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Introduction to Sal Cincotta Studio

let's get into talking a little bit about our studio we are based for those of you don't know salvador cincotti photography's basin o'fallon illinois we are in the heartland right we are in middle america I am born and raised in new york brooklyn new york most of my life that's where I get my madness comes from the tailor in houston texas he huh longhorns are no I just had some giggle giggle eso but where are person I was a very different and we ended up in the midwest and so now we can't leave right I mean the midwest is very very conservative in nature so you can imagine being a new yorker coming into the midwest it has been absolutely brutal used to but mostly it's about the food man food I'm a big foodie you know you're in new york you get any kind of food you want anytime day or night right in st louis guys I love you the midwest but it just doesn't exist one good chinese rest strong and one part of it's not even chinese people making the food yeah racist I don't know but I don't ...

want I want chinese people made by chinese you know chinese made by chinese people I want italian food made by telling people is that bad I don't know but that's that's what I thought you know what I mean so you know you walk into chinese restaurants like what's up bro what you put on a fake accent or something tigress way offer coverage in st louis metro area chicago new york city so we travel all over the country it's actually worked out well being in mid america because we can get to different parts of the country relatively easily way photograph about forty five plus weddings in here last year we did fifty two weddings this is really important to everyone I'm not just up here telling you about theoretical nonsense I am sharing with you we are sharing with you what we do to run an active studio and I think that's important you've got to take that to heart my biggest frustration is when I sit here and listen to other speakers and they do three weddings a year dude you didn't teach me anything about weddings if you shoot three weddings a year you don't know what's really going on out and so I think we're pretty much plug did if we have forty five weddings here at a ten thousand dollar average in the midwest and a recession think about what you guys can do in your part of the country absolutely it's taylor and I in south or some kind of tarp thing we are the primary shooter I'm the better one of course it's usually how it works all right two thousand eight was our first year's pro fifty thousand dollars in gross sales fast forward four years two thousand eleven our studio across the million dollar mark gross sales middle of recession that is not a b s number that is a real number and that is not from teaching that is from photography that's what should be more impressive with you do the math on that guy's fifty weddings at a ten thousand dollar average our wedding's air half a million dollars half of our business seniors about a quarter million dollars three hundred thousand dollars a year we do over one hundred seniors running close to a two thousand dollar average okay um then you're talking about families babies anything that'll get in front my camera very small percentage of our business so our core business our weddings and high school seniors and that's not an accident by the way these air both recession proof parts of our industry think about it every year new crop of brides come up every year new crop of high school seniors come up so this is that my business has intentionally been built around these two niches if you will two thousand twelve this year okay we're in november here we're looking at our books we're about to cross over twenty five percent growth from last year so year over year our business has grown uh I think that's a significant number especially when you start growing two thousand thirteen right as we go into next year we're already planning for next year that's why this business plan is so important for all of you you know our business plan changes every three to six months when I say changes it doesn't mean we throw it out the window right we just it it has to evolve so the same business plan we had four years ago no way that business plan was would succeed today you have to keep evolving your business plan so next year we're moving into a twelve thousand square foot new building in o'fallon being rehab it's a gorgeous building and I'll share pictures as you know online follows on facebook and we'll share those pictures as the building gets gutted and redone into this beautiful space uh we're going to weddings but we're no longer going to do seniors going to high end seniors so we want our senior average to go closer to four thousand dollars we are pushing the limits for what we're doing we're talking I mean we're talking about an entire day shoot with a high school senior total model shoot total glamour she's die allies ing them getting exclusive locations exclusive ideas something that one hundred percent unique to them so we're going to try this out in the market and we'll let you guys know how it goes we'll let you know right follow us and you will give you that education glamour guys I've been more than inspired by super rise right soo is a favorite here who is a personal friend of mine yeah we love soon soon she's photographed taylor we've been so inspired by by this whole glamour right revolution if you will were incorporating that into our business so we walk out of here and next week we start photographing for our new glamour line in st louis and we're doing a full on launch in january february will be at the