Annie Went from $30k to $70k Doing This

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

Summary

Annie B Photography shares her transformative journey from traditional portrait photography to a successful product-based business, emphasizing the importance of sales calls, product offerings, and mindset shifts to scale effectively.

Key topics

• Transition from traditional to product-based photography
• Effective sales strategies including phone calls
• Building a product lineup that sells
• Scaling a photography business to six figures

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Transcript

Christa (00:02.702)
Welcome back Uncapped family. I am so excited you're here. So this is the podcast that helps photographers really scale their averages by adding in products. There's so many photographers out there that have gotten going. They're getting clients, but even filling their calendar and realizing like there needs to be a better way to scale. And I'm so excited to have a past student of mine come back who has just been such an encouragement to me. And I think she'll be an encouragement to you. It's Annie with Annie B photography. She's a portrait photographer based in

Flagstaff, Arizona. Welcome, Annie. Thank you for having me, Christa. I appreciate it. We are so excited. So I asked Annie, y'all, if she could share a bit of her story, less about when you first picked up your camera, Annie, tell me. I try to remember exactly when you and I crossed our paths. If it was a year ago or a year and a half, I can't remember. But I'd love to lean into where were you at right before you started making those full service changes? Yeah. Excuse me.

You get some water. Yep, I got mine too. my gosh. I was definitely at a cross path where it was kind of like I was hitting a wall. I was deciding, do I want to stay in photography? Do I want to leave? Because it was just not fun anymore. It was, was sitting at the computer for hours. I would drop my kids off from school at school. And then, you know, when you're offering 50 images per session, you are sitting there for hours.

And the funny thing is, is now that I've become a full service photographer, I realized really what a disservice I was doing to my clients because when I walk them through sales calls and they are in control of choosing their images, I realized their favorites are not usually my favorites. And I wasted a lot of time and energy really perfecting

Like photos, I think when you're drawn to a certain photo, you're going to spend more time editing it. And then when you realize that isn't even their favorite one, and I can't do as much airbrushing that I do now, and I really dive into kind of painting the image. So looking back, it's just like your way, it's such a time saver, but at the same time, it's serving the client more.

Christa (02:24.302)
Yeah, I think I was just at a crossroads and I also think God orchestrated you coming into my life because I kept talking about it with my husband and just feeling defeated. It's an awful place to not know where to go. You know, like won't change, but I was doing it for 14 years the same way. And it's the same like cycle, but you don't know how to break that cycle and you don't have the framework for it. And

That's just, it's an awful place to be at. My heart goes out into people that are in that place. And I'm happy that you're here and that you found Christa because I know you're in the right place and you're taking the first steps are always scary. And I remember when I was talking to Christa, I kept on being like, how long is this going to take? How many months? Like I just wanted to hit the ground running. And, know, especially when you're investing in education, you want to get the investment back right away. And

It was literally probably, gosh, I probably jumped in a little bit too soon. I remember one call I wasn't quite ready, but I think it's good to kind of fall on your face a little bit and then get back up. But I think it was only maybe, I think you quoted me maybe six months. think honestly I was probably hitting it in three, but I was just like at my computer, going through the modules and I was just hitting it really hard.

because it was like a sink or swim situation that I was in where I had to decide where I was going to go next. yeah, and so we're grateful to have found you and been here. Another point I do want to touch on was I use Path for my gallery sharing, which is great. I've had a great experience with them, but they do offer like

I don't know, counseling to have coupons basically run, discount codes run through all your galleries. So that's where I actually started before I met Christa was that they would hop on. I'd meet with them once a month. I had one person that was in charge of my personal gallery. She had access to everything. And so we'd go through and, but their outlook was more post.

