32. 3 Simple Systems Every 6-Figure Creative Business Needs

There are three essential systems every creative needs to run a business like a well-oiled machine.

Here’s what we’ll cover in this episode:

• How to build a pricing system that reflects the true value of your work and makes clients excited to invest
• Why a marketing system that targets the right clients is key to consistent bookings
• The power of a simple, repeatable sales system that converts nearly every inquiry into a booking

These three systems work together to create a business that runs smoothly, letting you focus on doing what you love while knowing you’ll always book the right clients.

Ready to dive deeper? Join the waitlist for Super Attractor Academy, where I’ll guide you step-by-step through a seamless booking process guaranteed to increase bookings and profitability.

Successful Creatives make the world brighter. Follow @theewingsstudio on instagram for weekly tips and tricks to uplevel your bookings and increase profits so that you can accomplish all of the goals on your heart.

Transcript

My business runs on systems. It's how I manage three business lines, weddings, portraits, and coaching plus two employees without working a million hours. It's how I can support my family of four and have for the last 10 years. There are three systems in my business that I could not survive without. And that's exactly what I'm covering today.

Part of the reason that I love being a creative entrepreneur is because I get to create my own schedule. I get to really design what my days look like and. [00:01:00] And break free from like this, the typical nine to five or like really structured. Days, structured schedules. I don't really do great in structure. I, if you can probably relate to me on this, because I feel like so many of us in the creative world feel this way.

I don't love structure, but I do love systems because while I don't love structure, I don't want to stick to the same exact schedule day over day over day. I like efficiency, especially when it comes to things that I don't love doing or things that I know that I have to do on a repetitive. You know, level, and I can do them without making them like a structured, rigid routine.

Thanks to the three systems that I use in my business systems, do the heavy work for you, especially when it comes, like I said, especially when it comes to things that. You know, I don't, I necessarily don't love to do in my business or don't feel like it's my strong [00:02:00] suit. There are certain things that I'm really great at certain things I'm not so great at.

And if I can kind of like outsource the things I'm not so great at to a system. I am here for it. So the first system that I cannot even imagine my business without is a pricing system. Now, there are lots of ways to price your work and lots of gurus who teach pricing. Here's what works for me in my business.

When I price my work, I think about not only my budget. So the hard, fast numbers that I have to be covering every single month, every single year, my business expenses, my personal expenses. Hold back for taxes, cost of goods sold, like everything, all of that, all of those hard costs go into a budget so that I can actually see what my needs are on a month to month basis.

And I can make sure that at a bare minimum, I'm covering [00:03:00] all of my needs. There's a few reasons why people don't have pricing systems in their business. One is feeling like they're not good at pricing. They're not good at the numbers. So they just sort of avoid it. That's lazy entrepreneurship because the number one goal of a business is to make money.

And if you don't have a target that you're shooting at, how are you ever going to make the money that you need to make? Right? So you've got to really break down the actual numbers in your business, what your, what your actual costs are and outline a budget and a plan that's going to get you there. Okay.

People fall short when they just ballpark because everything is way more expensive than you think you're spending way more money on equipment and, you know, on all of the things than you think. And so ballparking falls short. Really the key to success here is to actually. Pull your credit card statements, pull your [00:04:00] numbers and do the work.

Um, and it's not hard. Like this takes, you could just set aside one day and have so much clarity on your business, on what you need to be charging, on how many jobs you need to be taking, on what your hourly rate is, on what your sales averages have to be, on how to quote odd jobs. That's what my sales system gives me.

It gives me total control over the numbers in my business. And so that I know down to the dollar amount, even the cent amount, what I should be charging per hour, per job, what my product should cost, all of that stuff. Okay, but the key here is to go beyond just the, the expenses. That you incur in your life.

Okay. So I mentioned that I go look at actuals of my business expenses of my personal expenses of what we have to [00:05:00] pay each year in taxes. And I create a budget that goes into my pricing system that tells me what to charge, but I take it a step further. I also incorporate my goals because unless you are actively planning how you are going to hit your financial goals.

They're just going to stay dreams. Okay. So we can take dreams and turn them into actual attainable goals by building them into your pricing. Pricing, like I said, really puts you in the driver's seat. It puts you in control of your business. It gives you confidence in your prices because you know where the numbers come from.

You know, why you have to charge the numbers that you're charging. You know, that if you don't charge those numbers and you don't hit your goals, you don't pay your bills. You don't get to go on that vacation. You don't get to do the things that you work so hard to do when you have confidence in your pricing, your clients will too.

And so I'm not even really talking in about bookings [00:06:00] right now. But it's interesting because when you get rock solid on your pricing, your bookings get easier. There's just this extra level of confidence and belief in what you're doing and why you're doing it and what you're charging it. When you start to set actual expenses and goals.

