Nicole Begley (00:00)
Do you guys remember that podcast I did with Heather a month or two ago where we were talking about my branding kind of mini session experience where I went and the photographer was photographing myself and several other people kind of at the same time. We each took turns, then we could change our outfit, and then we'd have another little five minutes. We'd go change our outfit. So we like we shot together for like an hour or so. And they were photographing three people. We took turns. We all had those like three different backdrops.
And it was kind of a low-cost entry of digital files and it worked extremely well. And then when you did the math, you're like, this is actually pretty profitable for the photographer. So if that at all interests you, listen to this episode because I have Michaela on this from BMAC photography, pet photography in San Diego. And she listened to that episode and immediately put it into practice and loved it. So we have reports from her.
First experience of offering these types of sessions. Stay tuned.
Nicole Begley (01:01)
I'm Nicole Begley, a zoological animal trainer turned pet and family photographer. Back in 2010, I embarked on my own adventure in photography, transforming a bootstrapping startup into a thriving six-figure business by 2012. Since then, my mission has been to empower photographers like you, sharing the knowledge and strategies that have helped me help thousands of photographers build their own profitable businesses. I believe that achieving $2,000 $3,000 sales is your fastest route to six-figure businesses.
that any technically proficient photographer can consistently hit four figure sales. And no matter if you want photography to be your full-time passion or a part-time pursuit, profitability is possible. If you're a portrait photographer aspiring to craft a business that aligns perfectly with the life you envision, then you're in exactly the right place. With over 350,000 downloads, welcome to the Freedom Focus Photography Podcast.
Nicole Begley (02:01)
Hey everyone, welcome back to the Freedom Focus Photography podcast. I'm your host, Nicole Bagley, and today I have a special guest returning to the podcast, Michaela Trajillo from San Diego B Mac Pet Photography. Michaela, welcome back.
Michaela (02:17)
Thank you so much for having me again, Nicole.
Nicole Begley (02:20)
my gosh, of course, of course.
I think you've actually been on several times. Once
Michaela (02:26)
Yeah,
I was actually looking back too and I've been on I was talking about the gallery wall contest
Nicole Begley (02:31)
Yep.
Michaela (02:32)
and then also about like a pricing review that I did with you.
Nicole Begley (02:34)
Yeah, we did the pricing,
the little pricing review piece. Yeah, if you guys haven't listened to that, like, and I remember you sending me a message right after you implemented it. You had like a seventeen hundred dollar average and we kind of changed what the bonus structure was that if you did artwork in an album, you got extra album pages and like your next your next sale was like thirty five hundred dollars or something. It was like Yes.
Michaela (02:55)
Yeah, it's it's
honestly I I've continued with that and
Nicole Begley (02:58)
Yeah.
Michaela (02:59)
it's helped immensely. My my average sale
Nicole Begley (03:01)
I love it.
Michaela (03:02)
is up up higher than it was for sure. So that helped so much and I really appreciate it.
Nicole Begley (03:08)
my gosh, of course. We will link to both of those conversations down below. So you guys haven't heard those, definitely go take a listen. They were great combos. but today I wanted to chat with you because you reached out after another podcast that I did. Heather and I did a podcast, which we'll also link to below, that was about like our little personal branding shoot that I did here in Charlotte where
It was kind of like mini sessions, but like group mini sessions where there were three or four of us moving through. Like the photographer would photograph me for five, 10 minutes, photograph the next person five or 10 minutes while I changed. And we like moved to three places, three different outfits. And Heather and I were just talking on the podcast, and we were like, you know, gosh, definitely personal brand photographers could do this, but also family photographers, pet photographers, really any portrait photographer could.
create a fun session like this. And you listen to that and you sent me a a message. I mean, it must have just been a couple of weeks, maybe a month at most later. And you're like, hey, I did it. It was awesome. And I I think I'm gonna do it again. I'm like, my gosh, this is so great. So
Michaela (04:11)
Yeah.
Nicole Begley (04:14)
I was like, you have to come on and tell us
Michaela (04:16)
Yes.
