In this introduction to the brand-new coaching program for The Portrait System, Sue Bryce sets the stage for the transformational experience of building a business—whether you’re starting from scratch or are looking to make a breakthrough that takes you to new heights.

Through Sue’s teaching and the expert coaching of Cat Ford-Coates and Saray Taylor-Roman, the 12 Month Startup will help you find what lights you up and define what you want as a business owner and photographer. “Clarity is power!” Sue says. “When you have clarity and you’ve got that certainty and conviction, you really know what you want, you know who your client is, you know what you want to create—it’s easy to show up every…single…day.”

Get excited to set your intention for this year of coaching; to learn what lights you up; to confront fears and uncertainties and uncomfortable moments and turn them into the experiences that make you an incredible business owner.

Lessons:

Internationally acclaimed photography guru, John Greengo has teamed up with world-renowned portrait photographer, Sue Bryce to bring you the ultimate camera fundamentals course. Whether you just purchased your first camera or you’re looking to brush up on your technical skills, this comprehensive class will cover all your bases on your journey to create beautiful portraits.

John Greengo is especially known for his visual teaching style and incredible simplicity in explaining your camera’s complicated functions. Learn all about the different types of cameras, and how to find your correct settings when it comes to shutter speed, ISO, aperture, and more. Explore the different types of flash and lenses, master your focus, and learn how to set your camera’s functions to best serve you. Then watch as Sue demonstrates John’s teachings in action at the end of each lesson!

When you fully understand your camera and how to use it, your confidence behind the lens grows immensely and your work inevitably improves. Invest in your photography, master the fundamentals of your camera and watch your photography flourish.

Lessons:

Training Materials:

For so many creative small business owners, the journey to building a valuable brand and service starts inside you. In this talk, I unlock the secret fears we all feel, and I share the progression of my own personal path to value and getting paid doing what I love.

I AM SO EXCITED to share this with you!

Lessons:

Want to dive in deeper on this subject? Watch these related courses:

If you don’t address the problems you have that ultimately affect your ability to RECEIVE and MANAGE money, you just cannot run a successful business! Learn the eight styles of being blocked around building wealth, so you can apply the antidotes for healing those blocks and take steps toward manifesting a more enriched and enriching future.

Lessons:

Training Materials:

Manifestation… Manifest-ACTION!!

In this talk from The Portrait Masters Conference, Sue speaks from her heart about how to properly manifest success in your life, not just by willing it, but by acting on it!

Manifestation… Have you found yourself in a slump? Maybe feeling trapped or like you aren’t doing what you feel you were born to do — just stuck? You aren’t alone! So many others have felt this way, including Sue Bryce. In what could arguably be her most heartfelt video to date, Sue shares her incredible story of the highs and lows in her life. She talks about how she built a successful business but something was still missing. Sue took a leap of faith and failed miserably, hitting rock bottom, before picking herself back up to create another successful business, while also stepping out of her comfort zone to become the teacher/speaker we all know and love.

Watch as she shares the steps it took to to get her here. How she learned that manifestation was more than simply trusting what the universe and her gut were telling her—that is was also putting it into action so she could be ALL IN.

Sue Bryce LIVE Q&A

Then, tune in to the LIVE Q&A. Brush up your “3 areas that surround creating” — emotion, mindset, and action. Sue will give you some great advice with some very hard truths to help you break out of your slump, get out there, and become the best version of yourself, which will help you create the best business you can. Great business = Great return! Learn the importance of not just manifestation but also manifestACTION!

It’s easy to put your dreams out in the universe, or start a vision board, but until you take the steps to manifest those dreams, they will only remain dreams. Sue uses her past experiences to help teach you how to love yourself, accept yourself and accept what the universe wants to give you.

If you have been down on yourself because your business isn’t growing like you want it to, you’re unsatisfied in other aspects of your life and that impacts your business, or if you just need a little push into positivity, then you won’t want to skip this video. You will find yourself having “aha” moments, laughing, crying and then just all together getting amped up for this new year. Do yourself a favor and just push “Play!”

“The state in which you dwell is the state in which you are creating and manifesting from at full power.”

—Sue Bryce

Lessons:

Training Materials:

Don’t become one of the 50% of businesses that fail in their first year because they run out of money! When you understand the fundamentals of money and how to price your product and service at a level that matches your worth, you can be truly successful in your business.

In this first session of the brand new 12-Month Startup Coaching Program, Sue, Cat, and Saray will teach the financial fundamentals you need to master to run a profitable and successful business—money, value, and pricing. When you understand these fundamentals and tried-and-true methods for money success, you and your business can not just survive, but thrive! For those with existing portrait photography businesses, you’ll learn the three areas you can improve to make more money.

The 12-Month Startup Program is a step-by-step guide for achieving your goals. The program is led by world-renowned photographer and educator Sue Bryce and two of her protégés, your breakthrough coaches, Cat Ford-Coates and Saray Taylor-Roman. Sue, Cat, and Saray have all built six-figure businesses with The Portrait System business model. Even if you are starting with nothing, you can join now and learn everything you need to know to launch a sustainable, successful business.

Jump into the full course and all the month’s lessons here!

Lessons:

How much money do you want to earn this year?

Create a marketing plan and take action… so much easier said than done, right?

How do you project income and bookings?
How do create a schedule that supports future goals?
How do you create a Marketing Plan?

Join me for for this session as we make big goals, big dreams, real targets, and discuss how to go after them.

Lessons:

Training Materials:

Ask yourself, “What am I hearing from the people around me?” These people are telling us what we need to hear because they are reflecting what we are expressing to them. Their objections reveal where our perceived shortcomings are holding us back.

We need to confront these negative limiting beliefs so that we can overcome them, get past them, and re-write them. These old beliefs no longer serve us. It is time for us to acknowledge them and our path to growth so that we can get out of our own way and build successful businesses.

Lessons:

It is all about the law of action, not attraction. In this powerful video, Sue shows us how to change obvious desperation into empowering intention, how to look for people instead of money, and how to truly turn a dream into a reality. Sue shares how there is freedom in setting goals, how to turn our words into action items, and what we should prepare for after we decide to stop being idle and start being positively active in our business and our personal lives.

Key Points:

MAKE A GOAL AND THEN GO AFTER IT

The first thing Sue does when she wakes up in the morning is set her intention for her actions for the day.

That is ACTION. It’s not lying in bed hoping you are going to attract what you want, but going out and doing what you need to in order to acquire what you want.

YOUR ACTIONS WILL DETERMINE WHAT IS COMING TO YOU

One of the most important things about setting goals is to MAKE GOALS FOR WORK, NOT MONEY.

We energetically repel money when we don’t have a strong value system around money. We repel money when we have guilt around making it or about being wealthy.

“We need to make our goals around our work! When I started my business in 2003, I wrote that I wanted 10 photo shoots per week with an average sale of $1800. It took me 12 weeks to reach that goal. I went from being poor to having money, and I had a lot of lessons around managing time and money. I laugh now at 10 shoots per week — sounds absolutely crazy to me!”

You need to be really careful about turning your goals from WANTS to NEEDS.

When you focus on NEEDING money, your energy shifts. It shifts into an energy of desperation.

Instead, shift your focus to finding people to shoot.

FINDING PEOPLE IS WAY EASIER THAN FINDING MONEY

And once you find the people, you give them GREAT service and product and then they pay you really well.

When people desperately need to make a sale, they push it away because their energy is in a space of desperation and their NEED IS OVERRIDING THEIR SERVICE.

When you are in space of needing money, YOUR CLIENT FEELS IT. They feel that you are in an energy of taking, even if they don’t know what they are feeling. They do feel it!

This energy translates into every post you write and the way that you sell yourself!

Knowing your average sale is, of course, very important (have a look at the average sale video if you haven’t already). If you want to increase your average sale, you must set your intention every day.

For example, you want 3 shoots per week at a $1200 sales average. You aren’t looking for $3600 per week, you are looking for 3 PEOPLE per week who you can give incredible service to.

There is a HUGE difference between the success of the person who gets up in the morning with a bad attitude — looking at other people who are more successful, whining on Facebook, telling themselves they aren’t worth it — and someone who wakes up in the morning with an action plan and with a positive attitude full of love and joy for what you do!

When you are in a negative or resentful energy, YOU ARE IN THE OPPOSITE ENERGY OF MAKING SOMETHING HAPPEN WITH YOUR GOAL SETTING.

A DREAM IS JUST A DREAM UNTIL YOU WRITE IT DOWN AND MAKE IT A GOAL

Walk towards it every day!!! You must make a daily action.

Have the attitude that life isn’t happening TO you, it’s happening FOR you!!!

Take little baby steps but walk towards your goals!

“What we vividly imagine, most ardently desire, enthusiastically act upon, must inevitably come to pass” ~Collin P. Sisson

Sue shares her own personal goals in this video. Tell her what YOU want in convocation.

Lessons:

To go into business and earn money with your portraits, you must be clear on what you are selling, how you are pricing it, and what you are calling it so that your clients can understand it.

This month, you’ll learn about all the different types of portrait photography you can leverage to earn revenue and which products you feel most energized to offer. You’ll also learn how to create cohesion among your brands and products by connecting your images with simple descriptive search words that are easy for your clients to understand. For those ready to expand their business, we’ll go deeper into your messaging and marketing, working on clarity and how to show value and create desire.

