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Milestones to Hit Before Going Full-Time as a Portrait Photographer · Luxe & Legacy Podcast

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Welcome to the Lux and Legacy Podcast.
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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.
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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.
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Welcome back.
Today, we're talking about a topic that is near and dear to my heart because it took so much emotional work for me, and this topic is what milestones you need to hit before going full-time and how to mentally prepare yourself.
And although there are practical steps we're going to dive into, I personally believe that the hardest ones are the mindset ones.
Do you remember when you first realized you could be a full-time portrait photographer, Amber? Oh.
I don't think that it was one moment.
Honestly, it took me a long time to very slowly take those steps because a huge part of my story comes from my mindset that comes from the environment that I grew up in.
That's really what will affect your mindset and what you think your value is, how much you believe you can make in this world.
I was a military kid, and for most of my childhood, my mom was in college full-time getting not one, but two master's degrees.
It paid off for her later in life, but for my childhood, we were living in pretty much poverty until she became a nurse.
so I definitely grew up with a scarcity mindset around money.
Then in high school, we moved to a much more affluent area.
We were in-- we were still middle class, for sure, but suddenly I was surrounded by kids with beautiful homes, vacations, luxury things, all of it.
And honestly, I think that exposure raised the bar for me and what I believed was possible in life.
But internally, I still carried a poverty mindset for years.
When I first started photography, I did exactly what so many photographers do, starting with free shoots, then $50 shoots, then just incrementally raising from there.
And I remember talking to another photographer who's a really popular family photographer in the area, and we were just like, "I can't believe anyone could charge, like, $900 for a session.
Like, that's crazy.
Who on earth in their right mind would pay $900 for a photography session?" And this photographer, she's still charging less than nine hundred, but I have d- massively gone up from there.
But I genuinely, at that time, and it's-- this is not that long ago, Mm-hmm.
Years ago, genuinely could not wrap my head around I was like, "How on earth do people charge that? How do they find clients willing to pay that? How do you even network with, quote-unquote, rich people?" And at the time I started going up and up and up because I was just getting booked out and booked out, and I felt too busy.
And so for me, the way to kinda lessen that was to raise my prices.
But then when I got to 600, 650, that's where I started to think about things differently, and I was so proud of myself for getting there.
But honestly, the leap from 600 to over 1,000 per session, adding products and artwork, that had to take a huge mindset shift for me, and we'll talk about this more later.
But took a lot of coaching and a lot of other things.
But today we're gonna talk a little bit about first, what are some milestones you need to hit before just jumping into this high range without the mindset, without the energetic shifts, without the framework and the milestones that you need to hit to be able to comfortably jump into a higher bracket and still be booking Yeah, it's so funny that you referred to a photographer who was charging 900 per session and thinking it was crazy, 'cause I literally had a similar situation where there was a photographer in my area, and she no longer does photography, but she was charging 900 per session.
And I saw that and was like, "She must be rich," you know? Because I also did not come from a background of, of wealth and abundance, and so in my mind, that was so, so much money.
And now to me, I can't imagine charging 900 per session.
But this episode is really for photographers who work is already solid and consistent, so we're not gonna be diving into getting your work better.
It's about if you're going to be sustainable and profitable.
We wanna break this down into milestones that are financial, operational, as well as mindset milestones.
And so the first step, and these are not necessarily in chronological order, although I do think this first milestone is the very first milestone, and that is to commit Before you feel ready.
And that's because this is the hardest one of them, and that is this decision, or rather a declaration, that you're going to make this cute little side gig into your full-time business.
This was very difficult for me because not only did I need to figure out how to do this, but there was a huge identity shift.
I was in the music world for most of my life.
I loved the music world.
I never thought I would leave it as a career.
I had spent two hours every day practicing my instrument for years and years and years, so it was a huge part of just everyday life, and I envisioned that I would eventually retire from teaching in my 60s after running a successful band or orchestra program.
So I had to first decide that this was not actually going to happen, and I had to mourn that a little.
Now, two things happened that made that a little easier for me.
The first was having kids, because that turns your whole world upside down and really teaches you and reminds you what is actually important.
I didn't wanna feel obligated to do all these extra concerts and rehearsals once I had kids, and I felt bitter that to continue to achieve in my field, I would have to sacrifice that time with my family.
I wanted to work on my own terms.
Now, the other thing that made it a little easier for me was COVID hit, and it actually felt like a relief in some sense, like one of those silver linings of COVID, because I felt like, "Okay, I'm not gonna fall behind in my career because everyone's careers are paused now."
And that lack of passion basically was the icing on the cake because I knew that I wanted to focus on something that gave me joy.
But it was hard letting go of that idea of what I thought my future would look like.
My husband is a musician, too.
We met through music.
It just consumed so much of my daily life that it felt like c- a concession letting it go.