Christa (04:47.598)
So if you're giving everyone the pictures, then post production, you're saying, okay, here's a Christmas sale and it's 10 % off and free shipping. And so you're trying to hit it. And I got some sales, but honestly, probably a couple hundred bucks. And in the grand scheme of things, that's not going to help me survive as a photographer. And I remember meeting with

the person that was assigned to me and I asked, you know, I just really want to change into just be a product based photographer. And I like, how can I do this? And she, she was the one who said, you probably have to hire, like, that's not my job. You'd have to hire a counselor, like an advisor. And then that just like resonated in me. That was on my heart to keep searching. And then I knew

I knew past wasn't the answer. think I still do. I still use the coupons. I'll do early bird right when I send them the gallery. And that helps with grandparents ordering or other people that weren't actually photographed and didn't actually buy my specific products right now. So I do recommend using that feature in past, but it wasn't the answer. wasn't the solution to really scaling the business.

And I'm curious, Annie, for the photographer who maybe is just like, I need to make changes. Cause you brought up something about retouching where you're like, now I'm able to really spend time on the images that do matter to the client. And if you're watching this, you could see behind Annie, like your work is incredible. And you're in a very scenic, you're in very scenic spots where I know you are spending time editing to make it a masterpiece for the client so that the background isn't blown out. So I'd love for you to touch on like for the photographer, that's a mom that's running the business. That's like,

I don't know if I have time to offer products and work through them. What would you say? man. Well, I would say first figure out what products you love as a mom. are you putting up, if you're passionate about something, somebody else, that's just going to bleed into when you're selling it and they're going to want what you want. So I think that in itself takes time. I've gone through quite a

Christa (07:10.146)
couple of companies that I didn't like. And it really does take time figuring out where you want to be with your product. So take your time with it, do your research, maybe order your own family pictures so you don't feel like maybe some of these behind me are my own personal pictures. And I show them, I bring them with me. That's a huge part of my sales is I bring them in my

floor runner in that bath after the session, I open my trunk. I'm going through just a set spiel about, okay, I start with these six images. Here's the six images. So, showing for instance, this is the box that can come in. Here's the six images. Beautiful. You can stay here. I don't want anyone to feel

Like if I'm not in their budget pushy, I really do hone in on you can you are absolutely welcome to stay at the six images. I get it. Like I've been a mom. I know when it's a tight budget. And so I don't want to disclude anyone or make them feel pressured. But I show them this right in their car. I want them to feel it. I hand it to them. I want them to feel quality. I say you could have a border. You have no border. So this is a little bit different than

how Christa did it, she did the matted prints. For me, this spoke to me a little bit more than the matted prints. did start I love that. And you need to make it your own. Like you said, you need to be excited about offering it. Yeah. Exactly. And so I'm here. Here's another or you could go with a five by seven. I just had a client the other day. She's like eight by tens aren't my thing. So we did five by seven and same concept, but I'm showing them this. And then

from there if you want to bypass a friend.

Christa (09:13.87)
We go in an album direction. Now, I typically hand them the 40 image album because this is what I want. I want to sell up. I don't want to hand them the smaller album, but I do show them different cover options. They are flipping through this. They're feeling how heavy it is, the weight of it. I'm designing all of this. I'm telling them like for the one page. They're beautiful. Oh, thank you.

Like I always. It's amazing. If you're not watching this, if you're just listening, definitely go on YouTube and actually watch this because she's showing her products. It's beautiful. So any tell me this because you have all of that around you and it's beautiful. You mentioned bringing it to the shoot. Like, like, do you meet them in person or are you doing this on zoom and able to? Yeah, totally. Yeah. So you don't.

80 % of my clients sell is not from Flagstaff. Flagstaff and Sedona are destination towns. That is where I think I was hung up for so long. I was thinking, I don't have a studio. I really did start as a newborn photographer down in Phoenix. So people would come to my house. So I always thought like I needed a place to showcase it. Totally not true.