Nicole Begley (04:17)
about it because just one other thing, just real quick or they'll forget about it, is
That is what I've noticed that you have done is when you get an idea you implement, like you you just you get things done. You're like, all right, let me let me just try it, let me just experiment. And I think so many of us get stuck in our head of like, I think I need all of the pieces. I need to like know exactly what's gonna happen. And but instead you're like, let's just get out here and test it and see how it works and and and tweak it and and you know, change if I need to.
Michaela (04:49)
Yes, exactly.
Nicole Begley (04:51)
Well, well done for that. Kudos. So yeah, so
Michaela (04:52)
Thank you.
Nicole Begley (04:55)
I would love if you would tell us just a little bit about like how the idea came to you, kind of what you were thinking, how you set it up, you know, and we'll just kind of talk about how it worked.
Michaela (05:04)
Yeah.
Yeah. well I definitely did. I was telling Nicole right before this. I think like you said, a lot of us get these ideas in our heads of things we want to do, things we wanna try. And a lot of us are just scared to try because what if we fail? but what if you succeed? And I was telling her I read a book th called Big Magic that kinda talks about like when these ideas come to you and you have a really strong feeling about them, you should act on them and do it quickly.
And so I feel like that's just kind of what I did with this.
Nicole Begley (05:33)
I love it. Side
note, if you guys haven't read Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert, like it's right behind me somewhere. It is like one of my favorite books of all time. So yeah, it's such a good read. Yeah.
Michaela (05:41)
So good. It's so interesting. I I love
I love that book. so yeah, so I listened to the podcast that you did with Heather and I just loved the idea of creating some sort of experience for people where it was a little bit lower price point than what I usually charge. And it was kind of everybody coming together at once, at one location to do just kind of like a quick
photo session, but it was gonna be with other dogs and everybody arriving at the
Nicole Begley (06:09)
Uh-huh.
Michaela (06:10)
same time. So that's kind of how it differed in my mind from just like mini sessions. Because with mini sessions you have you know people are coming at separate time slots when and that can kind of mean people have like different light. So if you if they get there early, like maybe they have s like this lighting and other people get different lighting if it's closer to sunset. And sometimes that's what I don't like about it. I get stressed.
Nicole Begley (06:31)
Yeah.
It
Michaela (06:32)
And so this was more
like, what if everybody could just arrive at the same time? Everybody gets like kind of the equal experience. And yeah, that's just kind of like the idea I had in my mind. and I'm lucky I live in San Diego. And San Diego has a lot of beautiful, beautiful locations to photograph at. So that's another thing that I was thinking about is like, how can I kind of make this different from
a full session with me. And I feel like about probably ninety percent of my sessions, my full sessions are done at the beach. And so I was like, okay, well don't want to do it at the beach because the beach is also just very overstimulating. and you're
Nicole Begley (07:06)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Michaela (07:07)
not really in control of, you know, other people and other dogs.
Nicole Begley (07:10)
Yeah.
Michaela (07:11)
but there is this beautiful park in San Diego. It's called Balboa Park and it has just beautiful ornate architecture, beautiful gardens.
a Spanish village that has all these different colored tiles. And so that's the immediate place that came to my mind was I can definitely shoot, you know, a bunch of different backdrops very quickly and create really beautiful photos at this one location. so that was kind of another stipulation I wanted was obviously I was going to be in charge of choosing the location. And then I wanted three very unique backdrops to kind of have just like a change of scenery.
and all of them were very close. They were like really easy to walk to. so it became kinda fun 'cause it almost became like a pack walk in between getting photos taken. But
Nicole Begley (07:53)
Yeah. I love it.
Michaela (07:56)
yeah.
Nicole Begley (07:57)
There there's a couple things I want to point out before we continue. And
Michaela (07:59)
Yes, yes.
