The Luxury Reset Nobody Talks About with Haley Flanagan

334 - Running a luxury pet photography business should feel good — not exhausting. In this episode, Nicole sits down with Haley Flanagan of Sweet Camelia Photography to talk about what happens when a high-touch, premium business model starts costing more than it's giving back, and how a few strategic pivots can make the whole thing feel sustainable again.

What to Listen For 

• Why a high session fee can actually hurt bookings
• How to cut client hours without cutting your prices
• The case for putting pricing on your website
• Why packages make saying yes so much easier
• How to outsource leash removal without losing your style
• The great drop-ship debate 
• Building collections that feel like a steal at every level
• How to relaunch quietly without a big announcement
• What to do when your voice shakes on pricing calls

Haley came into this conversation unsure if her business was even worth saving. She left with a plan, a pricing structure, and something she hadn't felt in a while — excitement. If any part of her story sounds familiar, this one's worth a listen.

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Transcript

Nicole Begley (00:00)
In today's episode, I am chatting with Haley who was running a high-end, high-touch luxury photography business, but was getting burnout at trying to find clients and trying to keep this business running and was ready to call it quits. Instead, we chatted and I helped her come up with a new way to run her business and a new way to look at her pricing, her sales, her delivery.

and really the entire client experience because there is always a way to create a business that fits for you and your life. And I love to help people find that. So this is a great required listening for really anybody with a photography business because there might be some questions that we talk about and I ask her in this that you might want to ask yourself to see if there is a way that you can run your business with more ease and in the long run more profit.

Stay tuned.

Nicole Begley (00:57)
I'm Nicole Begley, a zoological animal trainer turned pet and family photographer. Back in 2010, I embarked on my own adventure in photography, transforming a bootstrapping startup into a thriving six-figure business by 2012. Since then, my mission has been to empower photographers like you, sharing the knowledge and strategies that have helped me help thousands of photographers build their own profitable businesses. I believe that achieving $2,000 $3,000 sales is your fastest route to six-figure businesses.

that any technically proficient photographer can consistently hit four figure sales. And no matter if you want photography to be your full-time passion or a part-time pursuit, profitability is possible. If you're a portrait photographer aspiring to craft a business that aligns perfectly with the life you envision, then you're in exactly the right place. With over 350,000 downloads, welcome to the Freedom Focus Photography Podcast.

Nicole Begley (01:57)
Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Freedom Focus Photography podcast. I'm your host, Nicole Begley. And today I have one of my students with me, Haley Flanagan from Sweet Camelia Photography. Oh, my gosh. My tongue was getting tied. Haley Flanagan from Sweet Camelia. Did I pronounce that right? Photography. OK, good. All right. And you got your in Southern California. Yes.

Haley Flanagan (02:15)
Yes.

I'm in Northern

California. I'm in Sacramento.

Nicole Begley (02:22)
Northern

California. Okay. I knew you're in California. Wonderful. Um, so yeah, so today we're going to have a little bit of a conversation because you posted something pretty, pretty vulnerable. And I applaud you for being so open about where you are in your business right now, um, in the community. And a lot of people responded, gave you some suggestions, but, I wanted to, to invite you on here because you're definitely not alone. Um, the, industry has shifted. I'm not saying that it's not.

possible, but like buying behavior has changed. I've been talking about this for a while and the experience people want might be shifting a little bit too. And you know, it just everything shifts and I love to teach that there is no one perfect business model. So we'll get into to what you've been doing and maybe where we want to go. But so many times, so many people come to me and they're like, well, what's, how do I have to have my business set up? And

There are so many different kinds of business models and the important thing is that we find one that works for you. And so that's what I want to do today is kind of break down where you've been feeling stuck, where you've been frustrated with that business. And instead of, you know, closing it, maybe we find a way to pivot it, to re strategize it, ⁓ to relaunch it as something that's going to really fit in your, your lifestyle and, and, check all the boxes that you need.

So again, thank you for being here. Do you want to go ahead and just kind of let everybody know your history, your when you started your business, like what's what's kind of causing this this stressful time?

Haley Flanagan (04:06)
Yeah, so in 2025, I quit my full-time job as a scientist. And I kind of knew that maybe that was like a risky time, but it did end up being a lot more challenging than I anticipated. And then this was unfortunately relatively quickly followed by the end of a six and a half year relationship and then moving back in with family because of that. So,

of change in a pretty short time and it's kind of, I mean not kind of, it has completely changed my lifestyle, my like how I spend my time. I've gotten a part-time job recently, fairly recently, ⁓ to kind of fill in some of the financial gaps but yeah there's everything's different, the place I'm in is different, like I'm just trying to figure out how to

make this work and that's now that I even kind of want to. For a few months there I really didn't think I wanted to. So yeah, and last year I really, really tried. Like I was, like I was networking, I was going out, I was trying to make invitations in, I was doing all my normal silent auction donations. I tried to do like a couple new like approaches to booking, but nothing was really panning out.

Nicole Begley (05:09)
Yeah.

Haley Flanagan (05:31)
2025. So I think it was kind of disheartening and it was really stressful.

Nicole Begley (05:36)
Yeah, no, that's, you know, business stuff aside, that's a lot of changes in one's life to go through. that's, that's a stressful rocky road anyway. And then you add onto it the challenges, cause it is, it is a challenging, ⁓ you know, move from like, my gosh, when you leave your full-time job, now you're like, now you end up feeling way more attached to getting clients because while you need to

Haley Flanagan (05:41)
Yeah.

Yes.

Nicole Begley (06:03)
pay bills. it becomes a lot more stressful and can be a really challenging transition. ⁓ But yeah, and so your business prior was a like IPS in-person sales, high price, high touch boutique business. What was your average sales or what average sale were you looking for previously?

Haley Flanagan (06:04)
Yes. Who's that?

My actual average sale was somewhere in the 2 3,000 range. My goal average sale was like 5 to 7,000.

Nicole Begley (06:33)
Okay.

Okay, okay. So yeah, like the super lux high end. Okay. And then the challenges have just been finding enough people and and then the time I'm looking at. So basically, the what you posted is like, how do I quote back down from being a premium priced high touch service provider?

Haley Flanagan (06:42)
Yeah.

Nicole Begley (07:02)
So you are looking to see like if there's a business model where you can find more success and joy that requires less intense marketing and sales work, less time commitment per client. So totally, totally get ⁓ that. you know, I talk about, and I know, you know, but I just for, the others that are listening that might not that our businesses really have kind of four levels of, you know, all inclusive digital.

starting to offer products, having those products at that two to $3,000 average sale, and then the super lux five to seven. So question that I want to talk about today is trying to figure out like, how can we shift this business and pivot it in a way that feels less stressful, feels less heavy, that maybe you can continue on as like super part time that

Like it relieves if you're having another part time job, it's relieving that stress, but you can still find joy in your photography business and it can still bring in some extra income for you. ⁓ So let's talk about those kinds of things. What pieces specifically felt the heaviest for you with the old business?