Behind your prices at the end of the day, your pricing plays a huge role in your business. Your pricing really dictates how much you need to be working. It dictates your work life balance. It dictates goal. You know, like I said, hitting your goals. Maintained growth. I, I learned the power of pricing back in 2012 when I decided to take my business more seriously and actually treat it like a business.

So I left the corporate world. I left my marketing career behind in 2009 when I had my son, Trevor, [00:07:00] and I worked in real estate for a couple of years, just like odd jobs, basically, you know, trying to support myself as essentially a stay at home mom. So I worked a very part time. And then I, uh, started to, you know, get serious and more focused on my photography career.

But when I say serious, I mean, I was trying to shoot everything under the sun for any dollar amount. I was not focused on a profit. I was focusing on bringing in enough money so that I can buy the upgraded camera that I want, or the new lens that I want, or the flash system that I want, or back then. I was taking all of the off camera lighting courses that you could possibly take.

Um, because off camera flash was huge for so, so long. Now we're into direct flash, but, um, this was, that was where my money was going. I was making bare minimum to just reinvest it in the business right away. So that is a hobby, right? But in 2012. That was the first year that we really, when I say we, I mean, [00:08:00] my husband, Ben and I, we really got focused on a very specific, very big financial goal.

And it was something that we wanted to do to serve our family. So prior to, well, 20, 2012 and beyond, like prior to that, Ben was working, um, as a civil engineer and he was working. Full time hours plus some. So I'm going to estimate he was probably working 50 to 60 hours a week. He was going to town hearings in the evenings, multiple nights a week.

Um, he was stressed. He was working under tight deadlines. People were unhappy. It was a totally different industry and experience than what I was experiencing in my business. And one of the key moments that really turned things around and helped us gain perspective on if this is what we wanted our life to look like.

Was when Trevor at this time, I think he was in kindergarten and they had asked him what he wanted, what he wanted to be when he [00:09:00] grew up. Okay. His answer was a drummer in a rock star band, which I love to this day. But Ben was really curious. Hey buddy, how come you wouldn't want to be an engineer? And his response to Ben was because I would never see my family.

And that was a gut punch and a wake up moment for us to think about how we were shaping our lives. Ben was gone 60 plus hours a week, and then he was also shooting weddings on the side with me as my second shooter. What a gift that this man that I love also happened to be really, really talented with a camera.

And so it filled my cup by giving me that time with him, you know, like wedding, wedding days became our date days, right? Like we would joke with our clients that when we would have our vendor meal, it was like our date night, but that left Trevor with very little dad time. In that one simple sentence, I'd never want to be a civil [00:10:00] engineer because I'd never see my family changed everything for us.

That's when we realized that we didn't want to live our life this way. And we made our very first business plan with that business plan. We did exactly what I'm talking about in this pricing system. It was such like a rudimentary, just back of a note card kind of pricing. I had an 11 by 14 sheet of paper, or I think it's 11 by 17, actually.

In a sharpie marker and we wrote out everything we wrote out our actual costs We projected what it would cost to replace his full time salary What the additional costs would be for paying for our own health insurance? For additional taxes, all of it, all of it, we realized we had to add 150, 000 in revenue to my little business that was making, [00:11:00] I think around 70, 000.

And we gave ourselves 12 months to do it. Credit our pricing system for making this feel so attainable to us, because like I mentioned of the things that the tools that it gave us was told me exactly what I needed to charge so that I had beautiful confidence that I could make these numbers work. It helped me realize how many weddings I needed to book in order to hit the financial goal and fast forward 12 months.

We did it. That was a really, really hard year. 2013 was a hard year, but I took the business from 70, 000 to 220, 000. And once we had this pricing system in place, it's really easy to like dial up or dire dial down, turn levers up, turn them down because, uh, at least the way that I created mine was it's like a plug and play.

I can mess around with numbers. See [00:12:00] what it looks like if I take fewer weddings, see what it looks like if I take more portraits, see what it looks like if I increase my portrait pricing by X amount and increase my wedding bookings by Y amount. What does that do to our bottom line? And it's really helped us evolve and reassess our goals every single year, because I'll tell you what was goal number one after 2013 was a better.

Work life balance. And so 2014, that's what that year brought in for us was, um, the same amount of work, but more money. And now with Ben on board, I had a person to share the workload with, right? And for years after that, it was just a maintained growth, like a 20 percent growth year over year. And that's something that we were really able to achieve.

Thanks to this pricing system. So the number one system that I can't imagine my business without is a pricing system that gives me numbers that I am confident in, and that helps me not only cover my expenses, [00:13:00] but turn my goals into reality. The second system in my business that I couldn't imagine life without is a marketing system.

