Upgrade Your Photography Workflow with Ty Fischer

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SHOW NOTES:
Picture this: your photography business is thriving, your clients are ecstatic, and your workflow is well-oiled. Sounds like a dream, right? Well, it doesn't have to be. Join me as I chat with Ty Fischer, a professional photographer with over a decade of expertise. He's got the lowdown on optimizing workflows, driving profitability, and managing a successful photography business.

We're getting hands-on with strategies that can take your business from good to great. Ty and I take a deep look at the entire client journey - from setting clear expectations to managing post-production and editing. We're exploring the contrasts between portrait and high volume photography and striking a balance between the two. We're even going to share how you can maximize profitability by finding your niche in photography and mastering the art of outsourcing. Ty, co-founder of  Rebookü, Fotofafa and Next Gen Photography Solutions, is full of insights you won't want to miss.

But we're not just about business - we're about life too. We believe that a successful entrepreneur knows how to achieve a work-life balance. So, we'll discuss how to streamline production, manage clients, and keep your sanity in the process. And to top it all off, we're rounding out the conversation with your feedback. Because ultimately, this journey is as much about you as it is about us. So, don't just sit there, join us and elevate your photography business to new heights!

0:00

Maximizing Efficiency in Photography Workflow

4:21

Efficiency and Workflow in Photography Studios

13:00

Portrait vs Sports Photography Workflow

25:43

Niche Photography and Outsourcing Importance

39:28

Balancing Work and Life

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

We can lay out a hundred natural light photographers in front of us in pictures and we can lay a hundred artificial light photographers out. It's gonna be very difficult sometimes to pick out your work because, let's just face it, there's a lot of good photographers and The thing that's going to separate you as your infrastructure and how How quickly you can get through a session, making that an incredible experience for the client, and get that back to the client and move on.

Speaker 2: 0:33

Welcome to tried and true with the dash of who, where we're all about mixing tried and true strategies that actually work with the magic of manifestation and the science of programming your unconscious mind so that you walk away feeling integrated, inspired and aligned. I'm Renee Bowen, certified life and business coach, professional photographer, middle-aged wife and mom to now three grown kids. I've built two multiple six-figure businesses with zero business training by digging in, learning the methods, and now I'm here to pass them all on to you, from Photography and business strategies to energy healing, human design and the basics of manifestation We cover it all here. I'm here to help you embrace your multi-passionate brains and lean into the fastest and most efficient ways to reach your goals, whatever they may be. Whether you're a season pro or just starting out, or maybe you're just here for the woo-woo Let's dive in and explore all the exciting ways to take your life, business and self-improvement to the next level. Thanks for joining me and get ready to be inspired. Hello friends, thanks for joining us again on tried and true with the dash of who.

Speaker 2: 1:50

I have a really awesome guest today. His name is Ty Fisher. A lot of you guys might know Ty. He's had a very extensive professional photography career. It spans more than 15 years. It all started with fishing photography and initially modest part-time portrait venture that flourished into the establishment of two Full-fledged portrait studios. In addition to this remarkable achievement, ties entrepreneurial spirit led him to co-found and co-own Rebook, who, a prestigious global post-production company that I use quite a bit, have to say and Photo Fafa, a notable entity within the industry. Moreover, he played a pivotal role as a co-founder of next-gen photography solutions, further solidifying his status as an innovator.

Speaker 2: 2:37

So ties influence extends beyond just his entrepreneurial Endeavors that we just talked about. He's also assumed the mantle of educator, imparting his expertise to thousands of photographers across the United States. His teaching specifically focus on Optimizing efficiency and driving profitability within the realms of portrait and volume sports photography. So we are going to dive into all of this stuff today. It's a really cool in-depth conversation with Ty that I know you're going to get a lot out of, so, without further ado, let's go ahead and dive in. Hey, ty, thanks for being here today. Really excited to talk to you.

Speaker 1: 3:13

Renee, thank you so much for having me on today. It's a pleasure to be here, Yeah okay.

Speaker 2: 3:18

So we've kind of like seen each other around for the year. You've been around for a long time. You've owned a couple of really you know successful portrait studios. You've also done a lot of other things that we'll start talking about as well. You're an entrepreneur at heart, so I love that and we'll talk about those endeavors. But I want to kind of dive right into a really, i think, hot topic that I hear from photographers a lot About workflow, right. So you know, and and you're gonna hear a lot of different things from a lot of different people, but I am also and I know you're big on this I'm also big on efficiency. So talk to me a little bit about why you think Workflow is so important, first of all, and then we'll kind of like get into the nuts and bolts of How you like to explain that for photographers.

Speaker 1: 4:04

Well, i think the biggest thing is profit. You know, i think if you want to be a successful studio that makes money, you've got to be efficient, whether that's in the portrait end or if that's in the volume in. And You need to build an infrastructure to me, almost before you build the business. And that that efficiency and that workflow is, to me, that that key Peace that needs to be integrated right from the beginning when, even when you don't have clients, you need to be operating like you're a full-time big studio right, right.

