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Mentoring with Sue Part 1

This next segment I made a mentoring book for you so that's, what you're going to get this it's the questions I'm going to ask you if I even mentor you and really I'm just going to hit you with a whole lot of questions that will open up very obviously what I think you might need to do in your business and in your path you can't work through it because I didn't get a hundred printed, but you can work through the questions now or wait till you get the download and then download it. I printed and bound it because I want to work through a question and night in my business and I do that bid at their quiet moment when I grabbed my pin and now I'm fighting a puppy um one of the most interesting things about mentoring it is the most asked question we mental, may we help me with mental? May will you help me? The other one is the free questions. Can I just pick your brains? Can I just ask you twenty five christians for free? And the other day I opened my facebook page and it said you have eleven...

thousand four hundred and seventy six messages and I clipped one of them and the message said I sent you an email two weeks ago and you didn't respond to clearly you're not a supporter of photographers and I thought to myself, you know, you do realize I run a business right? So I cannot to your questions for free I just can't get three hundred e mails a day and I now pay somebody else to them the story's always come to me I read your e mails don't worry about that I read everybody's story I like them, but I don't always respond to them so the mentoring question is really interesting because when I grew up learning photography, I didn't really have a mentor a such I worked in a studio, so my only mental was my boss and it was his way or the highway so I just learned I just happened to be working in the studio in the country, so that definitely helped, but in terms of me being your mentor, I don't actually know if you would want me as your mentor. I think a lot of you think you want me as your mentor because you know that I've struggled and you know that I found my way, but these are the questions I'm going to ask you so you can tell me if these are uncomfortable thes air confronting if these don't apply to you if they apply to you so much, you can't even look at this page, but what I want you to do is if you feel confronted if you feel blocked if you feel yeah, but and anyone of these christians put your hand up these two microphones out there in the audience. I want to flip this over fast. I've got seventy seven questions and no mentoring. Burke I've got to do that in ninety minutes. And I want to answer your questions as well as quickly as you can. You destroy their hand up because I'm a fast talker, but I've got good brakes. Okay? So mentoring with soup. What am I doing wrong? Do you know how many people e mailed me this? What am I doing wrong? What am I doing wrong? Its not working. What am I doing wrong? What am I doing wrong? That's not working. What am I doing wrong? Here's the thing I don't know, but the most amazing part about that is I don't know because I haven't met you. But I will tell you this. Why don't you tell me? Tell me what you're doing wrong. You know what you're doing wrong and you know how you know? You know, when you don't like somebody everybody does this. Come on and you look online and you ring your best friend and you go oh, my god, did you just see what auntie posted nobody is going to buy that? That is just so crab and you had that crumbles geo out there and south there nobody's going to buy that I'm a god and did you see her priceless and their output she just made and you're ripping her apart do that to yourself. Listen, could you you know, and it's a belief and it's something that you believe nobody's going to pay for this? You mum probably told you or your boyfriend said you're never going to make a go at this guy and get a real job you're the one that believes that because you're attracting it and believing it, listening to it. So you need to understand you're the one that knows I do not know, you know, but why do you some hell think that I would know and be able to fix it because you don't want to face it? You don't want to see it, you just want it to be something that's, not you. So that's the most asked question reasons I don't mean tour I believe your business is running in direct proportion to your life people were asking me to teach them photography so I would go to the studio and I would see limit in blocks in fears and I was like, yeah, the photography is not your problem I did a mentoring session with a woman in australia in I'm not playing is she sent me a message and she said, thank you, I think my husband on the wall, she was that you made me realize, and I think e like when it is god's gonna knock on my door and be like, hi, you see, brian, thank you. No, I'm not responsible for your personal life, but what I am responsible for is to show you that your businesses murdering it. If you have money books, they're going to show up today in the mentoring questions if you have receiving blocks, if you have the inability to feel guilty about receiving and getting stuff, you're going to block it. The only thing that blocks income is guilt and shame that is going to be obvious today. I don't want to talk to you about lighting, I want to talk to you about shame, and I want to talk to you about who makes you feel guilty because that person has stopped you from receiving you believe it, you're stopping it that simple that's the truth, that's my truth, I have never seen anyone excited about a business fail. I don't care. I would say that I don't care what you say, you can email me right now and say I was so excited about my business and it fail because when people have started to fail, they have bean failing long before they they're failing publicly, they have already failed inside internally at night, staying awake, failing failing, failing struggle, struggle, struggle you were failing long before you shut your door. I've never seen anybody going and she portrait and charges mad love what I do, but I've never seen them fail because it's such a chicken and you think it's the result of what you are experiencing. But the truth is what you're experiencing is a result of what you were feeling. It's the opposite way around. Once you learn to feel that way, your change, everything