Welcome to the Freedom Focus Photography podcast, previously known as the Hair of the Dog podcast. Why the name change? I'm getting into all the details in this episode, so stay tuned. 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 consistent two to $3,000 sales is your fastest route to a six-figure business. Also, that any technically proficient portrait 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've come to the right place with over 350,000 downloads. Welcome to the Freedom Focus Photography podcast. Welcome everybody to the brand new Freedom Photography podcast. I am your host, Nicole Begley. If you've been a subscriber to the Hair of the Dog podcast,
you might have noticed, oh my gosh, there's new artwork, there's new name, what is going on, Nicole? Well, I am going to let you know all about it today. I am so excited about what this brand has in store in this episode today, I'm gonna let you know why we changed the name, what this new name means,
and what happens to hair of the dog and Hair of the Dog Academy. Oh my gosh, so much news, but don't worry, it is all good. So first of all, why are we changing? Well, as you know, if you've been around my world for a while, my zone of genius is helping photographers build their businesses. Specifically my like super zone of genius is helping photographers with pricing.
I love nothing more than helping photographers increase their prices, earn more per session, like just get through that business building stage where they're kind of putting these different products together, helping to take someone from selling digitals only to having a $3,000 sale. Like that lights me up and I wanna help more photographers be able to do that. So that is why we are changing our brand.
Our name to the Freedom Focused formula in this podcast will be freedom focused photography. Again, don't worry, I'll tell you know what's happening with Hair of the Dog Academy. All good, don't, don't worry yet. But first I wanna give you a little bit of background of what Freedom Focused formula is, what we're gonna be talking about here in the Freedom Focus Photography podcast and some things that I believe just down to my core.
Number one, I've said it in the intro, I really believe that two to $3,000 sales averages are your fastest path to a six figure photography business. If you have $3,000 sales, that's 33 clients point third, 33.3 clients a year to get to a hundred thousand dollars. If you have a $2,000 sales average, that's 50 clients a year. Both of those are completely approachable in just about any market.
And if you wanna scale more, then again we can reach up to that fourth level. We'll talk about these levels here in a minute. One other thing I believe is that any photographer that is technically proficient can have regular four figure sales. I, it breaks my heart to see photographers out there that are really good still charging 300, 400, 500, $600 for a session when that's really not sustainable in the long term.
And then number three, I believe that no matter if you want to run a full-time business or a part-time business, you can have a profitable photography business. It is entirely done on how you set up your business and of course how you set up your pricing. And in order to get these higher prices, we have to adjust our messaging and realize that we are not just selling photography,
we are selling emotion and we need to speak about that. So that is something else that we'll be talking about here on this podcast and inside this freedom focus formula that is coming up soon. So let me talk a little bit about these four levels because after coaching photographers for over 10 years, I have realized that there are really four levels that every photography business goes through on the,
on the, when they're building their business. Well actually three out of the four, the fourth is optional. So number one, when you're starting out and you're like fumbling with your camera and you're just trying to figure out how to use it and you know, you're just like, all right, wow, do I do this shutter speed or this and that?
Like when you're at that point in your business, you cannot also be fumbling through like, oh my gosh, what is this product? How do I do this? How do I create this priceless? How do I give this boutique experience? Like you need to walk before you can run. So you just, you need to be able to like photograph whatever your subject is fairly competently.
So at that point, stage one, I actually believe it's okay for photographers to be offering an all-inclusive low cost digital package. But here's the caveat, you need to know that that is not gonna be profitable long term and you cannot stay there unless you are a high volume photographer. You cannot stay there. So, but it's okay to start there. It's okay to get paid a little bit of money while you're learning,
while you're building your portfolio, while you're getting your business off the ground. But you are gonna wanna try to get to stage two as quickly as possible, which is where you start to sell different products. Now, can I just stay at digital files forever? Mm, yes and no. Here's the thing. You can make your business look like, whatever the heck you want.
