Photography Breakthrough System

Episode 42- Client Conversion Day 2

Building Client Trust and Pricing Confidence in Photography For those who may have missed day one, it was pretty amazing. We're gonna go into day two today. I'm gonna share my screen and get this going today. Super excited about this as we go into the challenge. But before we do, I wanna ask everyone a question. Whether you're here live or seeing the recording of this, I'd like to ask you, are you sitting back and waiting to be chosen? It's okay if that happens because I know a lot of people are. We are all like, um, kind of just waiting for someone to see our work and say, "I choose you." And that does happen sometimes. I'm not gonna say it doesn't, because it does. However, it's not how you run a business. Running a business is challenging. This is a client conversion challenge, and I chose to use the word challenge because business is not easy. Whether this is your full-time business or it's just a hobby, wherever you are, this is not an easy business. It can be challenging for many photographers. Uh, if you're just getting started, you may not know that. If you've been doing this for a while, you definitely know photography today can be challenging. So this is a client conversion challenge. Converting clients can be a challenge. No, it is a challenge. But it doesn't have to be, and that's why we're here today, to go through the steps to get you to understand that it's not about you. It's not your fault if you're not getting work. It's just that we've been taught the wrong way. And I think a lot of that has come because today a lot of the time people are, are really... Actually, the companies are really consumed with doing one thing, having more business, selling more gear. But today is about going beyond gear. It's about the work. So day one you discovered something very important in photography. You don't have a client conversion challenge yet, but we're here to fix that. Today, we begin building that system and dive into pricing. A lot of photographers are not charging enough for the effort, for the work, for the time that they put in, and they know it. They feel it, but they're scared if they raise their prices, clients will disappear. We'll go beyond that. We're gonna dive into that today. Today is stage two, day two of the client conversion challenge, and we're gonna dive into a framework because a framework is gonna help you see things differently. So what is that? What's the biggest part of the framework? It's trust. If clients don't trust you, they are not going to hire you. So it happens in stages. Stage one, it has to be more than just them seeing your work. It needs to be an emotional connection, emotional attraction to your work, to your messaging. If that's not there, they may not be coming the way they should. Stage two, trust conversion. Right before we started today, I got a message from a client talking about a challenge that she is having, and after today I'm gonna contact her and get on and talk about how we together can work to build client trust more and convert more. It's very hard when you're doing everything by yourself, and today in photography, a lot of photographers are. We're by ourself in our own head going through all of our struggles, our challenges alone. But I'm glad you're here because this is where we go beyond that. Let's talk about stage three. Stage three is the experience being amplified. That's exactly what I want to talk to my client about, amplifying the experience, and a lot of us don't think about that. When you amplify the experience, that becomes an attraction mechanism to bring clients to you as well. And then number four, we talked about this in day one a little bit, that referral engine. You have to have that momentum of referrals or business stops. I want business to be easier for you, so today I'm gonna help you go through things that will help you to make it easier. We'll talk about pricing also. We talked about pricing a little bit on day one. We're going deeper into pricing today. So thank you for being here. Day one was not about fixing everything. That's impossible in one day, as you already know. Today is about seeing clearly why things haven't been working out. Today, we connect that clarity to pricing. To trust, which you must have, and your income. Let's get going today. Also, today will not be as long as day one. I won't keep you as long. Day three is a full packed day, and the most important day out of all these three days. But right now, let's dive into pricing. Your pricing. Most clients can sense your value. They sense it when they see your work. They just hope you don't know it. They see your value. They're attracted to what you have. They may ask for a discount, hoping that you don't know your value. I want to make sure you do. Most photographers think that pricing, going up on your prices, is about courage. It is not. Pricing, your price that you charge, is about trust, and trust is built with a system. Without that, you don't have that. You have to have trust for a client to pay your rate. They know what you're worth. They're hoping you don't see it. Let's talk about the reality of all of that. When there is no system in place, things get a little shaky. It becomes reactive pricing. You may change your pricing in the moment. Even though you may have a price list, somebody ask for a discount, and right away you give that discount. That's reactive pricing. That's also a fear based decision because you may be thinking, "Okay, I haven't worked in the last two months. I need this job." They can sense that, and you lower your price. That's a fear based decision, and it's a losing battle because that client knows, "Okay, this person doesn't believe in themselves." They sense that. They see your value. They know it's valuable, but they want that discount, and that client will keep asking for more and more and more, and you feel worse and worse. That's not a business. Let's get to that dream island, away from that old reality to a new reality where you have predictable income. That takes having a system that you work each and every time. You're not rehashing something new each and every time. You're working that same system. It's a repeatable system. It's value based pricing, and clients understand and see value. We all know that. We all know the discount stores. We all know the high priced value stores. We know the discount cars What they look like. We know the valuable, expensive, beautiful cars. We know what they look like and what they should cost. Your clients know also. And when you present this in a calm way, clients will make a calm decision. So we all know this. Now we have to use this to our advantage. I had you pull out your workbook in day one. You were supposed to download that. You can also download it even now. The download is in each and every one of your emails for the workbook. I'd like for you to pull that workbook out now. And this is where you write. There is really power in writing pen to paper. So with your workbook, it's great when you can print it out. It's a PDF, you can print it out. I'd like for you to keep this workbook long after this three-day challenge is over, and I'd like for you to look at it every single month, let's say the beginning of every month, to look at that workbook and ask yourself, are you growing as a photographer, as a business? You're not staying the same. Either you're either getting worse or you're getting better. Nothing stays the same. This workbook shows you where you are and how to grow. So I asked you on day one a very scary question. I asked you to make a goal to double your numbers. I asked you to write down two different numbers and to double them. And I know that part may feel scary, right? It doesn't have to. When I ask you to double what you made over the last twelve months and to look at that number, that's a number that can be a goal. Now, how do you get there? With a system. The system helps you get there. This, this doubling your number, this new income goal of what you made last year or in the