Having more FUN 20 years into your photo business with Kassie Moore

Want to connect with Kassie? Follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kassiemoorephotography/

Summary

In this engaging conversation, Christa and Kassie Moore discuss the evolution of Kassie's photography business over two decades. They explore the challenges faced by photographers in a saturated market, the importance of recognizing one's value, and the shift from a shoot-and-burn model to a more curated client experience. Kassie shares her journey of increasing her pricing while enhancing the value offered to clients, emphasizing the joy and fun that comes with this transformation. The discussion highlights the significance of passion in the creative industry and encourages photographers to embrace change for growth.

Takeaways

• Kassie recognized the need for change in her photography business after years of experience.
• Many photographers feel stuck despite appearing successful on social media.
• Value and pricing should reflect the expertise and effort put into the work.
• Transitioning from a shoot-and-burn model to a curated experience can enhance client satisfaction.
• It's important to focus on delivering quality over quantity in photography.
• Kassie's average pricing increased significantly after implementing new strategies.
• Education and continuous learning are crucial for growth in any creative field.
• Photographers should not be afraid to raise their prices if they provide more value.
• Embracing change can lead to renewed passion and excitement in one's work.
• Building relationships with clients can lead to better understanding and service.

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Transcript

Christa (00:00.811)
All right, we have a very special guest and she is so much fun. Cassie, I love your personality. Like I love, we're gonna put your Instagram and links in the show notes, but this is a photographer that you have to follow. so Cassie Moore is in the Dallas Fort Worth area as a wedding and portrait photographer. She's been in the industry now for...

multiple decades, which is incredible. So she has so much wisdom to share with us. And I had the joy of getting to coach her last year. And Cassie, I'm just so excited you're here.

Christa (00:37.51)
Yes, I feel like we're very similar in a lot of ways, like the more I get to know you.

Kassie Moore (00:42.385)
yeah, it's so fun.

Christa (00:44.331)
Yeah, I love that. So y'all, I brought Cassie in and I actually asked her like, hey, you you're two decades in, instead of focusing as much on the beginning of your story, I think Cassie, there's so many photographers who get into a rut that you and I were just chatting before I clicked record of just, they've grown a business on Instagram, on paper, everyone's like, my gosh, you're killing it. But Cassie, like share a bit. I would love to just jump to your story.

Share obviously what you do and who you do it for just so we know who you are. And then I would love to just hear kind of what point you got to even years and years into your journey. Would you mind sharing that with us?

Kassie Moore (01:21.422)
Oh, of course. I just, I remember it was about almost two years ago. I remember where I was. I was in our bathroom. It was around Christmas time. I was hanging out. I was getting ready for bed. And you know how it is with Christmas and being a photographer. Wow, I've got a lot of work and I'm loving it. But at the same time,

Christa (01:40.344)
Kiss.

Kassie Moore (01:48.414)
my soul and my heart is being poured out and loving every moment of these families and of their children and of giving them their memories. But I was doing the whole putting my family to bed at night and then sitting up and watching all of the Hallmark movies over and over again until past midnight just to get out their galleries and making great money, being grateful, but at the same time thinking, okay,

Christa (02:13.688)
Yeah.

Kassie Moore (02:18.328)
Here I am and I looked at my husband and I was like, you know, we're 20 years in, we have the expertise, we have the knowledge, we have the gear, we have the heart, we still have the passion. In other industries, that would be a pretty significant pay raise by now. And I either, not that we weren't blessed by our finances in it, but it wasn't.

I knew I needed to get a different career or I needed to see a big change financially. And that, you know, as a creative, numbers, they don't flow on that side of the brick. I'm like, okay, well, here we need to make a choice because I can't walk away from a Christmas season making $3,000. $3,000 is a lot of money, but not for the amount of heart and work I put in.

Christa (03:01.461)
Yeah.

Christa (03:14.891)
Hmm.

Kassie Moore (03:16.556)
So we either need to figure out something new, which was hard, because I love what I do and I feel so great about it. And that is where I feel that God was gracious and said, hey, here's a girl. her stuff and we went from there.

Christa (03:34.421)
Yeah, share with us Cassie, cause you've been in the industry, like you have seen so many things in the industry and so many changes and shifts getting to be like such a veteran. Could you share with us some more of like what business looked for you at that point before things shifted? You weren't the photographer just running around doing $200 sessions and thousand dollar weddings. Like you had actually like.