Any sort of strategy can work and be profitable in the certain conditions. If you wanna stay digital files only, you need to have one heck of an experience that is unlike any normal photography session. Because if you're just going to photograph dogs around your market like the other pet photographers in your market, people are going to pair compare your digital file price of $1,500 $2,000 to somebody else that's starting out on that stage one at 200,
300, $400. They're not gonna see the difference. Even if your work is 10,000 times better, they're not gonna see that 'cause they are gonna see digital files, digital files. Why is this one so much more expensive? I'm gonna go with this one. It becomes a commodity like when you go to the store and buy milk. Now, in my opinion,
the only way to really make a high cost digital offering, digital only offering work is to have it wrapped up in some sort of really crazy amazing, unique experience where you're selling the experience and the digital files are just part of it. Although I would still say that that would become an all-inclusive collection because I personally would want someone to have an album or something on their wall from that amazing experience because digital files can change.
But I have seen digital files only work in a situation like that where what you were offering was so unique, it was not a normal session. Okay? But generally we wanna get to phase two as quickly as possible. Level two is where we're gonna start to offer our different products. So we're going from digital only to figuring out what products do I like,
how do I start to work them in? How do I get my price list so that I can start selling these products? And usually when you jump to sev level two, you're starting to hit that four figure sale, you're starting to have 1000 to $2,000 sales selling products. It is a great feeling when you start to do that. And it's even better feeling,
at least for me, when you see your work on these beautiful, beautiful pieces and people are putting them on their walls and they're looking at their albums and they're going to love these pieces that you've created them for them for a lifetime. It is just absolutely incredible. So at this level, photographers are focused on starting to like iron out the bumps that come with serving clients in this manner,
with figuring out the workflow with the products, with figuring out pricing for the products, how to order the products, so all the different things. So you're kind of starting to figure these things out and then once you start to to get that side situated, you're starting to move into level three. This is where we kind of have a workflow. We know how to talk to our clients,
we know how to explain what we do, and we know what we're really selling, which is the experience. It's not just photography. And so then we're able to streamline our, our processes, we're able to really speak to the messaging of what we do. We're able to offer higher end products. We're able to finesse our price list so that it's encouraging clients to do that two to $3,000 sale or whatever your sales goal is.
Almost every single session we've now had the time to create better pricing education like PDFs or websites or things like that. It uplevel the client experience. We've had time to uplevel the client experience basically to have those consistent sales. Now that level three, you can stay there for your entire business if you want, but sometimes you start to get a glimpse of like,
oh, maybe I've set up my price list in a way. Like maybe it's, hey, when you do a Walmart and an album and you have a $3,500 sale, you're getting the digital files included with it and you're like, that was great when my average sale was $2,000, encouraging people to do $3,500. But now I'm like always selling 35, $500 and I'm always having to include all these digital files and I'm starting to get a little resentful and I feel like I'm capping my sale.
Then it's time to potentially move to level four, which is where you maybe start to go all a la carte and you're starting to hit 3,500, $5,000 average sales, maybe some really big outlier sales, you know, in the five figures, things like that. So you're starting to go like ultimate kind of lux service to your clients. And now Lux doesn't always mean like Tiffany Jewelry and like fancy handbags.
Lux can be just a high level of service and beautiful quality products. So when I say luxe, it's just like a really high quality of what it is you're offering. So those tend to be the four levels. And what we're gonna be focusing on here on the Freedom Focused Photography podcast and in our upcoming Freedom Focused Photography course, which is gonna be released at the end of February,
is going to be helping photographers get through those four levels faster so they can get to level three as quickly as possible while still making money at Levels one and two to help them grow faster and get to a place where their photography business can actually give them freedom in their life to build the life that they want, a life by their design, all funded by your photography business so that you can have it look like again,
whatever you want. We have students that have no interest in leaving their full-time job and just do this on the side and they love it. And that brings in a nice little chunk of side income to fund vacations or whatever else they wanna do. We also have photographers that'll left high paying corporate jobs and now are loving their life as a full-time photographer and the freedom that that brings for them to set their life how up,
how they like. And then of course, we have students that are earlier in the process that are building their business and ready to go in whatever direction they choose. I do wanna say one thing though, before we move on, and that is, you know, when you're starting off, we always have these goals ahead of us and it can be frustrating sometimes when you're like,
man, I wish I was here. I wish I was there. What's taking so long? Why am I not there yet? Heather and I recorded a whole podcast on the gap in the gain, and that really was looking at where you've come from, not always looking at where you're going because if you're measuring your success on the the gap to get where you are,
you're gonna be frustrated. But if you measure your success on the gain of how far you've come, then that's really empowering. So that's one thing, but the other thing is we're always gonna have a little bit of a gap in front of us because we almost always are still looking for the next thing. We're always, as humans, we're always driving for something new,
for something bigger or some other goal. Maybe it's, it doesn't have to be revenue. Maybe the revenue stays the same, but you wanna work like three days a week, or you wanna take three months off a year. Like you can figure out whatever you want that game to look like. But I don't want you to get frustrated if it's taking a little bit longer than you think.