But the biggest thing that helped me was making the realization that I wasn't giving up music in my life, just as my job, and I could be a lifetime music appreciator and not have it tied to my income.
So I wasn't giving up a joy of mine, I was simply reorganizing my time.
Yeah, and I love that you said, when you moved jobs and you went full-time in photography, it wasn't just like, "Oh, yay," overnight.
Like, I completely quit interpreting, it was hard for me, for me because I love interpreting.
And if, if you guys don't know, I'm a sign language interpreter for the deaf and hard of hearing.
I worked really hard for many years to really good at that and have a national certification, and when I went full-time, I mourned that, too.
And so now I still go back to the schools and sub or do some little here and there agency work because I don't wanna lose that skill.
I love sign language.
I love deaf culture.
that side of me.
So you also, if you're switching to being full-time, that doesn't mean you have to completely turn it off sometimes.
I mean, sometimes it does, like in Marie's case where, Do what she did full-time.
But maybe you can, just keep it as part of your life in some way.
for me, I knew that interpreting was always capped.
Interpreting it's always fickle.
They could cancel you at any time.
And so I love with photography that I'm my own boss.
This is my business, business.
As an agency interpreter, the agency had full control over, you know, whether I was at this job or that job and if it got canceled or whatnot.
So I love being a full-time photographer and having full control over my schedule and my income.
But if you're thinking about taking the leap, believe me, it is worth it because there's really no cap with photography.
And like Marie said, you're gonna have more time with your family.
A lot of jobs these days expect you to work round the clock.
They expect you to do all these extra things, evenings, weekends.
and photography, you're in total control of that, and you can decide, "I don't want to have Saturdays away from my kids."
So we're gonna go over some next steps to help you guys get there.
Now the next milestone is setting profitable pricing and knowing your minimum.
We don't need to go into this one too much in detail because we've talked about it before.
But basically, you need to set your prices for where they need to be without having to raise them again other than for inflation, and that's scary.
I remember the very first time I ran my cost of doing business, the price I needed to charge per session came out to 1,200 or something, and I was like, "Heck no, I'm not doing that.
That's, like, insane."
Now it's 2,000 just for the digital files, but at the time I was absolutely terrified.
And I first chose the method of slowly inching my pricing up little by little And truth be told, at this point, my work wasn't exactly ready to support luxury pricing, so I don't regret it, but it's not something I would recommend because it does make it so hard because you're starting over in a new market over and over again.
So your pricing needs to be set up before you, you leap into full time.
Yeah, I think a lot of photographers believe, "If I just book enough sessions, I can go full time."
if you're charging too little and constantly overworking yourself, it's not sustainable, and you're gonna end up wanting to go back to your job.
And honestly, as a mom of two, one thing I started realizing was that whenever I felt overbooked, exhausted, stretched too thin, and like I physically couldn't take on more sessions without sacrificing family life, was usually my sign that I needed to really bump up my rates.
And not just by, like, 50 or 100, Mm-hmm.
not gonna do much.
You really need to bump it up.
And I agree, you need to go to at least your cost of doing business, of what you to make at the end of the year to feel good about spending all that time working your butt off, right? 'Cause if you look at your, if you look at your taxes at the end of the year and realize that you basically paid money to work your butt off Mm-hmm.
It's depressing.
depressing.
So you do need to go to at least just your minimum cost of doing business, and then go up from there.
But it is a mindset thing, and I do think that you need to energetically get comfortable with each time that you raise your prices before just suddenly jumping into, you know, from 600 to 1,800.
That's a big mindset shift.
So, you know, go to your cost of doing business, and then you can slowly go up from there.
I think that's okay.
Yeah.
And there's often a big lag between setting profitable prices and then actually booking consistently at those higher prices, and that's totally normal.
It happens to everyone.
And usually, the work here is marketing or business related, not photography related.
And this is where it is so important to invest in education that's going to help get you over that hump.
And both Amber and I have taken masterminds or mentorships that have really pushed us to that next level.
I've taken masterminds on SEO, on luxury- client experience, and I feel like those really got me to the next level.
What about you, Amber? Yeah, I would not be where I am at all without coaching because I really think it takes another person in a coaching situation to get you past mindset Mm-hmm.
Because you can take online courses for technical skills, for sure.
Posing courses online are amazing.
Mm-hmm.
and editing courses online, amazing.
mindset blocks, Mm-hmm.
can't really learn that from a video that you're watching that's teaching general, to Yeah.
a general population.
I think that being in the room with high-powered women who have completely changed the game in how much that they make income-wise...
So I've taken such a variety of coaching, not just photography.
I've also taken masterminds from people that are just business or education-focused for, you know, my courses, and they help me get past this, this mindset block of "Okay, I have to have this little plate, and I just can make this much on this little plate."
felt like after these masterminds, my plate could be as big as I wanted Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
And it really takes being with other women who think like that, and there's no guilt, no shame around making more money to really realize, like, "Oh, okay, I can do this, I don't need to just play small."
