Katrina’s Teen Team Journey...Part 1

Hey Friends! My name is Katrina Jackson with Katrina Jackson Photography. If we are not friends yet, we most definitely will be after this year long journey that I'm about to take you on with me. This will be my 3rd year having a teen team.

Hold up! Let me backup a bit!

I have been shooting since 2011. I started like most photographers shooting everything under the sun. Ironically enough, my first 2 sessions were senior sessions. I remember coming home from that photoshoot and my cheeks hurt so bad because we laughed so much during those 2 shoots. I didn’t know it then, but in that moment seniors was going to be my thing. As I kept shooting and investing in myself with gear and education, I decided I was going to specialize. No one in my town specialized in just seniors. So that was perfect. As the years went by, my personal life was rather crazy and I had to take on less and less clients each year. During that time I also had a baby and decided I wanted to really enjoy that time with my newborn. So I took almost a year off. When I came back to social media it was literally crickets. I panicked. I was ready to dive back into my business but soon realized there was no business to come back too. It was a harsh reality to witness how fast social media really moves. One thing that was obvious I had a lot of teens following me. I do think a lot of that has to do with the fact that my oldest daughter is right smack in that age group. A lot of these girls are friends of my daughter. So I decided to leverage on that. I launched a teen team 2 years ago to get the buzz going again. It was strictly for marketing and brand awareness. Fast forward to now and I have added teens to my specialty. Teens easily was a no brainer for me. I feel like in the industry there is so much chatter about having a specialty that sometimes it’s frowned upon to do multiple genres. If i’m being 100% honest, I think that a lot of the times it can feel very high school like in this industry. I don’t know about you, but I have been there done that and never want to go back to high school. So we are not playing that game. In that moment I decided not to care what anyone had to say. I knew I had a supportive husband/family and that was the only thing that mattered to me. I didn’t owe anyone an explanation for why I was making changes in my business. I jumped into the teen industry head first. I wish I could say I had a great plan. But I didn’t, I just needed content. The plan that I had was to mirror my senior team program and had no rhyme or reason why I was doing things except for marketing reasons! That worked for the last 2 years.

But…something was missing. I’ve got content now, I have marketing material. What was I missing? Referrals! The girls were very excited to be on the team, they all wanted their pictures taken. Most even always shared their pictures if I posted them on my stories. These girls run their instagram accounts very different than they did years ago, and this can make or break us. Once they received their pictures the excitement was over. I needed to find a way to make this last longer. Vickie Black’s Teen Team Program does just this. When I received her model team information. I literally didn’t want to put it down. I had so many light bulb moments. There were so many parts and pieces that just started to click that it was a no brainer that I was going to make some major changes to my teen team this year.

November 30th

As I sit here. I literally just finished my newly updated 3rd edition teen magazine! I’ve made some BIG changes this coming year. I’m so nervous but also so excited. I kept somethings that I was previously doing but also added a lot from Vickie’s teen team program. As I was designing and making sure I included all the details that Vickie and I discussed, I was so nervous and really started second guessing myself. Should I just keep doing what I’m doing? The unknown is so scary that it can talk us out of the best thing that might have ever happen to us. I’m going to 100% trust Vickie’s teen team program because I believe in it. So I'm sticking with my gut on this one this year. I’m taking you all on my teen Journey this year! I really hope your ready because I can already tell you it’s going to be a great year! LETS GO!!!

December 2nd

This weekend I will be having model meetings and signups, I have had 27 teens sign up for VIP’S and want more information and have 17 confirmed for attending the meetings. Is everyone going to sign up? Heck No. I highly recommend following up. Don’t assume they received the emails. Just this morning I resent the email and have had 4 confirm with their meeting date and time. In the past this is something that I would not have done. Because it’s annoying and such tedious work. But this is our livelihood. So it has to be done. If it's so much of a hassle then having a team isn’t for you. Because having a team in general is some work! Don’t let my numbers keep you from launching your own teen team. This didn’t happen overnight. My first year I had 7 teens apply. My second year I had 20 girls apply. This year I had 27 girls apply! You want to know the breakdown on who actually joined? My first year all seven girls joined because it was #free! My second year 14 girls joined. Just to give you some insight out of the seven girls from my first year 5 came back my second year! I will update you all next month on who joins this year.

Next month I will update you all on the recruiting process, Model meetings, How many girls I had signed up, and more!

-Katrina