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Redline wedding photography

in 2013 I was a young middle-school teacher who made videos like this raagh skin slimy and slick or the chocolate I took my photography hobby and channeled it into what started to become the business by shooting weddings on the side while I taught full-time now a lot of you might be in the same situation you either have a full-time or part-time job and you have a photography hustle on the side that you hope to be your full-time gig someday now I don't claim to have all the answers on how to create a successful wedding photography business but what I do know is I have experienced in the past 7 years and growing a healthy and sustainable one and I want to share it with you [Music] Who am I kidding I've never worthless all right let's be real this is I this is what I actually wear don't worry you know you probably clicked on this video to see kind of my tips and tricks of how I make a hundred thousand dollars a year as a wedding photographer it's a little bit more nuanced than that but I'd love to dive into it today with you so so jump on board in the photography world a lot of times wedding photography gets a lot of crap a lot of people say it's like the bottom of the totem pole it's not really necessarily what anyone strives to want to do but I'm here to give a different perspective today and it's not one that's heard very often online I think it's that wedding photography can be a really lucrative career and one that is really creatively fulfilling now I know a lot of people are gonna look at this video and be like oh that dudes just social flexing he's like yo a mega 100 grand a year what do you do it's not true really in all sincerity I love being able to share what I've learned in my career and I like being as open and transparent as possible so I can help other people find the same kind of success that I have seen in my seven years of doing this you know I didn't write a four-page script for this video and block out the whole day just to brag to you about how I make a millionth of the amount Jake Paul makes in a single day now the first full year that I jumped ship and went full-time as a wedding photographer I made a hundred and five thousand dollars on the year and I want to give you a little insight as to how I got to that place now before you go analyzing all the numbers just recognize that each year is comprised of couples paying their last 50% on their wedding as well as retainers for the next year that makes what the portrait sessions that I did on the side as well as some side hustles numbers can get kind of fuzzy and some weddings were photo and video nonetheless let's start with 2013 the first year I felt comfortable calling myself for professional wedding photographer in 2013 I shot eight weddings in my price range was from 1,000 to 1,800 dollars and I told him 15,000 for the year in 2014 I shot 18 weddings my price range was too hundred to two thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars and I totaled forty thousand for the year in 2015 I shot twenty two weddings my price range was fifteen hundred to four thousand and I totaled 80 thousand for the year in 2016 I decided to leave teaching go full-time with my photography career shot thirty two weddings my price range from two thousand to four thousand dollars and I told him two hundred and five thousand that year 2017 I shot a little bit less thirty weddings $2,500 to $5,000 and I told one hundred and seventeen thousand on the year so without further ado let's hit some of the practical tips of how to hit that hundred K landmark in a year number one number one is know yourself and know your market I'm gonna go all garyvee on this one and I'm gonna say you need self-awareness if you want to be in this industry you have to see where you want to be and know that you can get there someday so my recommendation is following other wedding photographers follow them on Instagram follow them on Facebook check out their blog check out their myspace take bits and pieces of what they do send them DMS see if they'll answer take their classes go to their workshops pick their brains and start formulating your own style based on the Preferences that you have from other people not saying plagiarize don't plagiarize exactly what they do but be influenced and inspired by what they do to create your own voice something that people don't consider often what city are you in I'm in Chicago it's one of the biggest wedding markets in the country maybe you need to move to a metropolitan area or advertising market for a metropolitan area and market for wedding photography and then you can book weddings at higher prices bigger budgets number two is strategize how to sell your services decide how you're going to structure your pricing or structure your packages all of my packages include hourly coverage from start to finish and all edited images on an online gallery that I send to them it gives them all printing rights basically to download and do really whatever they want with the photos other photographers like to group tangible items together in packages so photo books prints other gifts thumb drives you could literally sell anything in packages and that could be used to increase your margins on each package it's just a different strategy either way pick a system that you think will work and test it out see if it does work if it doesn't the beauty is you can always change things because it's your business you get to do whatever you want with it number three is systems I would highly recommend a CRM it's a clock the CRM client relationship management is what a short for some I would recommend art ave dub SOT oh honey book shoot cue there are a bunch to choose from this is something that's going to get everything in one place for you so schedules emails client lists surveys literally