231 - Ryan Erickson takes us through his transformative journey from wedding photography to launching his mobile dog portrait studio, Fetch Photo Truck.
The pandemic prompted him to reassess his career path and follow his true passion for dog photography – a move that has certainly paid off!
Ryan dives into the ups and downs of managing a mobile business and stresses the need for setting clear boundaries to keep a healthy balance between work and personal life. He also shares his marketing tactics.
However, a crucial ingredient to his remarkable success, which led to over $200,000 in revenue in just his first year as a pet photographer, is his unwavering belief in himself and his venture.
Throughout this conversation, Ryan unpacks the hurdles he encountered, the valuable lessons he picked up along the way, and his aspirations for the future.
He highlights the significance of self-confidence, generating leads, forging personal connections, and the art of making offers as fundamental pillars for entrepreneurial success.
What to Listen For:
This episode isn't just a story; it's a beacon for anyone looking to pivot their career path, especially in the photography realm. Ryan's insights into the nuts and bolts of establishing and growing a mobile photography business are invaluable.
So, if you're curious about how to turn your photography passion into a mobile success story or simply love hearing about people following their dreams, this episode is for you. Tune in and let Ryan's journey inspire your next move.
Connect with Ryan
JOIN THE PARTY:
231 - Ryan Erickson takes us through his transformative journey from wedding photography to launching his mobile dog portrait studio, Fetch Photo Truck.
The pandemic prompted him to reassess his career path and follow his true passion for dog photography – a move that has certainly paid off!
Ryan dives into the ups and downs of managing a mobile business and stresses the need for setting clear boundaries to keep a healthy balance between work and personal life. He also shares his marketing tactics.
However, a crucial ingredient to his remarkable success, which led to over $200,000 in revenue in just his first year as a pet photographer, is his unwavering belief in himself and his venture.
Throughout this conversation, Ryan unpacks the hurdles he encountered, the valuable lessons he picked up along the way, and his aspirations for the future.
He highlights the significance of self-confidence, generating leads, forging personal connections, and the art of making offers as fundamental pillars for entrepreneurial success.
What to Listen For:
This episode isn't just a story; it's a beacon for anyone looking to pivot their career path, especially in the photography realm. Ryan's insights into the nuts and bolts of establishing and growing a mobile photography business are invaluable.
So, if you're curious about how to turn your photography passion into a mobile success story or simply love hearing about people following their dreams, this episode is for you. Tune in and let Ryan's journey inspire your next move.
Connect with Ryan
JOIN THE PARTY:
I am 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 two to $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.
With welcome to the Freedom Focus Photography podcast. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Freedom Focus Photography podcast. Previously known as the Hair of the Dog podcast, but we're still going in with all sorts of great business and mindset conversations. And today I'm very excited to have a special guest on the podcast. I am joined today by Ryan Erickson from Fetch Photo Truck in Denver,
Colorado. And Ryan made quite an impression on me because back in Black Friday, actually giving Tuesday, I did a special offer for some pricing reviews for a donation to the hair of the dog conservation fund. And Ryan was one of those people that I got to talk to about his pricing and learned a little bit more about him and his business. And I'm like,
oh my gosh, you have to be on the podcast. Thankfully, he said, yes. Ryan, welcome to the podcast. Thank you. It's a, it's an honor. Super excited to be here, Nicole. Yay. Yes. Oh my gosh. Me too. So let's just start maybe at the beginning. You were previously wedding photographer, now you are a pet photographer.
Let's go way back. What attracted you to the photography industry in general first and when Was that? Good question. Yeah. So I am a recovering wedding photographer. I like to call myself back in 2008 is when I, I started, I was out of school for a few years, graduated from University of Colorado at Denver with a degree in fine art photography.
So photography for me goes, goes way back even into to high school. You know, back in, in my day it was still like wet dark room is how I was, I was kind of classically trained in a wet, dark room. So really fell in love with if, if any of our listeners have been in a dark room, just kind of that magic of when a photo kind of floats up in the,
in the developer for that first time. So I can really connect closely back to those, those first few memories there. But yeah, so I studied that in school. I, I figured out pretty quickly it was, I was going the fine art route that I didn't want to be a starving artist. I was like interviewing other, like, gallery artists and stuff.
