Episode 016: Learning without the Sales Pitch with Lisa DiGeso
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Have you found yourself annoyed by the sales pitches you hear in every online summit you’ve attended over the last couple of years? Lisa DiGeso felt the same way when she was building her business—that’s why she decided to launch pitch-free educational offerings for photographers! In today’s episode, she shares about how her online retreat series was created and what it’s looked like growing that alongside her photography business.
The Business-First Creatives Podcast is brought to you by CRM and Dubsado expert Colie James. Join Colie each week as she discuss how to build a business that brings you joy and a paycheck! From business advice with fellow entrepreneurs to sharing automation tips and tricks, Colie and her guests are sharing industry trends and resources, along with a little bit of sarcasm.
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Here are the highlights…
[:23] Meet Lisa
[1:15] Education without the Sales Pitch
[5:05] Offering Business Retreats
[7:45] Working on your Business Year-Round
[9:02] The Joy in Hosting Retreats
[10:23] The Vetting Process
[12:42] Current Business Systems
[14:18] Making Decisions
[15:12] Running Numbers in Your Business
[17:20] Lisa’s Tip for making Decisions
[21:13] The Retreat Buffet
[22:32] Lisa’s Sabbatical
[24:19] Lisa’s Biggest Fuck Up
[28:26] Lisa’s Embarrassing Moment
[30:50] Upcoming Business Retreat
Connect with Colie on Instagram
Meet Lisa
I created The Milky Way to offer the friendliest, most convenient online education for photographers like you, to help you quickly learn the skills you need to create the art you love and a business that truly lights you up.
I’m passionate about creating communities where new and experienced photographers can connect with one another in a positive, drama-free space.
Connect with Lisa
themilkyway.ca/classes-retreats
facebook.com/photographyresource
Interested in joining the Online Business Retreat? Click HERE to learn more.
Review the Transcript:
Colie James: Welcome back to Business-First Creatives podcast, today’s guest is Lisa DiGeso. So, and she is amazing. I’m gonna let her tell you all about what she does and who she serves. And so Lisa, welcome to the podcast. How are you today?
Lisa DiGeso: I’m awesome. Thank you for having me.
Colie James: I am so excited to be chatting with you today. Tell everybody who you are, what you do and where you’re located.
Lisa DiGeso: Well, my name is Lisa DeGeso, so, and first and foremost, I’m a wife and a mama. I’ve got a 13 year old little boy and not so little anymore. He’s playing football. So, uh, yeah, not so little. And I’m based in, Camloops British Columbia, Canada, and I’ve been a photographer with Milk and Honey photography, my own business for about 13 years.
Back in 2012, I started The Milky Way with my business partner, Erin, and I’m the producer of the Online Retreat Series, as well as the Host of the Art and Soul Show podcast. And I just love being a photographer, educating photographers, all things photography, honestly.
Colie James: Yes. I mean, you are so multi-talented, I mean, it it’s definitely goals for me, today we are gonna talk about those retreats. So tell me how the retreats came about why you think they’re so important for our industry.
Lisa DiGeso: So back in 2016, that was sort of the year when all these online summits just started coming out. And if you’re a remember in the beginning, they really were pitched as a free online summit where you kind of just get pitched from the stage. You wouldn’t really be getting a whole lot of content. It was more of just constant sales pitches.
It’d be like 30 webinars that you would sign up to watch. And I found them to be so frustrating and to be completely honest, a total waste of my time, just to be, you know, like spending an hour, trying to listen to something, to learn something, but then you didn’t learn anything. And then you’re like, oh, you just want me to come buy something for you?
So I said to my business partner, I was like, you know, what would be amazing? Is if there was something that, that was like a no pitch, like presentation where you like just bought a ticket and you had all these incredible educators that you could learn from. So it was like, kind of like a first date, if you hadn’t heard from them.
So they were giving you like their. Best material. And like, if you wanted to go on and learn with them later. Cool. But there was like zero pressure to do that. So we’re just talking about that. And I was like, yeah, it would be really amazing if that was like created. She’s like, well, why don’t we do that?
And I was like, yeah, why don’t we do that? So we did so we produced, I think, over 20 online educational experiences over the past seven years. We average around 2000 students are so per event. So it’s just this like really yummy, welcoming community. And one thing that is really incredible and unusual about our communities is there is zero drama.
