With Laura Esmond

Laura: Welcome back to the podcast. You are with Laura Esmond. Today we are joined by Tawni Adams. When I met Tawni, she was doing sessions for $500 and was convinced no one would ever spend more than that. But she was also not enjoying her business.

She was bending over backwards, allowing reschedules and booking at any location her clients wanted, truly providing what I would call a very high value experience and stunning artwork, by the way, for just very little income. So she came in to get rooted to learn how to create a more sustainable portrait photography business, and that's when we met.

She wanted one that would earn more income, have a clearer workflow, the type of business she could balance with a growing family, one that was built on giving her. More peace versus causing her to run in circles between work and family. It's been quite a journey for Tawni. Lots of mindset hurdles as we all go through all of the ups and downs, big changes that required faith in what she was learning.

But since then, Tawni has had some really big wins, including a whopping, nearly $12,000 artwork sale. and she is now consistently booking sessions at $1,500 plus, which is great considering Tawni recently had a third baby boy just a few months ago.

So today Tawni and I are talking about the myth of building a busy business and how to create a business that provides both peace and profit. If you know Tawni, you know that to know her is to love her. I don't think there's a single person I know that knows Tawni, who doesn't. Welcome to the podcast, Tawni Adams.

Ah,

Tawni: thank you. Thank you so much for having me. I am, I am just really excited to be here and talk about all this stuff. I think it's would be super helpful for someone who was in my shoes to hear, you know, what we're gonna dive into.

Laura: Yeah. Oh gosh. Absolutely. when Tanya I first met, it was on a discovery call and mm-hmm Do you remember a discovery call?

Tawni: Like the problem is, it's like vague memory for me. 'cause I was literally the epitome of a chicken running around with her head cut off. I had forgotten that I made the call in the first place, even though I knew about it, but I just didn't know, you know, it's like I knew I'd made it, but then you were calling me and I was literally just like at my wit's end with having two boy toddlers and I was on my way to the zoo with them.

But I'm more interested in how like you perceived. What I looked like at that moment.

Laura: Well, I mean, I just remember loving you and it was actually, it was, we, did we do a Zoom call? Because I kind of remember Yes. Seeing you. It was a definite, like you're driving. Yes, I was you and we're having this phone call,

Tawni: literally because I love a Zoom because I think it's just better.

So I was like, you were like, we can just talk. And I was like, no, I can figure this out while driving. Yeah. And I literally figured out you could like use a phone number to call into Zoom and you could still do video. So you were on my dashboard having a video call Yes. With me while I was driving.

Laura: Yeah.

I remember it was, we got a little emotional 'cause I think a hundred percent. why don't you go ahead and tell us, what was going on for you then? why was your business feeling so heavy?

Tawni: Well, I think the wedding business, you know, is just sustainable on so many different levels depending on.

Where you're at in your family life, um, you know, your personality type. And I think up until that point I was totally fine being very overworked in a sense, in the wedding industry. I loved it. Didn't care how many hours it took, didn't care how late I was coming home, how early I was leaving, being gone.

And then I knew that it was kind of, it was coming to a close as it was like as I was running it. It was definitely coming to a close. And you mean, you mean being that like, you mean like running a business? That was the way that I was doing it, yeah. Was not sustainable anymore because of having the two boys, which wasn't a problem for me, but I just didn't know.

I didn't know what my future looked like as a photographer at all. And when I saw your ad, it said, take your portrait business from 300 to 3000. And I was like, that's like a miniature wedding. Like how could I possibly change? Because I literally was running it at $300 for the most part. Like anywhere between 300 to $600, charging $600 for a portrait session that I was like pouring my heart and soul into mind.

You was like wild. Like I would book that and I would come home and be like, oh my God, I booked a $600 session. So like to me that was already crazy.

Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.

Tawni: And so when I saw your ad, I was like, I need to talk to this woman. Like what is she talking about for one, right? Yeah. Um, and that's kind of where I was at.

And then we kind of started to dive in and you were like, Tanya, I just think there's a lot that you don't know that you don't know. And I was like trying to even, 'cause no one had ever said that to me for one, so I was like. I'm so well researched. How is there stuff I don't know that I don't know.

Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.

And

Tawni: I think you just, and my husband and I talk about this a lot. Like, it's crazy when somebody looks at you and is like, you can totally do this. Yeah. Like that simple phrase is like, it's so emotional for me. I think someone said it to me one other time in my life and it was like a super hard season I was about to head into and somebody told me I could do it.

Yeah. And you know, it's like, that's kind of all I needed at the time. And I think that got me super emotional. 'cause I, I just felt like a failure. I just felt like there was no way I could be a good mom. There was no way I could be a good business owner the way that I was doing everything. So everything was failing.

And that's just, I think where I was at in that

Laura: moment. So you were, you were charging anywhere from 300 to $600 for essentially a full session, right? It's not like these were mini sessions back to back like you were shooting No. A full session, full galleries, the whole thing just digitals. Right.

Tawni: Full sessions, full galleries, just digitals.

Mm-hmm. And mind you, it was like, yeah, it was just what I thought you were supposed to do. Yeah. I was a trained wedding photographer and when people wanted, you know, portrait sessions, that's how I thought you did it. You were just had, right? Yeah. You had three collections. Like small, medium, large. I use like cold stone.

I was like, like it, love it. Gotta have it. That's what I call, I'm not even joking. It's actually kinda cute actually.

Laura: It's actually someone steal. I'm not using it like that. Um, but, but yeah, I do. It's funny how, um, I was actually talking to Caroline about this on the podcast also. You, Caroline and Tawni were in the same, um, group together.

And, um, that I, when you're coming from weddings, um, I mean, not everybody in the group came from weddings, but quite a few of you guys did in the beginning. Yeah. Uh, when you come from weddings, it's really hard to, to translate wedding pricing into portrait pricing. They, they don't really fit. We want it to, but it would be like me being a portrait photographer and then if I went and did a, a job for like, some, you know, big national brand and use my portrait pricing, like that would make no sense.

They, just because we're photographers doesn't mean our pricing stays the same. For each job and each client type. And, but it's hard to look at the long time that we spend at a wedding and then be like, what, I'm just popping out for a quick portrait session. How mm-hmm. You know, I'll just charge this little bit.

Yeah. But you're running in circles at that point all over the place trying to get all these sessions done.

Tawni: Oh, it was horrible. And I mean, I think the hardest part for me was also like getting out of the house, getting ready, like doing all of the prep work for each session all the time. But also, you know, we'll get into it, but when you and I looked at my numbers, I was like, I'm like paying people to take their photos at this point,

Laura: right?

Yeah. Yeah. We should talk, we should dive into that. And, uh, so. And also trying to do that, uh, what popped into my head where I thought you were gonna go with that was you're, you're like trying to get ready all the time to leave the house, to go photograph a session probably multiple times a week at, you know, during busy season especially, right?