last twelve months, it may feel impossible, but with a client conversion system in place where you're not guessing, you're not making last minute decisions, you're just working your plan, it becomes easy and predictable. But you've got to have this system in place and not make fear-based decisions. I know that it's hard to do at first. It takes practice, but you can do this. I want you to imagine this. What would it look like to run your photography business, be it a hobby, business, on the side, wherever it is for you right now. What would it look like? Imagine this with a clear, straightforward System instead of struggling to survive. What would that look like? Better yet, what would that feel like every month to know that you had clients coming in, every month to know that you're not worried about income? That would be a good feeling. I want you to take that in because that's what a system can give to you. Now, where is the system breaking down? Ask yourself this honestly. This is not for me. I want you to ask yourself these questions and think about each of them. Are clients asking your price, then going quiet? Ghosting. They ask for your price, you give your price because you want to honor what they asked, and then they disappear. There's a way around that, and that is called having a system in place to do those things I talked about in the beginning. Connect emotionally. Giving a price doesn't have an emotion. Maybe fear, but not the right emotion. The system I teach teaches you how to change all of that so they don't disappear and they don't ghost you. If those inquiries are disappearing, it's because they're only looking at numbers and only thinking with one part of the brain, and it's not the emotional side. Are clients booking you one time and never referring you to another client? Or even worse, are they ref- never coming back after that first time? That's the lack of a system. And it's not our fault. As photographers, it's not our fault because we weren't taught this. You learn this by going through the ups and downs of business, and that's why I'm here teaching this. So you now know it's not your fault, it's just that we haven't been taught the real reason about having a business and running our business in a way that feeds our soul is by having structure. A system is framework, it's structure. Do you feel uncomfortable when you present your price? Somebody asked your price, and all of a sudden you gotta figure out how you're gonna give it. If that's what you're feeling each and every time, that's also the lack of a system. The system takes all of that away of guessing how you're gonna do something. It gives you a straightforward path to doing it. If even one of these things I've just mentioned is happening It's not a talent issue, and very often, photographers, we feel it's a talent issue. It's not. It's a system gap. That's all that is. It's not about your talent. Pricing success is a process. It is not a number. Don't think about the number. Whatever you charge, that part doesn't matter. As a matter of fact, when you have a system in place, you can raise your prices and attract better clients who see and understand your value. So let's do this right now. Let's go through three steps to pricing success, three steps to having success with raising your prices, getting your price. Step one, you've got to dream it. You gotta visualize where you want to be with your prices, and actually see people paying you what you know you are worth. Before I go on, I want you to even just close your eyes and think about that. What does that feel like to be able to charge what you want and have that client hire you? Take that feeling in right now, because it's a good feeling. Define your price goal clearly. I had you write it down on day one. I know that's a scary one. But I want you to take that in right now and ask yourself, what would a true breakthrough for you look like and feel like for you? For each of us, it's very different. But for you, what would it feel like to have a real breakthrough in your photography business? Only you know that. What would that look like for you? If you had that workbook, do me a favor and write that down in your workbook so you understand what it feels like. Sometimes we hide from things that we, we need to know. When you write it down, and you're writing this down for yourself, and it's not for anybody else, when you write these things down and look at them, your own handwriting, not on your computer, not on a, on a device, your handwriting, pen to paper, pencil to paper, whatever you wanna do, when you look at that, it hits differently. This is why I really love when you can write. So imagining things, sometimes it's hard. So I have this picture here for you to just imagine how beautiful life can be. Take this picture in right now. We've all seen a moment like this, and we all know what this feels like. Even though we see a moment like this throughout our lives very often, it never gets old, right? There's nothing like seeing a beautiful sunset. It makes everybody stop and take it in. If you're on vacation on some great island or somewhere beautiful on a ship, it doesn't matter where you are, and the sun sets, everybody pauses, stops, and takes in that great, beautiful feeling. That's what your business can feel like, where you stop, take it in, and feel like, "Okay, I am growing. I'm not where I was before. I'm on the other side." That's why I'm here today to help you get there, to take it in and feel it. So dreaming it is very important. Setting three goals is important as well. I asked you on day one to set a big, scary goal, and I know that can be hard. So let's break it down now to three different goals. You had that big, scary goal. That was your first one. You wrote that down on day one. I asked you to double your numbers. But let's also make two more goals that aren't as difficult, so we can visualize this as well. Besides that big, scary goal, make a second goal, a solid goal. But this needs to be a number where you are proud of, of where you're growing. You're not where you were, but you've grown enough where you feel proud in that number. You've got to know if you're growing or not. You can't just go through and not knowing these numbers. They are important for you to see if you are growing or not. Then make a third goal. This goal is a safety goal. This is the minimum price that still moves you forward. So now you should have three goals written down. That big, scary goal. Then a goal that's a proud number. You're, you're growing. It's not the big, scary goal, so you're not doing, like, doubling your income, but you're growing enough, maybe twenty-five percent more than what you were making, and that makes you feel good. Then make a goal where you're moving forward. You're not where you were, but you're moving floor- forward a little bit. Maybe you've only added one more client from where you had last year. That is still growth, and I want you to celebrate when there's growth in any way. You have to feel good, take it in, and acknowledge that. So having goals is very important. You can't just willy nilly go through things and not take account of what's happening. You have to because you need to honor it and celebrate your growth. Let's go to step two, your client journey. This is the journey that your client goes on the moment they inquire about your work and hiring you. Your client journey determines what your prices mean. Maybe you've never heard about a client journey before. You're going to hear that a lot from me because it is very important. If there is no client journey, clients disappear. They ghost you. They do not refer you. That's not a business. That's a hope. I want you to have a business where you're thriving. And guess what? No matter where the economy is, I know we're going through challenging times all around the world, but people who are thriving, they're not as worried. When you have a system, it is economy proof. It's recession proof. And we all need that. Trust me, I've been through so many throughout the 30 plus years of my