This is one of those topics that, although it's not fun, is necessary. Especially as we head into a busy season you need to know how to set boundaries with difficult clients! After being in this industry for years I'll just let you know that if you haven't had a challenging client... they're coming. Which is why this episode will be helpful! I'll share some of my personal experience and give you pointers on how to work with them. But before unpacking that, I have a free class just for you! It's all about how to double your photography revenue this year. We'll touch on some business basics but dive deeper into business marketing! Rather than relying solely on pretty pictures you can drive your business with excellent marketing. Now, onto the "fun" clients...

It is so important to deal with clients with kindness. Remember, you're running a business and your conversation or interaction represents the brand/the business. It's very easy to match your client's attitude and energy especially if you don't mind confrontation. Some of you may be people pleasers and negative confrontation is a challenge, but remember kindness goes a long way. Stay professional and give your client a hefty helping of kindness! You have an opportunity to handle situations with grace and I suggest doing it over the phone. You don't want to give clients ammunition so even an email would be beneficial.

Pointing back to your contract gives you a backbone to lean on. And that's why it's crucial to have a legal contract that will hold up. I have one in my shop you can grab and they are there for a reason! A few things I have in my contract that protects me is found in editing. I have it in my contract that I do not remove things that wouldn't be gone on their own within 1-2 weeks. I won't altar someone's body because all bodies are beautiful and deserve to be captured. I also hold the right to including or excluding photos from their gallery. Sometimes the shot is blurry or simply doesn't turn out. I want to include photos that will not only be a good representation of my work but turn out well!

This is one of my favorites because it helps you illuminate the positivity and serve your client but protects you as well. You need to be taken care of which is why we are talking about how to set boundaries with difficult clients! So, give your client a yes but with a realistic boundary. For example, if a client wants something edited that's outside of your normal scope of editing....

Let's talk about Mini Sessions! I'm doing a Mini Sessions Q & A from a thread in my Facebook group. There were tons of great inquiries so I'm taking the time to go through and answer now! I'm also hosting a LIVE webinar this coming Thursday (if you're reading this current and up to date) all about MINI SESSIONS! This is a brand new class I've never taught and we'll have a Q&A section at the end for that too! So, if today's podcast hits home you'll definitely want to join. Be sure to register HERE regardless of if you can make it live or not. Thursday, July 13th @ 1:00pm CST. Once you register you'll receive the replay and get all the fresh content. Now, let's jump in!

This specific question stated, "If your sessions are 20 minutes and one of your children doesn't cooperate what do you do?" Here's the thing, my mini sessions are 10 minutes and most of my students do 15 minutes. So, when a child is crying the whole session or not wanting to participate you just do your best. If you're booking with a family and the parent knows ahead of time the child will struggle, opt for a full session. So what do you do? Keep snapping, try posing different angles to avoid the crying face, book with them in 6 months from now! Most of the time kids are uncooperative because it's new. I did this with a family and the second session was incredible. We got to celebrate the major growth. I'm also a believer in capturing true memories. The reality is kids cry. They don't always cooperate and that's part of life's memories!

This is a loaded question because there is so much that goes into marketing. Join the free class to go deeper! I would say good advertising doesn't just post to your business Facebook page or Instagram. You need all the pieces of the puzzle to present a full picture.

Practice, practice, practice! Start at 15 minutes and use a posing workflow. If you're worried about clients feeling like they aren't served well, it's because you need confidence in your delivery. It's important to know you've captured the right shots so you can deliver a full gallery. But how do you get to this place? Practice. Have family and friends over and do 15 minute sessions with them back to back. I use this

All month long we've been talking about our Christmas in July Minis Campaign. Today, I'm so excited to finish this out with tips for ding a Christmas in July Mini Sessions Promotion! It's hard to believe we are at the end of June and our promos will be ready to go live soon. Before wrapping up how to do this promo I have a FREE guide to help you make your first $3k or more on your first set up mini sessions. Count it as a gift for those of you that have followed along and apply it during your actual Christmas Minis! Ready for some big tips?

I know we're down to the wire, but it's not too late to get started! Ideally you want to kick off this campaign at the beginning of July. I know you technically have a whole month, but you don't want to promote this at the end. Start the first week when this campaign is fresh and no one has been advertised to yet. That also means you need promo shots! If you're doing Red Truck Minis, Tree Farm or Indoor Studio Christmas Minis, talk to your vendor and see if you can get in there with a real family for promos. Make sure they are real families because they advertise so much better. Don't just show the setup. And of course use past sessions if you have them!

I suggest advertising for 2 weeks or until your spots fill. I have an associate team spread out in 9 different cities and in Dallas we open up July 1st. Our goal is to book 3 dates which is the equivalent of 54 sessions. Remember, I have multiple photographers so it's not all one person. We start by opening to our VIP email list, social posts ready to go and fb ads! These are all things we've prepped in June which makes it a lot easier with automated workflows. Once the 2 weeks is up, we switch to advertise Fall minis. We book these from mid-July to the end of August or so. Then we switch back to Christmas Minis!

Something I get asked often is whether or not to take a retainer. We do a 50% retainer at the time of booking and they pay the