FULL TRANSCRIPT

 

00:00:00:02 – 00:00:02:09

Nikki:

You’re listening to the Portrait System Podcast. 

 

00:00:02:24 – 00:00:18:21

Carrie:

The artist-me came first; the business-me came second. I really had to work very hard on that to really find my way. And now I feel very strong at that. So it feels good. I’m leading with the artist-me, but charging properly for it. 

 

00:00:22:19 – 00:00:58:09

Nikki:

This is the Portrait System Podcast, a show that helps portrait photographers and people hoping to become one, navigate the world of photography, business, money, and so much more. We totally keep it real. We share stories about the incredible ups and the very difficult downs when running a photography business. I’m your host, Nikki Closser, and the point of this podcast is for you to learn actionable steps that you can take to grow your own business and also to feel inspired and empowered by the stories you hear. Today’s guest is Carrie Rosemann and she’s a photographer in Connecticut. Carrie has found her niche, photographing both boudoir and portraits in a really high end market. 

 

00:00:58:19 – 00:01:19:22

She talks about how she gained the confidence to raise her pricing. And she also covers just her whole journey and how she got to where she is today as a successful photographer. Carrie is a really fun person to talk with – high energy and a great outlook. And I just know you’re going to love listening to her. OK, here is Carrie Rosemann. Hi, Carrie. How are you? 

 

00:01:20:00 – 00:01:23:18

Carrie:

Hi, Nikki. I’m so good today. Thank you so much for having me. 

 

00:01:23:27 – 00:01:30:13

Nikki:

Yes. OK, Carrie, just give me a brief overview of where you’re at and what you shoot for the most part. 

 

00:01:31:07 – 00:02:04:01

Carrie:

All right. So I’ve been shooting professionally for 17 years, and right now I focus primarily on boudoir, beauty, and personal branding. So like kind of triple B – boudoir, beauty, branding. But I’ve done a lot of different things in my career. I kind of started out trying to shoot fashion in New York City, and then I moved back to Connecticut, and then I shot weddings for eight or nine years. And then I decided to make the switch to full-time portraits about five or six years ago – just really kind of honing in on the genres that really light me up. 

 

00:02:04:16 – 00:02:09:18

So that’s kind of where we’re at now. That was like the briefest I’ve ever described that journey. 

 

00:02:09:20 – 00:02:22:01

Nikki:

Yeah, yeah. Well, I definitely want to hear more about it. But one thing I heard recently is that you have a really high portrait sales average right now, something like over five thousand. Is that right? That’s incredible. 

 

00:02:22:03 – 00:02:36:06

Carrie:

Yeah, I calculated it the other day with my studio manager. I was like, I’m going to be talking to Nikki, and I really need to know some of my numbers here. So I was like, let’s crunch the last three months. And my portrait average currently is $5,930. Oh my. 

 

00:02:36:08 – 00:02:40:18

Nikki:

Gosh. Almost 6,000. That’s incredible. Has it always been that way? 

 

00:02:40:25 – 00:03:15:16

Carrie:

No, this was a journey, of course. And like the venture into professional portrait, pricing really did happen after I discovered Sue and the whole… doing like… the whole self-value work and all of that. And of course, along with that is working on your money, story, and delving into all of these truths or untruths that we tell ourselves and that are buried in our subconscious. So you can get to the point where we’re actually knowing our value inside and out and asking for the money in what success is  – in equal exchange. Totally. 

 

00:03:15:18 – 00:03:33:18

Carrie:

I mean, I think the first time I ever made over $1,000 on one portrait shoot, I sold 10 portraits in a leather folio box for $1200. And I was like, oh my God, they just paid me $1200! I was freaking out. 

 

00:03:33:28 – 00:03:46:11

Nikki:

Isn’t it funny? I remember the same for the first time I did it. I was like, oh, like I almost felt bad. And I gave her way more photos than what originally came in the package. I was like, OK, well, you could have them all. 

 

00:03:47:00 – 00:04:00:18

Carrie:

Well, we do that, right? We’re just like, we feel like everybody wants the kitchen sink, or needs it, and they’re just usually just looking for what they paid for. But we don’t know this until after we’ve established, like, OK, I really know the value of this.

 

00:04:01:01 – 00:04:16:21

Nikki:

Yeah, yeah. OK, so I know you said that you photographed weddings, and I’m wondering actually… Just go back to how you started. How did all of this start for you, and how did you build your way up? Well, start with how you started, and then we’ll get to the how you built your way up. 

 

00:04:16:27 – 00:04:48:14

Carrie:

OK, so it’s kind of a process-of-elimination story. I was never the kid growing up who knew exactly what I wanted to be. So, I ended up going to college three times to figure it out and moving to New York City in my twenties to just, like, really try to find myself. I’m fairly risk averse. So, I mean, when I moved to New York, when I was twenty-five, I was just like, peace out Connecticut. I’m out of here. Like, I had no money. I had no plan. I just knew that, like, I got into FIT, the Fashion Institute of Technology. 

 

00:04:48:21 – 00:05:26:08

And originally I had gotten in for jewelry design because I thought I wanted to be a jewelry designer. So, the first time I went to college, I didn’t know at all what I wanted to do. I got my undergrad in business admin, and I basically went to college on a scholarship. I just knew that I was an athlete, and that I wanted to play ball, and that I would figure it out. I took a photography class then, and then when I was taking jewelry design, I took a photography class. And both of those professors were like, “Hmm, you’re really good. I think maybe you should consider this.” And I was always like, man, whatever, I’m busy. Until I woke up one day and I had the epiphany. I was like, I’m already doing photo shoots. 

 

00:05:26:14 – 00:06:01:19

I already love this. Like, I was just doing it because I loved it. And then I realized, like, maybe this is what I want to do. So then I decided to enroll in photography classes at that point because I wanted to fast track the learning on all the technical stuff, and the FIT program at the time, I think it still is, and it was rooted very much in film. So I learned on all different film formats. You know, at thirty-five millimeter, of course, is what we started on. But when I learned about medium format and large format, I was just like, I’m home. 

 

00:06:01:21 – 00:06:04:14

Like this is where I’m supposed to be. Wow. 

 

00:06:04:21 – 00:06:15:22

Nikki:

Wow. So at that point then, you said you were twenty-five. 

Carrie:

Yes. Yeah. 

 

Nikki:

OK, so at that point that’s when you were like, OK, I’m ready to start a business. 