Yeah. Those little boys at home that you're, yeah, I remember that really racking my, my brain all the time, like making sure they were okay and they were okay with me leaving and sometimes crying because I was leaving and, oh,

Tawni: my child stands at the door, puts both of his arms out to block the door when I'm leaving.

So it's like, that was the thing. It was like if I'm leaving this house and leaving that like perfect little angel that just wants his mom, like it's gotta be a hundred percent worth it and it's gotta add value to my family. Yes. 'cause like that's what we looked at and when we looked at my numbers and I was like, I'm spending this much time away from my family and I'm not bringing anything home that's gonna help us.

Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.

Tawni: And that hurt, you know, it was like, I didn't even know because not only as photographers are we charging, but it's an expensive business to run.

Laura: Mm-hmm.

Tawni: Yes. Like it is a lot more overhead than you would think. Just because we don't have a brick and mortar building doesn't mean we don't have a lot of overhead.

And I think if you don't see it on paper, you may not realize it yourself.

Laura: Uh, absolutely. And I remember before I even learned how to do that part of my business,

looking at my checking account scared to pay myself. Oh yeah. Because I just didn't understand the money coming in and the money going out, and it always felt fragile

And I don't wanna get hit with the tax bill and not have the money. And my husband would be like, you know, oh, oh, are are you getting paid? You know, this week, this month, you know, whatever. And I'm like, I dunno. Like I, and I'm like, where's all the money going? I literally would just sit there and stare at my bank account and be like, I don't understand my own money.

I don't understand it. And it was, it caused a lot of friction for myself financially, to even get to even just pay myself.

Tawni: Yeah. I think it, it's. It's scary when you don't know exactly what's going on. And I think it's scary to know exactly what's going on. 'cause then you might have to do something about it.

And that was the hardest thing for me, was I was so bogged down with, like, if I'm sitting down and there's no children around, I'm editing, I cannot do anything else. Mm-hmm. I have to be editing. And I was in that place where I was feeling bad for spending time with my kids. Right. 'cause I was like, if I have free time, I need to spend it editing, because that's just what I was used to.

Like, that's what I was used to as a wedding photographer. Yeah. Was I before kids, you know, I was out shooting weddings and then I was sitting home editing, like watching Netflix and editing and that whole thing like, just disappeared when I had kids. Mm-hmm. You know, so it's like you just, I, I was afraid to know what was going on, if anything too.

Laura: so that was before you really found out what was going on in your business when you did because. Well, I, I won't say how I feel about it. I wanna first ask you, when you did finally run the numbers and, we do this together and get rooted, and you took a look at it, what did that actually feel like?

Did you, did it feel empowering? Did it feel scary? Did it, like what Yeah, what was it?

Tawni: It actually felt empowering the way, 'cause like I'm giving you compliment the way that you present it. Like, I'm not just saying this, I didn't feel sad, I felt empowered because the way that you present it and get rooted, it shows you how it would look if you were doing it this way.

You know, like you look at your numbers, not in a bad way. You look at them like, if I were to charge the amount that I am actually supposed to be charging with the service I'm offering, this is what I should be taking home. And that's all it is, is like, you're like, oh. I'm not doing that. I'm not doing that right now.

You know, I'm not, you know, working at my potential. And I think one of the first things we discovered in Get Rooted is you are good at what you do. Like that's the first thing you said. You're like, these photos are amazing. You're good at what you do. And I think you are kind of alone on an island as a photographer.

Mm-hmm. And you sort of know you're good at what you do, obviously 'cause you're charging people money for it. But I think as an artist, we all have this natural, you know, critic inside of us that is constantly striving to be the best or better. And in a community of, or like community culture of Instagram and social media, we are not like the only person we know that's a photographer anymore.

When I first started, I was like the only person I knew, and I feel like all of my friends and family were constantly being like, wow, that's an amazing photograph. And it's like now they see photography on a daily basis and we're all just like. A little bit like construed in our head of like how good we are and how amazing the thing is that we do, and how much time we've spent behind a camera learning how to do this thing.

And I think I wrote down, I was like, wow, if I were to hand my camera off to the person next to me at a wedding, it's not being photographed. It is not being captured like I have to be there. It's important that I bring my skill to the table. Yeah. It cannot just toss it off to someone. It cannot be taken with an iPhone as much as people think like, oh, you know, they kind of try to devalue you occasionally.

You like run into that, but it's like, no, we've worked really hard to get to this point.

Laura: Yes. Yeah. I, you know, so many thoughts went through my head. I, I think that the main one that I keep. Hearing as you're talking is, you know how we talk a lot about value and like how should we talk about value to our clients?

How should we show value on our website? How should we make sure people think we're valuable? And it's like you are. Yeah.

You are the value point. Like I'm, and I'm talking to Tawni and I'm talking to everybody that's listening. Yeah. You literally are the value point. Yeah. You bring the value in what you do and how good you are and how you have honed your skills and you understand your camera and, and you know how to manage a, a, a child and get them smiling and pull beauty outta chaos sometimes.

I had a dad once say to me after his, his wife literally like whacked him on the back when he said this. Um. I was photographing at a lake and, and I love this family. They're so cute. And their kids are little, and they were just like wild the whole time. I was at this lake, it's hot. We're shooting at sunset.

I'm staring into the sun the whole time. Yeah. Sweating. Um, and, and you know, but I knew I got great images. It was a great session and I was feeling really good about it. but I worked hard for those images. Right. Yeah. As we're leaving, we're walking to the car and the dad goes, I mean, are you, are you a little concerned that the I Yeah.

Gonna take over? And I was like, are you, are you kidding? Like, did you see how hard I worked to get your kids to Do what they did Yeah. I didn't even say anything. I just kind of smiled at him and was like, no. And his wife walked up and whacked him and was like, babe, that is so appropriate.

Tawni: I know.

Yeah. Yeah. It's like Uncle Tom at the wedding, you know, it's like Right. Who has like all the commentary to say and like, I'm, you know, we're gracious for that. Like, I'm so happy that my kids get to look back on like videos of us together and the iPhone and it's like, I have no issues with it. I was like, it just doesn't, it like doesn't compare to that.

You know, being able to know how to turn like a sad three-year-old into like a happy go lucky kid. Getting smiling photos Yeah. Is a skill in of itself, you know? Right, right. We have it because of years of experience. Mm-hmm. Like where, where maybe when we first started, we might've had a little panic, might've been scrolling back through our camera, like, did I get anything with that kid right now?

And it's like. But it's like, but the thing is we have to know how to work our equipment so well that that's like not even something we're concerned about during the session. We are just concerned about the kid. Yeah. And him having a good time and like focusing on that. So it's like there's so many intricacies to offering what we offer and, you know, kind of almost guaranteeing we're gonna deliver on what you paid us for.

