Business Help Archives - The Modern Tog

Ultimate Free Photography Business Resource Guide

Looking for help starting and growing a successful photography business? Need ideas on how to get more photography clients?

You’re in the right place.

I’ve packed this post with several ridiculously amazing FREE resources that can help you grow your business, so you’re going to want to pin and share this post so you can come back to it again and again as you need help with your business moving forward.

This list of resources helps with everything from just starting out through full in-person sales methods, organization, and more.

My goal is to make starting and growing a successful photography business as easy as possible for you, so let’s dive right into this awesome list of free resources! [Click to read more]

How to Get Clients to Stop Texting at 2am

Clients often expect to be able to communicate with you 24/7 via Email, texts, Facebook messages, or any other way they find to contact us.

Some photographers don’t offer clients the ability to contact them by phone. But putting up walls for clients makes it harder for them to book you, and some people prefer to use the phone. So today I am going to share one tool that will make it easier for you to use the phone in your business, stop getting annoyed by client calls and texts at all hours of the day, and how to make it effective even if you prefer not to talk to clients on the phone.

Google Voice has been an indispensable tool for me in my photography business for the last eight years.

It’s even free, only requiring a Google account. When you sign up, Google will assign you a phone number (with some input preferences from you first).

Here is why I believe every photography business owner should be using Google Voice. [Click to read more]

Quick Tip to Turn More Inquiries Into Clients

These days, everyone is busy.

There’s nothing more frustrating than finally setting aside some time to get something done, only to find out that you have to wait several hours (or even a few days) in order to be able to finish it.

This is what we are doing to our prospective clients when they start shopping for a photographer to hire.

They check out our websites, then they use our contact forms, and finally they have to wait for an email from us to get the information they really want in order to make an informed decision.

So if you can find a way to get that information to them more quickly (while still capturing their contact information so you can follow up with them), you’re going to be more likely to book them than if they have to wait to hear from you again.

So let’s talk about how to turn more inquiries into clients without having to have email open all the time.
[Click to read more]

Top 10 Black Friday & Cyber Monday Deals for Photographers!

Click here now to check out the best photography deals in the industry, and get a free gift from The Modern Tog as well just as a thank you!

How to Make Money with a Black Friday Deal in Your Photography Business

Black Friday is just around the corner here in the US, and this is a GREAT time to make some extra cash for the holiday season (and not just spend it on all the awesome deals out there!)

This is one of the few days of the year when people are actually looking forward to spending their money and are happy to do it.

However, just creating a sale doesn’t mean you’re going to get people to buy. So this post is going to walk you through how to run a successful Black Friday sale as well as give you several ideas of what you could do.

Let’s dig right in. [Click to read more]

How to Move Your Photography Business to a New Location

Moving to a new location is hard enough, but when it comes to moving your photography business, it is especially challenging.

We just moved to a new state about 400 miles away from our old town, which means we get to completely re-start our photography business in a brand new place with no word-of-mouth or brand recognition.

In some ways, it feels a lot like starting from scratch. But instead of being discouraging, I’m really excited about it. This gives us a chance to re-define who we are and to do things “right” from the very beginning.

So I thought I’d share the process we’re going through as we move our business. So let’s jump in. [Click to read more]

Top 10 Blogs for Photographers of 2014

It’s incredible how many blogs for photographers there are now.

In the past year, I’ve seen tons of blogs start up, all promising to help you grow your photography business.

But which ones will actually help you grow your business most effectively? Who do I believe you should be following most closely?

I’ve narrowed down my list to my top 10 list of blogs for professional photographers (besides this one, of course) that I recommend following. There’s plenty more to be sure, but these are the best of the best that teach you how to run a more profitable and successful photography business.

So here’s the fourth annual list of Top Photography Business Blogs!

[Click to read more]

Take The Stress Out Of Working With Friends & Family

Stress-Free-Working-With-Friends-and-Family-The-Modern-Tog-Clean — Photo by Maureen Cassidy, Used with Permission

Think back to when you started your business. Who were your first “clients” (whether free or paid)?

Chances are you started by taking images of friends and family before getting outside clients to hire you.