 

00:06:16:19 – 00:06:51:05

Carrie:

You know, it’s kind of funny. I’m the only one in my immediate family who ever really had an entrepreneurial spirit. I would, like in grade school, make yarn bracelets and sell them to my friends for like two dollars, or whatever. Like, I was always trying to do something. And I knew that, like, the corporate path wasn’t for me. I have worked a corporate job like once or twice in my life for like a very brief time. And it was not good. But I knew that I was supposed to be working for myself. I didn’t know what that looked like. But when I found photography, I was like, this is what I’m supposed to be doing. 

 

00:06:51:17 – 00:07:12:02

But the artist-me came first. The business-me came second. I really had to work very hard on that  – to really find my way. And now I feel very strong at that. And I’m back to, like, leading with the artist-me. So it feels good. I’m leading with the artist-me, but charging properly for it. 

 

00:07:12:08 – 00:07:48:27

Nikki:

Right, right, right. So, that’s such a process to get into. I think so many artists… And I mean, even if you’re not quote unquote a creator, like I’m technically not a creator if you look at my profile. It sounds like you are. It sounds like you are a creator. But whether or not you’re a creator, the business side of it is like, I just feel like that is the part that trips people up, charging appropriately, having that self-value to feel OK with what you’re charging, understanding everything that comes out of… even if you’re bringing in $3,000, $5,000, $1,000 – most of that is going back out. 

 

00:07:49:06 – 00:08:17:09

It’s just something that we’re paying for. And it’s the little things that I think people don’t add up, and the time, the hours spent. If you divide that and see what you’re really making hourly, it’s like, it’s so eye opening. So, yeah, it’s interesting to hear you say that. And I really like the way that you put it. Where you were leading before with the artist, but having no idea how to run a business. But you’re proof that you can do both. Like you can be a business person and an artist. 

 

00:08:17:11 – 00:08:43:29

Carrie:

Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, you see the massive spectrum in our industry, and no matter what genre somebody shoots, right? Yeah, I know photographers who shoot every genre, who are so talented, but can’t make a dime because they don’t have the self-value portion worked out. And then I know some photographers. I look at their work and I’m like, man, but they’re making a killing because they know they’re worth it, and they charge appropriately. 

 

00:08:44:01 – 00:09:15:03

So that’s kind of how I feel about myself. I mean, sometimes I’m really good. Most of the time, I’m just that… you know, but I can make a killing at. You know what I mean? When you think about this, it’s like the practice of being a business person. Like the more times that you say how much you charge, and the more inquiries you get, the more times you send your pricing, it’s almost like practice. And then it becomes easier and easier. The more you do it, it just becomes second nature. And it’s just like, well, this is what I charge. 

 

00:09:15:05 – 00:09:18:03

Nikki:

Did you find that that was practicing? 

 

Carrie:

Yeah. 

 

00:09:18:05 – 00:09:53:24

Also, in addition to having awesome mentors in our industry, like Sue, and having the support of everybody in SBE and all of that. Yeah, I had also invested a lot into personal coaching, like life coaching, business coaching, all of that. And that really helped with the work that I was doing on the value piece. One of my coaches had said to me, and it’s like anything, like sometimes you just have to hear the message, right? Like you may have heard it a thousand times from a thousand different sources, but it’s like that one day, where it just hits you in the gut, and you’re like, oh, I get it now. 

 

00:09:54:07 – 00:10:30:06

So she had said, and I’ve posted this on occasion, and I have a few times in the [facebook] members group, where it’s like, they’re just numbers. Release your emotional attachment to them. Say the numbers out loud. Fifty. One hundred dollars. Five dollars. Ten dollars. Thirty-five dollars. Eighty. Two hundred dollars. Like once you just start to practice saying these numbers coming out of your mouth, they get easier. And once you’re working on your money story and knowing that the numbers you’re saying are related to money, it gets easier. 

 

00:10:30:18 – 00:11:07:23

And then once you look at your numbers, at your time, and your level of experience, and how much is invested in creating the portraits you’re creating, and breaking that down, you’re like, when you look at the numbers like that, you’re like, well, I’m actually not even paying myself right. Unless they buy something.. So it’s like, what is your… and this gets talked about in our community a lot too…like what is your time worth, being  away from the people who love you? And it’s like at the end of the day, at the end of any of our days, nobody’s on their deathbed like, oh, I wish I worked some more. 

 

00:11:09:11 – 00:11:47:03

Nikki:

Totally. Totally. I love what you said about not attaching the numbers and the money to an emotion. So like, I got my purse at Target which might have cost $29. And I’m not like, Target feels bad about charging me $20. Like, should I feel… you know what I mean? It’s like, it’s just… this is what I cost, and it doesn’t need to be tied to any sort of guilt or shame. And you know… I don’t know if you watched The Money Wheel of Misfortune, but Sue and Tiffany really break that down, and how we don’t need to attach money to it, and it just makes such a difference. 

 

00:11:47:05 – 00:12:05:09

I really like the way that you put that, like, OK….so what I’m recording on right now was, I think, when I bought it new, was $3300 dollars. That’s just a number I paid for it, just like someone who paid you, you know, $5,000. It’s like, well here’s $5,000 for my photos. Yeah. Yeah. I really like looking at it that way. 

 

00:12:05:15 – 00:12:36:02

Carrie:

I also like removing the words expensive, or like expensive or not expensive, like from the vocabulary. It’s like. Right. Is it valuable to you? Then whatever the value is of that thing, like you’re going to pay for it. Like the iPhone, like nobody wants to pay $1200 for a phone, but we all do it because we value it. It’s just the thing that is attached to that. And sometimes people get a little crazy when they’re like, OK, here’s my card. I didn’t want to spend $7,000, or I didn’t want to spend $3,000 or $2,000, or whatever the number is. 

 

00:12:36:09 – 00:12:47:07

But then they do, and they’re thrilled when they get their pictures. So, it’s like we value it. So they do pay for it. Yeah. Yeah. That’s… I just had to remove that word. 

 

00:12:47:09 – 00:12:52:00

Nikki:

Yeah. Yeah. I really love that. I love that a lot. It’s such a great way to just kind of reframe it. 

 

00:12:52:17 – 00:12:53:09

Carrie:

Reframe. 

 

00:12:53:11 – 00:13:09:00

Nikki:

I’m wondering. So you said you did weddings for eight years. 

 

Carrie:

Yes. 

 

Nikki:

Were you making just as much money doing that? Was it something you enjoyed doing? Like at what point…? Like, tell me about your whole wedding… just briefly… about your wedding experience and what made you decide on portraits. 

 

00:13:09:02 – 00:13:50:06

Carrie:

So, I lived in New York City for five years and I had… actually, my first studio was in the Dumbo section of Brooklyn. It’s like right on the water. It stands for the Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. And it’s really beautiful; movies are filmed there. The whole thing, cobblestone streets. I created an art co-op, like with some other photographers and painters and blah blah blah to share this rented studio space. And I was like, yeah, this is going to be where it all happens, like I’m photographing models and all this stuff. And then, like, I had a lot of really rich times in New York, and then I had a lot of really super-broke times where I was eating ramen and barely- able-to-pay-my-rent times in New York, kind of at the end there. 