When I started my photography business, I had big goals. It took me a couple years to get there. But here's the thing, if you are in the early stages or you're starting to put things together or whatever your goal is, so you know, say your goal is $150,000 in revenue in your business, but you're just starting out, if you were to snap your fingers and all of a sudden you had that business,
it might be an epic fail because you don't have the systems in place, you don't have the knowledge in place, you're not able to deliver what is expected at that level. So think of I be grateful for the little bit of time that it takes to reach these goals. Like you have to go through these four levels as a portrait photographer. You don't have to stay at any level for any specified amount of time,
but pretty much every single business goes through these four levels and you have to, because each level builds upon itself. So you can build that business, that end goal that you actually want. If you were to skip all those steps in the middle, you're not prepared, your business isn't prepared, you don't have the processes in place, you don't have the workflow in place,
you don't have the branding in place, you don't have the, the work, the actually quality of work in place. You don't have the vendors in place. You would go crazy if you went from zero to all of a sudden dropped in like here, manage this $150,000 photography business, it would crash and burn. So there is a reason that we are taken through these levels so we can start earning money at whatever level we're at,
and then know exactly what steps we need to focus on to prepare for that next level and jump up to that next level. So that is what we're gonna be doing inside the Freedom Focus formula. And I am so freaking excited for it because this is over 10 years of coaching photographers in their business, seeing how these things work, not just from my experience,
but from coaching thousands of photographers realizing that we're not unique. These things are happening on just about every single person's business, and I wanna help you get through those early stages faster. And I wanna help you make more money at any stage that you're at and that is what we're going to be doing. So, oh my gosh, I am so excited for it.
Like I said, freedom Focus Formula is going to be coming out the end of February. If you go to freedom focus formula.com, you can put your little name and email on a wait list if you want more information about it. When it starts to come out, it's, it's gonna be just incredible. I just cannot wait. So naturally, those of you guys that have been around,
you know, this was the Hair of the Dog podcast, you know that I have Hair of the Dog Academy, a craft and business membership for pet photographers. Naturally, the next question is Nicole, what is going to be happening to hair of the dog? Well, nothing. It's going to be staying exactly there how it is. All of my members have no fear,
absolutely nothing changes for you unless you want it to change. Unless you're a yearly lifetime or Elevate member, then you're gonna get some bonus changes that you're gonna love. But absolutely nothing changes if you don't want it to change inside the academy. So here is kind of our long goal. On February 15th, the hair of the Dog Academy is going to transition on the front end to craft only.
So that means after February 15th, you will no longer be able to join the academy and get access to the business content. All that business content is gonna go on the backend of Freedom Focus formula of the course. But if you're already in the Academy by February 15th, you are still going to get access to all the current business content that's in the academy. The twice a month office hours that are usually business focused,
those will continue. So literally nothing changes. So if you have been thinking about joining the hair of the Dog Academy and you want the business stuff as well as the craft, get in there February 15th, we're keeping the price the same in February 15th, and then February 16th, the front end of the hair of the Dog Academy will be craft only. That will be a little bit less expensive.
If you're coming in just for the craft, it will be 29 or 27 and 2 72 0.9, somewhere around that, that price point. And it will just be the craft content. We'll still have our photography principals call once a month. We'll still have our image reviews that you can request from the coaches. So there's still some support in there, but it's none of the business content,
none of the business coaching. If you want the business content, you would want to come into Freedom Focus Formula, which again will be a course available the end of February. However, because we like to exceed expectations here at HOD HQ or now FFF hq, that doesn't really roll off the tongue quite as easily. Any of my hair of the Dog Academy yearly lifetime or our Elevate members will get complimentary self-study access to the Freedom Focus Formula when it comes out included,
as long as they're a member at that level inside the academy or Elevate lifetime members, you're gonna get lifetime access, obviously, to the Freedom Focus Formula course. Now I say self-study because this course at least right now, is gonna be cohort style, and so there'll be some individual calls. However, when you're in the academy, you're still getting my office hours twice a month and their calls aren't gonna be any more often than that.