Right. Absolutely. You know, which is something I think as professionals in our game for a long time, we can sit there and say, I will deliver

Laura: for you. Absolutely. Yeah. I think it's one of the points that I, it's one of the. I think the week before this one airs, or two weeks before I just have this outlined idea of when you really should change your pricing and when you're making pricing mistakes.

Speaker 3: Mm. Mm-hmm.

Laura: And, and I feel like for, you know, we have our beginner rate and, and we stay there for a little bit and sometimes people stay at that rate too long or maybe they're like, oh, I'll increase it by a hundred dollars, and that really doesn't make a big enough difference in their business. Yeah. And there needs to be that bandaid ripped off, like, I'm not new anymore.

And one of the signs is I can deliver.

Speaker 3: Yeah.

Laura: No matter what happens, and I, I recalled having that moment in my business for my own work where I went. Mm-hmm. It doesn't matter what happens. I will create a beautiful session.

Speaker 3: Yeah.

Tawni: I'll, I don't care what the weather's doing, I don't care about any of the outliers.

Like I know I will deliver. Yeah. I can't tell you how many times because we like, oh, is is the sun too bright? Is the rain too much? Is the wind too much? You know, it's like we've seen it and done it All right. Just about. Yeah. And so I think that's super important too, to realize that about yourself.

Laura: Right.

Once you get to that point, that is absolutely a sign that it is time to raise your prices. That, and literally every single person books you. if every single one of your inquiries and, and you are overbooked, then okay, it's, I should actually, there's a caveat there. Yeah.

Once you're, once you're booking everyone and you're overbooked and you're having to take on so many sessions and everyone's hiring you, then it's like, okay, I, I can actually balance this out. It's okay to shed unfortunately some of my clients so that I can support my business better. Yeah. Right. Yeah. So, you know, when you and I were kind of brainstorming what we were gonna talk about today, you know, I feel like we really landed on, um.

Creating, sort of creating boundaries, which one of those boundaries is creating pricing that fits the business that you wanna have and the experience you wanna have. But boundaries and the lack of boundaries can just create chaos for your business and like low income. And that's sort of what you were experiencing earlier on in your business, right?

Where you're like, I'm just like, go, go, go, go, go.

Tawni: Yeah. it made me stop and realize I wasn't at capacity to offer the service I actually valued. Right? I was overworked and busy. So then my clients were getting the short end of the stick, essentially. My portrait clients are getting the short end of the sick

And I was still doing, you know, something I was proud of, but I wasn't excited about it anymore because I was just able to complete like the bare minimum task of getting them. A session and getting them images, but I wanted to send a thank you card and I wanted to, you know, send a surprise and I wanted to do those special extra steps, but it just wasn't possible with the amount I was working for, the money I was doing it for.

And you know, for the amount of time I would have to take away from my family to do those

Laura: extra steps.

Speaker 3: Right.

Laura: Yeah. I, that's probably another mistake people make, Is there's nothing wrong with a volume business. No. Some people can manage it really well. I had a volume business for a while, but I also had a lot of help.

I had a lot of employees. Um, but when we try to run a, a luxury style business at more volume pricing or just a, a lower price point. Yeah. That's where you're like, oh my gosh, candle's burning at the, at both ends. Yeah. I can't keep up. Yeah.

Tawni: So tough. And again, like balance looks different on everyone. I realize like the definition of balance isn't the same for everyone, and you have to figure out what that means for you and what you wanna offer.

I mean, I think it can be balanced even if you're super busy, if you're just like loving it. Yes, you've figured it out. You love it. You love the time you spend on it. You, you know, you're lit up about it and then you're still lit up when you go home because you know, you did the thing. You're living out your dream and then your kids are getting the full, you know, experience of you too.

And that's what my husband and I realized recently is like as we were looking at our businesses and looking at our life, it was like, wait, we need to know what We need to be the people we know we are. So it's like, for me, it's like I need adventure. I need to be able to get outside. I need to go on vacation.

Like there's things that I need in my life in order to not feel like I'm just like a victim of my life where I'm just waking up every day and just doing my life because there's necessities that have to be done. And being a mom, being a business owner, being those things, and I'm like, I can't be all the things if I'm not getting that balance for me, which is like going on a hike, planning an adventure.

Like those things have to be there. Yeah. In order for me to feel filled up. Yeah. Like I'm happy is I, you know, it's like hard to say like, but yeah, like in order to be happy, there are certain things that like change my whole perspective on life, which is like getting outside in the sunshine. Yes. Like I have to do it.

And so if I'm like a curmudgeon into my house, just editing all day, trying to like balance my kids in that, I just get so down.

Laura: and then you have to build a business that allows you to have time for those things. Allows you to afford Yeah. Adventures and trips having peace or feeling peaceful and happy about life is not passive.

Speaker 3: Mm-hmm. It is an active, she's such a

Laura: good point. You have to actively pursue creating that for yourself, for your family, you know, and everybody around benefits it. I think when sometimes people think of self-care, they're like, oh, I need to get my nails done and my hair done, and go get a facial and a massage on.

And I'm like, it's, it's not for most people though. Mm-hmm. It is things like planning a trip, right? Mm-hmm. Just looking forward to that and yeah. Planning it, then being on it, then having the memory, looking back on it, you know, or going for, yeah. Having quiet time with your kids in the morning, you know? Um, those are amazing.

Well, trips obviously are luxuries, but like, even those little things, they're such amazing luxuries to have.

Tawni: Yeah. And you brought that up so much and get rooted. You were like, what does your life look like right now? And what do you want it to look like? And I hadn't asked myself those questions. Like, I just hadn't asked myself those questions.

I, again, was just on that, you know, hamster wheel. Yeah. Like this thing that I had built.

Laura: So, so in the process of doing that, what did you discover? Like if you could have waved a magic wand over your business, what would you have? Where would you have taken it? And maybe, and hopefully you're on that path now, but Yeah, at that point, if you're like, if I could just change the, oh yeah.

What would I do?

Tawni: It's all, for me, it was all about the, like learning how to change how my client entered into my business. So how they inquired on an email, what they received immediately after inquiry. Um, what they then got from me, how they booked the booking system, how they were reminded of their session.

Like those are all steps that I was doing very manually. Mm-hmm. And mind you, like, I'm still building this out, but I was responding to every email with a custom email and linked to pricing or letting them know pricing. Um. And that was a lot on my, like a lot of bandwidth for my brain. Yes. Every single time I got an inquiry.

Right. I'm like, okay, now I gotta sit down, I gotta respond, I gotta do all this. Like, just on the inquiry side. So like if you were to look at time spent on one of my like $400 sessions. That's what I mean is like I wasn't getting paid at all. I was getting, I was like taking away from myself in a sense.

Because I was taking time away from my family. But there, at the end of the day, by the time I had gotten to the session, I was making like bare minimum an hour and I was like, I could make more money doing something else.

Laura: Yeah. And that

Tawni: was a hard realization.

Laura: There were, there were a couple of people that really, really dug into the math and get rooted.

