Lessons

Lesson Info

Final, Extended Q&A

we have had a number of people calling out where they're from and asking if you were coming to do workshops there so come to europe so way you had that e j I would love to travel we totally totally great and I love meeting and connecting other with other photographers I absolutely love it but at the same time I'll be very honest we're running a business how much time are we spending away from the business for a school as it is you know to drink canadian beer with canadian friends how is it moving my business where I needed to go and what we've noticed is the during the off season is when we have the opportunity to do a little bit more of that so during the wedding season it's foreign feud between I've been so lucky too join the road show I will be speaking in seattle tomorrow um I was speaking in chicago and I will be speaking in washington d c so those types of opportunities are awesome because I get to meet people and you know the tab is picked up by fbi huh that's nice I mean well o...

ut I'll do that I'll do that rap thing yes some of the other photographers of assistant have assistance for you know they're processing or there's other things is the right time when you should be an assistant do you have that's a really really good question so um again I like to run um uh lean company but if I was gonna be winning at its leanest point it would make more sense for me to bring in an assistant and paint assistant twelve dollars an hour because I would probably pay an assistant less to process the wedding than I do to outsource it I would probably have even more control over it but the problem is as you guys know but from behind the scenes I'm a no nonsense kind of girl I don't care that your car broke down I don't care that the baby sittin in trouble I'm care the pianist today I don't need that in my life I want to just turn the files over have it professionally done photographers edison we will get it to you in seven business days and most often they have it online on five or six business days thank you thank you very much it's done my album design I uh sent an album from a wedding that I shot no this right is so sweet oh I adore her got her images process them before I came to seattle took a few of them to process on my laptop while I was here last night because I'm a total cool girl working my hotel room I upload them to my album designer she will have a design to me no later than monday that's my well my client in less than a week will have a complete urban design and that and that's even delayed because I was here but what did I tell my client I said you will see your album design in two weeks was it under over under promise and over deliver one hundred percent because what happens is she contacting out monday right before I came and then I give it to her on monday I'm a week early she think is great great said this is for the eleven by fourteen leather craftsman album thirty five hundred siri's twenty pages forty sides print and buying the whole king caboodle christy crew over okay she was one of the girls and the people I care about you on the internet I freaking love you christy made that really funny video of her eating having a cake fight um she was like the one I was up in everybody's business she was like from vegas just really really really closer which is like how close did you get the oh no she didn't get a combat she gets a album good for you I'm so happy for her yeah trust me oh ah a little angrier teo she is so sweet such a sweet girl and she's from las vegas las vegas represent so this one is for the granddaddy granted green five years show a subscription himself cited yeah hey wanted me from around the world drum roll let three mostly great oh thank you jan regulations that way don't know we're just we don't but she did it on echo phone says probably she was tipping our iphone all right well thank you everyone for helping make this yeah such a big deal it is a big deal as long as I'm out here could you throw up the counter how much longer do we have to get the nine nine dollars offers long if we're kind of doing the a little well cyber thing forty five minutes or so three hours and forty five minutes to take advantage of the ninety nine dollar deal the straight one thing to you that he noticed a lot on twitter was I had mentioned a discount code that was applicable to anyone using photographers at it and um people started using a different code we could only the photographers I don't know if we did that's why I don't know no it was I don't remember but I think we have avoided giving it away because it was a big new because we were gonna talk about post processing I said the day out with wedding way have another way if we once we confirm the time pressure you and I would have remembered giving it away right all right so they're still and what is that that's like four thousand images fifteen hundred fifteen hundred images yes up to two thousand images and after two thousand images just mean that if you send them raw they would do the convert they would process it do the conversions j peg and then they would send it back to you and that's a two hundred and seventy dollars value that's what they're giving away for free so photographers at it I'm just laughing because I've got one more job to do so okay so that winner that winner will be coming up I think the end of the show at the end of the way that one okay but if you're not a winner and you want to try it out if you use the code jay star two thousand ten the writing on the shooting I am because I'm just like that I'll probably be like everything backwards j start to doesn't end you get twenty percent off your first order and again if you're not happy with them you have one of two things you can tell them what they could do to get better or you could find a different company that will suit your needs not it's not for everybody I totally get it but um helping you live a life is always a good thing also for those who have had asked it's now the later part of the twenty four hour code for the show it slide shows you guys saw the slight show that I did today that slide show is going online that is what will be tagged in my client for my clients on facebook and in my block and that code is star twenty four all caps s t a r two four that's a seventy dollar discount for the psycho and I think miss thing did you get it I got it today yeah hey excited column was left on the clock that was twenty four hours so it's probably just a few hours left so get snapping on that on that and then what are their cold yet I think you got discount cold I'll be doing probably doing a full upon my block because I'm pretty sure I'm pretty sure cambodia gave a discount code too but I don't want to oversee e right I think I remember that I think I remember that too and I'm not sure either but either way I mean these are oh and leather craftsman I have leather craftsman disc hodes nice on my log again I'm just gonna do a recap because these air just longstanding logs I mean these are longstanding discounts um these companies have been great I've worked with them from beginning I pay thes companies and what