I was like, man, I wanna like be benefit. I wanna like make a living off of this and not be like a struggling artist kind of of thing. So that's kind of how I jumped into wedding photography, because you know, when you're in college or in your twenties and your friends are getting married, you're automatically their their free wedding photographer,
right? So I'd done that a a couple of times for friends and kind of got bit by that. I was like, Hey, this is something where I can make money from this. And, you know, have, you know, kinda have that flexibility not having to work like a, a desk job, a nine to five job. And so,
yeah, that's really kind of where I got into weddings. Fast forward. Yeah, 2008 over the last, you know, 15 years was working for a studio here in Denver, successful wedding studio, a team of multiple photographers. And yeah, I was averaging 30, 35 weddings a year for the last 15 years. So I've definitely seen had, you know,
seen some pretty, pretty awesome, awesome weddings and part of, you know, a lot of really, you know, exciting days. But I think really the, the switch for me was the pandemic, right? I think all of us have versions of this, you know, we had to go on unemployment, the event industry was just kind of shut down during that time,
right? So really, really hard. But honestly, that's what forced me to think like, okay, when the world comes back out of this, you know, do I want to be doing this for the next 10 years? Do the pandemic, I had turned 40. And you know, I think naturally we go through kind of points of reflection and all,
all that good stuff. And the answer for me was like, no, I don't wanna be doing this for another 10 or or 15 years. It's so, you know, for those of you that are wedding photographers out there, like, you know how taxing it can be on, you know, physically and just your, your schedule and family and kind of all of all of that stuff.
So that's what kind of planted the seed or created the, the, the space for me to have the idea for, for fetch. I had thought back at the time, early on in my career, I had done like a fundraiser for the rescue that I got my dog at the time, Louis from Rocky Mountain Lab Rescue. And we did some like fun studio stuff and,
you know, bring in a bag of dog food or donations for the rescue. And it was a big hit. People loved it, it was great on social media at the time that didn't make sense, that model for the studio that I was working for. So honestly, I kind of just had forgotten about it, right? But during the pandemic I was having,
you know, when we were all having barbecues and backyards with our friends and, and all that kind of stuff, we're talking about how much we, we love our dogs and the things that, the experiences that we love giving our dogs and the money that we spend on our dogs. And that kind of sparked that memory of that, that fundraiser that I did of like working with dogs.
And that just kind of got me thinking like, okay, what if I photograph dogs? And, you know, kind sounded, sounded crazy and I, you know, kind of slept on it and thought about it over weeks and, and months and just yeah, kind of slowly evolved into wanting to photograph dogs. So yeah. I love it. That is so fun.
Where did you pick up the business piece of it? 'cause did you have any business courses in college? Yeah, I started out doing like a minor in business. I think I sat through three weeks of like intro 1 0 1 classes. Like yeah, this is, this is not, not for me. You know, I think having worked for that studio,
the, the business yeah. Business owner was very, very smart and talented in, in business. So I think over the years that's what I absorbed as some of maybe that kind of business sense, sense of things. Okay. I love it. Yeah, because you are crushing it and you're, and you know, you need to be able to have a good business foundation in order to do so,
so that's fantastic. Tell us a little bit about now. So you went from 30 to 35 weddings, which is a lot of weddings, and I have never shot a wedding. Part of me is like, oh man, I think the day would be fun, but my number one value is freedom. And to be able to like, to have to give up a Saturday,
nine months ahead of time or more, I'm just like, nah, I, I, I can't do that. And I also know myself too, like, it was really hard even just running a portrait business where, you know, you get busy and more people are coming in and like want a session and be like, okay, yeah, I can,
I can squeeze that in. I I can squeeze that in because sometimes it's really hard when you're self-employed right? To like turn down like, oh, I know that'll be a $3,000 sale. Yeah, let me, let me just squeeze that in. And then all of a sudden you're like, oh my God, what did I do? Which man,
the wedding, the wedding, wait to get the, the information back of like, oh my gosh, that was a bad decision. It is a very long time. Yeah, yeah, Yeah. I think, you know, what works for me in the wedding world for so long, I've learned about myself. I kind of am attracted to that controlled chaos,
you know, because the wedding day is like just a beautiful, you know, bringing together like families and all the fight family dynamics and stuff. And like with, with that, there's all the pressures and you know, things that go along with that. But I was actually kind of attracted to and driven by that. Like, I would show up on a wedding day being nervous leading up to it,
but once I like dropped into it Yeah. And just kind of felt so, so natural to me. I was a, previous to, to weddings, I was a cook. I, I cooked for 10 years. That's kinda what got me through school similarly for, you know, you guys watching all those cooking shows and, and all of that.
