transitioning to full-service can lead to exponential growth and a positive mindset shift.
• Full-service photography provides the opportunity to have photos displayed in clients' homes and creates a sense of fulfillment.

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Transcript

Christa (00:01.618)
you guys ready for a spicy episode? I sure am. So I'm cutting to it. I often educate a lot about the benefits of being full service. I'm just going to shoot you straight on why I switched from shoot and burn and never looked back. Now I wonder if I should take, never looked back out because there were times where I wondered if this was for me, but once I really got a grasp on it and understood it and was able to figure out how to grow it, I can't imagine ever going back. And I'm so thankful.

that I get to show others how, but let me share, let me share why I wouldn't go back. the first, first things first, I always go to the numbers. That's just how my brain works. Like if it makes sense numerically, like I'm in, I do that with all things, even what I invest in education. Will I see this ROI? Will I see it faster and make more than if I figured it out myself? I'm done. I'm in. Sign me up. Where's the link to pay? Okay. That's just how my brain works. And that's why I've grown.

to the level I've grown and been able to be so successful at this is because I have invested a lot into my education very intentionally with that in mind. But when it came to photography, looking at the numbers, I looked at where I wanted to be. Now I will say, I didn't really have someone even walking me through like, what do you want your numerical goal to be? And I'll figure out how many shoots will that take? What's your average per month? And I do that with students because I like, no one did that with me. And it's so eye -opening when you look at your numbers.

when you're clear on your goals and you're looking at how many weddings is that? How much time do I need to spend marketing those weddings to get there? Is that possible? Okay, if I'm doing portraits, if I'm charging $400, how many $400 shoots do I have to do on average a month to hit my goal? And a lot of photographers, including myself, hadn't really calculated that before. And so when I look at the income and then the possibilities from uncapping myself and my clients, to me, that was

Like that's, that's why I switched just being very direct here. It was less about anything else and more. still remember when my business coach said, if you become full service, you can grow a multi six figure photo business without needing this huge team. And I was in now, not everyone's brains work that way. And that doesn't mean like, like that's just how mine works. But I'm going to talk about the other benefits to becoming full service too. So another reason that I never thought about looking back was the relationships.

Christa (02:23.806)
I had come from the wedding world. So I had really been, I've been doing weddings about for, I don't know, 10 years. And so I had worked really well at cultivating in that space. And a big part of that is building relationships with clients. And I loved that. Like for those of you who have been in the wedding space or have done weddings, like you understand, you become, it's almost like you're a member of the family. You're there for this happiest day of their life. Watching these interactions happen so you can make sure you capture the best moments, meaning you have to know who's closest to the bride.

and the family, what members of her bridal party are most important to her, who are her best friends, because you're wanting to document all of that. Like, I love that. And then I loved the relationships that I built with them, where you are kind of her right -hand person, right? Like, there's a planner there. But you're that person that's really next to her on that day, next to your couple on that day, more than anyone else is. And to me, that's so special, where I would just build this really deep connection with my couples. And I love that. And their families and their parents, it was great.

And that was something I had really lacked and missed from being shoot and burn. Now, shoot and burn means set up the shoot via email, show up to said shoot, throw an online gallery of digitals, and they can have the options to purchase after in an online gallery. That's how mostly it looks. But with that, I really was lacking that relationship piece. And the reason you can't just add in all these meetings being shoot and burn is when you look at what you're making and the time you're spending, it just doesn't really make sense. It wouldn't make sense to have these in -depth meetings before and after a session.

when you're charging $400, like that's not gonna really make sense. That's why a lot of photographers don't do that is it just doesn't, the bandwidth and the time doesn't really add up. Like it's a lot of experience for a really low price point. That's not going to make sense. And instead, when I realized I can serve my clients really well and have that amazing relationship piece from weddings with it, where I can really talk them through the shoot and we can brainstorm outfits and what they're thinking for products and where in their home and

We cultivate this relationship before I even show up to the shoot and then have that relationship after. I loved that. It brought so much meaning to my work, to my clients. I have some clients that just, have no idea what a special place they have in my heart because we've just cultivated that relationship so deeply. And I loved carrying that over into the portrait process in a way that I could not do with shoot and burn.

Christa (04:45.394)
The other reason I didn't look back is it gave me so much freedom and permission to do what I wanted when it came to weddings. And so one of the first things it did is it showed me, man, if I can produce this experience with portraits to make thousands per portrait session, I am pouring a ton into weddings and I think I should be charging more. And it was almost like that permission slip to charge more for weddings based on

I'm pouring a lot out. I want to make sure I'm charging my worth, right? Because if you don't, that leads to burnout, which can lead to closing your business and hating it, right? We don't want that. And so instead, it gave me the permission to up my rates with weddings really intentionally. And I loved that because then it definitely affects your mindset if you feel like you're being underpaid for something. You don't want that. You don't want to show up thinking, I'm not being paid enough for this to be worth it, right? Like that's a terrible mindset to have. instead,

Wow, these clients are investing a lot in me and I'm gonna serve them to the fullest. I'm gonna knock their socks off when it comes to service here and I absolutely can't wait. There's a difference there. But also it gave me permission to not have to book as many weddings, which meant I could price myself in a way and offer things in a way so that clients who did book were very passionate about me serving them and I was passionate about serving them. And it was less, I have this wedding quota that I have to fill. How on earth am I gonna get it? And then

shifting our boundaries and taking on clients who might not have been a good fit and then leaves us both frustrated and they wanted this kind of different style and this vibe that wasn't me, right? Like it takes a lot of that, the pressure off of that, a lot of the wedding marketing pressure off of my plate. And I was able to make so much more with portraits shifting to full service that weddings, I still did them, but it was less out of necessity and more of just being more intentional in how I was growing my business. So much so.

that I will tell you the time and effort that I have spent in portraits versus the same time and effort in weddings, I actually was able to make more in portraits. See what I'm saying? the time and marketing I did from portrait sessions got me further than that same time and marketing with weddings so much so at the peak of my photo career, I did over six figures with weddings, but I actually did multiple six figures from portrait sessions. And I love both, but I did really love the flexibility.