Like there is. You’ve been a teacher for one of our retreats. And like, there is no drama and that is so rare, not only in our industry, but in a group of that size. And everyone’s just really encouraging and uplifting, and that’s just sort of the culture of what we want to do and what, and how we wanna leave that mark on the industry is creating kind compassionate photographers who actually genuinely care about each other and each other’s success.
Colie James: I am definitely not a, not a fan of webinars sales pitches. Like I have never a webinar where I pitched my course at the end. I just cannot find the energy to do that. And maybe it’s because I was a professor for so long. like when I sit down to teach you, want you to walk away with something.
Lisa DiGeso: yeah.
Colie James: you to walk away thinking that you have to pay me
Lisa DiGeso: Yeah.
Colie James: actual knowledge that you thought that you were gonna get when you sit down. So, no, I mean, that’s fascinating because I did not know the history of the retreats and it’s so funny that you’re like, you know, all these online summits came to be, because I feel like as photographer. You can do a lot of in person And I think that there is definitely a time and a place for, in person know myself when I have gone to like retreats or mentorships and gotten one on one or really small group with the people that I’ve paid to learn from. I have gained a lot in my business, you know, with my creativity and my photography. Like you said, it is really hard to pay someone $2,000 that in person experience,
Lisa DiGeso: Yep.
Colie James: never been able to experience what it is that they offer before. I mean, talking about the retreat as a first date is absolutely brilliant because I would imagine that, you know, there are a lot of people that the retreat because they’re like, oh, I wanted to learn from this one person for so long
Lisa DiGeso: Yeah.
Colie James: And so now I can see how they are
Lisa DiGeso: Yeah.
Colie James: 20 other amazing instructors and see, you know, what they offer, what value there is. So, no, that is fascinating. And so, you know, the premise of this podcast Business- First Creatives And so I know the first several, retreats that you hosted were creative Like
Lisa DiGeso: Yeah,
Colie James: newborn or they were family, but, so how did you jump into the business retreat? Because we know the second business retreat is right around the corner.
Lisa DiGeso: Well, to be honest, we really, you know, I love the art side, but I absolutely know the importance of really dialing in the business side. Like as photographers we want to spend all that time, learning new skills, shopping, online, doing all the fun things. We don’t wanna think about marketing strategies and CRMs, and like, that’s not the sexy business, but the unfortunate nature is if you want to have a thriving and successful business, if it’s continuing to grow, you have to stay educated. You have to stay what’s up and coming on trends and you have to continue to do that. So even though it was not, not a really a natural fit for me in the beginning, we kind of decided that we really wanted to make sure that our students were getting the, the best education out there.
And I really have a stringent vetting policy on how I, um, vet our teachers. Like they have to be people that are walking the walk that are giving the best advice to our students. Right? Like it’s so important that it’s not. um, yourself from the stage, or it’s just like wishy washy information that may or may not work in theory.
It’s like actually actionable information that they’re gonna be able to, to take away and, and get results very quickly. So that was sort of how the business retreat, sort of came to be. We did one a few years ago. And it was great. And so our students have been saying, when’s the next one? Can we have another one?
We have another one. And then we had like a little pandemic in, in the middle of that. And then just, just a little pandemic that happened over over that. And so we kind of decided that, September of this year was gonna be like the back to school for photographers to brush up on your skills, to get your marketing ready.
You know, instead of waiting to the 1st of January, we’re working on what are marketing plans, how we’re working on our time management, maybe our money mindset, working on our website, whether it’s our copy or our SEO, and just making sure we’re scheduling that time to work on our businesses instead of just in our businesses.
Colie James: Absolutely. Lisa and I think of the things that makes me so excited for the business retreat is that it is all focused on business. I mean,
Lisa DiGeso: Yeah,
Colie James: know, there’s no, there’s no talks for this one that are focused on the creativity
And there’s a time and a place for the creativity, but I just feel like. Personally, and this mostly happens to me when I go to in person events, I will say, but I have gone to so many in person photography conferences and it’s talk after talk
Lisa DiGeso: Yeah,
Colie James: that are creativity.
Lisa DiGeso: yeah.
Colie James: Learning how to take better pictures, learning how to work with your clients. But the business is always lacking.