Speaker 2: 4:38

So what do you? what is, what does that look like for you? Like when photographers come to you and ask you these specific questions like what do you suggest for them?

Speaker 1: 4:45

The first few things I like to talk about is, first of all, your scheduling with your clients, making sure that you're doing some kind of payment plan right up front to even get them on your calendar. The way you photograph your clients, not over shooting, setting up your packages that are clear to the client on what they expect To spend the amount of time with you, maybe the amount of outfit changes, maybe the number of images all of that in a very clear description as well as How are you handling your post-production? How are you handling your editing? Is that something you're taking on yourself or is that something you're looking to outsource? If you're looking to outsource it, which is actually going to make you more money, are you pricing your products and your services Accordingly to offset those costs?

Speaker 1: 5:36

So to me, those are really three of the big structures that every portrait studio should look at. I call those more the the logical side of the business, as Opposed to, like the in-person sales, where I call that more of the emotional side of the business. And you have to connect all three of those. But in order to be successful, you've got to be able to move from point a to the final point in a very efficient manner, so you can keep bringing people through the door.

Speaker 2: 6:03

That's a really good point because I feel like and I see this a lot I actually just made a tick-tock about this because I see in my groups a Lot of people who will, a lot of photographers who will come in and sort of talk about This nightmare client or you know some kind of situation that came up and nine times out of ten It's because they didn't manage any expectations, right, and you see this a lot too, and those of us have been around for a while. We know we're like, okay, but what did you do on the front end of that? I know a lot of photographers don't love to Hear that, but you kind of need to hear that because, yes, we're always gonna get clients sometimes who are problematic, no matter what we do. Sometimes we can't help that right It's. But that should be the yeah, that should be the rarity, right.

Speaker 2: 6:50

We want to make sure that we are doing our jobs on the front end as efficiently as possible to prepare that client for What's coming. It's. It's not their job to guess. It's our job to let them know what's coming, to be clear about it, to manage those expectations, to communicate really well So that they can have a really awesome experience, and so can we, so I like that we are Including that in the workflow and we're not just talking about you know How you import your images and how you archive those images. Those things are important as well, but that's not What we're gonna just focus on today. I want, like it's, the whole picture, right.

Speaker 1: 7:29

Exactly So. With our studios we had Really a few steps. We had a four-step system, meaning we were going to see that client four times. We were going to do a pre-consult with them. That pre-consult is going to show them exactly what our packages were, how many whether it's an hour or two hour or three hour how many outfit changes. Do you want makeup? Do you not want makeup? How many images are going to be within that package that you're going to see. And if you want to get on our calendar, you're going to put it what we called the first payment of our three easy payment playing down right there. That, right there, sets the expectation. They walk out knowing exactly where their session is going to start, how long it's going to be, how many images they're probably going to have available for that, a list of our products, and They're on our calendar and they know where to meet and it's everybody's on the front.

Speaker 1: 8:26

And that's one of the biggest struggles I see with photographer starting into studios is, generally you start as a part-time photographer, moving into a full-time situation and with that you tend to be on location, alas. So you end up just meeting your client at the location and You could spend an hour just figuring out what you're going to do before the session even starts. Time is money. You don't have an hour, a half hour, to discuss that. That all needs to be discussed up front. And you've got to get paid. You've got to get a secure payment because if they call to reschedule, hey, that's fine, i'll reschedule on my time, but I still have your deposit.

Speaker 2: 9:07

Yeah, absolutely. I think that you know a lot of us and you know, myself included, and I think that's part of your, your story too. It's, you know, kind of diving into a part-time, like you said, and, and you know a lot of photographers use this as a, you know, a side gig to start with and quickly realize that, okay, i got to figure out how to run this business, which you know a lot of us creatives aren't naturally super good at Automatically, and so we have to learn and, yeah, there's a lot, a lot of different ways to do it. So that's why I like having different photographers on, so you guys out there can hear all these different ways, because it really like There is no one-size-fits-all.

Speaker 2: 9:49

I definitely want to, like you know, preface all of this with the saying that Your business can look very unique, and it should.

Speaker 2: 9:58

You should stand out, you should be doing things that feel good for you, because if you try and just adopt with someone else blanket, you know, teaches it may or may not work, and so you really have to look at all these options, you know, and think about how you want to approach it. I see that a lot with my coaching, because usually by the time people come to me, people have been through several programs sometimes and they're so confused, and so I just want to let everybody out there know. You know this is supposed to be helpful for you so that you can see how successful photographers have been able to maintain that success and build their businesses, and so hopefully this will be a little bit insightful with respect to what you can do as well, and some of the things that you know Ty has done works really really well too. Something that I heard you say earlier that I definitely want to poke out a little bit is not to overshoot. I am a very proud overshooter, so I definitely want to.

