Lori Nordstrom – Episode 006 – A Photographer Podcast Interview

TRANSCRIPTION:

Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it’s an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.

Lori: [00:00] Hi, this is Lori Nordstrom and you are listening to from nothing to profit.

Speaker 2: [00:05] Welcome to from nothing to profit, a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.

Matt: [00:20] [inaudible] everybody. Welcome to from nothing to profit. So on today’s show we have Lori Nordstrom and I’m really excited to have Laura on the show because Laura has been in the photo industry for more than 20 years and recently she’s actually made a pretty big pivot in her business and she’s moved on to some coaching stuff and sold her business. And I just think it’s a real, it’s gonna be a really interesting conversation to see what her business has become because 10 years ago when I got another business, Laura was really big in the industry. She was onstage all the time. Allison, I learned a lot from her in the law, you know, last five years we’ve worked with Laurie more on a personal basis and really got some great nuggets of information from her. Um, but it’ll be interesting to see where she thinks the industry is going, see where her journey’s taken her, see how her coaching stuff is going and I’m just super excited. So welcome Lorrie.

Lori: [01:09] Thanks. Thanks for having me. And Hi Kai.

Kia: [01:13] We’re excited that you’re here, Lori, you, I think the wonderful thing about you is that you’ve been in kind of all parts of the photography business and I think you can speak to people on all levels and so I think this is really going to be fun to hear what you have to say. So I think, Matt, where are you going to ask Laura to share with us just a little bit more about herself and her areas of expertise?

Matt: [01:36] Yeah, I think I just, I want to know more about what’s going on in your journey right now, Laurie, because I know stuff is changing pretty fast for you and you can kind of give us an update on what’s going on.

Lori: [01:45] Yeah, well definitely things have changed as we all know and the industry thinks have been a roller coaster ride over the last 10 years at least. But, um, I have had my own business since I was 16 years old, so I’ve never worked for anyone else and becoming an entrepreneur in the photography industry wasn’t anything that was a scary thing for me. But I do know it’s scary for most photographers who are on the artists end instead of the business end. And so it has been an interesting journey for me along the way. Um, I did start into photography in the late, late nineties. I was in my late twenties. So that gives you an idea of how old I am. But I did start at that time and apprentice for a year in a, in another studio in Texas and worked for him for a year.

Lori: [02:36] And then at the end of that year I moved from Texas to Iowa and that was really my launch. I decided when I moved I was done with my other business, which was a hair salon. And when I moved I just said I’m a photographer and this is it. And just kind of started out with a bang, just did it. Did I meet you like right after you moved to Iowa? Yeah, I think met, I was thinking about this today, Kira, and I think we had to have met in 2000. Okay. Yeah, that makes sense from the very beginning, which. Yeah, I know it is crazy. So we’ve known each other for almost 20 years. Yeah,

Matt: [03:12] in 2000 I was in third grade. I’m not joking, I’m totally, totally lying. I’m much older than that, but I just had to take that opportunity to, to um, so, so what are you doing now? Laurie will tell us what kind of, what’s going on now?

Lori: [03:30] Well, you know, over the years I have had different goals I guess over the years and even into different genres of photography. I think when I started it was all about kids and then I started photographing newborns and kind of became known for a newborn and maternity and then after that I was missing out on the kids and so I went back and started really building my kids business and that turn into families and they got older and became high school seniors. And so it all kind of evolved as my time and the industry went on as far as what I was photographing and what I was excited about. And then five years ago, I actually, it’s been, well almost six years now, but yeah, five years ago I got married again and at the time I got married, uh, it doesn’t feel like congratulations are in order anymore because it’s yours.

Lori: [04:23] But at, at that time I was also down to kids out of the house, had one more child at home. He was going to be graduating in 2016. And so at that time I decided that I was going to very intentionally start downsizing my business. And I will say that as somebody who always goes into things with goals and a plan and more of a business hat than the artist’s hat for sure, it was very eye opening to me to start downsizing. And at that time, but I started downsizing. I kind of started hand selecting the clients that I was going to be continuing to work with. And really what it comes down to is every single year, digging into my top 20 percent or so, that 80 20 rule and what happened at that time was, I mean, I’ve always believed in the 80 slash 20 rule, but when I literally started taking action on this and choosing those top 20 percenters, my profit didn’t change very much.

