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BUSINESS BREAKTHROUGH

by Abbey Kyhl

the

BUSINESS BREAKTHROUGH

by Abbey Kyhl

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Hey There!

GETTING STARTED STEP 1 - IDEA DUMP STEP 2 - EXPERIMENT #1 STEP 3 - BIGGEST OBSTACLE STEP 4 - LET'S TALK ABOUT PIE STEP 5 - LET'S TALK MONEY STEP 6 - LET'S PLAY A GAME STEP 7 - STOP HITTING REPEAT! STEP 8 - RESEARCH SYSTEMS STEP 9 - TWO YEAR PLAN STEP 10 - WHO ARE YOUR CLIENTS? STEP 11 - WHAT IS YOUR SPECIALTY? STEP 12 - WHAT DO YOU NEED? STEP 13 - WHAT ARE YOU MISSING OUT ON? STEP 14 - TAKE A LOOK BACK

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STEP 15 - CONTRACT YOUR LIFE AND LOVES STEP 16 - CONTRACT YOUR BUSINESS STEP 17 - CONGRATULATIONS!!!

STEP 18 - CONTROL YOUR SURROUNDINGS STEP 19 - PICK YOUR POLICIES STEP 20 - BE SEXY, BE RAD, AND BE OBSESSED! STEP 21 - DOCUMENTS DAY: GATHER STEP 22 - DOCUMENTS DAY: DESIGN STEP 23 - SET UP SYSTEMS STEP 24 - WORK ON THE “WORKING DRAFT" STEP 25 - AN EDUCATION IN SOCIAL MEDIA STEP 26 - EXPERIMENT #2 STEP 27 - BECOME A CLIENT CARE SPECIALIST! STEP 28 - START DREAMING BIGGER STEP 29 - E-X-P-L-O-D-E STEP 30 - THE NEXT THIRTY

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Meet Abbey

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HEY THERE! 2

I

am so glad that you have decided to participate in the Business Boost! I know that you are going to love it. This program is like nothing I have ever done before. I have had so many people come to my workshops and I always

wonder if they just go home and only do a few of the things that I taught them. I have been guilty of this before! I don’t think it’s because we only want to do a little bit, it is because we just don’t know how to integrate it all. We don’t know how to stay on track and aren’t sure where to start. Well that is what the Business Boost is all about.

I have broken it all down for you and made it into achievable steps. I truly believe we can all achieve success, and I know that if you follow this system you will have the tools you need to chase your biggest dreams! So let’s do this!

xoxo Abbey

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GETTING STARTED 4

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getting started

So in order to get started there are a few things you are going to have to do.

1. set time aside The only way this system will work, is if you set time aside to work it. There are going to be some steps that take days to accomplish, others only a few hours. If you really want to get through it as quickly as possible, I would recommend setting aside at least two hours a day and make a note for yourself, Steps 5, 7, 15, 16, 18, 21, 22, and 23 are full day or multiple day projects. Remember, you are setting up your business to be successful long term, and that can’t be done in a day. It takes time!

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2. don't jump ahead This will probably be the hardest thing for you to do. But here’s the thing, I have spent a LOT of time preparing this in a way that you can accomplish it all and be successful. If you jump ahead, you aren’t going to give each step the time and attention it deserves. You will get done the “easy” stuff and miss some of the most important parts. This guide requires a lot of thinking and for you to really look at your business, your goals, what you want for your life, and then to create a system that works for all of those elements. So I promise you ...if you will go step-by-step you will be far more successful.

3. trust me This step goes hand-in-hand with number two. You have to trust me. I can guarantee to you, I have been right where you are. I have been through and seen it all.

I know what its like to feel like you’re drowning in your business, to have too many clients, or no clients at all, to not be making the money you should be, and so many more things that you are most likely going through. I have spent a lot of time coming up with a better way, a way I am so excited to share that with you.

But you have to trust me! Take it step-by-step, give yourself the time to really create something amazing, and then go out and live your dreams.

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getting started

4. be completely honest with yourself There are going to be parts of this experience where you are going to have to ask yourself some really hard questions about what you want out of life. I teach all of my students that the definition for success is different for all of us. We all need to figure out what our vision of success is and chase that. We need to be honest with ourselves about what our strengths and weaknesses are. We can’t do and be everything, but by being honest with ourselves we can address our weaknesses and find a solution to them and we can embrace our strengths and use them to do something amazing! Its time to have a heart-to-heart with yourself.

5. be prepared to make decisions Now is the time! If you want to do this course, you are at a place in your life where something has to change. You are most likely sitting on the fence, standing at the edge of the cliff, or some other funny metaphor...but its time. It is time for you to start making the big decisions, taking the big risks, and doing what you need to do to explode your business and have not only the business but the life you have dreamed of. Your business is just a tool to fuel your dreams, but if you don’t make decisions about your business, nothing will ever happen!

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6. work hard!

I would say the number one question that I get asked is, “What is the one thing that made you successful?� And the truth is there is no one thing, there is no secret to success, there is no magic tip, except this; The one thing I did was work my butt off to get it. I knew that I could have a certain type of life and that I could build a business around that, and so I did what I had to do and worked incredibly hard to get it. So if you are going to do this, and really take everything to the next level, you have to be willing to work hard.

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getting started

30 STEPS!?!

I know what you are thinking...WHAT!!! THIRTY STEPS!!! Oh geez...but think about it this way, it took me five years to really get my business off the ground and to start living the life that I had dreamed of. Think about this, if you attended college, how long did it take you to finish your degree? Rome wasn’t built in a day, and you can’t build a thriving, successful business in a day either.

And lucky for you, I am giving you the steps and tools you need to do that in quite possibly thirty days if you really wanted to work hard. Granted, I think it will take longer than that because there will be certain steps that take you days to really evaluate and make decisions on, but how quickly you get through it is all up to you.

But I can guarantee you that if you work the steps, take the time to really give them your all, and take my advice in building your business, you are going to accomplish something amazing and have your own busy thriving business!

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I believe so much in this program and what I am going to teach you, that I am offering you a money back guarantee! If you work all the steps, do what I advise, and your business doesn’t grow, I will refund you the cost of the course!

Get Started

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STEP 1 12

IDEA DUMP

Today you are going to sit down somewhere quiet and alone. Don’t do this at home. Leave your normal surroundings and go some where you won’t have any distractions. You will need at least a good two hours to do this, but it could honestly take all day. I just want you to start writing, not typing, writing.

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STEP 1

Here are some of the things you need to write down and think about:

Projects you want to work on Every idea that you have about any part of your business Things you think need to change Everything you think is going great and working for you Aspects of your business that you feel need addressing Struggles you are having in your business Goals you have and want to accomplish People you want to work with (both clients and vendors) Special projects you have been wanting to do Things you want to do that you think will make you stand out BIG DREAMS...things that seem impossible but you want to have happen

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Take time to think, let your brain just completely unload and let the ideas start flowing. Once you get going, so many things will come to your mind.

I also recommend devoting a single page to each aspect of your business. Some examples could include website/blog, clients, marketing, social media, workflow, special projects, getting published, money, education, etc...

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STEP 2 16

EXPERIMENT #1

Today we are going to take the first step to living a more unplugged life. Remember how I told you that you are going to have to trust me, well this is our first “trust exercise.”

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STEP 2

Here is what I want you to do...

1. CLEAN OUT YOUR INBOX By the end of step 2 you can’t have even a single unread email. If things are more than a year old delete them. But in order for this to work you need to completely be ready and have the time to manage what I am going to have you do. An empty and organized inbox is vital to that. For the duration of this experiment you cannot go to bed at night with unread and unaddressed emails.

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2. UNROLL.ME Go to Unroll.me and see how many subscriptions you are subscribed to and cut that number by 70%. Get rid of shopping ads, vendors you have no desire to work with, etc. You have to cut it by at least 70%. So if you are subscribed to 100 differ- ent sites, 70 of them have to go.

3. RESCUETIME.COM Sign up at www.rescuetime.com on all of your computers. This is going to start tracking how much time you spend on which sites. Get ready to have your mind blown.

4. NO TV Make a commitment to yourself that for the duration of this program you will not watch TV while working. It will be hard, but it will be worth it.

5. GOODBYE FACEBOOK Take Facebook off your phone. Trust me. I have had people in my workshops, who when asked to take this step, have literally been shaking and in tears. I promise it will be fine.

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6. SPOTIFY STEP 2

Create a Spotify account with a few different types of playlists. One that will PUMP YOU UP! I listen to this while I am editing and trying to get through tasks quickly. Its great also for when you are doing boring but necessary tasks. Create another one that will help you CHILL OUT! I use this one when I need to think, focus, and make important decisions.

7. UNPLUG Determine two hours a day when you are going to be unplugged. These are hours with no phone, no computer, no TV, just completely unplugged. This also can’t be time when you are working. It has to be two hours of personal unplugged time.

8. CONSOLIDATE Go through your phone and get rid of and consolidate all apps down to one page.

Organize them into folders. But only allow yourself to have one page. You also need to get rid of any and all red buttons. Do all the updates, turn off all the notifications, whatever you have to do to get rid of the red buttons. Get rid of all games on your phone, even the ones you have “for the kids.” I promise you, I am not trying to make your life miserable. You will thank me later!

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9. CREATE A WORK SCHEDULE What are your business hours going to be, when are you going to work and when are you going to live? If you want to be part time, set aside 20-25 hours a week.

If you want to be full time set aside 40-45 hours. And this has to include every single aspect of what you do for your job. Like for me, this includes everything I do behind the camera and behind the computer.

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STEP 3 22

BIGGEST OBSTACLE Are you surviving from yesterday? I realize its hard, but trust me; It will bring you such great results in your life! So today, I have a simple exercise for you, I want you to get out your notes from Step 1 and read through them again. Then I want you to get a brand new piece of paper and I want you to write at the top, “What is my biggest obstacle?� What is keeping you from success? What is standing in your way? If you had to attribute it to one element what would it be? Obstacles could be things like time, money, the desire to be a good parent, etc. Obstacles are not bad, they are just things we need to address. I want you to write it down and write why that obstacle is keeping you from success in your business.

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STEP 4 24

LET'S TALK ABOUT PIE

Today is a three step process. So the first step is this. I want you to create a pie chart of how much time everything takes in your business. You have to include every element. For me, some of those things would include shooting, editing, client communication, travel, social media, blogging, contracts, collecting payments, the list goes on and on...so create a pie chart that reflects the time you spend doing the things in your business.