They really dug into the, our worst. Yeah. And tracking their hours, And one of them, um, sent me a message and was like, I am making about $11 an hour,

Tawni: dude.

Laura: Yes. That, that's

Tawni: insane. That, that's where it was. Like, I, I forget how you may have said it, or it was just like, oh man, I can't remember how we talked.

We talked about it like that. It was like, is this business worth it the way you're running it? Right.

Laura: Financially, right. Financially and mentally. Yeah. Yeah. 'cause there's a mental bandwidth and then you're not getting paid for it. And yeah. I think was, we all love this business. We all love being photographers, but at the same time there's the, there's the backend of running a photography business.

Yeah. It's, it's a lot and it's, yeah. Time consuming and yeah, that time isn't, accounted for in some way. Then you're suddenly like, yeah, I'm, I'm making money. Like,

Tawni: once you have a family, everything changes, right? your perspective changes on so many topics. Yeah. And that's when it's like my business was the thing I valued the most before kids.

being a photographer was my identity. And I was fine. I loved it. You know, I loved being the photographer that people called and it was like, didn't really matter. It didn't really matter how much I was making, you know, I was making money. It wasn't like I wasn't making money, it was just, it didn't, it didn't need to look at it the way that I did once I had kids.

'cause all of a sudden that business was taking me away from that new job I had, essentially, So I had to look at the value. Right, because I was too tired to be the mom.

Laura: before I had kids, I worked endless hours just because I felt like it.

Tawni: You loved, we just loved it. You know, we just loved photography, loved. Yeah. But once your time is

Laura: limited, it's Yeah. You really, yeah. You, you have to pay attention to what you're, to, what you're doing and, and the value of that time and, and all of it. Oh, God. So I feel like there was a probably a moment for you, as I think there is for everybody, where you realize that you can charge more.

Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.

Laura: And, and there are people that would say yes. Yeah, a hundred percent. What was that moment? What was like, do you remember that moment?

Tawni: Yeah, I mean, generally pretty recently, because I think that is something that. Can get you down if you think Right.

When you change the structure of your business. Like literally completely. For me it was like a whole new business. I just thought it would work immediately. Yeah. And that is just not what generally happens. And I think I've seen it happen, like, you know, with a lot of the girls and a lot of the girls were like, yeah, I changed my pricing.

And then, you know, didn't book for, I mean, she even said, didn't book for a year, and I was like, not possible, right? What are you talking about? Mm-hmm. Impossible. And then it kind of happened to me, I was like, changed everything and actually took the time to pay attention to the website, to pay attention to, you know, SEO to pay attention how people navigate it on the website.

Um, and how my business was presented on the front end and just thought like pressing save and then it was online and then voila, I had a new portrait flourishing business. The end, build it.

Laura: Build it, and they will come, right? Yeah. All I have to do is just make the website and change the pricing and everything will be, everything will just work out perfectly.

So, so with that, you went from like three to $600 sessions. Yeah. To a huge like it, love it. Gotta have it. Right? You went to this like enormous. I love it. I really actually think that's super cute. Um, for like, especially like a modern brand. I think that's so, and you have a very modern, I think you have three modern brand.

I love that. Um, so you had that 11,000, $12,000 sale and um, yeah. And I know people always wanna know the details around big sales like that, but I know the real story is what happened internally before and after that sale because it's not like you have a big sale like that and suddenly it's like, I'm now making, I make 12 every single month.

Those yeah, those portrait sessions just land in my lap now all the time. It, it, there's, yeah, there's still a transition period that happens for literally everybody. Yes.

Tawni: And. It's so easy to get, you know, I mean, I went through every feeling. I was like, I, I made a mistake. The people aren't there. Mm-hmm.

Speaker 3: You know,

Tawni: I, I dunno what I was thinking.

Like you just go through all of those things, but ultimately I knew there was just this innate knowing. I was like, just stand firm. 'cause you're not walking out of your house for any less. And I mean, I used to have a friend who was a caddy and he knew his value and he said, I'm not walking on the grass for less.

They can tell me I'm too much, but I'm not walking on the grass for less.

Laura: I know what I have to offer. Who is the model that kind of got in trouble for saying like, I don't get outta bed for less than $10,000 or something? Yeah. Linda Evangela, I think. But I I I'm so glad that you said it that way because a lot of people when they change their prices, they are really shocked and it at how suddenly like, oh, oh gosh.

so many people are saying, no, I'm getting ghosted. Mm-hmm. What am I gonna do? Mm-hmm. And, you can't help it. You go through this whole fear cycle. Yeah. and people wanna lower their prices, but here's the thing, it really does take, I would go with a year. Mm-hmm. Solid businesses.

Yeah. And this is more like general businesses. I'm not talking about portrait photography businesses, general businesses, once they start, let's say somebody changes their pricing. Let's call that day one, right? Yeah. Especially go from like 500 to 1500, right? Right. You tripled your prices.

Some, some people have to quadruple their prices. Yeah. That's a completely different business. So let's call that day one. Most businesses take three years before they finally look at it and go, this is 100% what I dreamed of and what I wanted. Mm-hmm. Financially, lifestyle, all of the things. Right? All of the things are there.

Between the, that time there's a lot of work that has to be done, marketing, putting together automations, trust in your sales process. Mm-hmm. Uh, and, and really kind of that web getting out into your community of people knowing you, knowing your price range and price range and building trust.

Yeah. That takes time. This is a trust business and that takes time to, build. Yeah. So, I, I just love though what you said. I, I wish I could go back and replay it, but you something like, uh, um, I just had to, I had a kn Oh, that's what you said. Yeah. I had, knowing that I just needed to stay the course.

Yeah. And that this what was going to actually be better for my family.

Tawni: Yeah. I did, I, I just knew, you know, I just knew down in my gut that. This was an incredible service that I was offering. Mm-hmm. And you know, I had a lot of encouragement from my husband that he would always say like, this is a luxury service.

It's not a simple service, and it's okay if you don't serve everyone because somebody will, you know, there's a ton of photographers around that can do those kind of things and don't have the clients that expect what our clients now expect. Um, I also had like, well also going back before I forget to what you were saying, it taking time, even in today's like technological world, your website is also, it also takes time to understand that you have a whole new clientele.

So all the people that were maybe landing on your website and lingering there aren't the same people. So it's like Google in and of itself has its own, you know, rack card on someone and is gonna send your stuff to like certain people initially is what I kind of experienced. Like all of a sudden the people that are inquiring now, like every single one books, like almost every single one books

I mean, this is like gonna be the first season that I worked through all the bookings where everyone said yes. And that's when I messaged you. I was like, this is crazy. Like, this is crazy. I genuinely just kind of had, not necessarily given up, but just assumed that it was gonna keep taking longer and then all of a sudden it was just like book book, no questions asked, no commentary on pricing.