There's kind of that beautiful controlled chaos that happens on a Friday night at eight o'clock kind of thing, right? And for a long time like that, that, you know, drove me, but I think just got to the point where I couldn't, didn't want to like always be operating off of that adrenaline kind of thing. Yeah. And I think when during that pandemic I was kind of forced to be out of that and that first summer of like,
not shooting a bunch of weddings, it was like, oh, this is what like normal people do in the summertime kind of thing. So that was a good, yeah. A good thing for me for sure. I love it. Awesome. So tell us a little bit about how you have your business set up now, because it is very different than most pet photography businesses.
Yeah, so a mobile dog portrait studio sounds crazy, right? So think food truck, but photo truck, right? So when I was thinking about when I wanted to make the switch to dogs, I was like, okay, what does this, what does this look like? Do I have a studio that people come to? Do I figure out how to do it out of the garage of my house?
Do I be like more a outdoor photographer, like showing up to a park or to to the mountains kind of thing? I, I knew that I didn't want like a brick and mortar because having the experience of seeing what my boss in the wedding world, what he had gone through of like managing a brick and mortar and then just all the things that go along with that.
I knew I didn't want to have like a mortgage and a, a lease tied tied to that. And then, you know, as I was thinking, all right, what type of dog photos do I want if I'm, you know, this is Colorado, so people are gonna want like, photos of their dogs out on their favorite trail and hiking and like beautiful landscapes in the background.
And when I got to thinking about it, I was like, yes, all that's true, but a lot of people, they have those photos of their dogs on their favorite hiking trip or their camping trip that like, are more meaningful to them, even though they might not be the, the best quality. The story tied to it is kind of what,
what really matters. So it was like, well the other difficulty too with being outdoor photographer, and this is what I experienced with weddings, is you're dealing with weather, right? Time of day, people's schedules, they've gotta get off work and travel an hour up the hill to meet you for that golden hour light. I, I've been through all that.
I know what that's like, and I know, you know, when the windstorm comes through, the rain comes through and you gotta reschedule. Like all those difficulties. I was really trying to think what are all of the, the, the, the experiences that I have that make doing what I do difficult, how can I solve that? And really this mobile aspect kind of solves all of that,
right? So whether it's a, it's a fully enclosed trailer, it's a 20 foot trailer, it's heated, it's air conditioned. If you guys are listening along trying to imagine this, I go to my website or go to social media and you'll kind of see a little video of like a whole, you know, spiel on how, how the trailer works and the whole,
the whole experience. But yeah, I can shoot anytime of day. I can shoot if it's, you know, five degrees outside or a hundred degrees outside. A couple weeks ago here in Colorado was minus five. I had two sessions and, you know, 9:00 AM and 2:00 PM on a Monday. And there was, you know, half a foot of snow on the ground and people were like,
Hey, do you wanna reschedule? I'm like, no, I'll, I'll see at nine o'clock. So those are just kind of a few of the things that helped me get into the mobile, mobile aspect of, of, you know, being a dog photographer. I love it. I love it. I mean, I think this is the best question we can ask ourselves,
both from our point of view as a business owner and also from our client's point of view is what are the main pain points that we face as a business owner and also our clients face as a, as a business, you know, purchaser and what can we do to make it easier for us and for them? So I love that you asked yourself that question because a lot of times people just say,
oh, to be a dog photographer that means I photograph outside or I have to like rent a studio space. But yeah, you went, you went to a different option, which I absolutely love. Yeah. And speaking on like freedom. So I knew I wanted that, that freedom. And I had made a decision early on. I was like,
okay, I don't wanna work weekends anymore, having come from the wedding world. Yeah. You're like, So I'm gonna try, I've worked 35 weekends a year, I'm done. Yeah, absolutely. So I was like, all right, I'm gonna make this Monday through Friday. I'm gonna do a 9:00 AM session and a 2:00 PM session. And it was like,
let's see if this, this works. Yeah. And I think the fact that like a, I'm not sure if this idea would've worked 10 years ago when everybody was having to go somewhere to, to do their job. Yeah. Now it's like, yeah, I can schedule a couple hours I work from home, I can just mark off my calendar and you know,
be there for a couple hours kind of, kind of thing. So it's like so much easier versus people having to think about like, alright, I gotta pack the dogs up, I gotta get all this stuff. We gotta drive a half an hour across town to this studio we don't know about or to this park. We don't know if we're comfortable the dog being off leash or if it's even possible.