career. Everything, dot com bust, you know, 9-11, financial upheaval in the market. All those things don't matter when you have a system. Not as much. People go out of business because they don't have a system. I don't want that to be you. Prices without a journey, they feel expensive. But prices inside of your journey feel intentional. Do you see that difference? You've got to understand that difference because that is a very important step. Step two is a very important step for you to keep clients, to get referrals, to feel good about working all the time. This is a system in place. Let's talk more about that client journey because it is so very important. Most photographers respond. When you're asked about your prices, you respond with your prices. Book photographers, those who have clients all the time, they design the response. They're not responding by a reaction. Everything is designed. The system is designed. You get an inquiry from a potential client. That's the first part of the journey. Your response to your client begins their journey. What you show to your client is part of now What you show is not just based on what they ask. What you show ignites part of your design in the journey. Your potential client's emotional journey is the first important step you must take. I didn't say anything about showing the prices. Number one, when they ask your price, you respond by igniting an emotional journey. This takes them by surprise 'cause it's not what they're expecting. They're expecting for you to answer their question with your price, and instead, you do something different. You see, client pricing confidence, your client journey determines what your prices mean. Before you can give your price, you have to establish that. On day one of the workshop, you saw where clients fall through the cracks, and this is a big part of the crack. When you just respond with your prices, that's a crack, and they fall through, they disappear, and they ghost you. Today, you're seeing why this kills pricing confidence in photographers, in you. It's not your fault. Stop beating yourself up about that when they disappear. But from this day forward, you now know where the cracks are and why they are disappearing. Step three, confirm it. Use calm, positive language when you speak with your clients. Now, you're probably saying, "Well, Matthew, it's coming through a text message or an email or, or a DM." Still, the language that they read needs to feel that way as well. Calm, positive. I want you to think about how does your message feel? Very often we respond not thinking about what our clients will feel when they read it. It should feel calm and positive. It should reinforce your value throughout the entire process of the journey, and you have to always think customer first. Step three is important. Calm, positive, value, process, and thinking customer first. You're thinking about them. Clients don't just pay for photographs. I mentioned this on day one as well. They're not buying photographs. They pay you for security. They wanna know you can off-- you can give them what they're asking for, and they wanna feel safe about that They wanna trust you. They wanna trust the process. And you having a process, a journey that they go on, builds the trust that you are a professional, that you know what you're doing. It gives them peace of mind, and that peace of mind helps them make that decision. Your system that's designed communicates value before you ever say one word, before you ever speak to them. Wouldn't you want that? A calm way that gives security, trust, and peace of mind so they can make a clear decision. Let's take a look at what that looks like with a before and after picture. Before is a typical inquiry response. They ask you for your price, and you're just like, "Okay, here are my rates. Let me know what you think." And you know what that leads to. Them disappearing, not responding, being quiet. Let's look at the other side, the after. When you are using a client conversion response, clients respond to you in an emotional way because you create an emotional connection right away from that very first response. You reinforce their vision for the shoot, for hiring you. They have a vision right away in their mind, but you're gonna reinforce their vision. You frame the experience of what it feels like to work with you. I haven't mentioned anything about price yet. You anchor value before pricing, then you get booked by them. Then there's a conversion experience. Then you have a happy client, and you have a client that's referring you. Now, look at that before and after and ask yourself, where are you? Are you just giving your price and saying, "Let me know"? That's why they are disappearing, not hiring you as much as they should be hiring you. This is a big difference. And now you know. It has not been your fault. It's just about the structure. You don't build this all at once. You build it one calm decision at a time. Makes a big difference. Now, let's have a reality check. If your client journey is unclear in any way, if there's any doubt, your prices will always feel heavy To your potential clients. If there's any fear, they walk away. If there's any doubt, they walk away. It has to be crystal clear. So ask yourself, is your process clear to your clients when they inquire? Will they know what's gonna happen? 'Cause if they don't, they're not going to say yes. So what's next for day three? On next Tuesday, we'll be diving into most important part of your journey. The most important part of your journey. On day three, I'm gonna show you something extremely important. A client conversion system is not just an idea, it's something you can install in your business. Whether it's your business or a hobby, or you're just thinking about making it your business, or you want extra money on the in, on the side. I'm gonna teach you how to install it. I'm gonna show you how to install this system. So join me for day three, 'cause day three is the most important day of this three-day conversion. I told you today it's not gonna be as long as it was on day one, but I wanna thank you for being here because today you saw it's really not your fault. You talked... We talked about pricing today. We talked about these three steps you need to take. When we end today, we're about to end today right now, I want you to look at your journal. Look at what you wrote down from day one, and then also today in day two. Take a good look at that. Day three, we're putting it all together and fixing your journey. That's what this is about, you moving forward. I wanna thank you for your time today. I wanna thank you for being here. Day three, we're putting all this together. I wanna see you grow. I wanna see you make steps. I wanna see you look at where you were before this challenge and look at yourself after this challenge, and see how life can be much better on the other side If you have questions, do me a favor. Go to the Facebook group. We have a pop-up Facebook group. In all your emails, besides the workbook, you also have a link to our pop-up Facebook group. The Facebook group is live whenever we're doing this challenge. And then it goes away. We put it in hiding until the next time we do this a few months later. But for right now, it's live, which means any question you have from today or from day one, you can go through and put it in there. I'll go through, check out all the messages and respond right away. On day three, you will be able to ask questions at the end live. All right, everyone. Thank you for today. I'm going to contact my client and talk to her about how we can do more and grow together. Thank you for today. Thank you. Make sure you are here on time for day three because day three is the most important day out of all these days. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you for being here. I'm so glad to have you here. Have a great rest of your day or night, wherever you are in the city, in the world. And I'll see you on day three of this client conversion challenge. Thank you, everyone. Be good. See you soon. Bye.