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Now we are going to talk about money. I want you to create a pie chart that

STEP 4

reflects all the different places where you make money. This one will probably take some research. For me some of the elements could be things like shooting weddings, shooting portrait sessions, selling prints, teaching, coaching, etc...If you are only doing one thing right now to make money (like shooting) break it down into smaller quantifiable slices like types of sessions.

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Now that you have your two pie charts I want you to ask yourself the following questions:

Is what you are spending the most time on the thing that is making you the most money?

Are there things that you are devoting a lot of time to that are in the bottom three as far as your income producers?

Are there things that you are doing that are making you a lot of money that you could devote more time to in order to make more money?

What do you see as the three ways you are utilizing your time the best?

What do you see as the three ways you are wasting your time the most?

If you could change both pie charts in three ways what would they be?

Now I want you to email me your pie charts and the answers to the above questions. abbey@abbeykyhl.com.

Now go eat some real pie or your favorite treat because that was a lot of work and pie makes everyone feel better, right?

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LET'S TALK MONEY Today is going to be one of the biggest and probably most time consuming of the steps that we are going to do. So just prepare yourself. It’s also one of the most important. Before we can even get into specifics of any business we have to talk money. Money is what makes a business. If you aren’t making money, if you aren’t making a profit, it means you are in a really poorly put together charity.

Because even really successful charities make money. So today’s step is this: I want you to sit down and complete Stacy Reeves Pricing Guide. It is truly going to blow your mind, I promise. Do the entire guide, don’t skip steps or breeze through them. By doing this guide, it will give you the realistic perspective on your business that you are going to need to move forward.

STEP 5 **the pricing guide is in the classroom**

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STEP 6

LET'S play a game That last step was a lot of work right? It totally blew your mind, didn’t it! I hope it really opened your eyes to what you should be charging and should be making?

Well after all that hard work, I think we should play a game.

The game is called...

“If I had an assistant”

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I want you to sit down today and write out all the things you would have an assistant do if you had one. These can be work tasks or life tasks, but write down everything. Some of the things that you could give to an assistant would be:

Things you hate to do.

Things you never get to, because you hate to do them.

Repetitive tasks that have to be done to operate your business, but it isn’t absolutely necessary that you actually be the one doing them. Think through every aspect of your life. That’s right, I am talking about laundry.

Tasks you could give away that would open up more time for you to do the things you are best at, that you love, and also give you time to do all those projects you want to do and never have the time to get to.

Time consuming errands and tasks.

Things you are always running behind on.

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STOP HITTING REPEAT! Today is going to be a somewhat easy day, because tomorrow is going to be a lot of work where you will need a really big chunk of time that you can be online doing research.

So here is today’s task: I want you to write down all the repetitive tasks that you do in your business. Everything you do for every single client. Manual tasks that you do over and over. Online tasks that you do over and over. Think through your entire customer experience and write down everything that is done over and over.

You could even think about questions you are answering over and over. Emails you are typing continuously. This could be absolutely anything...

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RESEARCH SYSTEMS So now that you hopefully have very thorough lists from Steps 6 & 7 made, we need to figure out a few things...

What are the things you could use the most help with?

What are the things you like doing the least?

What are the things that only you can do?

What would be the top five things you would like to give up?

What are your most repetitive tasks?.

Which are the things you are having to constantly redo?

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I want you to send me an email covering Steps 6-8 and I am going to send some suggestions. (abbey@abbeykyhl.com). And with all the things in mind from those steps, I want you to start researching systems that would help you overcome some of those issues. When you email I will not only send you suggestions, but I am going to send you a list of some of my favorite systems.

As you are researching the different systems out there, I want you to really take the time to compare them. I also want you to be thinking heavily about how you could create a system that would afford you to have an assistant. What if you took on one more client a month to pay for an assistant? Would that be feasible?

What could they get accomplished and how much time would that buy you to be able to do more im- portant things?

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2 YEAR PLAN - 10 BIG GOALS I am big into planning, and I think it is one of the elements that has been one of the most important keys to my success. I truly believe you can never plan too much. So what I would like you to do is make a two year plan today. Where do you want to be in two years? What do you want to have accomplished? I think two years is a perfect amount of time. One year is so short and goes by so quickly, and five years is just too long. Who knows what anyone will be doing in five years. So let’s shoot for two. Look back on all your notes from the first day and the last few days you have been doing everything and come up with a two year plan.

With that, I also want you to sketch out Ten Big Goals! Things you think are just too big for you, but would be your “shoot for the stars” type goals. Trust me, putting them on paper gets you one step closer to accomplishing them and makes these seemingly crazy goals even more real.

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As you are writing out this plan, I also want you to start adding in “action items” that will be necessary to get you there...Skills you will have to gain, things you will have to do, vital education, necessary changes, decisions that will have to be made. You could even start putting dates next to some of these things. Really fill in this two year plan and the goals as detailed as you can. You are writing out your future, so be detailed and aim big.

GOAL 1 GOAL 2 GOAL 3 GOAL 4 GOAL 5 GOAL 6 GOAL 7 GOAL 8 GOAL 9 GOAL 10

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STEP 10 38

WHO ARE YOUR CLIENTS? The only way you can market to your clients is by figuring out who they are. One of the most life-changing elements of business is knowing who your ideal client is. It honestly changed everything for me. Once I knew who my ideal client was, I was able to completely target market to them and attract more clients just like them. Makes business pretty wonderful. So this step is all about really figuring out who your ideal client is. Here is how you can determine that:

EXAMINE YOUR PAST CLIENTS No matter where we are in our business, we have all had at least one ideal client.

Its just a matter of creating a profile for this ideal client. Look through all your past clients. What similarities do they have? Which clients were a better fit for you?

What made them a better fit? Why were some experiences easier than others?

Which customers were easy to communicate with? How did you communicate with those customers? Looking outside the client experience, what are some of the personality traits of those clients that you seemed to connect better with?

Start writing out all the similar details of clients and grouping them. Depending on where you are at and how many customers you have had, narrow down the profile to 5-10 ideal clients that you can use as a reference.

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STEP 10

EXAMINE YOURSELF If you don’t know who you are, you will never be able to determine who your ideal client is. Your identity and their identity need to go hand in hand. People want to hire other people that they can relate to. So chances are that the clients who you had a better experience with preferred to do things the way you preferred to do them. Chances are, outside of your company, you have other similarities and likes. Start to pull out some of the elements that bring you together. These will become important topics for marketing later as you are trying to make a connection with them.

DETERMINE SIMILAR VALUES As you look over the clients you were able to pull out as fitting this ideal client profile and looking at yourself, what similar values do you have? Do you prefer certain ways of communication? Do you prefer working more in-person or more via the internet? Start to further pull out similarities in how you prefer to live your life and also operate in business. By knowing what each of you value, and the similarities you have, it will help you to determine not only how you should interact with them, but also what your business policies and operations should be.

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GET SPECIFIC The more you can narrow down this profile, the easier it will be to target them. I even recommend going as far as to write down their names and posting it somewhere you can see it as you are planning out your marketing strategy. And when you are making decisions ask yourself, what would they think? Would they like it?

As you are planning your business ideas and marketing strate- gies always keep them in mind.

HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE TREATED Start treating your clients the way you want to be treated as a client. The longer I have been in business, the more I realize, that my ideal clients are someone that could be a friend of mine, someone who I would want to hang out with, and someone who likes to live their lives the same way that I live mine. So by treating them the way I would want to be treated makes for a more pleasant experience for us both. Just think of it as the Golden Rule of Business...treat your clients the way you want to be treated.

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STEP 10

KNOW HOW THEY ARE FINDING YOU You want to continue, and even strengthen, the ways you are reaching out to your ideal clients. This is your lifeline to them and chances are your future ideal clients have similar preferences. If you are finding that they are all finding you on Facebook, you should focus on Facebook more than other avenues, etc.

Just think of it as the Golden Rule of Business...treat your clients the way you want to be treated.

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what is your specialty?

I want you think about all of your favorite people in your industry, or any industry for that fact. I bet you know them by name and can easily think of their work. Do they do a little bit of everything? Most likely not. They have chosen a direction for their business to specialize in. They have something they are known for. By choosing a spe- cialty, you set yourself apart from all the people who are trying to do everything under the sun.

Specializing gives you a hand up in many ways. It makes marketing easier, if you only have to target one group of people you know exactly what to do and how to do that. For me, it is all about brides. Everything I do is for my current brides and their friends and family. It makes marketing so much easier.

Specializing also gives you the ability to become an expert in your field. You know all the important vendors, you know the ins and outs of that part of the industry. Clients come to you because of your knowledge and vendors look to you for insight and collaborations because they know that you have

STEP 11

that expertise. People begin to seek you out because they know exactly what you are all about.

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STEP 11

Today I want you to decide on a specialty.

I want you to fill this out:

I specialize in:__________________________________ (put one word) Write it down, make a commitment. This important, and I am sure diďŹƒcult decision, will make or break all the other steps of this course. It is absolutely necessary for you to decide. Remember, I told you that you would have to make big decisions and this is one of those.

As you are writing out this plan, I also want you to start adding in “action items� that will be necessary to get you there...Skills you will have to gain, things you will have to do, vital education, necessary changes, decisions that will have to be made. You could even start putting dates next to some of these things. Really fill in this two year plan and the goals as detailed as you can. You are writing out your future, so be detailed and aim big.

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what do you need to learn how to do?

We all have areas of weakness, and many times that weakness is just a matter of not being educated in that area of your business. So today I want you to make a list of all the things you need to learn how to do to be successful. Here are some questions to help you really determine all the different areas...

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what do you need to learn how to do?

What are things you are always having to ask people to help you to do?

What is holding you back from improving your work?

What financial aspects of your business do you struggle with?

What things in the oďŹƒce do you need to learn how to do better?

What things are you doing that are taking far too long and you know that there must be a better way to do them?

What things online do you need to learn how to do better?

What aspects of your business are failing in marketing?

When you are done with this step, I want you to email me the list and I will help you figure out where you can begin to get the education you need to keep growing and moving forward. abbey@abbeykyhl.com

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STEP 13 48

what are you missing out on? who is missing you?

Today we are going to create a sort of “woe is me” list but really this is going to be one of the most important building blocks to the next three steps. I want you to write down all the things that you are missing out on because of your business.

