Shownotes
Today, Matt interviews Sam Marvin Photography, while in Idaho speaking at their convention. Sam is an amazing high school senior photographer in Boise, Idaho. Sam is all about encouraging self confidence and self worth. You don’t want to miss what is working for Sam in his business and how he uses his model program. Sam talks about change and how senior clients are literally different every year. Listen in about how much social media has changed and is still changing. Matt and Sam talk about snapchat vs instagram. Fear of failing and being in our own way is what holds us back. You don’t want to miss what Sam would and wouldn’t spend $1k on. Sam recommends looking for just one nugget in books and conversations. Sam’s parting guidance includes making sure to find your why
Book Recommendations:
Book: Start with Why, Simon Sinek
Clockwork & The Pumpkin Plan by Mike Michalowicz (https://amzn.to/2Er5u2l & https://amzn.to/2IwWHzS)
Find Sam Here:
CIC Pro labs – print company https://cicprolab.com/
Samuelmarvin.com
@sammarvinphotography
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.
Sam: [00:01] This is Sam Marvin and you are listening to from nothing to profit.
Speaker 2: [00:05] Welcome to from nothing to profit a photographer’s podcast with Matt and Kaia where each week they talk to photographers. I wrote what is working in their business now so you can swipe those ideas and grow your business faster.
Matt: [00:22] Hey everybody, Pat Flynn here. Hey, today I have an awesome episode. I’m actually in Boise, Idaho with my friends Sam Marvin. Um, I actually spoke at the PPA Idaho Convention this week and while I was here I was staying with Mark Lewis, Sam and having a really good time seeing what he’s doing in his studio. So we thought while we had a minute before his model meetings has senior model meetings tonight, we would do a quick podcast. So for, if you guys don’t know who Sam Marvin is, he’s obviously in Boise, Idaho and he has an amazing, amazing business up here with high school seniors. Um, does a really good job. So you should definitely check out his, his websites, stuff like that. But we’ll definitely ask him some tough questions today. So, so besides being my friend Sam, what else do we need to know about your studio? Or what is something that people wouldn’t know about you by just looking at your website?
Sam: [01:13] I would guess that the most, the one thing that people wouldn’t get just out of my website is how passionate I am about really encouraging self confidence and individual worth amongst our teenagers. And um, that’s, that’s kind of, I think the one hardest thing that I try really hard to convey. But it may not come across as well.
Matt: [01:36] Yeah, no, and I think that’s why your business is so successful up here. And you know, we didn’t even get a chance to go to grocery stores without be running into clients and people that wanted to stop and talk to you. So obviously you’re doing a good job of making those relationships with your customers. So I want to kind of jump right into it and the, the segment may be a little bit longer than normal, but I want to talk about like kind of what’s working now in your business. Like, what do you think being a high school senior photographer, like what would you tell other photographers that they need to be focused on besides, you know, making those relationships with their clients and building self worth? But besides that, like what do you think working right now really well in your business?
Sam: [02:11] In my business, I think, uh, the thing that really does work is, well, I mean the, the biggest challenge in the senior industry is that you really are trying to please two completely different types of clients at the same time, uh, being the student and the parent. So I mean, as far as really what’s working for me, it’s the interaction on, on social media and our model program is probably the strongest aspect of our business. Um, and again, it just kind of boils down to a, that really devoting a lot of time and effort and attention into doing things that encourage that self confidence and building people up and not, you know, because I’ll tell you the one thing I’ve learned about this industry is girls are meaner than anything.
Matt: [03:05] Yeah, no, I agree. And you may not even see it, but you know what, sub tweets and just the way they treat each other and stuff like that, it, it can be really bad. And so it’s ruthless. Yeah. So I think it’s awesome that you guys are aware of that and actually try to combat that in some way, you know, and bring them together and do really cool things. So for a second to kind of talk about your model program and what you think the most important aspects of it, because you’ll have your, you’ll have your first model meeting tonight and I mean you’ll have a ton of girls here and most of them will sign up and it’s, it’s pretty amazing what you guys are doing up here. But what do you think some of the most important aspects of your model program or what gets people excited about it? I think, let me say this. I think longterm they learn about that self worth and they learn about how to be nice to each other and stuff like that. But why do you think they’re going to be show up tonight and want to be a part of it?