february bridal show in st louis and we have a double booth dedicated to glamour photography so this is what next year is going to look like force and that's where we're going so this is how we're growing our business so this issue of shutter mag which is launching tonight tonight I wrote an article about my experience with sue and there's gonna be a lot more pictures released so go to behind the shooter dot com sign up for free for shutter mag and you'll get to see a lot more pictures than read all about my experience but yes I have never looked or felt more beautiful in my entire life than how soon made me look in those pictures thank you sue on the whole team and susan was there isa professional dress thrower thie experience was amazing and that's really what I decided made the decision for us to launch our glamour line was we want everyone to have this type of experience that's amazing thank you but that goes to show you how our business plan is continuously evolving a cz ashen yours right it has to evolve all the time so I want to do a brief intro here just so you guys know the next thing I'm going to show you is ah promo video that they did for me about a year ago so this was produced about a year ago and I actually don't really show it at all it's been seen by very few people and the reason I decided to show it was mostly at the urging of creative lives so I hope you guys out there enjoy this I am literally sharing my personal life story I think when a lot of people look att taylor and myself they think we've had this simple easy life and I'm here to tell you man we all have challenges in our lives right whether they're you know they're personal challenges physical challenges whatever they are we all have some demon it's that we're dealing with and so I'm no different I have my own demons as you can imagine that I've had to deal with and overcome and so creative live encouraged me to share this video with all of you so that you could see just kind of my back story and what we've dealt with so I hope you find inspiration in all that so I'm not playing now hopefully we get audio in here as well my name is south sink autumn a professional photographer educator and author I think everyone has a story you know I think we look at people and now we all like to play that game and figure out what their story is but I think when most people look at me they'd be surprised I don't think they'd ever expect my background to be what it is second generation in this country so my grandmother immigrated to this country for a better life for her family a life without boundaries overall dreams that hurt her kids and her grandkids would have the opportunities that she never had none of this was handed to me far from it I wasn't born into a rich family I didn't go on vacation every summer I didn't have the opportunity where designer clothes I can actually still vividly remember the electricity being turned off in my home my brother passed away at nineteen passed away from aids and it was brutal my brother was sixfour two hundred plus pounds I watched him wither into one hundred forty pounds just from the medication they were putting him on nineteen I don't think I was ready to deal with that I don't think anybody's ready to deal with that I dropped out of school I started really running with the wrong crowd going down a path with very little light three years later at fifty two my father passed away very unexpected you know he was still young and er these are moments that I convicted lee remember he was on his deathbed and he'd want to spend some time alone with me asked me to come in and first thing he said to me when I walked in there he's like do you love me and I'm like yeah I love you and I was like you said it again he's like do you love me I'm like you got that you know I love you and I was like I want you to promise me something promise me you'll do well and I think I just answered him in a very matter of fact way I'm like I'm gonna do well you know you said it again he's like I want you to do well I'm like I promise that I'm gonna do well and he said it one more time before he went unconscious and those ended up being the last words he ever spoke that kind of stuff it wears on you it makes you hungry and it leaves you wanting more out of life that's that's where it all started way living up to the dream my grandmother had for her family am I making my father my family proud that was a tough time it was a dark time after my father's death I was determined teo find success so I went to college graduated with a business degree had worked for some of the largest companies in the world and by every measurement I'd found success but I don't know that I was doing well I was still looking in that mirror not happy with what I was seeing you look back at me and I knew in order to find that success I had to uh pursue my own dream and that dream was photography had to do what I love I felt that in doing what I love uh I would I would live up to those expectations of the people I've made promises chasing what you love is never easy but where I think everyone would do it you have to believe in your heart that if you're doing what you love the rest will work itself out you know I took a blind leap of faith I never envisioned this level of success for for me for my studio and it's it's that passion that drives me to want to help people help people find their own success because I'm proud to be a professional photographer I think we have one of the most amazing jobs in the world you know we're directors where entertainers but most importantly where artists we get to document some of most amazing moments in our client's lives and that's not