There’s like one or two hidden gems where people are talking about actual business topics, but the rest of it is creativity. And so you know, I’m absolutely obsessed with the business side of things. And so I am really excited for the business retreat. And like you said, I, in September, it’s like back to school, cuz I think that way too many photographers think that January and is when they should work on their business.
Lisa DiGeso: No.
Colie James: the truth is that is downtime.
Lisa DiGeso: Yeah. Yeah,
Colie James: your business in January and February, those tasks should not be relegated to the winter
you’re not shooting sessions. And what I’ve personally found, like when it comes to setting up your CRM, great that you’re setting, you know, aside the time to do it in January and February, but then you don’t actually have any clients to system.
do all it for websites. For example, if you go and you do awesome and amazing SEO, it might be months before you now, granted, we know it takes months for SEO to work. No one in my audience. Think that’s what I’m saying, but like, it might take you months before you figure out that you’ve even done some of the right things,
Lisa DiGeso: Yeah.
Colie James: you’re not getting a lot of inquiries
fall sessions in January and February. What is your favorite part of hosting the online retreats?
Lisa DiGeso: Uh, seeing the transformation from the students, how quickly it happens. And from someone who’s feeling either burnt out or frustrated or not getting clients to someone who within weeks is taking massive action. They’re, they’re setting out the schedules. They’re setting out the time they’re taking that time to learn, seeing them transform is the absolute gold of my life. Like watching people grow.
Colie James: And I think of the best things about the retreats to me is the fact that you do the Facebook group.
Lisa DiGeso: Yeah.
Colie James: have the thread for each teacher
Lisa DiGeso: Yeah.
Colie James: can go in and ask the teachers their questions during that timeframe, when all of the teachers are required to check the Facebook group every day, to make sure that, you know, the students are getting their questions answered.
I do think that that is so different than what I’ve seen for other online education venues in photography. And quite frankly, outside of photography,
Lisa DiGeso: Yeah.
Colie James: you know, you buy this presentation, you watch. never really an opportunity interact with that teacher and get your questions answered because it’s maybe a pretty goal nowadays to where you can put a presentation out and the students are able to watch it and then immediately take action. Without any questions. I
Lisa DiGeso: Yeah,
Colie James: just, I don’t think
Lisa DiGeso: it’s rare.
Colie James: often. It’s very rare. And so I love that, you know, people can go and they can ask questions and it’s just, it’s fascinating to me. And I love what you said about your vetting process, because I feel like one of the things that I hear from photographers. So much they are contemplating going to an in person event, buying an online course that they don’t quite know what to expect.
Lisa DiGeso: Yeah.
Colie James: you kind of making sure that the teachers that you’re choosing are walking the walk of, you know, having a great reputation, of Instagram fans, but when it comes to the actual knowledge that they are giving their students, be honest.
A lot of times it can be very lack Le.
Lisa DiGeso: Yeah. Yeah. It, it, it takes a lot for me to put my name in, to put our, our company’s name behind, a photographer. And so we really do have a stringent vetting process. And I think the most important thing for me is. Because I’m, I’m often in, in their groups, I’m always watching to, I’m such a little nerd.
I’m always noising around. Like I seriously should have been a private eye in, in a, like maybe in my next life, I’ll be a private eye, cuz I love learning about people and just watching. And so I watch them as leaders in their own groups. I watch how they are communicating and holding the hands of their own students.
So that is something that is really important. How they’re interacting with their fans on whether it’s Instagram or, um, even TikTok, you know, TikTok is kind of low enough, a little bit and just kind of what’s their energy and are they gonna be a good fit and not everyone is, and that’s totally fine.
Like I’m not for everybody. That’s cool. And. It’s it’s just been, it’s been really, really cool to make so many, like I’ve made hundreds and hundreds of friends of people I haven’t met in person who have come to teach for us. So it’s just been, it’s such an amazing experience. And like they’ve gone on to have their workshops filled or they’re even their sessions filled by all these students that they’ve met.
Who’ve become their super fans. So I just think it’s just like, it’s so fun. Like I just love my life. I really.
Colie James: so I know that you’re not shooting much anymore, but, um, you know, what is it that you see? Like what systems do you currently have in your business? And it can be for the retreat, since
Lisa DiGeso: Yeah.
Colie James: not actively shooting, but what systems do. You have in your business that are currently working well?