has happened is the community that has built has been built around the idea of sharing not be community has built around us it's this all right here on they know that we collectively have a megaphone and they said hey if you want to talk about us here's a discount code and um that's great anything that we could pass along teo share with people has been wonderful these companies are great I just want to pass on a comment alley suddenly a grip in kansas city says I feel like I've already won something thanks for this free course everybody wins everything but wait there's more yes can you talk about your calendar year because you know most wedding photographers you know their summers are busy and you said you'd take december off so what what does your what do you get your feast or famine a little bit at least in california because it's so so so predictable it's you know in april tio um late october or early november it's go go go and after that it becomes really quiet when I do get a wedding in those months and really stoked I don't well this year we're shooting twice in november but that's not a musician he wants in november um I really don't take december weddings they're not popular in southern california we will occasionally get enquiries for new year new year weddings and I won't take it unless it's putting us at a different spot in the world we shot a wedding um over new year in costa rica and I was totally fine with that but we get enquiries all the time and I'm like no my time with him anywhere in the world is gonna be better than I was what I prefer personally what we want to do um and in january I don't have a wedding that I have one in march I have to so it's kind of it's much lower right much more kind of leads me to the next question I have from liz in argentina if you shot a wedding in a culture you aren't familiar with and if so how did you handle the cultural difference um dude google has been my best friend I shot an indian wedding and I wasn't familiar with it and I needed to know what was important there's so much information and even I'm somewhat familiar with jewish culture and I wanted to understand like why the ring went on the index finger on the hubba and signing of the catawba I needed to know what this is and you just know what to expect when to expect it and there are a ton of sites will like itemize what happens during the ceremony and what so um I will never forget the person who shot an indian ceremony like it was really important for us to capture somebody is to steal the groom's shoe and who has to pay that person to get the shoe back and I needed to know those things I needed to know why they were throwing rice and and you just know why the veil was up because the gun wasn't supposed to see them right all of those things you know we prepared by using google so a little artwork yes um a few days ago you mentioned when you didn't have many weddings in a row you need to maybe shoot another wedding to stain do you know this but so what do you do in the winter when you're slower to just goto workshops yeah um and attempted to shoot other things though in the winter or um okay so it depends what I think it depends what mood I'm in so again I brought up roger federer right we don't we don't think that when he was a french open he's picking up his racket that warning we know that he's leading upset but do I think that he takes time just to step away to let his muscles relax go back and eat bad food for a little bit just be just soak in life on as when I make a conscious effort not to really shoot when I turn off and just like I'm gonna soak in um are my feet I love what I'm feeling burnt out we are members of netflix and believe like I turn anomaly and like the world is pretty again it's just different um that's we do get old movies but museums so but I've made a conscious effort not to not to touch simply boudoir would like to know what if any uh software do you use to keep up with clients invoicing workflow it's that are on the back end um you know I kind of created a system that works for myself um it's kind of hodge podge but if you needed something that streamline that's really good I hear wonderful things about xu q xu q dot com I hear people saying wonderful things about it it's very streamlined and it's extraordinarily organized so that is appealing for a lot of people and automatically invoices it sends reminders your clients when there was center payments all that it does all that for you so if that's what you need that's great I happened to be a newly organized I do everything myself but no yeah I know I know yes quick question uh I was just thinking to myself like after this what am I going to do and I've like key things in my head I don't know one achieve been due for my businesses but I've still got a lot of notes to go through and I want to review things and you know really think about it but so if you were in my position what would you do with regards to you know uh taking the next step for them for you no for none of that for any any shooting who's really watching like what what do you would you go over the notes and also what would you think would be thinking about that same targets or oh okay um it depends what kind of learner you are I am the most annoying learner I'm not smart I'm really really really not uh yeah that's why you got a full ride to you silly I will tell you that I didn't learn how to read and told almost eleven but my mom was a total hippie and she believed that when you're ready to learn your brain is ready to learn honest to god and for some reason she was right because when I learned to read I was I became a voracious reader and I couldn't get the books so maybe my mom doesn't know a thing or two I work very very very darn hard I probably have to work three times as hard to get the eight than the smart kid but I think at the end of the day we're so gonna be a how I learned even when I went to photography workshops early on still to this day but even after I would leave like my european economics class I feel like I have got so much information I had written everything down and then I would go back and rewrite my notes now rewrite them with color coding and highlighting I will just organize it so that when I would go back and have complete sentences I could cite it as where I needed to focus on certain things the professor had said at any given point in time and so I could cite those notes two years later and completely understand was going on what I see now is like scribbling here and there go back fully articulate your thoughts again right down um six months goals and write down twelve months goals it twelve month goals and then when you're at the twelve month mark reid do it again but you have to know where you want to be in six months because that's going to be a halfway point big am I getting it together and if I'm not what I have six months left to really take action you have a question from mixed media salad do you have any other creative interests and do they have any influence on your photography business besides fashion I uh well just was I like doesn't mean that this is a really good at it and you know like I also