a task I take lightly today's a good day today's a great day I'm doing what I love kicking the shit out of those demons my family you know my grandmother my father I'd make him proud and ultimately I'm proud to be a professional photographer and I want to raise the bar of what it means to be a professional photographer and ultimately that's what this is all about it's it's helping people find success they have that dream theyjust they don't see that light at the end of the tunnel yet and that's the light I want to help them find thank you show your right now you're making me cry so that stopped for me to watch you guys appreciate that I did that at creative lives urging thank you I just want to read off what people are saying if you don't mind um people saying thank you so much crying with you thank you for sharing your story amazing story thank you all right well let's let's uh give you some insight into who we are and where we came from and that we've all have to overcome write our own demons so don't be afraid don't be afraid to take that leap of faith don't be afraid to fail don't be afraid to fall on your face it happens to all of us just know right that there's bigger people out there who have fallen on their face and it's still find success so we cannot be defined by our demons and after this five days hopefully all right I've given you the key to unlock some of your demons which I think we'll all die with our own demons I I still have my own I'm sure I don't think they make medication for that those that's probably probably the problem alright so let's talk about studio c studio c is our sub brand okay so this is the main branch's salvador sink on photography but man when you start book in forty five fifty fifty five weddings you run into some challenges the challenges are around scalability I can't shoot any more weddings right thes weddings don't happen one per weekend I would say no matter where you are in the country no matter where you are in the world there is a wedding season right and so for us in the midwest it's usually anywhere from like may through october okay so it's seasonal so imagine shooting ninety percent of your weddings excuse me in that small window that becomes a huge challenge so we started turning away all these weddings I'm like man this is crazy I don't want to turn away all this business so we started something called studio c studio c is our senior photographers at a lower price point and so you see the branding there its studio c is salvador cincotti company so we still wanted to build in that salvador's and caught a brandy ah and this is important to all of you out there by the way and the reason this is so important is because how do you grow your business what's your scalability plan you see I can never sell salvador's in qatar photography that's it if you're not working with this in kata the perception is you're getting second best even if that's not true right I could be bringing the best wedding photographers in the world to work side by side with me from a client's perspective if I'm not dealing with sour taylor they're getting second best and that's fine not perception's reality but think so I can never sell salvador sink on photography so out there you're facing this challenge is well do I need my business after myself my personal name or do I need my business something generic like you no blooming buckets photography or whatever you want to come up with studio c is that brand studio c is something I can sell eventually I mean we've even dabbled with the idea of creating a franchise around studio c as a turnkey operation why wouldn't you want that if your ultimate goal is to make money why wouldn't you just wanna walk into a turnkey operation so these are the kind of plans that we've put around studio c so the growth potential is huge I can hire seven ten fifteen photographers under there and here's what we did we did a little test last year we went to the january bridal show we offered studio see for the first time there have been no marketing no advertising nothing in the first ninety days we book thirty weddings you guys hear me first ninety days we book thirty weddings that is a monstrous number I know photographers that after two or three years can't get to that thirty wedding mark and here's what we realized they weren't booking studio c they were booking a salvador singh kana company you with me that's how powerful the brand is the brand is getting tied to the sub brand was getting tied to the main bridge and we were okay with that right they understood they weren't getting me or taylor but they were buying into that main brand that meaning parents it's kind of like toyota lexus okay thank you with me on that volkswagen audi same concept there's the luxury brand I can't quite afford that luxury brand but I'm willing to seconds you know step down get the same level of quality if you will just not as much of the luxury and the way we sell it is the same way we say hey you know salvador cinematography you're dealing with salla tail directly with studio c you're dealing with one of our senior photographers so we lay it out clearly for our clients and we don't have a separate website for it nothing we advertise that through the main brand and that is by design we want them to come to that mean website two thousand eleven like I said was the first year thirty weddings but there was a hiccup and so like anything we do I fail more than I succeed this was you look at the thirty weddings and you might think this must have been massively successful actually there was a big failure that happen I hired a husband and wife team uh and I thought man husband wife team this is perfect