Like again, all those kind of difficulties just makes it so much easier for people to see my work if they connect with my style of photography and then they find out like, oh, he comes to my house and like just does everything there. Like it's a no brainer. I love it. And are you doing same day sales? 'cause you have a 9:00 AM and a 2:00 PM Are they seeing,
I'm assuming products while they're there? Tell us a little bit about that. Yeah, I think that really is kind of part of the, part of my success is I figured out how to kind of edit on the spot, right? So the beauty is I'm at their home. So once the session's over with, they go take a 30, 40 minute break,
I scramble in Lightroom to call photos, do apply a quick filter, do a couple of, you know, kind of room view ideas of what, what artwork kind of might work look like on the wall. They come back and yeah, they get to see everything nice, nice and fresh. I honestly think that's a, a big part of kinda my success in,
in sales for sure. I'd never done same day sales before, you know, coming from the wedding world, it was all just that shoot and burn mentality, right? But yeah, I think that's been a huge part of my success. Yeah, I love that. And then I feel like it's so much easier in a workflow from your perspective 'cause you're not going out doing a whole bunch of shoots then having to go home and like,
okay, now I have 10 shoots from this week. Let me edit all these now I need to reschedule sales sessions. Even if it's Zoom, like you're just doing one stop shopping. It's like you shoot, you edit, you finalize whatever they purchase and off you go. So it can keep everything really succinct. That's fantastic. Are you selling mainly artwork?
What kind of things are people buying? Yeah, I really kinda make it obvious from the beginning with people that, yeah, I'm all about creating artwork for people that, you know, I want them to have more than just, you know, digital files. Something to have on social media, their phones. You know, I say I think our dogs deserve to be legends up up in our homes hoping that really kind of plants the seed that like,
yeah, I, I want to create something special with, with my pup. And not just to have something to show off on on Instagram kind of thing. Yeah. So yeah, I would say canvases, framed prints, albums. After chatting with you last time, I really, I guess one of the limitations I have in my, my mobile studio is there only,
there's only so much wall space that I have. So I'd love to have your idea, I forget the name that you called it, but that, that really kind of gallery piece, that signature piece, like huge, yeah. Beautiful canvas with like a ornate frame kind of thing. Really that kind of top level. That's maybe one of my current limitations is I,
you know, have got space for 11 by fourteens and some 16 by twenties, twenties and 30 by forties. But I can only show so much. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I have definitely found when you can show something as big as possible, oh man, it changes, it changes the conversation for sure. And people end up going a little bit bigger.
And then having some, like I always try to have one giant amazing signature piece and then for the other options, if you're like, oh, okay, well then we have acrylics or canvases, then you can have smaller samples of what that looks like. But yeah, as soon as I was going through way back, oh gosh, I started my business 2010.
I had pretty much always done on in-person sales. I started out shoot and burn for a hot minute and then went into in-person sales. And I was always like schlepping my stuff to their homes. I mean, for a good probably first eight years of my business. And I would take at first like the 11 by 14 'cause I'm like, oh, it's little,
it's easy to carry. But then I would start to do like a 24 or a 12 by 18, then a 16 by 24 and then finally a 20 by 30 I would drag around and then have some smaller samples. And every time I increased the size of the main piece I was bringing, the size that the people purchased went up a level, like without any other,
any other changes. So it definitely, definitely helps. Oh yeah. Are you getting, oh sorry. Are you getting images of their walls? Are you showing them what the artwork looked like on their walls? And since you're at your their house, do you ever go in to like look around at their space? What's that look like? Yeah, I think that's something I could definitely get better about.
Part of the, you know, pre session phone call and like email and all that stuff. I definitely encourage that and I show people examples like, hey, here's what's possible. Just, you know, email me or text me photo of your room or we can do it the same the same day. I think that's honestly something that I can maybe push people a little bit more on I'm actually doing.
'cause it definitely makes a difference when people do see, you know, their couch and then how, you know, three 16 by 20 prints look great or you know, when they come in thinking like, yeah, I want some like wall pieces. I want some eight by 10 prints. And like we all know like, hey, eight by ten's not gonna cut it.
Right. So, but yeah, once you kind of show them, it does make a huge difference. So I use fundees kind of room view design software that, that they have. And I, I don't push, but I think that's kind of part of why I am happy to be connected with you guys. I'm hoping to like absorb some other people's maybe tips and tricks of how they've kind of made that easy.
I've heard some people do, like if they, you know, I think you, you you recommended this, like, hey, if they do send you some photos of their space, like give them a discount or give them a upgraded five by 7, 28 by 10 or something like that. Some kind of incentive that actually makes them want to do, do the work.