Haley Flanagan (08:17)
So because of California living and how many hours I was dedicating per client and the limits of how many I could book because of that, ⁓ I felt like I had to have such a high, not only barrier to entry, but also such a high price to every product I had. ⁓ Because some people booked in when I had a lower entry and wouldn't spend more, or they would get a minimum of product.

I had to raise that so high just because I felt like I was wasting so much, not wasting, but it felt like a waste of so much time or how little I was pulling in that the barrier to entry became like a really big point of stress when booking new clients because I raised my session fee. I also got rid of like most of my lower cost options. And so it just constantly felt like I was dealing with like people being shocked or disappointed on the phone.

Nicole Begley (08:53)
Yeah, right.

Haley Flanagan (09:16)
especially people I had connected with pretty well. And then I got to point that I got so scared that my voice would start shaking every single call when I got to the pricing point. ⁓ Embarrassing. the barrier to entry, I also felt like I was constantly going to appointments or driving out like up to two hours.

Nicole Begley (09:20)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Haley Flanagan (09:43)
⁓ in any direction to clients to get my ideal clients, for every like in-home consultation for their session for their, sometimes their ordering appointment. If I could do that in person, ⁓ occasionally people we'd have to do like either a reshoot because of like weather or whatever, or, you know, like we'd have to reschedule whatever else. So it was just such a time suck. ⁓ it was, it was just a lot. ⁓ and I,

hated doing all of like, honestly, I hated doing all of the logistics of that. And now I am something that wasn't a problem then but I am now living in a place where I actually have minimal like, good lighting and setting for editing. ⁓ Because the rooms in the house I live in now don't all have neutral walls and natural light.

Nicole Begley (10:32)
Mm-hmm.

Haley Flanagan (10:39)
So I really have to like pare down the editing I'm doing unless I outsource or ⁓ stick to film or something. those are like my primary barriers that I'm dealing with, really getting over the hump of booking and getting sales that are like sustainable for the hours I'm putting in. ⁓ And that like constant like traveling to clients, doing tons and tons of appointments that feel super

Nicole Begley (10:59)
Mm-hmm.

Haley Flanagan (11:08)
draining and taxing all of my evenings and weekends.

Nicole Begley (11:09)
Yeah. What?

Yeah. Yeah, for sure. How many hours would you estimate you were spending on a client previously? Let's say if they were an hour away.

Haley Flanagan (11:20)
It was usually somewhere around 24 when everything was said and done.

Nicole Begley (11:26)
Okay.

Yep, yep, they are. That's a lot. So if we could create a business system that maybe, well, let me ask you this. How long would it usually take you to edit said images?

Haley Flanagan (11:44)
So it obviously depends on how many they would get, but I found that it would take me anywhere between like six to like 15, depending on if they got like a ton of like, if they got wall art, for example, I spend more time on the images. If they got like an album, they'd get a bunch of images and those take me the longest. I had clients who would get just like a few, like all a cart and those might take me like, I don't know.

four hours, three hours to go through and actually do a detailed edit and then order their product.

Nicole Begley (12:16)
Okay.

Okay, gotcha. How much, cause that is a big, a big piece of that, that time suck. So looking at kind of auditing your time per client, the editing is a big piece of the time suck and the, the in-person appointments. ⁓ I think we can certainly pare down those in-person appointments. For instance, I, I don't do any anymore. ⁓

I gave people for the past few years, I've been giving them the option to come to my house if they want to. ⁓ But they usually don't. do the planning call on the phone, sometimes Zoom, but usually just the phone. And then I shoot the session and then we do a Zoom call for our sales appointment. like,

That could cut down things significantly. And I think there's ways to even do this where you don't even have to have as many live calls. I would still recommend having a live call. It could be just a phone call for your planning session, but that's usually half an hour. ⁓ And then like there are definitely ways that you can do asynchronous sales depending on how your business is set up. and the pricing is set up. So,

We can definitely talk about those pieces. But with your editing, is there a place where you would be happy creating images, streamlining that editing or outsourcing that editing? I mean, because your work is beautiful. If you guys go to her website, sweetcameliaphotography.com, like it is beautiful. Your branding is

Haley Flanagan (13:55)
Thank you.

Nicole Begley (14:00)
incredible like your colors and your images are so harmonious. It's really just gorgeous. So can you get

Can you make editing stream more streamlined?

Haley Flanagan (14:18)
That's something I guess my answer is I hope I have not ever outsourced because I just found it to be a logistical nightmare and I'm a control freak. But I feel like it's possible. like control. I have thought about this in like two different ways where one would be I'd have to outsource within my editing community, which I use a film emulation.

Nicole Begley (14:28)
Yeah. Control enthusiast. We don't like the word control freak around here. Control enthusiast.

Haley Flanagan (14:48)
software or not software, like a set of profiles, not presets. It like changes all the tones and everything. But ⁓ I have to find somebody within that community who is willing to edit and like remove leashes and everything potentially, because that takes the most time. I can do like a base edit pretty quickly on everything, but like leashes and like funky, like dog edits are kind of more challenging.

Nicole Begley (14:48)
Mhm.

Yeah,

that, that would actually be easier to edit out than your, your style. Cause you have a very, like a very dialed in style to your work. So like, if you could still manage the color management and those global edits, like you do that. And then you send out the leash removal for the Photoshop based editing. That would be easy, easy for someone else to do. And you wouldn't have to train them in your style.

Haley Flanagan (15:22)
Okay. Yeah.

Hmm?

Okay.

Nicole Begley (15:41)
So

you can easily start to find someone on Upwork or Fiber or someone like that that has Photoshop experience. ⁓ And you can send them just a handful of test first, you know, like next time you have a client, send them five, you know, hire a couple of people and send them like three each and, pay them for that little test project. But you can find someone, you know, overseas that can do something like that really easily. And then.

You can ship off that piece of it. Cause I know for me that ends up being like the main time suck, especially if they order a lot of images. We're like, my God, that's a lot of leashes. ⁓ Yeah. Yeah. And like Photoshop's gotten so good at it, but it's still time suck, right? So yeah, I think a lot of times, and if there's one that your editor can't handle, okay, maybe there's a couple of that you do, but like they should be able to handle 95 % of those.

Haley Flanagan (16:15)
ready.

I know the leafs are the hardest part, so that makes a lot of sense.

Nicole Begley (16:40)
Um, so that could streamline that piece of it. And then we can streamline the business side of it. Now to streamline the business side of it. Hold on. I'm going to look. What was your, um, all right. You have your experience here. I'm on your website. Inquire for your session. What was the, their session fee kind of, how was your pricing set up before?

Haley Flanagan (17:09)
Yeah, so last year at the beginning of the year, I raised my session fee from, I think I had it at 690 to 1,490. So I had kind of doubled it because people weren't spending beyond the credit. And I tried to get closer to my bottom collection, which is like 2,000 in credit. So that 1,490 included a $1,000 image credit.

