Latest / Luxe & Legacy Podcast / Choosing the Right Education for Your Stage of Business

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Choosing the Right Education for Your Stage of Business · Luxe & Legacy Podcast

• Welcome to the Lux and Legacy Podcast.
• I'm Marie from Marie Elizabeth Photography.
• And I am Amber from Light Live in Photography.
• We created this show for photographers who are ready to run a luxury business with clarity, intention, and elevated artistry.
• Each week we uncover the strategies behind high level brands from shooting and styling to client communication, to marketing, to designing heirloom products that increase your value.
• If you want to attract aligned clients, produce, work with a recognizable aesthetic and build a business that supports the life you want, this podcast will guide you there.
• Let's dive in.
• Today we're talking about education, which is something we get asked about very frequently.
• both invest in education regularly, so I have taken many courses, masterminds, gone to workshops and retreats, and both Amber and I.
• Still invest in education to uplevel and elevate our businesses, and we also teach, so we see both sides of this world.
• I just got back from the most amazing retreat hosted by the mother hand anthology, which got this topic in my mind, and so I threw the idea out there to Amber.
• at this retreat was so well done.
• Kim and Allie of the motherhood anthology had completely over-delivered and spoiled the attendee attendees, and we had many conversations with the attendees about different education that they had invested in over the course of their business, and with so many courses, retreats, workshops, masterminds, and coaching programs out there.
• It can feel really overwhelming to know what is actually worth the investment.
• Yeah, and that retreat looked so incredible.
• I just really wish I was there.
• Next year I will for sure be there with you.
• Guys.
• But yeah, I think this is a great topic for today because a lot of people are like, oh my gosh, when do I invest in what, what do I need? And they get a little overwhelmed with everything that's out there, and it's kind of like, system shut down.
• It's too much.
• Uh, so today we're gonna break it down.
• When you should invest in what and how to recognize great education.
• There is more education available in this industry than ever before with courses, mentorships, retreats, masterminds, editing tutorials.
• It can feel like.
• You need all of it at the same time to succeed.
• But the truth is the right education depends entirely on where you are at in your journey.
• So today we're gonna be breaking down how to recognize what stage you're in and how to find the right education for you.
• Because the goal is not to collect Emily courses that sit in your inbox that you never get to.
• The goal is to find the right guidance that helps you move forward in the right way for you.
• Yes, Yeah.
• we're gonna start with beginner photographers.
• So if you are a photographer, new to.
• Either photography in general or new to the motherhood and family photography world, we're gonna chat about what we think you should start with.
• So at this stage, the best educational investments are usually lower ticket offerings.
• So that includes courses, content, days, styled shoots, educational resources that help you learn the fundamentals.
• These are great because they allow you to build your portfolio, practice shooting in different environments, and start fine tuning your artistic eye and style without making huge financial investments that you might not be ready for right away.
• Exactly at this beginning stage, you're really trying to do two things.
• You are developing your technical skills and you are building a body of work that reflects the kind of sessions you actually want to photograph.
• And education at the beginning should focus almost entirely on the craft, I believe.
• So understanding light.
• Camera settings, how to edit consistently understanding white balance and skin tones composition.
• This is the stage where photographers should invest in a strong foundation for their education that teaches them how to create the beautiful images that they want consistently.
• Content days and style session.
• Can be incredibly valuable because they give you access to styling models and locations that you might not have been able to create on your own yet.
• The investment might be lower for a content day compared to if you put on the style shoot all by yourself.
• I would recommend these after you have completed some courses on the technical aspect and practice with family and friends.
• And what's great is you might meet some fellow photographers in your area in the same phase of their business as you the, so the goal is to move away from random work and start intentionally creating the style and experience you want your brand to represent.
• Yeah, this stage is all about discovering your artistic voice.
• Okay.
• Now moving on to the next stage, and that's like mid career photographers.
• This is the stage where many photographers start realizing that some small tweaks can make a huge difference.
• it's refining your posing.
• Maybe it's improving your client experience or learning how to sell artwork, or elevate your brand positioning.
• Workshops and retreats can be incredibly powerful because you're not just learning from the educator, you're also surrounded by other photographers who are in a similar stage of business, which often leads to really meaningful conversations and connections.
• also in this stage, mentoring.
• So getting a one-on-one mentor.
• Who can solely look at your business and give you direct feedback based off the specific areas where you want to improve or that are lacking.
• Finding a mentor who can specialize in these things can really help push your business forward.
• Definitely.
• So if you're in the mid stages of your business.
• Is meaning you already have some consistent clients, a pretty strong portfolio, but you feel like you're ready to really refine your work and elevate your brand, grow your income.
• Workshops and retreats and mentoring like Marie was talking about, can be really, really valuable because at this point you often need more personalized feedback and deeper conversations about your work and your business.
• Right.