So yeah, that's a a long-winded version of saying yes, but I'd like to get better. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's always, oh my gosh, there are always things to improve in our businesses. Even mine every single time. It's just one of those things that just never ends. So all of you guys out there listening that you're like,
oh, I need to wait till I have all these things in place and my business is ready. It's never gonna be ready, just, just start Exactly. And keep improving. Yeah. And with maybe, I don't know if you want to call it a disadvantage of being a guy, but you know, a lot of my, my clients, you know,
are women and most of the times it's, it's just us. And it's hard for me to, I don't want to invite myself in like I I'll right. You know, happily go into people like, Hey, I've got this space in the living room, I'm not sure what to do. I'll offer like, Hey, I'm happy to give input.
It's a bit awkward for me to start out like, Hey, can I come into your house? Like yeah, for sure. Unfortunately, we kind of live in this world now where I think we have to be sensitive towards, towards that now, you know, I was a wedding photographer for 15 years and was happily welcomed into hotel rooms as bridesmaids were getting ready in and all that stuff.
So it shouldn't really bother me, but maybe that's something I need to get over. But yeah, maybe I could offer like as part of the process, hey, would it help if part of the, after the session I came in and gave you a consultation on what I thought, like there's probably some missing link that I could create that made it a little bit easier for people to be okay with that or to initiate that process?
Yeah, I think options are always a great option. You know, where you start off, it's in like, if, even if the messaging of when you're having your consult with them of like, oh my gosh, you know, one of the things that most clients find so helpful is that I am able to put actual images of their wall in this artwork on their wall.
When you get to see the big reveal and you know, in order to do that, you can either A, you know, send me a photo with a whatever piece of paper, tell 'em how to get the photo to you, or B, if you're not sure, I'm happy to, to help give you my personal input during the day of our session and come in and see your space.
So you're just like laying that out there as like, Hey, it's an option. Not required, but that's an option. And a lot of times too, by the time you're getting to the session and after the session, you've already talked on the phone with 'em. They've already been in for the session with you and the trailer. So usually it's,
you know, that strange person coming into my house has been mitigated a little bit. But yeah, I think that's, that's a, a potentially good way to maybe help do that. I love It. I'm gonna, I'm gonna change that today, my next kind of pre-session meeting. I'll just kinda make that that easy. Yeah, yeah. Thank you so much.
Of Course, of course. So I wanna go back to the very beginning though. So you're like, all right, I'm gonna do this, this dog photography trailer, mobile dog photography studio thing. Did you get the trailer then get some models and start marketing it? Did you start to market it and do like a proof of concept before you invested in the trailer?
What did that look like? Oh man. Yeah. You're bringing up all those, those memories. Yeah. You're like, I feeling a little stressed. It's okay. Deep breath. So I'm the kind of personality that if I have an idea, and sometimes this works really great and other times not, I have to have it all figured out in my head.
I have to figure out all the things that can go wrong and go right and figure out the solutions for all that before I can move and make a, make a step. That's been classically kind of how I operate, which does work for, for certain things. Yeah. But when I had this idea, I just kind of had like, I've got nothing else to lose.
I think there's potential in this. I believe in myself, you know, I felt comfortable here in Denver that there was a market, you know, I think Denver always wins, like the award or whatever you call it, for like the best place to be a dog, you know, as far as how many people are dog lovers here. So I knew that there was the oppor opportunity.
I knew I had the skills, I had the confidence on the photography side of things that I could create, you know, you know, artwork with of pups. So I trying to think, I didn't do any sessions before I had the trailer. I knew that the trailer was gonna be the secret sauce to, to what I did, you know?
And once I came up with the name fetch, fetch photo truck, you know, I, I quickly started researching all of the options. You know, do I, you know, get a Amazon delivery truck or UPS truck and like re you know, convert that? And that was, that was outside of my budget. And that's kind kind of how I landed on an enclosed trailer.
You know, what a lot of people are doing nowadays with, you know, taking trailers and reconverting them and turning 'em into mobile tiny homes and stuff. I had seen enough of people do that. And that's kinda what gave me the idea of like, Hey, I could make a studio in here. Is that, is that gonna work? And that process and part of my researcher brain of kind of figuring everything out,
Beth Alexander in Canada with Unleashed Pet Photography, I believe she has a very similar setup to me. If you look her up and you look, look me up, she kind of essentially was already creating the idea that I had in my mind. So I reached out to her and said, Hey, if, if you're willing, I, you know,
I've got this idea. It sounds like we're on the same track, would you be willing to share? And yeah, she was awesome from the beginning giving me some like, tips and tricks of like, do this not that definitely go this route, not that. And that kind of helped give me the, the confidence by kind of reaching, reaching out.