The 12-Month Startup Program is a step-by-step guide for achieving your goals. The program is led by world-renowned photographer and educator Sue Bryce and two of her protégés, your breakthrough coaches, Cat Ford-Coates and Saray Taylor-Roman. Sue, Cat, and Saray have all built six-figure businesses with The Portrait System business model. Even if you are starting with nothing, you can join now and learn everything you need to know to launch a sustainable, successful business.

Jump into the full course and all the month’s lessons here! 

Lessons:

Want to dive in deeper on this subject? Watch these related courses:

Money & Pricing – Month 1 of the 12 Month Startup

In the Pricing and Product lessons, Sue teaches you how to create a pricing structure based on your value, your experience as a business owner, and your experience with being a paid photographer.

Knowing your worth is crucial in business, and these lessons focus on understanding your value. Topics include: identifying your blocks when it comes to your self-value, understanding your value as a creator, understanding the value of your time, and understanding the value of your craft. As well, we’ll look at how to get your pricing to industry standards and all the possibilities for pricing plans, packages, and more. The more you understand your value and demand your worth, the more you will see your business soar.

Once you’ve finished this week, we recommend visiting the Sales Intensive for further studies on this topic.

These lessons are part of the 90 Day Challenge, where Sue gives you all the tools you need to create a business and thrive. Whether you are a beginner, building your business from the ground up, or an experienced photographer, taking your business to the next level, this course will help your business grow!

Lessons:

Training Materials:

Continue Learning...

Pricing

Pricing to Sell

Your First Package Price

Selling Wall Portraits

Selling Framed Images

Selling Wall Portraits + Collections

You need to lock down your prices before you can really learn to sell because you can’t sell until you are sure of what your product is and how much you are selling it for.

Learning pricing is a challenge because there is no international standard for pricing portraits, and the pricing people use really runs the gamut. No one has set a standard, but Sue is going to tell you what she thinks the standard should be and why.

Additionally, in this lesson, you’re going to learn how professional photographers in The Portrait System community are pricing their products. You’ll also learn some basic sales psychology that will help you understand how you should set your prices and why.

You’ll get armed with the knowledge you need to create a base price list for your products and service. By the end, you’ll be ready to set prices for your sitting fee, three packages — low, middle, and high, and your a la carte items.

After you complete this lesson with its homework, you’ll be ready to head on over to the Sales Intensive next.

Lessons:

Training Materials:

For success in your business, your average sale should be the most important thing you not only focus on, but simply KNOW. In this lesson, Sue coaches on how problems in our business are never with our client or competition but with ourselves. You’ll learn the questions you should ask yourself each day, how to properly reflect back on each shoot to get more out of the next, and the importance of having a mentor. Finally, Sue shares the best business advice she has yet to give. Hint: it has to do with bums.

Key Points:

* You should always know what your average sale is. BE HONEST with yourself and include the no sales.

* Knowing your average sale helps you focus on how to lift your average INSTEAD of thinking about how to get more money.

* The more consistently you provide excellent service and product, the more people will talk about you, the more bums on seats you will get. Start doing this and you will make money!

* Once what you are doing starts feeling really good to you and you are at a value point that is very comfortable to you, you will start moving products and attracting people. When your energy is in alignment, you can’t help but do it!

* When you get a no sale, instead of complaining about it, ask yourself, WHAT DID I DO WRONG? It is not the economy or what the photographer down the street is doing.

* If your average sale isn’t where you want it to be, YOU are the reason it is going wrong, and Sue will bring it back to you every time.

* If your income isn’t where you want it to be, you need to minimize your costs. If it doesn’t make the ship go faster, don’t buy it!

* If you get a no sale, you either:

• Did not connect with your clients
• Did not educate your clients
• Did not give adequate service to your clients
• Did not follow through
• Did not produce the product that you promised

* You are your own boss and you need to ask yourself where you are falling down. If you need support, go get a mentor! If your partner isn’t supporting you around your business, stop talking to him about it! A mentor will tell you honestly what you are doing wrong and support you.

* People email Sue on a regular basis saying they want to quit when they get a no sale. If you want to quit every time you get a no sale, you are struggling with your own value. You perceive that the lack of value is coming from an outside source and it’s not!

* ANYTHING THAT BRINGS YOUR AVERAGE UP OR DOWN IS A LESSON. Have a look at your big sales and your low sales and think about what happened during those shoots. What was your energy level like? Did you connect? Your answers will be right there!

* SERVICE IS ABOUT GIVING. . . what you are GIVING to get paid. You must come to the shoot in a state of giving, not worrying about whether or not you are going to get paid.

Lessons:

What you show and what you love is what you sell.

This lesson will prepare you for the big-selling wall portraits class. It is all about getting clear on what you love most to take you to the next level of selling. Lock down the points in this lesson and then head over to Selling Wall Portraits & Collections next.

To see how Sue shows what she loves, view Sue Bryce’s Studio Tour.

Lessons:

I have been selling wall portraits for over 27 years. Learn the techniques that create a visual collection for your clients so they can see their own portraits covering the walls of their home. The gallery wall and the ancestors wall are big sellers. Most of your clients dream of creating something this beautiful for their homes with legacy images of the people they love. Plant the seed, show don’t tell, and let your clients decide by giving them gorgeous and enticing products to purchase.

Lessons:

This is our BIG sales class!

We did the prep work and in this class we are spending 3 hours on selling wall portraits, designer wall series, collections, packages, up selling with wall portraits, and closing sales.

Join us in this class as we dive deep into pricing, product, profit & cost of goods, sales cycle from consultation through the sales session, closing, service, handling objections, referrals, and a whole lot more.

Lessons:

Four years ago, I was approached by a huge international company to shoot a ‘real women’ series of shoots.

I had to determine a quote, submit a proposal, create a vision board, and fly to New York to pitch the board of directors and their advertising and PR people.

My quote was in the tens of thousands of dollars. They accepted my proposal, and I did the job. (There is a whole lot more to this story, but boy was I out of my comfort zone).

As a portrait photographer and educator, I am constantly asked to help people learn about commercial pitching, pricing, and licensing. So I’m bringing in commercial photographer and educator Rob Grimm.

Join us for this lesson and learn how to pitch and win commercial work. We will cover how to price your services and time correctly as well as the ins and outs of commercial licensing.

Lessons:

Boudoir that Empowers

For most of her career, glamour photographer Sue Bryce has been outspoken in her push back against the boudoir genre, which she feels can objectify women by focusing too much on their body parts and not enough on their souls and personalities. Then at the 2018 Portrait Masters Conference, Sue issued a challenge for anyone who was ready to step up and join her on stage as an educator. Boudoir photographer Kara Marie Trombetta answered the call, and Sue was blown away by the beauty, passion, and soul in Kara Marie’s boudoir photography, which is driven by her desire to empower her clients by helping them feel confident when they are at their most vulnerable.

Since then, Kara Marie has become a featured instructor for The Portrait System (formerly Sue Bryce Education), a featured speaker at The Portrait Masters Conference, and she has a Boudoir Series educational course in The Portrait Masters store.

Glamour vs Boudoir

In this conversation, Sue and Kara Marie discuss the portrait genres of Glamour and Boudoir, which both have undergone profound transformations in the last 30 years. Sue and Kara Marie talk about the history of each genre and discuss how they have changed. Both glamour and boudoir have their own stereotypes and stigmas associated with them, and Sue and Kara Marie talk about how developing their own styles depended on engaging those stereotypes and pushing through them. Furthermore, they share how they each used their genre’s stereotypes as springboards for their success.

Find Your Style

Sue and Kara Marie’s experiences of transforming their glamour and boudoir relate to every portrait photographer’s journey of developing their own style and career path. In this lesson, Sue offers valuable advice and key questions every photographer should ask themself as they engage in an exploration of genres while developing their unique style. This is key to building a successful business because no matter which genre you choose to focus on, your style will shine through it, and your passion for it will determine your longevity in the field.

You might also like:

• Black Lace
• White Sheet
• Vintage Pinup
• Vintage Lingerie
• Vintage French Top
• Self-Portraits by Teri Hofford
• Empower All Bodies with Sue and Teri Hofford 
• Get the Scoop on Kara Marie’s New Boudoir Course
• Boudoir and Its Boundless Potential with Kara Marie
• Boudoir Marketing with Sue, Jasmin Jade, and Kara Marie

Lessons:

What is it that makes clients come back again and again and refer friends and family to you? The answer is simple. It’s the quality of the service and experience you provide.

In this lesson, we’ll go through the eight touchpoints that create a step-by-step system, a momentum of service, from the first contact all the way through to after the shoot. You’ll learn how to make every point of contact with your clients positively memorable, helping them feel seen, heard, and taken care of. When they have this kind of service-oriented experience with you, they will want to come back for more and tell all their friends.

For those ready to elevate their business further, we’ll talk about how to optimize each of the eight client touchpoints, so you can build upon and improve the service you are already providing.

The 12-Month Startup Program is a step-by-step guide for achieving your goals. The program is led by world-renowned photographer and educator Sue Bryce and two of her protégés, your breakthrough coaches, Cat Ford-Coates and Saray Taylor-Roman. Sue, Cat, and Saray have all built six-figure businesses with The Portrait System business model. Even if you are starting with nothing, you can join now and learn everything you need to know to launch a sustainable, successful business.

Jump into the full course and all the month’s lessons here!  