Lunch with friends, weekends off, trips, family activities, hobbies, whatever it is, start writing it down. It could even be things that you are financially missing out on because your business is draining you.

Also consider things you are missing out on in your business because you just simply don’t have the time to participate in or get to.

Then, who are the people you want to spend more time with? Who is missing you? Who are the people in your life that don’t get enough of your time that you want to be able to give more of yourself to. I am talking real, you have my complete attention time. For those of you who have children and work from home, just because you are under the same roof doesn’t mean you are spending time with your kids. If your eyes are focused on something other than the person you are in the room with, you aren’t giving them the time and attention they deserve.

Then take a deep breath, go do something fun, and get ready...because the next three steps are going to be the most important and probably emotionally overwhelming steps of this whole course.them again. Then I want you to get a brand new piece of paper and I want you to write at the top, “What is my biggest obstacle?” What is keeping you from success?

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take a look back This step is all about reviewing. I want you to take as much time as you need to look back over everything we have done in the last thirteen steps. I hope that you have had the opportunity and really taken the time to examine all the things we have looked at. Review these things...

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How did Experiment #1 go. What difference did you notice?

How do you feel about your biggest obstacle? Have you had any ideas on how to eliminate it?

What did you learn in doing the pie chart exercise? Did you review what I sent you back about your pie charts?

What did you learn from the pricing guide?

Look over your two year plan and those ten big goals.

What did you learn in the time you spent researching systems? Are there ones you are excited about?

Have you had any ideas about how to consolidate the repetitive tasks?

Do you know what you would have an assistant do?

Do you know now who your ideal client is?

Do you know your specialty?

Have you started working on the things you need to learn? Did you review the information that I sent you?

Have you taken time to think about the people in your life and how your business is affecting them?

After you have spent some time reviewing it, I want you to start consolidating everything you have written down, discovered, and thought about as much as you can. Start putting things in order of importance as much as you can. This will help you for tomorrow....

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contract your life & loves Over the next two steps you are going to be making some very important contracts with yourself and the people that you love. This is such an important step and will make a huge difference in how you approach your life and business.

Making a contract is making promises, and do you really want to break promises?

I hope not. So the first step is making a contract with your life and those in it. Also find someone who will keep you accountable; I have found in my life the people who have kept me the most accountable have been my children; no matter what stage you are in, I am sure there is someone who would love to call you out when you are breaking the rules you have set for yourself.

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Some of the elements of my personal contract include: The Kyhl Daily Five Unplugged Hours Schedule Vacations First No more working Saturdays No appointments in July No appointments except for “game changers” December-February

I also in my personal contract with myself and my family, I addressed things like how much money we needed to make, setting that monthly income goal and sticking to it, how I would put my personal life first and trust that my business would adapt and fill in the gaps.

So start writing out all the personal, yet attainable, contract items you want to make for your personal life. Don’t go crazy. Make this a contract you can keep and stick to. There will come a time when it needs to be updated, but you don’t want to set yourself up for failure from the get go. Write it up, sign it, put it somewhere you will see it, and show the people you want to keep you accountable what you are committing to.

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contract your business Now that you have a contract for your life and your loves, I want you to make a contract for your business. Think of it as an employee contract, because even if you are the CEO of a company, you still have guidelines and certain responsibilities that you follow. Some of the elements you would include in your business contract would be:

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What days of the week you are open for business?

What days of the week are your days off?

What hours of the day are you available?

When are your unplugged hours?

What is your weekly schedule for working?

When and how do you respond to clients?

What is your policy on payments? Refunds? Cancellations? Basically what is your policy on anything regarding the money coming into your business.

How many clients can you handle a month?

What is your workflow?

Anything else you need to put in your business contract to keep yourself accountable...

The business contract is going to be a “working draft� until the end of this course, be- cause we are going to be working on some key elements of your business that may change once we address them. The life & loves contract is set and solid, so you need to uphold it!

Get ready! Tomorrow is a big day!

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STEP 17 56

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

I would like to officially congratulate you! After sixteen very thought provoking steps, that I am sure were somewhat draining, you are now ready to move to the next phase of this course. The bust into action phase!

So I want to congratulate you...today you become a BOSS!!!!

I am sure you feel like you have spent a lot of time thinking through this, but I can’t even express to you how important the thinking part is. I can’t tell you how many coaching clients that I have worked with that just completely skip this part and just jump right in and cause themselves a world of chaos because they didn’t take time to think about who they are, what kind of business they want to have, and what kind of life they want to live.

So now we are going to take all those things you have written down, thought about, and all those important questions you have asked yourself and turn them into a kick butt business plan that will give you the skills, tools, and foundation to go out and kill it!

Get ready to roll up your sleeves. All the “thinking time” is over, now its time to get down to business! Get ready to be busting out that PUMP you up playlist a whole lot!

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CONTROL YOUR SURROUNDINGS Its time to get everything under control! Here are the areas we are going to focus on in this step:

YOUR OFFICE Its time to get your work space organized. You need to have a designated space where you work. If you are working from home, it has to be a place that you can close the door on at night. It needs to be completely organized. Get rid of things you are no longer using. Set your desk somewhere that natu- ral light can shine on your face. I don’t recommend facing the wall, its bad for your mental state.

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YOUR COMPUTER Organize all of your files, folders, and everything. Create a desktop organizer and start using it. Move files to storage that you are no longer using. Give yourself an inspirational quote on your desktop that will get you up and going each day and remind you why you are doing what you are doing.

YOUR ONLINE LIFE Go through each of your social media accounts and massively clean it up. Get rid of things that don’t appeal to your ideal client, things that don’t look like your current work, anything that wouldn’t be appealing to someone you want to hire you. And I would even recommend going through the list of people you follow and cut the list down by 50%. Only keep your absolute favorites, people that inspire you, motivate you, or are people you genuinely care about. Anyone that makes you feel bad about yourself, get rid of them! If you use Google Drive, Dropbox, or any similar program go through and de-clutter them and give them an overhaul.

YOUR PHONE Look back at your phone from Experiment #1 and see which apps you haven’t used in that time period. If there are things you aren’t using...get rid of them!

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Update your speed dials. Clean out your texts. It’s a time waster to save every text

STEP 18

you have ever received. Start purging ones that are no longer important. Also designate a place for your phone to live. A place it can live when you are working, and a place it can live when you are spending time with your loved ones. If you put your phone in your pocket, your shirt, or wherever else...its time to start a new habit. I promise you can live without it.

YOUR CLIENTS This is your business, and they are your clients...they don’t own you. You set the rules. Start controlling the show with your clients. You have set a work schedule in the working draft of your business contract so start training your clients on when you are going to be available. Start educating them on your policies and how you run your business. The more you teach them the more that they will follow those standards. People love instructions, and want someone to tell them how things go, so you need to take control and start doing that.

YOUR COMMUNICATION One of the best things I ever did was educate my clients on how to communicate with me. I used to have clients who would call, email, text, and Facebook until I would respond. Which keep in mind, I get back to everyone generally within a few

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hours, but for sure the same day. So I took control of my communication and have trained them that the best and most effective way to reach me is via email.

Its time to decide your preferred method of communication and then begin training your clients on reaching you this way.

YOUR COSTS Its time to take a long look at all of your expenses and determine which you can reduce. Are there things that you are doing that are not adding to the value of your company but are costing you money? Are there places you have memberships to that you don’t use? Are you getting the biggest bang for your buck with the vendors you utilize? Now there is one important thing to keep in mind with this aspect...cheap is not always, actually rarely, the best solution! Just because something is the cheapest doesn’t mean it should be your first choice. Always going the least expensive route could in the long run end up costing you more time. You have to start looking at your time as a cost to evaluate too and really truly, the old saying is true...TIME IS MONEY. Time is the most valuable commodity you have.

You can’t make more time. You can always make more money. If you go the cheap route to save a few dollars and it ends up creating ten times the amount of work on your end you aren’t saving anything at all. You are actually costing yourself.

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PICK YOUR POLICIES & WRANGLE YOUR WORKFLOW This step is all about making decisions. Its time to decide who you are, what your business is, and how you are going to function.

POLICIES You need to go through every aspect and step of your business and decide on a policy. Office hours, days you work, days you don’t, payments, contracts, timelines of when things will be completed, client contact, pricing...absolutely everything. Its time to decide and commit to it. You can’t expect your clients to commit to your business and the way you run things if you aren’t sure of what they are, and even more importantly if you don’t put them in writing and educate your clients they will never be able to follow your program.

This is also where you start deciding what will be in your contract. Just start deciding, we aren’t drafting it today, but you need to start deciding some of the elements that need to be in it.

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STEP 19

WORKFLOW I want you to sit down and write out absolutely every single thing that happens from the second a client contacts you to the minute you send a thank you. Everything that has to happen and everything that you do.

This is your current workflow, and along with that I want you to write out how much time each of these things takes. This will help you see how much time you are devoting to every client.

Now I want you to do everything you can to cut that number and those steps in half. I know this seems crazy, but the first time I did this exercise I went from 43 steps down to 12. You can do it. Also, with your steps, start to determine how many of them can be automated by a system or is something that your “soon to be hired” assistant can do.

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you aren’t sure of what they are.

be sexy, be rad & be obsessed!

STEP 20

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STEP 20

We are going to learn three lessons in this step!

SCHEDULES ARE SEXY! ROUTINES ARE RAD! AND OCD IS YOUR BEST FRIEND!!!

SCHEDULES If you don’t have a schedule for your life and your business they will run you ragged. Think about how much more manageable your life was when you were in high school as far as time management goes. You knew where you were supposed to be and when you were supposed to be there. Your life ran on bells and schedules. You need to integrate that back into your life. You need to have a work schedule, a schedule for each person in your life, a schedule for how long it takes you to get your work done, and a schedule for your workflow so your clients know what to expect. If you set up the expectations for them, they won’t be bugging you non-stop asking questions.

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ROUTINES A successful life and business is all about routines. Figuring out the best and easiest way to do things and streamlining them. For me, I have a morning schedule and an evening schedule. Things that no matter what is going on in my life, I do them everyday. You would be amazed at how much chaos control this provides you with. Once you start to get in the habit of doing things this way, you are able to master them and accomplish them even quicker. So instead of dealing with emails all day long, I can now get through all of them in about 20 minutes.

OCD Being OCD can be a blessing. Having control over you business and knowing what you are doing to run the show can be a blessing. There will come a time when you have grown enough that you can hand over some of the responsibility of the day-to-day operations. You should always be the one running the show.