Lisa DiGeso: So we as like, cuz I, I basically have two companies got but two business. So the Milky Way that we use, um, oh gosh, I think we use convert kit. I don’t do the tech side to be completely honest. That’s my business partner
Colie James: Mm-hmm
Lisa DiGeso: she’s amazing. And we’ve got a, an incredible team that takes care of that, but I will touch on what I’m using for my.
Photography business, cuz I’ve actually decided I’m I’m doing a business overhaul. I basically decided to give myself a sabbatical for a year. And then I was like, if I were to redesign my photography business with all the knowledge that I have now, what would I do? And what would I create? So, this is, this is my project that I’m doing.
I’m, I’m redoing my pricing. I’m redoing all the CRMs. I’m use I’m switching from MailChimp to Flodesk. Like I’m, I’m currently with Iris works and trying to decide if I’m gonna switch to Honeybook, I’m moving from a WordPress site to a Showit site. I’m adding in Pic-Time. Like I’m doing all these things that
Colie James: all the things, Lisa,
Lisa DiGeso: like all the things, right.
Because I want to know. works. And I wanna know that I have tried it if this is something that I am, representing the, for these companies and, and our students are learning this. I wanna know that I’ve tried it and I can, you know, be knowledgeable to speak on it too.
Colie James: out of all of these transformations, cuz I mean, goodness, you just said that you are changing your email marketing program, your website, your CRM, I mean online gallery software.
Lisa DiGeso: Yeah.
Colie James: has been the hardest change?
Lisa DiGeso: The hardest change is deciding what you want to do, because honestly, it’s the hardest part is actually just making the decision. and it’s like, action is easy. Like you just one foot in front of the other, just stay consistent, keep doing the thing. But the hardest part is actually making that decision of what you want.
What aligns with you, what kind of business you wanna have, what kind of clients you wanna serve? Um, Doing doing the budgeting or, and looking at your actual numbers of what it takes to run your business. Instead of just being like, I think I wanna make $2,500 a month, but I also spend $3,000 a month. So that just doesn’t work.
So it’s like, actually, like with the knowledge that I have, like start again, restart and let, just see what this looks like. How does this feel? Because we can pivot at any time
Colie James: Oh, I love that you used the word pivot. Let’s talk about your pricing.
you just touched on that.
I know that you just ran your numbers so that you could and change your pricing forward. Before now, when was the last time that you legitimately ran your numbers in your photography
Lisa DiGeso: 2013.
Colie James: Girl, shut
Lisa DiGeso: I know. I know. And cuz I would put my head in the sand. I was like, no, no, I’m just too busy. I’m busy with Milky Way. I’m doing other things, I’m doing other things. And so it just kind of became this giant, Mountain of like stinky that I was like, trying to like, just ignore. And I kept you, like, you know, that closet, you just keep throwing stuff in.
You’re like on the one day it just blows open and you’re like, I just, now I gotta deal with this. So, um, that’s kind of what I did with my business. And it just got to the point where it got so smelly and uncomfortable that I was like, stop. Like I have to pull everything out of the closet so I can put everything back in in the order that I want it.
And some things I’m gonna get rid of.
Colie James: That’s amazing. Lisa. I mean, I will say I’m, I’m really shocked to hear that you hadn’t redone your numbers since 2013,
Lisa DiGeso: I know. I know
Colie James: audience, everyone should be running their
least once a year. And I will say one of the biggest things that I did during the pandemic was I finally hired bookkeepers.
Lisa DiGeso: Yeah,
Colie James: I am a numbers person. And I had a, I had a really good, you know, grasp of my numbers. I might not have been fully running my numbers every year, but like I knew where they were about for like
Lisa DiGeso: yeah.
Colie James: expense in that port. one of the things that I love about having a bookkeeper now is, um, every six months they present me with this,
is your profit and
Lisa DiGeso: yeah, yeah,
Colie James: is, these are the things that you might wanna make sure that you actually need to spend this much money on
Lisa DiGeso: yeah.
Colie James: my education budget is out of control is my, so is my budget, but you, that that’s a talk for another
Lisa DiGeso: Same Zs.
Colie James: I mean, so in terms of like, cuz you said that, you know, the biggest, biggest is making the decision. if you were gonna give someone a tip because you know, they think that they wanna switch their CRM, they think that they wanna switch their email marketing program. is a tip that you will give someone on how they can do the in order to make that decision then put one foot in front of the other to take the.