Lessons:

Emily London Miller has created an extraordinary consultation system that is absolute gold! It has given her the highest average sale of the mentors. Listen as she explains the steps she takes with her clients to turn a potential client into a paying client.

Key Points:

List of steps in Emily’s consultation system:

1. Client is interested in more information, fills out form on website.
2. Automated email is sent to client with price list and behind-the-scenes video.
3. Emily calls client for phone-consultation, books their shoot, and collects sitting fee.
4. Consultation appointment 4 weeks from their shoot: design the mood of their shoot. Client receives style guide and timeline.
5. Try-on session. Emily helps client choose outfits, then takes their outfits to the studio three days before the shoot.
6. SHOOT!

Lessons:

When it comes to making great sales, the initial client consultation is the most important piece of the puzzle. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use your initial client consultation to educate and set expectations for what’s to come. You’ll learn about all the different types of conversations you’ll have during the consultation, which is your time to get to know and connect with your clients, so they will trust you and want to buy from you.

When you can share, with excitement and enthusiasm, the client experience you provide, your products, and your pricing, you get your client excited to work with you, and you plant the seeds for how your clients want to see their images. You get to see what products they feel most drawn to, and you empower them to make the best decision for themselves when it comes time to go into the sales room.

This month, you’ll practice saying your prices out loud until it is effortless. For those of you ready for more, you’ll refresh and optimize your sales scripts and brush up on key selling points so you can better train your sales associates.

The 12-Month Startup Program is a step-by-step guide for achieving your goals. The program is led by world-renowned photographer and educator Sue Bryce and two of her protégés, your breakthrough coaches, Cat Ford-Coates and Saray Taylor-Roman. Sue, Cat, and Saray have all built six-figure businesses with The Portrait System business model. Even if you are starting with nothing, you can join now and learn everything you need to know to launch a sustainable, successful business.

Jump into the full course and all the month’s lessons here! 

Lessons:

Sales Contact #2: The Consultation. The consultation is probably the most important point of contact with your clients. If you find yourself running into challenges with your clients later on during the shoot or reveal, almost always the problem started in the consultation step.

So much of how we connect these days is by phone and email. We don’t always get to connect face to face. I believe whole heartedly that the consultation is the most important selling point where the best selling is done and the future connection is established. We educate and get excitement and commitment and establish stage one of relationship building and trust. This can happen over the phone or in person, but it is crucial to connect and educate your client in preparation for their shoot and future reveal.

There are five crucial points of contact with your clients that you need to master for selling portraits in your business:

#1 — Networking
#2 — The Consultation
#3 — Day of Shoot
#4 — The Reveal
#5 — Ask for Referral

In this special five-part series of Sue Bryce LIVE, it’s time to dig in and purposefully strengthen every point of contact we have with clients.

Lessons:

Training Materials:

Want to dive in deeper on this subject? Watch these related courses:

Sales Contact #1 — Networking

Sales Contact #3 — Day of Shoot

Sales Contact #4 — The Reveal

Sales Contact #5 — Ask for Referrals

Emily London Miller has created an extraordinary consultation system that is absolute gold! It has given her the highest average sale of the mentors. Listen as she explains the steps she takes with her clients to turn a potential client into a paying client.

Key Points:

List of steps in Emily’s consultation system:

1. Client is interested in more information, fills out form on website.
2. Automated email is sent to client with price list and behind-the-scenes video.
3. Emily calls client for phone-consultation, books their shoot, and collects sitting fee.
4. Consultation appointment 4 weeks from their shoot: design the mood of their shoot. Client receives style guide and timeline.
5. Try-on session. Emily helps client choose outfits, then takes their outfits to the studio three days before the shoot.
6. SHOOT!

Lessons:

The goal of marketing and networking is buns on seats! This month’s lessons address how filling seats comes from making connections.

Marketing and networking is a long game. It is crucial that you don’t approach people with dollar signs in your eyes, but rather that you focus on connecting with them on a deep level, making friends with them so that they will think of you when they, or someone they know, needs a photographer.

This month, you’ll learn how to network and market in a way that leads to exponential growth. Doing the legwork in the beginning creates a strong foundation, expanding your personal network, so that you don’t have to keep putting in the same level of work networking and marketing down the line.
For those ready to optimize their marketing and networking, we’ll take a close look at your social triangle–your online presence—making sure it is active, up to date, and congruent.

The 12-Month Startup Program  is a step-by-step guide for achieving your goals. The program is led by world-renowned photographer and educator Sue Bryce and two of her protégés, your breakthrough coaches, Cat Ford-Coates and Saray Taylor-Roman. Sue, Cat, and Saray have all built six-figure businesses with The Portrait System business model. Even if you are starting with nothing, you can join now and learn everything you need to know to launch a sustainable, successful business.

12 Month Startup – The Portrait System

Learn to thrive in your portrait photography business with The Portrait System’s 12 Month Startup online coaching program.

Lessons:

How much money do you want to earn this year?

Create a marketing plan and take action… so much easier said than done, right?

How do you project income and bookings?
How do create a schedule that supports future goals?
How do you create a Marketing Plan?

Join me for for this session as we make big goals, big dreams, real targets, and discuss how to go after them.

Lessons:

Training Materials:

People are selfish, it’s true. Consumers tend to have a bottom line of “what’s in this for me.” If you approach your marketing from this perspective, it will help your business grow.

Lessons:

Let’s talk about how to get over the fear of talking about your work and focus on giving and sharing the wealth of experience that you have.

Lessons:

Don’t let all those tasks in your workflow surprise you every time they come around. There is a better way!

It’s time to get into the details of your workflow from top to bottom—from the client journey to file management. When you understand your whole workflow, then you can begin to automate it to create a seamless experience. When your workflow runs smoothly, so does your business. It makes your client experience amazing and frees up your time so that you can get away from the computer and focus on the areas that make you money. Once it’s all set up and done, you can let it roll.

For established photographers, we’ll talk about how to make quarterly evaluations of your workflow to update your efficiency and efficacy as your business grows and changes.

The 12-Month Startup Program  is a step-by-step guide for achieving your goals. The program is led by world-renowned photographer and educator Sue Bryce and two of her protégés, your breakthrough coaches, Cat Ford-Coates and Saray Taylor-Roman. Sue, Cat, and Saray have all built six-figure businesses with The Portrait System business model. Even if you are starting with nothing, you can join now and learn everything you need to know to launch a sustainable, successful business.

Jump into the full course and all the month’s lessons here!

Lessons:

You don’t need a lot of lights to get started or even to have a highly successful career. You only need a natural light source or whatever light you already have.

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to master the light you love, one type of light source at a time. We’ll go over every kind of lighting so that whether you are indoors or outdoors, shooting with a window, constant light, or strobe, you’ll have the fundamentals to master the light you are currently using, and you’ll have the information you need to explore other types of lighting as well. You’ll also learn how to make DIY v-flats and reflectors and how to source premade ones. Above all, you’ll be learning how to find and create beautiful flat light, and you’ll get tips on experimenting with light, so you can learn how to see it and master it.

For those ready to elevate your work, you can consider purchasing additional lights, get experimental with the lights you already have, and go further toward truly mastering light.

The 12-Month Startup Program  is a step-by-step guide for achieving your goals. The program is led by world-renowned photographer and educator Sue Bryce and two of her protégés, your breakthrough coaches, Cat Ford-Coates and Saray Taylor-Roman. Sue, Cat, and Saray have all built six-figure businesses with The Portrait System business model. Even if you are starting with nothing, you can join now and learn everything you need to know to launch a sustainable, successful business.

Jump into the full course and all the month’s lessons here!

Lessons:

Join Sue today as we explore shooting on dark backgrounds and creating moody looks without harsh shadows. We’ll use tunnels, blocking, and reflection to bend natural light to create more depth and contrast in your images while maintaining a soft filtered light on your subject’s face. Think dark, gorgeous, moody almost old Hollywood style Film Noir, but just a little bit different.

Step into the studio as Sue shoots the gorgeous, Megan. She will go over the different lighting along with lighting hacks to get the perfect portrait. You will also get to see the different ways she poses Megan in order to get the right mood for the shot. She also walks you through how to create and mold the light.

At the end of the Bending Light course, you will be able to sit in on a Q&A session. This is the time where the viewers that were watching the Bending Light course LIVE were able to write in with questions they had. These Q&A sessions are great because they usually address the questions we have all had when it comes to bending light.

Want more lighting tips? Try our Strobe with V Flat course next!

Or

Follow Sue on Facebook

Lessons:

Sue shows how to create dark, sultry, low-light Film Noir images using natural light. These photos are all about capturing the dark, passive emotions. When you’re posing dark form, it’s no longer a normal portrait, it is going to be no eyes to the camera.  It’s really important to understand why you aren’t looking at the camera. You will want to tune into the retouching portion to see why.

Sue breaks this course down for you into 3 sections.

• The Low Light Shoot- where you will sit in on these shoots with Sue. You will be able to see the lighting she uses and her settings for her camera. She will also go over the poses that are most common with Film Noir shoots..
• Retouching- In this segment, you will sit down with sue and watch as she retouches these images. She will go over some tips and tricks along with reasoning as to why you might have to edit images a little differently when you are shooting Film Noir.

Lessons:

Join us for the Basic Strobe Setups course! Learn some basic and beautiful one and two light strobe setups. This course is broken up into 3 sections. In the introduction, Sue will give you a rundown on the different strobes. She will give you a few tips to help you find which one will work for your business.

