Shownotes
Leslie Kerrigan is the creator of Seniorologie and also has her own podcast. Leslie has run her own senior portrait studio for 10 years and started Seniorologie to educate herself and also share what she is learning. Conference 12, put on by Seniorologie, is in Nashville this year. You don’t want to miss this podcast episode! Listen in to hear what is working for Leslie these days in her business and what she’s fired up about in the industry. Leslie gives great social media advice you won’t want to miss. Camera brands, education and business are hot topics in this podcast.
Internet Resources:
Find somebody amazing to learn from in marketing or business, not even in the photography industry.
Seniorologie FB group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/SeniorologieCommunity/)
Books
Work Party by Jacelyn Johnson (https://amzn.to/2C9ibgJ)
Nasty Galaxy by Sophia Amoruso (https://www.amazon.com/Nasty-Galaxy-Sophia-Amoruso)
Purple Cow by Seth Godin (https://www.amazon.com/Purple-Cow-Transform-Business-Remarkable)
Transcription was done by Temi.com which means it’s an AI generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar and other errors, and is not a substitute for watching the video.
Leslie: [00:01] This is Leslie care again and you are listening to from nothing to profit.
Speaker 2: [00:06] Welcome to from nothing to profit a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kayak where each week they talk to photographers about what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster. Hello guys,
Kia: [00:23] we are so excited to have Leslie Kerrigan with us today. As you can hear, she is great on the podcast already. She does her own podcast and she is the founder of see neurology it, which has a great Instagram account. And uh, I think you do, um, conventions and that type of thing. And so we’d love to hear more about you and your history and senior photography. Leslie.
Leslie: [00:46] Yeah, thanks for having me. And Yeah, so I started senior photography and my own personal business, Leslie Kerrigan photography, Gosh, probably about nine or 10 years ago. And right around the same time I was trying to find information and learn about senior photography, um, and it wasn’t really finding what I was looking for. So I created senior urology to help other people as I learned. So I kind of used it as a learning platform for myself, but also to share what I’ve learned with others cause I thought, well maybe they need to learn as well. So I started seeing urology and it started out as just a blog that interviewed other photographers and shared inspiration from other photographers. And then it quickly grew into in person workshops. And then that grew into what we have now, which is a conference once a year called conference 12 yeah, that looks really fun.
Matt: [01:44] And where’s that?
Leslie: [01:46] So the conference conferences in a different city every year. And this year it’s in Nashville, Tennessee.
Matt: [01:52] Oh, awesome. That’s really cool. Yeah, I’ve, I’ve been to Nashville for gungy conferences. It’s a really like conference friendly city. I really liked it. Yeah.
Leslie: [01:59] Right. Yeah, it’s a great city. It’s not too far from me. Uh, but you know, we actually had conference 12 in Denver, which was one of our most popular ones. So Denver was a great place to,
Matt: [02:10] yeah, I think I, that’s where I grew up. I don’t live there anymore, but yeah, Denver so centrally located. And sometimes I think it’s just forgotten about as like a major Midwest city, you know, but it seems like it’s pretty easy to get in and out of Denver for a lot for people from both coasts and stuff like that. So that makes sense that it’s was probably one of the more of the popular ones. And then you guys have guest speakers? Yeah,
Leslie: [02:34] speakers, the conference 12 since 12 is the year, you know, the 12th year in school, they’re seniors. So then the conferences, that’s why it’s called conference 12. And then we have 12 different senior photography speakers who teach 12 different classes. So it’s kind of a well rounded. You get education from a lot of different people with a lot of different styles and, and you know, backgrounds and stuff like that. Yeah, I’ve been your release. I always find it fun to see how you kind of trickle out who all your speakers are. Yeah, we have fun. But then you also do senior photography yourself as well, right? Yes. Yes. So I have my own personal, um, senior photography business. I, um, really that’s all I shoot. I mean, every now and then I’ll shoot some other things. But the majority of my business is high school seniors. In fact, just last night we had our class of 2020 model informational meeting here at my house. So I’m kind of recovering from that today. I saw you had really cute cookies with your logo or is it wasn’t your monogram on it?
Leslie: [03:39] Leslie Kerrigan photography. So it just said it. Okay. P across the front. So, and they were actually really yummy. We’ve actually had um, prettier cookies before that didn’t taste so good, like shaped like cameras and they were so pretty, but then they didn’t taste good. So I went with the tasting good route last night. That’s fun. That’s really fun. Um, so, uh, you can answer are we have a list of questions that we’d like to ask and you can answer them from both what you know about the whole industry or from your business. Personally, we would love to hear any, any sort of expertise. So, okay, so Matt, where are we going now?
Matt: [04:16] Talk about like what’s working now. So when you, when you think of what’s working now in the senior portrait market, what, what comes to mind Leslie?