Lisa DiGeso: I think it first comes down to aligning with what kind of life you wanna live. Like, do you wanna be someone who is taking four sessions a week who is editing those four sessions a week? Who’s booking those four sessions a week. Who’s cleaning and driving and doing all the things that goes in with that, because we don’t always think about the time invested.
We look at the dollar sign and how much my clients are going to pay, you know, what your clients are gonna pay, what you tell them to pay.
Colie James: Yes.
Lisa DiGeso: so. I think, I think the hardest part for me was like, just figuring out what I wanted and being honest with what I wanted. Like, I thought that the, that for success for me was to have like this amazing thriving educational platform where I’m serving, you know, thousands of photographers.
But also I thought I would be amazing if I had this amazing photography business where I’ve got 20 clients a month.
Colie James: That’s a lot.
Lisa DiGeso: I can’t do both. I physically, I tried for years, I ended up with a thyroid condition. Um, I physically have had burnout so many times that I had to get really real, what I wanted my life to look like.
And I think once I was able to just look at everything with blinders off, I got real that like, I kind of just maybe only wanna shoot 12 clients a year and like, to some people that’s gonna be like, oh my gosh, why? Why even bother? But it’s.
Colie James: because you enjoy shooting
Lisa DiGeso: because I love it. And, and this, and this service that I can give these amazing clients.
And what I came to realize is that I really was starting to resent my clients for paying the price that I told them to pay me. Cuz I didn’t feel like it was enough for the time that I was giving them. So it was like this kind of this weird loop of like resenting someone for something that I told them to do.
That doesn’t make sense, right? Like, so it’s like, how about if I tell them to do something different and then I can do something different and not resent them. So , that was sort of what I needed to do. So basically I just told my business, told my clients said I’m pressing stop. Like everybody’s has to get off the ride right now because they need to fix the ride.
And if you wanna come back and it’s gonna be a different price, that’s your choice, but this is how much it’s gonna cost for my ride.
Colie James: Mm. No. And I will say, I think when I was on your podcast, we were talking about, the pivots that I’ve made in my business this year. one of the things that I came to the conclusion of when I did a V I P day with my business coach, that after this year I don’t plan on marketing photography or really taking new clients.
I plan on
Lisa DiGeso: Yep.
Colie James: the clients. That are in my membership, serving, seeing the clients that I’ve had, you know, for years, like, I am pressing pause on that part of my business so that I can move on and do the things that are currently
Lisa DiGeso: Yeah.
Colie James: is helping everybody run their business in a more sustainable way.
Lisa DiGeso: Yes.
Colie James: totally get it. And I know you were like, well, I only want a service 12 clients. I mean, I think I’m gonna be when I’m done and everything is you. All said and done at the end of the year, going forward, I’m probably gonna be doing something like 25 sessions a year.
is what I expect
Lisa DiGeso: yeah,
Colie James: the current client load that I have. and I’m excited.
Lisa DiGeso: yeah.
Colie James: I’m so excited.
Lisa DiGeso: I know, and, and the, and the thing is, and I think that that’s such that I love that you’re talking on this because I think so many photographers just get in their head that there’s really only one way to run a business. You either have to like, be a shoot and burner, or you have to be an IPS, like spend all your time with your clients and give them like 85 hours of your time to design an album.
Like there’s so many different ways to run a business, which. Part of the reason the retreats even exist too, is to show photographers. There’s more than one way, and you are gonna have to figure out what works for you, what aligns with you and what feels right in order to create the business that you’re gonna love
Colie James: I didn’t think of the retreat, but you know what? It’s like a buffet
Lisa DiGeso: it is
Colie James: it’s like you can go and just
Lisa DiGeso: pick and choose.
Colie James: different things from people and you can figure out what works
Lisa DiGeso: Yeah. And the best part, Colie, the best part is you get to take your Tupperware container to the buffet. You don’t have sit down and all one and.
Colie James: You can, you can, I mean, Yes. Cause, and I mean, I I’ve had this conversation with many other mentors and educators, but I think part of the problem is that when photographers are newer and they’re trying to figure out what they like, there’s this really bad habit where you latch onto one person.
Lisa DiGeso: Yes.
Colie James: And you take everything that they say, and you try to fit it into your business. No matter if it’s a good fit or
Lisa DiGeso: Yeah.
Colie James: you’re just like, this person is successful, are doing what it is that I want to do. And so let me basically just copy their business.
