How to Work 20 Hours a Week and Make 6 Figures in Photography with Olivia Smith

0:01Light that spark fire nation JLD here and welcome to entrepreneurs on fire brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like No Straight Path. Today, we'll be breaking down how to work 20 hours a week and make six figures in photography. To drop these value bombs, I brought Olivia Smith into EO Fire Studios. Olivia has been a photographer for 13 years, specializing in boudoir photography. As an educator, she helps photographers achieve six-figure businesses while balancing family time. We will talk about systems and processes.

0:37We're going to give a rundown of a session day with Olivia. We're going to talk about building assets that you own. We're going to talk about batching like a baller and so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Olivia and our sponsors. One of my favorite conferences to attend each year is HubSpot's annual inbound conference and is coming up fast. Join us in Boston from September 5th to the 8th, 2023 for an event like no other. Inbound brings together leaders across the business space, including sales, marketing, customer success, and operations teams. The goal at Inbound to help you discover all the latest trends and tactics you can implement in your business right now.

1:21Learn, be inspired, and walk away with practical tips to help you tackle your next challenge, supercharge your sales and marketing, and ignite your customer service. Inbound is featuring many must-see speakers this year, including Reese Witherspoon, Guy Raz, and Neil Patel, just to name a few. Whether you choose a general admission ticket or go the VIP route, you're sure to leave Boston feeling on fire. Visit inbound.com to get your tickets today. Many EO Fire listeners have launched franchises in a variety of industries outside of food, and Fran Bridge Consulting has guided them to these premier opportunities.

1:58The founder, John Ostenson, has done more placements than any other in the country, sign up for a free consultation with John or get a free copy of his book, Non-Food Franchising at FranBridgeConsulting.com. Olivia, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. Hey, yo, Fire. So excited to be here. So I think that most people think you need to work a ton of hours to have a really successful business, you know, 60, 80 hours. It's kind of crazy. And I just don't think that's true. Yeah, in the beginning, you have to kind of work your butt off really hard and lots of hours.

2:42But once you get the flow of it, and once you get everything down, you should be able to work a lot less. I've been able to do 20 hours in my six-figure business a week. And it's amazing. Well, I'm working now more since I do photography and photography coaching, but I still probably don't even work 40 hours a week with both of my businesses. I love this. And I've had the exact same experience, Fire Nation. Yes, you've got to work your little booty off at the beginning. You've got to grind. You've got to build a foundation. It's not easy. It's work for sure. But then you figure out systems, tools, automations.

3:20And of course, the title is how to work 20 hours a week and make six figures in photography. So let's talk about your origin story with boudoir. Oh, it's so much fun. Well, I've been a photographer for 13 years. Loved it. I'm mostly high school seniors and a little bit of families. And I live in the Midwest and it's freaking cold. And half the year, I don't shoot anything. And so I was like, I need something in the winter. So I'm like, I'm going to try to get into boudoir. So two years ago, I started in boudoir and really just building that up from scratch. No Instagram, no Facebook, no Google, no reviews, no past clients, no leads.

4:04And so I started that up and it kind of exploded. And 2022, I shot like 95 % of boudoir. And I'm just loving it so much, I really found my passion. Now, one thing that people struggle with are systems, are processes. And this is where you actually excel. So share a rundown of your session day that is maximized for efficiency. I remember I used to spend like 12 hours per client. I can It's been like five or six hours per client now because I do it all in one day. We start with hair and makeup and then we pick out outfits. We're in the studio shooting for an hour and then I cull down, edit slightly for 30 minutes and then my clients see the images same day, which is like the coolest thing in the world.

4:53And then they pick their packages and then they're paying me and then they're leaving. And then I send all the images to my amazing editor. she just makes everything look amazing and I can get the images back to my clients within a week sometimes and people are like blown away because I'm like and they look so amazing and then I'm designing which takes me like 10 5-10 minutes to design albums ordering them and usually they're getting all their products and everything within five to six weeks and I can spend like five to six hours now per client which is pretty awesome so I can do two or three clients a week now with my$3 ,000 average puts me pretty nice.

5:40Fire Nation, when you get the systems, the tools, the automations, when you figure things out, guess what? It's not just you that has a better experience. It's your clients as well because you're giving them time back. You're giving them an incredibly professional job. You are providing the exact amazing solution that they're requesting, but in less time with less effort. And believe me, that's going to make for happier, happier clients. But let's talk about the other 10 to 15 hours a week. What happens with those now? So 10 to 15 hours goes towards kind of talking to clients, booking, creating sales to get more leads in.