Nicole Begley (17:20)
Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Haley Flanagan (17:37)
There were a couple times where I experimented with like a $1,200 image credit underneath that umbrella and the rest is just like holding their session fee. But ⁓ yeah, that was my session fee last year and I really, really struggled to book under that. I've heard some people say they had an easier time booking once they raised their session fee. That was certainly not the case for me, unfortunately.

Nicole Begley (18:00)
Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. So there are definitely, again, there, there is not one pricing strategy for those you guys out there that you're finding that this works great. Amazing. Like it certainly can work. And there's certainly people that love to have their business that way, but there are definitely some challenges. And that is that initial barrier to entry where people are like, my gosh, that's a lot to spend. What if my dog is the dog that she can't photograph?

And like, even if you have guarantees, then they feel bad thinking that they're going to have to ask for their money back because you couldn't photograph their dog. so, and it's just a lot for people to lay out before they've seen the images and gotten really emotionally attached to them. But you have to balance that with if it's too low of session fee and you're attracting the wrong people, then they're not going to spend what you want them to spend. ⁓ so there's definitely pros and cons to each way. ⁓ I would say both of those.

Or a high barrier to entry session fee, whether you're 6 90 or 14 90. Um, you know, I, I consider anything under 500 is like kind of the general barrier to entry to get on the calendar. Anything less than 200 is really kind of low, but that 200 to 500. I feel it's kind of like the sweet spot for a retainer to someone to pay something. So they've, they've said, yes.

They've said yes with their wallet. They're committed. ⁓ which is kind of like a good spot, I think to attract the widest number, but also make sure you wipe out the freebie seekers. one other thing that might've been challenging for you that has been harder is, I mean, your website is stunning, stunning, but

Um, people today, the buying behavior has changed and they need to know approximately what things cost. So I'm looking at your, um, do, do going through this one little photography experience. Yeah. I'm like just glancing over your page and I don't really see anything speaking to the cost. And a lot of times when people don't see a cost, they just move on because they either assume it's too expensive or they just.

Haley Flanagan (20:10)
Right.

Nicole Begley (20:17)
don't want to take the time to have to set up an inquiry call just to find out if they can afford it. And people want that immediate information now.

Haley Flanagan (20:22)
Yeah.

Yeah, I initially, I've gone back and forth. ⁓ I follow a business educator who kind of says like in general, keep it all off the website, just in case somebody might convert who would have otherwise said like, no, because of price. But ⁓ when I did have my prices on my site, everybody did not read them. Everybody would get on the phone with me. And they were so shocked. And I was like, what do you mean? It's right there. ⁓

Nicole Begley (20:46)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's still possible.

Haley Flanagan (20:53)
So, and even when I would send it to them and all of these things. So I kind of just gave up and followed the edge with the educator that I listened to had been saying. But yeah, I can see like, especially I had one former client comment on it. One day she was like, is there a reason you took your prices off your site? I'm like, wow, you would be the one person who actually goes and looks.

Nicole Begley (21:18)
Yeah. Yeah. No, I think, I mean, if you think about, if you think about you and something maybe that you've been looking to purchase, like for instance, the one example I'll use is I need a new front door at some point. Like it gets all the morning sun. The house is almost 10 years old. It looks horrific. Like it, it just needs to be replaced. and I went to a couple of places and I'm like,

Haley Flanagan (21:19)
So I know for some people it's a struggle.

Nicole Begley (21:42)
I just want to know approximately, we talking a thousand, one thousand or one thousand, three thousand, five thousand? Like just give me a ballpark. And like, I can't find that without calling and setting up an inquiry call. And I'm like, this is making me crazy because I don't want to do it right now, but I just need to know what the ballpark is. So when I am ready to pull the trigger, I can do that. ⁓ and, and so much, like, if you think about just society today, people are busier than ever.

Haley Flanagan (22:00)
Right.

Nicole Begley (22:10)
Their attention span is shorter than ever. They want immediate information. Like even if we have ⁓ something on our website and it's an opt-in to see full pricing and we just email it to them, even if we set it up to email immediately, if we don't redirect that page to that page of the information they just requested, they're going to miss that email. They're going to forget. They inquired like they're gone. They've just moved on to something else and forgot that we even existed. So

There, there's something to be said for giving people the opportunity to get that information immediately now and being able to, to kind of make that decision and also just kind of know where that, that ball point that, that ballpark is. ⁓ because again, you have such a strong brand, you have such a strong imagery, like someone that would come and see your work would be like, my gosh, I need to hire Haley. Like this work is gorgeous. And you look at other photographers and it does look different and it, it

Haley Flanagan (22:45)
Bye.

YARN

Nicole Begley (23:09)
It does build that value. So now the question becomes, how can we continue to offer this in a way that is easier? And maybe we don't try to get those five to $7,000 sales. Maybe instead we look at something that's like a consistent two or $3,000 sale, but at 10 hours a client or eight hours a client. Would that feel more sustainable?

Haley Flanagan (23:31)
Yeah.

that would feel much more sustainable.

Nicole Begley (23:39)
Yeah.

Okay. Good, good, good. And you know, and we can set it up in a way that has, you know, maximum 20 % cost of goods sold. So like an easy way to do that is if you look at like wedding photographers and, you could create a package type option. and, and you know, and you can still have, so

When we have packages, think the reason some people are like, no, we can't do packages is they worry, my gosh, it's gonna, it's gonna cap my sale. It's going to, not everyone's gonna want to fit in that package. ⁓ I don't know, those are the two main ones that I hear. But depending on how you're setting your business up, packages allow you to streamline the heck out of your workflow. They allow people to get information quickly.

Haley Flanagan (24:20)
Yeah.

Nicole Begley (24:31)
It allows you to create a system to help weed out inquiries. So the people that are inquiring, you're not doing a whole bunch of like live calls, discovery calls, like all that dance before people commit. They can look at it and be like, yeah, I'm ready. Boom. Do it. ⁓ so it just takes so much time off the table. takes also a lot of time off the table on the backend that when you have collections like that, you can streamline ordering where

You can do a live zoom call if you want, or you could potentially not, you know, you could do something where you kind of talk about the artwork. You know, you can still start out work doing this way, like bring the samples to the session. And again, like there, this is what I do is by the time we come to our sale session. I already know what they're going to buy. We've already talked about it and I'm just helping them pick out which images they want for each thing.

because I take my samples to the actual session and then I'm like a random art drug dealer. Like after the session, come to my car, let me open up the trunk, look at these beautiful guild canvases. It's hysterical. ⁓ But then they get to see them, feel them, touch them and there I'm like, you know, talking about which style they like best. So now I know which kind of piece they want. We've already talked

prior to the session during our planning call about what they think they might like, like what their decor is in their house, where it's going to hang, those kinds of things. And my session is still artwork focused. So question for you is, you like having a business that's digital only can be really hard to compete price wise, but having a

product based business that includes a lot of digital is like the ⁓ main piece of that collection, I think is really sustainable and you're still creating beautiful things for your clients and they can understand it and they want both those things. is there like artwork versus albums, one where your heart like is really drawn to?