I also see the other side of that though, instead of latching onto one person and basically just trying to implement their whole business, go to a bunch of different people.
You try to take the little pieces that you like from each of them. when you put those things together, it is not cohesive at all.
Lisa DiGeso: Sometimes it doesn’t work.
Colie James: I mean, so part of, part of you taking a pause or a sabbatical in your business, or if you’re a newer photographer and you’re trying to figure things out, of the struggle is figuring out what pieces you want for,
Lisa DiGeso: Yes.
Colie James: business, and then putting those things together and making sure that they work together you
Lisa DiGeso: Yeah.
Colie James: offer to your leads and
Lisa DiGeso: Mm-hmm
Colie James: because there’s really nothing worse than like throwing together an. And putting it out there and someone tells you no. And you’re like, oh, it was my price. Nine times out of 10. is never the price.
Lisa DiGeso: No,
Colie James: be the price for that one person. But if everyone is telling you, no, it is typically not that you
Lisa DiGeso: no.
Colie James: too high. mean, I, I argue all the time. You’re priced too low
Lisa DiGeso: Yeah.
Colie James: but most people don’t believe me when I say
Lisa DiGeso: Yeah.
Colie James: you know, let’s look at the rest of your offer. Let’s see how you’re presenting it on your website. What you’re booking process is looking like, you know, are you actually prices that are
Lisa DiGeso: Yeah.
Colie James: for you in the long run? Basically all of these things that you are doing on your sabbatical, Lisa.
So it’s interesting. I think I’m gonna have to have you back
Lisa DiGeso: Yeah.
Colie James: is said and done so that you can tell us about the decisions that you’ve
Lisa DiGeso: absolutely.
Colie James: are working all together. I mean, and I think that you could take some of the things from the business retreat
Lisa DiGeso: Oh honestly. And that’s, that’s part of the reason I love creating them is because I get to learn all this stuff too.
Colie James: All this stuff, all this stuff. So I ask every single one of my, every single one of my guests, this one question. So I’m gonna ask you.
Lisa, what was the biggest fuck up that you had? And I’m gonna say it can be your photography business or your education business, but what is the biggest fuck up that you had? you learn from it? how did your business change after.
Lisa DiGeso: You’re gonna love this one, cuz you are the CRM queen. And so this is gonna touch your heart. So one morning, middle of October, 20 12, 20 13. Just go outta the shower. Stand there in my bathroom towel on my head,
open the door in my towel, thinking it’s FedEx guy, super pumped. It was a client with her newborn. I had booked a newborn session at my home studio. Didn’t remember it. Forgot I did it. Didn’t put it in a CRM cause I didn’t have one at the time and I couldn’t send her away. So I was like, oh my gosh. So I went and like, put my clothes on my studio.
Wasn’t heated. It takes me two hours to heat the studio to get it to like 25 degrees, 26 degrees. So she came, came in, made her a coffee. My studio was a disaster from the day before there was baby poop on like, on stuff. Like it was humiliating. I was like, this is like the least professional I have ever felt or ever been.
And this will never happen to me again. So after that experience has started researching CRMs. and basically that was the catalyst to me. I think I first started with, oh gosh, I think it was studio ninja and then 17 hats. And then I’ve been with Iris for about six years now, I think. But I’m thinking about maybe honey book now.
So, but I, I really like when you create systems that you can’t fuck up. It makes your life so much easier. You don’t have like a client showing up at your house the day before because you have these auto reminders, not only to your client, but to yourself that oh yes. Lisa it’s on your calendar. You have a, a session tomorrow, right?
So I think, um, basically just getting out of my own way because I was my own Biggest kryptonite by not writing things down by not being organized, you know, I inten unintentionally or perhaps intentionally created the chaos and it just isn’t a healthy place to live.
Colie James: Constantly being stressful?
constantly being stressed about what’s going on in
basically the unknown like the worst.
Lisa DiGeso: Yeah.
Colie James: I’ve recently done some work on my email. I’ve recently taken the email app off of my phone because I have the bad habit of opening an email. and not being in a position to take care of it.
Then it gets buried. in all of my other emails. And so I have myself suffered from this. So what did I do? I had to figure out a system that stopped allowing me to check the emails when I’m not ready to take care of the emails.
Lisa DiGeso: Yeah.