You had built something up and I think it's important for photographers to see that even at that point that like on Instagram, you would have been like, my gosh, Cassie's like crushing it. You knew there was more. Does that make sense? Share with us like a little bit more of there. Cause I think so many photographers get this pedestal in their mind of where they want to and need to be. And I think you were there and still saw like, I can do more.

Kassie Moore (04:20.46)
Yeah, it's, yeah, you're right. I'm doing good. I'm blessing the family. I'm making money, but I know that there is a lot being left on the table for the expertise, the talent and the wisdom that has been.

Christa (04:42.08)
Yeah.

Kassie Moore (04:48.722)
grown because of the years And not just talent because my goodness everybody has different talent does that make sense like My pictures aren't gonna look like somebody's over here. They're gonna edit different. it's the What you know behind the lens like that's Pan out on a wedding day. Listen, I want to do this and this and this with my pictures. I love that but

Christa (04:55.574)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Christa (05:09.207)
Mmm.

Kassie Moore (05:18.528)
Here's what's gonna happen down the road. Like it's that kind of wisdom that you think certain people don't know and I need to be able to make more to be able to give that. So yes, I was doing okay, but I knew that there was a lot being left on the table. Does that make sense?

Christa (05:37.003)
Yeah, that makes complete sense. And you obviously have such a good gift with business and marketing to have gotten to. I think you had said before we coach together, could you share with us your portrait and wedding average?

Kassie Moore (05:51.054)
Yeah, I was doing the shoot and burn, which I loved because I like making people happy. And what I mean by that is this, I had the wrong view. I liked making people happy by saying, here's your gallery. It's 50 plus images of delight. And then they would be like, wow, $650. And I'd be like, man, mic drop. And now I'm like,

here's your eight images, here's your 12 images, and they have been master edited, and I did swap heads, and I made that look amazing, and I took out that, and I edited this, and I spent the right amount of time on it, and they're exactly what you're gonna use, and they're, come back to them. And I realize now they're not gonna float around in a gallery that you will not come back to, and you're not gonna be overwhelmed.

You're not going to hand these to somebody special in your life and they're going to go, they're beautiful, but there's too many. don't know what to do. I mean, I was able to figure out more handing somebody more and going, who doesn't necessarily mean that it gifts them. Well, what somebody well as saying you will use these better. You will enjoy these better. You will put them on your home and your walls better. You will gift these better.

Christa (07:00.182)
Thank you.

Christa (07:16.982)
you

Kassie Moore (07:19.542)
you will be able to actually love how you look better because I can do things master edit wise. What do you mean by that Cassie? I can swap that smile. Really? Yeah. you see how your dress was laying there? You want me to liquefy that? What? yeah. Well beforehand, sister didn't have time for that because I'm giving you six. So being able to wow them in a whole different way and get some of my time back.

Christa (07:38.871)
Well, yeah.

Kassie Moore (07:48.846)
So making them happy in a different way, in a way that actually makes more sense, taking away the overwhelming part, helping them actually use their images. All of that has been so fun for me, more fun than saying, here's a bunch of pictures, I'm out. We're like, it's a little bit more time on my end when it comes to that, but it makes more money for me and it actually does more for the customer.

Christa (07:51.668)
I love that.

Christa (08:07.049)
Yeah.

Christa (08:18.419)
And I think that's so important, Cassie. I think that there's some photographers out there who might like, literally their stomach might've dropped when you said eight or 12 images. And it's not, know, and again, I think a lot of photographers don't see this. It's not just jacking up your prices and still doing this in and out experience. It's like you upped your pricing to account for, you're bringing so much more value to them. Just like you said, these images are perfect. They're not gonna have it.

Kassie Moore (08:26.286)
Okay.

Christa (08:42.933)
if they ever do get around to printing it thinking, but my dress, but my dress, but my smile, everyone else looked good, but I just didn't like how I looked like so much more.

Kassie Moore (08:50.39)
Right. Well, if you think about it, you give 60 images, Christa, but they end up thinking, I really love these five. well, but even these five, maybe two of them were perfect for them. I could have given you 12 perfect and not had any of the, overwhelming amount that you have to kind of go through and figure out. And not only that, I gave you matted prints. So you actually have one in your home.

Christa (09:05.214)
Mm-hmm.