Most importantly, it shouldn’t be your clients who are running the show. The more you show them that you are confident, that you have a plan, and that they can trust you the more they will feel comfortable letting you hold the reins.

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STEP 20

A FEW QUICK TIPS TO INTEGRATE POST-IT NOTE RULE. Don’t try to do more in a day than you can fit on a post-it note. This will help you feel accomplished and make you feel every day like a rock star because you got everything on your list done, versus having a never ending list on a huge piece of paper that you never get rid of. I use this strategy on days when I am out of the office and running around town. I carry the post it around with me all day, then trash it when I am done.

FIVE THINGS A DAY. This is another concept similar to the post-it note rule, but just with five things a day. I use this method when I am working in the office and can see my schedule right in front of me. I schedule things out and make sure to never put more than five on my day. This is such a great concept because not everything has to be done right now, and by scheduling the tasks I have to do, I don’t stress myself out in trying to overwork myself.is something that your “soon to be hired” assistant can do.

GOOGLE DOCS. You should start creating a system that absolutely any document you regularly access from your computer is on Google Docs.

Having access to it by doing this will be such a huge stress relief for you when you need information and aren’t in the office to access it. I keep everything on Google Docs and love having the app on my phone.

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SYSTEMS. This is probably one of the top five words in my business vocabulary. I can’t encourage you more to utilize systems in your business.

There are so many out there that are designed to make your life more manageable, and they are far better at what they do than you will ever be.

I will never be able to accept payments, get contracts signed, send reminder emails, and distribute questionnaires the way that ShootQ does. It will never ever happen. The amount of money that I pay for that system will never compare to the amount of money I have made in the free time I have gained back. Systems and outsourcing are what extremely smart business owners use, and that is what you should do!

REASONABLE TASKS IN REASONABLE TIME. I only start tasks that I can accomplish in the time I have allotted. If I have 45 minutes of time, I will do three fifteen minute tasks, but I won’t start a six hour project. It has helped me to be far more productive in my businesses and life in general.

If I do have a huge task, like editing, I will even break it down into smaller pieces (proofing, basic edits, final edits, social media, etc...) and accomplish those things when I have the allotted time to get them done.when you need information and aren’t in the office to access it. I keep everything on Google Docs and love having the app on my phone.

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It’s time to tackle the monumental task of putting all your documents together!

STEP 21

But we are going to split this beast into two parts. So today is all about gathering, drafting, and compiling the information. By the end of this step and the next one you will have the following all put together...

Contracts Template Emails Workflows Questionnaires Session Prep Guides Pricing Guides

I have given you my guides to look over, but I can guarantee you that if you just copy mine you are going to hate them in about a month and just want to redo them. Because my business is not your business, and I am not you. We all have something to offer, we all have a different perspective, so if you are going to take the time to do all of these things, make them you. Make them sound like you, write the way you talk, put your personality and your brand into them. Put your opinion into them. There are go- ing to be things that I believe and tell clients in my business that you may not agree with. Trust your gut on what you think. After all you are building your business!!

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WEDDING CONTRACT: SAMPLE Today's Date: Main Contact: Address: Phone Number: Bride: Groom: Event: Event Date: Coverage: Ceremony Location: Reception Location: Package Price: Package Description: Payment Schedule:

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STEP 21

WEDDING CONTRACT: SAMPLE (CONTINUED) Terms and Conditions: 1. ENTIRE AGREEMENT: This agreement contains the entire understanding between YOUR BUSINESS NAME and the CLIENT. It supersedes all prior and simultaneous agreements between the parties. The only way to change or add to this agreement is to do so in writing, providing all the relevant parties sign the document.

2. RETAINER: Upon your signature, YOUR BUSINESS NAME will reserve the time(s) and date(s) agreed upon, and will not make other reservations for that time and date. For this reason, a deposit of YOUR DEPOSIT is non-refundable, even if the date is changed or the wedding cancelled for any reason; including acts of God, fire, strike and/or extreme weather. The deposit is to be paid at time of signing the contract. The deposit is applied towards the contracted wedding photography package. The CLIENT understands and agrees that the entire amount owed for the wedding photography package described in the contract is due 30 days prior to the wedding date.

3. CANCELLATION: In the event that the CLIENT cancels the contracted services for wedding photography outlined in this con- tract before the wedding ceremony takes place, the deposit will be forfeited. YOUR BUSINESS NAME agrees to refund all addi- tional paid money for services not yet rendered (less expenditures for which receipts will be provided), to the CLIENT. 4. PRE-EVENT CONSULTATION: The parties agree to a pre-event consultation before the wedding date in order to finalize the actual shooting times and locations. This consultation can be done either in person or via e-mail or phone.

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5. COOPERATION: The parties agree to positive cooperation and communication for the best possible result within the definition of this assignment. YOUR BUSINESS NAME is not responsible for key individuals’ failure to be present or to cooperate during photography sessions, neither for missed images due to details not revealed to YOUR BUSINESS NAME. YOUR BUSINESS NAME recommends that the CLIENT designate an "event guide" (see EVENT GUIDE below).

6. EVENT GUIDE: The CLIENT will be responsible for designating someone to be responsible in identifying people/objects of whom/which specific photographs are desired. The EVENT GUIDE will point out important individuals to the photographer, whom the CLIENT wishes to include in informal or candid photographs. The photographer will NOT be held accountable for not photographing desired people if there is no one to assist in identifying or gathering people for the photograph(s). The CLIENT is also responsible for identifying any individual/s that does not desire to be photographed.

7. 120 MINUTE WINDOW: The bride and/or groom agree to set aside at least 120 minutes on the wedding day for formal pic- tures. This is time set aside to get the photographs that cannot be obtained during the ceremony or reception. This can include, but is not limited to formal couple photos, formal family photos, etc. If either the bride’s or groom’s late arrival (or any other rea- son outside of the photographer’s control) prevents this 120 minute window from occurring, YOUR BUSINESS NAME shall not be held liable for failure to take desired photographs 8. SHOOTING TIME / ADDITIONS: The photography schedule and selected methodology are designed to accomplish the goals and wishes of the CLIENT in a manner enjoyed by all parties involved. The CLIENT and YOUR BUSINESS NAME agree that posi- tive cooperation and punctuality are therefore essential. Shooting commences at the scheduled time. Should the ceremony start late

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due to any reason whatsoever, YOUR BUSINESS NAME will not be held liable for any photographs not

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taken. This time frame applies to all other sessions including bridals and engagements and any other additional sessions unless otherwise agreed upon between the CLIENT and YOUR BUSINESS NAME. 9. HOUSE RULES: The photographer is limited by the guidelines of the ceremony official or the reception site management. The CLIENT agrees to accept the technical results of their imposition on the photographer. Negotiation with the officials for moderation of guidelines is the CLIENT's responsibility; YOUR BUSINESS NAME will offer technical recommendations only.

10. DIGITAL NEGATIVES, PRINTS and COPYRIGHTS: The photographs, digital negatives or prints produced by YOUR BUSINESS NAME are protected by Copyright Law (all rights reserved) and may not be reproduced in any manner without YOUR BUSINESS NAME’s explicit written permission.

The CLIENT must obtain written permission from, and compensate YOUR BUSINESS NAME prior to an event where the CLIENT, the CLIENT’s friends or relatives publish or sell the photographs for profit.

11. ONLINE SHARING: Client agrees to allow BUSINESS NAME to share images online through Photographers blog and other social media sites. If Client prefers not to have images shared online, Client will notify BUSINESS NAME via email when choosing edited image selections. Client also agrees that any images that are shared on their online social media sites, blogs, etc. will be credited with YOUR BUSINESS NAME's name and link to the website www.akstudiodesign.com.

12. PRINT RESTRICTIONS: The CLIENT hereby agrees to abide by the following print restrictions regarding any photographs used in any product that will be on display throughout the wedding process including but not limited to invitations and announcements, wedding albums, guest books, guest favors, display tables, or any other prints that are on display. All prints that are used through-

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out the wedding process must be approved by the photographer and can only consist of edited images. No un-edited images may be used in any way without the photographers consent. Photographer agrees to provide edited images in plenty of time for addi- tional photo choices and editing to be done to accommodate the CLIENTS needs. The photographer also requires that all orders for invitations, announcements, prints, and any other product on display throughout the wedding process be approved and handled through the photographer.

13. MODEL RELEASE: The CLIENT hereby assigns and grants YOUR BUSINESS NAME and its legal representatives the irrevocable and unrestricted right to use and publish photographs of the CLIENT or in which the CLIENT may be included, for editorial, trade, advertising or any other purpose and in any manner and medium; to alter the same without restriction; and to copyright the same. The CLIENT hereby releases YOUR BUSINESS NAME and its legal representatives and assigns from all claims and liability relating to said photographs. It is agreed that YOUR BUSINESS NAME may display and use the photographs taken for advertising, display, website and internet promotion, photographic contests, public display such as in malls, photography books, photography instructional books, store fronts, window displays, studio display, television advertising, magazine advertising and any other purpose thought proper by YOUR BUSINESS NAME. 14. EXCLUSIVITY / GUEST PHOTOGRAPHY: It is understood that YOUR BUSINESS NAME will act as the sole and exclusive wed- ding photographer. Because of the fact that flashes from guest’s cameras may ruin shots taken by YOUR BUSINESS NAME, the CLIENT acknowledges that YOUR BUSINESS NAME will not be held liable for any shots unavailable because of interference from guest photography.

Other than YOUR BUSINESS NAME, no other photography is requested during the formal poses.

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15. GUEST COOPERATION: The CLIENT is responsible for the conduct of their guests. The CLIENT

STEP 21

will direct all other service providers (florist, DJ, caterer, etc.) to provide any needed information and cooperation to the photographer. Coordination with other service providers is necessary to complete all the photography sessions as scheduled. The CLIENT should share the photog- raphy schedule with other service providers to make sure that there is no conflict in times. In addition, events during the wedding day should be planned to make the best use of time from all vendors.

16. CLIENT/ GUEST BEHAVIOR: YOUR BUSINESS NAME will not tolerate verbally or physically abusive behavior, nor will it share its time or compete with guest photographers for the attention of the subjects. Unchecked guest conduct that interferes with pho- tography may seriously affect the quality of the photographs taken and increase the number of times photos must be re-taken. If the CLIENT is unable to control the conduct of their guests, resulting in an unacceptable degree of misconduct, or if the conduct of any of their guests damages the equipment of the photographer, it will result in the early or immediate departure of the photographer. The CLIENT understands that in such an event, no refunds will be granted and any damage to equipment will be the responsibility of the CLIENT to replace or repair.