 

00:13:50:08 – 00:14:20:16

And I didn’t want to come back to Connecticut, but it was time, and it felt, it did feel right at the time to come back to Connecticut. But I had said, I’ll never move to Connecticut and become a wedding photographer. But that’s exactly what happened. And I ended up interning with someone pretty well known there, like a couple that did weddings at the time, so I could get my foot in the door because I listened to what they said, “You’ll never make money in photography in Connecticut unless you shoot weddings.” And I said, OK, I guess that’s what I’m going to do. 

 

00:14:21:01 – 00:14:53:24

I had no idea what I was doing. Of course, we all just kind of go and do and figure it out. Yeah, I felt like a lot of the work I was showing– because blogs were like really big at the time and all that – like it was like really mediocre. And I was hiding the really creative stuff because I was like, oh, people don’t want to see that. They want to see, like, the set up and that set up and blah, blah, blah. And I was like, oh, I’m so bored. And then once I started to show my creative stuff, that’s when, like, people really started loving it. And I was like, oh, now I’m really proud of this portfolio. I am glad that I had the experience of shooting weddings. 

 

00:14:54:08 – 00:15:27:16

I know how to shoot film and know how to shoot digital. I know how to shoot in any kind of light. I can use natural light, I can use camera flash, I can use strobe. Like I feel like it made me really strong in that because for weddings, you have to be able to shoot still life. You have to be able to shoot photojournalism. You have to be able to shoot portraits, and moments, and work with all different kinds of light throughout the entire day, and have the stamina to do it all. Yeah. So I developed a really strong skill set in that, and I’m really glad to have had that experience, but. 

 

00:15:28:27 – 00:16:06:12

And I… my identity as a professional photographer was tied so strongly for so long to being a wedding photographer that I really had to have this kind of slow, like, detaching. But then once I kind of decided I was like, no, I’m Carrie the portrait photographer. Like, this is what I do. It was kind of like a relearning, again, like, OK, so let me dive in and figure out how to sell this, and what do I want to shoot? Like, how do I pose people? Like I always had a good instinct for that, but I had to study it, and now I feel like I’m a master at that. 

 

00:16:06:26 – 00:16:29:06

So it was kind of like.. this… baby steps. But I… God bless wedding photographers. 

 

Nikki:

Agreed. Agreed. 

 

Carrie:

You used to shoot weddings, so you know, it’s so… it’s like one hundred hours of work per event. It’s just so much, and it’s more communication with the client for like a year and a half before you photograph anything. And it’s like… 

 

Nikki:

Oh, totally. 

 

Carrie:

It’s just a lot. 

 

00:16:29:08 – 00:17:02:13

 

Nikki:

Yeah. I want to go back to what you said about how they said you can only make money in this industry as a wedding photographer, because I think a lot of people still believe that. And it’s one of those things where, like you said, 100 hundred hours of time goes into a wedding. Sometimes, I do personal branding. Now I can do like two or three, depending on which package they buy and make the same amount that I was making at a wedding, but work like a tenth of the amount of time that I worked on it. 

 

00:17:02:19 – 00:17:30:01

So it’s one of those things where I’ll take doing two or three personal branding shoots over a wedding any day. I think really, what it is… I mean, I guess it depends on how many weddings you need to book or whatever, but it’s almost like as long as you just increase the amount of people you’re shooting, or clients you’re finding, although with your average I mean, I would think that you’d probably be pretty equal to what you were making with a wedding. What do you think? 

 

00:17:30:24 – 00:18:00:27

Carrie:

Well, when I was shooting weddings, I let people bargain me down all the time. Like, I was not…  I hadn’t done the value work at that point. And there were a couple of seasons where I shot like fifteen weddings. And I know for some photographers that’s like, oh, you only shot that. It’s like, oh my God, I felt like I was dying at the end of it was so much. But yeah, I mean, the weddings that I was shooting, I was probably ranging from three to five thousand. 

 

00:18:00:29 – 00:18:01:15

 

Nikki:

OK, so 

 

00:18:01:17 – 00:18:48:24

you can do one shoot and make the same. 

 

Carrie:

Yes, yeah. 

 

Nikki:

Yeah. OK, so I can think of multiple weddings where… I mean this is when I was already a few years in and where I was making like $3500, $3600, and I pretty much make that. I mean I can think of shoots that I made that and more in one shoot. Yeah. And then I think about two. As a school social worker, my paycheck was thirty, thirty three hundred dollars per month, so I can make what I made in a month as a social worker in one shoot. And I think it’s just the reason I would talk about this is, I think it’s so important for people to shift from thinking they can’t make money to like if you’re out there watching this or listening to this, if you think you cannot make a good average with portraits because everyone down the street or in your town or whomever is only charging four hundred dollars, that’s not true. 

 

00:18:48:26 – 00:19:13:22

You can. I’m an example. Here’s an example. Basically, everyone who I’ve interviewed on this podcast is an example. So that’s why I just kind of like to get into that nitty gritty sometimes. I think sometimes people are just stuck on that, and we’ve all been there. I remember thinking the same thing. You were thinking the same thing. There’s no shame in it. It’s just time to get over it, move forward and learn about the business side of it and start doing it. 

 

00:19:14:02 – 00:19:44:11

Carrie:

And that’s all anchored into what we were taught and what we think we believe in all of these, kind of, outside forces. It’s like when we learn to start to work through that stuff and to raise our self-awareness and to put some blinders on so we stop doing the comparison game. It’s like I’m in this old mill building right now. I think there’s like three other photographers in my building. I don’t care. I don’t care what they’re doing. I mean, whatever, like, they’re probably nice people. It’s fine. 

 

00:19:44:13 – 00:19:54:21

But like, as far as business goes, I really… I don’t care. Like, I’m definitely probably the one that’s priced the highest, and that’s been working fine for me like so. 

 

00:19:55:10 – 00:20:09:09

Nikki:

Yeah. Yeah. OK, so speaking of pricing, let’s talk through… I want to… I want to talk in a minute about how you market it and how you did the transition from weddings into portraits and boudoir. But before we do that, let’s talk a little bit about your pricing and how you structure that. 

 

00:20:09:19 – 00:20:40:02

Carrie:

OK, so there was a lot that changed over the pandemic last year. I’m based in Connecticut. We were shut down for four months. So when that happened, I couldn’t do any client facing activities. But my business is still going. I still had to pay rent. I still was doing social media. I decided to get really busy on the back end of my business. And that included raising my prices a bit because after looking at everything, I was like, you know, I think I was charging $550 last year for my session fee at the beginning of last year. 