Haley Flanagan (26:48)
really love albums. ⁓ I've been mostly just selling like prints, like handheld prints, just because the album is my highest collection and very few people went for it last year. ⁓ Wall art is also nice, but because of the pressure to get that installed for them or like fear that they will never put it up on their wall, I honestly am not that invested in wall art personally.

Nicole Begley (26:56)
Yep.

Yep.

Haley Flanagan (27:18)
which is probably part of my sale problem.

Nicole Begley (27:18)
OK.

Yeah. Well, and you don't have to install it, nor do you have to provide someone to install it. I mean, if they're going to spend seven or $10,000, okay, yeah, that's a really nice service ad. But if you're, if you're looking at that two to $3,000 kind of like still wonderful experience, but not like the super crazy lux experience that they can, they can do that. And it's honestly so easy now, like I do recommend to my clients, like I,

Haley Flanagan (27:32)
Right.

Right.

Nicole Begley (27:51)
show them a little picture at Lowe's of those, like the wall, the easy ones that are just the hook with the nail, like the one or two nails that go in. So like literally like a 10 year old could probably hang it and dry wall. ⁓ Or if it's a really big piece, like the really easy wall anchors that you, I think they're called like easy wall anchors. It's a big white plastic.

Haley Flanagan (28:00)
Yeah, right.

Nicole Begley (28:16)
like looks like a giant nail with a screw on the other end. So you nail it into the wall and then you just screw it into the wall and then you just screw the thing in and it pops out the back. And like it is so easy and it works so easily for like, if there really was a big heavy piece, but most of it, just those little tiny ones. And if somebody has like a masonry wall or something crazy, like you weren't going to be able to hang it there anyway. So they, they already know that they're on their own there. ⁓

Haley Flanagan (28:32)
training.

Right. Yeah.

Nicole Begley (28:44)
So you can still serve your clients in a great way and make it easy for them and feel great about the exchange without actually being the one to go in and hang it up.

Haley Flanagan (28:44)
Yes.

Nicole Begley (28:58)
How does that feel? Like, does that help?

Haley Flanagan (28:59)
Yeah, and I think maybe that's...

It helps a little. think I still like, because I haven't always offered to do it for them. And I did feel kind of awkward doing those deliveries, partially because I know some people drop ship, I was worried like if there was a product issue, I wasn't going to see it. ⁓ So I would like deliver myself. And then I would just feel awkward just leaving this giant like project.

Nicole Begley (29:15)
Yep.

Haley Flanagan (29:27)
for them to do, especially because of the cost of working with me. Like I honestly felt like, was like, they're spending thousands of them and then I'm just dropping this giant ugly box with their product in it on their door, not on their door, but like in their house. ⁓ And I'm like, good luck, bye. And so it's, I think it's still something that is a little tricky for me. Yeah, bye. And you know, I mean,

Nicole Begley (29:30)
Yep. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

I'm out, my work here is done.

Haley Flanagan (29:55)
most of them, not all of them, unfortunately, but most of them, I know did get it up on their walls ⁓ within a reasonable timeframe, but I still feel a little of that guilt. it also comes with like, typically I do the wall art mockups and like face or the space photographs of their home, which is part of why the in-person consultation was more helpful was because I got access to those walls to photograph for them. I had a hard time getting people to send photos. ⁓

Nicole Begley (30:02)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Haley Flanagan (30:26)
So it kind of feels like it's this own like set of like necessary work to feel good about it, especially if I'm like priced highly. But I'm not saying that like I couldn't get over myself and just like offer in a big kind of like, okay, if you if you want Waller, like this is like it's going to get drop shipped to you kind of way. Tell me, you know, you know, anything but

Nicole Begley (30:50)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I drop ship mine and I ask them to take a picture when it gets there. I'm like, Hey, will you send me a picture or I just follow in and like, does it look perfect? Please tell me if it doesn't. I want to make sure it does. You know what I mean? Like, does the color look right? Like, and I just asked them like point blank. I want to make sure this came, like I drop shifted to you. I like to get my eyes on it, but you know, I send a picture. and, and they usually do, and they'll just let me know like, my gosh, it looks amazing. ⁓

Haley Flanagan (30:56)
Yeah, it's

Okay.

Yeah. Okay.

Bye.

Nicole Begley (31:25)
And so like you can take that worry out, especially if like maybe if it's a brand new lab and be like, okay, I want to have it shipped to me and I'm just going to eat the cost of reshipping it or I'll drive it over or something like that. But yeah, most of my clients end up being farther away. Some are from other states and you know, I just, have to drop ship it. And then I realized I'm like, my gosh, this is so much easier.

Haley Flanagan (31:35)
right.

Mm-hmm.

right.

Nicole Begley (31:52)
And you save money on having to have like the bags and all these things and they get it faster. And so, yeah, I think it's really not necessarily an issue. I haven't found it to be. I know a lot of other people haven't found it to be. ⁓

Haley Flanagan (31:53)
Yana

right.

Yeah. And that would save me a lot of time too, because I was

marketing more towards clients who live closer to the coast, which is like a two hour drive for me. So just that extra delivery was like five hours. Yes. So.

Nicole Begley (32:19)
Yeah. my gosh. That's half a day. Yes. Yeah. And

how much gas costs in California and all of those pieces. huh. Yeah. ⁓ the other piece too is it's nice to get pictures of their wall. I don't always get them either. And they usually like, I do have a nice big sample. They see it's a 20 by 30 sample that they see at the session.

Haley Flanagan (32:28)
Right? Like, makes me want to So, yeah.

Nicole Begley (32:48)
So it is a nice substantial piece. ⁓ And I do ask them numerous times and remind them like, hey, if you just texted me and I just tell them, just take a picture, put a piece of paper on your wall, snap a photo with your phone and shoot it over as a text. So easy. And so sometimes they will, sometimes they won't. But I also like, we know, okay, you're going to put this above a couch. All right. That's probably like a 30 by 40.

Haley Flanagan (33:04)
Mm-hmm.

Nicole Begley (33:17)
would look nicest above a full size couch or OK, it's a little bit of a hallway. How wide is that table? That table is 48 inches. OK, well, you don't want to go wider than 36 inches. So like a 20 by 30 or 24 by 36 will look great. Or if you're doing a 16 by 24, you have room for some other things around there, too. So so we can still sell those pieces without all those extra steps. So, so just

Haley Flanagan (33:28)
Yeah.

Nicole Begley (33:48)
to alleviate that worry. ⁓ It is, it is possible. Yeah. ⁓ so yeah, so I'm wondering how would it feel if we had three, three collections, like maybe something like, is there a bare minimum that you're like, I have to make this much money in profit, ⁓ to leave my house and shoot, assuming that it's a eight to 10 hour.

Haley Flanagan (33:50)
Yeah, that would be huge.

