Special Episode - When You Don't Show Up Clients Don't Show Up

Trust Through Client Trust, Not Gear

Speaker: What if the reason clients are not booking you has nothing to do with your photography?

Speaker: That sentence might feel confronting. It might even feel unfair Because you've worked hard. You've invested in your camera, your lenses, your editing, your website, your Instagram, your portfolio, your pricing guides, your presets, your client experience. You get the picture. You've invested a lot, and still, your calendar is not full as it should be. You see other photographers getting booked.

Speaker: Many of them are not better than you.

Speaker: Some of them don't even have stronger images.

Speaker: And some still are not more experienced, more creative, more gifted than you.

Speaker: And that is the part that quietly hurts.

Speaker: Because when you're a talented photographer and clients just are not choosing you, the first place your mind goes is, "Maybe I'm not good enough." But you got to hear this. Your photography may not be the problem.

Speaker: Maybe you're just not showing up in the right places.

Speaker: You see, maybe the problem is that your business is not helping people trust you fast enough.

Speaker: And you're not even trying to learn And that's a difficult problem.

Speaker: You see, we think about skill as photographer and a skill problem says, "I need to become a better photographer before I get booked." That's what a lot of people think. A trust problem says I need to communicate the value of my work in a way that makes the right client feel certain to choose me.

Speaker: You see, those are not the same thing. And too many photographers are just trying to solve a problem based on skill.

Speaker: No matter what you hear, you still keep thinking it's a skill problem.

Speaker: Does this sound like you? I just need one more light. I just need that other lens And then I'll get more clients. Then I can shoot Whatever you shoot.

Speaker: It doesn't matter how much you post on Instagram, how many mini sessions you have, how much you lower your price, how much you refresh your website.

Speaker: Maybe you tell yourself you just need to be more consistent But deep down, you know something is off.

Speaker: Our clients, they don't book people who show up. They book photographers that understand, trust, and feel emotionally safe to choose. And this is especially true if you work with people. If you do celebrity portraits, fashion and beauty, families, maternity, personal branding, weddings, if you're working with people, this is especially true. Somebody emailed me the other day and said, "Well, I wanna do fashion and celebrity."

Speaker: And from the conversation, they were only focused on getting more gear, thinking that would solve the problem.

Speaker: Sadly, this is what I hear all the time. Maybe you're thinking that as well.

Speaker: We've got to understand, when somebody hires you to photograph them or someone they love.

Speaker: Or they hire you in a commercial way, fashion, beauty, celebrity. They're not buying pictures. They are trusting you with identity. Let's say you wanna shoot fashion and beauty. Or no, l- let's say you wanna shoot celebrity, 'cause I get that one a lot. "Matthew, how do I shoot celebrities?" So let's go there.

Speaker: They're not just trusting you to take their picture. Anybody can do that. They're trusting you with their identity. You've got to understand that.

Speaker: The truth is, it's not just about celebrity. Everybody is trusting you with their identity, trusting you with their memories, with their confidence, and sometimes one of the most meaningful seasons of their life. You've got to get this. Whether you're doing commercial photography or you want to do commercial photography or you want to do more portraits or you want to just have a better business, you've got to understand this.

Speaker: If your message is vague, apologetic, purely visual, clients, they may admire your images and still not be ready to book you.

Speaker: They may think, "Oh, beautiful work." Guess what? Everybody can do beautiful work. In the age of AI, that's nothing special. What else do you have?

Speaker: You see, when a client feels uncertain, they're gonna hesitate. They're gonna price shop.

Speaker: And this hurts most of all. They're going to disappear And then you blame yourself.

Speaker: But the real issue is your business has not created enough trust for them to hire you or to come back again or to refer you to other people.

Speaker: This is exactly why I created this three-day client conversion challenge.

Speaker: But the last time I did this, a lot of people signed up.

Speaker: Because you know the message is speaking to you, directly to you and your problem. But then during the challenge, Minnie just didn't show up.

Speaker: Why is that?

Speaker: Now, if that's you, you signed up, you didn't show up, and you still have the same problem, and you're still beating yourself up, I get it. That's why I'm going to do it again.

Speaker: Starting next Tuesday.

Speaker: You have another chance. Not only to sign up, but to show up.

Speaker: You see, clients can tell the ones who are really showing up, And that's the photographers that they're booking.

Speaker: So here's my challenge to you. Sign up today. The link is in the show notes. It's also in my Instagram bio.

Speaker: This will probably be the last time you get this opportunity.

Speaker: If you skip it and you still keep having the problem, I want you to look in the mirror and ask yourself why you're not showing up.

Speaker: Today, we're going to leave it there. Because now, this moment is the time for you to sign up, put it in your calendar, block the time for yourself, and show up. These three days are here just for you.

Speaker: It starts on Tuesday. You know what to do. Until next time, bye for now.