 

00:20:40:04 – 00:21:15:05

And I was like, this isn’t feeling good because… and then I was also charging an a la carte price and then my intro package, my lowest package, was lower than it is now. And it was just like when I sold that it didn’t feel good. If I came in and had a couple of people buy two or three portraits, I’m like, why did I just produce this entire session with my 17 years of experience and creativity and all this for somebody to buy a few images when they liked more. So, basically in trying to figure all this out, I was like, OK, I’m going to raise it to $750.. 

 

00:21:15:25 – 00:21:45:08

And then I was in a workshop with a lot of very high-performing women, like multi six- and a seven-figure earners, coaches in all different industries and things. I was the only photographer there, and we touched on my pricing a little bit. And I think I was saying, oh, I charge $750, and then you buy after blah, blah, blah. And one woman just stopped the room, and she was like, “I wouldn’t even take you seriously unless you were charging four figures to work with you.” And other women in the room were like, yeah, and I was like, oh shit. 

 

00:21:45:27 – 00:21:49:14

Nikki:

That’s interesting. Yeah, that’s really interesting. 

 

00:21:49:16 – 00:22:21:07

Carrie:

So I was like, well I know what I’ve paid for coaching over the years, and I know what I’ve paid for workshops, and I know what I’ve paid for online courses. And I’m like, why am I charging such a little amount to work with me when I’m customizing the session? I’m doing a wardrobe consultation. I started working with a stylist. I have professional hair and makeup. We do five looks. So I’m obligated to… and we do a reveal session. When I was telling people, describing it like that, and it includes all of that for $550. People are like, oh my God, that’s it? Like I heard that from some clients. 

 

00:22:22:03 – 00:22:55:12

And so then now, when I say, well, it’s actually on my contact form now because I was… we can get into that in a minute. But I was spending a lot of time on the phone with people who just couldn’t afford it. And that felt like not the best use of my time. So now they kind of know when we get on the phone, like my creative fee is $1500 and that this is what you get with that. And then I actually make them pick on the contact form: What’s your level of investment? Everybody picks the lowest one, but like some people spend more. Some people spend in that range, whatever. 

 

00:22:55:22 – 00:23:32:12

But I pour so much into every session, and I want my clients who love their portraits to have all of the ones that they want. So there is an investment level for that. So if they can’t afford me sometimes like with everybody, sometimes they’ll come back later or the next year or whenever they like. And they’re like, OK, I’m ready. Like I saved for this, let’s do it. So it was definitely a process. I mean, for a long time my session fee was in that, like $250 to $500 range, and then it just was like, OK, I’m getting them in at a lower… thing. 

 

00:23:32:16 – 00:23:45:03

I’m kind of going into my pocket for the rest of the cost to put it on. And then I’m hoping that they buy. Like it just didn’t… it didn’t feel good for me anymore to do that. 

 

00:23:45:05 – 00:24:13:24

Nikki:

And what you’re providing with service level, it’s high end. Like you said, wardrobe, consultation, hair and makeup. What did you say? There were a couple of consultations. 

 

Carrie:

The reveal. Like, yeah, it’s not just come and get your shoot, and then you’re done. 

 

Nikki:

So, you know, if you’re out there listening, thinking like, well, I want to increase my session fee – not that you have to add in all of these things – but make sure you are giving service to match it, I guess. Would you say yes? 

 

00:24:13:26 – 00:24:45:18

Carrie:

Yeah, absolutely. One hundred percent. And that’s something that my clients do rave about. They’re like, oh my God, your team! Like I felt so taken care of. I felt pampered. I felt like a goddess. I felt… seeing, like all of these things that we all want to hear. And it’s very satisfying to hear that because it is a high-level service, and I’m somebody who does not enjoy having to do all of the things on set when I’m trying to photograph and be creative in that way. 

 

00:24:45:20 – 00:25:16:27

Like, can I do all the styling? Yes. I can’t do hair and makeup. So let’s just be real about that. Like I need that person there. But like, you know, I have a behind-the-scenes gal who comes in and does my Instagram stories in real time on the sets. Like I can’t do the social media and do all the things – even after the shoot. I’m like, so tired. So I’m just like, let me bring in the people to help me. 

 

Nikki:

So smart. This is… again, everybody has to find the way that works for them. 

 

00:25:17:03 – 00:25:54:06

Carrie:

I think we all just need to always be checking in with our gut and what feels good. I think a lot of us forget to try to check in there and lead with that. But when you do, everything kind of comes into alignment. This is just what works for me right now. Maybe this won’t work for me next year. I don’t know, like, you know, but it’s always kind of being conscious about that and raising your self awareness, becoming a better version of yourself, breaking through whatever blocks that come up. Like it’s always a work in progress and just having the awareness around that. Because sometimes it’s like…

 

00:25:55:17 – 00:26:26:07

Well, I shoot families for my current clientele, but I don’t show it anywhere. And it’s not that I hate families or children or anything like that. I actually am very good at photographing children. But it’s so exhausting, energetically, committing to those kinds of shoots, that I just don’t advertise it. So it’s like… but I had to have that experience, and I had to check in. And it’s like, well, do I want to market to families or don’t I? Like do I want to market to maternity, or don’t I? Like, what do I want to do? 

 

00:26:26:09 – 00:26:57:09

Multi-generations? Do I want to just do branding and headshots? Like I really had to check in with that. So like I said, right now I’m at boudoir, beauty, and branding. That could change, you know, but that’s just what feels really good for me right now. And I love the boudoir because it really lets me flex my creativity. I can shoot with all different kinds of crazy light – harsh and moody, like gloomy, like light and airy. I can shoot through, and I can shoot with blur, and I can shoot with really soft focus. 

 

00:26:57:11 – 00:27:12:28

And people are buying all these portraits that I’m creating like that. And it’s making me feel really good because I’m like… I used to kind of look for outside validation, and be like, oh, well, this one’s blurry and that was intentional. But now I’m just like, this is my work. 

 

00:27:14:06 – 00:27:16:20

Nikki:

Yeah. Yeah. It’s a good place to be. 

 

00:27:16:26 – 00:27:49:17

Carrie:

Yeah, it’s a long road to, like, this sort of confidence. And of course I’m still learning that for sure. For sure. But that’s where it kind of… self-value, the confidence, the self awareness, wanting to be a better version of yourself. It’s all tied together, and it’s all personal work that if people want to do it, then like show up, and put in the work to get it done. Like, because it is hard. It’s not for the faint of heart. And a lot of people will be like, oh, we’ll try that. And it didn’t work. And it’s like, well, fail forward. You either win, or you learn like this. 