Kassie Moore (09:20.438)
And then you got, I just gave you your Christmas. You've already taken care of all your relatives. What? yeah. And so it's a whole nother realm of fun to be honest in my book. I'm like, Hey, it might seem small, but in actuality, I want you to take the thought of a big, big gallery and think, you don't need that. I'm giving you more than that. I'm giving you gifts, wall art, memories.

perfection, all of those things I'm giving you. You don't need it. Now, because we meet beforehand and we go over exactly what you want in the design console, we get exactly what you're wanting. Trust me in that. been, and I even get to say this to them. It's really fun saying this, Christa. I've been trained to be able to go through this with you and help you with this. And they're like, ooh. And I'm like, mm.

Christa (10:05.695)
Okay.

Christa (10:13.139)
Yes. Right, you have, yeah.

Kassie Moore (10:20.154)
it because I have been haha with Christa. I'm trying to be able to go uh-huh and they they're like okay because I mean that sounds scary and I'm like no no it's great I watch your eyes your body language I you know I act really cool about it and I'm like you know I noticed that you really like that image before let's not second-guess yourself let's go I have a lot of fun with it because I'm like so

Christa (10:42.516)
I love that. And how fun to you, go ahead. Like how fun to you to be in the industry for so long. And I think that's what intrigues me the most about you is you could have, like Cassie, you could have easily, like there's different ways to scale a business. Whether you, that's often, I'm gonna be honest with a lot of photographers might shut down their businesses. They've been doing it for, you know, over a decade. And I see that all the time. And to see, just, I don't even wanna do this anymore. It's not fun anymore. And I love that you pushed yourself.

Kassie Moore (11:09.516)
Yes.

Christa (11:12.819)
Yes, and you do it with portraits and weddings. So I know you said your portrait average before was 650, wedding average before was 3,500. Like when you started implementing this process, where did you see those averages go to?

Kassie Moore (11:25.166)
Well, you're gonna giggle. This is not necessarily always gonna happen. And I know that, but it's going to every once in a while happen. My very first client after our time was a $4,000 portrait sale.

Christa (11:43.634)
You

Kassie Moore (11:44.526)
And I was like, what? What's going on? That is rare, but very fun for me. And what was fun was the whole process. So like what you said, if you are feeling burnt out, you're doing okay financially, but you know you're leaving stuff on the table. However, you need something new when it comes to serving your clients, knowing them better and giving them actual

Christa (12:10.064)
and

Kassie Moore (12:13.806)
product that they light up about. it's so fun because you don't get to do that unless you know how to do that well. It's just a whole new fun world and it's practice like you teach us. It takes a little practice, but it's pretty fun. I, my average probably went from, you know, shoot and burn, give them everything 650 ish to a little bit more time, you know, planning.

Christa (12:41.798)
Mm-hmm.

Kassie Moore (12:43.022)
love because then you get to know them better to the follow-up which I love because I buy the coffee or you know the zooms always fun doing afterwards probably 1700 2000 average yeah give or take which is a huge huge jump and you walk away seeing your stuff on their walls and

Christa (13:03.57)
That's amazing.

Kassie Moore (13:12.728)
passed out to grandparents at Christmas. Really fun for seniors because the moms are already pretty frazzled around senior year. And so for you to be able to say to them, hey, you're gonna probably want about 12 images. That's usually pretty good for girls. 12 is about a good amount when it comes to images that they love. They're all gonna be perfect. But man, you're gonna have fun. You're gonna probably wanna keep

Christa (13:18.374)
Mm-hmm.

Kassie Moore (13:41.77)
four of these to make a neat little gallery wall of your daughter. And then you're going to have eight. You're going to probably get them want to give two to this side of your family, two to this side. You're going to give one to her. You're to be able to put those up at her party on really pretty acrylic easels. Get them on Amazon. I mean, you get to and they just go, it's taken care of. Yeah, there's there's your party. There's your gifts and there's your wall art. And then here, let's get a portrait.

Christa (14:01.617)
Yeah.

Kassie Moore (14:09.806)
Let's get one beautiful one. Here's my framing options. And you walk away making, you know, 2000 plus when I would have made $600. And you give them so much.