Yeah. And yeah, I would say it was about a three month process of like, I'm getting a trailer, I have the trailer. I figured out how to get, you know, lighting and the kind of bare bones to actually do the photos and slowly over time have made it more a comfortable space and all of that. So yeah, yeah,
three to four months was kind of the, the process of having the idea to like having a trailer to then start, you know, bringing clients in. I love it. Awesome. And then how did you attract those first couple clients? How'd you get that marketing ball rolling? Yeah, I, I remember some of my connections in the wedding, the wedding world,
you know, past clients who I went back and remembered like how much they love their, their dogs and they made their dogs part of their wedding day and, and all of that. So I reached out to them and those, those are some of my best clients to, to start to start out pretty quickly. I signed up for a coaching program.
'cause I knew I, I had the sense that like on the business side of things and like skill photography side of things, that I was good to, to start this idea, but I had no idea how that applied towards pets. So I, again, doing some research and kind of found through some networks, Alex Kerns with, you're gonna Alex studio or Black consultant,
Alex, you, we love Alex here. Yeah. So reached out to, to Alex. 'cause I knew, I knew that I just needed to like trust in someone that like, okay, they've, they've very obviously figured this out. They've got systems and and processes and I'm just going to trust that they're gonna have my best interest in mind. And that was honestly probably one of the biggest keys for,
for me having my success kind of hitting the ground running is having Alex kind of help me with like her, her program and how she's attracted clients and all of that. So her, her kind of process worked really well for me kind of starting out of getting some of those first first clients. So yeah, definitely, you know, really encourage people who might be thinking like,
Hey, you seeking out any kind of education or, you know, kind of coaching program. It's, it's totally, totally worth it because I just kind of gave, you know, faith that she's, you know, obviously had a, a process figured, figured out that I, you know, knew how it worked in the wedding world. I had no idea how it applied to,
to pets and she just really helped me kind of hit the ground running. Yeah, I love that. All of, yeah, all of the marketing things are very similar, but there's little nuances and I think the biggest thing that, that helps people have success, which you mentioned at the beginning as you believed in yourself, I think that is so incredibly critical and not talked about enough,
is what thoughts we have in our head about going into this business. And there's always gonna be doubt. I'm sure you still had some doubt pop in there every now and again. Oh yeah. AB absolutely. Yep. We are human. So you know it, but it's, and it's finding, finding a way to, you know, to have that belief that,
okay, I have this market here. You know, you're in Denver, you're in a big metro area, certainly there are a number of clients there. What was your like goal for number of clients you wanted to serve and like kind of a revenue goal when you were starting your business? Yeah, so starting out, I was still doing the weddings,
right? So March, 2021 is when I started the LLC. So I was still, you know, employed as a wedding photographer, as a studio. So I kind of had that safety net of being like, okay, I'm still doing weddings. I'm able to kind of test in the off season, see how this is, is working. So mostly my goal is to see if this would work.
Are people gonna value this as an experience? Is this even gonna, gonna gonna work? So I probably didn't really have a clear goal until 2023. So 2023 was my first full year of a hundred percent a wedding or a a dog photographer, not a wedding photographer. So no weddings in 2023, Correct? Yep. So last year was my first,
first full year. Yeah. And was super, super pumped with about that. As far as goals, I guess I kind of, you know, looked and just kind of, you know, your your, your podcast really kind of helped get a, you know, ballpark of like, oh, people that are kind spending on average easy, you know,
1500 bucks or two to $3,000 sales. Like that's what a, that photographer can get. Okay. I, I guess I can, I can do that too, kind of thing. You're Like, that sounds like a good goal. All right, I'll take it. Yeah, we'll, Yeah, we'll shoot, shoot for that. Back to kind of trusting in my coach,
she kinda helped me with pricing early on, right? And I was like, oh my gosh, people aren't gonna spend a thousand bucks on, on this or a $3,000 package. Nobody's gonna do this for a dog. That was kind of me, that self-doubt, right? That kind of inner critic that was like, oh, this isn't gonna work.
I was like, you know what? You don't know that Ryan, so trust that, you know, Alex has, again, my best interest in mind. She's not gonna lead you down the wrong path. So I was like, I, I'm just gonna do what she says. We'll see how this works. And sure enough, I think one of my first three sales was a a $2,500 sale.
So I was like, yeah, alright. Like, okay, I guess this is gonna work. That's all, That's all the proof I need. It seems to be working just fine. Yep. So you said you do two appointments a day. How many are you shooting five days a week, three days a week? Like what's, what's your schedule generally look like?