Nicole Begley (08:01)
yeah, so for me, I'm with you with like the traditional mini session where it's like, all right, this person's 20 minutes and then there's a 10 minute break, and then this person 20 minutes and a 10 minute break. Like somebody arrives late, you get pushback, maybe a a dog or a kid doesn't cooperate, so like you need longer than the 20 minutes.
you know, somebody has really crappy light, somebody has really beautiful light, somebody maybe the light is going away too fast. Like it it's such a stressful situation. Yeah.
Michaela (08:30)
It's so stressful. I I always
like after I do them, I'm always like, I don't know if I want to do this again. at least at the beginning. Now I feel like I've kind of dialed them in where I'm happy with how they turn out and I take the
Nicole Begley (08:41)
Yeah.
Michaela (08:41)
like the right amount of people and get the timing right. But
Nicole Begley (08:44)
Right, right.
Michaela (08:45)
but yes, I completely agree that it can be so stressful.
Nicole Begley (08:48)
Yeah.
Well, and like the way that this is organized, like you have the breaks built in. So you photograph the dog for a few minutes, so they can go sniff and be a dog for a minute. Like everyone has a little bit of a break.
Michaela (09:00)
Yes.
Nicole Begley (09:00)
you know, your clients can start to make connections with other people. They can start to
Michaela (09:04)
Yes.
Nicole Begley (09:04)
invite friends. I mean, there's so many just great ideas here. The other piece that I love about it, and I think it's I think it's pretty critical.
more so more so now even than in the past, where we have various entry level price points. I think people are more, you know, they're they're more nervous to spend money right now, you know, as
Michaela (09:27)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Nicole Begley (09:28)
a general rule. And not everyone is in a position to do a fully custom session, but that doesn't mean we can't have
Lower price things that still work for us and create the profit that we still want with the time that we give. So, like the amount of time you're giving to these sessions is significantly less than the amount of time you're giving to like your full custom session. So even if it's making less money, like when you do your hourly rate, it might be comp comparable. And so, like, why not give more people the opportunity to get to know you, to work with you, to get the experience.
that, you know, some may turn into full sessions later, some may not, but like you're still it's I think it's still a great area of the market to serve as long
Michaela (10:12)
Yes.
Nicole Begley (10:12)
as you can create a situation that hits your goals. Like I like how you said most of my main sessions are the beach. So we're not going to do it there. Like you're not going to cannibalize what your most popular session is. and you want to make it easy for yourself. Yeah, no, go ahead. Yeah.
Michaela (10:24)
Yeah, so I I did wanna make it sorry. Yeah, I did w I
did wanna make it like different from full sessions so people knew, like this isn't my traditional experience, but this is an experience that you can have if you want. and I was actually talking with my husband about this, and I think why I liked it so much too was I love doing my full sessions with people, but it's a process. It's
a discovery call, it's a pre-session
Nicole Begley (10:48)
Uh-huh.
Michaela (10:49)
consultation, it's the session, it's an image reveal, it's editing the photos, it's waiting for the artwork to arrive. It's so that can take f you know, four to six weeks. Like it's a very
Nicole Begley (11:00)
Uh-huh.
Michaela (11:01)
long and drawn out process. And while I love that, I'm also the type of person who I want to take the photos, I want to put them on my computer, I want to go in the Lightroom, I wanna edit them and I wanna send them off to the to my
Nicole Begley (11:11)
Yep.
Michaela (11:12)
clients. And I love I also love doing that.
So I think that's where it was kind of fun for me because it was just like very quick and within like I think a week, you know, we had done the session. I sent out the photos for people to pick. They picked their photos, I got them their photos back and we were done. And
Nicole Begley (11:30)
Yeah.
Michaela (11:30)
also my husband came with me to the session. and he did like some behind the scenes. So I got a bunch of content, I got a bunch of like new photos to post on social media. Cause that's the other thing is a lot of times I have to wait.
like a couple months sometimes to post photos because I don't want to post anything before
Nicole Begley (11:46)
Right.
Michaela (11:46)
my clients receive their images. So this was
Nicole Begley (11:48)
Yeah.
Michaela (11:49)
like, okay, I can just I have a bunch of content. I can post everything. I can talk about it. Like other people are gonna talk about me, you know, and post the photos too. And so I just really liked that about it. yeah.