like watch a creative interest rate I love reading and he love writing um I think it's just what I'd dio um I think uh I think even today as I was blogging this morning's post judy was reading over my shoulder and um I just said that I loved and appreciated like my best friend and my business partner and my husband he's like oh it's so nice that I couldn't that I was like oh I'm sorry I I'm better at words I effectively communicate my thoughts like clear more clear than they do in person so that's just what I do when I'm angry oh I could write a mean letter but you know there's things I write my blog's that that won't go live that they'll just sit mask mask because you just get into the mood and then once it's out you're just like okay I'm over it we have people that are saying they're they're sad we're going to miss you they don't do you know what to do tomorrow I like giveaways are over the oh uh it's really cool I mean here's what I think has been the coolest thing about creative life is that it has allowed me tio take on a newscaster role because crazy thing this I read this article about newscasters so they're not celebrities in any way she reform but what happens if you run into a newscaster your local newscaster if you live in los angeles or in middletown america you see your newscasters are like you're around my dinner table like I want you just for jeopardy like they're not a celebrity this weird pseudo friend that you somehow like like just as a disseminator of information that's it right and so this is what I think happened we had like that oh my god justin's in my dining room experience and it's created this crazy crazy community and it's been awesome I loved it I loved it it's been a really really cool very very cool what would I do it the second kleier this is from guru design see what would I do with a second shooter started taking clients for me I don't know the depth of that conversation but if they're taking clients from you then you're not doing your job sorry that's rude is that the right answer you can do it nicer no maybe you're not doing your job because you should explain to your second shooter that you know certain certain things before the wedding day not that he's taking a job because you're not a good photographer has nothing to do with photography skills if your second shooter's taking your clients because you should I think it's a good idea to sit down with your second shooter let them know um you know what you expect and what what is common courtesy etiquette uh second shooter etiquette is is not always known second shooters don't know what the etiquette is if it's their first time ever doing it it's a simple mistake to pass your bit your own business card right away if you never knew what if you don't know what the etiquette is um so yeah does there's their second shooter advocate that I think that you know it takes time and I think the first shooters responsibility is to let that second you don't know what the etiquette is I'm assuming that you know because j t is your second shooter you guys probably don't have a contract but assuming you have a contract with j d oh yeah you're right but you know if you were to hire a third shooter like because you know you're at your sister's wedding you said you're gonna have a third shooter so would you have a contract with that person to really spell out what the expectations are I always think it's a good idea in this particular situation I have had enough conversation and justin implicit trust with females is kind of a binding contract kind of heated to take over I really do think you should take it because I am just like my brain is like you're answering things much better than I am but yes so we have emails about what our arrangement is we have emails and but beyond all that I really do trust this person and that helps if you're if you're in a pinch and you've never worked in the second shooter and you haven't had time to go over things send an email and say can you please respond and acknowledging have everything so now you know everything's out in the open what is right and what is proper um I think maybe we'll take like um such times at four thirty like maybe I don't know we went late a couple days ago and I don't know like should we I don't know what more questions great love it e I saw question on this screen actually that is would be relevant to me when you go to foreign countries d need thio request a visa when you go work costa rica went not it's a really good question and I'm very happy to end it like that because I would love to shoot more onus on taking care of the paperwork is on my client I have too much going on and I need to know I will always of course follow up with the bride and make sure that we're doing it together but at the end she is responsible to let me know everything I need in advance if they're shot to be taken things I need to do you must do everything she must get the visas I will then turn the visas to her she will then pick it because in that mix mode of communication if it relies on me and it does not get done legally bound and responsible for it I want to make sure that we are on the same page one hundred percent of the time okay so craig oh jasmine do you want to talk at all about how you organize your files and folders is that something I don't know how about um aaron paris hawaii wants to know what is your advice for writing a successful blawg okay I r e a really um a couple tips real quick continuity if you are blogging once every three or four weeks you're not a blogger you are an occasional I don't know I don't know what that word is you just have an online diary that you occasionally use um continuity even if just once a week something for people to know that you're out there you're working you're still alive um keep it personal it doesn't have to be uber personal but the fact that some people like mrs pieces that's fine put it out there in the web you're not gonna offend anybody for liking one for running over the other it's totally fine and um also don't shy away from the person you are there's nothing worse than seeing a person who um is trying to be something that they're not so very simple very basic talk about your client people like me think about favorably well the interwebs are sending in there thank you's and all their comments and I thought we'd read a few susy bell photo it's uh retweeting buddy trails buddy trails I tonto but she's saying we're all part of the big jay star crazy community now sweet uh and parana who's been really active in the chat room um says you're the most professional person that they've ever seen and you're amazing and I just want to tell you thank you so much and that this will be worth way more than one hundred forty nine dollars they'll be paying for it yeah hopefully get it before you open that in that I'm much more valuable before eight but we have people joining us from belgrade from um new zealand from germania finland scotland and awesome that is great and the idea that the brain ing principles applies internationally is so very true I'm not saying that it only works in one type of area it is who you are hundred percent awesome who