In the second segment of the Basic Strobe Setups course, you will see the Elinchrom Video. In this video, you will sit in on a shoot with Sue where she shows you a comparison in the different lights and how to angle them to get different looks.

At the end of the course, Sue will show you four different modifiers.  She will show you where to put them, how to use them, and show you multiple lighting looks. Sue will then finish the photos in post-production for these amazing looks. If you are in the market for adding strobes to your studio, the Basic Strobe Setup course will be one you won’t want to miss!

“No one took longer than me to use strobes in my studio because I hated the “Strobe” look and then I met Felix Kunze and he taught me how to replicate MY light with strobes and now I am in love.“- Sue Bryce

Check out the Elinchrom Lighting Kits and accessories in The Portrait Masters Store.

Can’t get enough? Our Backlight Shoot and Retouch course is up next!

Or

Follow Sue On Facebook

Lessons:

Lessons:

Training Materials:

When it comes to posing and styling, it all comes down to personal choice. There is no right or wrong here. It’s all about learning your options and deciding what works best for you and your studio.

This month, you’ll learn all about hair, makeup, wardrobe (including DIY hacks), and how to make your clients look their best by directing their movements down to the fingertips. Everyone has their own philosophy around posing and styling, so it’s important to get to know what’s possible so that you can make choices that resonate with you and what you want to create.

For those ready to go further, learn how to use posing in your marketing, including sharing behind-the-scenes images of your clients’ posing experience and results.

The 12-Month Startup Program  is a step-by-step guide for achieving your goals. The program is led by world-renowned photographer and educator Sue Bryce and two of her protégés, your breakthrough coaches, Cat Ford-Coates and Saray Taylor-Roman. Sue, Cat, and Saray have all built six-figure businesses with The Portrait System business model. Even if you are starting with nothing, you can join now and learn everything you need to know to launch a sustainable, successful business.

Jump into the full course and all the month’s lessons here!

Lessons:

Sue gets down and dirty in this do-it-yourself tutorial. Watch time-lapse videos of the creations of two successfully painted backdrops made for under $100 and learn how to create your own fast, fun, and cheap DIY painted backdrop.

See how Sue creates an Oliphant style backdrop with 2 friends for $73 in under a half an hour!

Items Used:

• Painter’s Canvas Drop Cloth
• Paint Kit (tray, brush, & roller)
• Main Paint Color
• Other color tones to add-in
• Plastic Cover for the floor
• Sponges

Painting the final backdrop a simple grey color, Sue walks us through her thought process and actions in the creation of this DIY drop.

Shooting with your Painted Backdrops-
Description: Now that our backdrops are dry, it’s time to experiment in front of the camera. Watch how Sue manipulates natural light with v-flats to make the backdrops appear differently and create different moods in her images, and how she improvises when an experiment doesn’t necessarily turn out the way she had planned. Sue also discusses how you can turn light more directional or stronger to enhance vignettes with a Kino Flo, strobe, or natural light.

Items Used:

• V-flats

Lessons:

With just $15, you can create a brilliant, beautiful, and boundless black sash that adds dozens of styles of dresses to your wardrobe. In this course, you will learn how to wrap this simple sash into various ways that will look good on every client’s body. Tune in to see what styles look the best on each body type, and how to create couture looking gowns. The black sash is the perfect addition to your essentials so you’re prepared for anything while folio building. Sue shows you how to be empowered by creating something out of nothing. She also shares her story of how this black sash changed her studio forever.

Key Points:

• Back in Sue’s garage studio in New Zealand, one of her clients showed up for her shoot with nothing to wear. At that time, Sue had no studio wardrobe. What she did have was a black sash. She used the sash to create dresses for her client- as you see in this video.
• Make sure the fabric has a soft, satin feel to it.
• This fabric does not need to be expensive. What you see in this video was $4.99 per yard and she uses 3 yards.
• Sue bought an inexpensive sewing machine. Proof that you don’t need anything over the top!
• Sew this similarly to how you would a pillowcase (watch the first video for more details).
• One thing to have in your studio for the “black sash” outfit is a long black tube/pencil skirt in different sizes. You can buy them at cheap clothing stores in the mall or on Amazon for around $12.00. This creates the bottom part of the outfit.
• Drape and play with the fabric around your client depending on her body type.
• A thin piece of the fabric works great to taper in the waist almost as a belt.
• There are so many necklines you can do with this! Watch the video for multiple variations.

Items Used:

• Black Satin Fabric
• Black Tube Dress

Lessons:

Today we get to watch Sue during a Victorian Style shoot. Sue had an idea for a Victorian style shoot and she loved doing this shoot so much that she felt overwhelmed and nearly cried during it. She wanted to show you how you can get really creative with styling your client.

Sue used two different gorgeous dresses for two different looks from an incredible dress designer R-Mine Bespoke and she shot her on her gold Oliphant backdrop.

With a shoot like this, you want to feature the dress and hair and hairpiece, but don’t lose sight of making sure your client is still the focal point of the shoot.

Our Tulle Neck and Shoulders course is up next!

Lessons:

Today is all about being creative with tulle! Creating beautiful tulle dresses for your clients does not need to be difficult or expensive. Sue demonstrates how you can use tulle to simply and quickly create on-the-spot dresses for your models with very little material.

Working with Tulle:

Sue demonstrates multiple ways to drape tulle and create dresses with different necklines using a mannequin.

Items Used:

• References the black sash video
• Needle and thread
• Tulle (Sue uses 12 yards as an example)
• Miniature roses (available at Michael’s)

Key Things to Take Away:

• Tulle can be used to make beautiful dresses for your clients
• You can do multiple looks with tulle (ex: off the shoulder, strapless, halter)
• Try doing an internet search for different dress variations for ideas

Shoot with Tan Tulle:

Sue takes you through a photoshoot with a client using several yards of tan tulle. She shows you that it doesn’t take much to be creative with tulle.

Items Used:

• References the black sash video
• $2 necklace from a discount jewelry store (simple circular “ring” necklace in gold and silver to use for a halter neck)
• Tulle fabric (Sue uses 12 yards as an example)
• Nude slip and black slip (stretchy so that they fit more bodies)

Key Things to Take Away:

• Tulle has lots of great movement, which can look great in a shoot.
• If you don’t have a circular “ring” necklace, you can use a ribbon
• For dance style photos, wrapping the head/hair with a small piece of tulle adds to the ballet dancer look
• You can twist and pin a smaller piece of tulle to create arm, shoulder, or neckpieces
• Sue focuses on a feminine, beautiful style that is desired by her clients. She doesn’t focus on “hypersexual” shots when photographing the female form.
• As you pose your client, look for beautiful shapes. Continue to move them until you see the shape that looks beautiful. Rotate them and explore the movement to keep looking for beautiful poses.
• You can get the ballet dancer look with someone who isn’t a dancer by using tan or nude tulle and exploring movement with your client. Keep moving them around until you see the beautiful shot
• Letting your clients freestyle doesn’t usually work the way you want it to. Slow them down and control their movements

Shoot with Green Tulle:

Sue demonstrates a live photoshoot using tulle by wrapping her client to create a dress.

Items Used:

• Tulle fabric (Sue uses a bolt of tulle)
• Plastic clips to use while draping tulle

Key Things to Take Away:

• Tulle can be used to make beautiful dresses for your clients
• You can do multiple looks with tulle (ex: off the shoulder, strapless, halter)
• If a pose with the tulle doesn’t work, keep moving your client and moving the tulle to get the look that you want
• Using tulle to “cocoon” a maternity client can work really well

Learn all about Styling Hair next!

Lessons:

Transform your photoshoots with the art of creative draping and styling in this comprehensive course, 2 Dresses: Infinite Looks. Discover 25 innovative ways to wrap and style dresses, guided by the expert hands of Kenzie Olds and captured through the lens of acclaimed photographer Gerson Lopes.

Whether you’re styling a shoot or looking to get multiple looks from one outfit, this course is your ultimate guide. Learn how to create stunning, versatile looks for any client using nothing more than a strip of fabric and a strapless or infinity dress. Model Tee brings these styles to life, offering a visual feast that will ignite your creativity and enhance your portfolio.

Experience this course like a silent film, where the visual storytelling takes center stage, allowing you to fully immerse yourself in the artistry of draping. Alongside detailed video tutorials, you’ll receive a downloadable guide for quick reference, ensuring you can effortlessly recreate these elegant styles. Perfect for photographers, stylists, and fashion enthusiasts, 2 Dresses: Infinite Looks is your key to mastering the art of styling with simplicity and sophistication.

Lessons:

Training Materials:

Making good money depends on a system of momentum that begins with how you value yourself and extends through how you relate to your service, products, and clients.

In this crucial month, you’ll learn how to get over money blocks that keep you from earning and keeping money. You’ll also learn how to create a successful sales system with a valuable product, desirable experience, and a professional price. Creating momentum in your sales system begins with an enticing marketing offers and continues through booking shoots with clients who make purchases that make them so happy they want to give you referrals.

When you value yourself, value your product, and create a sales environment based on the value your clients receive, your confidence grows, and you will make more money!

