Most photographers run their business one shoot at a time: land the job, deliver the work, then start chasing the next client from zero. This episode is about breaking that cycle and turning past clients into a source of steady, recurring income.
Marcus and Sam cover two different ways to build repeat business into a commercial photographer’s workflow, so you can pick whichever fits your client base best.
The retainer model: a monthly or quarterly plan that replaces one-off invoices with a smaller, predictable monthly fee, why that figure feels more affordable to clients even though it earns you more over a year, and how it turns you into an ongoing part of a client’s marketing rather than someone who shows up once and disappears.
- Why one big invoice costs you more than monthly ever could
- The seasonal trick that keeps clients hooked
- Spotting which businesses are worth pitching a retainer to
- The packaging mistake that leads to scope creep
- The billing habit that stops clients quietly drifting away
- A no-subscription way to keep bookings rolling in
- Why in-house photographer hires are good news, not bad
- Why one big invoice costs you more than monthly ever could
- The seasonal trick that keeps clients hooked
- Spotting which businesses are worth pitching a retainer to
- The packaging mistake that leads to scope creep
- The billing habit that stops clients quietly drifting away
- A no-subscription way to keep bookings rolling in
- Why in-house photographer hires are good news, not bad
If you’ve ever finished a shoot and immediately had to start hunting for the next client, this episode is the fix for that feeling.
Offering Subscription Services to your clients is another way to build that same recurring income.
00:01.14
Marcus Ahmad
Well hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Commercial Photographer Podcast with myself Marcus Ahmad and my wonderful co-host Sam. How you doing mate?
00:13.02
Sam Hollis
Very good, Marcus. How about you?
00:15.22
Marcus Ahmad
I am terrific thank you. I’m terrific. Yeah really good. Enjoying the summer. All good with me.
00:20.06
Sam Hollis
Excellent.
00:20.98
Marcus Ahmad
So what’s going on?
00:23.03
Sam Hollis
Well, I mean, i was quite inspired by your last show where you were talking about things to do in the summer and things. And one of the things you talked about was getting back in touch with your clients. And that really got me thinking, so I’m going to kind of do do a show about
00:32.86
Marcus Ahmad
That’s right.
00:36.41
Sam Hollis
Turning clients into a repeat business, you know, different ways you can try and get that income coming in more by making sure your clients keep coming back and keep coming back.
00:46.15
Marcus Ahmad
That’s what we want. ahs Let’s hear how we do it.
00:49.22
Sam Hollis
Cool. Right, gonna do a quick pause. Apologies, Calum, because I’ve plugged my laptop in, but it doesn’t seem to actually be charging. And I’m slightly ready to then stop in the middle of the show.
00:57.35
Marcus Ahmad
Get that sorted, mate. Yep.
00:59.01
Sam Hollis
Oh yeah, you have to turn the socket on when you plugged it in. Well done, Sam. Sorry about Calum. Right, I’ll now carry on. So, um yeah, as a photographer, often most photographers work with one batch of work coming into time.
01:14.61
Sam Hollis
I’ve got to shoot, do the shoot, money comes in, end of shoot, looking for more shoots as a very basic model. That’s how 90% of photographers run, but some, and you might get some clients coming back, some not, but you can make it
01:23.55
Marcus Ahmad
Mm-hmm.
01:29.78
Sam Hollis
with systems and thought and organizations quite different and much more of a continuous income, continuous relationship model. So we’re going to talk about that. Obviously for you, big advantages are that you’ve got money constantly coming in.
01:43.31
Sam Hollis
You can plan a bit more, you can organize a bit more, you know where you are. It just makes life, it I mean part the thing that it makes life less worrying when the, you know, there’s regular money coming in each month in the bank.
01:54.37
Marcus Ahmad
Of course, yeah. That’s what you want, it really, isn’t it?
01:55.64
Sam Hollis
make Exactly.