Speaker 2: 10:59

I want to like just just mention that real quick, because I know that a lot of my audience does that too. Here's the difference, though, what he's talking about, and you can clarify for this in a minute too. I think that what he means is you know, if you don't be an overshooter, so time is money, right, if you're spending hours and hours I have photographers coming to me, and I'm sure you do too who are spending like eight or nine hours or longer on one session That is not good. That is a time killer, a money killer. You know, that's really what we're kind of trying to get at.

Speaker 2: 11:31

If you're going to be an overshooter, you either have to learn how to outsource or you need to learn how to cull really freaking fast which I do and get through it Right, like. So the culling tends to like be such a time suck in a bottleneck for so many people. So I just wanted to preface it like that, because you know you can definitely be an overshooter, but that means you know that going into it, you're going to have to be really good and efficient on the culling, right. You can't, you can't just go into it willy nilly.

Speaker 1: 12:03

Does that make sense? That's true, but I it's actually more two part for me. Okay, And this. This stems back to my early days, just diving into full time photographer. My assistant because I shot off camera flash, I was part of my style looked at me one day and said Hey, you're shooting a lot. I said, Yeah, I'm trying to make sure I get all the angles. And they said have you stopped to consider their time? Have you considered that they scheduled maybe a two hour session and maybe you're going over and you're invading into their personal time? now, Right, They may not have time for this. You've got to find a way to balance that And that. Right, there was a light bulb moment for me. Okay, Cause I really, let's say, as creatives, at least for me, I wasn't concerned about their time, I was concerned about the lighting and the beauty of the shot.

Speaker 1: 13:00

Oh, my God, we've got to do this, this and this, And it really it made me take a pause and stop and say you know what I do need to provide expectations upfront of what to expect as far as images. And I was very strange, And the reason I was is because it was a different pose for every image And I showed them the back of the camera during the session because I wanted them to like those images before the IPS, because if I've got it right in camera it's only going to be better when we get to the emotional side of it with the in-person sales.

Speaker 2: 13:36

See, and that's so different, right, and I love these conversations because, like, we all do things so differently in the because I don't use OCF by choice and I use a lot of movement and I don't show my clients the back of the camera. We move, we move quick, and so that's why I shoot so many images, because I'm looking for life and energy. This is all like you've got to find your like. You know your stride, your groove right, Your style Yeah.

Speaker 2: 14:04

But that's a good point about time, because a lot of photographers do not go into it thinking about their time or their client's time. So I definitely want to highlight that. You know my sessions are time-based and that's one of the reasons is because I want them to know what that expectation is and vice versa, and because I'm shooting in LA too, like you know, if they have a two-hour session, we can't get from downtown LA to Malibu in a two-hour session because the drive time is included in that, and that's something I want photographers to really hear as well as part of your process, your workflow and your expectations. You really need to start thinking about that.

Speaker 1: 14:42

Absolutely. We actually had radius of miles in our sessions, yeah, how far we were willing to actually travel and how many locations you had within those sessions. And you know what I tell, or at least what I used to teach with every client was make sure you have four sessions, you know, a introductory session and an anchor session and allow that anchor session to be something that's very expensive, something you really don't even want to photograph. But if they're going to pay it, it's worth your time, because what that does is it really makes that middle session that you're looking to sell to be the sweet spot. That's the one that they're going to be drawn to. So I knew what session I wanted to photograph. For me it was a two-hour session. It was a 799 minimum at that time And I but I had a $4,000 session and I had a 499 session and 799 was my sweet spot. So I knew what I was looking to get.

Speaker 1: 15:45

I never liked to shoot past two hours. It's just too much when you're busy. I think you know if you're trying to take on four, five, six, seven on location sessions. You know a day I mean there was up towards we're shooting 25 to 30 sessions a week and I'm only shooting three to four days a week, so I'm cramming a lot of hours into those times. So it had to be very orchestrated. Even though I wasn't trying to ever take away the creative impression and the new client experience that they were feeling, i wanted that still to be very exciting. But in the back of my head still, everything was running on a clock.

Speaker 2: 16:26

Yeah, no, really good point, and I'm very similar in the way that I structure sessions is one of the things that I teach as well, and it's a strategy right, and we won't get too much in the nuts and bolts of you know all of that, because I want to kind of stick to this workflow. But that is definitely a good takeaway for the photographers, who are listening, for sure. So let's kind of like switch gears just a little bit, not too much. We're going to still, you know, be on this topic of this workflow, but I'm not, and I never have been, a high volume or sports photography, but I know that a lot of people who follow me are, and I know that you have some experience in that, and so what do you think, as well as portrait? So, like, what's, what's the main difference for you between your workflow and your processes for our portrait, you know, as opposed to sports or high volume.

Speaker 1: 17:21

So once a year I still teach volume sports and school photography. The first thing I tell our attendees is this is business. This is not creative. Now it can seem creative but it cannot be near as creative or ethereal or abstract as a portrait studio. As in a portrait studio, if you're doing it, you know with intention, you're not shooting thousands of images. You know that should not be the idea.