17. COMPLETION SCHEDULE: Engagement Sessions and Bridal or Bride & Groom Sessions are generally rushed to be com- pleted as quickly as possible, but depending on time taken, completion can take up to YOUR TIMELINE. YOUR BUSINESS NAME makes every effort to have wedding images completed and delivered to CLIENT within YOUR TIMELINE, this however, depends largely on CLIENT choosing their images in a timely manner. Basic wedding day edits shall be provided to the client by YOUR TIMELINE. After that CLIENT is encourage to make edited image selections within YOUR

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TIMELINE so that photographer can deliver final images to CLIENT by YOUR TIMELINE deadline.

However, all sessions are edited in the order that edited image selec- tions are received, so if CLIENT does not choose edited image selections in a timely manner unforeseen delays may lead to pro- longed wait time. Creation of a wedding album takes YOUR TIMELINE after digital images are completed.

18. PAYMENTS: The CLIENT agrees that a deposit of YOUR DEPOSIT is required at the time of contract acceptance, additional payments will be made at all following sessions and 100% of the remaining balance is due 30 days prior to the wedding date. CLIENT understands that no print orders, outside of invitations/announcements, will be submitted until final payment is made.

19. METHOD OF REMUNERATION: Payment may be made in cash, check, credit card or money order. Returned checks are sub- ject to a $25.00 returned check fee. PROOF OF PAYMENT WILL BE PROVIDED ON REQUEST. 20. PURCHASE OF DIGITAL NEGATIVES: Image CD's are not part of any of YOUR BUSINESS NAME wedding packages. CLIENTS will receive an online download gallery to gain access to their digital images. If the CLIENT desires copies of the digital negatives in high resolution, these images may be purchased at a specified cost and will be supplied on CD. 21. PENALTY FEES & CHARGES: There is a $100.00 late payment fee for any payments that are not postmarked or delivered to YOUR BUSINESS NAME by the required date. THE CLIENT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL REASONABLE ATTORNEY FEES AND COSTS OF COLLECTION. 22. RIGHT OF WITHDRAWAL: YOUR BUSINESS NAME’s discovery of new information, changes to agreed circumstances, or other factors which tend to circumvent its policies may result in its

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withdrawal. Non-cooperation; changes in locations, facilities or available times; missed appoint-

STEP 21

ments and late payments are examples of contributing factors. Should YOUR BUSINESS NAME initiate the withdrawal, all fees will be returned, excluding retainer as well as fair market value for all services/products already provided. In case of withdrawal YOUR HOURLY RATE an hour is charged for all photography services already provided and YOUR OFFICE HOURLY RATE an hour is charged for all other services, consultations and all driving time, rounded up to the nearest half-hour.

23. LIMIT OF LIABILITY: In the unlikely event of severe medical, natural, or other emergencies, it may be necessary to retain an alternative photographer. YOUR BUSINESS NAME will make every effort to secure a replacement photographer able and/or willing to provide a similar package as chosen in this contract at the same/similar tariff. If such a situation should occur and a suitable replacement is not found, responsibility and liability is limited to the return of all payments received for the event package. YOUR BUSINESS NAME takes the utmost care with respect to exposure, transportation and processing of photographs, including using professional grade equipment and professional grade backup equipment. However, in the unlikely event of the CLIENT’s photographs being lost, stolen or destroyed for reasons within or beyond YOUR BUSINESS NAME’s control, the latter’s liability is limited to the return of all payments received for the event package. The limit of liability shall not exceed the contract price stated herein. The limit of liability for a partial loss of originals shall be a prorated amount of the exposures lost based on the percentage of total number of originals.

24. NON-GUARANTEE: Although every possible care will be taken to produce photographs of all important and special events during the wedding, YOUR BUSINESS NAME cannot place an unconditional guarantee on the above. YOUR BUSINESS NAME will not be held responsible for

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any ruined photographs due to guests’ (or any other) flashes; or any other ruined photographs due to any other cause in or outside of YOUR BUSINESS NAME’s control.

25. PERFORMANCE: The performance of this contract on behalf of YOUR BUSINESS NAME shall be contingent upon acts of God, flood, fire, warfare, government laws or regulations, electrical failure, strikes by suppliers, and/or conditions beyond its control.

26. SEVERABILITY: If any provision of this agreement is held to be invalid or unenforceable under the law, the validity of this agreement as a whole shall not be affected, and the other provisions of the agreement shall remain in full force and effect.

27. AMENDMENTS: This contract has been freely negotiated and shall be recognized as the entirety of the agreement. Only those changes or modifications specifically placed in writing, attached, dated and signed by the CLIENT and YOUR BUSINESS NAME at the time of acceptance of this contract shall be recognized as amendments to this contract.

28. PRICE GUARANTEE: The prices listed in this contract expire YOUR DESIRED TIME after the wedding date and orders placed after this time has expired will be at current YOUR BUSINESS NAME rates.

Bride

Date

Groom

Date

YOUR BUSINESS NAME

Date

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PORTRAIT CONTRACT: SAMPLE Today's Date: Main Contact: Address: Phone Number: Session: Session Date: Package Price: Package Description: Payment Schedule: Terms and Conditions: 1. ENTIRE AGREEMENT: This agreement contains the entire understanding between YOUR BUSINESS NAME and the CLIENT. It supersedes all prior and simultaneous agreements between the parties. The only way to change or add to this agreement is to do so in writing, providing all the relevant parties sign the document. YOUR BUSINESS NAME hereby agrees to perform photographic

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services for Client at the session specified above in a professional, workmanlike manner according to the prevailing stan- dards in the industry. YOUR BUSINESS NAME shall, in consultation with the Client, individually edit, optimize, color-correct, en- hance, and retouch the images taken at the session that are selected as part of the print collection.

2. RETAINER/PAYMENT. Full Payment of the session fee is due upon execution of this Agreement, at which time YOUR BUSINESS NAME commits to being available to Client on that date. Appointments will not be booked until full payment is made. BUSINESS NAME will put a 72 hour hold on potential dates of the Clients choosing while waiting for payment, after which time those dates will become available to other clients. In the event that Client fails to remit payment as specified, BUSINESS NAME shall have the right to immediately terminate this Agreement with no further obligation to attend the session.

3. CANCELLATION: In the event that the CLIENT cancels the contracted services for photography outlined in this contract before the session takes place, the deposit/session fee will be forfeited.

YOUR BUSINESS NAME agrees to refund all additional paid money for services not yet rendered (less expenditures for which receipts will be provided), to the CLIENT. 4. PRE-EVENT CONSULTATION: The parties agree to a pre-event consultation before the session in order to finalize the actual shooting times and locations. This consultation can be done either in person or via e-mail or phone.

5. COOPERATION: The parties agree to positive cooperation and communication for the best possible result within the definition of this assignment. YOUR BUSINESS NAME is not responsible for key individuals’ failure to be present or to cooperate during photography sessions, neither for missed

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images due to details not revealed to YOUR BUSINESS NAME.

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6. SESSION CHANGES. YOUR BUSINESS NAME must be notified immediately of any changes in schedule or location, at least 24 hours in advance of the scheduled session date. All changes must be made via email. YOUR BUSINESS NAME prefers not to shoot under the following circumstances and would gladly reschedule to your earliest convenience: YOUR TERMS. 7. DIGITAL NEGATIVES, PRINTS and COPYRIGHTS: The photographs, digital negatives or prints produced by YOUR BUSINESS NAME are protected by Copyright Law (all rights reserved) and may not be reproduced in any manner without YOUR BUSINESS NAME’s explicit written permission. The CLIENT must obtain written permission from, and compensate YOUR BUSINESS NAME prior to an event where the CLIENT, the CLIENT’s friends or relatives publish or sell the photographs for profit.

8. COPYRIGHT. All photographs taken by BUSINESS NAME at the session, in whatever form, are copyright-protected. Any copying, scanning, reprinting, duplicating, or altering of the photographs taken by BUSINESS NAME, without Photographer’s express written permission is a violation of federal copyright law.

9. MODEL RELEASE: The CLIENT hereby assigns and grants YOUR BUSINESS NAME and its legal representatives the irrevocable and unrestricted right to use and publish photographs of the CLIENT or in which the CLIENT may be included, for editorial, trade, advertising or any other purpose and in any manner and medium; to alter the same without restriction; and to copyright the same. The CLIENT hereby releases YOUR BUSINESS NAME and its legal representatives and assigns from all claims and liability relating to said photographs. It is agreed that YOUR BUSINESS NAME may display and use the photographs taken for advertising, display, website and internet promotion, photographic

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contests, public display such as in malls, photography books, photography instructional books, store fronts, window displays, studio display, television advertising, magazine advertising and any other purpose thought proper by YOUR BUSINESS NAME. 10. COMPLETION SCHEDULE: Newborn Sessions are generally rushed to be completed as quickly as possible, but depending on time taken, completion can take up to YOUR TIMELINE. YOUR BUSINESS NAME makes every effort to have session images completed and delivered to CLIENT within YOUR TIMELINE, this however, depends largely on CLIENT choosing their images in a timely manner. A presentation of the images from the session (“Proofs”) shall be made available to client via a password- protected online gallery the YOUR TIMELINE after the session. Proofs may include artistic enhancements or touch-ups added to the images in BUSINESS NAME’s sole discretion and according to BUSINESS NAME standard style. Client will then provide BUSINESS NAME will image selection choices. If Client does not provide the necessary input within YOUR TIMELINE, then the edited image selections shall be made by the BUSINESS NAME. No editing will take place until client has chosen print collection and paid in full for that print collection. However, all sessions are edited in the order that edited image selections are received, so if CLIENT does not choose edited image selections in a timely manner unforeseen delays may lead to prolonged wait time. Creation of a portrait album takes YOUR TIMELINE after digital images are completed.

11. PAYMENTS: The CLIENT agrees that the session fee of YOUR SESSION FEE is required at the time of contract acceptance. Collection payments are due before any editing will take place.

CLIENT understands that no editing, print orders, or album de- sign will be submitted until final payment is made.