The 12-Month Startup Program  is a step-by-step guide for achieving your goals. The program is led by world-renowned photographer and educator Sue Bryce and two of her protégés, your breakthrough coaches, Cat Ford-Coates and Saray Taylor-Roman. Sue, Cat, and Saray have all built six-figure businesses with The Portrait System business model. Even if you are starting with nothing, you can join now and learn everything you need to know to launch a sustainable, successful business.

Jump into the full course and all the month’s lessons here!

Lessons:

Unlock the secrets to mastering the art of sales with internationally renowned photographer and educator, Sue Bryce, in “The Sales Intensive.” This dynamic course is designed to transform your approach to selling by focusing on the psychology of sales, effective communication, and powerful objection handling. Sue Bryce brings her vast experience and proven techniques to help you elevate your business, whether you’re a seasoned photographer or just starting out.

Through a series of engaging lessons, you’ll learn how to craft irresistible offers, overcome common sales challenges, and build meaningful connections with clients. Sue’s unique teaching style combines practical strategies with deep insights into the emotional aspects of selling, ensuring that you not only improve your sales skills but also gain confidence in your ability to close deals.

This course goes beyond traditional sales training by empowering you to shift your mindset, embrace your value, and approach sales with authenticity and enthusiasm. Join Sue Bryce and a community of like-minded professionals on this transformative journey, and start achieving the sales success you deserve.

Enroll now and take the first step towards transforming your business and your life!

Lessons:

Training Materials:

For so many creative small business owners, the journey to building a valuable brand and service starts inside you. In this talk, I unlock the secret fears we all feel, and I share the progression of my own personal path to value and getting paid doing what I love.

I AM SO EXCITED to share this with you!

Lessons:

Want to dive in deeper on this subject? Watch these related courses:

Sue pulls out her black-belt karate skills (I’m not kidding!), and her awesome ability to teach all skill levels at once in this special bonus session on print sales for bridging the gap between startup/folio build and package sales. You know that awkward gap between shoot & burn and $1,200? Boy, has Sue got some great solutions for you –  Ninja level!

Lessons:

Sales Contact #1: Networking. This is your first point of contact with new clients. This is the first time we start to connect and sell. This stage requires confidence and ownership — a clear conviction on you and your service. This is where we build and declare the path we’re on to a professional business and brand. Because we are not selling portraits yet; we are selling you.

There are five crucial points of contact with your clients that you need to master for selling portraits in your business:

#1 — Networking
#2 — The Consultation
#3 — Day of Shoot
#4 — The Reveal
#5 — Ask for Referrals

In this special five-week series of Sue Bryce LIVE, it’s time to dig in and purposefully strengthen every point of contact we have with clients.

Lessons:

Training Materials:

Want to dive in deeper on this subject? Watch these related courses:

Sales Contact #2 — The Consultation

Sales Contact #3 — Day of Shoot

Sales Contact #4 — The Reveal

Sales Contact #5 — Ask for Referrals

Sales Contact #2: The Consultation. The consultation is probably the most important point of contact with your clients. If you find yourself running into challenges with your clients later on during the shoot or reveal, almost always the problem started in the consultation step.

So much of how we connect these days is by phone and email. We don’t always get to connect face to face. I believe whole heartedly that the consultation is the most important selling point where the best selling is done and the future connection is established. We educate and get excitement and commitment and establish stage one of relationship building and trust. This can happen over the phone or in person, but it is crucial to connect and educate your client in preparation for their shoot and future reveal.

There are five crucial points of contact with your clients that you need to master for selling portraits in your business:

#1 — Networking
#2 — The Consultation
#3 — Day of Shoot
#4 — The Reveal
#5 — Ask for Referral

In this special five-part series of Sue Bryce LIVE, it’s time to dig in and purposefully strengthen every point of contact we have with clients.

Lessons:

Training Materials:

Want to dive in deeper on this subject? Watch these related courses:

Sales Contact #1 — Networking

Sales Contact #3 — Day of Shoot

Sales Contact #4 — The Reveal

Sales Contact #5 — Ask for Referrals

Sales Contact #3: The Shoot. Touch. Show. Ask. Educate.

Sometimes the shoot is the first time you’re face to face with your client. Learn powerful sales techniques that involve the touching and presentation of your beautiful products let your clients touch smell and feel your products and learn to ask the right questions that help you create the exact product your client desires.

There are five crucial points of contact with your clients that you need to master for selling portraits in your business:

#1 — Networking
#2 — The Consultation
#3 — The Shoot
#4 — The Reveal
#5 — The Referral

In this special five-part series of Sue Bryce LIVE, it’s time to dig in and purposefully strengthen every point of contact we have with clients.

Lessons:

Training Materials:

Want to dive in deeper on this subject? Watch these related courses:

Sales Contact #1 — Networking

Sales Contact #2 — The Consultation

Sales Contact #4 — The Reveal

Sales Contact #5 — Ask for Referrals

Sales Contact #4: The Reveal. Now is the time to reveal their images and help your client make a final decision on the package they will invest in. When you’ve authenticity connected with your client over the first three sales steps, this step is significantly easier. Learn to negotiate discounts, objections, and payment plans and create more for more, make package upgrade offers without being pushy or ‘salesy’ sell without selling.

There are five crucial points of contact with your clients that you need to master for selling portraits in your business:

#1 — Networking
#2 — The Consultation
#3 — Day of Shoot
#4 — The Reveal
#5 — Ask for Referrals

In this special five-part series of Sue Bryce LIVE, it’s time to dig in and purposefully strengthen every point of contact we have with clients.

Lessons:

Training Materials:

Want to dive in deeper on this subject? Watch these related courses:

Sales Contact #1 — Networking

Sales Contact #2 — The Consultation

Sales Contact #3 — Day of Shoot

Sales Contact #5 — Ask for Referrals

Sales Contact #5: Ask for Referrals. When you learn to welcome, and invite, and actively ASK for referrals, the future of your photography business is built on the most powerful sales and marketing tool you have access to: Word of mouth. We’ll look at how referrals fit into the delivery and final sales phase. But (and this is so important) it is NEVER to early to ask for referrals. When you allow your clients to refer their friends, it not only builds your business, it cements your relationship with that client, and helps them articulate the value of their own experience to themselves.

Ask for the referral. Build a relationship. Maintain your connection.

Inviting referrals is the most powerful relationship building phase, and one where so many photographers fall down. Create a referral system and stay connected. Referrals are the step that build clients for life.

There are five crucial points of contact with your clients that you need to master for selling portraits in your business:

#1 — Networking
#2 — The Consultation
#3 — Day of Shoot
#4 — The Reveal
#5 — Referrals + Selling Wall Portraits

In this special five-week series of Sue Bryce LIVE, it’s time to dig in and purposefully strengthen every point of contact we have with clients.

Lessons:

Training Materials:

Want to dive in deeper on this subject? Watch these related courses:

Sales Contact #1 — Networking

Sales Contact #2 — The Consultation

Sales Contact #3 — Day of Shoot

Sales Contact #4 — The Reveal

You need to lock down your prices before you can really learn to sell because you can’t sell until you are sure of what your product is and how much you are selling it for.

Learning pricing is a challenge because there is no international standard for pricing portraits, and the pricing people use really runs the gamut. No one has set a standard, but Sue is going to tell you what she thinks the standard should be and why.

Additionally, in this lesson, you’re going to learn how professional photographers in The Portrait System community are pricing their products. You’ll also learn some basic sales psychology that will help you understand how you should set your prices and why.

You’ll get armed with the knowledge you need to create a base price list for your products and service. By the end, you’ll be ready to set prices for your sitting fee, three packages — low, middle, and high, and your a la carte items.

After you complete this lesson with its homework, you’ll be ready to head on over to the Sales Intensive next.

Lessons:

Training Materials:

Over the last six months I have recorded and scripted every word around portrait sales. From pricing your work, booking the client, all the way through getting the money in the bank.

This month will transform your business and your life by teaching you to sell with confidence.

When I first went out on my own, I hit rock bottom. I desperately wanted to thrive in business, and I loved my folio. But I discovered I couldn’t sell, hated selling, had an intense fear of rejection, and a complete fear of money. Bottom line: I wasn’t selling myself, I wasn’t receiving money, and I certainly was not valuing myself and my work.

This month’s focus on sales is not an exercise in getting rich quick. It’s about getting paid for your work and your talent. I am not a trust fund baby. I did the work, and you can too. I simply learned to sell with confidence and value. And this month I show you how.

Lessons:

This is our BIG sales class!

We did the prep work and in this class we are spending 3 hours on selling wall portraits, designer wall series, collections, packages, up selling with wall portraits, and closing sales.

Join us in this class as we dive deep into pricing, product, profit & cost of goods, sales cycle from consultation through the sales session, closing, service, handling objections, referrals, and a whole lot more.

Lessons:

For success in your business, your average sale should be the most important thing you not only focus on, but simply KNOW. In this lesson, Sue coaches on how problems in our business are never with our client or competition but with ourselves. You’ll learn the questions you should ask yourself each day, how to properly reflect back on each shoot to get more out of the next, and the importance of having a mentor. Finally, Sue shares the best business advice she has yet to give. Hint: it has to do with bums.

Key Points:

* You should always know what your average sale is. BE HONEST with yourself and include the no sales.

* Knowing your average sale helps you focus on how to lift your average INSTEAD of thinking about how to get more money.

* The more consistently you provide excellent service and product, the more people will talk about you, the more bums on seats you will get. Start doing this and you will make money!