So that's why it's self study. You'll have the content, but you can ask any questions on our Hair of the Dog Academy office hour calls. So you still have access to me. Nothing changes. If you do wanna join the Freedom Focus Formula calls, there'll be a very small upgrade fee if you wanna join those specific calls. But like I said,
you can get access to me from our office hour calls from the backend of the academy. So, oh my goodness, let me kind of go over to recap because I just threw a lot of things at you. Remember number one, if you're a current hair of the Dog Academy member, absolutely nothing changes. If you are a monthly hair of the Dog Academy member,
you are gonna continue to have access to everything you do now, all the craft content, all the business content, business office hours, the craft support calls, all of those things for as long as you wanna stay a monthly member at your current rate. If you would like to have access to the Freedom Focus Formula course, when that comes out at the end of February,
you are going to want to upgrade to a yearly membership, which would be at whatever rate you're paying monthly, just add a zero that's your yearly rate, or you can upgrade to a lifetime membership and have lifetime access to Freedom Focus Formula, and that backend of all that academy content, we'll be sending emails out to our members with those specific details. If you don't see them or you have questions,
reach out to us as support at Hair of the dog academy.com and we will fill you in. So before February 15th, make sure you join the academy. If you would like to have access to the business content of the academy, because like I said, after February 15th, that will no longer be able to be purchased directly. The only way that will be available is after Freedom Focus Formula.
If you are yearly or Lifetime or an Elevate member, you can join any of those now too. You before February 15th, you're going to get complimentary access while you're a member into the Freedom Focus formula. And then after February 15th, so starting on February 16th, if you're like, man, Nicole, I really just want the craft, that's cool. You can jump into the hair of the Dog Academy at that point,
craft only, and then the craft only calls. So, woo, that was a lot. I will say if you're wondering about the price point for Freedom Focus Formula, it will eventually be a 9 9 7 course for our first beta launch. We are gonna have it at 7 97. So if you do the math, if you're listening to this and you wanna jump in to the Academy as a yearly member,
yearly membership is five 90. So that is definitely your best option. Jump in there before February 15th and you'll get access to this. And no matter what it is that you want to grow to or learn, I would love to support you. And regardless, even if you're just an avid listener to this podcast, I'm excited to support you in that way as well.
Oh gosh, so many exciting things happening. Thank you for being part of this. Thank you for being part of this podcast. We're coming up on four years of the podcast, can you believe it? Four years. I am just blown away. We've had over 350,000 downloads and I have been lucky enough to help photographers all over the world, and I don't take that lightly.
I really, really appreciate it and I appreciate every single one of you for being part of this journey, and I am so excited for where we're headed in 2024. Yeah, make sure you subscribe to this podcast and you know, we're still gonna be having all very similar content coming up through the podcast focused on pricing and marketing and business building and mindset and our beliefs and thoughts that we tell ourself.
So nothing really is changing other than that name. And a new way for me to help photographers portrait photographers of all genres in the Freedom Focus formula. So if you guys are pet photographers listening and you have friends that are portrait photographers, family photographers, newborn photographers, high school senior photographers, let them know about this podcast because we've actually had, I've had quite a few people reach out to me that are not pet photographers that have been like,
oh my gosh, I love your podcast. So that has been one of the main drivers of changing the name, because if you're a family photographer and you see Hair of the Dog podcast, you're gonna think it doesn't apply to you, but it does because what we talk about here are really universal business principles. So anyway, I'll stop rambling now. If you have any questions at all,
please reach out to us at support at hair of the dog academy.com. And otherwise, I will see you on our regularly scheduled Tuesdays. We have, oh my gosh, I already have quite a few conversations booked out that you are going to love. So stick around, hit subscribe, and I'll see you next week.