Christa (14:21.234)
And you Cassie, like too, again, I was so excited to chat with you because I think you take the cake on like who has been the most, the longest in the industry and seen just a lot of different things. You do multiple genres, which I love. Like you don't just do one thing. What would you say Cassie to the photographer? And I'm gonna be honest for those listening, not to shut this down, we have a lot of photographers who share about the beginning stages of the journey. I wanna talk to the photographer who's been in it for years.

and they have something going, but they're hitting that point you're talking about, what would you say to them when they're like, but Cassie, I've been doing this a certain way for so long. I have built up this clientele who now expects this. Like, can I still shift? Is that worth it? What would you say to them?

Kassie Moore (15:01.954)
Yeah.

Kassie Moore (15:08.174)
that is a very good question. I.

Kassie Moore (15:17.814)
I was at a place where it was a lot of work and I knew that I was leaving money on the table for my family. So I just think in anything education equals, what's word, it just,

greater steps in your career. So whatever that means, whatever you need to invest in, whether it's reading a book, whether it's taking a needed hiatus to refresh your mind, whether it's... So if you are liking where you are and you're thinking you're good, that's one thing. But if you're getting slightly burnt out, which is probably most creatives at some point, if you're thinking I could make more money,

even if that question mark is in your head a little bit, then yeah, you can. know, even if you're doing okay, there's always room to grow, always something to learn. And there's always that other clientele. Is that to speak to what you just asked me, Christa Like, what do mean the ones that are already expecting that? Well, the ones that are expecting that will follow you or...

you can always move to the next people that are fine to pay those pricing because what you taught me is you are not the pocket police. you know, and that's okay. Everybody has their value and what they value. And I value a really good latte. Somebody is gonna roll their eyes at my $9 latte. And I might be like, but I value this.

Christa (16:45.264)
Thank

Christa (16:56.08)
Yeah.

Kassie Moore (17:13.578)
It's delightful, you know, and that's okay, you know. So those people will either follow you or understand that you have to go up because everybody does in their line of work. Why do we need to stay too? So, you know, it's okay to leave them and you can always slowly transition and say, this is what I'm doing. And you talk to us about that in your program, Christa.

and how you can make that transition easier for clients, but know that there's always other people that have the value and you're not the pocket police. It's okay to think, I can't spend that necessarily, but that doesn't mean that other people won't and enjoy the full service is really the full service and the treatment that has been so fun for me to give a whole new realm of fun.

Christa (18:06.948)
Yeah, I love that.

Kassie Moore (18:08.728)
that I've been trying to share. Just giving files. It's so fun to say, you get this and you get, you get this and you get this and you get this and you get this. And then I get more money for the expertise and the time and the talent.

Christa (18:23.065)
love how many times you said the word fun because Cassie, think so many photographers and creatives, right? Often I see photographers were so creative and maybe like not good at the business side, but like you have now taken the step in where all of it is something you can enjoy and know you're getting paid your worth. And y'all, we will link Cassie's Instagram and the show notes. I would like for you to say it though, because you also do, Cassie does such a great job.

of showing up with that energy and excitement and that gusto and letting people know before they even reach out. Like this is what you can expect for us to work together. It's gonna be awesome, it's exciting. You're gonna walk away with something. Cassie, for someone who is like, I'm so intrigued, I need to follow Cassie and maybe reach out to you with questions about you making these shifts. Where can they connect with you?

Kassie Moore (19:09.614)
Please do.

my, I call it InstaFace cause you know, why not? is just Cassie K a S S I E more O O R E photography. That's my Instagram and, and then Facebook is there as well. And then my website is just cassiemorephotography.com. And I would love to talk to.

Christa (19:16.975)
Ha

Kassie Moore (19:38.846)
anybody. It is so fun. And one of the most fun things I think I've found is getting those actual matted prints of my girls and bring them to those sessions and then getting samples of the frames that I love. And then whenever I whip them out to show people and it's my girls, my face lights up.

Cause I'm like, look at that, you know, and look at this. And it really translates and shows those people, moms or, and it's usually moms, you know, if it's a portrait session, how fun and beautiful those are. And then I tell everyone, I'm sorry, I have a frame fetish. It has happened. Thanks to Christa. I now have a frame fetish and Christa, guys, I've named my frames. All right. I've got the brand.

And I'm like, ooh, what does this one look like? Like I, and I get them out and I line them up and we, and I, we just have fun with my frames because they might even have personalities. I don't know. Probably they do. So have fun with your products, get excited about them because they will go in to people's homes with your hard work behind them. And it's fun.