* Once what you are doing starts feeling really good to you and you are at a value point that is very comfortable to you, you will start moving products and attracting people. When your energy is in alignment, you can’t help but do it!

* When you get a no sale, instead of complaining about it, ask yourself, WHAT DID I DO WRONG? It is not the economy or what the photographer down the street is doing.

* If your average sale isn’t where you want it to be, YOU are the reason it is going wrong, and Sue will bring it back to you every time.

* If your income isn’t where you want it to be, you need to minimize your costs. If it doesn’t make the ship go faster, don’t buy it!

* If you get a no sale, you either:

• Did not connect with your clients
• Did not educate your clients
• Did not give adequate service to your clients
• Did not follow through
• Did not produce the product that you promised

* You are your own boss and you need to ask yourself where you are falling down. If you need support, go get a mentor! If your partner isn’t supporting you around your business, stop talking to him about it! A mentor will tell you honestly what you are doing wrong and support you.

* People email Sue on a regular basis saying they want to quit when they get a no sale. If you want to quit every time you get a no sale, you are struggling with your own value. You perceive that the lack of value is coming from an outside source and it’s not!

* ANYTHING THAT BRINGS YOUR AVERAGE UP OR DOWN IS A LESSON. Have a look at your big sales and your low sales and think about what happened during those shoots. What was your energy level like? Did you connect? Your answers will be right there!

* SERVICE IS ABOUT GIVING. . . what you are GIVING to get paid. You must come to the shoot in a state of giving, not worrying about whether or not you are going to get paid.

Lessons:

Sue goes into depth to the mentors about what the Reveal Wall is, how it works, and why it’s revolutionary in selling modern portraiture.

Lessons:

There doesn’t seem to be an international standard for portrait pricing like there is for weddings. Why is it that people can charge so much for weddings, yet not for portraits? Portraits are the one single most important thing you will own for your family, and it just isn’t always valued.

Sue discusses the evolution of a portrait, pricing your portraiture, and how she struggled with her own issues around receiving money. She helps us to understand that the most important thing to learn is to price yourself FOR YOURSELF. You need to say it, believe it, and value it.

Key Points:

• Mothers are often the family member who is photographed the least. Mums are the ones who want photos of her family the most, yet she often isn’t even in the photos!
• You don’t have to be a “family photographer” to include family portraits in your business. Even though Sue is a contemporary glamour portrait photographer, she still does family photo shoots — she just does it her way.
• We often hear that the marketing is too saturated or that someone down the road is charging way less. Don’t worry about what the others are doing! If they aren’t charging enough, their business is not going to survive.
• A la carte pricing means they shop off of a pricing menu with no minimum or limit to what they can buy.
• With a la carte pricing, we hear over and over, “What if they don’t buy?” You should be asking, “WHAT IF THEY DO?!”
• The only person who needs to be okay with your pricelist is YOU. Your negative thoughts will reflect right back to you in how much your clients spend.
• Sue used to struggle with pricing. She was scared of money — afraid of receiving it and terrible at receiving it — and she had a scarcity mentality surrounding money. It took Sue 20 years to get to the point where she is very comfortable with what she charges and she does not want it to take you that long.
• Your clients value your service and products, otherwise they wouldn’t pay for it!
• We need to set the international portrait pricing standard!
• When you start feeling comfortable with what you are charging, you will start earning that amount regularly. Then you need to start bumping up your level of photography, product, and service and bumping up your pricing right along with it.
• When your average sale drops, you need to ask yourself WHAT DID I DO WRONG? You either didn’t educate the people coming to your studio, you didn’t connect with them, or you stop thinking you’re worth it.
• Pitch to your potential clients from a place of SERVICE not selling.

Lessons:

I have been selling wall portraits for over 27 years. Learn the techniques that create a visual collection for your clients so they can see their own portraits covering the walls of their home. The gallery wall and the ancestors wall are big sellers. Most of your clients dream of creating something this beautiful for their homes with legacy images of the people they love. Plant the seed, show don’t tell, and let your clients decide by giving them gorgeous and enticing products to purchase.

Lessons:

I call it the 9 up. Around 2006, when my studio sales were consistently averaging $1,850 for a solid two years and we had 10 open shooting times then fill every week, I wanted to keep innovating and raising that average.

I needed to up the ante and start making and selling enticing wall products so I created the 9 up. I adore wall framed images and gallery walls and I especially love Series.

The 9 Up collection was not designed to be 9 of the best images from the shoot, although it could be. It was designed to be an enticing ADD ON product. Join me live to learn how I pose, shoot and sell this gorgeous product so you can too.

Lessons:

What you show and what you love is what you sell.

This lesson will prepare you for the big-selling wall portraits class. It is all about getting clear on what you love most to take you to the next level of selling. Lock down the points in this lesson and then head over to Selling Wall Portraits & Collections next.

To see how Sue shows what she loves, view Sue Bryce’s Studio Tour.

Lessons:

Tammy Zurak left a corporate sales job to start a business as a glamour photographer – which is now thriving! Sue was blown away the first time she heard Tammy’s belief that if a potential client says, “No”, they just haven’t been properly convinced yet. Go through her selling process step by step and you’ll start believing that “No” really means “Not yet.”

Key Points:

• Providing a service means that it is never about you or what you’re getting. What could you do to help them?
• Same goes for when connecting with other businesses. “If I was them, what would I need?”
• Stop acting like this is out of people’s reach. When people want to pay for something, they will find a way to pay for it.

Lessons:

Emily London Miller has created an extraordinary consultation system that is absolute gold! It has given her the highest average sale of the mentors. Listen as she explains the steps she takes with her clients to turn a potential client into a paying client.

Key Points:

List of steps in Emily’s consultation system:

1. Client is interested in more information, fills out form on website.
2. Automated email is sent to client with price list and behind-the-scenes video.
3. Emily calls client for phone-consultation, books their shoot, and collects sitting fee.
4. Consultation appointment 4 weeks from their shoot: design the mood of their shoot. Client receives style guide and timeline.
5. Try-on session. Emily helps client choose outfits, then takes their outfits to the studio three days before the shoot.
6. SHOOT!

Lessons:

Join Sue in this photographing couture kids course and she will show you how to style, light, pose & shoot stunning couture kids portraits. This 2 part course includes a LIVE along with the ability to sit in on a shoot with Sue. In this shoot, you will get to see how to interacts with and poses her client in an age-appropriate way.

Sue loves creating stylized, fashion-style couture kids portraits. She wants to make them fashionable and beautiful. But, it is very important to her that she represents them at the age they are, and not make them appear any older. This is all about age-appropriate posing, painterly edits, and skin retouching.

Couture portraits are fun and timeless. This is a great genre to add to your folio for your clients. Photographing couture kids is just another portion of that genre. These photos have so much drama and beauty that their parents are sure to fall in love with the results! If you can make a mom happy, that equals sales for you! Tune in to get all the info Sue has to offer. You won’t want to miss it!

Wardrobe: Build| Style| Educate| Hack is up next!

Or

Follow Sue on Facebook

Lessons:

Four years ago, I was approached by a huge international company to shoot a ‘real women’ series of shoots.

I had to determine a quote, submit a proposal, create a vision board, and fly to New York to pitch the board of directors and their advertising and PR people.

My quote was in the tens of thousands of dollars. They accepted my proposal, and I did the job. (There is a whole lot more to this story, but boy was I out of my comfort zone).

As a portrait photographer and educator, I am constantly asked to help people learn about commercial pitching, pricing, and licensing. So I’m bringing in commercial photographer and educator Rob Grimm.

Join us for this lesson and learn how to pitch and win commercial work. We will cover how to price your services and time correctly as well as the ins and outs of commercial licensing.

Lessons:

Let’s talk about pricing, pitching & marketing then I was joined for a discussion via Skype with “Fab at 40!” host, Lisa Kostova. Enjoy!

Lessons:

In the current marketplace and digital social environment, we as portrait photographers are so powerful. We are social curators and visual creators. Our services are so valuable to bloggers, influencers, speakers, professionals, and entrepreneurs of all types. You can be powerful in your marketing because we can do so much for these people. We can provide them with personal branding, social media, marketing, and more.

In this live, Sue teaches you all about contact sheets and wallet prints and how these can be such a valuable part of your marketing for contemporary businesses.

Sue will go over what apps you can use to make these for yourself. There’s also a download available for you here made by the wonderful Shauna Crane, and you can find even more contact sheet templates made by Shauna in The Portrait Masters Store.

You’ll learn how to use these in folio building and as sales incentives. You’ll also learn how giving these as gifts to past clients can rekindle those contacts. They will show them to everyone, which will bring you new clients.

Contact sheets are so visually attractive and interesting to people. Here you’ll learn about where they came from, why people love them, and how you can start using them to increase your business right away.

Lessons:

Training Materials:

I’m going to do a Consultation and we’re going to create scripts together. Many years ago I mastered the art of Connection, Education and Delivery I could sell a shoot before I could sell the Photos IN FACT I will go as far as saying I mastered the booking 12 years before I mastered the Selling BECAUSE I could entice anyone to a shoot I will show you how I do that I JUST COULDNT DO IT WHEN IT WAS AN EXCHANGE OF MONEY. That took me a lot longer but I will prove to you that you can LEARN to sell.

Lessons:

Fact: 90% of selling is done during the consultation!

The consultation you have with your clients has to focus on communicating, connecting, educating, and building desire. Also, this appointment is about THEM, not YOU.