01:57.39
Marcus Ahmad
Funnily enough, ah a fellow a video friend a friend of mine who owns a video company once said to me, and he used to do photography, and he said to me that he always thought that photography was the worst business model you could do.
02:08.97
Marcus Ahmad
For that very reason, Sam, you’re always chasing your tail.
02:10.30
Sam Hollis
then like that’s it but you don’t have to do that model so i mean the clients who who have used your dd already know you like you trust you so the work of sale in some ways is is and marketing is 90 done because if you’re starting with somebody new they’re getting to know you they’re not sure who you are they already know all that they already knew good photos so from that point of view amazing you know they’ve already converted And many of them actually probably need more photos, even if they don’t quite know it, or maybe they know it and you don’t quite know it. So lots them, you know, probably ah actually want new work, they just haven’t really thought about it and just need a bit of a nudge.
02:46.04
Sam Hollis
So almost the money’s set there on the table.
02:47.33
Marcus Ahmad
Mm-hmm.
02:48.86
Sam Hollis
So I’m going to talk about two completely different approaches to this. And one is kind of still where you do the individual photo shoots, but you kind of build a really strong relationship in between time so that you’re not on like a retainer, but the money keeps coming.
03:03.79
Sam Hollis
And then the option is the retainer option. So I’m going to talk about that first. The idea that instead of you charge for photo shoot, end of story, they’re on some sort of monthly or quarterly plan, whatever it is, where they pay every month or pay every quarter and they get a you know, through the year, they just get a series of photo shoots.
03:20.43
Marcus Ahmad
Right.
03:22.58
Marcus Ahmad
dry
03:22.58
Sam Hollis
um You know, for the client, all sorts of advantages, especially, so I recommend, I would recommend charging monthly, because first of all, you can straight away, then you’re going, you know, well, a photo shoot is this much, but we could work, you know, if you become a retained client, whatever you call it, you know, you give it a nice name.
03:41.24
Sam Hollis
and it’s It’s actually much better for your cash flow, because it’s only this much per month. The amount you pay per month is a lovely figure because it should be less than a photo shoot because probably only doing one photo shoot every six months or once a quarter.
03:51.34
Marcus Ahmad
Yeah.
03:53.11
Sam Hollis
So instantly you’re going, it’s for the photo shoot you know, this much per month. And especially for slightly smaller businesses, know you know, I don’t have to worry about that big lump. It spreads it out.
04:03.48
Sam Hollis
It actually makes it sound more affordable when actually in the long term they’re paying me more. but that monthly figure, and they’re used to monthly figures as well nowadays with everybody, about this the other day work we markers you know with all the subscriptions we’re paying for, everyone kind of knows how it works, but everyone still likes that monthly figure, which is less?
04:21.85
Marcus Ahmad
Yeah, it it it’s it’s ah it’s a bit it’s a like it’s slightly deceiving, isn’t is what you’re saying there. But you know but which it’s it’s part of what we’re used to, isn’t it?
04:27.38
Sam Hollis
Yes or
04:30.98
Sam Hollis
That’s it. um But then they are getting lots of value and stuff, so it depends how you do it, yeah. So cash flow is great for customers, Obviously they get six fresh images constantly so they’re not just repeating repeating the same things and they’re getting seasonal images so they’re not in the middle of summer showing them in a big coat on a kind of drizzly street or vice versa and it doesn’t mean we have to be cheesy either in the sun and I’ve got my Hawaiian shirt on but it’s just pictures that are outside and stuff though.
04:58.91
Sam Hollis
And I think probably Mark, you’ll give this probably not stuff some in situation is what season it is.
05:02.77
Marcus Ahmad
the
05:04.31
Sam Hollis
And that kind of you know, if you’re on if you’re posting and stuff that is make such a difference.
05:09.98
Marcus Ahmad
Yeah, I totally agree with you.