Um. Excited for the session, I used to be afraid to send a contract for a portrait session. I'd be like, ah, it's not enough. Just need a contract for no biggie. But then I realized, I was like, looking back, I was like, that's like devaluing the session when I'm not saying, yeah, there is a contract.

You do have to be on time. You know, these photos are valuable. This moment with your family is valuable. So it's like, now I have a contract and now I, I require a deposit. I wasn't requiring a deposit at all, so people would just be like bailing on me on a Saturday Midseason.

Speaker 3: Yeah.

Tawni: And that's painful. Yeah.

I had no deposit, I had nothing to show for it. And I am not like, gonna be rude or you know, not that you're rude if you're asking for anything, but it was just like, I had a lot of feelings around everything when it came to the value pieces around the portrait business. Where now I'm like, absolutely, because I value the session.

I, I guess I didn't before. I guess I just thought it was easy.

Laura: there's a lot to what you just said around standing by, standing by your own boundaries and not feeling like, oh, I'm, I'm being mean, or people are gonna be annoyed by my boundaries. Yeah. And, and valuing yourself first, it's kinda like, you know, when, when we're talking to, to girls about dating and we're like, you Yeah.

Love yourself first, and when you're young, you're kinda like, I don't even understand really what that means to love myself first. You know, and you don't, I want a boyfriend, you know, and you're like, no, no, no, you need, I just wanna be in love first. Yeah. And, and how important it, that's actually really true in a business.

Like, you have to really appreciate what you are doing, the service you're providing, the quality of the images and, and, and really. Resonate with, I mean, that's money mindset, right? Really resonating with, what I am creating for somebody and the experience I'm gonna provide, even on the most foundational level is, is valuable enough that I, I will not throw my boundaries out the window before my client even has an opportunity to, you know, get annoyed at it.

Tawni: Right? Yeah. It's like I was, had all these preconceived notions about how they were gonna feel about everything, right? And they were gonna feel that it was an inconvenience to sign a contract or give a deposit was just asking too much. Like, the fact that my deposit is how much my sessions were is just wild.

Like, I'm like, what was I doing before? Like, honestly, what was I doing before? And they don't, they appreciate that I take it serious as well, because this is money of theirs that they're spending, you know, it's a high ticket item So they value that I have a contract. They value that there's a deposit.

Laura: I actually say that every now and then to my clients when they're talking about how we wanna handle something. And I'm trying to think of an example, but, um,

maybe it's something in prepping for the session or meeting afterwards to, to view their images. Like, you are investing a lot with me. I wanna sit down with you and make sure that what you get is exactly right.

And people often think it's, we weren't really planning on talking about IPS or sale or selling or anything, but I just have to go ahead and say this.

Speaker 3: Yeah.

Laura: A lot of people get really nervous about, about sitting down with their client. I'm gonna call it sitting down with your client. Not in person sales, but just sitting down with your client after the session to review the images.

I really find that so valuable for my clients, and they do too, you know, it gives them an opportunity you to work with me one-on-one because they're, no matter what somebody buys from me, it's a lot of money.

Tawni: Yeah. You have a skill. You can't what you do though. 'cause I mean, you have a skill with that. You have a skill in taking criticism that I think we all as artists need to just like hop on board with, because I feel like that's the biggest fear of sitting down with your client. That's true. Is them not liking something and you being like, I took that photo.

You are not liking me. Right. You know? Yes, yes. No, I don't

Laura: at all. And I, you're so good

Tawni: at it.

Laura: I've watched you do it and I'm like. Learned that. Learned. But that goes back to, I think, the confidence where I'm like, I know that what I'm providing is really beautiful. So if they need a little tweak here and there, it's my job to make sure that the final is exactly what they want.

And I don't wanna create a barrier for them to tell me that.

Speaker 3: Yeah. I wanna, I just wanna stand

Laura: there and be like, what do you need? What, what would make this, you know? Perfect. I know a woman the other day, for instance, she said, um, she was like, oh, I love this image, but my hair looks a little more ashy than it it does in real life.

What do you think? And I'm like, oh yeah, you're right that I need to, I'll fix that. No problem. Juice. You

Tawni: know, like, it just doesn't bother you inspire me seriously. You know? Or like, honestly, and like I realized looking at photos of myself when I started getting on camera for brand stuff.

Yeah. I was like, oh, that can be a beautiful photo, but I don't like the way that I feel or look in it. I'm not gonna like it. Yeah. And that's how my client feels. Totally. It can be a perfectly exposed, stunning photo in front of the beautiful background or in a beautiful studio, but if the model doesn't like how they look or the client doesn't like how they look, yeah.

There's not like it.

Laura: Well, and, and here's the thing, also, it's super rare. You know, like we all know how to edit. I, I know what looks good on a client. Yeah. Something might slip past every now and then, but I would say maybe th two times a year out all the meetings I do, does somebody actually need something?

But I do. But to me, that's a comfort thing, saying to my client, Hey, when we, you know, we're gonna go images, it'll give you a chance to, to, you know, let me know anything you might want tweaked. And they're like, oh, good. And in the end, do they, very rarely, yeah. Like very rarely do they need to actually make any changes.

But I will say this, it could be, so I did go to art school, and in art school you got a lot of

Tawni: criticism there.

Laura: You had to stand in front of a class with a print mm-hmm. And get criticism from everybody in the room, who's also a student by the way. And doesn't, half the time, didn't even talking about, plus an art director style, you know, photographer, teacher, the professor, and, and they would just nail you, no niceties, no nothing.

And you would just gonna be like, okay.

Tawni: That's so, that's such a good point, Laura. And that is just not how people come up anymore. Right? Yeah. You know, we don't go to school. The only people that comment on our photography initially are our family. Yeah. Who are like, you are incredible. You're so amazing.

Yeah. And you look back on those photos and you're like, okay, totally. I had room to grow.

Laura: Right? Yeah. You go back and look at older images.

Tawni: Yeah. You know, you're like, my mom loves me so much. Yeah. So much. I mean, so yeah, I think that's definitely something that you walked in with as like an extra, you know, have already gone through those lessons.

But I think that's why a lot of us newbies are afraid to, you know, hear what our clients have to say, man, you know, I just remember sending out galleries and just sitting there. Looking at my email, just waiting to hear back, you know, like waiting. Oh my gosh. Like living for that.

Laura: It is what I, I hate that most about sending a gallery because I do sometimes have to send a gallery to a client.

Maybe they're out of town,

and I'll send off a gallery and I, and I do, I sit there and I wait, and I wait and I wait and I'm like, I just wanna hear what they, I, I wanna like be a fly in the wall. Yeah. I like, I wanna hear what your first reaction was. The other reason I don't love it also is because their first reaction or their first, um, moment that they see their images, I swear, I don't know if this is fact, but I swear probably seven out of 10 clients are gonna view it first on their phone.

Mm. And I'm like, that's not an, that's not a luxury experience. Like they're sitting in car pickup lines, scrolling their images, and then the kids get in the car, they toss their phone to the side and go on with their life. And then they're like, oh, I need to go back and actually view those images. I don't love that.