17 de may de 2026 - 35 min

Episode 41 - Challenging days in photography

Challenging days in photography Today is a very exciting day in a big, big way. I wanna move my screen out the way so I can now present full screen to everyone. Today is a challenge in many ways for photographers, and today we're talking about the challenge. But before we dive into this today, I want to make a statement about where we are as an industry. It's challenging, and I believe it will get more challenging. So this is why this three-day challenge is so important for us, and why I've called it a challenge versus a workshop. We are in a challenging environment right now, so going forward it's not going to be easy. However, if you are prepared for the shift that's coming, you can not only make it, you can thrive. So that's why we're doing this challenge. Welcome to day one of the Client Conversion Challenge. My name is Matthew Jordan Smith. I've been a photographer for a very long time in this industry, and have seen it go through all kinds of changes, from, from when we were all shooting nothing but film, to the transition. The first big shift in my career was from film to digital, and now we are about to see an even bigger shift. Uh, forgive me also 'cause I'm, I'm fighting a cold, but I do have my tea here. We are about to go through maybe the biggest shift of any of our, our lives in terms of photography. I think photography over the past 200 years, it's only 200 years old, almost 200 years old, so it's still a baby, but I believe photography is about to go through the biggest challenge, shift, shakeup it has e- Ever seen. Way more than going from film to digital. And this, this three day challenge is going to prepare you for the shift. I'm talking about AI. We all know that's, it's not just coming, it's here, and it's making major shifts in our career, and it will, uh, going forward, especially commercially. I've been known for shooting celebrities and covers and advertising, and I believe that world is definitely going to shake in a big, big way. But every part of photography, um, has the potential to shake. So I want to prepare us so we can thrive no matter what. So I say all this from having all this experience of working as a photographer for decades. Also, with decades of also sharing the joy of photography, teaching all over the world, sharing what I believe is the best art form in the world, photography, and I wanna do it for the rest of my life, and I wanna help others thrive. And I have students all over the world who I've helped have success, so everything you're about to hear today is gonna help you have success. It doesn't matter where you are, doesn't matter what you're shooting. If you're working with people in any way, I think this is gonna help you going forward for the rest of your journey to make you successful so you can thrive, not just once, but long term as this industry, as photography changes massively. So I know maybe a lot of us might be feeling lost in the crowd these days. I get it. It's a very crowded field of photography. I think that AI is gonna shake that up as well. But no matter where you are, these three days of this challenge are gonna prepare you to thrive no matter what happens. Because the one thing that can't be replaced is human connection. I want you all to hear that very clearly. The one thing that we all, we all crave is human connection. Remember the pandemic? What do we all crave when it's taken away? Connection with other people. Remember that. No matter what AI does to this industry, people will always crave that human connection. So I get it. You know, it's a crowded field, but over the next three days, these next three days of this workshop, they happen today then Thursday and then the following Tuesday. That gives you time to take everything in, do the homework. There is homework to do. You all have a link in your email to the workbook. You will need that each and every day. If you have not downloaded the workbook yet, after today's session, download the workbook and then do the work that we're going to talk about today so you're ready for day two. This is going to be important. The homework is not for me. It's for you so you can grow. I'm going to share a lot of information. All of it is here to help you not only grow, but thrive no matter what's coming our way through all the struggles that are definitely coming through AI and so much more. We are in the midst of a shakeup, but don't worry, I've got your back and I've been through struggles before in this industry and all you have to do is persevere and do these things that really promote connection. Let's get going. Today, you will discover why talent alone has not turned into more income in your photography. I see a lot of talented photographers and today, this is the shakeup part, talent can be, can be hidden. You can fool people without having any talent simply because of AI. So it will be harder to just make it on talent alone because clients can't tell, is this person really talented or is this something else? Is this AI? They're thinking that. So maybe you're wondering why your hard work hasn't created consistency in terms of clients all the time. We'll go through all that today. You're going to find out the real reason why clients hesitate and sometimes they disappear. And why, more importantly, why none of this is a personal failure. We all work, many of us, we work alone, so we internalize everything that happens and many of us take it personally. You don't have to. It's not your fault. There is a shift that's happening and part of that shift is causing all of this anxiety in our industry. But guess what? There's another way. Something's missing, and I'm gonna help you find that piece and turn things around. All right. Everything I share is to identify your specific photography struggles. We're not talking about the rest of the stuff that's been going on in the world. Today is all about photography, and it's meant to point out what you may be overlooking. You know, when we are stuck in our own head, we tend to imagine all kinds of problems, and thinking that it's, oh, our website or our pictures or we're not posting enough. It's none of that. So don't worry about that stuff. But there is something you may be overlooking, and I want to address that. At the end of these three days, I'll give you an opportunity to go further if you'd like. Now, of course, you're gonna get a lot in these next three days of this workshop. However, for those who want to go further, I'll give you the opportunity to go further with me one-on-one and deeper as you want to go further. But let's dive deeper into this. You'll also have an opportunity, too, to work with me personally if you want those faster results. You know, that's, uh, what I do a lot. I help people really learn how to thrive in this industry, and that's why I'm doing this workshop. Um, I'm calling it a challenge, but it's also, like, really a workshop. The challenge is getting over the photography challenges we have today. So welcome to this client conversion challenge. These three days are designed to help you clarify, um, where you are, clarify where you want to go, and give you direction on how to get there. This is your step forward as our industry changes. You know, there's a lot of struggles in photography. We've all