05:09.98
Sam Hollis
Stuff and being fresh and maybe you’ve got new clients needing different things. And that’s all been constantly reflected and when they’re looking to post on LinkedIn or wherever else they’re posting. They’ve got fresh images rather than going well, we’ll use the same review 43 times before.
05:26.71
Marcus Ahmad
so Sam, you can you think of any business in particular, businesses, that, you know, we could approach who you think are, who would be more open to this idea of subscription models?
05:26.74
Sam Hollis
and
05:39.05
Sam Hollis
I don’t think it fits to any particular business. i think any business that does branding would be really useful to them. ah Probably some that use social media more than others would be good because they’re constantly in need of those images. um Possibly businesses that are slightly bigger, it might, you know, for the solopreneur, it might start to get a little bit expensive for them, and they might more do a one-off every few years. But if you’ve got customers that already tend to do photos every year or so, yeah, definitely them. So,
06:07.51
Sam Hollis
I can’t think of any particularly because I think it could apply to most people as long as it’s kind of affordable to them which is most yeah I think it’ll work it’s just persuading them that you know the the value of it to them in cash flow in terms of the freshness in terms of the looking seasonal in terms of the website staying updated there they’re yeah they’re not just repeating that you know their content on social is not just being stale because it’s the same pictures of them and their team again again again and again again
06:10.90
Marcus Ahmad
Okay.
06:18.87
Marcus Ahmad
Yeah.
06:36.57
Sam Hollis
Obviously for you, we’ve already said, you know, brilliant for that predictable monthly income. It’s also good for shooting schedules because often photographers are going, oh my God, I’m suddenly, well, you can go, okay, say you do a shoot, you choose the shooting schedule, but say you have a plan rate every quarter, so you can, when you’ve done one quarter shoot, schedule the next one in there, you know, and it helps you to, then you’ve got a much, much easier workload and easier to plan than kind of running around at the last minute, suddenly going from nothing to loads to nothing again, kind of helps you to plan that in.
06:55.37
Marcus Ahmad
Oh, totally.
07:06.42
Sam Hollis
um And also then it for the for the clients, they also kind of have an onboard, like an advisor, because you’re kind of helping them, advising them in between the shoots, so kind of, you know, they’re getting that side of it too, rather than you just kind of showing up, delivering the pictures, off you go and disappear.
07:23.02
Sam Hollis
Yeah.
07:23.82
Marcus Ahmad
you’re you’re Yeah, you’re more entrenched in the their business. um I mean, when I talk to my so subscription clients, i always say, look, by signing me up, you’re getting your own marketing these creative department because I’m not just supplying photos.
07:35.38
Sam Hollis
Exactly.
07:37.54
Marcus Ahmad
I can start… ah putting putting their logos on on on the images. I can you know use their text, use their brand stuff. And and also it’s good for me, Sam, because i know i can then decide how my images are being used. I’ve got much more creative control over that.
07:53.85
Sam Hollis
Exactly, yeah, perfect. So you’ve not, you mean, so when they were using stuff on socials, you’re helping them rather than them being cropped and they’re looking a bit pants, but people know they’re your images.
08:02.55
Marcus Ahmad
Exactly, Sam. Exactly right.
08:03.92
Sam Hollis
Yeah, cool. So selling this, I think we’ve talked a lot about this already. There’s that less upfront, that monthly cost, headline cost, that’s a big thing in it. Those advantages, the seasonality, that’s a big in it. Cash flow, that’s a big thing. And like we said, that advines within the team. And if you’re talking about those things, I think this is, yeah,
08:24.18
Sam Hollis
so many of your clients could go for this and would go for this if you talk about with them and give them that option if they’re talking about a photo shoot say well we can do that or you know we’ve got this that actually brings your initial cost down means you’ve got that support means you’ve got constant help throughout the year and many people will go for it
08:27.54
Marcus Ahmad
Yeah.