they tried to make a run of it on their own so they tried having their own studio they failed they couldn't do it so I thought man this perfect I'm bringing in the right people they know how tough it is they're going to do what they're going to be with me forever they failed miserably they sent me an email to quit so they quit on me uh fifteen minutes before I was walking out the door to go photograph my own wedding I got an email from them letting me know that they quit this was brutal so now here I am me and taylor holding the bag on thirty weddings and we had to make it right with our clients why because we don't want to impact our main brand s o this is not without risk but it can be done right because me I'm real big man I ran into that wall I fell down on the ground get up dust myself off and figure this out so we're still going to go after studio c to a certain extent except we're going we're gonna do things a little differently we're not going to tell the bridegroom's who they're photographer is until they're thirty days out that makes more sense because then they can't get upset right when they book a year before and now that photographer's gone right anything can happen they could get pregnant they could get in a car accident I mean who knows so that was my fault by telling the bride twelve fifteen months out here's who you're photographer's gonna be so now we just won't tell until thirty days out now if you want to know your photographer's gonna be and you want a guarantee for tarver than you have to book sour tempered than its guarantee but if you want that sub brand experience while part of that is you don't get a dedicated photographer will tell you and you'll see their portfolio right we're not gonna throw him in there blind but that's one way of doing it seconding we're going to do is these for tigers are going to sign a contract so once they commit to a job if they don't show up they're liable for the full amount of that wedding that's the way we're going to protect ourselves so stay in touch with us follow have next year goes and I'll share that right cause that we may run into hiccups there again so we'll just keep learning and evolving but this is a business model that can work questions about this from you guys how we holding up good okay let's keep going questions out there we good make sure on the internet you guys are so many questions because I'm gonna keep stopping intermittently nobody knows when and I'm juice and see what questions you have about what we're doing questions about studio oh they got questions alright so raking had actually have three different lines and are they different entities different brands their different brands yeah so if you look really different randall yeah completely different brand I'm a real big believer and brandy and so studio c is its own brand we also offer full on cinnamon so if you saw that from the previous slide we offer full cinema for our clients and that is called saboteurs and kind of films which is a separate entity a cz well so all these brands but there's always this tie in to the main brand so good question so a question from just love me petey is how long do you suggest waiting before launching an associate brand should we wait until we are at a certain level of success and well known yeah I think that is a really good question I think what'll happen is you will know when it's time it's good when it's time is when you are you have to keep turning away business that's when it becomes time or if you want to do something completely different like for example this is a good question are boudoir line or a glamour line I should say better stated our glamour line is not going to be part of the main salvador cincotti brand see I live in the midwest in the midwest it's very conservative so you start showing stuff like that there's a good in the beginning you go back five years ago we used to call it a get naughty shoot that was our line item right for like boudoir in our wedding clients and I would have mothers of the brides go um what's that on my call it's just cool thing you know about washing oh no we're not gonna be doing that right now oh my god right but if you're up in new york if you're on california there's nothing wrong with a boudoir or glamour shoot so you've gotta adapt to your local market so thie our glamour line will be a completely separate brand just like studio c is with a thai baht to salvador singh kham so we'll do everything separate but really good questions good there's more give me one more I'll take one okay so atlanta banana would like to dive right in with her questions how does it work having another sub studio who shoots for you and how do they get paid that is a great question so how does it sub studio we are paying them by the job so a typical second shooter will get two hundred fifty bucks for second shooting with me that's pretty standard rate across the u s if I hire you to do a primary be a primary shooter a ts did you see you're going to get paid five hundred dollars to photograph that job plus a taste of the south right so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna give you fifteen percent off the top off the sale not the initial booking but how much do they spend on their engagement pictures if they spend a thousand dollars I'll give you one hundred fifty bucks right off the top so yeah that's cutting into my margin but I don't have to photograph it I didn't have anything and so I'm trying to reward good behavior if you don't give them any kind of compensation you run the risk of people just shown up and going through the motions and that will destroy your brand so that's that's ultimately how we do it