So yeah, I've done masterminds for business.
I've done masterminds for education.
I've done masterminds for learning how to t- or how to sell artwork and frames.
I've also done individual coaching calls.
I've done one with Marie.
I've done them with Shannon Griffin.
I've done them with Allison from Lintil Photography.
I've done them with so many people, and sometimes just getting on that one-on-one call and having someone believe in you and be like, "Oh yeah, this is...
This i- or this is, like, a tweak that you could make," or, "This is, this is something that you could do to massively increase your bottom line," things like that you just can't get from an online course.
So I highly recommend doing continuing education if you at your your cost of doing business, f- and you feel like you're doing marketing, you feel like you're doing SEO, you feel like your work is great, but you're not booking consistently.
It might just be your mindset.
So I highly recommend And what's nice too is sometimes when that happens, it's not like you need to, like, start over and tear everything down from the ground up.
Usually, it's like little tweaks here and there that make a huge difference, you know, moving the needle.
And there is really something to be said for someone who is, you know, observing your business on the outside, being able to give you objective feedback that has no emotional attachment to your business.
'Cause our businesses are like our babies, you know? And so it's hard for us to see things from an outside perspective.
And then if you're in a mastermind or some kind of group, representation matters.
So when you see other business owners, other photographers earning six figures and charging luxury prices, it is affirmation that you too can do this.
And I know that was really big for me is seeing like, "Oh, wait, this is actually an option.
This is possible.
People do this, so I can do this too."
So the...
it's a really powerful step, and Amber and I are constantly continuing to learn about business and how we can better support our clients and other photographers, so continuing with education is extremely valuable.
Now, the next milestone is not necessarily one that you should wait to do until you're trying to go full time, but that's getting your business structure legitimate.
So you want to make sure that you are running everything by the book.
Get an accountant so you know you are doing everything legally.
I know I started off as a sole proprietor.
I then changed to an LLC, and then I changed to an LLC that files as an S corp, I believe.
The good news is that I don't handle the mental weight of this stuff because my accountant does.
So I just do as I'm told and know that, okay, I am safe and sound.
And another factor that you need to consider is health insurance.
This is a doozy for small business owners.
If you have a spouse that gets decent benefits, take advantage of that.
I'm on my husband's health insurance, and I'm also able to get disability insurance through his employer too.
But if you do not have that luxury, you definitely want to factor in health insurance into your cost of doing business because it is crazy expensive.
There are plans for small business owners.
I personally- I'm not attuned to what is out there, but I would honestly do a lot of research, ask ChatGPT.
You gotta figure that out before you make the leap.
Yes, and like Marie said, if, if you're- you've been running this as a side business, you should be...
if you haven't done this yet, you need to do it today.
File either as an LLC.
I am now an S corp, but that is because, to be honest, my husband had started his own side business, and we kind of put an umbrella business.
And anyway, a little comp- complex.
But if you can, talk to your accountant about eventually becoming an S corp because the savings are even better tax-wise when you're an S corp.
But at least just file.
It's really easy.
Just Google how to become an LLC today.
And then as far as having an accountant, I have a good accountant that I go to once or twice a year, I don't have someone, like, fully on staff s- salary because for years, as a independent business owner with sign language interpreting, learned a lot about running a business and the deductions that you can take, and I have learned so many deductions that are...
They're, they're real deductions, so this is not anything skirting the law whatsoever.
I think a lot of middle class and, like, lower class people think that if you do all these things you're s- like, skirting the law, or they feel guilty not paying these things.
But I look at wealthy business owners.
They pay way, way, way less taxes and take home way more profit than middle class people because we end up not understanding the system Mm-hmm.
really learning what deductions we can take paying more taxes than we need to.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
No, it's important.
You either have to learn it or pay someone, you know, who knows all about it.
So it's not something you can overlook because it I am just, like, so thankful for my accountant.
I was talking to Amber about this before we started recording, but I am very fortunate that my accountant is one of my good friends from college, and she's very smart, and I get a discount working with her.
But, like, if it weren't for her, I would have to, to learn so much.
Okay.
The next milestone is you need to be consistently booking over your minimum number of sessions for at least three to four months.
Inquiries and bookings can very much come in waves, and different seasons can have different booking rates, and economies can shift.
So it's important that you have a consistent timeframe of at least three to four months of booking over your minimum number of sessions.
You wanna know that it's not a fluke and that you're going to have this consistent income, and it's going to continually happen.
The other thing is to consider offering some kind of membership or baby plan because this allows you to book out months and months down the road.
So I have maternity clients that will book me for a membership.
We'll first do their maternity session.
A couple months later, we'll do their newborn session.