I don't

Tawni: look at that. It's a great, yeah, no, it's a great point. And I mean, to be honest, I will look at galleries on my phone Before I send it. To make sure that, that I'm not, it looks good on there between desktop and phone. Seriously. Yeah. Like especially wedding clients.

Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.

Tawni: And like now portrait clients, because like we were talking about learning my business, I realize a lot of my portrait clients are out of towners.

They're here to take photos in Palm Springs on their family vacation, and they wanna send their Christmas card from Palm Springs. 'cause how cool is that when everyone you know, is in Minnesota setting just a snow pick?

Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.

Tawni: So that's like a whole other point. I don't know if you wanna talk about, is learning your business and learning like what thrives.

In your business because Yes, just location wise

Laura: what have you done to really help serve people that are out of town?

Tawni: So, because I'm here and they're not, they do actually have a lot of questions and, you know, I'm still kind of fine tuning things as I'm learning. Like I wanna create something to send off right away that answers a lot of those questions that I'm learning they ask.

Speaker 3: Yeah.

Tawni: But for now, it's definitely a lot of questions about.

You know, best time of day. We have a really weird sunset here.

Speaker 3: Oh. 'cause we have a giant mountain.

Tawni: We have a giant mountain. Okay. So the sun goes behind the giant mountain well before it sets, depending on what city you're in. Same with us. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, you know, if you were to look at sunset time and hop out there, you'd be in the dark.

In the dark. Totally. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, learning, you know, best timing for the lighting that they want. Because actually my clients want certain lighting. They like, some of 'em want a lot of palm spring, sun pastel skies. Some of them want no sun, but soft lines. They like that, like soft after glow. So just kind of figuring out what they want and still figuring out how to like deliver galleries to them.

Because before I was like, oh, let's hop on a FaceTime or let's do that. But I realized these are like families already. It's not the same as like a maternity session in a studio where we're like creating art more. So we're like just creating like a family vacation. Uh huh Memories uhhuh. It's just different because I remember when I first met you, I was like, I just want what you have.

I want a studio and I want beautiful dresses and I want maternity photos in newborn the end. And you were like, that part. No. You were like, no. I was like, can I just have a studio before this session? And you were like, no, thank God. You know? 'cause it just, it's not what my business and what I actually want is.

Yeah. As much as I would love to have a studio to go down to, that would mean childcare for me, technically all the time. And it's just not where I'm at. So you ha you do have to align. I did have to align my business with where I'm at in my life. Um, so the, the seasonal client is great. 'cause like we were talking about a little bit earlier, I have like a school teacher schedule in a sense.

So I know where to pour all my effort into, like, I know to pour a lot of effort into this season where it's not 120 degrees outside. And we're just going hard in the paint with these vacation families that want that luxury experience. You know, they, they really do. They're paying a lot of money to come here in the first place, Uhhuh and rent their Airbnb and do this.

And they want like a photographer that knows what they're doing in Palm Springs. Yes. And that's been actually really fun for me. I like being the Palm Springs expert when they call. I like knowing all of the lighting. I like knowing all of this stuff. So, and I get to spend time doing that.

that's part of the expertise part too, we're making sure that we've crossed our t's and dotted our i's we know you want like backlighting, lots of sun glowing.

'cause you help also with styling. Yeah. So that's another thing I, we kind of talked about that a little bit and I did it for, I'm really good at it now for like maternity newborn. Okay. But now I'm leaning into like how to offer it in a way that fits family uhhuh, like big families. We're talking big families.

Mm-hmm. I think I showed you one of my inquiries. It's like 22 people.

So like we're talking like family, the whole family, the whole family. Their wives and husbands, their kids. Mm-hmm. And they're looking for that family shot to like blow up hangup. Got it. Yeah. So learning how to style that and guide them in that direction.

I have like a very simple, this is what I recommend. Yeah. Um, this is what I kind of hope you steer clear of, kind of thing. But I am gonna shoot so many of these sessions this season that I feel I've guided them. So now I can kind of put something together to show Yes, this is what I'm hoping for. Yeah.

But right now I'm just communicating it. But that's what I was telling you too, is like I am really excited to see how things go this season with all of this and all of these bookings and these big family bookings so that I can know like where the cracks are. For next season and then, you know, shift accordingly.

Laura: And then that just makes your life easier and it makes their experience better as you do go through the season. And then you can also, it's really cool 'cause you can then shoot for a lot of portfolio work. You'll be really hands on with them right now to make sure it's what you want to present to everybody else moving forward.

And, and I love your style. I think it's, um, you just, you have a really clean, modern, minimalist sort of style. Would you define it that way? Uh, yeah.

Tawni: I am big on, you know. Negative space. Yes. If I can get it in there. Um, I love, like, the subject to pop, you know, I love those big plain backgrounds. Mm-hmm. Um, if I can get them.

Yeah. I do like big skies crispy. Yeah. Yeah. Big skies. Really crispy

Laura: details. When you are shooting Crispy, are you, um, so what, so you guys go, go look at Tawni's work. It's just, it's very clean. It's got a minimalist feel to it. It's not really what I think a lot of us photographers are seeing with like the tr more traditional motherhood feel.

Right. Um, still feels like intimate and connection and all of those things, but just sort of cleaner. And you have always described your work as crispy, and I remember you saying that and I was like, oh, you're right. So when you're, when you're shooting, are you to get a bit more of a crispy feel, like how are you doing that?

Is it in post and you're just make, you're really intentional about how you sharpen? Or are you shooting it like. Like, what's your, what, like what are your settings most commonly on your camera? What camera do you use? All that. Yeah. Yeah.

Tawni: I'm on Canon R fives. Mm-hmm. Um, which are like amazing, but they also feel like cheating in a way.

I feel like they're like so easy. Um, I'm on Canon R fives. I really value, like tack sharp. I am, I'm on a 50 most of the time, so I'm on a 51.2 most of the time. And I would say I'm always shooting. I, I feel like I linger at 1.6 most of the day. Okay. And I'm just kind of sitting there all the time. Uh, I fear that if I go lower or higher, my image won't look the way I want it to look.

Yeah. Yeah.

Laura: Yeah. Uh, so back to our conversation of you. Yeah. evolving from this, busier point. What's really interesting to me, tan and knowing you, having known you for a couple of years, is how you did this prep work.

It was really scary. Then you got, and it was sort of up and down. You're like, I just don't know if this is gonna work. I don't know if I have the right, you know, clientele, et cetera. And it was, it, it was, and then I got pregnant, challenging. And then you got pregnant and you had a baby, and suddenly.

Suddenly it, it all sort of clicked. Yeah. I remember, I, I, my

Tawni: gosh, pregnant, I saw you in person in Texas. Was that where we were? Well,

Laura: yeah, we were at the Untethered or Texas. I saw you, I saw you a few weeks pregnant before that in Denver.

