The ReWork with Allison Tyler Jones

Almost every photographer finds something about in-person sales to be intimidating. It can be overwhelming to try to strike that fine balance between persuading the client or rolling over and just giving everything away.  Done right, a successful portrait sales session can be a work of art all its own.  Today’s guest is a sales master. Having tried a myriad of sales techniques through the years, T...

Change is inevitable. Especially in our industry. Whether you are adjusting pricing due to vendor increases or moving away from selling digitals, change can feel scary. Especially when we have to communicate that change to our clients. What if they push back? What if they walk away? Fear of losing or upsetting clients can prevent us from making important changes to our business. The solution? Get...

I used to think that confidence was either something you had or you didn’t. And for a lot of years, I didn’t feel confident. Starting my own photography business didn’t help. I knew that I needed to create a sustainable business to support my family, but I didn’t resonate with the old-school oversell or the new-school undersell sales approaches in the industry. I was constantly second guessing if...

Can you believe that the holidays are just around the corner!? Often, after a long summer, getting back into the real swing of things at work can be difficult and draining, and those are the last things you want to be experiencing during your busiest time of the year.  In today’s episode, Jessica and I will share our best tips to avoid creative burn-out, inspire new ideas to ensure that this holid...

Despite photography not being a major part of her life growing up, and studying a finance and accounting degree (which was a big surprise to me too!), Rhea Whitney has always had a love for imagery, and after a lot of experimentation, many bold moves, and a crazy amount of discipline, she found her true calling in wedding and portrait photography AND photography business coaching. Now, this absolu...

Quick tips and tricks might be useful in your business in the short term but I find that focusing on core principles and refining my business around those principles contributes to a greater understanding of my client and how they experience our business. Would you believe me if I told you there was a single, simple element that you can ReWork in your business that would change the way you sell, t...

If you want to send nice portrait photographers into a tailspin, start talking about pricing their work. We’ll chat all day about lighting and technique but when it comes to putting an actual value on what we do, ah, get ready for some serious pushback. “I could never charge that!” “I’ll lose all my clients!”  And on it goes.   If any of that sounds uncomfortably familiar join me for today’s episo...

It’s easy to get caught up in the hype of quick marketing fixes, but there are better, more sustainable and more soul-satisfying ways to attract clients. In today’s episode I am joined by studio photographer, coach, and master of marketing, Tim Walden, who is here to share his wisdom on this fundamental element of running a business. So many photographers aren’t clear on what their niche is, or th...

Do you ever worry about your pricing? Is it too high, too low? Nothing can make a nice portrait photographer doubt themselves like figuring out their pricing. For today’s show, I’ve brought Kathryn Langsford back, and we are going to discuss the ways to build the value of what you do in your own mind first and then communicate that value to your clients. Timestamps: [0:01:04] A reintroduction to o...

Before we can communicate the value of what we do to our customers, we first need to learn to value ourselves, our time, and our work. Today’s episode is all about value, and who better to discuss this with than  Jed Taufer, host of the This Conversation podcast, and someone who has had a positive impact on my own career. There are a number of factors which value is built upon, some of which are o...

The relationship between portrait photographers and interior designers has historically been tense; interior designers feel frustrated when portraits don’t cohere with the style of the house, and photographers feel hard done by when their portraits end up in the basement. In today’s episode, my sister, Caroline DeCesare, and I are going to explain how professionals in our respective lines of work...

While there are a million ways that we can spoil our clients, it took years of experience, and testing a variety of different approaches before Kathryn Langsford figured out what “spoiling strategies” made the most impact, and we’ve brought her onto the show today to get the goods. In this episode Kathryn shares how she shifted her mindset about gifting clients at the end of a job. Instead of givi...

It may not seem like building homes has much to do with portrait photography, but the strategies used by luxury custom home builder Brad Leavitt, can certainly be transferred to the photography industry, and will likely have lots of benefits, which is why we’ve brought him onto the show today. Building a house can be a very daunting process, but through his emphasis on education, transparency and...

Nobody likes to be said no to, particularly paying clients. That’s why I don’t ever say it. Don’t believe me? Listen to this episode to hear examples of all the things I will say to clients instead of saying no. I’m in the hot seat today, with Jessica Mackey, our client coordinator, asking the questions. We’re having this discussion to share with you how we deal with clients who make requests for...

We all know the feeling of being unable to make changes in our lives because we are scared of what the outcome will be. That fear of change exists because we have given too much control to our ego and have fallen into the trappings of a fixed mindset. Julia Woods joins me on The Rework today to share the inspirational story of how she rid herself of her limiting beliefs and replaced them with a gr...

Wouldn’t it be amazing to have a business that fully aligns with what you love and services clients in a way that THEY love? Today I chat with photography business coach Steve Saporito from Melbourne, Australia who believes that these goals are not only possible but how it should be done.  Steve believes that it’s easy to blame the economy and other external variables when experiencing lack of suc...

Have you ever wondered if you can create a business out of portrait photography? You may want to increase your income, and your first thoughts are to find more clients. However, instead of having more clients, consider getting better clients. Or do you need a better way of doing business that attracts great clients who love what you do and see the value in it? Today I’m with my client coordinator...

So many photographers undervalue their work, and therefore lack the confidence to start a business that can provide an income stream that supports their families and their dreams. I, Allison Tyler Jones, am on a mission to change this! In the first episode of this podcast, I am going to run you through The ReWork framework which my sister and I put together as a guide for anyone looking to make a...

So many photographers undervalue their work and therefore lack the confidence to start a business that can provide an income stream that supports their families and their dreams. I, Allison Tyler Jones, am on a mission to change this! Today, I’ll chat with my friend, Kathryn Langsford, the owner of Photos by Kathryn based in Vancouver, Canada. She specializes in fine art portraits of families and...