Lori: [05:23] And that just shows you how true and valuable that concept is if you really believe in dig into that, um, you know, and it just, it was there on paper for me as I started downsizing that each year as I downsize, it was like, yeah, you know, profits not really moving too much. And of course downsizing didn’t mean just the number of clients, but it also meant the number of employees, what I was outsourcing. It also eventually led to my overhead as I sold my giant studio. Which Chi, you’ve been to that studio. Um, but I had, you know, a big 8,000 square foot studio that was of course a lot of overhead. And I sold that two years ago. And so just each year downsizing, downsizing. And really as I started coaching more and being in that part of the industry, getting out there, speaking, coaching, teaching, um, I really thought that that was going to be my future. I really saw photography kind of completely phasing out for me. But what happened was as I continue to look for holes in the market, I started saying a big one as I was working with other creative entrepreneurs in business. And so I’m excited to share that with you and kind of the whole that I saw.

Matt: [06:40] Next question we’re going to go to. I mean we’re definitely going through the less fast so you have not talked about this a couple of days ago so I’m able to kind of lead us in this a little bit, but you know, we’re talking about what’s working now and you were super excited when you were talking about doing some of this branding stuff. So we’ve got. Just dive right into it. What did you see is working right now in the photography business or photography industry?

Lori: [07:00] Yeah. Well, and I will say that this is for me and I think there are so many great things happening in our industry right now and I’m excited to talk about that, but what happened for me is, and I think um, you know, Kayak can probably attest to this too, even watching her mom and then herself having been in the industry for so long because as we grow and change and as our kids go through seasons, our interest in what we’re photographing kind of changes as well. And so I would say that, yeah, when you were saying I did my babies and then I did my children, I was like, it sounds like it was following right along with where your family was at the time. Absolutely. And I know it’s not that way for everyone, but I do see that a lot as kids get older, you, you know, your interest just shift.

Lori: [07:47] And so you get really excited about photographing different ages and stages as you know, as things change in your own life. But, um, I really did see. And part of this comes for me, I, I work with a lot of photographers who have to photograph, like they love shooting so much. It’s such a passion of theirs and this sounds terrible, but it just never has been my passion. My passion has been running a business and I went into the photography industry in that way that I’m a business owner that happens to have a camera in my hand. I’ve never had this. Like I got to shoot, I got to shoot. Like this is what drives me. And so I didn’t have a problem feeling like I was going to phase out of that part of my life. But then as I, you know, my kids are now out of the house.

Lori: [08:31] I have three grandkids. And as I started working with more and more businesses, what I started seeing was bright. Now in the, in the industry, a lot of photographers are doing headshot sessions and so there’s not really a whole lot that special about them anymore. Just like most John Rose that we photograph. It cannot be just about the pretty pictures anymore. You’ve got to have something in the experience, in something in the, in the product and you know, the whole entire package and I do call it a full experience, you know, session even when I’m doing family sessions now, but what I found with these businesses that I was working with was that they’ve got opportunities all around them for quote unquote headshot sessions. But as I was working with them and asking them questions about who they are and what their purpose is, and I’m really digging deep into them as a person, which we all know personal branding is where it is right now.

Lori: [09:31] Even large corporations. It is a personal brand and that’s why subway had jared and uh, you know, Wendy’s had little windy, you know what I mean? Like where it’s personal branding, it’s what is all about. And so with these small businesses, being able to take the idea of the headshot session and turn it into a complete branding experience, a branding session makes. I mean it’s so different and I think people will start picking up on this more and more, but right now there’s a huge hole in the market for this and people are just hungry for somebody who will listen and hear who they are, what their purpose is, and even ask them questions around that and then be able to capture that and photograph it for them. Okay. Laurie, that was awesome. I love hearing about personal branding and where you think things are going.

