Starting a creative business can be easy. With a website and a few clients, the dream is started. But BUILDING that dream over time into the kind of business that will not only support your family but allow you to both make a living and a LIFE doing what you love….well, that is much harder. Add to that a saturated market pretty much anywhere you go and clients who are more budget conscious now than ever before, and it can start to feel like you will never make it out of those “just starting out” prices to a place where your business is actually growing and the dream can start to feel real. Until the fear ultimately becomes that even the smallest increase in price, the smallest act of bravery of charging what you’re worth, will make those inquiries drop off completely. So you stay... stuck. And the dream feels just a little more far off. Believe me, we get it. And we’ve been there too. But in this one hour jam-packed presentation, we are going to show you step by step how we went from barely breaking even with our packages (and even losing money at the very beginning) to being at the very top high end of our industry, booking our calendar FULL, and bringing in business revenue that regularly lands in the high six figures . After nearly ten years of being full time in our own business and teaching creatives all over the world, we have learned a combination of factors that go into creating a brand that can charge what it’s worth: commitment to the craft, customer service, connection marketing, a raving fan base of clients, a brand that goes to work for you, the ability to curate your own work, and most of all a purpose that’s higher than yourself. That’s a lot! But in this presentation we are going to break it down, showing you the top 5 “demand-shifting” areas that people ignore in their businesses that keep them stuck right where they are….and how to go about fixing them FAST! At the end of this talk, you will walk away with practical, tangible changes that you can put into place before the conference is even over to get your business on track to where it needs to be, to start raising those prices with confidence, and to make all of your hard work worth more!

Making Your Work Worth More: How to Raise Prices Without Losing Business

Hi friends! I’m Mary Marantz, and I am a writer, blogger, speaker, educator, and one half of the international wedding photography duo, Justin & Mary!! I am married to the love of my life and best friend, Justin, and together we own the two fluffiest (and craziest!) golden retrievers you’ll ever meet, named Cooper (#cooperthewonderpup) and Atticus (@attaboyatticus )! We have been so blessed to be able to travel all over the globe (London, Paris, Provence & Australia are our favorites!) shooting weddings, teaching workshops for other small business owners, and speaking at amazing events from small intimate groups to a stage of several thousand. We have been lucky enough to be featured in Inside Weddings, Style Me Pretty & Martha Stewart, and three years ago we also co-founded twin wedding blogs The Black Tie Bride & The Well Groomed Groom. We have a HUGE heart for teaching and in addition to our workshops, we also offer in person mentoring and a ton of online resources and courses that you can find in our J&M Store (http://www.jmtheguide.com) As you can imagine, this all requires a LOT of coffee! :) When I'm not shooting or teaching, you can find me watching “save the world movies” with Justin & the pups on our couch while eating popcorn, shopping at Kate Spade or J.Crew, decorating some new part of our very old 1800s era house, having a dance party in my living room, eating ALL the pasta, or having a deep & amazing conversation with friends. I believe in grace, good manners, good storytelling, breakfasts in bed, having something you stand for, and creating a legacy that will live on long after me. I owe my whole life and every good thing in it to God! I am SO excited for this conference and I can’t WAIT to meet you all!! 

|

|

|

|

Mary Marantz