08:39.86
Marcus Ahmad
I think you need to package it in a way, though. That’s not just say, look, you’re going to be it’s not just money based, but you can be adding extra of the value, the V bloody V word.
08:43.80
Sam Hollis
oh that’s
08:48.50
Marcus Ahmad
I know, but adding extra value to what they’re doing and their output.
08:53.11
Sam Hollis
Exactly, that’s a funny mark, because the next thing on my list is what to include the package. There you go, you read my mind.
08:56.92
Marcus Ahmad
Wicked. Let’s go for it.
08:58.79
Sam Hollis
So yes, so the key is you’ve got to, when you’re selling it, you focus on the outcomes as in they’ll they should, you know, they’ll have fresher social content, which help them engage more, they’ll have a better looking website.
09:10.28
Sam Hollis
So we’re talking about them actually getting more customers and stuff. So that side is kind of what sells it, but you also need to make very clear the what you get in terms of you get A, B, C, D, E. Now often say that’s not what sells it.
09:21.40
Sam Hollis
but you need to be very clear what they do get because in some cases you don’t want them to expect this and then get this and you don’t want them to be constantly asking you for things that aren’t included and you thinking this isn’t really working because I thought I’d do this and they’re asking for all of this so being very very clear from the outset what is included is important but that’s not what sells it so you’re having kind of a bullet pointed you get this you get this you get this So think of how many shoots per year, I think probably a quarterly by is probably a good base point but you might have different packages where some is more, some is less.
09:52.50
Sam Hollis
um
09:54.07
Marcus Ahmad
Just on that point, Sam, sorry, this is coming to my head, sorry to interrupt. ah Just on that point, um and this is something that I’ve noticed when I have done packages where you’ve got like four shoots during the year, you you have to be quite strict to make sure that they’re done in a certain time frame.
10:11.28
Sam Hollis
Yeah. Yeah, you don’t immediately
10:12.22
Marcus Ahmad
ah but otherwise they people will always put it off they don’t want to be photographed they’ll put it off till the end all of a sudden you’ve got us cramming four suits or it goes on till the following year or something like that
10:21.69
Sam Hollis
No, it’s definitely, well, I don’t think it should, so we’re going to come to this, amount I don’t think there should be a following year, there should be a monthly subscription, and so there shouldn’t be a discussion after it just carries on, but yeah, definitely, I would always say, you do a photo shoot basically straight off, and I would say, as part of that process, you book in the next one, you know, so so it’s far enough away, they’re not worried about it almost, you know, right, we’ll do the next one December, let’s pencil something in the calendar now, bang, we’re, you know, we’re off, and then it just carries on on that way.
10:26.17
Marcus Ahmad
no yeah
10:47.29
Sam Hollis
You’ve got to think about then the support in between, so Marcus said you might do some cropping for them and stuff, but you need to be super clear on that. Some clients will be asking for nothing and you almost need to be helping them, showing them what you do, but others will be pestering for everything, so you need to think about that too. What is it that you’re providing? to Be very, very clear, so that when they do pester beyond you kind of go, okay, this is what providing, we’ve kind of come to the limit of that, or you know whatever it is and you might have different levels where you know the top level is the pen also you’re quite happy to that but lower levels are you get i don’t know this many gifts or this many recaps whatever it is but think about it write it down and make it super clear so before they kind of sign on the dotted line you’ve sent them up this is what you get so it’s super super clear and that includes access to you whether you’re doing extra bits with the photos cropping whatever videos all those sorts of things um then also think about the shoots, are they all gonna be the same or do you maybe do like a big shoot and then minus once a year and then minus seasonal shoots, are they all the same?
11:47.32
Sam Hollis
So just think about that too.
11:48.47
Marcus Ahmad
Yeah, you have yeah you had to be a little bit flexible in it. You know, as you say, one day might be a studio shoot, a whole personal branding shoot. The next one might be covering them, doing an event or a book signing.