It's similar to pricing strategies when it comes to marketing. There are so, so many approaches. The key to marketing is to finding the approach that aligns with you, aligns with the way that you work, aligns with your just interests and what you believe that you're capable of. If you're not aligned with a marketing strategy, then you just won't do it.

Or it will feel really. Really hard for me. Marketing has never been social media. It's very, very rare that I've booked a wedding from Instagram lead. It's just not where I put my attention or my time and my resources. It's not something that I feel like I'm good at. It's not something that I have the interest to get better at.

Okay. I am on social media more now, and [00:14:00] I feel more lit up about it when I'm, when I am teaching other creatives. But it was when I was, you know, using it to focus on weddings, I just didn't get my inquiries from there. And so I put a very low priority on social media instead for me, the marketing strategy that works best is really focused on creating connections.

Building relationships and showcasing expertise. Before my business was established, I did three trade shows so that I could create in person connections. And that catapulted my wedding business. The first trade show I booked 10 weddings and I was like, Off and running. Okay. That was like, I think I had only ever shot one wedding before I went to that trade show with one sample album and I booked 10 weddings.

The next show that I went to, I doubled my prices and booked five more weddings. By the time I went to my third show, I was no longer [00:15:00] relying on trade shows, but that was the, the strategy that I used. To boost my business from, from zero to 20 weddings a year in the beginning. Okay. Was trade shows. Then I created a marketing system so that I could make marketing really easy and streamlined and just part of my normal day to day.

So now I have a workflow that helps me market my business, serve my clients, connect with my venue and planner vendor relationships, people that I've worked these weddings with. And also with peers, building connections with my peers. It also incorporates getting my expertise out there. So for me, blogging has always been a really big thing.

You know, you can use SEO so that you show up in Google search results as the expert. When your ideal client is looking for something and they go to Google and they ask, you know, [00:16:00] who's the best wedding photographer in Boston, and you show up as a result, that's a certain level of social proof. That's a certain level of expertise.

That you're getting thanks to your blog. And it's all so, so easy to do when you build a system around it. So for me, it's all built into my workflow. It is all something that is, it just feels so easy and natural and comfortable to me. I don't feel like I'm chasing leads because this like underlying marketing system just lets me do it on repeat.

And in my business, this marketing looks like coffee with photographer for friends. Blogging highlights for my clients, obviously with appropriate keywords. Sending out bottles of Prosecco to my clients. Reaching out to venues and sharing sneak peeks, sending gifts to my favorite planners. This marketing feels really good to me.

It's fun. I love it. It's all in service to my clients. It's in service to other people [00:17:00] in the industry, and it's all based on connection, which is why I got into this business anyways, connection. I love connecting with people and serving. Okay. And so when you were building your marketing system, build one that feels really good for you.

If showing up online lights you up. Go all in and create your Instagram strategy. Whatever you decide to do, whatever approach you take when it comes to marketing, just know that you've got to be strategic. You've got to be intentional. There have to be goals that are, um, driving your marketing strategy, and then you can create a system that supports that.

If you like the idea of building connections, of building, um, relationships, of building and increasing referrals, grab my workflow. It's all in there. I teach you exactly what I do in my own business, um, and that's really something that's just brought a really extra level of ease to attracting the clients that I want.

Okay, last system is [00:18:00] the system that I'm most passionate about. It's what I teach in my Super Attractor Academy. It is your sales system. And this one, I feel really, really connected to and passionate about because when you master your sales system, you skyrocket your growth. Let me say that again. When you master your sales system, you skyrocket your growth.

Similar to how having a pricing system really puts you in the driver's seat of your numbers and your finances, a sales system really puts you in the driver's seat when it comes to your day to day. So when it comes to who you're working with, where you're working, the types of bookings that you're accepting, prices that you're able to charge for your work.

That is all driven by your sales system. And this system I think is really interesting because it was the last one that I implemented into my business. [00:19:00] And as soon as I did, I saw a really very specific transformation, almost like a line in the sand, black and white transformation. And so let me take you through what that journey looked like for me, because you can exist for a while without a sales system, but once you get it, you'll feel like, what the hell was I waiting for?

That's definitely how I felt in 2019 when I implemented my first sales system. Uh, sorry, correction. Not my first sale system. My only sale system. I'm still using that exact same system that I set up five years ago. It still works for me today on a rinse and repeat basis. But before that things were okay.

I, you know, I was doing okay because I had the first two systems in place. I had my pricing. Um, I knew what to charge. I was confident and I knew how many weddings I had to take. I knew how to hit my bottom line. Um, Make my financial goals a reality. And I knew how to [00:20:00] bring in high quality inquiries on the regular.