Nicole Begley (34:17)
of your time for the whole experience.

Haley Flanagan (34:20)
that complicates things a little bit. And it, I mean, it would be such a big difference. It's kind of hard for me to pull a number on the spot. If my current situation, it says that I'm trying to do like five to seven per person and assuming like I either don't increase my client load or I like maybe can increase it a little bit, but I'm saving like,

Nicole Begley (34:28)
Hahaha

Mm-hmm.

Haley Flanagan (34:49)
two-thirds of the time.

Nicole Begley (34:51)
Hmm?

Haley Flanagan (34:55)
I think I could go to like, that's so hard. It's so hard for me to say. I'm guessing like one to 2000 would be okay. I mean, certainly would be better than what I'm doing. I think my minimum would probably still be ideally around 1000 for at least an average client.

Nicole Begley (35:08)
Yeah.

Okay.

I was, yeah, I was actually thinking like a minimum 1500, like a 1500, $2,500 and $3,500 session.

Haley Flanagan (35:25)
Yeah, because even if the time cut happens...

What's up?

Nicole Begley (35:32)
Like what about like a 1500, $2,500 and $3,500 session? Or you could go. Yeah. Or you can go 1500, 3000 and then 4,500. So yeah. Yeah. Perfect. Especially at like 10 hours or less of work. Um, so let's kind of work these, let's work these through. kind of like the fit 1500, 3000, 4,500, because quite frankly, you are worried about like

Haley Flanagan (35:38)
Those are cute numbers. I like those numbers.

I like those numbers too.

Right.

Nicole Begley (36:02)
What does this look like stepping back? I don't think this is stepping back. This is still a luxury business. We're just going to streamline your business. We're going to let people see kind of what options are, what they cost. And it's a lot easier for people to convert when they're like, ⁓ I know exactly what I might spend. Even if, even if, so I have three collections, ⁓ 2,000, 3,500, 5,000.

Haley Flanagan (36:05)
Right. Okay.

YAH!

Nicole Begley (36:30)
Most of my clients come in thinking they're like insane. I think I'm to do that 2000 or 3500. Oftentimes they end up going all a cart. They end up spending about $5,000 and it's so streamlined. I spend less than 10 hours per client. I probably spend about seven or eight. So it is very profitable and I'm like, yes, amazing. Even if

You know, it's a guild canvas at four times. So my cost of goods sold is, is still 25 % or less, but I have a pretty substantial cost of goods sold in there because a lot of people are buying those. but, but, so I don't think you need to worry about like, am I wrecking my brand? because, cause you're not.

Haley Flanagan (36:59)
Right, yeah.

Yes. Yeah.

Okay, that's the thing too,

is I have like all of these product guides out there in space. some former clients can reference them. I have three collections sort of, but not like in a very like streamlined way. So I have like eight, six, I think I changed it to 16 or 18 and then like 32, something like that. I changed the numbers last year, images, and they're about 2000, I think.

Nicole Begley (37:18)
Yeah.

Right.

Haley Flanagan (37:41)
They go to 3,000 and then 4,000. So one starts with prints. The next one is prints in a folio box. And then the last one is the images in an album instead. And to change from that, I would have to change something about those. So it's not like people are like, hey, why did you change the price? I'd feel like I just have to offer something different and think about that per image difference.

Nicole Begley (38:03)
Right.

How many images are in your album now?

Haley Flanagan (38:10)
I think it's like 32 or 36.

Nicole Begley (38:14)
Okay.

You could and what's the price point of that? Do you have your prices somewhere we could take a look at?

Haley Flanagan (38:19)
That one is... Let

me pull up, I think this is my artwork and product guide. yes, so it's unfortunately printed. We're vintage. So I had eight portraits just as like matted prints at 1980. I had 16 of those.

Nicole Begley (38:29)
And you can screen share if you want. If it's kind of, you're pulling it up on there. well, it's amazing. I love it. I love it.

Haley Flanagan (38:48)
matted prints in a folio box for $29.80 and then $28 at the time. I think I did raise the number ⁓ like mid-year, but 28 images in either an album or a folio box for $39.80, so $3980. And I think I bumped that number ever so slightly. My AulaKart portrait price was $300 per image if people went completely AulaKart just because it was

Nicole Begley (39:05)
Okay, sounds good.

Okay.

Haley Flanagan (39:17)
awful if they did that. ⁓ so that's kind of like the the eight per portrait price ⁓ or the eight image collection per portrait price was like two a little under 250 and ⁓ so on and so forth. So it was I would say pretty like expensive still per image. ⁓ But I'm also again also like different level of service if it was obvious enough.

Nicole Begley (39:17)
Yep. Yep. Yep.

Mm-hmm. Yep.

Haley Flanagan (39:47)
like I would feel comfortable lowering that. ⁓ So yeah.

Nicole Begley (39:49)
Yep. I don't know that we need

to. I think we can work kind of within those still ranges. Like in your $1,500 collection, what if you did five matted prints that like valued $9.95 plus ⁓ maybe like those corresponding digitals?

Haley Flanagan (40:03)
Mmm, yeah.

Yeah.

Nicole Begley (40:10)
plus

⁓

I mean, really, you could do that. Those five prints at 995 plus the corresponding digitals.

Haley Flanagan (40:20)
Yeah, I would do that. ⁓ Do you feel like that's enough?

Nicole Begley (40:23)
done, ⁓ or if you wanted to,

depending if you got your, your thing down a little bit more, like to make a little bit more value, like you could do the five prints at nine, nine, five, and, and do like five bonus digitals, or that can be your fast action bonus. Maybe you're maybe your, ⁓ collection it's five matted prints, nine, nine, five. ⁓ and then the.

You get the five corresponding digitals. And when they like book a session shortly after they inquire, like maybe there's, or if they pre pay or, you you can have some sort of bonus, something that they get an extra five digitals in that collection.

Haley Flanagan (41:01)
Mm-hmm.

Right.

like that. I'll have to think of that because a kind of bonus structure would be a little bit or at least like an incentive would be nice. Yeah.

Nicole Begley (41:18)
Yes. Yep. Yep.

Yep. And then like for 3000, I mean, that could be a folio box.

⁓

Have you, do you have any priced artwork in that, in that book or your prices?

Haley Flanagan (41:42)
Um, I do. My wall art started at, um, either like 1200 for the tiniest ones. If I went with like just all the cart, um, if they got two or more artwork or if they got a collection, everything was 20 % off. So it started at 980 and then went all the way up to like five, 6,000 for the largest sizes. And then, um, painted portraits, which I have never sold.

Nicole Begley (41:54)
Yep.

Okay.

Yep.

Haley Flanagan (42:10)
But painted portraits went from about 5,000 to like 1,400.

