meet {and greet} Kelli France...

Describe your style…

Romantic. Classy. Whimsical. Fun.

How long have you been a photographer?

About 8 years now.

When you’re not photographing, where can we find you?

Taking care of my 3 kiddos. Cleaning the house...sometimes.

What do you display...gallery wrapped canvases?

framed portraits?

I have a TON of gallery wrapped canvas's in my living room/sales room but I also have lots of storyboards and a cool wall display of 12 square float mounts above my couch.

What's your favorite product that you offer?

All of them! Dream Albums and Millers mini-accordian albums are my latest faves.

What's the biggest size image you have displayed in your home?

30x40

Where do you photograph? {clients homes? studio?}

Mostly in client's homes and outdoors

What’s been your best marketing idea?

When I did a "Model Search" that incorporated 3 children's boutiques. The winners got "styled" at the boutique closest to them and purchased the outfits! The boutique owners loved me because of it and the images were awesome because the models had on ROCKIN' ensembles! Got lots of high orders from those clients too!

Any marketing ideas that totally failed {and made you feel like weren’t meant to do this?}

I did some "Hot Mama" mini-sessions as a Valentines promo. I wouldn't say they "failed." They just weren't very profitable. It seems that women don't like to invest a lot of money on images of themselves compared to images of their children or families.

Do you proof online or in person?

I started out doing online sales but had a client call wanting to come over and place her order in-person

and the order was WAY higher.

I've been doing in-person sales ever since and find it the BEST

method for high sales!

What's Your...Savvy Indulgence?

My Kathy Van Zeeland purple leather triple-luxe belted shopper handbag (phew, say that fast 10 times!) Love it!

favorite thing in your closet?

SHOES!!! Lots and lots of shoes!

favorite thing in your camera bag?

My 50 mm 1.4

What camera do you use?

Canon 5D

Weakness in this business?

Simplifying things.

I'm very eclectic and can sometimes be all over the place.

Do you Twitter? Facebook?

Sure do! (Although I'm not as good at Twittering)

Are there any books that have inspired you

{or helped you} in your business?

The E-Myth Revisited was a HUGE revelation for me.

Totally changed the way I run my business!

Tell us about you...Married? How long? How many children?

I have been married for almost 10 years!!! I am turning 30 in December (yikes!) and have 3 kids ages 8, 6, and 2.

What are doing on a typical Friday night...

date night or family night?

Friday is "Fun Friday" where we have a family night with the kids and take them swimming (indoors) or get a movie and popcorn. Then Saturday is (for sanity purposes) date night- woot! woot!

Favorite family ritual?

Every night, at dinner, we pass around a "talking stick" (to avoid fights over who gets to talk) and it's so funny to hear what my kids have to say. Usually, it's about what they want to do for their birthdays.

If you weren’t a photographer, what would you be?

Well, I have a degree in Elementary Ed. but teaching is SO much work (for so little $) so I would probably be a supermom and an aerobics instructor (still workin' on being both of those things, regardless)

Tell us your proudest moment of your career…

When I opened up the recent November (2009) Professional Photographers Magazine to see one of my images in a Simply Canvas ad (of course, they asked for my permission first).

Tell us about Francypants Academy,

your online mentoring course?

Francypants is an online mentoring course for beginning and advanced photographers who want their images and their business to STAND OUT in a digital world. This course is really unique because you get one-on-one critique not only on your images but on your business practices as well. I believe that a successful business requires:

50% excellent images

50% brilliant business sense.

I strive to help you with both! I've been doing it for about a year now and have gotten fabulous feedback from my students:

"Francypants Academy was KEY in helping my business go from "nice friend with a camera" to "high end custom portraiture."

Kelli revealed all of her business secrets and did not hold anything back.

It was a great investment!"

~Melissa Englebright, Melissa E. Photography

***

Kelli is offering Savvy readers $50 off the Francypants Academy!

You must purchase by November 30th and to receive the discount, just mention the "Savvy Photographer".