575: Ayla Quellhorst – A simple recipe for a very profitable boudoir photography business

PhotoBizX The Ultimate Wedding and Portrait Photography Business Podcast

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Ayla Quellhorst of www.aylaquellhorst.com is a retired U.S. Air Force Photojournalist. She comes from a blue-collar family that lived paycheck to paycheck but made her way through university to graduate with a degree in business administration.

Her main studio shoots only boudoir photography and generates a revenue of $700,000 annually.

Her husband opened his own boudoir studio this year, and they are projecting $100,000 in sales this first year.

She and her husband work full-time in the business and employ a makeup artist and a product advisor—I wasn't entirely sure what that is, but we find out in the interview

Ayla told me that she sees herself as a businessperson first and a photographer second.

She has presented at Shutterfest in 2022, written multiple published posts on helping other photographers succeed and is passionate about seeing other photographers get profitable and make a terrific living through photography.

In this interview, Ayla shares how her passion led to a simple recipe for a very profitable boudoir photography business.

Here's some more of what we covered in the interview:

• Promoting body positivity and diversity in boudoir photography
• Clients value the experience over just edited photos
• Empowerment is key to Ayla Quellhorst's boudoir photography business
• Creating a welcoming studio experience with personalised conversations and taking notes
• Personal touch leads to positive word-of-mouth and increased business
• Using coded language and safe words for client safety during shoots
• Clear communication about roles on set, ensuring client comfort
• How Ayla’s background in photojournalism led her to boudoir photography
• Financed studio space with student loans, managing financial challenges
• How Ayla’s business income grew from $100,000 to $700,000 annually, and aiming for $1 million
• Diversified ventures include a family studio, fashion, and marketing companies
• Prioritising safety in suspension photography with liability releases and weight checks
• Aiming for $700,000 in revenue with 200-300 clients per year through unique Shibari photography
• Higher volume of leads due to market trends, with older clients more stable
• Happy with two clients/day, aiming for 3-4, ideally 8+
• Lead list of 6000, tracking ad performance for 50-60 leads/2 weeks
• Strategies to book 3-4 clients every two weeks from the lead list
• Facebook leads higher than Instagram despite using both platforms
• Prefers lead ads, keeping clients on the platform with automated text follow-ups
• Uses landing pages for specific campaigns needing upfront information
• Finding success with personalised texts and video content
• Uses Go-High-Level system for marketing, focusing on personalised and strategic messaging
• Reveals service cost at the end of calls, typically $500, with most clients spending $3,000
• Spends $30 for 6000 text blasts, filters clients based on various factors
• Strategies to avoid Facebook and Instagram ad restrictions with specific poses and client selection
• Changing flagged or denied photos in ads to comply with platform guidelines
• Why struggling photographers often lack a business mindset and focus

What’s on Offer for Premium Members

If you’re on the fence about becoming a premium member, join with the $1 trial today and get access to the FULL interviews each week, a fantastic back catalogue of interviews, and have ALL future interviews delivered automatically to your phone or tablet.

Plus, special member-only interviews.

I want people to love where they are right now, knowing that they can still make adjustments, they can still change things that they want to. – Ayla Quellhorst

You'll also receive access to the members-only Secret Facebook Group, where you can connect with other Premium Members and interview guests to help, support and motivate you to take ideas you hear in each episode and put them into action. The group also has FB live video tutorials, role-play, and special live interviews. You will not find more friendly, motivated, caring and sharing photographers online.

Seriously, that's not all.

In addition to everything above, you'll get access to instructions on forming or joining a MasterMind Group with other premium members. These groups are super motivating, make you accountable, and build friendships with other pro photographers with motives similar to yours – to build a more successful photography business.

What is your big takeaway?

Following this interview, I’d love to know if you're taking anything from what Ayla shared. Is there something you heard that excited or motivated you to the point where you thought, yeah, I'm going to do that! If so, leave your thoughts in the comments below; let me know your takeaways and what you plan to implement in your business based on what you heard in today's episode.

It's not my place to tell you that your body's not beautiful. I'm going to show you what I'm seeing and what I think is beautiful, and then you can tell me ‘yes’ or ‘no’. We have five base poses we use for all of our clients, and then I might tweak from there. But every client is shot the same way because we want them to see that they're beautiful how they are. And I'm not going to put that judgment on them in our studio. And I think our clients really appreciate that. – Ayla Quellhorst

If you have any questions I missed or a specific question you’d like to ask Ayla, or if you want to say thanks for coming on the show, feel free to add them in the comments area below.

iTunes Reviews and Shout-outs

I check for any new iTunes or Google reviews each week, and it's always a buzz to receive these… for several reasons.

Firstly, it's confirmation that I'm on the right track with the interviews and that they are helping you improve your photography business. That's awesome!

Secondly, iTunes and Google are the most significant podcast search engines, and your reviews and ratings help other photographers find PhotoBizX. More listeners mean more interviews and, ultimately, a better show.

My love is really with these women, and hearing their stories, and learning about them, and helping a lot of them, in a way, navigate some life challenges that they've faced. I've been through a lot, and so it not only I think are the shoots helping them, but it's also helps me, because I realized that like as women, a lot of us have been through similar things, and not even just women, because we photograph a lot of men now too, and we're finding men are actually more self conscious than the women we get in and so I think it's just really that that piece of empowerment, is really just what I gravitate to. – Ayla Quellhorst

If you have left a review in the past, thank you! If you haven't and you'd like to, head to https://photobizx.com/itunes or https://photobizx.com/google. You can leave some honest feedback and a rating, which will help both me and the show. I'll be sure to thank you on the show and add a link to your website or blog if you let me know the URL of your website and your name.

Alternatively, if you've left a review for PhotoBizX and are looking for more backlinks to help your SEO, leave a review for the new Photography Xperiment Podcast. Email me your keywords or phrases and where you'd like me to link them.

Everything for us is very strategic, and we try to focus on like, the psychology of it. Like, the more yeses I can get before asking for a sale, the better. – Ayla Quellhorst

Another great way to get a backlink to your site is to send a video testimonial. It doesn't need to be fancy, and your phone will be perfect. Click record and tell me how PhotoBizX has impacted you and your photography business.​

Links to people, places and things mentioned in this episode:

Ayla Quellhorst Website

Ayla Quellhorst on Facebook

Ayla Quellhorst on Instagram

Ayla Quellhorst on TikTok

Ayla Quellhorst Shibari Photography Portfolio

Thank you!

Thanks again for listening and to Ayla for coming on and sharing her candid thoughts, ideas and experience on creating a successful and highly profitable boudoir photography business based on her passion and drive to have women feeling great about themselves.

We've really made a point to have different body types and different color tones and like all the range of people in our studio, because we think it's important that everybody be able to have this experience. And we don't Photoshop like we don't use liquify on any of our clients. And I think that's really important too. – Ayla Quellhorst

That’s it for me this week; I hope everything is going well for you in life and business!

Thanks, and speak soon
Andrew

The post 575: Ayla Quellhorst – A simple recipe for a very profitable boudoir photography business appeared first on Photography Business Xposed - Photography Podcast - how to build and market your portrait and wedding photography business.