Sam: [03:52] Um, I think because of the exclusivity, um, wanting to be a part of something cool but also wanting to do something that not everybody can do. We do a lot of fun things throughout the year. The, I think really stand out and obviously it’s part of our marketing, but like we, we go to a big summer vacation area, uh, McCall Idaho and spend a day on the lake we boat and just have fun and barbecue, play volleyball, just do stuff to kind of almost in a sense team building. The whole goal is to really give the girls an opportunity to get to know each other. And I think one of the things I love about our model program is I’ve seen so many girls that have built really strong friendships with other girls from this that they never would have bet
Matt: [04:37] cause they went to, they go to different high schools and so they wouldn’t necessarily know each other until you put them on a volleyball court together. You know, at the lake kind of deal. Yeah. That’s cool. I think it’s also, I think in one of the important parts about that is you kind of taking them all to a neutral, like a neutral ground. Right. And taking them away from the areas that they know and stuff like that. And it’s like putting them all in like a strange place, which they probably have been there before, but then it’s like they have to start fresh, you know, they don’t have their stomping ground and stuff like that. So then, you know, they can start to build those relationships and they’d have an experience together. And once I have the experience together, that goes a long way for friendship for sure. Absolutely. Um, kind of what else? So you guys, do you guys do the Lake Day? Um, just tell it, just tell us a little bit more about your,
Sam: [05:22] oh, well, my model program is actually, it really is a hybrid of a bunch of different model programs. I, I try to consider myself always open to education and learning. I, I would hope that, I never feel like I’m so good that I stop, but I do see some tendencies to, to like kind of put it aside because I feel like I just got too much going on. Um, but I, I’ve really, over the years I’ve developed a couple of different model programs I take little pieces from and that’s how I’ve made mine, one of them that I learned a long time ago was the, our fashion show. And despite, it’s a really challenging thing to do, the event itself, the event itself, it’s, it’s honestly, it’s kind of a nightmare. And, but, um, every year I ask our girls, I’m like, what was, what was something that really stood out to you?
Sam: [06:12] And it’s so, I mean, just falling in line with our mission statement, seeing how much the girls, when they get up on stage and they’re just like terrified. They’re shaking and they’re like, oh my gosh, I can’t walk this 60 foot runway. And they walked down that runway and they’re a little bit fumbly and they pose at the end and all of a sudden they come back and they just got the biggest smile on their face and they’re stressed and like they’re supermodels and the next time out there, just like the, the hype is there and they are just rocking it. And I hear it from so many of them and so many of their parents like just the change that comes over them. So despite this as a big hurdle in their confidence properly. Yeah. And despite the fact that every year I’m just like, I don’t ever freaking want to do that again.
Sam: [06:53] Right. Like I see it and like I just, it’s hard for me when it, when it false so much in line with our, our real core values that I just couldn’t, I can’t take that away from, unless I can figure something out that really could work better. Right. And know exactly what’s on just, and I think when they’re sitting there about to walk out on stage, it’s like they’re dealing with all their confidence issues. Everything that’s ever been said to them or anything that they’re thinking about themselves. It’s all right there on the surface. And then some of it just completely melts away on their walk back. Like, oh, all those lies I’ve been telling myself, yeah. Are now gone. And that just changes their whole life, I’m sure. Yeah. And it, it really, it’s bizarre because it’s almost like a visible melt when you say it just melts away.
Sam: [07:39] It’s, it’s almost just so visibly obvious that it happens. And it honestly, it just caps everything for me. And um, and, and it’s a great opportunity kind of in the beginning of our model program for them to, to meet each other and then all of a sudden it’s from there. It’s like most guards are down and it’s just really kind of a pickup time from there to get to know each other. So how early in the model program, I mean, I know we’re here in February and how early do you do the lake day and how when you do the, the, the, uh, fashion show? So our fashion show will actually happen the very first part of me. So they’re juniors and they’re walking the runway as a senior model for us. But the end of the school year. Yeah. Yeah. And, and that’s the end of their junior year.
Sam: [08:27] But the idea is obviously to, to generate some buzz about them and about us. And then we do lake day typically right before the 4th of July because we try to make a USA red, white and blue theme. And then we try to drop a video right around 4th of July that has something to do with, you know, happy birthday America or just something, you know, something fun. It’s kind of themed. Yeah. That’s really cool. About how many models we’ll use sign up in a year. Typically sign up the highest year ever had 55 and the lowest year, which was actually this year we had 28 we started out with 32 but we ended up with 28
Matt: [09:03] yeah. And it’s so interesting and we’ve seen the same thing in our business. Not that the model program is getting smaller, but as you refine your business and you start clipping some of the edges, it just naturally gets smaller. But it’s not smaller. Worse. Like you were telling me earlier, like you had a smaller motor model program but you made just as much money, which it’s like you were, you’re not, you’re not, we’re talking about it. Like we kind of value our success on the amount of volume we do. We do. Yeah. So when we’re down in sessions, we’re thinking we’re losing, but the need to look at the numbers and you actually are in the same place. So it’s like a dream come true where you do as much money but less work like glass sessions. But while it’s happening and you’re like, yeah, we’re going down in flames, were going down in flames.