So if you just love, mean, it's quite a bit more work to lug all this stuff around, but at the same time, the return of it is so, so worth it. And so you don't need this fancy studio, but you do also need to be choosing about what you're showing. You don't want to confuse them. So then straight from like after I explain my album, I'm showing them my

how I do the wall art. So I'm showing them like a sample picture. We choose a different matte color and I build the frame around the matte and then we choose a frame. And so I'm showing them these samples, trying to make them fall in love with my product really. And then I also have frames already done so they can see that. I love that. It's simple, but you have to keep it so on like

Christa (11:32.556)
When I go through my bar, I'm only showing them what they want to, like three albums, two boxes with prints, and then I only bring four frames. I always bring a canvas. There are people that are diehard canvases. Canvases are actually cheaper for me to sell, so I don't mind that. So I figure, you know, they're not my favorite, but they're somebody else's favorite, so I'm here to serve the client. Right, and you're there to

serve them and you do that so well. And I was so glad you dove into that. And I can hear your passion. And that's so huge a part of this of why you're able to have these sales and guys like without needing a studio, like you don't, you don't need one. You don't need to open one if you don't want that overhead. Like this, like, like Annie, her clients are coming in and out of town. And I always told my clients that we're doing that. I served a destination place too, where I'm like, people are literally hanging photos of this destination in your home. You guys are in it. Like how much more is this a masterpiece for your family?

So I'd love if you'd be willing to share a bit about the numbers. Like what did sales look like before offering products and after even kind of what your highest sale has been? I'd love to hear. Yeah, absolutely. I think October was my biggest month this year. I had 12 shoots. I think that that month was 20,000. And that's what I would have been at like for probably.

seven months before, because I was charging you 850 a shoot and it's just not sustainable. I also think the biggest change is if no one takes anything else out of this, like if there was only one thing, you're like, man, I don't really, I don't know if I want to dive in a product. I don't want to be married to it or I'm raising a family. I totally get it. I've been there, but just the one thing that Christa does in her program is has

has you call. So you get an email, you send an email back that says, oh, I'm still looking forward to calling you and talking and chatting details, and then call them. You will never get people picking up. You text them, say, can't wait to talk to you about what I offer. And I really do not interact through email at all. just had somebody said,

Christa (13:55.022)
You know, just a couple of quick questions, just to answer these questions for me. I'm I'm so happy to answer those questions, but I do need to talk to you or a phone. And I think it does set the stage for like, I would say weaning out flaky people because that was the most frustrating part before. It's like, used to do, people would choose the 50 images even in my previous way of doing this, but to get them to do it, it was constantly this back and forth reminders, please do it.

But when you set up those sales calls and just from the initial point of contact, when you're kind of leaning out people that aren't even willing to pick up the phone, I do not harp on that. Like if you're not gonna pick up the phone, I'm not gonna keep messaging you. I just kind of reach out one time, email, text. And that's to me, like I know in your program, you go back and like kind of keep track. I don't, cause I'm not, I don't wanna beg people to hire me.

I had a lady, a client just over October. Her shoot was freezing. It was windy. It was like nightmare of a shoot. like, she said the biggest compliment. First of all, when she got the pictures back, she said she couldn't even tell that they were freezing and I also like distracted her 13 year olds and to keep her going throughout the shoot. But she said, you know, when I called you, I

I seen on Instagram, are a mom. I had seen that you were a teacher in your past life. And I saw how much you just loved photography and I loved your work. She goes, when I called you, I was planning on hiring you no matter what you were going to charge. Wow. I've never even heard that in my life. a big compliment that she, I had sold her before we even talked. That's amazing. So I would just say like first and foremost, just

just make those phone calls and it's so worth it. time. You have to get used to it. It's very your whole, but the more you do it, the easier it gets like anything else. yeah. So then overall, think, I don't know. I think most people do buy up for me. I've had only a few stay at like the base. And then when I've had people stay at the base, I have learned to like really stick to that session fee.