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12. METHOD OF REMUNERATION: Payment may be made in cash, check, credit card or money

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order. Returned checks are subject to a $25.00 returned check fee. PROOF OF PAYMENT WILL BE PROVIDED ON REQUEST. 13. PURCHASE OF DIGITAL NEGATIVES: Image CD's are not part of any of YOUR BUSINESS NAME portrait packages. CLI- ENTS will receive an online download gallery to gain access to their digital images. If the CLIENT desires copies of the digital negatives in high resolution, these images may be purchased at a specified cost and will be supplied on CD. 14. ONLINE SHARING: Client agrees to allow BUSINESS NAME to share images online through Photographers blog and other social media sites. If Client prefers not to have images shared online, Client will notify BUSINESS NAME via email when choosing edited image selections. Client also agrees that any images that are shared on their online social media sites, blogs, etc. will be credited with YOUR BUSINESS NAME's name and link to the website www.akstudiodesign.com.

15. PENALTY FEES & CHARGES: There is a $100.00 late payment fee for any payments that are not postmarked or delivered to YOUR BUSINESS NAME by the required date. THE CLIENT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL REASONABLE ATTORNEY FEES AND COSTS OF COLLECTION. 16. RIGHT OF WITHDRAWAL: YOUR BUSINESS NAME’s discovery of new information, changes to agreed circumstances, or other factors which tend to circumvent its policies may result in its withdrawal. Non-cooperation; changes in locations, facilities or available times; missed appointments and late payments are examples of contributing factors. Should YOUR BUSINESS NAME initiate the withdrawal, all fees will be returned, excluding retainer as well as fair market value for all services/products already provided. In case of withdrawal YOUR HOURLY RATE an hour is

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charged for all photography services already provided and YOUR OFFICE HOURLY RATE an hour is charged for all other services, consultations and all driving time, rounded up to the nearest half-hour.

17. LIMIT OF LIABILITY: In the unlikely event of severe medical, natural, or other emergencies, it may be necessary to retain an alternative photographer. YOUR BUSINESS NAME will make every effort to secure a replacement photographer able and/or will- ing to provide a similar package as chosen in this contract at the same/similar tariff. If such a situation should occur and a suit- able replacement is not found, responsibility and liability is limited to the return of all payments received for the event package. YOUR BUSINESS NAME takes the utmost care with respect to exposure, transportation and processing of photographs, including using professional grade equipment and professional grade backup equipment. However, in the unlikely event of the CLIENT’s photographs being lost, stolen or destroyed for reasons within or beyond YOUR BUSINESS NAME’s control, the latter’s liability is limited to the return of all payments received for the event package. The limit of liability shall not exceed the contract price stated herein. The limit of liability for a partial loss of originals shall be a prorated amount of the exposures lost based on the percentage of total number of originals.

18. NON-GUARANTEE: Although every possible care will be taken to produce photographs of all important and special moments during your session, YOUR BUSINESS NAME cannot place an unconditional guarantee on the above. YOUR BUSINESS NAME will not be held responsible for any ruined photographs due to uncooperative behavior of the parties; or any other ruined photographs due to any other cause in or outside of YOUR BUSINESS NAME’s control.

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19. PERFORMANCE: The performance of this contract on behalf of YOUR BUSINESS NAME shall

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be contingent upon acts of God, flood, fire, warfare, government laws or regulations, electrical failure, strikes by suppliers, and/or conditions beyond its control.

20. SEVERABILITY: If any provision of this agreement is held to be invalid or unenforceable under the law, the validity of this agreement as a whole shall not be affected, and the other provisions of the agreement shall remain in full force and effect.

21. AMENDMENTS: This contract has been freely negotiated and shall be recognized as the entirety of the agreement. Only those changes or modifications specifically placed in writing, attached, dated and signed by the CLIENT and YOUR BUSINESS NAME at the time of acceptance of this contract shall be recognized as amendments to this contract.

22. PRICE GUARANTEE: The prices listed in this contract expire YOUR DESIRED TIME after the wedding date and orders placed after this time has expired will be at current YOUR BUSINESS NAME rates.

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Client

Date

YOUR BUSINESS NAME

Date

welcome questionnaire (wedding): SAMPLE What is your fiancé’s name?

What is your fiancés email address and phone number (in case I can’t reach you)?

Tell me about the two of you! How did you meet? What is your love story? Where did he propose?

What are the things that you love most about the two of you? What are the things you love most to do together?

What are the details of your ceremony? Address? Time? Etc? What are the details of your wedding reception? Address? Times? Etc? Are there any other wedding day events that you want me to be a part of? Please include all the details.

How many guests are you expecting?

What are the TOP FIVE IMAGES you want to come away with? Trust me! There will be so many more than five, but I want to make sure I don’t miss the shots that are the most important to you.

What are your wedding colors? Do you have a wedding theme?

I would love to know more about your wedding plans, especially what you are to do make your wedding special or unique for you. Tell me what you envision your ideal wedding to be like.

If you have a wedding Pinterest board, please add the link here: Please include a link to your Facebook Page: Please include your Instagram Name: Please include your Twitter Name: What is his mothers email address? And phone number? Do you want the download gallery sent to her?

What is your mothers email address? And phone number? Do you want the download gallery sent to her?

Is there anyone else you want the download galleries sent to? Please include their names and email addresses.

How did you hear about AK Studio & Design?

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WEDDING VENDOR questionnaire: SAMPLE Caterer—Name & Email DJ or Muic—Name & Email Florist—Name & Email Venue—Name & Email Videographer—Name & Email Wedding Cake—Name & Email Wedding Invitations—Name & Email Wedding Planner—Name & Email Hair & makeup—Name & Email Where did you purchase your wedding dress from?

Where is the grooms attire from?

Where did the bridal party attire come from?

Are there any things that you purchased from other vendors who would want the images?

Please include their names and emails.

If you purchased anything from Etsy, please include the details on that.

WEDDING DAY questionnaire: SAMPLE This is the list of formal pictures that I normally do. Please choose all the ones you want. Both you and the groom will be in all of these poses as well. (Then include a list of all your normal poses).

If there are additional formal group photos that you would like, please list them here.

Are there any divorces, deaths, family relationships, etc, which we should know about so as not to embarrass anyone or cause an uncomfortable situation?

Names and relationships of Brides immediate family (parents, siblings, grandparents).

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Names and relationships of Grooms immediate family (parents, siblings, grandparents).

Are the two of you planning to see each other before the ceremony?

If you are seeing each other before the ceremony, do you want to do all of the formal group pictures beforehand as well?

Are there any specific locations that you would like your group photos and couple portraits to be taken at?

Tell me about any special traditions that we should know about which will be happening on your wedding day.

Where will the Bride be getting ready on the wedding day?

Where will the Groom be getting ready on the wedding day?

Tell me about any restrictions or guidelines at your ceremony that you think I should know about.

Are you having a ring ceremony or luncheon after the wedding? Please send me any details of that, especially time and location so that I can make sure I keep us on schedule. Also is there a program occurring? Generally, I do not attend wedding luncheons unless there is some kind of program.

If your ceremony is at a different location than your reception, are you wanting to do a second set of formal family photos at the reception as well?

Are there any special things you want photographed at the reception?

Please send a tentative schedule of the reception.

Which activities are you planning at your reception?

Is there anything at the reception that you for sure DO NOT want to do?

Do you want to leave the reception right on time? Or mingle until you are ready to go? Some couples want to promptly leave on time and I can help make sure that happens.

What is the name and phone number of your wedding planner?

If you have not hired a wedding planner, who have you designated to be in charge of the reception?

Did you hire a videographer? If so, please leave their name and phone number.

Are you doing any kind of send off?

Do you want your car decorated?

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WELCOME questionnaire (PORTRAIT): SAMPLE Tell me about your Family! I would love a paragraph about each person in your family. Things they like, how the best way to interact with them is, secret tricks, etc. Also anything I need to be aware of behavior wise to make the session run smoother. Also what does your family love to do together. What would be your “perfect day” of your family being together? When you think about your family right now, in this moment, what are the things you want to remember most?

What do you envision as your perfect session? Do you want a more lifestyle session? A more styled session? A more traditional session? Do you like images that are more natural and candid and show the true emotion of your family, or do you want images that are more posed and everyone is looking at the camera?

Have you started putting together outfits yet? What do you have so far? Or do you have some inspiration pieces that you are trying to put together? I love when you send me what you have so far, even if its just an idea and I can help you pull it all together.

What would be your perfect location? Do you want to do your session in your home? Somewhere that is green and beautiful? Somewhere that has a special meaning to your family?

What do you think of when you think of your perfect session?

What are the TOP FIVE IMAGES you want to come away with? Trust me, there will be so many more than five, but I want to make sure I don’t miss the shots that are the most important to you.

I would love to know more about how you plan to use these images. Do you print one large family photo or would you rather have a big collage of images? Do you prefer vertical over horizontal images or does that not really matter to you?

If you have a family session Pinterest board please add the link here...

Please include a link to your Facebook page Please include your Instagram name Please include your Twitter name If I can’t reach you who should I call? How do I get a hold of them?

How did you hear about AK Studio & Design?

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TEMPLATE EMAILS

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BOOKING EMAIL

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Hey (Brides First Name), I am so excited to be photographing your wedding!

Below you will find the link you will need to click on to finalize booking your wedding.

You will be able to go online and book the package you have chosen, sign the contract, and make your deposit payment. You will also be able to update your personal information so I will be able to contact you.

Once this is done I will email you further information including dates for engagements and bridals (if your package includes that) and session prep information.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me.

CLIENT ACCESS EMAIL Hey (Brides First Name), I am so excited to be part of your wedding. I am thrilled that you have chosen me to photograph it and I can't wait to get the ball rolling and get everything going.

Be prepared to check your email regularly, as most contact from me will come via email! In fact, I would highly suggest creating a folder in your email to hold all the different emails we have so you can look back on session prep info, find client access log-in info, and everything else you will need.

Here is your personal webpage login information so that you can update details about your wedding and also view your contract and invoices. The client access area is so great because you are going to be able to monitor the progress of your wedding in your personalized client website.

Which you can access by visiting: (Client Area Link) To login to your client area use this security code: (Client Security Code) Once I have had a chance to look over all the package details, I will be sending you a session prep questionnaire email and dates for your engagement and bridal sessions so we can get going on all of that!

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ENGAGEMENT SESSION PREP EMAIL (Brides First Name), Hey! I am so excited to get everything started with your engagement session...Hopefully you have had a chance to fill out the questionnaire too because that will help me a lot in planning your session.