Speaker 1: 17:56

Volume school and sports you can shoot thousands of images in a given day And if you're not on schedule you've got a lot of upset coaches, upset parents, upset kids. So your job on time management just multiply 10 fold. So you really have to get your infrastructure right in the portrait and before you switch to a volume based school and sports, because it is two different monsters And it is strictly business. It is to me not the creative aspect. Now don't get me wrong. I appreciate the sport roots that they're doing and the atmosphere sprays and the gels. I think it's beautiful. But when you're doing team and individual or school portraits, that's out the window. You're just trying to make sure you're getting great pictures in an efficient amount of time and you're moving kids through the line as quickly as possible Because it could be during practice time. I know with hockey it could be during ice time, which is incredibly expensive. So you have a lot of variables in the school and sports that are out of your control, but predicate how your day needs to go.

Speaker 2: 19:14

Yeah, that's a really good point and something that a lot of people probably don't think too much about, and it is very possible to do both. I see a lot of photographers be able to do that. But I like how you sort of lead into starting getting your process down first until and then maybe diving into something like that. And although I haven't done sports in schools, i have done really big corporation headshots in a day, which is kind of similar, and you gotta It's very similar.

Speaker 2: 19:50

Yeah, you gotta be fast, you gotta be really quick, you gotta be really good at what you do. Like there can't be any questioning like did I get this shot? No, you have to know what you're doing. So if you're new at this, hone that skill first. You've gotta get really good at what you do and get really fast at it. And if you I always had someone helping it's not really advisable to be doing that solo right out of the gate. If possible, you can get to that point. But yeah, it's a whole different beast. I can imagine And I think that the people that we see doing like you said, the portraits and all of these really cool things that they're doing I think that most of that can be done really well in conjunction with your high-end boutique photography business. Like that other side of it and not necessarily like this volume Absolutely.

Speaker 1: 20:44

Yeah, it could be more of a scheduled in-studio session or on location session.

Speaker 1: 20:49

It should be more in conjunction with that And you bring up a great point that you were saying about you had someone with you. I always recommend and because it's overwhelming your first large volume gig make sure you overstaff, make sure you have few more people volunteers than you actually need, because you're gonna find out you need them, whether it's just wrangling the kids or keeping parents back or taking the money or checking this, checking that you're going to need people And really how I started with that and I recommend this for all photographers that are looking to make that transition put a feeler out to local schools and erect teams or travel teams and say, hey, i wanna photograph your team for free for marketing. First, it's gonna be a great learning lesson for you on how to start moving through volume And second, it's gonna build your portfolio, because if you don't have a portfolio, it can be very hard to attract schools, sports, rec leagues, aaus, travels that are used to this and know how this should look And they've already got managed expectations that you're going to have to perform.

Speaker 2: 22:05

That's a really good point because I feel like also, it can be a great lead-in to a portrait business as well.

Speaker 2: 22:12

If you want to do both, you know, or at least it could feed some of those clients directly into your portrait business as well, because you're literally inserting yourself into that world And so many senior photographers don't have an end. Maybe they don't have kids at school or they don't have contacts with teachers or coaches or things like that, And so we always have to be thinking about okay, well, where are your target clients and how can you get in front of them? So doing that kind of thing could be a really great way to do that. And I always suggest to photographers as well, even if they don't want to do like high volume in sports, okay, maybe the cheer team, the dance team, things like that, you know, that's a little bit smaller scale still like a lot of people, but not quite as big as an entire team or various teams at the school per se, right, So you could kind of like test the waters with that, but that's a really great way to get your brand in front of those clients.

Speaker 1: 23:11

Absolutely, And I think if you focus on certain sports, remember Lori Nortzger. She was a great baby family photographer, But I remember her talking to me one day and she said pick a lane and kill him.

Speaker 2: 23:25

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 23:26

You know. And so I found seniors and I didn't want to photograph families, I didn't want to photograph. I just picked that lane and I killed it because that's all I had to focus on. And in sports I only really wanted to photograph volleyball, softball, baseball and basketball, The teams of 12 to 15, kids, small teams. But we could find large leagues And that was my lane. I didn't want football, I didn't want band, I didn't want a lot of those large sports because it just it didn't feel right for me. So I you know you don't have to shoot every sport, Find what works for you and stay with that lane.