11:59.39
Marcus Ahmad
You know, it could be something like that.
11:59.60
Sam Hollis
There. No, there needs to be flexibility, but yeah, you’re right, there needs to be flexibility. What you do need is a clear guideline. So one, they can’t say you haven’t provided what you said because you’ve got a clear bang, bang, bang, bang.
12:10.91
Sam Hollis
bang But also they don’t start to take because some clients always, I mean, you probably know this, Marcus, some clients never ask for much. Some clients ask for a really nice amount.
12:19.05
Marcus Ahmad
Mm-hmm.
12:20.06
Sam Hollis
Some clients, and usually the ones who are trying to push the price down, want the moon and will just ask for everything. And you really have to go, no, this is what included.
12:31.54
Sam Hollis
otherwise you will go insane with them. um Cool, right. And then, yeah, so what we said a minute ago about the renewals, so I think this should be like ah a monthly pay. They pay every month, and then you’re kind of thinking about that shouldn’t then, but you don’t need to after you go, oh, should we carry on?
12:48.09
Sam Hollis
It just is automatic. It’s just a rolling, ongoing thing.
12:50.70
Marcus Ahmad
Right.
12:51.30
Sam Hollis
So the discussion never comes up. So you just need to think practically how you do that. So you need to, like, you really need an accounting system that’s invoicing automatically every month, I use GoCardless, which is then a direct debit system. So effectively, what happens is they fill in a little form, which is direct debit mandate.
13:10.20
Sam Hollis
I have zero, but other accounting systems do the same, sends out an invoice automatically every month that is then automatically paid by the direct debit every month. So it’s just, you don’t have to worry about it. The client doesn’t have to worry about it.
13:21.26
Sam Hollis
It just happens automatically and naturally.
13:23.17
Marcus Ahmad
Gotcha.
13:23.74
Sam Hollis
I mean, you could do it manually if you’re only got a few, but it’d be so easy to miss. There are three accounting packages that do those monthly, and you could just ask them to set up a standing order, but obviously that’s less in your control, the standing order.
13:28.22
Marcus Ahmad
Yeah.
13:35.51
Marcus Ahmad
Yeah. I mean, your business, no doubt, Sam, is completely, I would imagine, all most of your clients are on subscription clients.
13:41.72
Sam Hollis
Yeah, exactly. But yeah, it’s it’s making that one smoothly because part of the thing is if you’re having to every month say, oh, have you paid this month? It’s reminding them they’re paying almost while if it’s automatic, it’s kind of there’s less likelihood they’ll actually stop because it’s kind of smooth.
13:57.34
Sam Hollis
It’s happening automatically.
13:58.44
Marcus Ahmad
Hmm.
13:58.42
Sam Hollis
You know, while if every month it’s, oh, have you paid?
13:58.52
Marcus Ahmad
Right.
14:00.67
Sam Hollis
Here’s your invoice. it it it It adds some kind of friction into that system, which better you avoiding.
14:04.73
Marcus Ahmad
right
14:06.52
Sam Hollis
Cool, right, option two, I need to be super quick now. So the other option is you still do the shoot by shoot model where you get paid to do a shoot. But what you do in between is provide so much support and embed yourself in their business, almost in a similar way to subscriptions.
14:22.33
Sam Hollis
but you kind of you’re not they’re not paying subscription, but you may be charging more for the shoots. But kind of re-embed yourself in the business, give their support. So almost the next photo shoots come naturally. You know, they’re not going to go to and anyone else because you were talking to them the whole time, you’re helping them the whole time.
14:34.62
Marcus Ahmad
Okay.
14:36.02
Sam Hollis
Maybe even drip feeding them, even though they’re not paying, drip feeding them some extra content. So you don’t upload, but crop a couple of things. Give them an extra video.
14:42.84
Marcus Ahmad
Yeah.
