Start each morning with actionable business and marketing strategies to grow your photography business.
🥯| The to-do list lie that's costing you $50K
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Hello Reader, You spent three hours yesterday perfecting your Instagram grid. Two hours the day before updating your website portfolio. And this morning? Answering an inquiry from someone who "just wants pricing info." Meanwhile, you're still not booked out. Still not hitting consistent $10K months. Still wondering what's actually broken. Here's what's broken: You're treating every task as if it were equally important. The photographers crossing six figures aren't more organized—they're more brutal. They've stopped confusing "busy" with "profitable." They know the difference between tasks that feel productive and tasks that actually generate revenue. Because here's the reality: Not every task moves the needle. Most don't. Batch-editing 50 more Instagram posts? Doesn't book clients. The shift that changes everything:Before you tackle your next task, ask: "Will this directly help me book clients, raise my prices, or free up time to do those two things?" If the answer is no, it doesn't get done today. Maybe not this week. Photographers earning under six figures are working scattered. The ones breaking through? They're only focusing on the three tasks that matter:
Everything else is optional. Or can wait. Or doesn't need to be done at all. Your challenge today: Look at your to-do list right now. What's one thing you could delete entirely—not "get to later"—that wouldn't impact your bookings or revenue? That's your first step toward working less and earning more. Have a great weekend! Doug Mattice Photographer • Educator • Business Strategist "Helping Photographers Build a Business That Pays Consistently" ​www.dougmattice.com​ DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE MARKETING RESOURCE...Marketing your business doesn't have to feel overwhelming.WHAT'S INSIDE?
DID YOU KNOW...
90% of photography businesses fail by year five, mainly because they lack a consistent marketing system.
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Business + Pricing Clarity in 60 Minutes (Portrait + Branding Photographers) If you’ve got the photography skills nailed but the business side feels unclear—pricing, packages, consistency, or what to focus on next—this session is for you. In this structured (but relaxed) Zoom session, we’ll work through a simple framework to figure out:
You’ll leave with:
Why I offer these: I use these conversations to understand what photographers are actually struggling with so I can create webinars, workshops, and group coaching that hit the mark. If working together makes sense, I’ll tell you -and if you're not a fit, I'll tell you that too. Either way, you'll leave with a clear next step. ​Schedule a date and time that works best for you. This session is best for portrait + branding photographers who are booking work but want more consistency and confidence in their pricing/offers.
Spots are limited each month because these are a full 60 minutes You'll leave with 3 clear priorities for the next 30 days. Doug Mattice |
The Business Bagel: Daily Strategies To help Portrait & Branding Photographers Book Premium Clients
Start each morning with actionable business and marketing strategies to grow your photography business.
Hello Reader, Low average spend isn't a sales talent problem. It's an experience-and-commitment problem. When clients treat the purchase like a quick transaction, they buy the minimum. When they feel guided, cared for, and confident in the outcome, they invest. If your averages are consistently below where they need to be, don't start by selling harder — start by elevating what it actually feels like to buy from you. That's where the shift happens. The quickest lift comes from upgrading the...
Hello Reader, When inquiries come in, but bookings don't, the instinct is to send more follow-ups. But follow-up isn't the fix — perceived value is. If someone was interested enough to reach out and then disappeared, they didn't feel the difference between you and the next photographer in their feed. They weren't just shopping for photos. They were shopping for certainty: "This will be worth it, and I won't regret it." When that certainty isn't there, they stall — and stalling almost always...
Hello Reader, Not enough leads is almost never a talent problem. It's a visibility and access problem. When inquiries slow down, most photographers default to posting more and hoping the algorithm plays nice — but organic reach is less predictable than it used to be, so "post more" often turns into busywork instead of booked sessions. Before you can fix anything else in your business — your booking rate, your sales averages, your referrals — you need a steady stream of people actually raising...