Speaker 2: 24:04

All right, friends, you guys have heard me talking a lot about Elevate over the last few weeks, but here's your last shot, because tonight at midnight the top two levels evolution and all access close. These are six month commitments, so you won't be able to purchase these after midnight tonight. The foundation level which is only $49, is still going to remain open. But I want to talk to you right now about these top two levels, because I don't think you guys realize how much is included in these. So there's only two spots left for the all access level, which is the top level, and the reason I cap it at 12 is because it includes the cost of an in-person workshop, which is ridiculous. Like for the cost that you'd be paying for the entire experience of the six months of all access. You would pay for just a standalone workshop. But when you get it in all access, you get all the other stuff included in all access, which is a lot. You guys, you get two one-on-one coaching calls with me over the course of the six months, you get group coaching calls, you get Voxer support and you get other courses of mine included like a lot. So it's kind of a no-brainer If you've been hoping to get into coaching with me at the level up level and you can't invest in that level yet. This is your best option and it's going away at midnight. The evolution level is also just as meaty. It doesn't include the in-person workshop, but it's really juicy. A lot is included. I'm gonna put the link again in the show notes. But you gotta jump on this before midnight because after this it's gone and I don't know if I'm opening it again. All right, i hope to see you inside. So this brings up a really interesting conversation side topic, because I see this a lot. I agree, and that's one of the reasons.

Speaker 2: 25:43

When I started, i kind of fell into photography, like a lot of people do, and my kids were younger. So people wanted me to start photographing their kids and such and I did a little bit like most people do in the beginning. A little bit of everything I had. Shots was like the first thing I shot because my husband's an actor. So it was just one of those things I fell into. And now, to this day, i still love it and I could shoot headshots in my sleep because I've done them for so long.

Speaker 2: 26:10

But I learned very quickly that niche right, so niche, you know niching down and you're gonna find in our industry some people who say, no, you don't have to. This is how you can make $600,000 plus a year. You know shooting all these different things. And then there's gonna be some photographers who are like find your lane, find your niche and get really good at it. So it's a very interesting topic, because I've always been on that side of pick your lane, because what you focus on is what grows and I think and maybe this is not 100% true across the board, but I don't think that every single photographer out there first of all, wants to do all that.

Speaker 2: 26:53

Second of all, is good at it, because it means you're gonna have to staff. You can't physically do that by yourself, you just can't. And a lot of photographers don't know how to hire associates, don't want to. If you have that goal and you wanna do it, okay, it probably means you're good at it. But for the most of us I would argue that we're not and it's not something we wanna do, right, and so when you do niche down Totally agree.

Speaker 2: 27:22

Yeah and you find your like. for me it was seniors, like in 2007,. that's when I decided like, okay, seniors is gonna be my thing, that's what I want to be known for. I want to be as I wanna be known in my area as that senior photographer, because no one was shooting the way that I wanted to do it, which was a fantastic opportunity, i thought, because it was still very fresh in this area And, even though the market seems saturated, you definitely there's still so much value in finding your lane and getting really like honing that, getting really, really good at it. So I'm glad you brought that up, because I think a lot of photographers today feel like they have to do all the things in order to make money, but that is not true.

Speaker 1: 28:06

You know, that's the thing. There's just no manual. When you get into a creative self-employed industry, you're just kind of you're diving in and you're just kind of you're finding yourself and you're finding what you like and what you don't like, and you're right. We like to say we're good at multitasking, but for the most part we're really not good at multitasking. We're really good when we have one concept in front of us and we can expand upon that. And it's the same for me in photography.

Speaker 1: 28:36

If you find I didn't. I was not a good baby newborn photographer, i was not a good family photographer. Therefore I didn't advertise it And I did maybe five sessions a year total in that genre Seniors was it but it allowed me to always be inspired, always pushing myself, always finding new ideas. I had one simple task to focus on And for me simplicity is key. It's peace in life And you can still make a lot of money in a niche market like that, because you're going to find your work and just exponentially gets better and better, faster than a lot of photographers that are trying to Cover a lot of different genres.

Speaker 2: 29:25

I have to agree, i really do. So what would you say to a photographer Who you know, cuz I'm always looking for good takeaways for people photographers who are listening, in particular, to like, as far as workflow goes and some of the things that we've just been talking about, what maybe Are our one or two mistakes that you either have made or see people make that you would like People to avoid or help them be able to see ahead of time?

Speaker 1: 29:55

right? Well, those with the entrepreneurial spirit. The first question I generally like to ask him is as your plans to be self-employed, yourself enslaved, i Love that. Do you want to run the job or do you want the job to run you? If they want the job to run them, then I know the answers to that as well. But if they want to run the job, they want to be self-employed, they want to have as much time of their own personal life as they can and still make money. That's where we get involved in the workflow and we start talking about hey, i Don't care who you outsource your work to, but outsource your work.

Speaker 1: 30:31

You should not be touching your images, because here's the reality of this. Every hour spent behind a computer averages out to about 200 to 250 dollars per hour that you are missing out on. That's average Could be higher in some areas a little lower than others, but think about that. I know editor, i know photographers that start their editing at 6 pm. They finish up at 2 am. They've just wasted $1,500 or more Just simply by sitting behind your computer and editing and they feel that that is their signature and That is not your signature.

Speaker 1: 31:04

Your brand is your signature, everything that encompasses that image from your studio, your marketing, the way you treat customers. That is your signature. We can lay out a hundred natural light Photographers in front of us in pictures and we can lay a hundred artificial light photographers out.