Yeah, two days a week. So 2023 I had just under 150 sessions. Okay. Everybody, everybody gasp, right? Sounds, sounds like a lot. So what's the math on that? Is that 75 Days if you're doing two a day? Right? Yeah, I think ultimately I could easily do five sessions a week. That would be a goal that I think is manageable.
'cause that's two full days of shooting plus like a half a day. That leaves me another what day and a half or so on, like management side of things, keeping businesses running. So yeah, I think I could easily do five, five a week. Yeah. But I don't want to do that 52 weeks out of the year. Right, right.
I'd love to be able to have a month and a half to two months floating throughout the year where I'm not doing that week, week after week. Yeah. Oh my gosh, that's such an important point when you guys do your numbers, is just looking at, okay, because I, I see this happen all the time where people are like, all right,
yeah, I can do X number of sessions a month, then I'm gonna do that many like all the time, like two sessions a week, 52 weeks a year. I'm like, you're not actually gonna work 52 weeks a year. And there's still are gonna be some slower seasons than, you know, more full on seasons and you can shift that a little bit and work a little bit busier during the busy times if you want to.
But yeah, like it's such an important piece because the photography business, one of the great things about it is that it is really can be a lifestyle business to support the lifestyle that you wanna lead because it's not a nine to five, but so many people, what's that quote that, you know, I quit my 40 hour job a week to work like 80 hours for myself or something like that.
You know, it's really easy just to like dive into this and, and lose track of why you actually wanted to do this, which usually had a freedom component to it. So Yeah. Yeah, definitely connected that even just last night, so was going through kind of the scheduling process for, for a client who had just met at, some of you guys might know the Goldens and Golden event.
So it's an event in Golden Colorado where I didn't realize it was a national event. People from all over the country were coming with their golden retrievers. Thousands of people showed up on, on Saturday and those that live in the area knew that there was a huge storm that came through on Saturday, so everybody was wet and soaking, but all these like Goldie faces that were running around so,
so happy and stuff. Anyways, I had the trailer there kind of doing like a promo and a raffle to win a free session, kind of all that stuff. Met this client and we were trying to schedule last night. She's like, oh, hey, I'm an accountant super busy. Can you do weekends? It's really only thing that's gonna work for me.
And just kind of got back like, Hey, my normal sessions are Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM and 2:00 PM I keep my weekends, you know, open for market events and also to help maintain my sanity. And she's got, yeah, she got back. She's like, I totally understand it. I respect that. You know, how about March? Let's look out into March.
And you know, so that's something that I probably wouldn't have done a couple of years ago Right. Of kind of sticking up for, for myself because yes, I, I I've experienced what happens when you kind of bend for, for people on things that you, you know, really kind of kind of stand for that are important to you. You kind of end up resenting that client,
right. If you like, you kind of bend for like, oh yeah, I'll shoot a Saturday at 4:00 PM kind of thing for you. You're not as excited for that session. Right. You don't show up in the same, the same, the same way. So yeah, even just last night was a good, of a good example how in the end,
like they respect you more. They see you as like, oh yeah, I wouldn't wanna work on a weekend either. Why, why would you, I don't ask my dentist to come in on a Sunday Right. To do my cleaning. Right. So yeah, that was kind of a really good example of kind of standing up for, for myself and then yeah,
kind of back to, to that freedom I love and I'm, I'm so happy that I'm part of the, the freedom of focused photography, you know, kind of group group now. Yeah. Because yeah, I think that's brilliant. Yeah. Oh my gosh, I'm so proud of you. That is really the hardest thing to do because we have that voice in our head that if we're like,
oh, if I don't serve this client where they are asking to be served, that they're gonna go somewhere else, but nine times outta 10 when you say, oh no, I can't. And this is why. They'll just say, oh, okay, let me, and they just might have to book a little further out because, oh it every time,
maybe the first time you're not resentful, but certainly by the 12th time you do that you're gonna start getting a little resentful and that's not fair to you. That's not fair to them. So that is I think, one of the best business lessons that we can learn. Yeah, I mean I, I definitely say that I got burnout on the wedding side of things.
So when I had this idea, I was like, I don't want to be burned out. I want this to be sustainable. I want to be excited to do this in 10 years or 15 years. You know, depending on how, how this grows. I see a lot of potential for me to maybe, you know, have, have staff and have multiple photographers.