Tawni: Yeah. I saw you in Denver and I was still feeling like, not sure how it was gonna work, just because I hadn't started getting those hits yet and those bookings.

Right. But I, I had faith, but then I got pregnant and then I saw you in Texas and I was like, maybe I'm just going on a break. Right. Maybe this is just my time to break. I'll just be back for a while. I was like, I'm going on a break. No one wants me kind of thing. Um, but again, I think that's totally natural in the experience of just like no bookings.

Laura: Yeah.

Tawni: Um, and it's not, no, I mean, there's the. There's the occasional, but I, I just feel like the algorithm, you, the community, they're all learning your new whole new business. Right. So I think that in that lu I was like, maybe I'm going on a break. And then, you know, I texted you, I was like, this is crazy.

It's all hitting, it's all hitting, it's all making sense. I'm booking nonstop. And it's so exciting. 'cause it was just like the system that I was doubting, you know, you, you recreate this system, you make these prices that you're like, how is this gonna work? And then it just, people don't even bat an eye.

Laura: there's always those funny expressions about like, it always, clicks just when you were about to give up, et cetera. And I think we do, I think anytime we go through big pivots in business, some people are just gonna have really good luck, you know? Yeah.

And it just fits. and they'll get, they'll tap into something really quickly, which is fantastic. And, and that's what we all dream of. But for some businesses, some markets, you do have to sort of figure out where you fit into it there are always points that we do wanna give up.

But when I look back at like, pretty much any photographer that I really adore their work. They have a great business and they're making good money. Part of their success came in just not giving up and just saying, this is what I know I need. Just as you said before, like I had this knowing

'cause actually, once you know that what you were charging before is losing you money. Yeah. there's the turning point that you're like, I, I cannot go back to that because I know that I would be losing money and it doesn't make sense to, get paid less than X amount.

Yeah. So that is sort of a point of no return. But then you do have to have this patience and trust and willingness to. Do the work, you know, marketing, getting to know people. Mm-hmm. Tweaking things and you know, spending that time on your business, on the SEO and, but then allowing all of those things to simmer to work.

Yeah. It's gotta simmer. It does. And then, then suddenly you're like, okay, the season's picking up, and oh my goodness. People are actually looking at this rate. Yeah. And it's clicking and it's working.

Tawni: Yeah. And I mean, you know, it's like you hear these stories and I still doubted it.

I was, I, I think it's just, I think being an artist, again, there's a lot of self-doubt and just like being very vulnerable. This is like a very, I think it's a very vulnerable business. I mean, you're creating art, like this is it, you know, this is your stuff. And I think for me it was easier to just think like, oh, people, people just don't wanna book me.

Or maybe the work's not good enough or, you know. And it really isn't that

Laura: it's not you. Well it's like you were saying before, that we are constantly comparing ourselves to other people. Yeah. And that, that's when it is time to, you know, if, if that's really affecting you, that's when you know it's time to take like a, a online detox and Yes.

Stop viewing.

that comparison really can cause us to have so much self-doubt. Whereas, like you said before when we all first started, or when a lot of us first started, like, I'm

Tawni: amazing. No. Yeah. Like, I'm amazing. Look at all these photos. You know, like, look, everyone wants my photo to be their Facebook profile picture.

You know, like that was like, I was like living on that high. Yeah. But then, you know, you are in the business long enough, you realize it's not a surprise. Like that's what happened. There was a transition where people weren't surprised. To get really great photos from me. In the beginning, people were like, oh my gosh, you're starting this business.

Look how amazing you are. Look at this, look at this. Now. People are paying big money. They're not surprised. They expect to get good photos back, right as they should. Right. You know, like they're not, like, they don't, they don't think you need all that, all those compliments. Yeah. We love it when we get it.

It's amazing. But ultimately, most of my clients are like, great. Like I paid for that. Like I wanted, you know, you were supposed to do a good job. Yeah. You're supposed to be amazing. That's why I paid you. And so I think there, it just was that transition where I always say like, you're skin gets really thick.

The longer you're in the business, your skin gets really thick. You know, things change especially as you change your prices, you're gonna lose people that have come back to you year after year because you're not in their price range anymore. But you're in your price range. You know, you're in what you need to be in for your family.

Laura: Yes, Tawni. you are in your price range now. write that down. Put it on a sticky note and put it on your mirror. Yeah, you are in your price range now. I love that.

Tawni: Yeah, your skin. And I always say like, my skin gets thicker. I mean, each year, you know, another photographer will pop up and you know, it's a small, if you're in a small community, you're gonna feel it.

I mean, one year I remember someone who I just loved and adored, who I thought loved and adored me, who does love and adore me, just book somebody else. And I literally lied on my kitchen floor and cried, you know? Yeah. And it's just it, it's just different. The longer you're in it, it's different, but the more you can realize it's really, I mean, it's like everything you've always heard, it's like really not about you.

you have to know, what you are here for and what your priorities are. And my priorities a hundred percent my family, and if I'm leaving my family. To do the work. It's gotta, it's gotta fit. It's gotta be worth it. It's gotta

Laura: help us. Yes. It's, it, it has to be, it's so hard to find like the perfect way to say this.

Yeah. I think you said it really well earlier, but it, it's hard to say something like, it's gotta be worth it to leave my kids, you know, for a little while, but because a lot of people leave their kids, but they're also going, they're, they're leaving their kids in the morning to go to a full-time paying salary job, you know?

Yeah. And you know, for us, we can leave the house and end up losing money and Right. Like that, that's sort of

Tawni: scary. Yeah. You're right. You do have to say it like that. You're like, it's not okay for me to leave the house and it be like hurting us. Right.

Laura: Right. Exactly.

Tawni: It like it taking away finances in a sense.

If I'm, if my 50 falls and I have to spend X amount of money to keep doing the business. You know what I mean? Like it has to, it has to benefit us, I guess you would say. It has to benefit us and then again, like I always say to myself like, I'm not walking on the grass for less, just is what it is now at this point in time because it's like I know what it takes to produce what I offer.

Laura: you've kind of done a 180 since you and I first started working together where? Because, because like you said, in the very beginning,

Sometimes you don't know what you don't know.

Speaker 3: Yeah.

Laura: and once you start to unveil those things to yourself, you can't unsee it. You can't. And that is where that confidence comes into your business, where you will truly stand by your pricing and you'll stand by the boundaries that you have.

there were those little things that you figure out that will, there they are the boundaries that will make you successful in the work that you're doing.

Making it worth them paying you right. Work that you're going to provide, you know?

Tawni: Well, a hundred percent. Because ultimately when you're looking at it all, we're not setting a price out of thin air. And I think that's what get rooted really did. So if you're setting a price out of thin air and you don't even know why, if you just think like I should, like, that's what I did before.