Leslie: [04:26] Well, for me personally and my personal photography business really showcasing and experience and you know, going back to what I did last night, the model program, those things are working really well. For me personally, I know that across the country it really varies depending on your market. So I’ve learned through senior Ologie and through, you know, meeting a bunch of different photographers all over the country that the senior market is different depending on where you live. So, you know, it may be more popular as in it’s been around for awhile sort of on the west coast where they have to hire a photographer in order to have a photo in the yearbook. But for me it’s kind of a newer thing because here in the south they don’t get to put whatever photo they want, the yearbook, they have to go to the school appointed photographer and have the black drape kind of on the plain backdrop photo. So to have me in addition to that is sort of a newer phenomenon. So it’s, you know, a little bit newer have an industry here, which I love because when I started, nobody even knew what senior photography was other than that traditional yearbook photo. So, um,
Matt: [05:47] I think you’re in, you’re saying like nine years ago, like there wasn’t really a senior market for you. Now you guys have had to kind of just build it.
Leslie: [05:55] Yeah, I totally, what city are you in? So I’m located in Greenville, South Carolina. Um, and again, everything in the south, I like to joke about this, but it’s really true. Uh, all trends, no matter what they are, move from west to east, north to south. So we are absolutely the last people that do anything. Um, so yeah. So when I decided, hey, I think I want to do senior photography, there really wasn’t a market for that in my area. People are like, what are you talking about? What senior photography? Um, so I really had to create sort of a reason why anyone would hire me after they already had the yearbook photo taken.
Matt: [06:38] That’s so interesting. Like, yeah. Cause you know, I feel like when people talk about senior photography, they talk about the way they just described it, the way you just described it. But you always just assume like, yeah, that was like 2,500 years ago. But like you guys are still living it. Like you’re still doing the super traditional yearbook pictures in South Carolina and your, and then this, the model program and this kind of lifestyle senior portrait stuff is kind of still new, which is really interesting.
Leslie: [07:07] Yeah, totally. That’s really neat. So now let’s move on to the next question. Uh, because this fits in perfectly. What is one thing that you are most fired up about in our industry today? Like what makes you really excited about what’s, what’s happening? Oh my gosh. I mean I love seeing how it, to me, what started out as a little more posed portrait style is really big. And then now it’s kind of going into more of a lifestyle, um, style. Um, so I love seeing that because I feel like, you know, it’s great to get a few post photos of course, especially here in the south where we’re, we’re super traditional. Parents loved that, the smiling post photo. But I think the girls and the seniors are really getting a little more excited about more of a fashion blogger lifestyle type photo where you see some movement and you see, you know, um, perfectly post photos.
Leslie: [08:07] So I think that’s exciting. I think the model program is always exciting because for me it changes every year. You know, my program started out with only four girls that I had to beg to be a part of it. Now it’s grown into, you know, I have over a hundred apply every year. So it’s fun to see how that’s changing as well. Those things get me excited. But then in the industry as whole as a whole, I really liked to see the huge movement for education for high school senior photographers and the abundance of, you know, places to learn because I really, I’m a strong believer in no one person has all the answers. So to be able to have choices of where you might learn about this business is exciting.
Matt: [08:53] That’s really awesome. So let me, let me of dig a little bit deeper because I’ve been in this conversation in my own head and maybe you can help me with it. So like you’re talking about how how the industry has changed a little bit and how’s the senior market has changed a little bit. How do you feel like social media has changed in the last couple of years or even in the last year? Have you seen any kind of big changes there?
Leslie: [09:16] Well, I think social media is changing daily. So yeah, I mean, you know, what was once a Facebook ruled world is now gone to hardly any high school senior is on Facebook anymore and they’re all on Instagram and snapchat and all these other avenues for social media. I said that in and of itself has changed. I think, you know, with photographers in general, posting about all sorts of things from education to their own actual work has changed. I think I see a lot more of that people branching into the education world. And posting about that. So that’s exciting. But yeah, I mean it’s one of those things when you’re in a teen, a heavy industry, you gotta keep up with all those trends. So, and of course it’s, it’s a little hard to keep up with every social media aspect. So I always say pick one that you liked the best that teens are using and really hone in on that one. So Instagram for me is that I don’t really snapchat because I feel like I can’t dedicate myself to several channels. I, I feel like I can do one really well. So that’s what I’m doing now. But you know, you have to be able to change if that then changes, cause you never know. Instagram may change just like Facebook did. I mean maybe teens, we’ll leave that sooner or later, who knows?
Matt: [10:36] Yeah, it’s always a, it’s definitely always a moving target that’s for, that’s definitely for sure. Yeah. Okay. So we’ll jump right, we’ll jump into our lightning round real quick. And these are just kind of questions that can, that can kind of happen fast. But at the same time, if we need to spend a few minutes really diving into them, we, we can cause we got, we got plenty of time. Okay. So when you were first starting out, Leslie, what was holding you back from being a full time photographer?