Connection comes naturally for some people and not so much for others. However, it is a skill you can learn–it is something I was able to learn!

My motto is:

Connect. Educate. Deliver.

Do you recognize these objections?

• “Why do I need these photos of myself?”
• “How much does it cost?”
• “I need to lose 20 pounds first.”
• “Just the kids in the photos, not me.”
• “I don’t know what to wear and I’m not photogenic.”

Walk through these objections with me so you are prepared with a response and aren’t caught off guard! They saw your work and they CONTACTED YOU. That means they are interested! Be prepared and remove the threat of them feeling concerned or being pushed into something they don’t want. Get them to get to a place where they are so excited to try what you are offering and help them design what they want their shoot to be!

Lessons:

Training Materials:

Lessons:

Lessons:

Training Materials:

When did you have your first breakthrough sale? Watch Sue put seven successful SBE members: Emily Parsons, Mapuana Reed, Darina Neyret, JoAnna Forsythe, Irene Bibee, Rodney Pedroza, and Kris Robinson in the hot seat! Learn how they made their first breakthrough sales and how they approach their pricing.

Lessons:

Developing your brand and style is about honing in on the genres and light you love the most and mastering them.

This month is all about practicing with different styles, experimenting, and going further into the looks you gravitate toward. As you continue to master your craft, you’ll be able to go deeper into realizing your signature look. Together, we’ll be folio and brand building, creating a strong foundation for your business that you’ll be able to recreate with any brand and that someone else could step into and take over.

For those ready to scale up, you can upgrade your folio, product packages, and your client experience. You can also consider outsourcing parts of your business and bringing in associate photographers.

The 12-Month Startup Program  is a step-by-step guide for achieving your goals. The program is led by world-renowned photographer and educator Sue Bryce and two of her protégés, your breakthrough coaches, Cat Ford-Coates and Saray Taylor-Roman. Sue, Cat, and Saray have all built six-figure businesses with The Portrait System business model. Even if you are starting with nothing, you can join now and learn everything you need to know to launch a sustainable, successful business.

Jump into the full course and all the month’s lessons here!

Lessons:

Lessons:

Training Materials:

This course pairs with the DIY Photoshop Design course.

Lessons:

Want to dive in deeper on this subject? Watch these related courses:

Printables

DIY Photoshop Design

Sue and Shauna Lofy Crane show you how to make a gorgeous marketing .pdf in Photoshop. Even if you “aren’t a graphic designer” you can still make great marketing materials!

Lessons:

This is when it all comes together. It’s time to launch and go public in a big way.

This month, you’ll learn about creating events and campaigns to launch or re-launch your business. This isn’t about being perfect—that will never happen! This is about taking that step, making the leap, getting yourself out there, and officially launching in style.

You’ll be creating buzz, raising brand awareness, and getting those bookings rolling in. So, let’s get to it. This is the moment you’ve been working so hard for.

The 12-Month Startup Program  is a step-by-step guide for achieving your goals. The program is led by world-renowned photographer and educator Sue Bryce and two of her protégés, your breakthrough coaches, Cat Ford-Coates and Saray Taylor-Roman. Sue, Cat, and Saray have all built six-figure businesses with The Portrait System business model. Even if you are starting with nothing, you can join now and learn everything you need to know to launch a sustainable, successful business.

Jump into the full course and all the month’s lessons here!

Lessons:

Let’s talk about how to get over the fear of talking about your work and focus on giving and sharing the wealth of experience that you have.

Lessons:

Sue and team discuss trade shows and the perks of leveraging these marketing opportunities.

Lessons:

Sue discusses how to create a fantastic, memorable marketing event to help you network and gain clients.

Lessons:

The 12-Month Startup Program  is a step-by-step guide for achieving your goals. The program is led by world-renowned photographer and educator Sue Bryce and two of her protégés, your breakthrough coaches, Cat Ford-Coates and Saray Taylor-Roman. Sue, Cat, and Saray have all built six-figure businesses with The Portrait System business model. Even if you are starting with nothing, you can join now and learn everything you need to know to launch a sustainable, successful business.

Jump into the full course and all the month’s lessons here!

Lessons:

If you are struggling with an illness, if you have a job you hate, if you are having a hard time in your relationships, if you are struggling with your weight, struggling with issues from your childhood, struggling to make ends meet financially or having money issues in general, if you are in physical or emotional pain – this talk is for you.

Sue delivers her most powerful talk to date in this series of self-value videos. What she teaches here can absolutely change the way you see yourself and, ultimately, change your life!

Sue explains in depth how the way you value yourself will show up in your body and your illnesses, in your bank account, in your career, and in your relationships. She dives deep into her own personal experiences and illnesses and how it is all a reflection of how she values herself.

Sue talks us through the feelings of self-hate, shame, and anxiety. Our journey with these intense emotions often can rule our lives, but ultimately, can be let go. You can get back to yourself – the self you want to be – on every level.

KEY POINTS

I Am Important:

* Sue experienced the collapse of one of her organs, and she needed to know why. She began exploring how she was causing this to happen, and she found her answers. She found that what we are is the result of all of our illnesses.

* Sue believes that health, wealth, and love are all intertwined, and they all come from a mirror of what you feel you are worth.

* If you are born into poverty, you have the ability to become wealthy. You can achieve what you want to achieve!

* Every human being wants to be seen, heard, and loved.

Choose Your Pain:

* Once you start taking responsibility for what is “happening” to you, you can begin to take control and choose growth and success.

* Sue believes we choose pain, not joy. We gauge our day by how much pain we feel, and when we feel that pain, that will measure how much further you are going to go.

* When you decide you want to make a big change, whether it’s moving, or divorce, or starting a business, there is both joy and pain that comes with it. Change can be terrifying and anxiety provoking and lonely – all part of pain. So, we are choosing our pain when we make these changes.

* What is the result you want? Are you willing to go through the pain to get there? You must be okay with the pain you will endure to get there!

* It’s the pain that stops us from making the big changes to actually get where we want to go because we are afraid of the pain! So you don’t move. You don’t progress. We don’t run from joy, we run from pain, but we must endure the pain to make the changes and have the joy!

* In reality, we project anxiety into our body and into our life by creating a scenario that hasn’t even happened! This puts you at a completely disempowered state. That is not fear – that is pain.

Distraction:

* Any addiction is a distraction.

* Instead of allowing ourselves to feel pain and allowing it to come into our body, we anesthetize ourselves with food, or alcohol, or any other substance.

* When an emotion comes into your body, it will stay there for 90 seconds – no longer! * In order to empower it past the 90-second mark, you have to re-empower it with a story. (Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor)

* If we ask ourselves, “What am I feeling right now?” and allow ourselves to feel whatever that is for 90 seconds, we can deal with it instead of avoiding it, pushing it down, or swallowing it with distractions (addictions). We use so many distractions, so that we don’t have to feel it.

Supporting Pain:

* The next time the pain comes to you, welcome it in and FEEL it. You can’t get to the next level in your business, or relationship, or any big change without feeling it and accepting it.

* Choose your pain! Don’t distract yourself from it with eating, drinking, smoking, shopping, etc.

* You get to be in control of your pain so that things no longer “happen” to you, but you get to make things happen!

* Don’t be afraid of the pain. You are going to get it anyway!

* When you are in pain and can’t deal with it any longer, people will start to support you. Once other people are supporting you (emotionally, financially, etc), you have lost all control of your life.

Validation:

* We are constantly looking for validation from other people, and we think that getting that support and validation will help us to achieve our goals.

* The truth is, if you are asking everyone else to give you some form of acknowledgment or validation, it is not going to help you achieve what you want! You are giving them power instead of empowering yourself! You need to be the one supporting yourself!

* When you put your mind to something and decide you are going to do it, you will achieve it. You won’t need anyone else’s validation or permission.

* Are you talking about it and looking for validation, or are you actually doing it? The person who is walking their path is DOING IT, and the person looking for validation is talking about it.

* Any area where you are not empowered, someone or something will overpower you!

Tipping Point:

* You have the power to decide what dream it is you want to “tip.” You have the power to decide.

* YOU HAVE THE POWER TO DECIDE TO MAKE THE CHANGE! To get out of debt, to leave your partner, to start your business, or whatever it is you want to do. You just have to walk that path of pain so that you can grow to get there!

* I don’t believe in myself = I haven’t tried yet.

* You will experience the same drama in your life until you don’t need it anymore, until you have no identity in it, until you learn from it.

* When people don’t believe in you, YOU have to believe in you!!

* Prepare yourself so that you will have a pain breakthrough when you are making change. Just remember that it will take you to a place that is better than where you were!

Take A Knee:

* When Sue receives criticism from someone, whether it’s trolling online or from a client or from within a personal relationship — basically anytime she feels hurt — she asks herself WHAT IS THIS SHOWING ME?

* Whatever that criticism is, there is something you can learn from it. If someone is disrespecting you, you must be disrespecting yourself. If you’re not feeling love, it’s because you’re not giving love. If your business is suffering, you are clearly not valuing yourself enough.

* Now this can be a hard thing to accept because, again, it goes back to being responsible for everything that happens to us! The hard part is accepting it without judging it.

* YOU MUST START DOING WHAT YOU ARE NOT GETTING

* Taking a knee is to ground yourself in the present moment. Experience fully what you are feeling.