While it’s important to be thankful for the people who helped you get started, things can quickly become awkward once you start raising your prices and are no longer just building your portfolio.

Friends & family might expect free or discounted rates. In addition, they might be some of your most difficult “clients” to work with.

So today I’m going to tell you why that happens and how to avoid sticky and difficult situations when working with friends and family. So let’s jump right in.

[Click to read more]

Will Your Photography Business Survive In 2014? 13 Predictions For The New Year

The Photography Industry is in the midst of a huge change.

I’ve seen several well-established photography studios close while new, talented photographers rise up to replace them in non-conventional ways.

I’ve seen a shift in what clients are looking for and what’s important to them.

And more than anything, I’m seeing that marketing efforts that worked very well even 2-3 years ago are no longer giving people the results they once were getting.

So I wanted to share some of the trends I’ve noticed and what I think is going to be most important to focus on in 2014 and beyond in order to have a sustainable & profitable photography business in 2014. Let’s jump right in.

[Click to read more]

The Secret to Running a Successful Senior Photography Business

By Jen Basford of Seniors Ignite

Like me, I’m sure you hear these things all the time:

‘The senior portrait industry is dead.’ ‘You can’t make a living doing senior pictures.’ ‘Everyone has a camera now and I can’t compete with their low prices – they are putting me out of business.’ And so on.

Maybe you’re even one of the ones who feel this way.

I’ve cringed every time I heard this for so long, simply because I know it’s not true. It’s actually not the case at all. [Click to read more]

Black Friday and Cyber Monday Photography Deals

It’s time for our annual Black Friday through Cyber Monday Photography Deals! This is the best time of the year to save some money and help buy some tools to make more money in your photography business.

Check out the deals below, buy them and save yourself some money, then tell a friend about the deals!

Thank You!

As always, thank you for purchasing through the links on this site. I receive a commission if you use them (without any extra cost to you), so it’s a great way to say “thanks” for the info you’ve learned here! I appreciate it!

Thanksgiving Sale from The Modern Tog:

Save $50 off (up to 85% off!) all our digital products here at The Modern Tog through Monday, 11/30/15. Check them out here!

Learn More about the Easy Client Manager

Learn More about the Photographer’s Pricing Guide Workbook

Learn More about the Easy Client & Money Manager

Learn More about the Profitable Portfolio Builder

Learn More about the Go-To Guide for Client Emails

Sorry, no refunds or price adjustments on past purchases.

Black Friday through Cyber Monday Photography Deals Around the Web

SmartAlbums

Details: $199 (60% off)
When: Tuesday, 11/24/15 – Friday, 11/30/15
Code: BIGSALE

SmartAlbums is the absolute best tool I’ve seen for album creation. You can create 30-page album designs in an hour or less, as it’s one of the most intuitive and easy to use softwares I’ve seen.

If you want to increase your sales by adding albums to your lineup but you’re not sure if you can make them affordable, this software will help because of how quickly you can whip out an amazing, professional album. Buy it now while it’s 60% off. If you’re still not sure, click here and read how I use it for successful album sales.

Click here to get this seriously sweet deal.

ShootProof

Details: 30% – 60% Off Your First Year of ShootProof
When: Monday, 11/23/15 – Monday, 11/30/15
Code: No Code Necessary

If you want a modern looking proofing gallery that is easy-to-use and offers automation to help you get more sales with less work on your part, sign up for Shootproof. I personally use them and recommend them highly. For Black Friday only, get 60% off your first year, get 50% off on Saturday the 28th, 40% off on Sunday the 29th, and 30% off for Cyber Monday (Monday, December 3rd).

Click here to get the deal.

SimpleSLR

Details: 40% off all products
When: Friday, 11/20/15 – Wednesday, 12/2/15
Code: JAMIE2015

I had to put SimpleSLR’s photography guides near the top of my list because the lighting and photography guides are super hands-on with helpful examples and reference charts, and they are ridiculously cheap. I truly believe each of these should be at least double or more the regular price, so with the sale price it’s a no-brainer. You can buy all 6 guides in a bundle for only $39 (that’s 60% off what you’d pay if you purchased them separately).