seen them. If you've been doing it for a long time, you've been through several changes in our industry, through struggles, and some people fall out. I don't want you to be one of the ones that falls out. So this challenge is to help you move forward. Let me first talk about who this is not for, because I only work with people, so I don't have any experience in terms of making income when it comes to landscape photography, nature photography, birds, cars. I've got friends who do all of that, but I've never made one penny doing that. Now, yes, I do love doing all types of photography, um, going on safari, you know, shooting, uh, stuff, whatever. But in terms of making a living, it comes from working with people. So this workshop, this challenge, is for photographers who are making a living working with people. Maybe you're not making a living yet. Maybe it's your hobby. Wherever you are, if you work with people in any way, you do portraits, you do weddings, you do, um, boudoir, whatever that is, if you work with human beings, I'm here for you, 'cause I know what you are struggling with, and I'm gonna help you thrive long term. More of my, my tea with my lemon and honey in it today. So this isn't about learning to do more. This, this struggle, you're already doing a lot. I know that. I see that. I see so many photographers online. I hear what you're saying. I see what you're saying. You're doing enough right now, but this, this challenge is about prioritizing what to do consistently. That's what's gonna make the difference. When you know what's missing, you can finally stop spinning your wheels doing all this other stuff that we do that may be wasting time. Today is about understanding, understanding why photography has felt so hard, even though you're a very talented photographer producing great work, doing everything that we've been taught to do. Let's go further. Before we start, I want you to n- I want to name something that a lot of people are carrying around with them, and I don't want you to carry it around or feel ashamed about it, but I hear it all the time. I see it all the time, and that's feeling embarrassed about what you charge or discounting and trying to hide that you're discounting. You don't need to be embarrassed or feel ashamed or, or, or any of those feelings because it's a struggle today, and I see photographers struggling just to maintain, and part of that makes you feel like you're behind other photographers. You are not. You're not behind. It's just part of the struggle today, and everybody, a lot of people are going through it. And quietly maybe you're asking yourself, should you give up on photography? We are seeing that. We're hearing the whispers. Um, I have friends who are constantly saying, "Oh, how is business?" And I know where that comes from. I get it. That doesn't have to be you. So this isn't about more, more hustle. It's not even about motivation. It's not about even you having more confidence. It's about structure. Above everything, motivation, hustle, confidence, structure is going to change your business where you can thrive long term, not just for a week. You can hustle for a while, but then you're gonna burn out. Structure makes your life so much easier. So step one, I want you to use your workbook. For those who have not downloaded your workbook, in each of your emails, there's a link for you to download the workbook and to join the Facebook page. The Facebook page is a pop-up Facebook page that's just for this challenge. It goes into sleep mode after the challenge, but right now it's live as we do this challenge. So step one, if you don't have the workbook, just do this on a piece of paper or do it right after this workshop. Um, I want you to count your clients in the past year. So the past 12 months from today, how many clients have you had? This number is important for us to know. We can guess or we can, like, think, "Oh yeah, I think I had, I had a lot of clients." But that's just a guess. If you don't know the exact number, you're guessing. I don't want us to guess anymore. You need to know this to move forward, especially as our, as our world changes. So why am I asking you to count your clients over the last 12 months? It's not to make you feel any way, good or bad. It's just information. You'll need this information going forward. Okay. Now let's go into questions about this. I'm asking you about your past 12 months so you can hold up a, up a mirror to look at your business to see where you are. Unless you know where you are- You won't know when growth happens, and this workshop, this challenge, is about you growing, getting more clients. How will you know if you've had more clients if you don't know how many clients you've had in the past? That's why I want you to write down... And it's not for me. I'm never gonna ask you to show that number. I want you to write this down for yourself. The workbook is for you to look back on month after month and see whether or not you are growing from where you were. This, this challenge is about growth in your business. Now, out of those clients that you had those past 12 months, how many of them have you worked with more than once? Repeat clients. So that number, I want you to write that number down also. It's important to know how many repeat clients you've had out of all your clients. Now, why is that important? It is extremely difficult to find a new client every single week, every single month. That's a hard, hard road to... A hard, a hard mountain to climb. However, when you have repeat business, then you have a machine working in your business. Now, I want you to think about this. How many clients were referred to you by other clients? These are three really important questions for you to ask yourself. Don't skip this. Don't skip this, or you may find yourself really struggling as our industry changes. We are in the midst of change, so this information, please do not say, "Oh, I'll do this later on." Do it. Don't put it off. You put it off at your own peril. This, this is important information to help you grow. So write the numbers down and take a good long look at them. These numbers, it's not, it's not a math exercise. It's about truth, for you to understand your numbers. AI is lying to us, deceiving people, but numbers, numbers don't lie. Numbers tell you everything about where you are, and they're gonna tell you when you are growing. And when you see yourself beginning to grow one more client than you had last year, one more client that becomes a repeat client, that turns into that client referring you to other clients, that turns into 10 extra clients, and then you see that number and what that one small difference makes, it's a wake-up call. So this, this is a truth exercise, so please don't skip any of this. All of this throughout this entire challenge, each and every day is extremely important. So please show up. Please do the work. This is for you, and it will add to your bottom line. All right, let's keep going. Your numbers are not a verdict of your worth. We've just said that a little bit as well. It's just numbers for you to see where you are. It's a snapshot of where you are. This challenge about... It's about where you want to go, how you're gonna grow. That's what this is all about. Now, the referral part is a big part of our industry, and you being