Lori: [10:21] You’re doing the personal branding for people and you’re excited about working with them. Are you selling them like a package or are you doing like a session fee and then something later? Like how? How does that work? The process itself? Yeah, so this is the fun and the beauty of doing something that’s a little bit different. It’s just a twist on something and a lot of it’s just language and communication and then taking the time to sit down and go through questions with them and kind of dig some things out, letting them talk. I’m like, you know, doing things a little bit differently in this way. You really get to charge whatever you want because I don’t have anything to compare it to. And that’s a beautiful thing. And another thing that has happened with this is I have been a preacher around, you know, wall concepts and albums and something that they get to see and enjoy every day when we’re talking about family portraits in high school seniors.

Lori: [11:17] But with branding, they do need, they actually need the digital files and so it becomes a different kind of session because that’s what it’s all about. And so, um, do you want to talk actual numbers? Sure. Yeah. Um, so I charge $3,000 and they get 30 files with that. So that’s quite a lot of files, but it’s also a lot of value. And what I tell them is we’re going to capture three types of images during these sessions and one of them is going to be head shots and I do want to come up with a different name for that. Maybe you can help me die. Uh, but uh, I’ve tried business portraits and that works sometimes, but a lot of people that I’m working with are there creative entrepreneurs so it might be a restaurant owner or a jewelry designer or a fitness expert and so business portraits doesn’t sound exciting, sexy, so, but those are the three things that I’m photographing our headshots lifestyle shots and so that’s going to be them doing what they do.

Lori: [12:20] And then we do actual social media branding images like lifelabs, so branded images. Okay. So that’s going to bring in their product or their service or elements of their branding and we’re photographing them for them, those for them. And so I’m tick typically ending up with about a hundred images and they’re seeing them right after I shoot them. And so I’m, I’m doing this obsession. I treat it like a commercial shoot. Lots of planning around it. But then we, we photograph and then they see all their images and so I, they can narrow it down to 30 and that’s great. But I charge $100 per additional image and they typically do add on. So it really ends up being a nice, you know, a really nice profit points and it is digital files and while while I like to preach on the products, let’s face it, if we can charge $3,000 for a digital session that doesn’t have product included, our profit margin is much higher.

Lori: [13:22] Yes. Well, and these are, you know, they’re not things that are going to be on the wall for 25, 34 years. There are things that they need for a certain time period and so it makes sense for it to be a digital product. Yeah, I think that it’s an interesting, I think the word portrait, you know, if you say you’re doing portrait lifestyle and branded images or something like that, like just one single word to describe each one or personality or because I feel like that that image needs to connect with them. Uh, you know, he needs to show who they are to the people and not necessarily just what they do. Yeah, for sure. And that’s part of one of the questions that I ask everyone that I work with and as we’re kind of narrowing in to their brand is, you know, tell me three to five words that describe your personality and that’s really going to dictate where the session goes because, and I, and I talked to them about this, is that, you know, you’re a personality should show up in your marketing and your branding and even in the end and your product and your service and the experience that you offer your client.

Lori: [14:28] And so that’s what I want to show off. And that’s why a lot of times the quote on quote headshot doesn’t really work. But I like the personality portrait, you know, something like that. Yeah. And then so who are the clients for this? Because when I think about it, I have people that have big businesses that I’ve worked with and I’ve done honestly this type of

Kia: [14:52] thing for them for years. And they are like a very specific client that I don’t really even try to go find or I’ve done this for people and I do it pro bono to help women grow their businesses. That type of thing. So who like if you were going to go out and find, you know, 20 of these clients, what, where would you look?

Lori: [15:11] Well, for me, I really love working with small business owners and as a coach, one of my specialties is systems to six figures and so I’m typically my, my target market are women in business who are working to take the thing they love, create a business of it and reach that first six figures. So that is also my branding, a shoots that is my target client. However, I’ve also done these with complete hr teams and brandon that hr and what the culture looks like for that company. And so that can go into large corporations. You can do this for the c suite team, you know, the executives of any company. So, you know, this comes into play for really whatever your,...