I don't know, there's so, so many possibilities. Yeah, I love that. For your current clients now, what would you say is the main, the main driver of new business coming into the door now? Yeah, I think probably split between those market events. So the benefit that I have is me showing up with my trailer to, you know,
a brewery on, in the summertime on a Saturday afternoon and you know, either offering to do mini sessions or just doing like studio tours. People are like, what is this? Yeah. Big trailer with cute dog photos all over. We have to go talk to this guy and they, you know, see my photos and they connect with my work.
It's a really kind of easy connection. So market events have been great just because you're able to kind of relate to people and talk about how cute their dogs are and kind of pet their dog 'cause they're probably there with them on a brewery on a Saturday afternoon and then make that offer, right? So have like, hey, I'm doing a, a raffle to win a free waived at-home session fee.
Right? So you can kinda get their contact information and follow up. I'd say that's probably been a big majority. Then the other half would be doing like social media contests, you know, Facebook contests, you know, people, you know, submit a photo of their dog and tell, tell 'em what you love about them and you kind of, you know,
enter them into, into a raffles probably half and half between that and then between happily get a good amount of organic reach. Yep. You know, 'cause I was pretty quick to be on the first page of Denver Dog photographer early, early on. So yeah. That's awesome. I love that. And for you guys listening at home, you might notice a theme here that Ryan is getting leads,
he is talking to people and making offers. So that's really all business is, and I think so many times that all photographers in general just kind of sit at home and they're like, okay, I've built this beautiful website, all right, I've posted on social media, why aren't my inquiries coming in? I can't tell you how many people I end up coaching and they're like,
I need more clients. Where do I get the clients? I'm like, what have you been doing for marketing? And they say, I post on social. Okay, let's start marketing. So I love that you're out there doing the things, getting in front of people and Yeah, I can imagine that could be quite the draw at like an afternoon brewery event where it's like,
oh my gosh, what is this fun thing over here? I love it. Yeah. And there's, there's so many events in Denver that are dog, you know, focused, you know, in the summertime, whether it's, you know, craft markets, farmers markets, you know, there'll be vendors with doggy bandanas and yeah. Custom dog treats and,
and all that stuff. So I'll figure out how to get into those. So yeah, I would definitely encourage people if they're, yeah, finding a ways that you can get person to person with your client and not just fighting for, you know, SEO and you know, social media getting likes. 'cause yeah, you could have 500,000 followers from all across the world,
but if none of them are putting money into your pocket, like how much of that is just your ego that that's feeding versus actually supporting you as a business? Yes, a hundred percent. Oh my gosh, this has been such an incredible conversation. I am so incredibly just blown away and proud of how you are crushing it. Especially 2023 was 2023,
you said your first year wedding free, like first full year. Yep, I sure was. Yep. Happily. Yeah. Yep. Awesome. And can we share your amazing revenue from that year? Yeah, yeah. It was kind of incredible as the, as the year year went on. But yeah, I hit $205,000 in 2023, so woo hoo.
Oh my gosh. I need like a special like clapping sound effect here. Like here you go. Amazing. Multiple six figures. I am just, it's, I'm blown away. I think it's fantastic. And yeah, when you came to me and you're saying, you know, I think you had about a $1,500 sales average, we're looking to get it to 2000 or more.
And we did a couple little tweaks and so I'm really excited for what 2024 is gonna be in store for you. Thank you. Yeah. And that's happening and I know from like, if you would've told me that those rev that revenue back when I was like a wedding photographer, I would've called you crazy. 'cause that's more than I was bringing in for the studio that I was working for.
Right, right. So yeah, it's just kind of insane. To be fair, Denver's very one of the more expensive towns to, to live in. So even after, you know, my operating costs and stuff, it's not quite as much as I was imagining. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Super, super grateful and like thrilled and yeah,
I can't, can't wait for for what's to come. Yeah, no, that's fantastic. So, so awesome. Before we wrap up, can you let everybody know where they can find you and reach out to you if they would like to connect? Yes. If you guys haven't already started stalking me on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok. Yeah. Fetch photo truck and fetch photo truck.com.
If you guys are curious to see what this trailer setup is, I think on my Instagram reels or one of my first posts pinned on Instagram, you can see a little video. And then also on my way main website. Yeah, I'd love for you to check that out. And yeah, like can comment and follow and all those good things. I love it.
Awesome. All right, Ryan, thank you so much for being here. This is a great conversation. I hope all of our listeners out there have a new idea of what's possible and don't forget the secrets to success that Ryan has had here, has, believing that he can get this done and just getting out there, getting leads and connecting with people and making offers.
That's really all there is to it. Ryan, thanks for being here with us. Thanks Nicole. Thanks for helping me grow. Of course. See you guys next week.