Nicole Begley (42:17)
Okay, perfect. ⁓

Yeah. So I think an easy, basically an easy way to kind of fill these in, this is going to be your homework is kind of look at those products and, and it's okay to shift them. Like it's okay to change the price. You know what I mean? And if, and if a client comes back that maybe saw your prices before and now asks, why are they less? You can say that you've, you know, adjusted, adjusted your hours.

that, that like, because you've taken away all these in-person pieces, things are more streamlined. So you could afford like, so you were able to reprice your products because of the, you were able to streamline the experience. Yeah. So, so I wouldn't worry about like feeling like I have to keep this price here. ⁓ I would definitely like you to keep these following parameters in mind when you price your products in that matted prints and those kinds of things like.

Haley Flanagan (42:53)
right.

Yeah. Right. I can reduce the profit margin on my product. Right.

Nicole Begley (43:21)
there are no rules other than they need to make sure that you have enough profit there. Like that five for nine, nine, five, you know, I wouldn't, I would never go less than 150 per kind of image there for selling those groups. And I honestly wouldn't even have single ones on my product guide. I would have a price for a single one, ⁓ you know, like, and you can have a price for a single one.

Haley Flanagan (43:33)
Yeah, right.

Nicole Begley (43:47)
Or maybe it's just only available after they purchase a folio box album or wall piece. and you just say, like, if they're just asking for one print, you just say that, well, they're sold in a group of five. ⁓ but then later on, if somebody ordered a wall piece and an album and they want one print for their desk, yeah, of course that's whatever 150. ⁓ so you can have that price per that's not marketed to inquiring clients. it's only available when people purchase other things. ⁓

Haley Flanagan (44:07)
great.

Yeah.

Nicole Begley (44:18)
So yes, and then artwork minimum four times. So if it costs $200 minimum $800 sale, and then albums, folio boxes, I do minimum eight, but I like to do about 10 times to take an account editing all of those and how many images are in there. And then the digital files, like I would honestly, do you have them on your product guide now for sale if people bought just those?

Haley Flanagan (44:33)
the work.

So I only

include them as like a matching product. whatever artwork or prints or whatever else they buy, they get the corresponding digital file.

Nicole Begley (44:48)
Okay.

Yep.

I would, if you're okay with it, ⁓ put a price for them on your product guide. And you can make your product guide just a hidden website. You don't have to go through the expense of getting things printed again. Just make a hidden page on your website, send people there. It's easy to update. Yeah.

Haley Flanagan (45:09)
Yeah.

That's I knew she was here.

Yeah, I think I still have that page just hidden. I might be able to edit that.

Nicole Begley (45:19)
Okay, awesome.

Yeah, then it's really easy to update. So if you stay within those parameters, then you can be profitable as long as you're keeping those hours of like really 10 hours or less per client. ⁓ And I think having these collection prices are really going to help people

be easier, they'll see what it is. And like, I would put those on your website. Like I would put those collection prices on your website or, or you can say starting at collections, starting at like all inclusive collections, starting at 1500 and then have the call to action. They can inquire, but they could also just like get your full pricing information. They give you their name and email.

Haley Flanagan (45:49)
Sorry.

Okay, so.

Nicole Begley (46:12)
It automatically takes them to a page that has all that pricing information. You can put a little video up top like, Hey, I'm Haley. This is how I work. Like 90 seconds. Doesn't have to be long recorded on your phone, like wherever any just kind of spot. mean, you can record it where you are right now. and yeah, and then you can follow up with them afterwards, but that makes that inquiry process. They get their information quickly. They.

can make decisions more quickly. It just becomes an easier process for them to say yes, because our job is how can we give them the information as quickly and easily as possible so they can say yes, ⁓ kind of because people just need that information so much faster than they ever used to.

Haley Flanagan (46:47)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, and so I'm wondering, since this is more similar to how you run it, ⁓ or how you run your business currently, you said you just do like a 30 minute ish phone call leading up to their session. ⁓

Nicole Begley (47:11)
Mm-hmm. I will do

a discovery call prior to bookings if they want to so my process Yep, go ahead

Haley Flanagan (47:16)
Okay. So part of what I'm wondering is ⁓

when I used to have a digital pricing guide, I would send it along with my inquiry response email and... ⁓

Nicole Begley (47:27)
Okay, sorry, if

you say that again, it cut out for a second.

Haley Flanagan (47:29)
Yeah, when I used to have a digital pricing guide, I used to send it along with their inquiry response. ⁓ Or I'd send it to them when we had the phone call, like the discovery call. And then I'd also resend it to them before their consultation. And so many times, an almost shocking number of times, we would get to the sale. And even if I had verbalized,

Nicole Begley (47:32)
Mm-hmm.

Yep.

Mm-hmm.

Haley Flanagan (47:57)
like some kind of estimate or average or range, they looked at the prices and they were upset that they not necessarily at me, but like they were like, I just can't, I don't understand how it could be this much. And this isn't what I expected. This isn't what I've experienced before. And so it was a whole thing. And if I'm potentially not changing, not significantly reducing my prices or reducing the, like the options all occurred on my pricing list, and instead I am ⁓

Nicole Begley (47:59)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Haley Flanagan (48:27)
Also, like, reducing the time I spend going through it with them and making sure they get it, having this printed one that I literally put in their hands and like walk through with them in person. I'm wondering if there's another way to kind of make sure they get it before it's too late and actually look at it. Because that was a thing. I would send it. They would ask for it. I would send it immediately.

Nicole Begley (48:32)
Mm-hmm.

Yep.

Yeah.

yet.

Haley Flanagan (48:53)
And then I would end up being like, hey, did you have a chance to look at? they'd be like, no. And I was like, what do you mean? I could not imagine as a client just not looking. But so many people did not look. ⁓ I don't know how to make people read.

Nicole Begley (49:06)
Right.

I

know, I know the, the collections actually do make that a little bit easier because they will look at like, especially before they reach out, they're going to be looking at that a little bit, scanning it. Um, and, and having like a starting one at 1500 is enough that you're going to not get the tire kickers. want everything for $200, but it's also, you know, affordable for most families or most people that have some disposable.

Haley Flanagan (49:15)
Okay. Okay.

Like at least him.

Nicole Begley (49:39)
Um, so it, it's a, feels so just really like, Oh, I can do this. Um, and it becomes a lot easier. So my process is I have a $500. I call it non-refundable, um, retainer, you know, non-refundable session fee. And that session fee can be applied to any of my three collections, or if they end up ordering a la carte, it can be applied to a 20 by 30 or larger art piece.

Haley Flanagan (50:03)
Mm-hmm.

Nicole Begley (50:09)
because I want to sell the art piece over the albums. So you can have yours, like create a session fee number 300 to 500. You can have it go towards any of these three collections. Or if they order a 10 image plus a 15 image plus folio box or album or a certain size of wall art, like whatever it is you want to make sure you get to your minimum sale, have it go towards that.

Haley Flanagan (50:21)
Mm-hmm.

Nicole Begley (50:36)
But if they don't do that, then it's just a session fee and you keep it. You know, if they end up buying like, I just want five prints.

Haley Flanagan (50:36)
Mm.