Speaker 1: 31:21

It's gonna be very difficult sometimes to pick out your work because, let's just face it, there's a lot of good photographers and The thing that's going to separate you as your infrastructure and how, how quickly you can get through a session, making that an incredible experience for the client, and get that back to the client and move on. And The more you can do that, that rinse and repeat cycle, the faster you're going to build your business. And it's very easy To go to an outsource company, find out what they're going to charge. You offset that cost to your client because it shouldn't cost you anything. And the other thing for photographers is that is a cost of service That is deducted from your profits at the end of the year for tax deduction. So it is a win-win situation. But people still say it's too expensive And I can argue that all day with you that it's simply not a hundred percent agree with that.

Speaker 2: 32:20

You know, i tell this to photographers all the time. I was my early, early on, i was that photographer who was like no, i can't, possibly, i can't possibly give this away. You know that my final edit is my. I'm a control freak, oh, 100% me, yes, and you know how, how could I possibly teach someone? first of all, it's such a, it's such a narcissistic thought, like when you really think about it, right, like you know. I mean, i'm not calling all of us narcissists in a true sense of the word, but it is. It's kind of like how how could I possibly pass this on? Okay, first of all, calm down, you can right. It feels like it's impossible, it does.

Speaker 2: 33:01

And I I personally, my style is very like. There is something about my style that is, you know, mine. It took me a long time to get there and I see a lot of photographers. Yes, i can tell that they have a style. But if you did it, you can duplicate it. You can teach someone. You can absolutely like work with either a company or a person to make that Happen if it is a priority to you. Otherwise, you're just gonna continue to make excuses and, like you said, it's gonna cost you so much time and money in the long run and keep you from not just Booking more clients, but also keep you from spending time with your kids, which is why you probably started this business in the first place was to spend more time with your kids.

Speaker 1: 33:49

Right, yeah, everybody thinks they're getting into the photography world to spend more time with their family. And they find out they they're spending way less time than they ever imagined. You're absolutely right.

Speaker 2: 33:58

Yeah, and you said it enslaved to your business. You know and that is really what this is about is that you know If you're spending, if you're enslaved to this computer and you're spending hours editing like that, there is a problem in your business. I don't care how much money you're making or how successful you are. I have had photographers come to me who have been in business I'm not kidding At least 15 years or more, who were, by all accounts, making over $200,000 a year, had successful businesses, but they literally were about to lose it because all they did was work, work, work and it was because of this. Like this is such a Problem in our industry. So I'm glad you brought that up and I think that if you're listening to this, first of all, don't feel discouraged. If that's you, because you're not alone like this is a very no, it's all of us. It's all of us. Yeah, it's a very common issue.

Speaker 1: 34:52

Yeah you're right. I would say to a lot of the people listening look, this isn't something you've got to dive all the way into either. You know you talk about your signature style and look, and I and I completely respect that. But Let's be real. Blemish removal and straight hair removal and whitening of teeth and eyes and softening of skin is not a signature style. It's the grunt work that you do at the beginning to prepare the image. So what I tell a lot of you know customers that work with our company Rebuku, is hey, start out with just the basics, just get that off your plate, because that basic work is taking way more time, and then get it back and Put your, put your signature spin on it. It'll cut the time. In what half? You'll be pleased with the fact you've gotten that on your plate Which is no longer creative or inspiring to you, and it'll make you enjoy what little editing you are doing. And then, once you get to a Point where that is becoming too much, then look at a personalized workflow where your, your signature style can be replicated Back into those images from the beginning to the end. It's not something you have to dive in all the way. You've got to dip your toes in the water, get used to it and move with. But Let's go back to film for a second.

Speaker 1: 36:16

Okay, i don't know how many of the listeners ever Photographed film, but I'm going to tell you this right now Not a photographer touched their film. They sent it to the lab for retouching and processing. They hung out for a week at home waiting for their film to come back. That's how it all started. For some reason, when the digital age started, everybody became an editor, and that's not Really how the infrastructure of the business was actually built. Yeah, it's like it took a hard left. And Then people are like well, i'm saving time because I've got software, but no, you're losing money because you're not taking on more clients. Yeah, or you're losing time. It's. It's one or the other.

Speaker 2: 37:00

Yeah, no, it's true.

Speaker 2: 37:01

I mean, i was a film shooter and I remember, yeah, i remember waiting for that film to get back, and there's a lot of people who still shoot film who will tell you, yeah, you know, i do have to do very little to it when it gets back to me with miss scans or whatever, because they can, you know, deliver them digitally now. But, like, i Think what happened to is that you know, yeah, you, in film days, we would send it off, it would come back and we would, it would be done because it would be prints, there wasn't anything digital for us to manipulate. But then we went to digital. We were shooting these raw images and they came back and they looked like crap, so you had to do something to them, because a raw image is a negative, and so I think that's where it started. And then, yes, i think that I love people's individual styles. I'm I'm a fan of people like finding their style and having Their nuances on these images, and I think that is part of what you know speaks to our clients, as you know, part of our branding. However, like you said, you know, don't think that you have to just recreate the entire like, start the whole process and dive all the way to the deep end in the beginning, because even Even me, you know, i, i will, i will definitely outsource Major retouching, all that, and I won't even touch a hair removal, anything like that.