Nicole Begley (11:59)
Yeah. No,
it's there's something to be said about having like a a short fulfillment window where it's like boom closed. You know,
Michaela (12:06)
Yes.
Nicole Begley (12:07)
you can like close that open loop in your brain.
Michaela (12:10)
Yes,
exactly. I think that's what I love is it's like, okay, that's done. Don't have to think about that anymore. Like I can move on to the next thing.
Nicole Begley (12:16)
Yeah. Well,
and think about it too. Like there's so many different levels of service that we can offer. And it doesn't, you know, if you set it up correctly, it doesn't cannibalize your full sessions. Like some people are still gonna want the full custom experience. it's our job to let them know what the difference between the two are and like who each one is for, and then they choose. I mean, you can think about it like
When you go to a spa, you can do, I'm just gonna do like the 20 minute like neck and shoulders, or I'm gonna do like the five hour every single treatment you have. Like every business just about offers different levels of service. Well, we just got my son just turned 16. So he's driving my husband's 2010 Subaru Outback. So this car is like
been through it, but it still runs. So we're like, here you go.
Michaela (13:05)
Yeah.
Nicole Begley (13:07)
and, you know, we took it to get it detailed for his for his birthday. And you know, they have various levels of of service from a hundred
Michaela (13:15)
Mm-hmm.
Nicole Begley (13:16)
dollars to five hundred dollars. And so yeah, there's there's nothing wrong with having different entry points of service in our business.
Michaela (13:24)
Yeah, and I think as long as people know that, and I these were definitely different because so some of my stipulations were that I I really didn't want reactive dogs to come. I love
Nicole Begley (13:34)
Mm-hmm.
Michaela (13:35)
personally working with reactive dogs. Like,
Nicole Begley (13:37)
Yeah, that's not the right situation for though, for sure.
Michaela (13:39)
so yeah, someone did inquire and they had two dogs and they you know, one of my dogs is reactive. And I just said, you know, this probably just isn't the best environment for them. It's gonna be, you know, around other dogs and just
might be stressful for the other dogs. So I think a full session would be better for you. and then also for these, I some people were like, can I be in the photos? And I said, no, this is just for just photos of the dogs. I didn't want to get it to get too complicated where it's like, can we do this pose next? And can we do this pose? And can I be in this one? And like I just wanted to keep it very streamlined. So I just said no, this is just the dogs. So there definitely were differences in, you know, this
I caught I called it a petite shared session experience. That is my title for it.
Nicole Begley (14:19)
Yeah.
Michaela (14:20)
which I feel like it's just a perfect name to describe it 'cause that's what it is. But
Nicole Begley (14:22)
Yeah. Exactly.
Michaela (14:24)
yeah, so there were definitely differences from this experience to, you know, the full
Nicole Begley (14:29)
I love it.
Michaela (14:30)
full experience.
Nicole Begley (14:31)
Yeah. And you can always do another one in the future that's like you and your dog. So it's no
Michaela (14:35)
Exactly.
Nicole Begley (14:36)
pictures of just the dog. It's, you know, you and your dog. So yeah, so many different. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Michaela (14:39)
Yeah, you can kinda make it anything anything you want. Anything you want it to be.
Nicole Begley (14:44)
Yeah. Yeah. I love it. So let's get into just a little bit of the details of what it looked like. Like how did you price it? What was included? Tell us a little bit about that.
Michaela (14:52)
Yeah,
sure. So I I priced it at two hundred and fifty dollars and what was included was three digital files. I for this I I really didn't try to upsell wall art or artwork or anything. Again, I just wanted it to be an easy streamlined experience, at least for this first one. yeah, it was three digital files for two hundred and fifty dollars and we did it at the one location with three different backdrops.
So in my mind, you know, clients would get one photo from each location,
Nicole Begley (15:22)
Mm-hmm.
Michaela (15:23)
which I think everybody did. so that was kind of how I priced it. And I I wanted it to be between three and five dogs that came. I didn't want
Nicole Begley (15:32)
Mm-hmm.
