443: Trina Julius – Everything you wanted to know about kindergarten photography business

Premium Members, click here to access this interview in the premium area.

Trina Julius of www.redcherryimages.com.au is a kindergarten photographer who specialises in natural and candid outdoor style kids photography. In this interview, she shares everything you need to build a successful and profitable preschool photography business. 

This episode follows a recent interview with a newcomer to kindergarten photography, Sam Gilmore, who shared how he needed to get some cash flow happening and turned to preschools to generate bookings and sales.

Since then, Sam had his two best months of photography profits!

When I posted about that interview, Trina Julis of Red Cherry Kindy Photos added a comment in the Member's Facebook group saying:

As a fellow kindy photographer – I'm so happy to see my genre being talked about.

There are not enough podcasts or guests talking about how amazing kindy photography is.

I've been running a full time – booked out year-round, busy kindy photography business for the last eight years in Brisbane.

I offer online galleries for families with photos taken outdoors (play and portrait style).

Once I nailed my workflow, communication, style and brand, I've never been out of work with both kindy photo sessions and the rebound family sessions.

After reading that, I contacted Trina for this interview and wow, did she deliver!

Here's some more of what we cover in the interview:

• Building a kindy photography business for all-year work
• How the kindergarten and child care centre photography niche works
• A look at Trina's revenue from kindy photography
• Generating over $200k from kindy photography
• The opportunity for booking family sessions with kindy photography clients
• Refining your photography skills to have a weekend free business
• Why Trina prefers outdoor photography for her kindy sessions
• Shooting with natural light
• The equipment Trina uses for her photoshoots
• Trina's post-processing workflow
• Hiring subcontractors to help with volume photography
• Why Trina prefers to photograph fewer than 30 kids in a day
• Trina's process for scheduling photo sessions each day
• Introducing a $25 deposit system towards bookings
• Non-compete clauses and sub-contractors
• How Trina discovered the kindy photography genre
• Are kickbacks common with kindy photographers and centres
• The process of signing up kindy centres
• Contracts and offers for kindy centres
• The importance of being upfront about how you run your business
• What happens after signing an agreement with kindergarten directors
• Using a class list for lead generation
• The need to have parents visit your website to see the quality of photography you do
• Parents do not read information and how to get past that
• How Trina makes sure parents see her work
• Having a separate registration page per kindy centre
• How to grab the attention of non-English speaking clients
• Trina's shooting process when dealing with bad weather
• Using the Sytist system to double photography sales
• The best software to use for volume photography
• Charging a fee to upload archived photos
• Trina's payment process
• Average client spend
• What to wear when photographing kids
• Having a camera buddy to build rapport with kids
• What are kindy keepsake films
• Model releases for social media

What’s on Offer for Premium Members

If you’re a premium member, you should have received an email with links to your version of this interview – the full length and more revealing version where you hear the absolute best tips and advice from every guest.

If you’re on the fence about becoming a premium member, join with the $1 trial today and get access to the FULL interviews each week, get access to an amazing back catalogue of interviews and ALL future interviews delivered automatically to your phone or tablet.

Plus special member-only interviews.

I need to have rules. I need to be confident and strong and positive in the way I want to run my business. – Trina Julius

You'll also receive access to the members-only Secret Facebook Group where you can connect with other Premium Members and interview guests to help, support and motivate you to take ideas you hear in each episode and put them into action. There are also FB live video tutorials, role-play interviews and special live interviews happening in the group. You will not find more friendly, more motivated, caring and sharing photographers online.

Seriously, that's not all.

In addition to everything above, you'll get access and instructions on forming or joining a MasterMind Group with other premium members. These groups are super motivating, make you accountable and build friendships with other pro photographers with similar motives to you – to build a more successful photography business.

What is your big takeaway?

Following this interview, I’d love to know if you're taking anything away from what Trina shared. Is there something you heard that excited or motivated you to the point where you thought, yeah, I'm going to do that! If so, let me know by leaving your thoughts in the comments below, let me know what your takeaways were, what you plan to implement in your business as a result of what you heard in today's episode.

I love what I do and I think it shows through the expressions in the children. – Trina Julius

If you have any questions that I missed, a specific question you’d like to ask Trina or if you just want to say thanks for coming on the show, feel free to add them in the comments area below.

iTunes Reviews and Shout-outs

Each week I check for any new iTunes reviews and it's always a buzz to receive these… for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, it's confirmation that I'm on the right track with the interviews and that they really are helping you improve your photography business. That's awesome!

Secondly, iTunes is the biggest search engine when it comes to podcasts and it's your reviews and ratings that help other photographers find PhotoBizX. More listeners mean more interviews and ultimately a better show.

If you have left a review in the past, thank you! If you haven't and you'd like to, head to https://photobizx.com/itunes and you can leave some honest feedback and a rating which will help both me and the show and I'll be sure to thank you on the show and add a link to your website or blog if you let me know the URL of your website and your name.

A lot of the kindy photography game is really word of mouth. Directors do talk between each other. They move around a lot of different centers and that's how you get known. – Trina Julius

Alternatively, if you've left a review for PhotoBizX and are looking for more backlinks to help your SEO, leave a review for the new Photography Xperiment Podcast and email me your keywords or keyword phrase and where you'd like me to link to.

Another great way to get a backlink to your site is to send a video testimonial. It doesn't need to be fancy and your phone will be perfect. Click record and tell me how PhotoBizX has made a difference to you and your photography business.​

Written Interview with Pet Photographer Extraordinaire — An Smedts

An Smedts of Hondermooi  Fotographie came to my attention when recommended by a listener for a potential interview. Immediately after landing on her website, I knew she would make a fantastic guest! Her photography, no matter what genre you specialise in, will captivate you. Her framing, lighting, composition and storytelling skills are second to none.

I immediately reached out to An for an interview but was sad to hear she wasn't up for a recorded interview, with English not being her native language.

Happily, though, she was up for a written interview, which I'm excited to share here: https://photobizx.com/an-smedts-stand-out-in-a-sea-of-pet-photographers-by-capturing-capturing-pet-personalities

I hope you get as much from An's words and thoughts as I did her photography.