Disempowerment:

* Before getting to the point where Sue is at today, she was so deep into her pain and the stories around her pain, that she wasn’t even conscious of what her life pain was.

* If you are at this point, you are likely not living a life that is congruent with your dreams, and you are not the person you want to be!

* When you get to the point when you start overcoming your pain, look back at your pain path that you just took! Remind yourself how incredible you are! You took a chance, and believed in yourself, and you were brave and courageous! You knew it would hurt, but you kept going because you wanted the result more than you wanted the pain. And now, you’ve got the result! You will no longer feel afraid of what you cannot do.

Parents:

* The biggest story you will tell will is the story around your childhood. Your ability to achieve what you have started comes from what your parents have taught you and what you learned from them.

* When we reach a certain age, usually around 30, we start to think about what we missed out on as a child, and we might even have some resentment towards our parents.

* There are so many wounds that we carry from childhood, and we have a big story around that. But the truth is, this does not need to be your story any longer. YOU CAN BREAK IT TODAY.

* In order to do that, you must rise above your parents and have compassion for them. They were doing the best they could with what they had and knew. And it’s time to release them. Because whatever story you are telling around this is stopping you from having something NOW.

* What you can’t do now, we often blame our parents for what they didn’t do then. So instead of taking responsibility, you blame your parents.

* You must go beyond your perceived childhood dysfunctions. You are an adult now, and you need to forgive them, love them for it, and move past it.

* YOUR CHILDREN WILL DO WHAT YOU DO, NOT WHAT YOU SAY

What You Are Not Getting:

* There is often a perception that if you had the world’s perfect parents, you would have all of the things you wish you had.

* The reality is that everything you want is available to you NOW if that is what you really want!

* Even if you have the worst possible parents on the planet, you can still have what you want!

Bring It Back To You:

* Sue believes that mirroring is the answer to ALL growth. You might feel like everything is happening to you, and it’s not your fault and it’s not fair, but the truth is that YOU are the protagonist in your own story.

* You must keep bringing it back to YOU!

* If everyone had everyone else’s reactions as a reflection of what they are going through and nothing to do with you, it would change the world. Yet, we just can’t seem to do this.

* When you walk into a room, you see how people are seeing you through the filter of your own mind! We create what we THINK people are thinking about us based on what we think about ourselves!

* You can decide right now that you are worth more. More love, more income, more respect, whatever it is that you want. You can decide this RIGHT NOW.

If You Hate It, Look At It:

* When you don’t like someone, the first question you should ask yourself is: What is it about them that I don’t like? Because whatever it is I don’t like, I’m doing it. You can see yourself reflected back in everybody — whether it’s in a good way or a bad way.

* Often, we are confronted by people who upset us. But, they are also messengers. They are telling you where you need to do work.

* So in business, if your client doesn’t buy from you, Sue is going to ask you where did YOU go wrong!

* If you keep attracting the wrong clients or the wrong partners or the wrong friends, at what stage are you going to wake up and realize that YOU aren’t learning the lessons that are being presented to you?!

* You only hate something that you fear, and there is a big lesson in it for you, and you must confront it.

* IF YOU HATE IT, YOU NEED TO LOOK AT IT. YOUR GREATEST LESSON IS THERE.

* If you want the illness out of your body, or the pain out of your body, or the person out of your life, you need to walk through it. You need to see yourself in it.

* The wrong question is, “How do I attract the right client?” The right question is, “What am I seeing shown back to me over and over again?” That your work isn’t good enough? That your value is not good enough? That you can’t engage with people? Your clients and the people in your life are showing you over and over again what you should be working on!

* When Sue’s business starts to fall off, she looks at what SHE IS DOING WRONG! You can turn the energy in your business overnight. But, you have to take full responsibility for it!

Bullying:

* When someone hurts you, remember that they are only disempowering you for a moment, but only long enough for you to see what your weakness is. The person did not give you pain, but simply brought back a very familiar pain that sits so close to the surface.

* Something only hurts us when it’s true.

* You must choose to grow through the pain instead of becoming a victim.

* You can learn to elevate yourself without putting someone down.

* The worst bully is the bully that you are to yourself.

Action & Daily Practice:

* Sue is a firm believer in making an action list and walking towards it with daily practice. She calls it: “The Vision Paradigm.”

* We only see so far and yet we are capable of moving mountains! We see the first surrounding energy, and we feel trapped there, but it’s our own perception and reality, and it can be distorted and so wrong.

* So you get this belief that you are in a bubble, and all that you are allowed to achieve is what is inside that bubble, and it’s not true!

* Be aware that as you start to move forward, something on your pain path might knock you back. But, you must keep moving forward.

* How you value yourself is a direct reflection of how you are getting paid.

* If you believe that you can’t have a certain future because of your past, YOU NEED TO STOP EMPOWERING THE PAST.

Empowered Emotional State:

* If you are in an empowered emotional state, you have certainty, confidence, conviction, and value.

* If you are in a disempowered emotional state, you are overwhelmed with uncertainty, and fear, and you are lacking self-value.

* You cannot attract work, clients, money, or abundance if you are in a disempowered state.

* If you are working in a disempowered state, you are going to disempower your clients! If you feel this way, you need to acknowledge it before going into your session with your client.

* Take control of the situation. Turn it around to empowerment! Give love and compassion to the person who is about to walk into the room.

* The most empowered state is to give service.

* When you empower others, you will feel an instant shift inside you!

* Remember, feelings stay in our body for 90 seconds unless we continue to tell a story around it. So if someone hurts you, wrongs you, criticizes you, you have 90 seconds to feel it, and then you need to manage the state in which you are dwelling.

What Do You Want?:

* When Sue (or anyone) asks you what you want, don’t tell her what you think she wants to hear. And don’t say, “I don’t know.” YOU KNOW WHAT YOU WANT!

* If you are someone who declares what you want and goes after it, you are going to be more successful. You must go after what you want! Yes, there will be pain along the way, but there will be even more pain if you spend your whole life yearning for what you could have had.

* We spend more time over-nurturing others and not nurturing ourselves.

* Write down your goals. Make them realistic, and actionable, and walk towards them every day. Read them every single day and empower them with excitement and enthusiasm. Every. Single. Day.

* Don’t get stuck on the “how!”

* If you say you don’t know what you want, you either don’t believe you can have it, or you don’t know how to get it.

The Wheel of Misfortune:

* Sue doesn’t believe so much in manifestation, but fully in taking action — saying you want something and taking action towards it — as the way to get things, to make things happen, to achieve your goals.

* But, you must be careful and clear with what you ask for. Your energy is being infused in everything you say out loud, what you are doing, what you are being. If you are unclear, the Universe, or God, or whatever you believe in, gets confused about what you REALLY want.

* WHAT YOU HAVE IS WHAT YOU WANT! BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT YOU ARE DOING! You are getting something out of whatever situation you are in that you are saying you don’t want. You just have to pay attention to the lesson!

* The Wheel of Misfortune teaches you how what is happening with you internally is a direct reflection of your money issues!

* The Wheel of Misfortune = Avoidance, Over-spending, Over-giving, Guilt & Shame, Resentment, No Boundaries, Not Receiving, Tight Fistedness

* Money will stay with those who value it most. If you avoid it and don’t pay attention to it, it’s gone.

* We avoid facing our money issues because we don’t want the pain of fronting up to what we are doing. But, the truth is, you will get hit with even more pain because you end up over-spending, letting someone else manage your money, over-giving, not managing it, not saving it, and then you are in debt, and the money runs out, and you are in a serious amount of pain — much more pain that if you had taken action to face what you were doing in the first place!

* You might be repelling money because of guilt and shame of receiving money.

* You might have so much difficulty receiving money because you don’t believe you deserve it.

* You must figure out your money leak to change your money situation!

No More, No Less:

* The Rule of Cosmic Ordering is: You will receive no more and no less than what you ask for and what you action every day.

* So whatever you are experiencing, you are somehow asking for it. This is the truth!!

* Reset what you think you want because you will get NO MORE AND NO LESS than what you want!

Your Body & Stop Eating Your Pain:

* When Sue was very overweight and her gallbladder had collapsed, she kept repeating to herself over and over “go on a diet, go on a diet, go on a diet.” When, in reality, it had nothing to do with food. It had everything to do with what she was holding onto.

* Your body is a clear representation of what you are holding onto. If you don’t value yourself, it doesn’t matter if you are slimmer or younger or prettier. You will continue to attract what you have now no matter what your body looks like! You must change your own self-value and self-love to change anything else!

* This goes the same with business, and relationships, and everything else. Until you change your own self-value, nothing else will change!

* Your problem is not what you’re eating, your problem is how you’re feeling and what you’re not dealing with. Your problem is your pain.

* You must separate the calories from your pain.

* You need to go back to the root of the emotion!

Exist in Photographs:

* You know how Sue feels about existing in photographs. She wants to teach the world that you must exist in photographs, not hide behind them, because you don’t feel good enough to be in them.

* If you die tomorrow, your family is going to look for photographs of you, and what are they going to find?

* You need to accept yourself and who you are NOW!

Emotion = Energy in Motion:

* Emotion is Energy in Motion. So when energy becomes trapped, it becomes weight, illness, or pain.

* As soon as you can shift it and not trap it, IT CHANGES EVERYTHING.

Lessons:

Want to dive in deeper on this subject? Watch these related courses:

(Bonus) Lenka Studio Tour