well and welcome back to mwak attack your place on the internet for all things photographic my name is missy and i am here to help guide you all through those murky waters of professional photography my goal is to show each and every one of you that being a true professional photographer is a heck of a lot easier than most people think um well today's topic is how to make money in photography and it really should be called how to make real money in photography because i'm not talking just a little jingle in your pocket for costco i'm talking about a mercedes gl put your kids through college kind of money and in photography as in any business you really need to go where the money is and in our wonderful industry real money can be found in one place and that is workshopping that's right now i know what you're thinking missy i haven't been in business long enough to give a workshop oh please if you've been a photographer for any amount of time even a year that's 12 12 months you are qualified you can be the photo expert you know in the days of old and olden days in photography um photographers professional photographers would spend years and years and years um perfecting their photography before they made the plunge to open a business their studio and then they would spend years and years and years and years and years and years and years hard work growing it and becoming successful and then once they had they would turn around and go teach maybe two three four times a year but then here's the thing they would come right back to their studio pick up their camera and continue to make their living as a photographer can you believe it hello my friend that's 2013 nobody does that anymore nobody i i can't think of anybody actually that does that now no the real photographers who care are the photographers who give back in the form of workshops um as one of our beloved photo rock stars said recently hey it's okay that i do this you know they're gonna shoot anyway they're gonna open up businesses anyway why not make money off him teach him and he's absolutely right so for that reason i have missy's five tips on how to open or start a photo workshop are you ready let's go tip number one shoot now i know this kind of flies in the face of what i just said but listen some of the best workshop givers are those that are able to lean forward and tell the audience listen i don't want to say anything bad about the other speakers but unlike them i actually run a successful business and i actually still shoot you want to be able to say that and how you say that is by making sure that you do three or four sessions a year doesn't matter what they are maybe photograph a wedding just for kicks and giggles or photograph your friends or or or your own kids just photographing your own kids people do that all the time ends up on the covers and magazines it's awesome you don't have to have a real thriving business and able to make in in order to say that and make that claim you just have to be able to shoot a few times a year the second tip that i have for you is do not use reality words only use uplifting words reality words are things like hard work and sacrifice and dedication and commitment who is going to attend a workshop with those kind of words being thrown around uh-uh no reality isn't pretty we all know that that what you need to use are uplifting words what i call non-reality words hope passion thrive you can do um believe harvest those are wonderful words those are words that everybody wants to hear it makes you feel good right photography is all about feeling good people become photographers because they want to feel good it's more about what it says about them than anything else and your words that you use both in your workshop and marketing your workshop is going to determine the success of that workshop my third tip make crazy claims you know just kind of like those diet pill people hey pop two diet pills you will drop 10 pounds by the weekend those kind of crazy claims the reason is because there are some photographers out there who will not attend your workshop unless you really are financially successful now people can't success all different ways when i say i'm a successful photographer it means that i get a lot of likes on facebook but we all count success different ways and for some out there and you know who you are for you success means actually making money and paying bills with your craft and for people like you you want to know that the speaker that you're talking to actually does make money with their photography business so for those reasons alone you you want to make crazy claims like uh within the first six months of my business i was making seven seven figures right you want to make claims like that it's okay if you miss truth a little bit with them because for those people that need to hear those claims so that you can share what you need to share it's okay it's for their own good absolutely the next claim is free free webinars and videos there are those naysayers out there and you know who you are that say that workshop givers really are just doing this so they cannot really make money in their business anymore but make money off them masses the masses of new photographers really don't know any better they don't know any better so they believe anything that they're they're they're told and they buy anything that they're sold um free webinars are great because this is kind of how you're going to make your money now um you're going to tell them it's free and then when they come to listen you're going to build into your um performance presentation the need for a product that you sell for example it works like this say i would say hey um you really need to work on a direct mail campaign three times a year for high school seniors oh and you know what look what i sell a direct mail campaign template for seniors for only 200 but because you're attending this free workshop it's half off see how that works you've helped them by giving them something that they need you've also helped them by putting it on sale and you've made money it's a total win a total one it's like a time share you know when you get those invitations to go to a timeshare for a free vacation but then they're going to try to sell you something think of your free workshop like that i i like to think of free workshops it's kind of the gateway drug to the photo workshop industry get you in the door and my last tip is something that's um it's pretty important to me it's one word and that word is god that's right now taking it down i am a woman of faith but i never thought of using my personal faith as a selling tool until i became a professional photographer and then i saw it done everywhere and it's really a great idea because you know it it's kind of like the almighty puts his um seal of approval on your workshop or on your tour um you know while you're sitting inside your tour bus drinking your orange juice made from real oranges can you believe it and eating your chocolate cake you can have a wonderful bible verse on on the side of your best i really think you could probably take a whole chapter and just wrap it around the bus like a bus wrap that would that would even that would even be great it tells people who you are um and really no one's going to question it if you're using a bible verse i think it's awesome awesome advice so everybody i hope that helped get you on your way to your workshop i know you can be successful as long as you've got passion as long as you're excited as long as you start by giving it to them for free you're going to make some money in this business because remember in our wonderful photography industry there are more photographers to sell to than clients to actually shoot have a wonderful day everyone and i hope as always if we're not friends on facebook why the heck not you can find me at facebook.com forward slash whack attack i hope you learned a little something bye