successful long-term, and you having a predictable income. Referral rate. If your referral rate is less than 40%, you do not have a referral engine in place. You've got to have that. Maybe you, you've worked a lot, and then you have a month where there's nothing. That's called feast or famine. I've got a lot of friends who've been through it. I've been through it before. You have to have a referral engine, a way for clients to refer you, and you have to ask. You have to put it in place in your business. Without that, you are wishing and hoping every month for work. You're doing all these things that we're taught to do besides the things that really make a difference. Without a referral engine in place, your business becomes unstable. And the shift that we're going through now, it will become more unstable, so this is extremely important for us to grow. Step two, write how much. We went through numbers earlier talking about how many clients. Now step two, I want you... And this is just for you. It's not for me. Don't show this to anybody else. It's just for you to see. This is a truth exercise, part two. How many of you know how much you made as a photographer in the last 12 months? Look at that number. I know we've all done taxes and all those things. Hopefully by now you should know how much you made as a photographer. Even if it's a hobby you're doing on the side, you have a full-time job and you shoot on weekends or, or whenever you have a break, uh, for extra income, add up that extra income just by itself, not your other work, just your photography income. You should know that amount of work that you've done over the last year. This number is also important. You can't just guesstimate, "Oh, I think I made..." That's not good enough. You need to be exact. To see when you are growing, you have to have an exact number. If you don't know the number now, go back and find out so you're ready for day two of the workshop. So when we're talking about numbers, I want you to do me a favor and notice what comes up in your body. Are you holding any tension in your shoulders, in your neck? I want you right now to all just do me a favor, take a deep breath and release it. Let all that go. There's no shame about any of this. There's... Let the tightness go, let the frustration go. Whatever you're feeling, let all that go. This is just information, and once you have the information, then you can really grow. This is not making you feel bad about anything that's happening, or maybe you're doing very, very good, and you feel great about what your, what your numbers are saying about you. Still, there's room for growth, and this is about growth, moving you forward. Most photographers, you know, they don't fail because they aren't working hard. I see... As a matter of fact, almost every photographer I know personally is working very hard. I see it. I hear it. I see your posts. I see what everybody's doing. People fail because they never learn, they've never learned how to build something that supports them. That's the difference. What we're taught is about using the gear. That doesn't really support you. Buying gear does not support us. We all want all the shiny things. I do, too. Trust me, I want the best cameras, lenses, lights. We all want that stuff, but I'm talking about the business, how you support yourself so you can buy all the new great- latest, greatest. So we have to have business coming in to do that. So let's go into step three. Whatever number you wrote down, be it the number for the clients that you shot, be it the number for the income, I want you to double both those numbers. Take a good look at that number now. This is why it's important to have the workbook, so you can write these numbers down. If you don't have the workbook, if you did not download it, do it after this, we finish today, and do this work. And look at it, look at the numbers and start thinking about what does it take to get there? I know it might feel impossible when we talk about doubling numbers, doubling the number of clients, doubling the number of income, but it's not. This is just powerful information that we all must have. We can't put our heads in the sand and ignore this. It might feel impossible. I get that. But this is not about ability. This is about the lack of something that's important that's probably missing in your business, and this workshop, this challenge is here to help you get this. Let me share a story with you so you know that I'm not just, you know, uh, talking off the top of my head. For those who don't know, um, I live in Japan now, but I used to live in the States. And in the States I made a living, uh, photographing a lot of celebrities, um, some of the biggest celebrities, like Oprah I've shot since the mid-'90s, um, and shot throughout, um, into the 2000s. Um, but now I live in Japan. So I moved where nobody knew my name, knew my work, and didn't care about the celebrities in America that I shot 'cause I was in a new country. So in a big way, it was like starting from scratch for me. It was like beginning my, my career all over again. I had no work. I had no clients. I was on empty. I did not speak the language. I was struggling and I was depressed, wondering if I made a mistake by moving to this other country, thinking that my career in the States would move me forward. It did not. I tried posting more. I lowered my prices. I'm not ashamed to say it. I lowered my prices. I tried other types of photography. Nothing was working. Nothing. I was depressed, ended up getting on my knees and praying to God, asking for guidance, asking for help, asking... Have I made a mistake? Should I, should I move back to the States? Can I make it here? And the funny thing that happened when I humbled myself and asked for help, everything changed. It was there at my darkest hour when I was about to quit photography altogether, that the Creator reminded me how I began my career. It wasn't about the gear. It wasn't about all that stuff that we think about. There was no posting back then. It wasn't all these things that you think help get us work. In the beginning of my career, I had a way to convert a stranger into a client. I call that a client conversion system. And at the beginning of my career, I had one client. That's it. For a long time at the start of my career, there was one client, and that client hired me over and over and over again, and people saw that. And then other clients saw it, and they started hiring me over and over and over again. A client conversion system. Now, moving to another country, guess what? That makes no difference. You still need a way to convert a client, and it begins by having one client first and having that client refer you to other clients, and then it snowballs. So the system didn't change. My environment changed. All I had to do was go back to the system. This system is gonna work through no matter what happens in our industry. Going from film to digital, that shakeup. Now AI, that huge shakeup. A system is gonna make it where you can thrive no matter what. These three days of this, of this challenge are gonna show you that and teach you that. When I realized that success wasn't tied to location, it was tied to structure, my whole world changed. So no matter where you are in the world, doesn't matter, big city, small city, small town, big town, none