So let's get to the fun stuff!! Here is a link to my Engagement Session Prep Guide! (link) Its super long but please make sure to review it. It includes all the info I need and ideas for you so that we can make your session amazing! Please take the time to read through all of it. It will help enhance your appointment and make sure that everything turns out just perfectly. It answers all the frequently asked questions most clients have including choosing outfits, locations, props and more!

Finally I have a little homework for you. After you have a chance to read through, please send me any ideas you have had. These could be links to your engagement Pinterest board, ideas you have seen anywhere or come up with, outfits you were thinking about wearing, locations you love, pretty much what your "vision" is. All of this will give me some insight into making your session unique to you.

Please email me this info ASAP!! This is going to help me get prepared and help me in coming up with some creative ideas that will make your session fun and unique! It is also a great way for me to give you advice before hand so we eliminate any stress from your appointment...

And I promise you, If you do the session prep your appointment will be incredible!!! I am so excited for your appointment!!! Can't wait!

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BRIDAL SESSION PREP EMAIL

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(Brides First Name), Hey! Bridals are coming up and I just wanted to send you over a little advice and touch base so we can get working on making your session absolutely breathtaking!

Just to confirm here are the details I have for your appointment...

Who: You & (Grooms Name) When: (Event Date) Where: (Event Location) The biggest piece of advice I can give you is...Bridals are not a dress rehearsal! So do everything for real! You will find here my Bridal Session Prep Guide: (link) Hope this guide helps!!! Let me know if you have any questions.

TOUCHING BASE! SESSION ALMOST HERE! (Brides Name), Hey! Your session is almost here! I am so excited! Here is what I have down as far as the details...

When: (Event Date) Where: (Event Location) I am super excited for our session this week and just wanted to make sure that we had everything all wrapped up. Let me know if there are any questions that you have about anything. I want to make sure it is stress free for you and that we can have lots of fun!

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TOUCHING BASE! YOUR WEDDING IS ALMOST HERE! (Brides Name), Hey! Your wedding is right around the corner! I am so excited! Just a few things I want to make sure we have all ready...

Questionnaires - you should have received two wedding day related questionnaires. If you haven't had a chance to fill those out please do so as soon as possible. They have all the valuable information I need for the day and make it much easier for me to have all the details I need so I am not bugging you with little questions all day.

Dates/Times/Locations - in the Client Access section please double check and make sure all the information is correct. Sometimes things can be changed around from when you first entered it all in and I just want to make sure everything is right so I am where I need to be when I need to be there.

Final Payment - You should have received a reminder about your final payment. If you haven't had a chance to take care of that, please do so as soon as possible.

Also if there are any questions you have for me, please let me know. I like to be prepared as possible so that we can just enjoy every minute of your wedding day and don't have to be bothered with little details we can take care of before hand.

I am so excited you have chosen me as your wedding photographer and I can't wait to see you!

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YOUR PROOFING GALLERY IS READY

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(Brides Name), Your Proofing Gallery is now up and waiting for you to choose the images that you would like edited! Below is a link to my online guide CHOOSING YOUR EDITED IMAGES. It includes all the rules, regulations, and additional information you will need to access this gallery and choose the images you want me to edit. It also includes directions for choosing your edited images. Reading the information attached will help guide you through choosing your edited image picks and answer many questions...so please read it carefully.

To access the gallery you will need the following information: Instructions in the online guide. Here is the link (link) Link to your Ordering Album: (link) Password: (password) Your Package Includes (number of edits) Of course though, if you have any questions please feel free to email me!

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YOUR PROOFING GALLERY IS READY (Brides Name), Hey! Hope you are settling into married life and that everything is going great! I am so excited that I am getting close to finishing up your wedding photos so you can show them off to your family and friends.

BASIC EDIT GALLERY Gallery Link (link) You will receive all of these images sized to a 5x7 digital file CHOOSING YOUR FAVORITES How to Choose Your Favorites Guide (link) Your Package Includes: (number of edits) You are choosing your favorite images that you want my enhanced edit done to. These are the images you will want to print larger than 5x7, that you will want to use in your wedding album, and that you will want to give as gifts to family and friends. The enhanced images are the ones I am doing my enhanced color pop to, skin smoothing, and all the other edits I normally do. This includes family pictures, couple pictures, etc. I may choose some extras but it is important to me that you choose the family and couple groupings that you like the best.

A FEW THINGS TO REMEMBER You will receive all the images in this gallery sized to a 5x7 basic edit You are choosing your favorites that you want as high resolution images with my enhanced edit If you would like additional images to have the enhanced edit they are $10.00 per image These images are not fully edited, so please do not post them online anywhere Once you choose the ones you want for the enhanced edits you will go into the editing rotation.

I edit all weddings in the order they are submitted and generally there is about a 6 week turnaround.

If you decide you want me to choose them, that is fine, just send me a quick email. But please be aware that if you opt not to choose the ones you want, my edits will be final once I am done.

And as always, let me know if you have any questions!

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YOUR PICTURES ARE DONE!

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(Brides Name), Hey! Your pictures are done! Here is everything you will need to download them, place an order, and show them off to your family and friends!

DOWNLOADING Download Gallery Guide: (link) Download Gallery Link (link) And please remember, anything you post online must be credited with my website.

ORDERING Ordering Gallery Guide: (link) Ordering Gallery Link: (link) Password: (password) Print Credit (print credit code) Coupon for 50% off: (code) Coupon Expiration: (expiration) POSTING ONLINE The best and easiest way to post any of your images online is through the download gallery. You can actually download the PASS app (available in your app store) on your computer, phone, or Ipad and you will not only have a gorgeous gallery to show people your images, but you will have the ability to automatically share the images online. You can share images to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest and it will automatically credit my website with each image you post. Please remember, as part of my con- tract, you agreed that any images that you post online anywhere will be credit with my information, so if you decide to post them yourselves you are responsible for adding my website link. Also as part of the contract, I don't allow you to alter the images in any way with filters, borders, etc SHARING GALLERIES WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS The easiest way to share galleries with your friends and family is to simply forward this email to them. Just make sure you take off your print credit information so they don't spend it. They can take advantage of the half off discount on prints. It also makes them aware of the requirement to credit me with any images that they post online.

Thanks so much! And as always let me know if you have any questions!

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PRICING GUIDE WEDDING

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STEP 21

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BASIC LAYOUT FOR PRICING GUIDE: Intro/Hello Meet The Artist & My Style (create emotional connection) Image That Creates Emotional Pull Testimonials Page Are you an Ideal Client Page (again create emotional connection) Getting Started (establishing system) Session Fee, Collections, & Print Pricing Timeline & Turnaround FAQ Things To Know Ready To Book

Creating an emotional connection first is the most important part of this pricing guide. You need to get them to feel like they know you and can trust you. Then you talk money. After you have introduced the pricing, you back up your price by proving how professional you are with your business related information.

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STEP 21

SESSION PREP GUIDES

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WORKFLOW: ENGAGEMENT SESSION SCHEDULED EMAILS 1 day after booking - session prep engagements 5 days before event - touching base! session almost here!

PRE-ENGAGEMENT SESSION Session prep Shoot engagement session Eight weeks before event THREE DAYS POST-ENGAGEMENT SHOOT Proof images Email proof gallery EDITING Received edited image picks Edit images Upload to pass Upload to pass Send pictures are done email SOCIAL MEDIA - ENGAGEMENT SESSION Blog Facebook Pinterest Instagram Twitter Two Bright Lights NOTE: I also created an adjusted workflow for when i am just shooting this session and not as part of a wedding package.

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STEP 21

WORKFLOW: BRIDAL SESSION SCHEDULED EMAILS 3 weeks before the event - session prep bridals 5 days before event - touching base session almost here!

PRE-BRIDAL SHOOT Session prep SHOOT BRIDAL SESSION Three weeks before the event POST BRIDAL SESSION Proof images Email proof gallery EDITING - BRIDAL SESSION Receive edited image picks Edit images Upload to pass Upload to zenfolio Send “pictures are done” email SOCIAL MEDIA - BRIDAL SESSION Blog Facebook Pinterest Instagram Twitter Two Bright Lights NOTE: I also created an adjusted workflow for when i am just shooting this session and not as part of a wedding package.

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WORKFLOW: WEDDING SESSION SCHEDULED EMAILS Thanks for booking! client information area! - 1 day after booking Welcome questionnaire - 1 day after booking Wedding vendor questionnaire - 3 weeks before event Wedding day questionnaire - 2 weeks before event Touching base - wedding day things Ordering & download gallery expiring soon - 50 weeks after event AFTER BOOKING Send welcome questionnaire Make sure contract is signed & deposit is received Schedule engagements & workflow Schedule bridals & workflow FINAL THINGS Touch base on wedding questionnaire Wedding day order Send “its almost here” email SHOOT WEDDING DAY Shoot wedding day POST - WEDDING DAY Proof images Basic edits EDITING - WEDDING DAY Receive edited image picks Edit images Upload to pass Upload to zenfolio Send “pictures are done” email

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STEP 21

WORKFLOW: WEDDING SESSION (CONTINUED) SOCIAL MEDIA - WEDDING Blog Facebook Pinterest Instagram Twitter Two Brights Lights THANK YOU Send thank you

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WORKFLOW: PORTRAIT SCHEDULED EMAILS Thanks for booking! client information area! - 1 day after booking Welcome questionnaire - 1 day after booking Touching base - your session is almost here - 5 days befor event Ordering & download gallery expiring soon - 50 weeks after event AFTER BOOKING Send welcome questionnaire Make sure contract is signed & deposit is received Session prep SHOOT SESSION Shoot session POST - SESSION Proof images Email proofing gallERY EDITING - PORTRAIT SESSION Receive edited image picks Edit images Upload to pass Upload to zenfolio Send “pictures are done” email SOCIAL MEDIA - WEDDING Blog Facebook Pinterest Instagram Twitter Two Brights Lights

note from abbey:

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DOCUMENTS DAY - DESIGN Is your brain fried?!? Hopefully you really took the time to put together all the information you need to make it amazing. Now is the day to design all the documents you will need.

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Adding template emails either into a folder in your inbox or into your client management system. Creating contracts, or add them into your client management system. Adding questionnaires and workflows to somewhere you can easily access them.

For me, with my client management system, I was able to just input all of my contracts, template emails, workflows, and questionnaires. It will all depend on how you are planning to do that. I can’t recommend using a client management system enough.

Designing and putting together gorgeous pricing guides and session prep guides.