I was like, I think this should be this. Right. Then you can't, you can't speak to it. You don't know why it's priced that high or low, you know, it doesn't have any, like, you don't, it's like you don't even know why you did it. Yeah. But with Rooted, we like dove in and we're like, I have to be priced at at least this to make money to have a business.

In order for it to be a business, I have to be priced at at least this. Yes. And now let's work on getting comfortable with that number. Exactly. And then you can actually understand and educate your client. I mean, no one ever asks me why it's priced at that. Right. But I know why. So I don't have a, I don't have like timidity when I offer over my pricing.

Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.

Tawni: Like there's no timidity. I can speak to it if I need to. There's a reason that this service is priced at this. You send it with confidence, you send it with confidence, and you know what you offer. And I mean, I, I remember when I first started. It's so funny because it, it, the mindset just, it just clicked one day and it, it's almost like the old mindset.

It's hard to even speak to 'cause it doesn't exist anymore for me.

Speaker 3: Yeah. But

Tawni: I remember I would be like, mortified to go to sessions or to go to selling appointments or to go to anything. And then my best friend would just be like, you're a Louie. You're a Louie. Just, just know it, you're a Louie. Nobody walks into the Li Vuitton and says like, I want this for this much.

Instead, they know what they're there for. They want their thing. And I was like, yeah, I'm a lily. I'm a lily. And just like try, you know, just trying to figure out like what it took for me to understand that I was worth it. And it just clicked one day where it was like, oh, I think it, it starts to click as you start to get the bookings where people don't say anything.

Yeah. And they don't question it. Yes. And then you're like, okay, you do exist. You unicorn of a client

Laura: that I thought didn't exist. There's this in-between, and I think we've spoken to this a bit already, but there is that in-between where you set the price, you know, that's what you need.

and then, you'll get showered here and there with a handful of bookings that, they value it. they book you, there's no questions asked. they see your value but then you'll have drier periods and you start to question it.

It's that, that, I always want people to work on it. it's easy to be confident when everyone's booking you. Right? That's easy, right? It's harder to be confident and stand by your pricing when. You're not getting booked. And that's really a big mindset hurdle that a lot of people have to work through in understanding why they're priced, how they're priced, and and you can always, have that smaller offer to serve people.

Mm-hmm. I actually kinda like to call it a bridge offer where, you know, it's maybe a, a slightly smaller session and you're working to build up to, you know, a clientele base that has a, the income and they appreciate what you're doing at the higher price point. Right. Um, but having that confidence, like, like it's there for you, Tawni.

Tawni: it's like once you, it's like anything, you know, like once you understand it, once you get a taste of it, like it's worth the wait.

Like they say, like it's worth the wait. If you looked at your business, you've decided, I can't, I can't sustain this. It's worth the wait. Once you make that leap into a whole different playing field, and it's worth the time investment on the front end, which is what we did. You know, I worked with you a lot.

We sat down a lot to figure out how to present this new business. Yes. That made sense for me. That made sense for my, for my community. Yes. Because it was a little wonky at first. I was like, no, they don't like, they don't like session fee or they don't like this, they don't understand this. They don't understand that.

So I had to figure out how to communicate it and once I found that sweet spot, that's where it started booking.

Laura: So, we have talked here. I, I don't even know how long this podcast is gonna be.

Tawni, we've talked for so long, probably let you get back to your three boys. let's give one, how about one last question. What is the first baby step that you would suggest somebody take? Or like, what's the advice that you would give to somebody who has been really listening to this going, Ugh, I'm right where Tawni was either in the beginning or the middle phase of all of this and hasn't gotten to that other side.

Tawni: I would definitely say you have to start by knowing what's happening. You have to dive into your numbers. I think a lot of photographers avoid the business side of their business.

Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.

Tawni: They're really great at the people, the booking and the shooting and the delivering, but they forget that they're running a business until tax season.

Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.

Tawni: And that's okay if you're there. I was there for a very long time and, you know, just so proud that I had created a business that was mine, that I wasn't working for someone else.

I had created a business and it was making as much money as it would be if I was working my corporate job.

Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.

Tawni: So that was a win, but I didn't look at it. As I wanted to profit or I wanted a different, you know, way of living or anything. So look at what you're doing on paper, on a spreadsheet. Find Laura, tell her what you, you know, like, find Laura, find someone who can help you look at these numbers.

Thank God I found Laura. So you know what you need to do. And, and if you need to transition anything, if that, um, once you see those numbers, you can make decisions that are actually educated decisions mm-hmm. For you, for your family. And start, you know, getting some, what do you even call, like getting your feet on the ground in a sense in your business and understanding what you need to change.

Then once you change it, and this is the big part, 'cause it's easy to look at it and change it on paper, on your website, but then once you do that, let it simmer. Be okay and be okay with all the emotions that come up as you let it simmer. Because the other thing that happens is you are there and everything that you've learned about money and everything that you've learned about relationships and everything that you've learned about yourself, all of a sudden starts bubbling up to the surface, simmer, pot, pot, and you start, you know, having all the emotions, but just stay rooted.

Like I love that Get Rooted is get rooted. It's so perfectly named because you are, you're, you know, you're getting rooted, you're understanding what's going on, and then all of this stuff starts coming up. And all of these things are trying to slow you down in a way of saying maybe you're not good enough.

Maybe you don't deserve to make that kind of money. Maybe you don't deserve to go to Pilates once a week. Maybe you don't deserve to go on vacation. You know, you're just meant to grind. It's like. No, you have to make those decisions for yourself. And then once you make them, because it's easy to make them on the front end, once you make them, you just stick with it.

You let it simmer, you let those emotions come up, you deal with them as they come up, but you just don't change anything. You know, you can be in the chaos of your washing machine of emotions, but just, just stay there. Just let it ride. Know what you're gonna walk on the grass for, and then wait. Mm-hmm. I think that's the hardest thing in life.

Laura: Yeah. Oh, so much old, Toni. That is, that's exactly right. And I, I, I know that so many photographers listen to exactly that because they're, they've maybe made a change or they wanna make a change, and they're sort of on this precipice, this like turning point in their business where they're like, I know I need to.

And now's kinda the time for a lot of people, except for you Tan and everybody in Palm Springs who's going into your busy season. It is the time to really sit down and think about, okay, what worked, what didn't work, and what do I need to change? And if pricing is a big one, that it's a scary thing and you do have to sit with it and and ride it out and let that, let those changes marinate.

I love that. Tawni, thank you so much for Yeah. Sitting with us today. And thank you for everything.

Tawni: Thank you for having me. Thank you for being you. Aw, thanks. Thank you for taking this leap of your own into coaching. I mean, I could cry every time I think about it. Every, I just could cry about the value you've added to my business.

Seriously. Aw, thanks Tawni. You totally changed. I said that to you in the very beginning. Like you've changed the trajectory of what I can offer as a business owner. I

Laura: love that. That makes me happy. It makes literally all of it worthwhile. So I appreciate you. Thank you so much. I'll talk to you soon. Thanks.

Hey, bye. Bye.