Sam: [09:49] I weigh so heavily. I, I’m a numbers guy. I love numbers. Like it just, it jazzes me. Like I looked through my numbers all year long and I’m like, okay, I got to be right here to be good. You know, when we started out last year with fewer models, I knew we were more qualified models. Like I knew there were more qualified customers. And the, the great thing was is that I knew that we had trimmed certain things to make it better, but the fact we were down, I was just stressed as hell. I was like, oh my gosh, my year has just gone. I’m screwed. I’m finally hit my peak and I’m on the, yeah. Is that the way down? And even into October I was just like, oh my gosh, we’re down. Like we were, we were down 30 seniors from last year, but we did $20,000 more in sales. And I didn’t really see that until the end of the year. I started doing profit and loss and stuff. And I’m like, man, I gotta get my head out of these numbers. Yeah, because
Matt: [10:41] it actually worked out for you. But I can imagine that journey through the year, you’re probably just talking to your wife, Michelle, and just like we’re losing. But we’ve seen some of that in our business as well. And I don’t think it’s a bad thing, but like you said, you and I think our co have a lot in common in the fact that like sessions equals number of sections equals success. And that’s not always dementia. That’s always the most important metric, you know. Okay. So let’s shift gears a little bit and let’s just talk about the industry. It was really cool being that pp a Idaho this week I spoke and Tim Walden spoke. So I think this is kind of a fresh question. Like what is one thing that that like you’re fired up about the industry or that you hold as true with industry. You can talk about how the industry’s changing and whatever you want to do, but like when you think about the industry, what do you think about
Sam: [11:28] change? Yeah, like, um, I think I’ve always tried to embrace change, but I don’t care who you are. Sometimes it’s scary. So, but I think change is really where it’s at. But another thing I’ve, I’ve really noticed is just kind of how the trends happen and when you’re in the senior industry changes literally every year. Yeah. We talked about you guys while we were driving around
Matt: [11:54] that like it feels like every single year you’re reinventing your business. It is.
Sam: [11:58] It literally feels like that. And I think that’s really the wave that people get tired of it and it’s like, you know, cause you just want something to be consistent and it just, it’s never consistent. Like, I mean there’s certain things that can be consistent, but your client, your customer is literally different every single year. And so,
Matt: [12:21] oh and we were talking about this in the car too. I’m sorry to keep saying that to the podcast audience, but when we talked a salmon, I had a lot of conversations this week and I think the class of 2020 is going to be different than the class of 2019 and the reason is is because for 12 years they’ve been following the class of 2019 and so they see what they do and they don’t want to be the same. They want their own identity. They want to see that they see things differently. It’s no different than siblings. Right. The younger brother doesn’t want to be a lot like the older brother, cause he sees him get in trouble a certain way. He sees them act a certain way and he’s like, I’m never gonna act that way because I saw what it did. And it becomes their own personality. Each class becomes their own personality as well because they’re following the previous class. And I joke that they actually have like a phd in how not to be the class before because they’ve been fallen for 12 years. They have, uh, most of their lives, they’ve been looking at that class above and saying, I’m not going to do what they do. So it’s just interesting. But so yeah, so you have to reinvent it because what one class cares about one year, the next class doesn’t care as much about it
Sam: [13:26] and sometimes it can be just like drastically different.
Matt: [13:30] Yeah, I totally agree. So what changes are you seeing right now? I mean, I know it’s going to be unique to your market and unique to your business, but what do you kind of seeing right now?
Sam: [13:39] Right now? Um, I think one of the biggest changes I’ve seen is I, I’ve really watched a crazy roller coaster with social media and how we went from a time where everybody literally put just everything, every part of their day on social media and out there and the food they ate. And now the platforms, the way they’ve kind of rolled out, I’ve noticed that there, it’s almost like it’s the unwritten rules. And I think we were kind of talking about that and trying to figure out the unwritten rules. Like, oh, I can’t, I can’t post a picture more than once every three or four days. And, and it’s got to be a perfect picture and I can’t post a Selfie, which is what’s funny is they even call a picture that I took of them a selfie. And I’m like, like, did you forget what a Selfie is? It’s, it’s actually where you hold up the camera, take a picture of your, and they’re like, well, I can’t post a selfie because I posted one of those like three weeks ago. And so it’s like, it’s bizarre the changes that happened in social media and how they govern the teenage world.
Matt: [14:43] Yeah, no, exactly. Because they, it is their brand and it is their portfolio. It’s their profile online and everything. And it’s, yeah, like they do, they care so much about it.
Sam: [14:54] That’s really interesting that you say that. Cause I never considered, I never really thought about the fact that kids right now are literally becoming brand geniuses.
Matt: [15:04] Yeah. No, I think about how much time Sam you spend building your brand every day and we talked about it all week and they do the exact same thing and they are laying in bed and trying to calculate exactly what they should be putting online and whatnot, putting a line because they know everybody can see it and it’s just, it’s so calculated now. And it used to not be used to just be this fun place you just threw stuff on and people liked it and commented and um, there’s this really fun place, you know, like just to interact. And now it’s way more calculated than I’ve ever seen before.
Sam: [15:37] It’s almost like you got to get a degree in social media just to, yeah, but then it changes all the time. Like what we’re talking about right now. It wasn’t true three years ago, three years ago. It wasn’t that long. I know. I don’t think it was true a year ago. Like, I mean the, the amount that has changed just...