in life don't leave your husband or if you do, don't credit me for that. So these are the questions I have to ask people when I'm entering them. So this is the book here. Let's get started. Do you have a camera? You would be surprised by how many? Well made me tell them and they don't have a camera. Do you have a camera and a basic kick to produce work? In other words, are you set up to receive clients and provide service on the most basic level? Describe your current setup to me. Right that's what I want to know I need to know if you are available to make money in being that you can photograph with attendee that doesn't shoot raw and kit leans twenty four one oh five you can shoot natural light outside with the permitting and you have a laptop that you can retouch your photographs in tell them to mei yue set up to run a business because that's how it started so I'm assuming you're somewhere through that stage what is on your to buy list in terms of equipment? Please list in order of priority this one cracks me up it always amazes me what people can have in their business when they can afford it when I can afford this, when I can afford that, when I can afford this stopping any questions that you think appointed stop me, okay, but the most incredible part about having your kit list is you cannot buy it if it does not make your ship go faster now let's say ownership I want to finish the ship with rid velvet seats it won't make this ship go faster. I'm not working on the ship engine, I'm just working on how the ship looks I put all this energy into the red velvet seats my ship does not go faster, you know, making bigger, brighter investments does not make your business peter this is one of the first things I have to talk people down from when I can afford this I will be a professional when I can afford this what makes you a professional is a service that you produce consistently and the service you offer to your client that's what makes you a professional do you own a space do you require a space do you lease a space there are so many questions around the simple thing do you know for two years I have fielded thousands of emails what windows you know what studio should they get surely get north east facing northwest facing windows so I get morning like what if I don't have light after three o'clock with my position my reflector how because you're ottoman big enough for a woman to lie on is my response you know there's a million questions around this in these and not your problem these problems can be answered on any thread on any facebook group they are not to do with how I would mentor you you will need a meeting room a sales room or a presentation room one of those three things in order to be professional in your business it needs to be kids free and animal free I know you love your kids and your animals but other people don't okay and they do not want your kids and animals jumping on them in their sales time and the meeting time okay, as much as I love my pappy I noticed the other day I took it to a shoot just because she's brand new and I noticed the client never attached here once a gorgeous little puppy and then it occurred to me not if one's going to love my puppy. Okay, I don't like other people's children. I don't like other people's pits. Why do you like some? Yeah, but the truth is is I need you to be free of that. So in order to be that mentoring level where I need to get you away from your kids and animals, it needs to be a private room in the house or a sheared lee space. Or maybe it's a space you have. But these are the first questions I'm gonna ask you. You need to define for me your brand just dial your cost and your service your brand, your style, your product or service and you cost until you khun define these five things for me you do not have a product or a service to sell or market. Okay, so the first thing I asked people is okay. What is your brand? My name is surprised glamour portrait photographer fashion style portrait okay that's, my brand, my style is contemporary fashion star magazine stall photography, you know, women ninety nine point nine percent women makeover what product to sell? I work off three products I work off a nine hour frame I work up a three box seat, which I reveal and that's pretty much all I have on my prices, my prices it's easy to understand. My process drives my average sailed three, three thousand three hundred dollars, that is the average tel I want buy priceless allows for that. Okay, do you know how many people cannot answer those christians until you define these? You do not have a business, not a marketable one, and certainly not when you can talk about have you defined your brand like how you look? Have you defined that yet? And why haven't you defined it? Because some part of you believes that you're not quite doing what you want, how many of you are sitting on the fence of letting go of weddings in order to shoot portrait, or letting go of newborns in order to shoot families, or letting go of families in order because you hate doing it? But you get paid for that? Trust me, when you take away what you don't like, you will be incredibly shocked by the fact that the only thing left is what you do like, and then you get that the most amazing part about that is that somehow you're afraid this comes up in this mentoring I got an email from a really successful photographer about three months ago it did help I've just had the worst year of my career and I say tell me about it helen and she said so we've made little money this year than we've made in ten years and we're not big money and as you well know and I said okay what did you doze she goes we stop shooting winnings we'll see but you hate winnings she goes I know but they made us a lot of money I think wait a minute what you really love doing you can't put a price too but you made all this money doing something you hate how does that work because remember everybody thinks passion drives income everybody thinks if you're passionate you get lots of money that is not true do you know why and I showed this back to her she never even considered it she hated winning so much she put the price up to fifteen thousand she hated doing them so much is that you want me to turn up new winning you can pay me fifteen grand so people did because they like it went on and she would go and do it and hate every minute of it but get fifteen grand and she made a list money