Speaker 2: 38:17

But what I loved was sending a pre-edit out, like I'm just gonna send you my, you know, send my pre-edit, get a good base of where I want it to be, and then, like you said, it comes back to me. It takes me about maybe 10 minutes, but my little magic touch on it because I have a process and it works and I'm done, yes, and that is like it was life-changing when I figured out that I could do that, because I think I went into it in the beginning Thinking that I had to give it all the way and that someone had to be literally be me. But that's not the case. Like you can just do the pre-edit, you could do a base, you could do like what you were talking about, right? so it's really cool What we can do.

Speaker 2: 38:54

And and I segues a little bit into Rebook, who, because I've used you guys before and I want to kind of just you know, mention that for people I'll put it in the show notes too, but ties a co-owner of Rebook, who which, and you, founded the company too. So you've been there for I don't even know how long you guys have been in business, but a while, right, yeah, so they're a great resource just in general for so many different things, and I want to, you know, dive into that a little bit, like so what would that look like for someone who wanted to onboard? What would they even do? How would they start that process with you guys?

Speaker 1: 39:28

So with us we've really focused on the customer in and the customer service, and These last couple years especially. And you know we have direct phone line. We have live chat 12 hours a day. We have email the customer support. You can call the phone number, hit option 2 and you can get me or leave me a message and we'll chat. We'll chat about it to get you on board.

Speaker 1: 39:49

But really the onboarding for professional photographer is really simple. It's going to the rebookcom, hitting the prologue and filling out your information, putting a credit card on file and Start your order. Now, through the website, you can go through our services. On each service page There is a button that allows you to see a screenshot of video of actually how to order that service. So everything is there in place to onboard you same day, get you going and any questions you've got. You've got a live chat bubble there for the 12 hours of the day to say, hey, am I doing this right? and it's not an auto bot. We've got five people, customer service, that are going to talk to you and say, yeah, you're doing fine Or hey, we need this and this for this.

Speaker 1: 40:34

So it's it's I want to say, for many can be intimidating at first and we're trying to take That intimidation out through customer service and really just making sure you feel comfortable with what you're trying to order And it is. You know, you can start with the basic services. We do a bundled service for retouching or we do even an a la carte where maybe you just need blemish removal, maybe you just need straight hair removal Well, you can just pay for that It's like anywhere from 30 to 60 cents an image Or you can use a full bundle service. We also provide free online proofing that helps you mitigate any issues with production, so we can start to Really kind of understand you. And one thing and I don't care what company you use, but one thing I want to stress was when you start outsourcing, do not get frustrated in the beginning. It's going to take time and communication For a production team to understand you and you to understand them. Now, if you're working with a company that refuses to work with you in that sense, then I would look elsewhere. But do know it's like a marriage it requires communication and It needs to come from both sides so that you can start to really hone in on what your desired effect is that you're looking for and For a company like us, so that we can provide for you. And we start with those bundled services. And then we move a lot of those customers into their own personalized workflow where they're working with a small batch of editors. They have a sets service. We have their actions, their presets. We're providing them layer PSD files if they want to do their own adjustments on the back end.

Speaker 1: 42:25

So it's.

Speaker 1: 42:27

It's really an easy, easy Opportunity to get a lot of work off your plate.

Speaker 1: 42:34

And what I'll tell people is be careful because it becomes addictive, because when you're used to still being at the office or in your office or at your kitchen table till 9, 10 o'clock at night And you start shutting down at 4 or 5, 6 o'clock and you start having that additional time, it really starts to open up your perspective and say, wow, now I've got this time to either a go to my kids games, have a date night with my family, my husband, my wife, bring on more clients. It gives you opportunity to actually be self-employed and I think we have a problem as creatives accepting that We can work less hours and make more money. We always think we need to work more and more and more to make more and more and more, and it's really not, at least in my perspective. That's not the goal. My goal is to be as lazy as I can possibly be and make as much money as I can be and spend as much time with my family As I want, and that's the God's honest truth.

Speaker 2: 43:37

I love that and I preach that day in and day out. I I 100% agree. We have kind of been sold this lie I think you know too of. You know, if we're not doing doing doing all the time, we can feel like we're not, we're not getting ahead, we're not making the money. But there's a lot, there's a lot of power in sitting back and just being in flow as well and not pushing so hard all the time, because We do need the balance. And that, you know, kind of leads me into my next question, because This show is all about the strategy and the flow, right, the, the strategy in the woo and whatever you want to call it.