of that matters. It's about structure. You see, the problem isn't effort. The problem is that no one has taught you how to engineer demand. That's what a s- system does for you. More of my tea here. Being a struggling artist, we've all heard that. Oh, yes, I'm a struggling artist. That's not anything to be proud of. It's a red flag in your business. If you are a struggling artist, it sounds cool, right? It's not. It's, it's not a rite of passage. It's a red flag in your business that something is missing. This is where many photographers realize something uncomfortable as well, and it's not your fault, because I think the industry has taught us this. It's taught us to sell our pictures. That's never been the real way to be successful. We're taught if we make beautiful pictures, if we have great sharp images, if everything's perfect, that we'll sell more work. We'll get more clients, and it's not true. And going into this world of AI that we are in, it's especially not true, 'cause every image will be beautiful and perfect. Clients are not buying perfect pictures. We've been taught they were, but it's not true. They buy how they felt working with you. I want you to really understand that and hear that clearly, because this is gonna be a wake-up call for a lot of people. We're posting more pictures thinking that, oh, we need better pictures, better website, better Instagram, better whatever. That's not what's gonna keep you working. I said it in the very beginning, it's that human connection. How they felt working with you is far more important. Selling photos leads to inconsistent income. It leads to random unreliable bookings, no way to confidently raise your prices, 'cause you're competing against everybody else who's doing the same thing. It's constant guessing, second-guessing. We've been through that before, many of us. I have been through that before, so I'm sure you have, too, and emotional burnout. That's what selling pictures does. But the thing that turns your business around is having a client conversion system, a way for them to come back over and over again, a way to have a referral engine in your business so that clients see your work, they experience you. I'm not talking about the pictures. They experience what it feels like to work with you, and that's why they refer you to others. They talk about what it felt like for them to work with you. The pictures are secondary. Stop selling pictures. The truth, creative talent as a photographer does not equal success in photography. Maybe once upon a time it did, back when there were less photographers, back when it was only film and it was a harder hurdle to become a photographer. That was the past. It does not exist anymore. Creative talent, that can be done at the click of a button now. We all thought that we have to be talented to be successful, and now we're learning that anybody can show talented work by the press of a button. That's machine. What about that human connection? The truth, working hard in photography does not equal success in photography. So many photographers are working hard. Inconsistent income is not a normal thing for any business. Not in photography, not in any business. It's the result of a broken or a missing, missing client conversion system. Every business needs this engine to be a business. Every single one, including ours as photographers. We have to have a way to bring clients in. If we don't, that's feast or famine. Working a lot for two months and then nothing for three months. That's ghosted inquiries. People see your work, they inquire about you, they get your prices, and they disappear, which leads to you undercharging and leads to burnout. That's all the signs that you do not have a system in place. Struggling, limited work, maybe that's where you are today. There's another way that can change all of that. That's consistent work, booked all the time, consistent income, and joy in photography. This is where I want each and every one of you to be, on this side of the equation. Now, if you don't fix that problem, AI is going to make it much worse. And we don't know what's coming down the pipeline, but I can tell you this: no problem stays the same. It usually grows and gets better. So you either fix the problem or the problem gets worse. So how do you do that? Consistently booked, clients all the time, consistent income. You've got to have a proven system where you have a way to convert that stranger into a client, and that client into a consistent client who refers you to others. That's that referral engine I talked about earlier. Now, the reason clients aren't booking you, this is what photographers think, "Oh, I don't have enough followers." A lot of us have, you know, given in to that follower thing. It's not what we think it is. Maybe you're not posting enough, or it's your location, or it's your age, too old, too young, too whatever. Cheaper competition next door, oversaturated market. These are the things that occupy our mind and keep us from moving forward when the truth is there's no client journey. I want you to think about this. What is your client's journey to becoming a client? Maybe you don't have a lead conversion system in place. Maybe you're not doing things consistency, consistently. Maybe there's no emotional connection yet. All this happens when you have structure in place. Without a client conversion system, clients fall through the cracks. That can change. That doesn't have to be. So you've tried to raise your rates maybe, and maybe that's not working yet. Many try to raise their prices without fixing the experience of working with you. A system can fix all that. Without a system that builds trust, they're not going to hire you. People don't hire you if they don't trust that you can deliver. They don't trust that your images are real. If they don't trust that the images that they've seen are gonna look like the images that they get. A system in your business fixes all of that. A client conversion system builds consistency and confidence in you and in your clients. You see, without this, it's like jumping off a cliff without a rope. A client conversion system is your safety net. It keeps you working. It gives you peace of mind. It lets you thrive. At my lowest point in my career, I was thinking I wasn't good enough. I was thinking like, "Oh, maybe I'm too old for this again. Maybe the world has changed, and it doesn't work in this new country the way it did in, in America." It's not true. It's not true. You can thrive no matter where you are, no matter your age. Young, old, doesn't matter. Male, female, it doesn't matter. Race, it doesn't matter. You can thrive by having a system. What changed everything was surrendering what I thought I knew, and this is a big one, because we are by ourselves in our own head and wondering what the problem is, thinking that we know what the problem is, but we're overlooking something that is so simple to see, but we're not holding that mirror up to see it. That's why I had you write those numbers down, and if you did not do that, please do that at the end today. That is important to know those numbers. And then once you have that, you can work on the client conversion system as we go into day two and day three, which is extremely important. So you now know a client conversion system is important. And if you didn't