Christa (16:21.742)
because it does make it worth it. And so you just have to kind of stick to your guns. You do. I was just telling my husband, when it's easy, it's easy. I'll get nose all over the place or that silence after you told them the price and all that. But when it's easy, people are just like, OK. And they're not digging too much. not like, well, how much can I buy all of the parts?

can I, how much is the, you 12 images they, don't even, they don't know about it because they want you, you've told them about how you're going to play with their kids and you're going to make it fun. And you're selling them the whole conversation and like, I was a teacher. it's like my jam. just love working with kids. And, then I think another big sales point for me, at least my main clientele is probably middle age women.

and grandparents, lots of extended families. So I really hone in on, you know, I portraiture edit. You are gonna love these images. You're gonna feel good about yourself. I'm going to lift your neck and pull in your tummy. And that's not something every photographer does. No, exactly. Well, you can't, like if you're delivering 50 and mom wants one hair fixed and you charge $200, like suddenly all your time, you'd get paid more working at Target. So exactly. that's in...

guys, you can hear her passion. And one thing you brought up, Annie, it's like, it's, start to finish from that first phone call all the way to the end. So it is more time, but I'm curious, Annie, like what, do know what your average is now per session after people are buying products? I would say I'm well, so my biggest fail, the biggest fail was

from, I got a couple of really big sales actually. Tell us about those. And one in particular, probably an interesting story. They were from Iowa coming out and they were a lesbian couple. asked me like, we hear lots of photographers, you know, I'm totally fine with it. Lots of photographers tell us no, that they don't want to photograph us. And to me like, why would I be here to judge that? Like, absolutely I will.

Christa (18:35.406)
photograph whoever wants to be in front of my camera. And so they came out, they had four adult kids and I thought the session was a little off just because it was morning. I usually shoot sunset. was like later in the morning. Cloud coverage is weird. They're little like cacti in the grass. So they kept getting cacti in their pants and stuff. So it just felt off to me. The outfits weren't like what I would choose, but

I did, I do help people. I did help them choose earth tones. Like as much as I could control what was happening in that shoot, I did. And I kid you not, I went to the reveal session and I was thinking, well, I bet they'll choose like 12 images. They hadn't seen their kids probably in a year or so. I think that also that emotional connection for them to see their kids again. They loved every picture. I felt like they choose.

shows, even in the reveal session, like those ones are kind of similar. Do you really want them? They chose the 40 image album and then they bought a canvas, which is a lot cheaper for me to order. And that one we've designed over their fireplace. think that was like a, I'm gonna have to look back at maybe a 16 by 24. And that was a $7,000 sale. And I reflect on that because if I had been this photographer that was

judgmental or saying, like I have plenty of friends where if you don't show up to your shoot in a flowing dress, like they're not going to post your pictures on Instagram. I get a little tired of the industry of this perfection that so many photographers are constantly going for. You know what, like we all have a connection with somebody. So there's somebody that's going to connect with that photo shoot. And so

why would I have turned it down? So that one was my biggest fail to date was the That's amazing. Especially when you're not expecting it. Exactly. And I always say, Annie, like even when I have photographers that are like, Christa my clients would never blah, blah. I always remind them like, you know, you're, actually not in charge of your clients' wallets. And that's a very strong, you know, it's, a bit prideful to like assume that for people. I wouldn't want someone to assume that about me. Right.

Christa (20:59.338)
Exactly like you're saying, like everyone has their own family. They are booking you for a reason. There's a reason that they want photos of this really special time. And I've had so many students where they have really big sales from someone that they almost just wrote off and they're very rebuked by that. It's happened to me as well. And it's been the opposite too, where sometimes I see what they roll up in, what they're wearing and you anticipate it's big and like it might not be. And I think every client should have that service. So Amy, to close us out,

I'd love just to ask you one more question just to help our listeners. What would you encourage them with? The photographer that's on the fence and they know they need to make some changes. They love the idea of products and they're just really afraid of making changes. And for you, were, I think you said 14 years into your business. You were very established. That's even harder to make changes. What would your encouragement be to that photographer? I would just say, I know it's...

