More Money, Less Work - A How-To With Caroline Tran
This post is part of our Pro Tips series bringing you the best inspiration and information from some of our favorite professional photographers and Pic-Time Ambassadors. Enjoy.
““I had to figure out how to make more money without working on the weekends so much.””
“Once you start a business,” says Los Angeles based wedding and lifestyle portrait photographer, Caroline Tran, “You realize the majority of your time is spent on the administrative stuff and not even the creative stuff.”
And that’s not typically the dream.
It certainly wasn’t for former physics-teacher-turned-pro-photographer, Caroline Tran - now a mother of two - who found herself evaluating her priorities after being swamped by a fully booked calendar predominantly of destination weddings quickly after her career change.
“It got to the point,” Caroline explains, “Where I was missing every friend’s birthday and every family event - to the point where family wasn’t even inviting me based on the assumption: well, Caroline’s not available anyway!”
Assessing Personal Priorities
When traveling and working with her children often in tow eventually became too much, Caroline stopped to reassess what was most important in her life and what she truly wanted.
““At the end of the day, what makes me happy? It’s my kids and my parents.””
“These pivotal moments in your life really make you reassess how you run your business and how to make sure you put YOU first; your priorities first” says Caroline.
Family is the priority. Caroline in one of her mini session sets with her parents, children and husband.
Once it became clear Caroline’s current path was leading in an unwanted direction - leaving her children and family behind - she made pivotal changes in both her mindset and her business to help correct the course.
Caroline knew her young children would soon start school and be gone most of the day, five days a week. And with her shoots landing mostly on weekends, work / life balance and family time were soon to become asynchronous if something didn’t change.
So Caroline changed tack.
More Money, More Freedom
Caroline explains there are three ways to make more money in business - and therefore gain more time freedom:
Raise your prices: Continue the same work you’re currently doing but charge more for it. “It works up until a certain point,” Caroline says, “But then you have to reposition your business to match the new market you’re trying to attract.”
Get more clients: Do the same sort of work but increase the number of clients you serve. Helps increase income but typically greatly decreases your available time.
Sell more things to existing clients: Offer bigger packages and more upsells. Ideal choice when you don’t want to raise your prices or work more.
As far as Caroline’s concerned, why choose option one or two when the third is there for the taking?!
““The reality is I’m very lazy! I don’t like to work, that’s why I quit a 9-to-5 job… I like having fun in my life.””
Caroline’s family when her children were younger, enjoying one of her mini session sets.
Passive Income With Pic-Time
To achieve her goal of selling more, working less and generating passive income, Caroline utilizes her three favorite Pic-Time sales automations:
Abandoned Cart: To date, the Abandoned Cart app has passively generated Caroline over $60k. It’s quick and easy to set up. Do it once then just toggle on for every gallery. If a client or guest leaves something in their cart, this app will automatically reach out to them on your behalf. Caroline offers a limited time 30 percent discount using this app and it’s typically a strong enough incentive to push the sale over the line, which is a win / win scenario for both parties.
Gallery To Backup System: This is a multi-part automation app that runs both an Early Bird AND Expiry discount (that extends to the Gallery Backup subscription offer). Caroline gives clients a 20 percent discount for the first two weeks a gallery is open then lets Pic-Time encourage them to make any last purchases before the gallery goes offline and / or pay to have their gallery hosted via the subscription service. The Gallery To Backup System has generated some $35k in Caroline’s business.
The Simple Sales System: Caroline uses an adapted version of Annemie Tonken’s Simple Sales System, mainly with her mini session clients who choose not to prepay for a high-resolution package. In that case, three upgrade packages are made available using the SSS automation: 3 files, 10 files and 20 files. This approach has earned Caroline over $22k of upsell income.
Do the maths and it equates to more than $125k of easy, predominantly automated income for Caroline and her family, all thanks to Pic-Time automated apps - not to mention all the time saved.
““Pic-Time has practically served as my virtual In-Person Sales [assistant].””
If you haven’t already explored the sales automation apps freely available inside your Pic-Time account, what are you waiting for?!
Print Sales in Pic-Time
If you’re wondering how Caroline sells printed products using Pic-Time, pay attention to this important point: Pic-Time’s the mechanism and the sales side of things actually happens long before clients make their way to their gallery and shop.
“I show prints a lot…a lot of examples of beautiful homes with big prints on the wall” Caroline says.
So, the old adage around showing what you want to sell applies. And the proof’s in the pudding.
Caroline shows physical print products to clients in-person, and photos of products on her website and social media.
““I want [clients] to be able to envision what having their photos hung up in their house would look like.””
Caroline makes a point of dropping spoken hints about photo prints and frames during her sessions as well, noting how important it is to plant the seeds about printed photos as the end goal and finished product.
Mini Session Magic
Another way Caroline generates income in her business is by running profitable mini sessions. In sitting fees alone, Caroline and her team typically generate some $40k in a single weekend of doing so.
They run mini sessions twice a year, booking anywhere between 25 - 30 each day, and with all the upsells in Pic-Time after gallery delivery, mini sessions are responsible for more than six-figures of income annually.
Most of Caroline’s mini session weekends sell out before the theme or set design has even been announced.
Caroline offers a free mini session crash course for any interested photographers, and you can join the waitlist for her comprehensive paid course on lucrative mini sessions too.
Having It All
As far as Caroline’s concerned, you really can have it all - work / life balance, family and fun. Determine your priorities, put them first and always work smarter, not harder.
For professional photographers, having a powerful online gallery and sales tool like Pic-Time can make all the difference. Put it to work for you and quickly reap both the lifestyle and financial benefits.
More Pro Tips
If you enjoyed this edition of our Pro Tips series, you may also like to read:
Six Figures From Free Portrait Sessions - With Jeremy Cowart
Sales While You Sleep - Marketing Automation Mastery With Rick Liston
Master Your Client Journey With Pic-Time & HoneyBook - With Colie James