 

00:27:49:19 – 00:27:50:05

No failing. 

 

00:27:50:15 – 00:28:25:06

Nikki:

Right, really. And I love that you win or you learn well. And I love what you said because a lot of people will say, like, I don’t have an assistant to do behind the scenes, or I don’t have time during the shoot to do the stories, like you said. And you’re like, oh, I know. I’ll just raise my session fee a little bit, pay someone to come and do it for me. Like, you made it work. You found a way to keep that marketing going, and you just paid someone to do it and raised your session fee. So I love that. I love that. I love that – thinking outside of the box, and thinking, how can I make this a better experience for my client as well as expand your marketing. Expand everything. 

 

00:28:25:08 – 00:28:33:10

I mean, everything. That’s… it’s just… it’s so great. I love it. Now, OK, so your sitting fee is $1500, and then what do people purchase. Do you do packages, or? 

 

00:28:33:12 – 00:29:05:06

Carrie:

Yes. So I sell folio boxes, and I also sell albums, and I sell wall art. So, I just actually… at my dear friend Felicia Reed’s urging… I just dropped my lowest package and raised my lowest package to a ten because I had a package of eight portraits for $2200. But it stopped feeling good for me to sell that because they don’t get a box, so that I don’t do the false bottom. 

 

00:29:05:17 – 00:29:42:09

I’m like, if you want the box you have to at least get package number two, you know what I mean. Like yeah, yeah. But I want to sell. It’s a luxury service. I want to sell a complete product, or what in my mind feels like a complete product, to the client. So my packages now start at $3100 for ten, and they go to $4500. And so, it’s like I do 10 for $3100. I do 15 for $3750, and I do 20 for $4500. And then they can add on five for $875. Once they hit 20, they have to be at the top package to get an album because we need at least 20 pictures to put in a bound book. 

 

00:29:42:26 – 00:30:02:10

And albums are mostly for boudoir. 

 

Nikki:

Right. Right. 

 

Carrie:

But the box works great for that, too. And I’ve had people get 50 portraits over two boxes, and you know, then the wall art. The wall art pretty much starts around $1500, and that’s like, it could be single pieces, and it goes to infinity, depending on how many walls somebody has. 

 

00:30:04:09 – 00:30:12:10

Nikki:

Right, right. So if I were to book a shoot with you, I would have to spend at least $4600 to get the package. 

 

Carrie:

Pretty much. 

 

Nikki:

Yeah. Yeah. You’re listening out there. 

 

00:30:14:25 – 00:30:16:26

I was trying to be like Saray [Taylor-Roman]. 

 

00:30:18:19 – 00:30:49:11

Nikki:

Well, Felicia Reed – real quick just about Felicia – I mean, she lives in Texas. 

 

Carrie:

Yeah. 

 

Nikki:

You live in Connecticut. 

 

Carrie:

Yeah.

 

Nikki:

Like, totally different area. I mean it’s… Saray is in Tennessee, and you all have very high sales averages. Different places. I know I’m talking all in the US, but we do have some, you know, other people in other countries who have extremely high sales average. It just goes back to what you said – to about what’s working right now for you. Like, I’ve said this before, I loathe selling wall art. 

 

00:30:49:17 – 00:30:52:11

I don’t want to do it. So I don’t. I don’t like it. 

 

00:30:52:23 – 00:30:53:08

Carrie:

Ok. There you go.

 

00:30:53:10 – 00:31:04:25

Nikki:

So I make my money in my digital-only packages for my personal branding clients, and that’s how I make my money. Everyone does it differently and whatever works for you is what you should do. 

 

00:31:05:00 – 00:31:06:12

Carrie:

Yeah, absolutely. 

 

00:31:06:18 – 00:31:19:01

Nikki:

OK, so then as far as marketing goes, how are you getting your clients? And especially back when you were doing weddings, did you use those wedding clients as a way to kind of target your potential clients through that? Or how did all that work? 

 

00:31:19:12 – 00:31:53:10

Carrie:

A little bit? Yeah, I mean, it was a lot of Facebook, for sure. And that’s honestly where I still have a really good reach – on Facebook. And I have, like, a private VIP client group, or people who are potential clients and things like that. But Instagram as well… It just depends on the demographic. The demographic I tend to shoot is in about that 30/35 to like 55/60 year-old range. So, it’s like the younger people tend to be on Instagram. A little bit older, they tend to be on Facebook. 

 

00:31:53:24 – 00:32:25:27

I cater to both but the marketing… Oh, from weddings. So basically it was like getting the start on Facebook, which we’re still always trying to grow and things like that. But I also joined some local networking groups that were in person. BNI was huge in my life for about three years. For people who don’t know what that is, it stands for Business Networking International. It’s like you meet once a week, and it’s a one seat per profession, kind of referral-based, word-of-mouth networking. And that was really great for me, building my business. 

 

00:32:25:29 – 00:32:54:19

When I decided to go full portrait, I joined a BNI, and that’s actually where I learned how to be comfortable speaking in front of a crowd. And I’m getting more comfortable on camera, and things like that, because there’s… you have to get up and speak in front of the group and talk about your business every single week. So it’s practice, you know, in front of your business peers who are local to you. So that’s kind of how I got the word out. And then once the clientele started spreading, then it was referrals. So that’s kind of how it goes. Still, for me.

 

00:32:56:23 – 00:33:31:27

Nikki:

Social networking groups were a lifesaver for me and I know I’ve said this on this podcast before, but truly, I mean, I busted my ass at networking groups for a solid two years, and I still reap the rewards.

 

Carrie:

Yep. 

 

Nikki:

And I love what you just said, too, about how it was practice. It is. It’s practice for you to do your pitch as practice for you to… just interact with people and build connections with people, make those relationships with people, because ultimately that’s what you’re doing with clients. And oftentimes a lot of these people end up being your clients. It’s not even just about them referring you, but they end up turning into your clients a lot of the time. 

 

00:33:32:02 – 00:34:02:14

Carrie:

Yeah. And it’s about showing a genuine interest in the people that you’re talking to and not just going in like being like, oh, I need business, I need businesses. Like, no, let me make a connection to find out about these other local businesses. How can I serve them? Who can I introduce them to? How can I help them? And then obviously, when somebody asks you, then you have your pitch or how you talk about your business, the words you like to use. It’s not just about, like, holding your business card out for people. 