Okay, yeah, I would love to sell

more albums, honestly. I just like them, I just like, I just want to sell more albums. I like them, I feel like they fit my style well.

Nicole Begley (50:45)
What's that? Yeah. Yeah, perfect. Love it.

I love it. So you can definitely create these different collections as collect, create these different collections around an album or around a collection of images. So maybe that lower one is the five plus, plus some digital files or plus, you know, or maybe

Haley Flanagan (51:02)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Nicole Begley (51:11)
Maybe it's 10 images in some way, and it's just those 10 images and those 10 corresponding digital files. So whether that's like ⁓ not a lower end, but maybe it's not as expensive as your really high end folio box, but some sort of collection of 10 images. What's that?

Haley Flanagan (51:24)
Mm-hmm. I just put them in a print box. Just like

kind of, I put them in like a, it's like a craft, but like a different color, like box. So simple.

Nicole Begley (51:34)
Yeah, perfect. Yeah.

Yeah. So something there where it's 10 images collection, then maybe the middle is like 25 images ⁓ in some sort of collection and those corresponding digitals. And then the top one is how many images usually share?

Haley Flanagan (51:52)
Um, I can share somewhere around a hundred. It depends on the client. goes anywhere between like 60 and like 140 if they're like, depending on how many animals and number of like scenes we have.

Nicole Begley (51:55)
Okay.

Yeah.

Yeah. So maybe then that top one is like 50 images or 45 images that they end up getting in some sort in an album. And you could always, since you have so many extra images that they've seen, you can, if you want to add on to those collection prices, tell them when they add on, like have a price where they can add on more images, either just as digital files, or they can add on more images into the album.

Haley Flanagan (52:11)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Right.

Nicole Begley (52:35)
Like figure out what that is, but then have the bonus be, Hey, when you do one of these collections, and I don't think you even need quite frankly, an a la carte option because they can choose one of these, or maybe you do, and you just don't advertise it. You just let people know. Like if one of these doesn't really fit and you want to do a la carte, then your session fee gets applied to your product order when you spend $3,000 or more.

which is your middle collection price. You know, you could do something like that. ⁓ But the way to add on artwork would be to kind of make that a bonus of, you could do any of these collections. And if you want to add on an art piece, then we add 10 more images to whatever, whatever piece was in your collection. That's your bonus.

Haley Flanagan (53:06)
Yeah, right.

Mmm.

Right?

Okay.

Nicole Begley (53:33)
doesn't

really cost you that much more, maybe a couple extra spreads, couple extra images printed, but yeah, but that would be a huge, I think value add people will be like, cause we want to get the biggest like flip we need to get our clients to and pricing is, that they come in and if you're fully a la carte,

Haley Flanagan (53:38)
Right. Yeah.

right.

Nicole Begley (53:57)
They're just like, all right, this is already a splurge. I don't need this. I've got some bills do like, really want the album and the art piece. And I really want like the big album and that art piece for my office, but I'll be good. I'll just get the art piece or I'll just get the album where when you can have some sort of bonus thing that's like, Hey, by the way, when you do these two things, you get this. And they're like, man, I really do want those. And I get those extra. So like, it really is a pretty good value. So.

Haley Flanagan (54:27)
Right. Yeah.

Nicole Begley (54:27)
It just gives them permission.

Haley Flanagan (54:30)
Yeah. That would be really helpful because I've been experiencing what you're talking about where like people are trying to cut corners around the prices instead of like they're thinking about how they're going to cut.

Nicole Begley (54:37)
Yeah, cause they're like, ⁓ man, this is a word.

Yeah. Yeah. And they're trying to be responsible. Yes.

Haley Flanagan (54:43)
Right. Yeah. Yes,

they're trying to be responsible. Boo. No. Yeah, I totally.

Nicole Begley (54:49)
Uh-huh. Yep.

Yep. Yeah. So.

Okay, so yes, so now like how does this pricing feel compared to before?

Haley Flanagan (55:01)
It's such a relief, which is crazy because the numbers aren't low. Like it's not like it's cheap. if the middle collection is like a double the price of the first collection. it doesn't like it in my head. like, this makes sense. ⁓ Now.

Nicole Begley (55:06)
no, they're still yeah,

Yeah, and.

go ahead.

Haley Flanagan (55:20)
I was gonna say now that means the lowest like buried entry kind of is still actually very close to what it is currently of like that 1,500 because the 1,490 session fee is kind of the same. ⁓ But they're technically getting more for that. ⁓ So maybe like that won't feel so bad.

Nicole Begley (55:28)
Yes. huh.

Yep.

huh.

Yeah. And they, and they don't have to necessarily pay that upfront. So I found at least for me, and again, there's nothing like, don't preach that you have to do what I do. I just let you know pros cons, ⁓ that having that like 300 to $500 pay upfront is enough that they're like, that they're committing, but it's also not like completely overwhelming. and then you can also let them know, I find it so helpful for my clients. Like I can see the relief on their face.

When I say, hey, you don't need to decide what you want to do with these images yet or which collection you want yet. Like you can decide that once you see your images. But these are the options. So just wanted you to be aware, you know, and then I would for each client like kind of figure out because I think it's a ⁓ I think we should all have a price to get all the images and you're showing a lot.

Haley Flanagan (56:37)
Mm.

Nicole Begley (56:37)
And you also

show a big wide swing of how many. So I would have, you don't have to put it on your pricing guide, but create them for yourself of like, all right, if you want to add 20 digital files onto your order, you have to do a collection. But like if you wanted to add 20 digital files, what's that rate? If you wanted to add 50 digital files, what's that rate?

Haley Flanagan (56:42)
Yeah.

Right.

with a set rate

for a predetermined quantity.

Nicole Begley (57:05)
Yes. Yeah. So that way you can let them know. Like basically it's like they kind of put stuff together and as they're trying to figure out, you can let them know that's an option. And you can also like have the price to buy files, a cart, like double, whatever this rate you come up with. And like one of the other bonuses is, Hey, when you purchase one of these collections, if you want to add on more digital files, it's they're half off, you know? So yeah. So it's.

Haley Flanagan (57:33)
Oh, okay. And so when

you have people in with your lower session fee or like not low session fee, but your session fee is like doesn't include necessarily anything. Do you tell them like the minimum spend for them is going to be like 1500 if that were the number?

Nicole Begley (57:41)
Yeah.

Yeah, well, I would do for this. would say somebody gets in touch with me. I would say, you know, first make that little connection. Tell me about why we're doing this, what you're cited for, tell me about your dog, yada, yada, yada. When we get to prices, I would, if I was on a conversation with them, I'd ask them if they had any idea of what they wanted to create. And then I would just go into, all right, how I work and what I specialize in is albums. And I have, you can say like I found from like my clients really enjoy having

these, I've created collections. you know, tell them the benefit, you know, exactly what's included and exactly what it's going to cost. Because I think that is the biggest pain point for our perspective clients is they don't know what it's going to cost. And even if we send them that product guide, that's assuming they're going to know what they want to buy and they don't, we do. We're like, we're going to buy an art piece and an album. Of course they've never done this before. They don't know. So.