because she valued her time in fact she hated it so much she tripled the value and that worked for here on she was like you told me to stop doing it because they hate it I think you hated it she does but look at much money it made I do they just tells you that what you really love doing you haven't put a price on you you're not putting the same value on what you love doing that you put on hating winnings infect you can't price yourself when you love something but you can price yourself when you hate something because you hate it so much they gonna pay you to tune up think about that and she went oh god why am I putting the same big value on the stuff I love doing they're paying me not because they hated their pain because they loved my work once again the love stuff you love doing too so you should like touch for that and now she's doing that okay heavy to find your style that is letting go of the stuff you don't want to shoot and starting to speak up and be honest about what you want what I just talked about in the marketing is when you another yourself and you stand up and you say I'm a glam photographer I took children and wedding's off my website one told me as crazy crazy so nobody just exclaim a photography going with photography died ten years ago I said but I don't want to shoot anything else I don't want to shoot kids and families I don't want to shoot with things I would rather stick pins in my eyes and look a power socket than go to a wedding fifteen thousand dollars wouldn't make me tune up toe one I didn't want to go with a guest I just like the hope thing and the love is patient love is kind and it's also original when you've seen a hundred of them it's not me, why would he do that to myself? Let it go little going out what does the service you offer? And what am I getting? That whole talk was about you marketing to one of my getting what am I getting from you? What do you give? What is it you're giving? May you give me an experience? Do you make me feel good when you changed my life? We take incredible photographs of me that I will treat you for a lifetime. What what are you making for mei I'm the client I'm paying you. What am I getting? Have you told me that? Can you tell me that I do know you know you've made it so much about you, but what am I getting the client? What am I buying because last time I checked, you didn't walk into a store, pay the money and leave with a roar in fact, the only business in the world you give the money and they give you nothing in return but hope is a casino and the deal is the house always wins, okay not so much with photographers, you know? You pay me and I'll validate myself and the more you pay me the more validated I'll feel, but if you don't pay me, I'll feel really bad about myself and probably have to go and get a job we need to turn this into service and power the product and the price is what am I getting? And this is something that I just amazes me people are unable to price themselves in this market you could have conversations and conversation than conversations on what you're with no, what you're with I'm with three thousand dollars for a portrait shoot five to seven thousand for a video teen thousand dollars a day what a my will that that's between me and however, is my keeper that is that is what I'm worth. It took me a long time to understand that, but the only way you can understand what you're worth is to understand that what you're selling his value and most of you don't know that or believe that, so all you have to do is have a look at your product, your price and your service and ask yourself a simple question is what I'm selling in direct proportion to the value that I feel it is for the money that I'm selling it for. And if the answer is no, you will not get that money it's that simple it's business, you don't need a business degree to understand that. All right? If you want a dress store and a hundred woman walking and try on a dress but only one of them by the dress because she seeing anyone that thought that looked good on here, will you cry about it ninety nine other times? No, not everyone's going to spend money with you, your value or what? Your work is not dictated by how much money people are spending with you is dictated by how much they enjoyed the experience, how much they're telling other people sharing you and sharing the experience. If you could choose your top one, two or three john ra's, what would they pay? Because I believe right now, most photographers sitting in this room are shooting more genres than the general that they really want to shoot. How many of you believe that that statement is true for you? You're doing jobs you don't want to do because you think it makes you money wow, I'm block that arrive on block it it is just a dumb belief and it's wrong. And you need to stop doing it. I'll tell you how. What is your average sale on each of these genres? Because it seems to me that you would only hold a genre that you don't want to do if it was actually making you money. Because you feel comfortable in it in some way or you somehow value it. Maybe you hate it. That's. Why you value it. So it seems to me that I need to know what your average sailors now here's something that always cracks me up about photographers. They can never tell me the average sale. I go. What? Your average sale, bob are, you know, three to five thousand. So four. Oh, yeah. What's your average winning sale. Oh, you know, eighteen thousand nine, nine thousand. Uh, take the amanda shoot she did last year divided by your income that your average south, if you shoot tipper genres, divide them and tell me your average for each gonna have a look at it, open your eyes, because if any of you are telling me that you're only gaining fifty dollars awake, you might as well go and do something else. You're on the wrong path or what you're doing is not quite working. But you need to be able to tell me how much your business ends. I know how much my business in a month. I know how much I spend to run this business in pay. My staff, I know how much I have to end in how much I wanted in two totally different goals for next month. And they also know my average sale every time I make a sale. So I make nicky now, when she shoots himself, tell me what it current averages. Because if she does twelve hundred dollars sale, whoever just kind of dropped if she does two thousand four hundred dollars sale this wake her every just