• Having.
• Personalized look at your business is really so valuable.
• And now let's talk about photographers ready to move into the luxury market.
• This might be a lot of our listeners, so maybe you're ready to make a big price increase.
• This is often where masterminds and coaching programs become the most valuable making this kind of shift in your business usually requires.
• Big changes.
• Even if the big change is mindset, not just tweaking a few things.
• You are often completely dissecting your pricing or your client experience, your brand messaging.
• And it is so helpful and important to have.
• The A mentor and other photographers going through the mastermind and coaching program there to support you because there will be road bumps and blocks along the way, so having their support is really essential.
• Yeah, and when you're going into the luxury market, it can be a little overwhelming because that's where typically you're gonna be spending the most amount of money, but you're also gonna be getting the most amount.
• Back into your business because you're gonna be completely changing your pricing structure, what you're offering, and it's really great to invest in coaching programs then, whether they're one-on-one or in a mastermind.
• They both have pros and cons.
• One-on-one, you're gonna get really in depth.
• Personalized feedback from your mentor and just a lot more help one-on-one with them.
• But in a mastermind where there's other photographers, it's really nice to have each other for support and friendship and community and learning from each other's mistakes.
• So either one can be really great and either way, having a community of photographers who are pushing each other in the same direction can be incredibly motivating.
• Okay, so.
• Now let's talk about, okay, what is the order of things that I would focus on? Because even jumping into the luxury market, there's quite a few elements of that, right? So first I would focus on business and brand alignment.
• So brand alignment primarily.
• Once someone has a solid per portfolio and understands their style, then be becoming a brand that attracts people.
• That's.
• That just want you, for you, for your voice, your morals, your character, your your aesthetic, what dream world you create, how you interact with your clients.
• Everything comes together so.
• Brand messaging, like I, I said, how you speak directly to your client and having a really clear understanding of your ideal client.
• A lot of people think they do, but they actually don't have a really in-depth ideal client avatar.
• So that's something you would wanna work on in a coaching program.
• Website alignment, client experience, and pricing structure.
• Those are all.
• Important places to start when you're going into the luxury world.
• And once you get that business and brand alignment all set up, you really have to focus on marketing and visibility.
• I see a lot of photographers.
• Not do this step and then wonder why they're not booking and just quit and go back to a being lower price.
• So marketing education becomes incredibly valuable once the foundation and brand are strong.
• So this can include things like learning, SEO, blogging, Instagram strategy.
• Pinterest email marketing referral relationships.
• this stage, the photographer already knows who they wanna attract, and the marketing simply helps them reach those people more consistently.
• I find most, like 95% of photographers will need marketing education because it really all comes down to a numbers game and bringing in as many people as possible to start going through your funnel.
• Yes, for sure.
• And having not all, not all your eggs in one basket for that marketing strategy, right? So blogging, Pinterest, email marketing, Instagram, these are all different avenues that you can explore and learn from other educators on how they approach these.
• Start doing them more in your business.
• I think typically people will like pick one thing that they're good at and then not expand into others.
• But when you're really expanding into the luxury market, like Marie said, getting as many eyeballs on your business as possible is important because you're in such a high bracket that few people can afford.
• So getting the right people to you Yes, but also more eyeballs in general so you can get those right people in.
• Okay, so the last step, I would say, of what to invest in after you have put a lot into those other two.
• Is advanced business strategies.
• So this means scaling your income, selling artwork and albums, creating an even higher client experience and actually building systems and workflows should have been way back.
• I'm gonna take that part out.
• But yeah, selling artwork and albums and really intentionally focusing on that in your business is a really important thing, and I find that.
• It's really hard to do on your own.
• I really think that learning from courses or masterminds or private coaching is the way to go to that because so many people are just fearful of like, okay, what's the next step? There's so many different ways to do it, and how do I stop being so intimidated and how do I get past the money mindset blocks and all of that.
• So investing in a good artwork and.
• Heirloom type of IPS program is gonna be really beneficial at this stage of business.
• Now, how do I choose the right educational offering? Now that I know what step in my business I am, which type of education I need to go for? How do I find the right educator? How do I find the right courses or coaching program well.
• The first question you should always ask yourself is about return on investment.
• Will this educational offering actually help me move my business toward my goals? And that requires you to be really clear on what your goals are.
• Ask yourself, where do you want your business to be in five years? Do you want to work part-time? Do you wanna move into the luxury market? Do you want to.
• Increase your sales through artwork.
• When you know where you're going, it's going to become significantly easier to evaluate whether a course or program will actually help you get there.
• It's easy to get distracted too by what a bunch of other photographers are doing, but focus on your goals because not every offering is designed to achieve the same outcome.
• Another really important conversation right now is learning how to recognize the difference between someone who has truly developed their own method based on experience and time and, and has gone through mistakes and all of these versus someone who is creating something either by copying another person or using AI to create their program.