Haley Flanagan (58:47)
Right. Yeah.

Nicole Begley (58:51)
These albums include things. So it's really easy to say, Hey, I, you know, I've created, have three, three collections. You can choose what fits you best. You do not have to make any decisions now. How this works is you pay your 300 to $500 non-refundable session fee. ⁓ and then after the session, I'll send you an image gallery. mean, you could do it via galleries or I do recommend like if you have the time to try to do just a zoom.

Haley Flanagan (59:20)
Right.

Yeah.

Nicole Begley (59:20)
It's worth that hour

to walk them through and say, well, jump on zoom. I'll walk you through your images. We'll choose your favorites. Then you can decide which of these three collections fits what you want best. ⁓ and then your session fee goes towards that. Yeah. Your session fee goes towards it. ⁓ and then you can also, I also add on, and if one of these collections doesn't fit, you can create your own collection and your session fees applied towards whatever that bar is, you know,

Haley Flanagan (59:32)
Yeah, streamlined scope. Right.

Mm-hmm.

Nicole Begley (59:50)
any purchase over this or whenever you buy an album or whenever you buy a certain size wall piece. ⁓ and people understand that. And it also gets that session fee. I'm not getting anything for their session fee because that is, they're thinking that subconsciously they're like, wait, the sessions 1500, but I only get a thousand dollars of product. Like that sucks. ⁓ even though we know that

Haley Flanagan (1:00:16)
way. ⁓

Nicole Begley (1:00:18)
They're paying for my time and talent. Like they don't care. They're like, what am I getting? So, yeah. And they understand it. It's easy to understand. They can see it written right there. You also are going over those price points on that call.

Haley Flanagan (1:00:19)
⁓ It just separates it. Yeah, it makes it, I feel like that makes it cleaner instead of trying to explain the difference.

Yes.

Nicole Begley (1:00:37)
Like I have these three collections,

1500, 3000, 4500. This is what's included in each one. If you want to go a la carte, it's this, when you do this, that session fee goes towards it. And then I asked them, like, is there one that you, that you think would be a right fit knowing that you don't have to make the decision right now, but is there one here that you think that you would be interested in? Um, and then really you kind of go from there and you go in already kind of knowing where they're going to be.

Although they once they see their images, they very well might jump up. Yeah. And so that this should you don't have to go to their home, especially if you're not forwarding artwork like the artworks like, when you add on artwork, you get some bonus files like you are selling storyteller collections like so you do not need to go to their home and see their walls, you know.

Haley Flanagan (1:01:06)
Yeah.

Right. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah.

Right?

Yeah.

Nicole Begley (1:01:33)
⁓

you do not need to stress about them sending you a photo of their wall. ⁓ so yeah, exactly. Exactly. So that, that beginning piece you can, like, it does streamline your inquiries a little bit when you have it on your website. ⁓ and the people that do inquire likely not always have already kind of seen that and are okay with that. So the people that do acquire are worth your time to reach out to and talk to and, ⁓

Haley Flanagan (1:01:37)
Right, the album can go anywhere.

Mm-hmm.

Nicole Begley (1:02:02)
and book, and then you just do that one session call on the phone, schedule it, do the session, one Zoom call afterwards. Done. Outsort your leashes.

Haley Flanagan (1:02:11)
Yeah. Okay.

Yes, yes. And do you recommend announcing this change, on, like, my socials? Nope, just... maybe.

Nicole Begley (1:02:21)
Nope. Well, maybe, maybe I

wouldn't, I wouldn't announce a, Hey, last chance to book. Don't do that. But I would, and I wouldn't necessarily say, Hey, big change. would just say, Hey, if you've been thinking like new streamline, like all inclusive collections, check them out. You know? Yeah.

Haley Flanagan (1:02:30)
Yeah.

like we're streamlining something.

Okay, yeah, ooh, that could be

like, like a, I don't know, a little campaign. I could even like direct people back to my website and all of those things.

Nicole Begley (1:02:51)
Yeah. You could even go

back to old inquiries and just let them know and just be like, Hey, just wanted to reach out zero pressure. I just wanted to let you know that I've updated a few things for the new year and I just wanted to let you know this is here. Let me know if have any questions. Zero pressure. Yeah. No worries. No worries. But like those could be easy. And again, people, it's easy to understand and

Haley Flanagan (1:02:55)
Yeah.

Yeah, that would be some nice momentum to get me back into it too, because I haven't really been running my business very actively.

Awesome.

Yeah, these sound amazing, honestly. This is like such a relief to think about.

Nicole Begley (1:03:21)
And they could do that.

Yay. I'm so excited. I know I saw your post and I'm like, my gosh, like there is a way to make this work in a just more streamlined, easy way. And I think one of the big things, the big shift that's going to make it easier for you is it sounds to me like you feel like these prices are very fair and you feel like a hundred percent like I am so behind these. Like, like you can put them out there.

Haley Flanagan (1:03:51)
Yeah, they feel comfortable.

Nicole Begley (1:03:54)
Yes, you could put it out there and say like with a whole heart, like this is so valuable and let them decide if they want it or not. If they don't, you're like, well, you're missing out because this is a great deal.

Haley Flanagan (1:04:01)
Yes.

Right. Yeah, honestly. I like when

when we plan this call, I was kind of like, you know, I'm not really sure that this is going to save it. But like, you know, I'll give it a shot and maybe this will help somebody else. And I'm like, actually, I'm kind of excited. So this is like, super exciting. I really appreciate it.

Nicole Begley (1:04:16)
Yeah.

Yay! Yay yay yay!

my gosh, you are so welcome. I am, I am so excited for you. Like when I saw that I'm like, my God, her work is stunning. Her branding is beautiful. Like just a little tweak, little tweak here. And I think, and, like I said, too, depending on, you know, if you want to run this as a part-time business and do part-time something else that brings in more consistent income, like you still can. That's the beauty of this is that it can, it can be a really nice pain side gig that

Haley Flanagan (1:04:48)
right.

Right.

Nicole Begley (1:04:54)
You know, so there's, can make it look like whatever you want.

Haley Flanagan (1:04:59)
Awesome, yeah, I'm actually looking forward to rolling this out. I think this will be like a really nice change.

Nicole Begley (1:05:06)
I love it. I love it. Awesome. When you get your new pricing together, if you want to post it in the community and tag me, I'm happy to take a look. ⁓ but yeah, it'll be, it'll be awesome. I'm very excited for you.

Haley Flanagan (1:05:17)
Perfect, thank you Nicole.

Nicole Begley (1:05:18)
You're

so welcome. Thank you for being here. Thank you for being so open and sharing this. I know it's going to help so many photographers out there. yeah, I look forward to to see how it goes with 2026. Let's do it. All right. Thanks, Haley. We'll talk to you soon.

Haley Flanagan (1:05:31)
Woo!

Thanks.

Bye.