Christa (21:02.424)
And one thing I want to point out for those listening that I like to coach on, if I can give some free mini coaching based on what Cassie's saying, is like, you can hear Cassie's clearly so passionate about this. And that's something that I often tell my students, especially, I was very established as well, not as much in the industry, not as long as you were, but I hadn't done a lot of printing of my own family. Like that was something I had not been educated on. I bought the cheap albums that my daughter recently ripped apart because they were already falling apart and she's one and a half.

For you, I think that's so important and something I teach for the photographer that's like, would love this. I just don't really print my stuff. Like start, like you said, with your own family. And when you see that difference of how often you walk by those prints, that album, that picture on the wall, that changed everything for me when I was like, I don't know or even care where this gallery is, but this is important. So I'm so glad you brought that up of like how you made that transition with your own family.

Kassie Moore (21:45.902)
Okay.

Kassie Moore (22:01.31)
totally. did. I made my own book. bring my own. I mean, I'm, you know, made my own album. I print, I printed my own frames out. I, I bring them to it's annoying. I, you know, carry it all to a Starbucks or I don't have my, an office that I meet people in. have an office, but not where I'm in. I drag it all with me. And every time I whip it out, it's, it's really, it's, it's really, like you said,

Christa (22:29.526)
It is, it's exciting. And sometimes photographers think, I'm in an area. Well, first of all, I know you're in a very saturated area and you're doing just fine, but how much more you can stand out by having such a different process. I think some people view it as a deterrent of like, I just was talking to someone, they're like, I'm the only photographer in my area doing this. And I'm like, great, awesome. Yeah, you can stand out. So Cassie, this was just so wonderful, so insightful.

Kassie Moore (22:39.242)
yes.

Kassie Moore (22:51.409)
I love that.

Kassie Moore (22:58.03)
Oh, oh my goodness. Well, you know, it's so fun and such a change. Such a change. I keep telling my husband, because I don't really, like I said, I don't have, my numbers side of my brain doesn't work like at all. And I'm like, Brooks, so like, how did, like, tell me, like, did we like double this year what we made? like, I got it.

Christa (22:59.829)
You just have...

Christa (23:12.716)
Hmm.

Kassie Moore (23:24.546)
know, and we haven't gotten anything back yet, tax wise or anything like that. But I'm, I'm pretty assured that because of your course and the fun it's brought into it for us and just the, the expertise that I've been able to show because of the Photoshop and the, the, the master editing and all that fun stuff. Anyway, it's going to be fun to see where we've gone financially and where we've come to, even though we were doing okay financially. It'd be fun.

Christa (23:51.373)
But yeah, right.

Kassie Moore (23:53.198)
the big jump and that in itself is also very fun.

Christa (23:58.975)
It is fun. It is fun getting paid your worth for your expertise when you've been doing something for decades. Amazing. Amazing, Cassie. Thank you for taking the time to chat. I would definitely love to have you on again. I feel like we could, there's so many different topics that we could cover from the frames to motherhood and balancing all of this. But I feel like this was just so wonderful, Cassie, for our listeners, especially those that are established that are like, something is not clicking.

Kassie Moore (24:05.294)
Yeah, I'm excited.

Christa (24:26.09)
worried about the economy, worried about these low sessions and people paying low prices, ditching, which it's that market that pulls back. And for you just to come in and share this wisdom with us, we're just so grateful. So thank you guys. We're gonna link everything in the show notes. Yes, Cassie, were you saying?

Kassie Moore (24:26.38)
Yes.

Kassie Moore (24:33.879)
Yes.

Kassie Moore (24:41.558)
I was so glad to be here. It was wonderful. What fun.

Christa (24:44.096)
I'm just, and like I said, y'all, be sure to follow her on Instagram. Like you are a hoot and I love, think, Cassie, like there's that click and copy paste, like this is what a photographer's profile and stories need to look like. And I love that you're like, nope, this is me. Like I'm your girl. And I love that it stands out. So.

Kassie Moore (24:50.624)
Ha ha!

Kassie Moore (25:02.41)
I don't know what I'm doing here. I don't even know. Half the time I put stuff up about me because I'm trying to be relevant and then I'm like, I sound so ridiculous. Quick, my... But anyway, thanks for not saying I look like a goob.

Christa (25:11.52)
Yeah. No!

Christa (25:22.699)
I love it. So y'all give her a follow. Thanks, Cassie. Can't wait to connect with you again soon.

Kassie Moore (25:26.03)
Thank you.

Thank you, talk to y'all later.