 

00:34:02:16 – 00:34:45:19

Nikki:

Exactly. It is such a great way to practice and gain that confidence around talking about what you do. I think people really struggle. I know I did until I found my own voice. And it really is. It’s a way to kind of rip the Band-Aid off and just you’re forced to talk about it because let’s think about it like in everyday life. How often is someone like, oh, so what do you do? Probably next to never. I mean, it’s not that often at the grocery store, someone stops you and asks you. So when someone does ask you… because eventually someone’s going to or when you get inquiries, when when you get someone on the phone and they want to hear about the services and what you’re going to do for them, if you have that practice, like you get through those networking groups, it just becomes second nature. 

 

00:34:45:21 – 00:35:15:23

Like I could say it with my eyes closed, what I do, what I’m going to do for my clients. And Sue talks about this a lot, too, about how when you write your about page, or when you’re telling people about what you do, don’t make it about you. I mean, of course you’re talking about what you do, but you’re making it about them. This is what I can do for you. And that, I think, is so crucial in going to these groups. It is like you’re just being thrown right in, and you just have to learn you just because you’re doing it so often. 

 

00:35:15:25 – 00:35:16:12

It’s like…

 

00:35:16:28 – 00:35:49:09

Carrie:

Yeah, I mean, I used to be so freaked out about public speaking. Like when I first joined the board, I… five people ahead of me, and I’m like, OK, now there’s four. And I start to sweat. And then I have to like stand up and say, my only… 30 seconds, or 40, for however long it was. And then I would sit down, and I’m like, I can’t remember anything I just said. And I’d be like, did I do OK? Like, people are like, yeah, you sounded great. And I’m like, did I say everything I wanted to say? Did I say my name? Like, I don’t remember. 

 

00:35:50:00 – 00:36:19:17

Yeah, but that’s that. It comes with practice now and that’s something else. I think that’s really important that networking taught me is introducing yourself, saying your full name, because some people don’t do that. They’ll just say, oh, I’m Carrie. I’m Sam, I’m Nikki. I’m whoever. Without saying, like I’m Carrie Roseman. I’m Nikki Closser. I think it’s really important to look somebody in the eye and introduce yourself with your full name with confidence, because that’s who you are. 

 

00:36:20:08 – 00:36:29:10

Nikki:

Yeah, absolutely. OK, so Carrie, you mentioned that you have a contact form. And I’m curious, when someone reaches out, what’s your process from getting that initial inquiry? 

 

00:36:29:27 – 00:37:07:15

So as you know, and I’m sure this happens to you, happens to all of us in our industry where people will reach out via DM on whatever social platform you’re on. And I kind of have, like, a template to respond to those. And actually, my social media gal does this for me, like on Instagram and things like that. When people are like, oh, I’d like a two-hour shoot, I’d like a branding shoot, or whatever in my DMs. And then I’ll say, oh, great, we thank you so much for reaching out. We track all of our inquiries through the website. This will help inform me a little bit about what you’re looking for and inform you a little bit about starting prices and our process. 

 

00:37:07:17 – 00:37:44:13

Please. Here’s the link. Fill that out. And that will… like, if they get through the form, and then they are informed a little bit about pricing, then I know that it’s good to have a phone call. And if they don’t, then they’re not going to be interested in my process at all. Because on that form, too, it does say, like, this is an investment of time, like, we do. You know, it’s a process. Like, are you willing to invest the time into this process? Because some people who are like, oh, no, I just want a headshot. It’s like, well, maybe I’m not your photographer because we do a full session. There’s a planning and all this stuff. 

 

00:37:44:15 – 00:38:20:00

But I mean, I don’t just say that, but people will self-select out if it’s not quite right for them, and the ones who are just like, no, like, I’m in. Like, and then, they would book their call. So sometimes I’ll reach out personally and be like, oh hey, are you available on this day for your call at this time? Or sometimes they can go through… I have booking through Acuity where they can pick a date and a time. Yeah. If I don’t hear… if they inquire, and then I don’t… they haven’t booked their call, then I’ll reach out personally, and then we kind of connect. And I have a business phone number through Vonage on my cell phone, so I don’t give out my personal cell. 

 

00:38:20:12 – 00:38:44:17

But we can also text on that, too. So I can reach out to somebody, like if I respond faster, to text. Personally, I’m on email, of course, as well. But if somebody doesn’t respond to the email, sometimes I’ll send them a text through the business line, and then they’re like, oh yeah, hey, I meant to blah, blah, blah. And then I can schedule there. So it’s a little cross-platform, but we’d like to keep it in email and on the phone line. So yeah. 

 

00:38:44:22 – 00:39:20:06

Nikki:

You just said something so important. It’s following up. Like everyone has a to-do list a mile long, and sometimes they’re like going through, and they’re prioritizing what’s on their to-do list, which usually has to do with like, you know, feeding their children or like whatever that might look like for them, for their to-do list. And sometimes, the photographer falls down pretty far in that to-do list. But if we can make this top of mind by following up, like, hey. They’re not going to be mad. They inquired, I mean, don’t be annoying and call them everyday, but just reach out. Like, hey, just making sure. People will be like, oh, exactly what you just said. 

 

00:39:20:13 – 00:39:30:16

Like, oh yeah, that’s right. OK, I’ve been meaning to call you. Thank you so much for following up. Let’s look at this date or whatever. So I think people assume that silence is a rejection and it’s not. 

 

00:39:30:21 – 00:39:37:25

Carrie:

It’s not. But if you get, like, no response, like multiple times on end, then… 

 

00:39:40:11 – 00:40:12:12

Then no response is a response. So there’s fortune in the follow up for sure. But the people who I’m attracting now – and this is a good point to make, that I worked on last year during the shutdown as well – is to raise the level of my ideal client avatar. And the person that I’m working with now is on a personal-growth journey themselves. So, there’s… everybody likes photography. Everybody wants to think of themselves as, like, somebody who’s going to look awesome in pictures. 

 

00:40:12:23 – 00:40:44:12

So many of us have never had that. And so I was getting a lot of people who were definitely interested in what I did. But then were having a hard time seeing their beauty. And that breaks your heart a little bit. It’s just, like, so the people that I was like, OK, I’ve been working on myself for the last 20 years, like, at least. You know, on a personal-growth level and trying to up-level in every way, personally, professionally, all these things.  I want to work with women… 

 

00:40:44:20 – 00:41:20:20

Of course, I photograph men, too. But I market to women. I want to photograph women who are on a journey themselves – either have had that transformation, or who are on the cusp of it, who want to see that. So the people who tend to inquire with me are ready, and I actively put that out there. So, if you follow me on social media at all, it’s like, there’s so much about, like, positivite, and you can do it, and just go for your dreams, and like, all these things that we talk about. But it’s like, do the work, show up, put in the work. Like, you fall down, get up. Like, that kind of thing. 