Michaela (15:32)
to do less than three because I just feel like that wasn't really worth it. But more than five could just get a little bit too much. so I did end up having five five dogs come.
Nicole Begley (15:40)
awesome.
Michaela (15:41)
Yeah, so
Nicole Begley (15:41)
Yeah.
Michaela (15:42)
it was kind of my ideal. It was perfect. And I just had everybody pay the full amount to book their session. So that was also nice. I didn't like take a smaller deposit and have them pay, you know, after they got the photos. Yeah. Yeah. So
Nicole Begley (15:51)
Yeah, no, just one and done, especially at that price point. It's just like, Yeah, you paid a book. Yeah. Yeah.
Michaela (15:57)
everybody paid up and and
Nicole Begley (15:59)
Did you have anybody add on anything? Did you offer them any opportunity to purchase more on the back end?
Michaela (16:05)
I did
offer the opportunity. I I did share, you know, my product guide with artwork and products. And then I did offer additional digital files as well. And I priced those at fifty dollars per additional digital file. so there were a few owners that did capitalize on that. They did get a few more digitals, but I didn't sell any I didn't sell any artwork, but I I was fine
Nicole Begley (16:26)
Gotcha. Yeah.
Michaela (16:27)
with that.
Nicole Begley (16:28)
Yeah. No, it's awesome.
Michaela (16:28)
And I think that's
that's how it was too. I was going into it. I was like, even if everybody just gets their three photos, even if n nobody spends any more money, I'm gonna be happy. So
Nicole Begley (16:37)
Yes.
Michaela (16:38)
it also I just went there with a good energy about it, you know? So
Nicole Begley (16:41)
Yeah. No, absolutely.
I think that's the key for something like this is like you price it in a way which you did where you're like, Yeah, this is worth my time to go and do this. And even if nobody else bought anything else, not to say that you can't upsell. but yeah, I love it. That's fantastic.
Michaela (16:58)
Yeah, and it it's so for five dogs it was twelve hundred and fifty dollars was kinda like what I made. And
Nicole Begley (17:03)
Yeah.
Michaela (17:04)
that's kind of equivalent to my session fee for a normal session. And so and yeah, no cost
Nicole Begley (17:07)
Yeah. And no cost of goods sold because it was all digital files. Yeah.
Michaela (17:12)
of goods. And we so we started the session at seven AM on a Saturday because I wanted it to be really early in the morning with like really nice light and just with nobody at this location because it can get really, really busy.
Nicole Begley (17:21)
Yeah. Really busy. Yeah.
Michaela (17:25)
So yeah, we did it early in the morning and we started at seven and we were getting back in the car to leave by 8 15, like all done with
Nicole Begley (17:33)
wow.
Michaela (17:33)
yes. Like it was it was very fast.
Nicole Begley (17:36)
I love that. And then how
many images approximately did you show to each client?
Michaela (17:41)
I would say I probably showed maybe ten. Someone someone brought two
Nicole Begley (17:45)
Okay. Yeah.
Michaela (17:46)
dogs, so I did, you know, shoot each dog separately and then kind of as a pair, so I showed them a a few more. But
Nicole Begley (17:51)
Yep. Yep.
Michaela (17:53)
I would say about ten ten photos or so. Yeah.
Nicole Begley (17:55)
I love it. I love it.
And you can definitely, I think I might have, I don't know if I recommended this to you or not, but you could definitely if you wanted to have an easy upsell, the like if you do an art piece, you know, even 11 by 14 or something that you get bonus digital files or 16 by 24 and then you get all the digital files from it or something as a free upgrade. yeah. So uh-huh. Yeah. I love my bonus schedules.
Michaela (18:15)
Yeah, that would be a good idea to test next time. Always thinking pricing, Nicole.
Nicole Begley (18:23)
I can't I can't help it. I'm sorry, I can't help it.
Michaela (18:23)
I love it. I know.