Leslie: [11:04] Probably fear, which I think can hold us back from a lot of things. You know, would I get enough clients? Would I make enough money doing this? So fear holds us back from a lot of different things. I mean, he’s still, to this day, there are many ideas floating through my head, but I don’t always go with them because maybe I’m scared that nobody will like that idea. But I think you have to just put yourself out there and really work your tail off to accomplish it if it’s something you truly believe in and want to do. Um, so I just think overcoming that fear is one of those things that you just, you have to do in order to be successful. You can’t, you can’t do it halfway. You have to do it, you know, with all your intentions and your full attention. So you can be successful.
Matt: [11:54] And was it just like fail of, I can’t even speak about that fail fear of failure or was it like fail? I don’t know. Like what, was there one particular part that you were, you were worried about or was it just general failure that you were worried about?
Leslie: [12:09] Why do you think there’s always a fear of failure? In fact, this week, senior urology podcast is all about fear of failure. Um, so I think in business, no matter what business you are, you are in photography or whatever, there’s always that fear that it might not work out. But I’ve done a ton of stuff that didn’t really work out. I mean, I’ll be honest, I’ve put workshops out there and gotten zero people signed up for it. I have, I try to rep program that first year and really didn’t get referrals out of it. I’ve done, I’ve done all of it. So I’ve failed a million times. So I think the thing that more than failure, fear of failure is to get back up and try again. So I just keep trying and keep putting things out there. And hoping something sticks to be honest. And how did you get into photography?
Leslie: [12:59] W did you go straight into it or were you doing something else before? Oh, no, I actually, um, so I went to college for journalism. So, um, I started my first sort of job I guess was, um, in a hospital PR department. And then from there I went to work at a paper company, which was headquartered in my hometown. Um, so I was like an inside sales person, met my husband, we had cubicles across from each other and then he wanted to go back and get his masters at Purdue, which was in Indiana. And at the time we were in South Carolina. So I went and you know, we got married and we moved to Indiana and I worked in the events department of Purdue’s memorial union. So I planned weddings and things like that at Purdue. And then from there I actually started this crazy kind of how it all works out.
Leslie: [13:56] But then from there I started an invitation company. So it’s kind of always in sort of the events planning. You know, I went from event planning to actually creating invitation for these events, uh, which was kind of my graphic design sort of interest. And then from then I had kids and I wanted photos of them. So I thought, well, I’ve always been interested in photography. I never taken a course or anything like that on it, but I started playing around with it, teaching myself. Um, so yeah, it’s totally self taught. I attended a one or two workshops back in the day that really gave me a foundation. I don’t know if you guys ever heard of Nicole van, but that was one of the very first workshops I attended. And she really kind of gave me the foundation of even how to even take a photo, what exposure was and that sort of thing.
Leslie: [14:48] And then I, you know, kind of dabbled in everything like a lot of people. So I took photos of kids’ families, you know, newborns, weddings, whatever, and just kind of figured out that for me, I related better to high school seniors. I liked the fact that they wanted their photo taken as opposed to babies who maybe don’t or are husbands and families that don’t want to be there at all. So that kind of started the ball rolling and, and again, it was not really done in my area and everything else was being done. Um, and I’m the kind of person that’s like, okay, I want to, I don’t really want to compete, so I want to make myself different enough so I don’t feel like I’m competing with all the other photographers. So that was seniors for me because a lot of people weren’t doing it, so it just kind of fell into place from there. That’s neat. It’s always interesting to see
Kia: [15:42] how our life experiences can make us good photographers, even though we all come from such different backgrounds. So yeah, absolutely. That’s really neat. Hey, on that note, let’s just take a quick break and we’ll be right back.
Leslie: [15:56] Hey everyone, tell me if this sounds familiar. You look at your calendar and notice you need clients now. So you do a little marketing and get some phone calls. You get busy helping those new clients, they scheduled sessions, they place orders and life is good, but once they’re done, your calendar is empty again. The reason is you didn’t have time to market while you were busy. Sometimes your business feels like a rollercoaster, and let me tell you something. It is, and believe me, you’re not alone. Photographers everywhere have the same problem, but I have some great news. Matt’s business, Allison Ragsdale, photography after years of trial and error has cracked the code. It works so well. He’s created a new class all about it. It’s called get clients now a dead simple approach to getting photography clients. Everyone at from nothing to profit is excited to share this info with you because this system helped Matt and Allison book hundreds of clients this year at their studio and the best part about this system is that it’s simple to set up and it works while you’re sleeping.
Leslie: [16:51] No hard selling or creepy marketing. All you have to do is help your clients answer their most pressing questions. Clients love the system and say it is the number one reason they book with Matt. And Alison, if you’re interested in learning more about this system, go to photo podcast.com forward slash simple Matt...