Colie James: I don’t love that the client showed up at your house, but I do love that that was the catalyst for you to get a CRM, to make sure that that never happened again.
Because the funny thing is when I’m doing, you know, research on people who take my course or hire me for their setups, mean, most of them. Come from a fear of being like one step away from a one star review.
Lisa DiGeso: Mm.
Colie James: like they, they have this that they’re forgetting something that they’re not taking care of.
One of their clients that they’re not giving all of their clients the same consistent experience. And so it’s like that fear that gets them to, you know, create better systems in their business. And I’m, I’m here for it. I would like to eliminate stress. And so I’m really glad that you found a CRM at least initially.
did a couple hops. I’ve done a couple hops too,
Lisa DiGeso: oh, gosh. It’s like, you gotta try on some pants before you buy the best pair of pants. It’s okay.
Colie James: yeah, I I’m with you. I’m with you there. I mean, and CRMs are really so powerful.
Lisa DiGeso: yeah,
Colie James: mean, I love that that is never gonna happen to you again.
ever gonna show up at your house for, I mean, cuz like at least it was at your house though. Like I’ve had a previous guest, who’ve talked about something very similar.
Like they, all of a sudden that they had missed a sunrise session and it was like seven o’clock and they were supposed to be at a beach that was
Lisa DiGeso: no.
Colie James: you know, minutes away from their house. so at least the client came to you
Lisa DiGeso: Yeah.
Colie James: have to try to put on all your clothes and drive very quickly to wherever you were supposed to.
Lisa DiGeso: I will share with you one of my most embarrassing stories. So my client, this is actually within like a two week period. And this is like, sort of really the catalyst for CRMs, cuz this was like a double down. So a client of mine showed up a day early for her family session with her entire, um, family, with four kids, all dressed.
This was the one day I decided, Hmm it’s three o’clock in the afternoon. You know what? I’m gonna. I have a Baileys and coffee and I’m gonna have a second Baileys and coffee. Oh, this was so good. I think I might have a third bath coffee. I was tipsy. And so they show up and I was like, and I don’t day drink ever.
Like this was such a random, weird situation. And so they show up here not, I was like, oh my God, FedEx guy, what did I order? No, no, it’s my client a day early with her entire family ready to go. I’m like, well, I can’t drive. This is what happened. You guys your day early. I’m happy to go shoot. I’ve had a few drinks
yeah. So that happened. So, and the most hilarious part is now that like, they’re very, very good friends with mine. Now. They, we went to the session, they drove, obviously I didn’t drive it. Wasn’t like I was drunk or anything. But the kids to this day say that was their favorite session with Lisa.
Colie James: Oh, that’s awesome. That’s so awesome. I mean, I will say so. I don’t, the clients don’t come to my house, so
Lisa DiGeso: like.
Colie James: worry, but you know, during my full day in the lives,
Lisa DiGeso: Yeah.
Colie James: we will have drinks
or
Lisa DiGeso: Yeah.
Colie James: the night. I know one time I went. I was doing one of my day in the life and we were at dinner and the dad kept ordering me cocktails.
And I was like, you know, I have to, like,
Lisa DiGeso: like
Colie James: camera.
Lisa DiGeso: Yes.
Colie James: I need your pictures not to be, you know,
Lisa DiGeso: Blurry.
Colie James: out of focus
Lisa DiGeso: like
Colie James: I can’t hold my camera. I mean, hysterical. I mean, I did finish that session. It was awesome.
Lisa DiGeso: good.
Colie James: but you know, that was the only time that I worried about, you know, not being able to function as a photographer because maybe I should no, no more, no more cocktails, dad.
Lisa DiGeso: no, cocktails and cameras. It’s a bad idea for me.
Colie James: So I think we’re gonna end on that story because legitimately it was the most awesome story ever, and I feel the need to go downstairs and make myself an espresso Martin. So tell the listening audience for those photographers who are probably listening, what are the dates for the next retreat?
Lisa DiGeso: So the business retreat starts September 28th and our teachers will be in the group until October 11th, but you can start getting your ticket on sale on the 21st of September. So I really hope to see you guys there. I have been watching all the incredible videos and presentations, and I can’t even tell you how excited I am and the transformations I know you’re gonna be getting.
Colie James: Awesome. And guys, that link is gonna be in the show notes. all for today. Thanks for listening.
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