Christa (07:05.394)
that portrait sessions brought where I could do it on a Tuesday morning or Thursday afternoon or stack three sessions, which I encourage my students to do and really grow and scale intentionally and be able to, I remember there was a Saturday I took on a few sessions back to back to back and knowing what my average was was as much as if I had shot one wedding that Saturday. And I remember thinking like, I'm glad I just had a few sessions this morning instead of that day being spent fully at a wedding, right?

That was super eye opening to me and it actually allowed my wedding career to even progress further because I had that permission. There's a student that I coached, Liz Nord, Elizabeth Nord, who's in the 10 to 20K range with weddings. And she even said like, because she's in the luxury wedding range and obviously like any type of high level business, things can fluctuate. Portraits really helped with that added income where she was still able to grow her income without having as much pressure on her to book weddings. And she actually added 50K onto her income from portrait sessions with our method.

that I teach. Okay, another reason I didn't look back, I kind of touched on it sec ago, was the portrait calendar and being able to have that flexibility. If you don't want to book portraits on Saturdays, you don't have to. And I do meet my clients before and after, that can be virtual. Please don't let that stop you from becoming full service. It's such an incredible step. It actually cut down my shooting time because I became really intentional with my clients.

But as far as my portrait calendar, it was really nice just to be able to slip away for that 45 minutes or that hour or some of my shoots were a half hour, but you block an hour for it. And just to be able to have the average that I had and the service that I had without it always needing to be like all my Saturdays are full. Another reason I never looked back is the growth that I had once I pivoted from shoot and burn to full service was exponential. growth, my business coach would tell me, and this isn't,

When I share myself as a case study, it's because I want to show you how possible it is. It's not by any means to say, look at me. It's just to say, like, this is so possible. Like, if someone like me could do it, like, you can definitely do it. And I can use case studies of students as well. But the growth that I had, even my coach was like, this is pretty unheard of in the photo industry. And even the clients that I coach, I'm coaching a girl right now on track to quadruple her income, right? I had another student do that. I had a student triple her income doing 10 less shoots.

Christa (09:26.59)
pretty wild growth. And it wasn't from just booking more and more and more more and more and more. Now granted, I did book a lot. I was very busy. I operated a very high volume. So even if when I did cut that back, I still made a great amount from photography. But the growth that I had year to year with my average and with my annual income was pretty unparalleled. So besides education,

I have not found it easier or better and more sustainable way to create your business than adding in products and being full service. And I added in products in with weddings too. So was kind of like the double whammy of I could serve my brides and clients in the wedding space better when it came to albums and things through the wedding process. But I also was building this incredible portrait line that was growing fast year to year and I loved it. And then lastly, that one of the reasons I switched was just the mindset behind business. The more I read business books and got clear on

the more it just made sense to me of why what I was doing before wasn't sustainable and how this way just provided so much more freedom because I switched from shoot and burn and became full service and it really grew that my husband and I bought our second house. We paid for my car and cash that year as well. Okay. So was a big year for us. And so when you see things like that and shifts in your mindset of like, what is so possible and knowing the sky is the limit.

but not when you're capping yourself and your clients. Like it did something, it just made me crave like, it just, I just, love business. I love marketing. I love helping photographers. I'm really good at helping them see how they can make more money. And again, just like the mindset that shifted, it became a lot more conscientious of where my time was going. I became a better business person, a better CEO. became...

more intentional in like hiring things out. I had a team member who really grew things big with me, Laura. She was just so amazing. Like we had the best time together. Like I just kept growing in my mindset as well. And the kind of person I was where I actually became, would say an even better person because of the principles that I learned from growing such a sustainable business. And now that I've learned those marketing skills and how to grow intentionally when I pivoted to coaching.

Christa (11:41.862)
that took off really fast. And again, it wasn't half -instantial. It was just because I got really clear on how to operate a business in a strong, successful way and where to hire help when I needed it. So I hired a coach to help me when I started offering education, because I didn't want to waste any time. And I had seen the results that I had brought in my photo business. And then I also had just those keys.

those key marketing and business skills from going my photo business that I pivoted that I brought over to coaching. And it's why a lot of my top students, there's one who's actually branching off and starting a bit of a different business. And it's become, she's killing it off the bat because of using those same steps. And I'm able to help her navigate that from how I built my business. I even helped a girl get her average above mine. So goodness y 'all, do I love helping photographers grow their businesses in a way that's sustainable, that gives them more time.

and freedom back that gives them more fulfillment knowing this is another thing I didn't mention knowing my photos were ending up in my clients homes and on their walls and in print and stuff. Always kind of wondering like did they do anything with their photos? Did they like them? I never even heard back like it was just part of the process and I'm so so grateful for the full service process and what that brought me. If you'd like to learn more about it, shoot me DM. I teach exactly how to set it up and why it's so important. Would love to connect.