Speaker 2: 44:18

It's about balance. It's about achieving balance in your life because We, you know our businesses shouldn't run us, even though we're entrepreneurs, i don't care if you run several businesses. The whole idea of this is that you know You, you went into this so that you could have more time and chances are you're a slave to the business at this point. There's that meme that goes around all the time that says, oh, i got into business, you know, so that I could spend more time with my family And literally they're just at their computer all the time or whatever. They work 24-7. That's not what I want for you. I know that's not what you want for photographers either. So I love like, first of all, you guys, if You know, i hope that he kind of demystified the giving away your editing or some of your outsourcing, because I feel like a lot of you Get really, really nervous and stressed about the whole idea.

Speaker 2: 45:05

So hopefully that took some of that away and you guys actually take the step to reach out and see How you can make that easier for yourself. And I'll make sure I link those things for people on the show notes. But I wanted to ask you time before we wrap up. It's something that I ask everybody on the show is How do you incorporate the woo, the flow, the magic, whatever you want to call it, in your life? I know that you said that you know that is very important to you The time, the peace in your life. How do you incorporate that and and how does that show up for you?

Speaker 1: 45:37

I'm honest with myself. When I'm no longer maybe happy or excited about what I'm doing, i need to find what I need to be doing. I have to be honest about that. You know, i spent 10 years in two porters studios and a volume photography business and I was. I Was doing well, i had a great workflow I But there was just something itching at me that it wasn't my end goal. You know, i wanted to do more. I wanted to do more in the industry and I had to be honest with myself And I shut down both my studios while we were still growing and getting very profitable. I was still.

Speaker 1: 46:17

People were like where are you going? I'm like I just don't want to do this anymore. I want to do something else in the industry. I had to be honest about it. I think that's very, very difficult for people to do. I think there's always that person in the back of your mind saying is this really where you want to be right now? Is this really the thing that you're passionate about, or or whatever it may be? And I just got to tell you risk is hard, i get it, but you've done it once. You know, keep taking those small risks, whether you're passionate about photography and make that business run like a clock. Do not let it run you. Or, if photography is really not your gig, but you love the industry, find something in the industry that you are passionate about and go for it, because you're doing a disservice to yourself, because the one thing that is most valuable here, over all of money, is time.

Speaker 2: 47:14

And you can't get it back. You can't get it back And I love yeah. So I love that. That's a really good takeaway for sure. And you have to find what lights. What lights you up And a lot of people don't. You're right. A lot of people just, sort of you know, keep doing it because they feel like they have to. And so kudos to you for listening to that voice and to listening to yourself, being honest with yourself and honoring that, because it does take a lot of courage to do that. It can be really scary, but I'm a huge believer that if you listen and you're honest with yourself and you look at something instead of running from it, it's only going to lead you to the better place. It's only going to lead you for what's best for your highest self, because you're you're paying attention, you're being intentional. So this was awesome. Thanks so much for joining us. This was a really cool conversation.

Speaker 1: 48:06

Yeah, i really appreciate it. I've had a lot of fun today and I hope I've been able to provide just some small nuggets of information and maybe someone out that's listening can can take away from. And please know, i have literally in my business. I think I've become more of a therapist to photographers Because I spend so much time with our photographers, you know, talking to them about this and getting them through the tough times and what they're facing and what they're dealing with. And how can we, how can we help restructure this to make life better for you, yeah.

Speaker 2: 48:37

Yeah, i know I love doing that too. It's. I never would have thought that I did back in my early days, but man, it's, it's. I'm glad I listened to that voice, to that told me that it's funny like that.

Speaker 1: 48:48

I didn't think so either, so I agree with you.

Speaker 2: 48:51

So tell people where to find you online. I'll link everything to, but where do you like to connect with people best?

Speaker 1: 48:57

I connect best through email tiety at readbookcom. Phone numbers 937-462-1057. Option two is me or websites, readbookcom. I am on Facebook but that's pretty much just personal for me. I kind of keep that locked down. I don't like to jive and do business through social media platforms.

Speaker 2: 49:19

So sounds good. Well, you guys reach out to tie and thank you so much for joining us. This was awesome.

Speaker 1: 49:25

Thank you, renee. Thank you so much for having me on today. It's, it's a pleasure.

Speaker 2: 49:30

Awesome episode, right Like. we covered a lot of stuff and I really love this discussion with Ty, so I want to hear what you have to say about it. Let me know your feedback. screenshot your podcast app wherever you listen to it And then post it on Instagram on your story and tag me at Renee Bowen. Let me know your thoughts. share it with your friends. Obviously, if you haven't written a review yet, we would absolutely love to hear from you. Those help us out a ton. The podcast is going great. I've been loving doing this for you guys. I've gotten a lot of really good feedback, so keep it coming. I really want to know what you think about it. If you have any ideas for shows, if you've got any suggestions, i'm super open. Shoot me a DM over on Instagram and let me know. And final reminder elevate closes tonight. guys, this is your last chance for the top two levels. Will I see you inside?