Nicole Begley (18:25)
but that would be great. So are you thinking of doing it again? Is this gonna be a a stay in your offerings for now?
Michaela (18:30)
I think I'll do it again. I I need to find just another location that I want to do. I could probably do this location again and just do different backdrops. But yeah, I'll definitely do it. I was thinking of doing it once a month and now I'm like, wow, that was a little bit of a crazy idea. So yeah,
Nicole Begley (18:44)
A little aggressive.
Michaela (18:47)
maybe like maybe four times a year or something, or
Nicole Begley (18:49)
Yeah.
Michaela (18:50)
if I'm just having a slower month or I just want a a little bit of extra money for the month or something, I can just,
Nicole Begley (18:56)
Yeah.
Michaela (18:56)
you know.
book these sessions and they booked pretty quickly. Like I I sent out the email and there was interest or I sent out an email to gather interest and there was a lot.
Nicole Begley (19:04)
Mm-hmm.
Michaela (19:05)
So then I sent out the booking email and the session was gonna be like the next week or something. Like it was all very, very fast.
Nicole Begley (19:12)
Yeah.
Michaela (19:13)
but I feel like that was also helpful for people 'cause they're like, I wanna do this. Let's book right now.
Nicole Begley (19:17)
Yeah, and they
know their schedule. Like they know that they don't have any plans next week. So they're like, yeah, I can do that. Yeah.
Michaela (19:21)
Yeah. Yeah.
and everybody was really just like excited about it and that's the other thing with with everybody is I f I feel like I was pretty like with my emails about like instructions and w what to do and what to expect, I was pretty clear. like I didn't leave anything to the imagination. So people like knew what to expect. They knew there were, you know, gonna be other people there and other dogs and that was another thing, that if
you know, someone else were to do this is just to think of locations where there's a lot of space. 'cause there was tons of space around us. So all the dogs were very spread out. I told everybody in the email, you know, no meet and greets unless you've spoken with the owner. Like, please keep space between you and the other dogs. and everybody was just so respectful. Everybody like followed those rules really well and yeah, they were on time and we just kind of like filed through the dogs, like, okay
you know, you next,
Nicole Begley (20:10)
Yeah.
Michaela (20:11)
you next, you next and it just went so smoothly. but I I think it's 'cause I kind of just let everybody know exactly what to expect and what I expected
Nicole Begley (20:19)
Yes.
Michaela (20:19)
of them. And yeah, it was it was really fun.
Nicole Begley (20:21)
Did you do that
via like an email or did you do like a secret page on your website or how did you let them know so they would actually read it?
Michaela (20:28)
Yeah,
great great question. I did an email and I think I just said please please read and obviously you don't know if people
Nicole Begley (20:35)
Important information.
Michaela (20:36)
Yeah, but yeah, I think everybody did 'cause everybody came and like left space and was just really nice, really respectful. And that was the other thing
Nicole Begley (20:46)
Wonderful.
Michaela (20:47)
I kinda liked was people got to meet other dog owners that live in San Diego and like two of them already knew each other from some event that they had attended.
One was a dog trainer, so I was like, If you want need a if you wanna, you know, tell them you're a dog trainer, go for it. Like, let's create this community through this as well.
Nicole Begley (21:03)
Yeah, I love it. I love it. I was actually chatting with Amy Hodson on my team because she was thinking of doing something similar after the that podcast too. I'm like, my gosh, I'm talking with Michaela today because she did it. So her and I
Michaela (21:15)
She
Nicole Begley (21:16)
were just brainstorming this morning and she was thinking of potentially like creating a little Facebook group or even like a private Instagram channel for her clients that
Michaela (21:26)
Ooh, that's fun.
Nicole Begley (21:28)
do these.
So then you start to create like a little community and like people might do numerous ones. Like even if the the one of the clients comes to these and they they don't become a full, like full custom client, but they come to like two or three of your mini session type things a year, like, heck yeah.
Michaela (21:47)
Yeah.
Nicole Begley (21:48)
and and I was thinking with her when I was talking, I'm like, and you can sell if you know you're gonna do like four a year, you can sell a package of three.