 

00:41:20:24 – 00:41:27:10

We post a lot of that kind of stuff, and people really respond to that. And then the people who don’t self-select out. 

 

00:41:27:21 – 00:41:42:02

Nikki:

Right. Which is OK. You’re going to be for some people, and some people, it’s not going to resonate with. 

 

Carrie:

Absolutely. 

 

Nikki:

I do have one more logistical question just about how you do your reveals, your photo viewing. So, if they come back to the studio. Is it printed? Is it digital? 

 

00:41:42:14 – 00:42:16:07

Carrie:

Yes. So, and again, I feel like this is just… You can sell any way that makes you feel good. And I’ve tried a lot of different ways. I used to do the fully-retouched, printed reveal with the reveal wall, and that worked awesome. And then I did, like, a projected digital reveal, and that worked awesome. And now I’m doing… I did also, like, unretouched, like smaller, printed-proof reveals. What I’m currently doing is a digital reveal – unretouched. 

 

00:42:16:09 – 00:42:47:21

I do make some adjustments and Adobe camera raw. I turn some black and white, depending on what it is. If it’s branding, I usually show it in color. But for boudoir, there’s always, like, a bunch of black and white in there. But I’ll show it on my computer back at the studio a few days later. I prefer if I have somebody who’s coming in from out of town, like, I have a lot of people fly in to work with me. We will typically do their shoot and reveal in the same day. Makes for a long day, but we’ll take a break in between. They go get coffee, or lunch, or something. 

 

00:42:47:23 – 00:43:10:15

I go over everything and get the presentation ready, and I sell it through ProSelect. I am going to go back to a projected reveal, but it’s not set up quite yet. So I’m using my desktop, 27 inch Mac, with the ProSelect slideshow, and that’s the software I use to to sell.. I really like it. There is a learning curve to it for real. But, like, it’s great. 

 

00:43:10:27 – 00:43:16:10

Nikki:

Yeah, no. That’s great. That’s great. And I love that you’ve kind of, like, worked through different options to see what works for you. 

 

00:43:16:15 – 00:43:40:08

Carrie:

Yeah, I love that because you can sell any of these ways. I think it’s important to try different things, to figure out what, what really feels good. Again, check in to see. Do you like this? Did you not like it? Do you want to just show 20 portraits at your reveal? Do you want to show 50. Like how. Like, there’s all these things to try out. Like how many is too many? How many is not enough? What do I want to sell? What do I package? And just start. 

 

00:43:40:21 – 00:43:50:29

Nikki:

Sure. Sure. And it’s going to be a total evolution, and that’s fine. Yeah. What about…? I know someone out there is thinking, how do you get these out of town clients? How are you finding the people who are going to come to you?

 

00:43:51:03 – 00:44:06:05

Carrie:

Oh man. So again, social media and just being connected through me. It’s kind of like referrals through people that I’ve worked with who have…. like my network, like your network is extended all over the place. 

 

00:44:08:10 – 00:44:39:06

Yeah. So it’s like through local people who then like, I don’t know, for example, even over the pandemic, I had people fly in from Texas, come in from Philadelphia. Like, I just had clients fly in from Maryland and Minnesota and Kansas or Arkansas. Yeah. So we’re just connected through mutual people online, and maybe I met them at a workshop, networking. So this is where it all happens. It’s making those connections. People start following you. Getting them to be a warm lead by having all the touch points. 

 

00:44:39:08 – 00:45:17:04

Nikki:

Totally. That’s what I was hoping you were going to say, honestly. Because it’s thinking outside of the box, getting out of your comfort zone, and not just relying on, you know, hoping that people are going to find your website, or that they’re going to Google search you. Because, I’ll be honest, some of the people who are likely to…. they’re going to spend $5 – 6,000 are not finding it through Google. They’re just not. They’re finding you through their friends of friends. It’s word of mouth. It’s not… And I’m generalizing. I don’t know if that’s always the case, but I can think about my kind of… more higher-end clients who spent more, or even my non-higher-end clients. 

 

00:45:17:06 – 00:45:18:28

But it usually came from a referral. 

 

00:45:19:11 – 00:45:58:15

Carrie:

Yeah, 100%. Absolutely. Somebody who’s been watching who maybe has never commented on my stuff. So, maybe I don’t even know them yet, but they’ve been watching, and they’re like, oh, you photographed this friend of mine, and I love her. Portraits are… Oh, the third time you photographed this friend of mine, then I was ready. Like, so they’re here watching and paying attention. But the other thing is that the photos don’t just sell themselves. 99% of the time, it’s the messaging you’re putting behind them, how you’re portraying, like, if you’re telling the client’s story, or if you’re just making a point about anything to go with your experience. 

 

00:45:58:17 – 00:46:09:19

It’s a meaningful quote. It’s… there’s so many different ways to market yourself on social media, but it’s about conveying your authentic voice. And that’s what people are buying. 

 

00:46:09:24 – 00:46:14:12

Nikki:

Yeah, you’re exactly right. It’s so important. Like rewind that and listen to it again. 

 

00:46:15:29 – 00:46:17:23

Carrie:

Yeah. A good golden nugget. 

 

00:46:19:14 – 00:46:39:18

Nikki:

Well, thank you so much for sharing everything with us. And yeah, it’s really good to talk to you. Like I said, I’ve seen you on… just in the [SBE Members-Only Facebook] group a lot, but I’d never really… Like, we’ve never really had a one-on-one conversation like this deep, obviously. So, I’m really excited for you, and I’m happy to hear your story, and it’s really inspiring. I’m sure a lot of people are going to be very inspired. So thank you. 

 

00:46:39:20 – 00:47:16:28

Carrie:

Thank you so much. I think it’s really important for us to share our stories as well. When I moved back from New York to Connecticut all those years ago, and I was starting into wedding photography, everyone was so buttoned up and closed-mouthed about pricing and how they got clients. Like nobody wanted to talk about it because there was this, like, scarcity mentality. And I’m like, there’s a lot of us and there’s even more people to serve. Like, why won’t people talk about how they price their products or services? So it was so refreshing to make, like, friends with people in SBE 

 

00:47:17:00 – 00:47:34:04

and to have that network. And I mean, I’m friends with people from the Portrait Masters, the first conference. You know, and like, and just people that I met, like Felicia, who I met in the group, like, and now we just call each other every other day like, hey, girl, what’s up? You know, like, it’s been very amazing. 

 

00:47:34:06 – 00:47:37:05

Nikki:

Oh, great. 

 

Carrie:

Yeah. 

 

Nikki:

So amazing. 

 

00:47:37:10 – 00:47:39:21

Carrie:

The community is so good. Yeah. 