I'm like, I think that when you're an artist, maybe you're not a numbers person, but if you just sit down and do the math, like eight, if I was charging 8.50, you know, a shoot and then times that, say I do four shoots a month, which I think is feasible. Like to me, four shoots a month, like I go over in October, like the fall, but like, if I could just be at four shoots a month, like one a weekend, I mean, that's like a beautiful thing.

but already like spring is picking up. I think I just want to be that photographer that will can be at the place where I'm like turn people away. And I'm like, no, I'm closing out that month. And I still struggle with that. I still like take everything that really comes to me. Cause there's I'm still not there yet where I'm like, okay, I know, you know, the waves it's photography is gonna be waves January is dead. And I think August is dead.

but you see that and so you know like maybe your October one is maxed out, it's going to cover the January and August month. Whereas if you're doing it like you were before and I was probably charging a lot higher than anyone, 850 is very high. The funny thing is, is I charge 864 with tax for six images and have a full complete calendar booked.

Christa (23:21.902)
after easy or ways than your recommendations. And whereas before I was charging 850, giving them everything, 50 images, and my calendar was never booked. was always just like up and down, fall would be booked, but then it would just be kind of like the rest of the year was always a struggle because I wasn't doing the sales part. I wasn't calling people. I wasn't hustling, really hustling. And so I would just say, look at the numbers and

See where you where you want to be be at. You know, I think last I just figured out last year I was at seventy thousand after instilling your program next year. I definitely my goal is to break one hundred thousand and I do think it's doable. I've raised all my prices, all my albums have been raised. And I think once you get confident with it, you

you have that ability to raise your prices because that's amazing. My base will always be the same. I'll get people at the 700 plus tasks is what I charge for six images, digital, six matching prints plus a hundred dollar session fees. So I'll always start there. feel like it's a good starting place, but then once people clients are falling in love with their images and you're doing that sales call.

suddenly they are more open. see what they trust you. You have that relationship. And so they trust you. also last year I was eating a lot of the credit card processing fees. And then I'm like, you know what? My facial place charges processing fees. So I changed that and I was like, I charge a processing fee. If you want to use a credit card, you're more than welcome. Well, sure.

Since doing that, everyone suddenly has cash and sending me money through Zelle and Venmo and things like that. so it's just, it's being smarter about, you know, running a business. How much time, how much time do you want to invest in running a business? You know, managing a website, managing the emails, all that you kind of forget about. You just kind of are like, maybe just doing it and not really.

Christa (25:40.302)
How much time that's taking? Like I went on a vacation with my daughter and I'm still answering the phone. And so it's just like, you know, it has to be worth it. And it's not worth it. It's like before I was out, you know, 30,000 a year, that's not worth it. That's not- You did 30,000 in 2024 and then he jumped to 70. Yeah. That's huge. That's, and that's like to more than triple, that's pretty unheard of in the photo space to do in a year. So Annie, like-

You're just such an inspiration. I hope that those listening that are wondering, like, oh my gosh, can I, like, I hope this just instills in you, like, it is so possible with, like Annie said multiple times, the hard work and hustle. So Annie, where, if someone was really moved by your story and wants to reach out and thank you for sharing it, can they connect with you on Instagram? What would that look like? Oh, absolutely. Yeah. And that Annie B photography, I started as a children's photography. So it's B, like Bumblebee.

and then yeah, Instagram, I have a website, annephot.com. So yeah, feel free to reach out. We're in this together. And to be honest, I would love to see the whole industry go product based because it helps us all because I hear every single week, well, I just want the digital. I just want the digital. And so it's reteaching the client that what really are you gonna do with 50 digital?

photographers that have given me 50 digitals for my family and looking around, I print three to four. And that's it. And then I even look back at the session and I'm like, wait, I know I was showing my teeth in one image and I wasn't in another, but they only gave me the one. I was like, I've seen both of them. And so that's where I really stress, like you are seeing every picture from your session. I mean, of course you're leaning out.

you know, duplicates and some of the ones that are blurry and all that. But I really hone in on they are in control of what pictures they get. And I say, you're choosing the best of the best of the session. So you are getting, you know, the cream of the crop and what's better than anything. And within weeks of your session, you're showcasing it in your home. So. That's amazing. Annie, that was so inspiring.

Christa (28:04.481)
anyone listening, I'll link her Instagram and the show notes, send her a DM if this was encouraging. And thank you so much, Annie, we really appreciate it. Thank you. Good luck, everyone. Keep at it.