14:42.98
Sam Hollis
Maybe even when you edit, do more than you give them. And then you can kind of just give them extra bits. So, you’re you know, you’re kind of giving them ideas, talking to them. So it’s kind of almost like the subscription where you’re kind of really embedding yourself in the business, but you’re almost making yourself part of it so that, you you know, they’re thinking about you.
14:59.19
Sam Hollis
They know you’re there. So the next photo shoots will almost come as a matter of course and automatically because you’re there and part of it. It does does take a bit of work and that’s not going to happen automatically.
15:08.22
Marcus Ahmad
Okay.
15:11.70
Sam Hollis
You’ve really got to think, how am I going to support these people? What am I going to do? And then I think the real key is to avoid the here’s your photos by approach, you know, almost maybe give them a few sets of photos, but, you know, make it really that it’s not here’s your photos by.
15:27.70
Sam Hollis
It’s just them getting the photos is part of a process.
15:31.45
Marcus Ahmad
Okay, okay, I get to. What I have noticed, Sam, um over these last few years, is a growing um and number of businesses who are taking on their own in-house photographers, you know, big companies.
15:46.81
Marcus Ahmad
um And this is just getting more and more. And but um sometimes the rates are quite low, maybe 25, you know. But sometimes they’re looking for people and the the rate is like 40 grand a year for a wage, you know, 40…
15:59.52
Marcus Ahmad
for like a good photographer video maybe as well. So obviously there’s a demand and a need for it. And this, ah boost so you know, there’s a, there’s certainly a different approach, but there is a demand for it out there.
16:11.14
Marcus Ahmad
I think regular content is what I’m saying.
16:12.41
Sam Hollis
Yeah, definitely.
16:14.46
Marcus Ahmad
That’s what, yeah.
16:14.51
Sam Hollis
Oh yeah, 100% there is definitely. And often even those people have in-house photographers often Sometimes they are photographers, but sometimes they are more content creators, more doing the videos and kind of are great on the ideas, but actually are not technical photographers.
16:29.05
Sam Hollis
So they do often then need a photographer, you know, a professional photographer to come in and do some stuff for them.
16:33.69
Marcus Ahmad
Yeah, yeah.
16:34.50
Sam Hollis
Even then, and it is also some opportunity to see those jobs advertised that you could talk that bit and go, look, i know you’re looking for a photographer. I think I could help you without having the employment because this is how I can help.
16:42.76
Marcus Ahmad
That’s right. That’s exactly right.
16:45.46
Sam Hollis
And you could talk about either model, either the these are the shoots and they’re helping you in between or kind of that subscription model, and you could help them.
16:45.62
Marcus Ahmad
Exactly. Good.
16:53.53
Sam Hollis
But yeah, if you do go for that non subscription model, embedding yourself is just that’s got to be really thought about how are you going to stay in touch? with What are you going to say, you really systemize it so you because it would be easy for it to drift. You know, there’s time every week where I’m, you know, I’ve set aside a couple of hours while I’m staying in touch with those clients. I’m thinking what else I can provide to them. So it then becomes a kind of continuous chat relationship where you’re part of their business.
17:18.67
Marcus Ahmad
That’s fantastic, Sam. Sam, that is absolutely great stuff. I love that model, the subscription model. And maybe just talking about subscriptions and subscribers, we could talk about people. Maybe if you enjoy the show, subscribe to us as well.
17:34.81
Sam Hollis
Sit, subscribe, like, send us reviews, all those sorts of things are much, much appreciated and helps other photographers find us.
17:42.01
Marcus Ahmad
Thank you.
17:42.30
Sam Hollis
And it has been a pleasure chatting, Marcus, as always.
17:43.07
Marcus Ahmad
Yeah. A pleasure, i Sam. Okay.
17:46.23
Sam Hollis
And have I’ll see you next week.
17:48.11
Marcus Ahmad
See you next week, mate. Bye-bye.
17:50.03
Sam Hollis
Bye.