6:18I've kind of created an automation for my clients to go through it so I don't have to send emails out to them. I have my lead template on my website too. So I'm always creating new stuff for my website. So that brings in clients so I can transform them and nurture them into becoming clients. And it's like a guide. I also send them a boudoir prep guide and lingerie magazine guide, their questionnaire. but I just interact with people on social media and turning them into paid clients and getting them right in my door. Now, do you have any favorite softwares that you use that just make your life easier?

7:04A big one is Dubsado. I love Dubsado because it's a hub of where everything is and I have my workflows so I send them all these emails and questionnaires and I also have the contracts in there, the emails in there, the payments. They can prepay and I get paid thousands of dollars before they've even seen me and their shoot is even done. And then on the day of the session, I can usually upsell them. And I also create all my content for my everything in advance. I create, Rachel Penderson has a really awesome method where I created a year of content that's really client focused within like four hours.

7:50And yeah, my big one is I think Dubsado. And also I use MailerLite for sending out emails, which is huge for me. And it's the one thing we own, right? Like that's what they cannot take away from us. So I'm so big on getting a lead magnet out and getting people on your email list. So you could, I've sell sessions through my email directly all the time. Well, let's not get into that now because we're going to really dive deep on that in a little bit here. But one thing I want to share Fire Nation is, listen, this is a little bit off the beaten path because it's not directly with my business, Entrepreneurs on Fire.

8:28But, you know, we have a investment property here in the same community that we live in. And I can tell you, we put it up on Airbnb and it was a lot of communication. It was a lot of back and forth, all these different things. But what do we do? We applied the mindset we use for Entrepreneurs on Fire to this Airbnb rental. And now when somebody books, they get an automated email and the automated email is answering 99 % of their questions because we know what their questions are going to be. So we answer them all with an automated email. There's a follow-up to that that gives them a link to this PDF that we created that again, has everything that they need when they're here, all the recommendations, all the stuff.

9:05And every single time a customer or a renter like asks us a question that we have not answered for any reason, we just add it to that process. So now when somebody books, sometimes I don't even have to look because it's just all automated till the day they literally move in. And that's how you can just continue to automate and to systemize and to create processes for everything in your life. And we're gonna be talking about some important things around this when we get back from thanking our sponsors. The Product Boss, hosted by Jacqueline Snyder and Mina Kunlo-CTEP, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals.

9:44Take your physical product sales and strategy to the next level to create your dream life with hosts Jacqueline and Mina as they deliver a workshop-style, hour-long episode filled with social media and marketing strategies so you can up-level as the boss of your business. A recent episode covered the ins and outs of whether you can have a successful product business as a side hustle. Listen to The Product Boss wherever you get your podcasts. More and more entrepreneurs and investors are discovering the awesome franchise opportunities that exist outside of food. Franchising can simply be the better path.

10:17An interest in franchising is at an all-time high. Lucky for you, John Ostenson, founder of Franbridge Consulting and a frequent EO Fire guest, is here to help you explore the premier franchise opportunities today. John and his Frambridge consulting team are part of the largest brokerage in the US and have vetted the market thoroughly. Frambridge is hands down the premier source for the best opportunities in the non-food franchise world. They represent every type of non-food franchise from healthcare to dumpsters, youth soccer to oil changes, specialized senior care to dog training, to insulation and floor coatings.

10:50John has served as an Inc. 500 franchisor and a multi-brand franchisee. And he does more placements than any other in the country. Sign up for a free consultation call with John today or get a free copy of his book, Non-Food Franchising at FranBridgeConsulting.com. That's FranBridgeConsulting.com. Now, Olivia, we're back and you intimated this before the break. And I want to really dive deep into this stuff now because we need to build assets that we own, not that we rent on somebody else's property. We're talking email. We're talking mastermind groups, people that are part of your group, your community.

11:29What are your most successful tips for building a meaningful email list in Mastermind Group? Definitely connection and being vulnerable and giving lots of value. I try to give lots and lots of value to them. I create lots of blog posts that I reference inside of my Facebook group. I have 1 ,500 ladies in there, so I get bookings from there. I'm always talking with them and posting questions and behind the scenes of our shoot so I can build that trust, so they could have that trust in me that I know what I'm doing, I'm gonna make them look amazing, as well as the email list, building that up and sending them just things that I've created and teaching them and making sure they feel 100 % confident in me.

12:19Let's give a specific example of that, especially when you said being vulnerable. How are you vulnerable to your customers, to your clients? Sometimes it's that I'm a mom and sometimes things don't go according to plan and that, oh, if a session gets canceled because my kids are sick or I can't make a phone call because something happened and mom life took over. And so I always try to like, I'm a person before a business and I try to get them to understand that and just that I've gone through the same struggles they have to being a mom, not loving my body like before I was a mom, and that I know their struggles and I know why they don't want to get in front of a camera with very little clothes and how I can ease them into that and help them love themselves again.