going to go up and she can keep monitoring her average constantly on a weekly basis. How many of you can honestly say, you know that you miss a sinus? It's called units versus income? This is profit, right? Mm. But we'll spend all that time on facebook. Come on. I need to know if you were going to sell your business. The person buying your business would only be interested in one thing. The investment off units versus sales in the profit that you made that's, the only thing that would interest them, that would be the only single thing that would make your business profitable unsellable. And most of you can answer that question. You can't tell me how much you end, this is how many shoots you did, you can tell me a basic average sale and until you can tell me that I don't know, I cannot tell you how much money you can make. So when you asked me to mentor you, what are you asking for? You think somehow my magic pill off, you know, shooting women by the window will make you more attractive to the human race more attractive somehow in marketing, like magically people be attracted to but if that's not your truth, if that's not your purpose, it won't be you're not talking about numbers, you're not talking about business, you are talking about you, and I'm sorry I defy anybody who stands here and tells me differently. I don't have an education, but I have to be smart to work that out, you know? I kind of just I'm so I'm so overwhelmed by this have you written down what your ideal year looks like? Next year I'm going to shoot twenty eight video, I'm going to shoot twenty five portrait's gnome or I am going to maybe take tin mentoring studios and I will ask them to qualify. My average sale for a portrait shoot has just gone up. I have now re priced myself at five thousand dollars instead of three three it's been twenty five years I deserve a hiking price I want more shoes, but the thing is is I know what I want in my studio it's on the wall I see it every day I get how many of you have written that and stand by there? How many of you have said that? How many of you said I want fifty two shoots this year? I want team winnings I want twenty newborn shoots, I want thirty family portrait because then you're not looking for two hundred fifty thousand dollars in income, which is going to magically manifest itself into a ferrari in your driveway. No, you are looking for fifty clients and in your daily interaction you're about to talk to a whole other people and you will find fifty clients because that's what you're looking for fifty people to serve that will pay you your average sale, and if you want your every detail to go higher, you simply have to change what you're giving so that your average goes up because you deserved more because you're giving more right? Isn't this not fun part about mentoring? I ask you to me and told me about my business and I don't want to talk about the actual business I don't want to be honest about what I want, what I don't have so what were you asking me for any questions by the way, I'm talking fast but you stray that hand up there and I'll stop and all eyes will be on you there is no stupid questions we have all in the same boat nobody is putting their hand up here going I know my average sale I've done my years rejection and I'm nobody's doing there okay nobody tip from a because I you know and taking the class question my question is when the pricing block not knowing which price what if you can't afford yourself what you think your stuff is worth your workers worst I've heard people say I can't afford my own priceless and here's the interesting thing you've never bought something that you couldn't afford that you paid off I've been not that much so you never bought a car and pedro I never thought of it I don't know I don't get when I want something I always land so I came from a poor family so if you wanted something you either had to borrow the money or you had to put on lay by layaway lay by and you know back then you'd paid off five dollars a week and then you get it uh it was called desire this is, you know I want that you either borrowed the money and then of course credit cards came in and then you get a credit card in and you'd pay twenty seven percent compounding interest and poor people don't understand that so what they do is they're gonna get credit cards and then they fill up the credit card because it instant gratification and the buy and then you're paying the interest and then you're living on the interest payment and before you know it you're paying you know, somewhere around twenty four thousand dollars in order to have the things that you didn't need that you didn't have the money to buy anyway on do you know that's the trap off no money I'm proud to say at forty two years old I have no credit card and no did I do not own a credit card a dinner on a single thing that has credit because I choose not to pay anybody else now to have money that took me years, years and years but when you talk about no but I wouldn't pay for this you're saying you don't value what you're doing now I put make up on people and make them look pretty you might not like my style you might think it's too overdone you might think it's over further sharp you know? I mean I've heard lots of criticism about my work over the years but I value what I do for people if you don't value that, you will just see the money aspect, not the value exchange, and the truth is I've seen a completely poor family coming and spend eight thousand dollars on portrait and pay them off five dollars, awake. And did I feel bed about that? No, because they wanted them, they wanted them more than anything in the world. They spent maybe beyond the means but wasn't beyond the means. They paid it off. Did it take them three years to pay it off? Yes, you know, you there's an argument there that you can. You're a bad person. You made it to the biggest businesses I've seen in museum on australia and low socioeconomic groups that are paying off the photographs over three years, five dollars, a wake and you can argue that that's like they're bad people hey, still pulling three million dollars a year through his portrait studio and it's very average work value exchange is exactly that. You must lose value what you're giving, and if you don't value it, you either up the value of or learned to value it, you're not saying the venue. One of the things I want you to do with this book is it see