Okay. And so with the first two systems, I did okay for a while, but I always felt like I was hustling. It always felt like there was that need to chase more leads. Um, I would get some right fit clients, but I also was really feeling like I was taking a lot of, you know, bookings that I wouldn't necessarily take if I didn't have to.

So I was fully booked. I was profitable. I had clients I loved. But it wasn't where I wanted to be in my business. I felt like I was undercharging, but anytime I'd think about even raising my prices, I'd lose bookings. I felt like, again, I was sometimes taking weddings that I didn't necessarily want, but I needed the booking.

And in 2019, I was stuck at the same [00:21:00] price point, like for, I mean, for years leading up to 2019, maybe I'd raised my prices a couple hundred dollars every so often, but I was pretty stuck. I'd have great conversations that I felt like they would, they wanted to book. And then they'd email me later and say they went in a different direction.

And then 2019 was really, really, really the year when I hit rock bottom, when it came to bookings. And that was after I was in business for eight years. So for eight years, I got by just with my pricing system and my marketing system. Okay. But once I installed my sale system, I realized that I was surviving without it.

I was not thriving. As soon as I implemented this third system, I began to thrive. My business began to thrive. And it was like, I got an early preview of what was to come in the marketplace. So that I could figure my shit out and be there to help others when the struggle went mainstream so ghosting price shopping Not standing out [00:22:00] feeling so overlooked Struggling to book a wedding.

I went for I think I gotta look back at my notes I want to say it was four months without a single wedding booking in 2019 four months and that was With regular inquiries coming in because of my marketing system. I just was really, really stuck. There were a lot of tears that year. There was a lot of fetal position there.

2019 was a really hard year. Five years later, I can finally chuckle about it. Uh, it took me a long time to recover, but when I finally picked myself up, I realized that I needed to do something big to change in my business. And that is when I created my sales system. And just like with the marketing system for me, I had to do it in a way that felt really good and aligned.

Again, if it's not an aligned approach, if it's not a strategy that you feel connected with, um, and you feel like it's going [00:23:00] to resonate not only with you, your brand, but also with your right fit client, it's just not going to work for me. No pushy sales, no pushy sales ever. I want to meet potential right fit clients where they are in their journey, acknowledge their experience, acknowledge what their goals are, what their fears are, what their hopes are for their wedding day and for the service that I provide and to guide them through my approach.

In a way that builds desire so that by the end they're like, okay, where do we sign? That's how I want sales to feel in my business. Like the Barmakin's jeweler example I shared in last week's episode, when I went to get my earrings. That sales process felt really great to me. I knew I was making an investment when I knocked on the door, right?

Just like your inquiry knows they're making an investment when they submit on your form. And I opened that door [00:24:00] to the smells and the feels and all of the experiences that helped add to this desire that helped me want to purchase from Barmaky and that helped me want this specific set of earrings.

That was what I wanted to do in my own business when I was thinking about a sales process for my right fit clients. So I created a really clear, streamlined journey where I can describe my ideal client perfectly in their own words. And then I show them why I'm the best solution for them and let them come to the decision that's right for them.

I even go as far as to say I don't hold dates because to me, that is a type of pressure tactic in the, like, to me, it's like a used car salesman where you walk onto the lot and you take a look at like the Toyota Camry and somebody else. You know, this is the sales guy is like, well, [00:25:00] somebody else is looking at that Camry too.

You better get it now. That's how I feel about holding dates. It feels like it's an implied pressure. And I really want my clients to come to the yes on their own with no pressure at all. So when people ask me if I hold dates, I flat out tell them no. And I tell them why, because I want them to get off of the call with me and feel so completely aligned that we are the right fit.

To feel so excited about the way that I approach things and the, um, the things about the day that really address their fears and address their goals and desires that they're so excited to book in that all they need is a minute to, you know, just converse with each other in private to say, yes, we want to do this.

Which package do we want? And that is what my, that's what the outcome of my sales process looks like. Now, 90 percent of my right fit clients are booking. With ease with me, never, ever having to say somebody else is asking about your date with me, never offering [00:26:00] discounts or feeling like I have to chase every lead or like I'm experimenting with different leads.

Like I know what to say every single time that's going to resonate with my right fit client. Show my value, help me stand out from this competitive marketplace that we're in, and book the wedding. It's so, I just make it so easy for them to say yes. So these are my three systems. Pricing, marketing, and sales.

Now that I have all three and having had all three for the last five years of my business, I cannot imagine life without any one of them. These three are the three cogs in the machine that keep my business running smoothly and help us grow year over year over year. Everything is in alignment, pricing, marketing sales supported by systems.

So I always know what's next and everything just feels seamless and easy.