13:14Fire Nation, be vulnerable. Share real stories. People want to connect with a genuine, authentic, transparent person that is you, not some fake it till you make it person that doesn't really exist, especially in the world where AI is taking over. People just want real human connection. Now, Olivia, I've run a daily podcast for almost 11 years because I batch like a flipping baller. I do seven interviews every Thursday. I stay 45 days ahead of the game. I do zero interviews on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, because I batch like a baller. What are your tactics for batching like a baller, specifically on social media?

13:58Amazing that you do that. And I like to do that as well. So I've batched all my social media posts. I like to batch all my blog posts. I get questions that people are asking so I can answer them. What do they have questions about confidence? What do they have questions about lingerie, outfits, hair and makeup? Questions about just the shoot in general, about their skin, about what they're eating so they can be healthier. So I get all these questions. I like to go through Google and ask these questions and keep opening up new tabs and just get more and more. And then I go through and I answer all of them and I turn them into posts on social media or my blog posts.

14:42So one question might be even three or four blog Instagram posts or posts inside of my Facebook group that is really informational and I just get to spread out as well as my like Google reviews. I've taken like 45 Google reviews and I made like 75 posts out of that. Fire Nation, these are the type of things that's going to allow you to scale your time, to leverage your bandwidth. I mean, it's limited. I know that I can wake up every Thursday and just give my all to seven interviews knowing that I'm not going to have to give this kind of energy and bandwidth the other six days a week. And you can do the same thing with what Olivia is sharing.

15:24Now, one thing that you have, Olivia, is an amazing outsourcing and automation guide. And you're being incredibly generous because you're going to give it to Fire Nation for free. So tell us more about this Outsourcing Automation Guide. Well, it's kind of what I've done in my business, my steps of my shoot, how I did that. It also includes how I outsource my editing. I've outsourced my phone calls now. So I have a girl that does the phone calls. I can listen to her calls through my Twilo number. and I also, she books them in for me. I also outsource my posting to social media and how I do that.

16:10And I feel like those are the big ones is those give me the most time in my business just doing photography where I don't have to do the social media and I don't have to do all the editing and I can just spend those five hours a day with my client and an hour maybe after that. Fire Nation, you got to get your hands on this. Olivia, how can we? The template is available to download from my website, bellmarieboudoir.com slash EO Fire. So you'll get the session prep guide. I have a senior and a boudoir version, and as well as my work 20 hours a week in a six-figure business and my method of how I've built my business up to do that.

16:51Olivia, you've dropped countless value bombs here today. What is the one thing you really want to make sure Fire Nation gets from our entire conversation? I would say outsourcing the stuff that you don't love and that you don't need to do to make money is such a big thing. And also building your email list. Fire Nation, you're the average. Of the five people you spend the most time with, you've been hanging out with OS and JLD today. So keep up the heat. For links to everything we talked about, visit eofire.com. type Olivia in the search bar. The show notes page will pop right up. Olivia, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation.

17:32For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flippity flip side. You are amazing. Thank you so much. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Olivia for sponsoring today's episode. And Fire Nation, over the last decade, I've interviewed more than 3 ,000 of the world's most successful entrepreneurs. And I've created a revolutionary 17-step roadmap to your financial freedom and fulfillment. I put it all into my first traditionally published book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, personally endorsed by Seth Godin and Gary Vaynerchuk. The Common Path to Uncommon Success is the step-by-step guidance that you need to achieve the lifestyle of your dreams.

18:11Visit uncommonsuccessbook.com, order your copy and I'll catch you there. We're on the flip side. One of my favorite conferences to attend each year is HubSpot's annual Inbound Conference and is coming up fast. Join us in Boston from September 5th to the 8th, 2023 for an event like no other. Inbound brings together leaders across the business space, including sales, marketing, customer success, and operations teams. The goal at Inbound to help you discover all the latest trends and tactics you can implement in your business right now. Learn, be inspired, and walk away with practical tips to help you tackle your next challenge, supercharge your sales and marketing, and ignite your customer service.

18:56Inbound is featuring many must-see speakers this year, including Reese Witherspoon, Guy Raz, and Neil Patel, just to name a few. Whether you choose a general admission ticket or go the VIP route, you're sure to leave Boston feeling on fire. Visit inbound.com to get your tickets today. Many EO Fire listeners have launched franchises in a variety of industries outside of food. and Fran Bridge Consulting has guided them to these premier opportunities. The founder, John Ostenson, has done more placements than any other in the country. Sign up for a free consultation with John or get a free copy of his book, Non-Food Franchising, at FranBridgeConsulting.com.