Michaela (21:55)
That's
smart. I feel like people would love that. Yeah.
Nicole Begley (21:56)
Yeah, yeah. And then the other option too was
you know, I'm thinking about like all these random, like, you know, I get blue land dish soap and and laundry detergent, because it's plastic free and it works really well, and like all these different like subscription things like butcher box for my meat. and they always have these referral things where like you get fifty dollars and you're
person you refer gets fifty dollars. where
Michaela (22:22)
Right. yeah.
Nicole Begley (22:24)
something like this, like I don't, I don't think referral programs like that work really well for big custom sessions because that's such a different level of motivation and investment. But for something like this, where it's like, hey, invite your friend, like it's a fun thing for friends to do on a Saturday morning. Like, let's take the dogs, let's go get them photographed. And
Michaela (22:42)
Yeah. Yeah. And you
could put the dogs together in some photos and then they wanna you know, yeah.
Nicole Begley (22:47)
Yeah. Uh-huh.
Yeah. So like you could have a, you know, hey, hope you'd enjoyed it. Like if you bring back a friend or whatever, you like you both save. So anyway, take with that what you would like.
Michaela (22:58)
that's fun. Yeah.
Also, the other thing that I I want to say about this too is I think this offering, at least for me, was just really good for social media. Like I'm not gonna promote this on my website at all.
Nicole Begley (23:11)
Yeah.
Michaela (23:11)
If you just search me on Google, you're not gonna find this. and
Nicole Begley (23:14)
Yeah.
Michaela (23:14)
that's pretty much how I got the clients was either social media or my email list that I already have.
Nicole Begley (23:19)
Yep.
Michaela (23:20)
but I I
Feel like I don't get a lot of my ideal clients for full sessions on social media. I do feel like I get a lot of inquiries, but I think a lot of people are shocked by, you know, the pricing. And so I think this was a really good way to appeal to some of those people on social media who I do want to work with and like
Nicole Begley (23:38)
Mm-hmm.
Michaela (23:39)
I want them to have, you know, photos as well. And this I think was just a really easy way for them to say yes and for them to do that. So I think
This offer, at least for me, is something I'll be promoting a lot on social media, but you won't see it really anywhere else. yeah, 'cause
Nicole Begley (23:52)
Yeah. Yeah. I love that. And the
email list. It's a great, it's a great you know, email list offer too, because as people have reached out or they they've been interested at some point and maybe like this is the motivation to be like, let me at least do something here.
Michaela (24:07)
Yeah.
Nicole Begley (24:08)
and I think we need to destigmatize in general, then the whole industry. I feel like there is this this like belief that if you aren't going for like
that you have to have every aspect of your business towards the boutique high price sale. and you know, and that can be the backbone of like your main sessions. But I feel like there's been there's been judgment in the past of, well, you can't do minis and you can't do like, you know, $250 and you get digital files. Like you can't do digital file focused things if you're selling artwork, which I I think is just BS. Like
Like they can coexist.
Michaela (24:46)
I honestly I I think yeah, I've
I've felt that and I I feel that a lot of yeah, people I I felt like I would be judged. Or like, people are gonna think that I'm like not doing well in my business and that's why I'm now like just doing these, you know, petite sessions for two hundred fifty dollars. But like that's not the case at all. And I was finally like, you know what? Who cares? Who cares if people think that? It doesn't matter. Like they can think whatever
Nicole Begley (25:08)
Yeah.
Michaela (25:08)
they want about me and it's fine, you know? yeah, so I I totally agree that
It seems like there's, you know, one way you should run your business and this is it. And, you know, you can never do these low price offerings or else it's gonna, you know, ruin your yeah, boutique model and things like that. And I think I had that belief for a while. And I think maybe hearing your podcast, you know, when you were talking to Heather and 'cause you booked a like a full-on branding session that cost you, you know, a good amount of money, but you
Nicole Begley (25:36)
Yeah. huh.
Michaela (25:38)
y you know, you're also still
you know, wanting to do this other type of session. Right.