I highly recommend them.

Complete Bundle of 6 Ebooks: Get the wedding lighting guide, portrait lighting guide, camera guide, and all three portrait recipe volumes – Only $39 for all (save 60% off full retail price if purchased separately!)
Wedding Photography Lighting: All about wedding photography lighting – save 40%
Portrait Photography Lighting: Portrait Photography lighting guide, plus all three portrait recipes – save 40%
Lighting Bundle: Get the wedding photography lighting guide plus all three portrait recipes – save 40%
Beginner’s Camera Guide: Learn how to harness the power of your DSLR by taking it off of auto – save 40%

Click here to get the deals.

StickyAlbums

Details: $65 off + 2 months free
When: Friday, 11/27/15 – Monday, 11/30/15
Code: No Code Necessary

People are addicted to their phones. Mobile marketing is a great way to get ahead of your competition, and no one does this better than
StickyAlbums.
StickyAlbums is a mobile app that allows you to make a digital album of all of your clients’ images. Clients love it because it’s customizable and you can put their picture on the app, and because it makes it super easy for them to show off their pictures to their friends and family. And photographers love it because it makes word-of-mouth advertising super easy for their clients.

Click here to get the deal.

Photography Concentrate

Details: 50% off all products
When: Friday, 11/20/15 – Friday, 12/4/15
Code: No Code Necessary

Photography Concentrate makes extremely practical (and FUN!) photography tutorial guides. They’ve got guides for a multitude of topics like camera skills and shooting, composition, light, photo editing and retouching, album design, documentary photography, how to backup your photos, etc. I’ve personally used their guides before and love them. Their guides are all super reasonably priced to begin with too, so 50% off is a steal.

While all their guides are good, I especially recommend the Fantastic Fundamental Light Skills to learn how to see light better (and have more control in all lighting situations) only $17.47 and Backup or Die, which will walk you through how to protect your images from hard drive failure (which will happen eventually if you are a photographer long enough!) for only $9.97!

Click here to get the deals.

The Law Tog

Details: 30% Off
When: Friday, 11/27/15 – Monday, 11/30/15
Code: BF30

Rachel Brenke, author of the Law Tog, is a Photographer and Lawyer who offers legal products for photographers at a fraction of the price you’d pay an attorney to draft them from scratch for you. She has everything from contracts for portrait and wedding photography to school portrait and commercial photography and sales tax guides to shed some light on the laws in your state. If you don’t have a contract or aren’t sure how tax works, now’s the best time of year to pick them up (because saving even more money than usual rocks!)

Click here to get the deal.

Christine Tremoulet | Business Brilliantly Group Program

Details: 50% Off
When: Monday, 11/23/15 – Monday, 11/30/15
Code: No Code Necessary

Business Brilliantly: It is time to start doing Business Brilliantly – and this program with Christine Tremoulet will help you come up with a solid plan for your blog & social media, a clear picture of the client that you want to work with – and how to reach them – and a push to get you rolling.

No more intimidation by those blogging & social marketing tasks – you will no longer resent, avoid, or just plain not understand them when you’re done!

Click here to get the deal.

Flothemes

Details: 25% Off All Themes
When: Monday, 11/23/15 – Sunday, 11/29/15
Code: MODERNFRIDAY

Flothemes makes gorgeous, mobile-friendly websites for photographers. Not only are they great at showing off your work, but they also come with a ton of features, including the ability to upload blog posts straight from Lightroom. I highly recommend them if you are looking for a professional photography website but aren’t sure where to start.
Click here to get the deal.

Psychology for Photographers

Details: $50 – $109 Off
When: Friday, 11/27/15 – Monday, 11/30/15
Code: No Code Necessary

Jenika from Psychology for Photographers is down-right brilliant, and her products are full of practical information to help you make more money. She rarely does sales, so I highly recommend picking them up now. If you put what you learn from them into practice, you will make far more money than you pay for them. Worth every penny, even at full-price (or more).