anything it's usually your one-stop shop for everything or if you can't afford something like that you can do it I've done in the past seven years which is hold a Google Drive account with folders and systems and folders within folders I you know it's there's a reason it's really really cheap get a photo delivery service I recommend either pixie set or pic time these are two platforms or you can deliver all of your photos in a beautiful gallery to your clients they can download all the images they can create favorites lists they can order prints it's your one stop shop for literally everything with delivering photos and it's amazing and if you set up your store in those galleries you can make profit margins on selling prints what I do every time I send the gallery is in the first two weeks they have that gallery they get 25% off of prints and I give them a special coupon code and friends and family almost always the night before it expires order prints and like I said I'm fully transparent with these numbers and how I got to these places and this year alone i grossed eleven thousand dollars in print sales so it's significant and it could really get you to that point where you're reaching that next financial milestone number five sell your brand and sell your service the best compliments I got this past year were from my clients and their families and their friends saying that their experience of having me on their wedding day was even better than whatever photos I took I kept them calm relaxed and distressed the whole time and let them just have fun on one of the most important days of their life number six scale your business if possible think of new ways that you can make profit in your business other than just shooting on the wedding day you can hire an associate photographer and take a cut off of administration they can shoot and edit the whole thing under your brand consider learning video I took on wedding videography as soon as I started and it's been an amazing add-on to my business along with photography really the possibilities are endless for growing your business outside of the core model of just shooting a wedding so brainstorm about those things think creatively how you can make that extra money and go after it finally my last and seventh point in this is kind of my mantra and what I'm trying to make my mantra on YouTube lean into what makes you different you really have to find your voice in this industry if you want to see a lot of success like I said earlier you're gonna want to follow people that really influenced you and you think are really good at this craft but allow their skills and what they're good at to influence you in a way that creates your own unique voice and go pursue those things practically speaking some of those things for me are night photography double exposures using my tilt shift lens and combining all the different ideas that I literally have a whole list of online altogether to try to make my voice unique and blasting those on lines that people can see that unique voice and that I stand out from the crowd now I know I only just scratched the surface on what it takes to be a successful wedding photographer but most importantly what I want to drive home is that you need to care about this craft I see so many people in this industry just burn out because they're chasing the money they're chasing the travel granted it's given me some of the coolest opportunities I've experienced in my life with traveling to places I never would have been other and documenting some of the most intimate and coolest moments in people's lives but I think the driving factor that continues to allow me to be successful in this industry is that I really care about my clients and I really care about their experience and I want them to have an amazing experience on their wedding day they see that they tell their friends about that their family sings your praises when you do that for them and it's nothing but good I just think it's funny that people mock the industry because I have learned some of the coolest things in life from my experiences with other people and photographing people and seeing the intimacy that they have between each other and their family and friends like when lawn heard her father reassure her that he was so proud of her in front of her and Ryan's family or when Nathan and Vika celebrated their Korean Christian and Russian Jewish heritage under the chuppah that her father made or when Roma came up to me at her sister's funeral and gave me a big hug telling me that she was so thankful that I took some of the last portraits of her sister that her and her family could have for the rest of their lives this stuff transcends money and success guys its life and it's deeply fulfilling work and anyone who says it's unimportant doesn't understand its power honestly if you're in this business I hope that money doesn't even matter to you at the end of the day more than anything I hope you care about serving your clients and their families and giving them the greatest intangible gifts they could ever receive photographs [Music] to see [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you so much for watching guys if you really enjoyed this video please hit it up with a like hit that subscribe button and the notification bell if you'd like to be updated whenever I post something new which I am hoping to make a lot more frequent this year in 2019 if you'd like to follow me and more of my work you can check me out on Instagram at Eric dot floberg if you have any other comments questions please leave a comment in the section below love to chat more with you about anything I discussed in this video and really looking forward to see you guys in the next one thanks friends thanks for watching and don't forget to lean into what makes you different peace [Music] that's awesome that is awesome