Nicole Begley (25:40)
Yeah. And I'll still book my my yeah, I'll still
book my custom full price three thousand dollar branding session. Actually I need to do it again soon. like I will still book her because she can give me something that these little ones cannot, but these little ones also, you know, are something that I can use too. And
Michaela (25:57)
Exactly.
Nicole Begley (25:58)
yeah, and when we do the math, like you can do higher volume. Like you're doing you did five dogs in an hour and a half less than, you know? And yeah.
Michaela (26:06)
Yeah, it was so fi so quick.
Nicole Begley (26:09)
So it it it you you could if you do the math, the math works and you're happy with the math. So like there's there's no yeah. I think there should not be the judgment. So if you guys are getting the judgment, go elsewhere, come here. Yeah. Yeah.
Michaela (26:21)
Yes, no judgment and just just do it. Just try it, you know? Just
like y I think you and Heather always say to just experiment. You know?
Nicole Begley (26:29)
Yep. Yep. And the faster
you get out there and just try it, even without all the answers. Like I'm sure you've learned maybe a couple of things, like, maybe I'll shift this or do this a little bit different. Like each
Michaela (26:38)
Yeah.
Nicole Begley (26:39)
time you do it, you're gonna just dial it in a little bit more for what works exactly for your business and your offers. And it's gonna be different for everybody. And yeah, there's no right or wrong. It just depends.
Again, my two questions I always ask, are you selling what you want to be selling? Are you making what you want to be making? And if you're happy with those answers, then your pricing is great. Your offer is great. You don't need to change it. So, and and there can be two different levels of offers or three different levels of offers that coexist in the same business, perfectly fine. Yeah.
Michaela (27:08)
Exactly. I
I a hundred percent agree. And there was somebody that came who had already done a full session, I think last year, and she came and, you know, just wanted a few updated photos of her dog. So she came
Nicole Begley (27:17)
Right. Yeah.
Michaela (27:18)
and someone else that I'd already photographed and then other people who were like, I've been following you for a long time and I really wanted, you know, I've been meaning to book a recession or I wanted to and, you know,
Nicole Begley (27:27)
Yeah.
Michaela (27:28)
this was finally my opportunity. I'm like, That's awesome, that makes me really happy. And yeah. Yes.
Nicole Begley (27:32)
Yeah. Amazing. my gosh. So
good. Well, thank you so much for being here. do you have any like last minute advice for anyone that might be listening?
Michaela (27:44)
I think if this sounds i the least bit interesting, I think you should give it a try and just see how it goes, even just one time.
Nicole Begley (27:51)
Yeah.
Michaela (27:52)
because you never know. It might be super fun and be your new favorite offer that you have.
Nicole Begley (27:58)
Yeah. Well, and actually
it works out well too. We're coming up in the fall. I mean, you can definitely do something like this for Christmas card minis, you know, a couple digital
Michaela (28:05)
Totally.
Nicole Begley (28:06)
files, you go off and do your card, but you're still making enough money, like you're it's yeah, I I I think it's just a great way to to structure it for so many things. So thank yeah.
Michaela (28:16)
Yeah. So I'm glad I I'm
glad I listened to that podcast episode and
Nicole Begley (28:20)
Ha ha ha ha.
Michaela (28:21)
just took action and then I was like I I was like I have to email Nicole and tell her. yeah.
Nicole Begley (28:26)
I know, I love it. I love it.
Thank you. Thank you for letting me know.
Michaela (28:29)
Yes.
Nicole Begley (28:30)
yeah, and then where can people find you if they want to follow along or reach out to you and and connect.
Michaela (28:35)
Yeah, so I am on Instagram at B Mac Pet Photography, it's B A C Pet Photography, and then my website is B Macpetphotography dot com. And those are probably the best best places to find me. Yes.
Nicole Begley (28:49)
Perfect. Sounds good.
Well, thanks again for being here with us, Michaela. And we will talk to you soon. Thanks, everybody.
Michaela (28:56)
Alright, thanks for having me.