it, I need you to tell me what your ideal year looks like. And the whole point of that is that you write it down and first you're going to go and do your average is because I need you to know your averages and then you're going to sort out your genres but then you're going to write down a simple list of what you want this year and then you're going to your your main goal is to go out and get those jobs that's what it is I'm looking for twenty five portrait shoots twenty five videos in ten studios to mentor that's what I'm looking for that's my goal and all of the seven I just need a thousand dollars this week it's a lot easier to look for work than it is to look for money specifically right your clear vision for incoming numbers below I want and then say I want up my average to a hundred and fifty dollars I want to let go of these two genres and increased thes shoppers I'm going to market through this audience I want to create videos for myself right exactly where you want to be right exactly where you want to bay because you'll be quite amazed when you read it every day how it's going to refocus youto what you want it will refocus you every time and you'll be amazed at how you've lost your way with this because most of you can't tell me what your average sailors so I know you certainly don't know what your prediction is and that means as a business owner you're not even predicting into the next year I've already predicted into the next five let's look at your website okay first thing everybody does this don't look at my website him and changed it for two years I said same thing I've changed my mind still under construction has been under construction since september is your website up to date doesn't have your contact details and location on every page this is crazy there are so many ways to excess a website if somebody is shared a page on facebook or linked to that page in somebody hits that page and they end up on your belt paid on the bottom of your website website one oh one states it should say who you are, where you're from your phone number or email and that should be on the bottom off the page that turns over on every page because people can lean on your website maybe not on the home page on any page and without their information they do not know who you are, where you're from and if there's no navigation on those pages back to home, they may not click it. The most amazing part about the website is I have never spent more than twelve hundred dollars on my website and last year my web site got two and a half million hits and I'm a basic wordpress template that is set up and I do not have any ceo, but I have the basics. A beautiful folio. Is it never gay fast to load information at the bottom of every page? If that's all you can afford right now, that is all you need. Okay, all you need and remember the golden rule of marketing from this morning. I'm asked on this website, communicate effectively what my client is getting for the money because they're the one spending booking buying kate do not make this website about you speak to the right people and speak on this website clearly quick question from susie thompson wondering whether like especially talking about average sales is mentoring the way that you would mentor. Is it different for a start up for someone like we had earlier, who is just starting her portrait business versus someone who's existing? How should different types of people approach this? You will be amazed at how many people have been in business for five to six to seven to ten years on doing a lot of things and kind of to these questions I just need to know you just need to tell me where you're at, all these missions are giving may is a very clear picture of we erect financially. Well, you're at in your business thinking where you're at in your marketing thinking we're in your personal self whether you are able to give and receive with you value yourself because if you can't show me a priceless, you have no value of yourself you're not selling anything if you can't tell me how much you cost if you can't tell me your average sale, you are not running a business, you're trying to start one if you do not have any concept of your prediction into the future and tell what you want, then you have either no value for what you think you deserve you don't believe you can get it you don't believe you're worth it or you haven't considered that there was an option yet and I'm going to educate you on how to make more money it's going to show me how much you love doing what you really love to do because too many people put up their hands when they said they don't want to do it. Susan and I were just talking about this at break season runner tonight we always talk about our path because our path a constantly evolving but the evolution off what path you honest not toe hold to something you don't want to do at any time you can change, detect it doesn't mean what you're doing is wrong, it just might be the way you're doing it all right, I meet people that want to be instructors they want to be teachers they want to be creative live instructors they apply for workshops they maybe get tuned down maybe they're not ready they're people that I really want to shear in stand up maybe they just want to be recognized maybe they want to be famous I don't know there's so many reasons why you want to teach and speak and connect and some people just want to be noticed and some people want to be famous and you know everyone has their own different things but the truth is is maybe your income we'll come to you from teaching but you weren't very good at running a business and so you found that you started a business and didn't have much money but then all of a sudden you made all this money teaching you know this is the point where you have tio own up to what you want to do but you've also got to create a teaching product that is viable you know, my teaching product is a viable because I run a business I know how to do that so I'm not just a pretend business that never made money and now I make it from selling product which a lot of teachers do the problem is that's not the problem I'm not saying that that's wrong what I'm saying is their path was to teach so there's that crossover. We, you're close, but you're not quite there. So if you feel that way, you need to maybe look at options for how close you out to what you're doing, but not quite achieving. It doesn't make sense.