• AI is an incredible tool and we, we should definitely use it for ourselves, for brainstorming and organization, but it should never replace real experiences or real teaching Quality.
• Education should come from someone who has actually built the kind of business you want to build.
• Here's a few things that you can look for.
• First is.
• Depth.
• The education feels very surface level or general.
• That's often a sign.
• It was not built from real experience.
• Strong education usually includes specific examples, personal stories, lessons learned from mistakes, and the reasoning behind the decisions being taught.
• And another important sign is real world application.
• Quality education shows.
• How something actually works inside a real business.
• You will see examples of real client workflows, real marketing strategies, and real pricing structures and actual outcomes.
• I.
• Another thing to consider is whether the educator is still actively doing the work they're teaching.
• Someone who is actively photographing, working with clients and running a business is.
• Constantly refining their systems and understanding what works in the industry right now.
• That's very important.
• Now, I do know some educators who are moving solely from photography to education and.
• They, they can do that because they are still very attuned to what's happening right now.
• And they were running a highly successful photography business.
• They're not moving to education because they weren't booking.
• They're moving to education because that's where they wanna focus.
• And so this type of education tends to be much more grounded in the re in reality and what's happening in the industry right now.
• And then finally, good education encourages you to think for yourself.
• The goal of strong mentorship is not to copy everything from an educator.
• Yes, you might learn some kind of blueprint or system, but the goal is to help photographers develop their own voice and style that will align with their business.
• The second thing we recon, sorry, there was an echo.
• The second thing we recommend doing is reading reviews and talking to photographers who have already gone through a program or course.
• This is honestly one of the most helpful things you can do because other photographers will often give you insight into their experience.
• They're going to be very truthful with you so they can share what they learned and how it impacted their business.
• If they're happy with their investment, if they're unhappy with their investment.
• I have around photographers for a while and I've heard stories of investments and stories of investments that were a waste of money, and so you really do have to do your research on this part.
• Yeah, quality testimonials are a huge indicator.
• I have hundreds of testimonials for my courses.
• I'm super grateful, but that's.
• Probably because I took years to create them.
• They weren't created overnight.
• They developed over time with what people had asked me that they still had questions about, even after I taught them.
• And then I would incorporate more.
• So testimonials really can speak loudly to people's results.
• Seeing if you're talking about a course that's for shooting and editing, you should see before and afters and transformations.
• If you're talking about, a coaching program for business, you should see real results with how much they have improved their portfolio and attracted the ideal clients and raised their prices, et cetera.
• So, you might learn about how involved the educator is, what kind of support is provided, or how the community inside the program feels.
• Those real experiences can give you a much clearer picture of whether something is a right fit for you or not.
• I.
• Next we wanna talk a little bit about budget.
• Okay? So a lot of photographers, they don't budget for things.
• The first thing I would say, if you don't have one yet, is make sure you have a separate business account for, for your business.
• And I really highly recommend this app called Rocket Money.
• I've been using it this year and it's super helpful.
• But let's talk about.
• Budgeting for education every year.
• So we should budget for our marketing every year.
• Supplies like cameras, equipment, dresses, et cetera.
• But if you wanna grow your business and refine your craft, education really needs to be something you plan for financially and do every year.
• It doesn't matter how big you are or how good you think you are.
• Investing and learning from other people's perspectives is always gonna be such a great thing in this industry.
• Absolutely, and that budget will look different depending on what stage of business you're in.
• So when you're newer, your budget may be smaller and you might focus on lower ticket courses or.
• Styled sessions, and as your business grows, your education bus budget should grow as well.
• So that might look like attending retreats, hiring a mentor, or joining a mastermind.
• But the key thing to remember is that growth requires investment.
• And something you should also budget for as well is your time.
• Because I have seen so many photographers.
• By education.
• They bought courses or masterminds and then not finished or gone through that education.
• And that's a total waste of money and.
• You can't expect results unless you go through the education, apply what you learned to your business and refine and ask questions based off how your experience was, so make sure that when you budget.
• money for these educational offerings, you also budget the time to complete them.
• I know some photographers who will won't invest in education until they complete the education they've already purchased.
• So whatever works for you.
• But it's important that you have to make time to go through complete and apply it.
• And so if you wanna build a refined, profitable business, you have to be willing to spend money on learning and improving.
• And allowing time to do so.
• Education is one of the biggest reasons both of us have been able to grow our businesses to the way that they are today.
• When you choose the right opportunities for the stage you're in, those investments can truly transform your work and your business.
• I have done amazing programs that have really pushed my business forward, and I'm so grateful for all the other photographers who have helped me get to where I am today.
• And Maria and I both really love educating and helping other photographers.
• We both have several offers that we will definitely.
• Any link in the show notes below if you guys would like to check them out.