About six months later, we'll do a milestone session, and then we'll wrap up their membership with a one-year session.
So instead of one client equaling one session, this is one client equaling four sessions.
And, you know, it, this is a topic for a different day, but when you offer a membership, you definitely want some kind of incentives included in there.
I offer some perks on artwork and digitals, as well as complimentary birth announcements or holiday cards.
But the idea is that you have sessions on the calendar a year from now.
It's about working smarter, not harder.
So it helps with that booking consistently over the course of several months in advance.
And this is honestly why I became really protective of my brand consistency, because the more recognizable my work became, the more consistent my inquiries became too.
And I love that you do memberships and repeat clients.
I've started to do that the past couple years, and it is so nice.
Plus, you notice that when clients have done a shoot with you before at least one time, they trust you even more.
Mm-hmm.
So that trust is there, they feel more relaxed, they have more fun, and in the end, they buy way more ar- artwork Mm-hmm.
after their second session, I've noticed.
Have you noticed that too? Yeah.
For sure.
I, like all my membership clients get some kind of artwork, you know? That trust is really there, and I just find, like, you're a better artist, you know? You're more relaxed around them.
You can dig into your creativity more.
They trust you.
It's just a very mutually beneficial relationship.
Definitely.
Okay.
And then we're going to talk about the next milestone, and that is pouring your photography income into savings.
While I was teaching, any money, any money I made from photography was poured back into my business.
I never paid myself.
It was all used to grow as a photographer and business owner.
And then once I made the decision to go full-time, I began to set that money aside to save up four to six months of my salary.
You need to have this savings because what if something like COVID happened again, or God forbid, you developed a health issue, so you couldn't work for a few months? This stuff happens, has happened, and will happen.
I was still teaching during COVID, but had a foot out the door, so it was good for me to see that I needed to have padding in the event that something like that happened again.
and it keeps you from being in that scarcity mode, right? Mm-hmm.
if you have a little bit of padding, you don't start going, "Oh my God, I have to say yes to this birthday party that I really don't wanna do.
It's during my, my child's music class, but I feel like I have to."
You know, those type of scarcity mode, freaking out, like, "Should I go back to my job?" If you have a savings, that will help prevent that Yeah, that's a really good point because there will be slow seasons.
And I, I have my four to six months, like, long-term savings, but I do these-- The only, like, mini sessions I do every year are in fall, and they're at a tree farm.
And the money I earn from that is, like, my winter income because I generally have a very slow winter `cause it's just newborns.
I'm not really doing outdoor sessions, so it's extremely slow.
So I love that.
I love having that break after a busy fall.
And those tree farm sessions, that income is what gets me through winter paying myself my normal salary so I don't have to worry about taking on, as you said, sessions that don't align with your brand or that you simply don't wanna do.
So in closing, you need to decide that you are ready to commit to making this your full-time job.
You are never gonna feel 100% ready.
It just doesn't happen.
You need to decide.
I think the question becomes less, "Am I fully ready?" And more, "Am I committed enough to keep growing into the next version of myself?" Because there were so many moments where I felt intimidated by higher pricing of a luxury brand or wondered if I really belonged in that market.
But over time, I realized the photographers who succeed long term are usually not the ones who magically started out confident.
They're the ones who stayed consistent, kept learning, protected their vision, and kept going even when the next level felt uncomfortable.
And you will need support while navigating all of this because there are just so many moving pieces: pricing, branding systems, marketing, client experience, mindset.
As Amber said, that's one of the biggest ones.
It can feel very overwhelming trying to figure it all out alone.
Which is exactly why both Marie and I offer our own coaching programs in very different ways.
My coaching is really focused on helping photographers build an elevated luxury brand that's in their own aligned vision, refining their portfolio, improving their marketing, and attracting higher paying aligned clients.
That's the key, aligned clients, while still creating work that gen- genuinely lights them up creatively blah.
While still creating work that genuinely lights them up creatively and gets them booking on a consistent basis at the rate that they need to.
Yeah, and I currently offer one-on-one mentoring, and I focus on strategy, systems, profitability, sustainability, client experience, and building a business that actually supports the life you want long term.
Because the goal is not about making this, like, a full-time job.
The goal is to create a business that you love, that sustains you, and h- have a balanced life.
So if you're in that stage where you feel like your work is strong, but you're trying to bridge the gap and you need that cheerleader, you need that confidence, you need that mindset ship, set...
Blah, blah.
Can't talk today.
You need that mindset shift to be more profitable and consistent, then definitely reach out to one of us, because sometimes having that guidance shortens the timeline so much Definitely.
And we'll link to both of our coaching information in the show notes.
Thanks so much for listening this week, and we'll see you guys next week.
Thank you so much for spending time with us today on the Luxe and Legacy Podcast.
We love being part of your journey as you build a luxury photography business that feels aligned and elevated.
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Bye.