bring in, uh, a way for clients to come back, that referral system, that's not having a system in place. A client conversion system that didn't rely on posting every day or, or hoping for referrals, a client conversion system that made it normal for people to find you versus you going out all the time and searching for new clients. Wouldn't that feel good for clients to find you organically versus you hustling to find clients all the time? But first, you've gotta put that client conversion system in place. The client conversion system will attract clients, convert clients, and deliver repeat clients to you, but you've got to have the system. The system, what is it? It's a framework that helps you do three critical things in your business as a photographer. Attract the right clients. Everybody is not your client. It's gonna help you attract your ideal client. Convert that interest into bookings with clarity and confidence for your clients and for you. And deliver an experience that's extremely valuable, more valuable than the pictures. Remember we talked about that? Clients are not buying photographs. They may think they are, but they're really buying the experience of working with you. People pay more for how great they feel than just for a picture. This framework can change everything. Without it, you may not be in business long as our world changes. So client conversion framework, step one is emotional attraction. I didn't say the pictures. I didn't say posting more. Emotional attraction. Stage two is trust conversion. If there is any doubt, they disappear. They ghost you. Trust conversion is stage two. Stage three, amplify the experience so you are unforgettable. This is what they talk about. This is part of the referral engine. Stage four, that referral momentum. Once you have it going, you put gas on the fire to amplify it. These things change everything, and you have to have them in your business. It protects you. The client conversion system is your protection for your business. It gives your art a container that it needs to thrive in the real world as the world changes. It's never going to stay still. But with this system in place, you can thrive long term. When I put a cl- a client conversion system in place in my business, everything changed. I could raise my rates. I could book more confidently. I could stop living in anxiety and move forward, and that feels great. You don't need more hustle. You don't need a bigger following. We've all been taught that we need that. It's not true, not for clients. Maybe if you want to have, like, you know, a, a sponsor, maybe that might be important, but in terms of your business of photography, you need a client conversion system in place, and that's what changes everything. Let's go over what you learned today. Today you didn't just learn, you saw your truth. Your numbers are your truth. You looked honestly at your past 12 months. You discovered that inconsistent income is not a talent problem. Talent, we're gonna see more and more, we're already seeing it, everybody looks talented out there now. Everybody looks talented. What else do you have? You need that client conversion system. You saw that referrals don't happen by accident. They must be engineered. You realize why working harder hasn't created consistency in your business. Feast and famine, anxiety, clients ghosting. That's by not having a system in place. You identified the real reason clients hesitate, disappear, or ghost, and you learn not to take it personally, and you understood that this isn't a personal failure. None of this is a personal failure. You've got to understand that it's not your fault. This is our world business environment changing, and we have to change with it to survive. Today, you discovered the real problem, and it's not you. It isn't your talent. It isn't your effort. It's the absence of a client conversion system. This is the game changer. Now, your challenge for today. Number one, if you did not fill out your numbers, I want you to immediately after we're done, we're almost done today, as, as soon as we finish, before you do anything else, and this is for you, write your numbers down. Please take this time f- you're gonna thank me for this, not just next week or next month, but for the rest of your journey as photography. These numbers are your line in the sand to see where you are so you can see your growth. So before next session, make sure you have those numbers written down. How many clients that you booked in the last 12 months, please do this. Those numbers, they all, they're all important. How much you made in the last 12 months. I want to know that, and I want you to think about your dream version. That dream version is you doubling those numbers. It's not a dream. This can be real. It may seem like a dream when you write it down. But this is not. This is your challenge in these three days, to do the work all three days. To grow, it takes work. Not just sitting and listening to me, but doing the actual work. That's what brings change. In the next session, we'll open up the system that gets you there. I want to thank you for being here. For those who are seeing this as the recording, if you didn't make it to the live one, I'm gonna put this up for everybody to see who, who's registered. So if you registered, you get the recording of this, so you won't miss a thing. But when you're here live, you feel it differently, right? Make sure you come to part two and part three, because this is important. Day by day, you're gonna see, "Okay, I can thrive long term." That's what this is all about. So what's next? In your next session, I'll walk you through the three pillars of the client conversion framework we talked about. But on day three, I'll show you how to fully install it. Join me on Thursday for day two. I'm so glad you guys were here today. Today's challenge, also join me on the Facebook page. You can ask any questions there. You can go in and put your pictures there. There's a link in your email for the, for the workbook and for the pop-up Facebook group. This Facebook group is only live when I do these, these challenges. So it'll go into sleep mode until the next time I do it. But right now, it's live. Join there, put your pictures up, ask questions. I'll jump in there, answer questions. Make sure you have access to everything before day two. So I want to thank you all for being here. My name is Matthew Jordan Smith. Um, if you're coming in late and you're just seeing it, my name is Matthew Jordan Smith. I've been doing photography for over three decades. I love it. I've seen a lot of change, and I'm doing this challenge for you so you can thrive long term. Thank you all for being here. I look forward to seeing you on day two. Until then, I'll keep nursing my, my voice, and hopefully this, this cold will be gone before Thursday, and we can all thrive together. Until Thursday, have a great rest of your week. Do the work. Make sure, your challenge is to make sure you do the work. Write your numbers down. Write your future numbers down we talked about. Look at them, let go of all anxiety, all stress, take that deep breath, and let's move forward. I'll see you all on Thursday. Take care, everyone. Bye, guys.

10 de may de 2026 - 55 min

Photography Breakthrough System

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