Don’t forget about the lovely guides I gave you! Don’t forget to include the layout that I recommended. I promise it makes a huge difference!

As you are doing this, you may need to also preview Step 23 as well. They go hand-in-hand.

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SET UP SYSTEMS Now you are ready to set up all your systems. This step is all about getting them set up. It takes a lot of time, but it is without a doubt one of the smartest things you can do for yourself. To illustrate that, and motivate you to do it, I want to share with you how having systems completely changed my life...

I currently use the following systems in my business that cost me money...

ShootQ, Wordpress, ProPhoto, Photo Mechanic, Zenfolio, PASS, Photoshop, Lightroom, Photo Mechanic, Blog Stomp, Album Stomp, and Two Bright Lights.

To integrate all these systems for 60 clients was a one time cost the first year of $1300.00 and an annual cost of $2900.00. That is an expense of $70.00 per client in the first year and $48.00 per client in the subsequent years...but I am saving, on average, 20 hours per client. Which is 1200 hours of work!!!!

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If you valued your time at $100.00 an hour that is either an additional $120,000.00 you could make working those hours or you could take 50 days off in the year!

Don’t forget all the free programs I use that save me even more time! Google Drive, Dropbox, Free Apps, etc...

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WORK ON THE “WORKING DRAFT" You have done a TON of work in the last few steps. I am sure you feel as if you have accomplished a ton, but also probably a little bit burnt out by all the work.

Getting all these things in place takes a lot of time and energy. Devoting that time is going to save you SO MUCH time in the long run. It will be well worth it.

So today, because you now have all your documents and systems in place, I want you to have a review day. Depending on which systems you have integrated into your business, and what they manage, I am sure you are going to need to make changes to your schedule and your workflow. Hopefully these systems have given you some relief in the time you are spending in the oďŹƒce.

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Look back on some of the questions we asked early on about your biggest obstacles, repetitive tasks that were taking up too much time, determining who your ideal client was, specializing, learning new things, and all the other steps. Are some of those issues beginning to resolve themselves? Have you found that you are adding new things to the list that will push you further? How has your two year plan changed? And your ten big goals? Also, how is Experiment #1 going?

Go back to the “working draft� and update however you need to. And I want you to email me an update on where you are at abbey@abbeykyhl.com.

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AN EDUCATION IN SOCIAL MEDIA There is something I want you to start saying to yourself to change your mental look on social media...”social” media is a “business” tool. It is not a form of recreation or entertainment. It is a business tool. The sooner you can change your viewpoint on social media the sooner you will be able to master it. There are five keys, I believe, that will take your social media to a whole new level.

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KEY 1 - YOU MUST SET A SCHEDULE If you do not have a schedule for your social media, you will never be able to get on top of it. By setting a schedule, you make yourself accountable to it. Have not only a schedule for your blog, but also for your actual social media accounts.

Appear “random” even though you are completely in control.

KEY 2 - PRESCHEDULING IS ABSOLUTELY VITAL There just isn’t the time in a business owner’s life to be in front of their computer or phone all the time to keep social media going, so pre-scheduling is an absolute must.

KEY 3 - CONSISTENCY WILL MAKE OR BREAK YOU If you are not consistent, it won’t matter how great the posts you put up are. The only way to build a following, gain recognition, and have results is by being consistent.

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STEP 25

KEY 4 - THE ONLY WAY TO WIN IS TO USE APPS Just like you are now using systems to do many of the things you are doing in your business, you need to have these same systems in your social media campaign.

Blog stomp, Gramblr, Buffer, and Latergramme will all make a huge difference.

KEY 5 - NUMBERS TRULY DON'T MATTER I am going to address this one completely in the video. Get ready for a soapbox!

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EXPERIMENT #2 Now that you have an education in social media and a plan of how you are going to master it, we are going to do a little experiment to see what is really working for you. I want you to make a ten day plan for your social media and blog. I want you to post every day, on all of your social media accounts and on your blog, and start tracking the results. Remember that you are posting everything that you are posting for your ideal clients. Keep them in mind with every single post.

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Once this step is complete, come back to this step, evaluate, and answer the

STEP 26

questions below...

Where did you have your best results?

Did you find that certain times of day got a better response?

Were there places where you had little to no interaction?

How did your inquiries different during the experiment?

With the information you have discovered, I want you to now create a solid plan of how you are going to build your social media campaign. Was it evident the 1-2 social media platforms that you should focus on? In deciding which you should focus on, you can create a more consistent plan and not feel so overwhelmed with everything. You can always “share� posts on your accounts where you have less reach but, by figuring out where you are getting your best response you can now start really targeting that avenue and growing your following and reach.

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BECOME A CLIENT CARE SPECIALIST At this point, you are feeling a new confidence in your business! You have systems in place that will help you manage your workflow and time. You have a plan for the future and where you are heading. Now that you have so many of the tiny details taken care of, you will now have the time and the ability to take care of the biggest and most important part of your business...YOUR CLIENTS. Because really, when it comes down to it, you can rock every other aspect of your business, but if you can’t take care of your clients and wow them with your service, none of the other things will matter.

At every turn, you should be looking for ways to elevate your ability to wow them and make them feel amazing. Some of my favorite ways to spoil my clients include:

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STEP 27

CLIENT THANK YOU'S AND GIFTS How are you thanking your clients for supporting you? I think there is no way to tell them how much you appreciate them better than with a handwritten card.

They will feel so special and impressed that you took the time to do this for them. Try to in- clude personal details about the experience. The more you can show them that they meant something to you and that you remembered them, the more invested in you they will become.

I also believe coming up with a very personal gift for them that will last them forever is an amazing way to build a long lasting relationship with them and create a loyalty with them.

CLIENT REFERRAL SYSTEM Having a client referral system is also a great idea while you are building your clientele. Don’t give away the farm, but reward those ideal clients who remain loyal to you and bring you more ideal clients.

CLIENT NEWSLETTER This is the golden nugget! Its great to catch people on social media when you can, but by creating an amazing client newsletter it will elevate you to a whole new level with your ideal clients. A few tips with the client newsletter:

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- Don’t get spammy. Plan out a schedule. I would never send these out more than once a month unless its for an amazing reason! If you start spamming them, you quickly can become that “annoying” photographer and will get moved to the junk pile.

- Have a fun offer in every newsletter that you send. One that I have done before that worked well was I did a big print credit giveaway and had my clients enter by posting one of their favorite wedding images and just why they loved it. It didn’t become a PSA about me and how great I am, but of course I was tagged in it. They loved sharing more of their images, and it helped put my name in front of their friends and family.

- Offer your newsletter clients special pricing, or special rewards for referring their friends and family. The more special you can make them feel, the more loyal they will be to you.

- Make it an exclusive thing. Everyone loves to be a member of the “club” so create a newsletter that is only for your clients. I have actually had people ask before if they can be in the newsletter because I am strategic in giving hints to it on social media. This needs to be a special treat just for your ideal clients.

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START DREAMING BIGGER When I first started my business my “big” dream was to make my own schedule and work from home. As time went on, my dreams got bigger and I wanted to be one of the top wedding photographers in my area. Then my dreams grew even more and became being a top wedding photographer who happened to take off four full months a year and didn’t work on Saturdays. After I reached that goal, my dream has grown even more. I now dream that with every person I work with, I can make a difference in their lives. Whether it’s a client or a student, I want to provide them with an experience that they will never forget and change them for the better.

Your dreams should never stop. You should never stop reaching further. There are many people out there who will set a goal, reach it, and then just maintain that.

But I truly believe that “maintain” is just another word for “settle.” The moment you being to settle, you actually begin to move backward, because the rest of the world around you is continuing to move forward.

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So we have to keep dreaming. I hope as we near the end that you feel empowered and have the confidence to know that you can do anything you put your mind to and are willing to work hard enough to achieve. I am sure you feel as if you have never worked so hard in your business before. That is a great feeling.

Now, I want you to adjust those dreams, elevate those goals, and start dreaming big- ger. How far do you want to go...but along with the dreams, start attaching a deadline to them, and start penciling in a plan.

Ask yourself, “What are the possibilities? What is my biggest dream right now.�

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E-X-P-L-O-D-E You are ready, you are on the brink, you have a great foundation and the momentum to really take your business to someplace amazing. So now its time to explode! Here is how you do that...

E - Eradicate obstacles. What still stands in your way to success? What can you do to eliminate those obstacles?

X - “x� Marks The Spot. Put your goals, your mantras, and the things you need to see on a daily basis to remind yourself what you are doing and where you are going right in front of your face where you can see them everyday. .

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P - Plan to plan! One of the biggest elements of this course has been the time you have spent planning. Continue that. I guarantee you, if you schedule a day each month where you go to that quite place like you did on the first day and just think and plan, it will pay off immensely!

L - Love it! If you don’t love your business, you need to figure out why and make changes. You should love your business and you have the power to create something that you not only love, but that gives you a greater purpose.

O - Own it! Remember you are the boss! You make the rules, you make the policies, you run the show. Treat your business like a business, and it will lead you to success.

D - Don’t forget your why. Keep that life & loves contract somewhere that you will be able to view it often. If you lose sight of those people, everything you are doing is for nothing.

E - Endeavor for greatness! You were meant for more than just working and existing. You can go as far as you want to and make as big a difference as you can dream.

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THE NEXT THIRTY Well, here we are, at the end of the course. I hope that you have been able to make a big change in your business. But it doesn’t end now. You have to keep moving forward, and making new plans and taking new steps. I look at where I am now in my business and I could have never imagined how far I could go and where I would be today. But I keep working, keep getting better, and keep chasing the dream of what I want my life to be. If you would have told me three years ago that I would be a successful wedding photographer who didn’t work on Saturdays I would have told you that you were crazy; But, here I am living that dream! You can have that same thing. You just have to keep working at it. You’ve finished these thirty steps, so now start working on the next thirty steps to in your journey to success. It could include things like... .

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Creating a yearly marketing plan, which will help you stop worrying about what the people around you are doing.

Giving up on more things that are holding you back.

Charging more and working less.

Submitting sessions for publication.

Hiring that assistant.

Rebranding to even better target your ideal clients.

Outsourcing more of the things you don’t like to do.

Learning more skills and tools.

Updating your life & loves contract. Giving them even more.

The possibilities are endless. You just have to put them on paper and turn those dreams into goals. And then go out and work your tail off! There is no limit to what you can do and how much of a difference you can make with your business in the life of the people around you. .

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