Irresistible Website: Regularly $159, sale price $109 – save $50
Irresistible Words: Regularly $249, sale price $199 – save $50
Business Library Pack (bundle): Retail for both would be $408, sale price $299 – save $109

Click here to get the deals.

Boudie Shorts

Details: 50% Off
When: Monday, 11/23/15 – Monday, 11/30/15
Code: No Code Necessary

Boudie Shorts makes some of the best products for boudoir and portrait photographers on the market. Everything from how to market boudoir, shooting and lighting techniques, and even tools for how to build your portfolio without working for free (yes, it’s possible!). Each day of the week leading up to Black Friday all the way through Cyber Monday she’s featuring a different product for 50% off. But it’s only available for that day! You can check out her products here to see everything she offers.

Click here to get the deals.

Photography Spark

Details: 50% – 60% Off
When: Friday, 11/20/15 – Tuesday, 12/1/15
Code: No Code Necessary

Zach Prez has helped thousands of photographers get more clients and make more money. He’s got great advice and presents it in a way that is super easy to understand, even if it’s a bit technical. And on top of that, he’s also a super nice guy. Check out his stuff below.

SEO Cookbook for Photographers: Regularly $99, sale price $49 – save 50%
SEO Course for Photographers: Regularly $299, sale price $119 – save 60%

Click here to get the deals.

Photo Flash Drive

Details: 25% Off + Free Shipping for US, Canadian, and EU Orders
When: Thursday, 11/26/15 – 11:59PM ET Friday, 11/27/15
Code: BLACK25

Photo Flash Drive makes really awesome, custom flash drives that add a great personal, high-end touch to your clients’ orders. They make more than just flash drives too, and even make custom boxes and containers, gift boxes, album boxes, and tons of other great stuff.

Best part is, there’s no minimum order. So you can order a custom drive for each and every client you have if you want to. Pretty cool.

Click here to get the deal.

Matt and Katie | Photographers

Details: 30% Off
When: Friday, 11/27/15 – Monday, 11/30/15
Code: BlackFriday2015

If you’ve been trying to get into in-person portrait sales but don’t want to come off like an 80’s high-pressure car salesman, Matt and Katie’s guide to In-Person Portrait Sales is where you want to start. Learn the ins and outs of in-person sales, including suggestions for package pricing, what to say and when to say it, and even how to set up your sales room.

Click here to get the deal.

Photocrati

Details: 40% Off
When: Friday, 11/27/15 – Monday, 11/30/15
Code: No Code Necessary

Photocrati’s website themes are built for photographers with some amazing built-in SEO features so you can make sure you get found by your potential clients. There’s also built-in eCommerce options so you can quickly and easily sell your photos. Plus, each theme is mobile friendly, which is absolutely essential if you want to be found online when people are searching for a photographer.

Click here to get the deal.

Joy Of Marketing

Details: 70% off the Simplified Photography Pricing Formula
When: Wednesday, 11/25/15 – Monday, 11/30/15
Code: No Code Necessary

In this 9 module webinar course, you’ll learn how to set profitable prices so you can move on and make a living doing what you love…..Photography! Not only will it help calculate the numbers, but you’ll learn pricing strategy that will help you get more clients and make more money for the lifetime of your business. This course is normally $799, but right now you can get it for only $239.70 (that’s a savings of over $550!)

Click here to get the deal.

YouProof

Details: $10 Off
When: Friday, 11/27/15 for 24 hours only
Code: No Code Necessary

YouProof is an in-person proofing app, which is perfect for in-person proofing and sales sessions. It’s portable too, and works great on portable devices like iPads. You can even take down their order and email copies of the order right from the app.

Click here to get the deal.

Amazon

Details: Varies
Code: No Code Necessary

Amazon has a ton of deals for photographers, like these cheap SD cards (you can never have too many!). Check them out now, and browse around to see the rest of their deals.

Click here to get the deals.

Adorama

Details: Varies
Code: No Code Necessary

Adorama has a ton of camera and photography gear. Lighting, cameras, lenses, accessories – really, anything you could almost ever need. So if you’ve been eyeing a new lens or a new softbox, now is the time!

Click here to get the deals.