 

00:47:39:23 – 00:47:52:18

Nikki:

Yeah. Oh, that’s great. I’m so happy to hear that. Very cool. Oh, I do have a couple of other questions to ask you that I always ask at the end of each episode. So the first one is, what is something you cannot live without when you’re doing a photoshoot? 

 

00:47:52:28 – 00:48:00:24

There’s a few things. The first thing that pops into my head is my…. I always call it the spider belt, but it’s a spider holster. 

 

00:48:00:29 – 00:48:01:14

Nikki:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Same.

 

00:48:01:16 – 00:48:35:02

Carrie:

As a physical thing. And then the other thing is probably just… which is probably actually the most important thing… is my energy, like the energy in the room. Everybody being, like, really good and up. And, because people can feel that as soon as they walk in. So, that’s that’s the thing. Just getting the energy up. And I actually do kind of like, sing at my clients, which is kind of terrible because I am not a singer, but it makes everybody laugh and relax, and like that sort of thing. Or just like, saying ridiculous things to get people to loosen up. 

 

00:48:35:12 – 00:48:52:01

So there’s an element of that. I’m not the silent photographer, and we have music. We have a crew. Like, I’m loud and boisterous. And I read the room, though. If I have a client who’s a little bit more introverted then I’m not. Like, hey, I’ll be like… 

 

00:48:52:15 – 00:48:53:25

Nikki:

Yeah, yeah, totally. 

 

00:48:53:27 – 00:48:58:23

Carrie:

I’ll bring it in a little bit. But yeah, I think the energy is the most important thing. Yeah. 

 

00:48:58:29 – 00:49:07:13

Nikki:

So important. They, like you said, they can feel it right away. Totally. I love that. OK, number two is how do you spend your time when you’re not working?

 

00:49:07:26 – 00:49:38:05

Well in non-pandemic times, I’m pretty social. Like, I like to go out and eat a meal out, or meet up with friends and things, and that stuff like that. Thank goodness I do like to cook, so I like to do some of that. And then I’m really into plants lately. Like we have a lot of greenery around my house and my fiance and I just bought a house in October, so it’s like, been working on the yard, and things like that. 

 

Nikki:

Oh, congrats!

 

Carrie:

Thank you. 

 

00:49:38:15 – 00:49:42:18

So those are the kinds of the things that take up my personal time. 

 

00:49:42:26 – 00:49:44:06

Nikki:

Yeah, that’s exciting. 

 

00:49:46:00 – 00:49:50:09

OK, number three is what is your favorite inspirational quote? 

 

00:49:50:17 – 00:50:01:28

Carrie:

So, I love this quote by Edgar Allan Poe. It’s: “They who dream by day are more cognizant of things which escape those who dream only by night.” 

 

00:50:02:10 – 00:50:05:26

Nikki:

Ooh, that’s really thought provoking. 

 

00:50:06:16 – 00:50:38:14

Carrie:

Yes. So, I mean, the element beyond that is to like, not just dream it, but be in action towards it. But, so, there’s like a caveat after that. But… it’s just to remind people, like, dream with your eyes open, like, go after it. Anything is possible. It really, really is. Like, you are the only one who is hindering your success.  

 

Nikki:

Yes. 

 

Carrie:

Or any of your progress. Like, once people kind of get around that, then they can see that. So I’m always hopeful of people’s potential and wanting to bring that out. 

 

00:50:38:18 – 00:50:46:11

But again, it’s like a self-value thing. Like, they have to see it themselves, and know that, and go for it. So, that’s my favorite quote. 

 

00:50:46:28 – 00:50:54:24

Nikki:

Yep. Yep. Awesome. I love that. OK, and number four is what would you tell people who are just getting started in this whole photography journey? 

 

00:50:55:07 – 00:51:03:23

Carrie:

What would I tell people who are just getting started? I would just tell people to just do it. Like Nike totally got it right. 

Nikki:

Right. 

 

00:51:05:21 – 00:51:35:24

Carrie:

Just be in motion. Be in action. You can’t take a wrong step. If you take a step in a direction that you’re like, OK, this isn’t for me,  then you pivot, and you take another step. It’s just… you learn about yourself and how to do business, and then how to say your prices, and how to accept money, and how to… what labs to use that you like, and how you want to sell it, and what kind of service you want to provide. Like, just to do it. Just try things. 

 

00:51:35:26 – 00:52:02:16

Nothing is wrong. Like I think people are always so scared that they’re going to get something wrong. What is wrong? There is no wrong. Like nobody gives you a handbook of the perfect way to run your business. Because like we are… we’re both portrait photographers. We run our businesses differently than each other. But it works for both of us. It’s just finding your own way. So just do it. Just keep showing up. Keep showing up. Do the work, do the work, do the work. Do the work. 

 

00:52:03:09 – 00:52:09:19

Nikki:

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Awesome. Last question. Where can people find you online, Carrie? 

 

00:52:09:21 – 00:52:37:10

Carrie:

Oh, yay. OK, so Instagram and Facebook is @CarrieRosemanStudios. And my name is Carrie with the C. C, A, R, R, I,  E. Roseman. R, O, S, E, M, A, N. And I’m on LinkedIn, too, but I don’t really hang out over there so much. So yeah, it’s pretty much Facebook and Instagram. And then I do have, like, a private VIP group called Carrie Roseman VIP lounge. And so that’s a fun one for people to join, too. Yeah, that’s for women though. That’s women only. 

 

00:52:37:15 – 00:52:44:27

Nikki:

Cool. Well, thank you again, Carrie. It was so good to chat with you, and hopefully I’ll see you in person at some point soon. 

 

00:52:45:01 – 00:52:57:16

Carrie:

Yes. Next Portrait Masters maybe. I don’t know what the plans are, but yeah, I would absolutely love that. And thank you so much for reaching out. This is really great. And I loved talking with you, Nikki, 

 

00:52:58:09 – 00:53:28:26

so thank you again. I will see you soon. 

 

Nikki:

Thank you so much for listening to the Portrait System Podcast. Your five-star reviews really help us to continue what we do. So, if you like listening, would you mind giving us a review wherever you listen? I also encourage you to head over to SueBryceEducation.com, where you can find all of the education you need to be a successful photographer. There are over 1,000 on-demand educational videos on things like posing, lighting, styling, retouching, shooting, marketing, sales, business, and self-value. 

 

00:53:29:08 – 00:53:44:22

There’s also the 90 Day Startup Challenge, plus so many downloads showing hundreds of different poses. We have to-do checklists for your business, lighting PDFs, I mean truly everything to help make you a better photographer and to make you more money. Once again, that’s SueBryceEducation.com.