Consultations and Guest Speaking
Sheri’s goal as a group speaker and/or mentor is always to see an individual grow their creativity and improve their business. As an adjunct instructor at Nossi College of Art since 2010, Sheri has offered her expertise in educating students in business and marketing classes to prepare them as entrepreneurs upon graduation. As a successful self-employed business owner in the commercial photography industry for more than 20 years, Sheri offers insight and experience from her own success to help others prepare for the road ahead. Her knowledge provides great insight for those starting a business in any creative field.
Sheri is available as a guest speaker to discuss the commercial photography industry or to discuss any of the business sessions for creative entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, or freelancers listed below. She also offers one on one consultations on business topics that appeal to photographers, artists, and other creatives on the road to self-employment (details below).
*What does a photography consultation include? Consultations run between 1-1 ½ hours tailored to your marketing needs, in person, in Nashville. Each session offers Sheri’s expertise within the topic selected and an outline as a PDF download of the key topics discussed.
*How do I choose? Pick a session below that appeals to your most important business need. If you prefer to do more than one Sheri can help to decide the order based on your business knowledge. The focus will be on what is perfect for you and your brand.
*What do I need to do before my session? First, you will need to provide Sheri with an outline of the type of business you have or plan to have. Then share what you hope to achieve within your session. After a conversation over the phone, Sheri will customize your session in advance to ensure that you will walk away with the tools you need to achieve your goals. Once you have talked with Sheri and provided her with your goals you will be asked to pay for the session in advance via PayPal to lock in a date that fits in with your schedule.
Business sessions available for creative entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, or freelancers:
Session 1:
Your Business Roadmap- This includes defining what you are good at, helping you to determine your market, what kind of work opportunities are within your market, commercial vs consumer, and who and how will you approach potential clients.
Session 2:
Understanding Competition- includes determining who your competition is, why are they competitors, how can you stand out above your competition and what can you offer that is unique…AKA thinking outside the box!
Session 3:
Defining your Business- includes determining what you plan to sell based on your market, keywording, what does your market want, planning your elevator pitch, mission/bio, and tagline.
Session 4:
Building your Social Media Presence- (overview of building a plan, developing your community and your online reputation), includes the best tool to use, social media resources available, branding for success, creating a plan, and putting it all into action.
Session 5:
Time Management Principles and keeping track of expenses- outlining ways to stay organized, saving time with your expenses, tips, software, and other ideas to help you stay on top of your business.
Session6:
Bidding on a job- (commercial and corporate photography only) includes how to price your work based on your market, understanding client needs, determining use, and expenses, and putting it all together in an estimate or proposal.
Session 7:
10 Ways to unlock your creative potential- offering ways to rekindle your inner ability to find your creative way and allow your self-expression the ability to resurface, exercises that will allow you to begin to see why you get lost and how to find your way, tools that will help you to rediscover your creative potential and share your gift with the world.
Session 8:
iPhonography Business Marketing- how to use your iPhone to create an online presence for your business, including lighting techniques for better pictures, social media avenues, and camera apps available. (focus is on the iPhone although most apps and details covered work with any android on the market).
*Fees will apply if you cancel or have to reschedule a session.
*Guest Speaking fees are determined based on time, location, materials, number of attendees, and other details needed per event.
Below is the link for your prepay option and to lock in a date (discussed in advance).
My experience as a successful commercial photographer and business owner for over 25 years has given me the knowledge to help creatives like you who are just starting out. Let me save you time growing your successful business so you can live your dream now!
Sheri Oneal
Consultations and Guest Speaking
My goal as a group speaker and mentor is always to see an individual grow their creativity and improve their business. As an adjunct instructor at Nossi College of Art for 10 years, I offered my expertise in educating students in business and marketing classes to prepare them as entrepreneurs upon graduation. As a successful self-employed business owner in the commercial photography industry, I have the insight and experience from my own success to help others prepare for the road ahead. My knowledge provides great insight for those starting a business in any creative field.
Common Questions
I am available as a guest speaker to discuss the commercial industry or any of the sessions listed here. I also offer one-on-one consultations on topics that appeal to photographers, artists, and other creatives on the road to starting their own businesses as self-employed creatives.
What does a consultation include?
Consultations run between 1-1 ½ hours and are tailored to your marketing needs, in person, in Nashville. Each session offers my expertise within the topic selected and an outline as a PDF download of the key topics discussed.
How do I choose?
Pick a session that appeals to your most important business need. If you prefer to do more than one I can help to decide the order based on your business knowledge. The focus will be on what is perfect for you and your brand.
What do I need to do before my session?
First, you must provide me with an outline of the type of business you have or plan to have. Then share what you hope to achieve within your session. After a conversation over the phone, I will customize your session in advance to ensure that you will walk away with the tools you need to achieve your goals. Once you have talked with me and provided me with your goals you will need to purchase your session in PayPal to lock in a calendar date.
Session A
Your Business Roadmap
In this session, I help you to outline and define what you are good at as a service or what you will sell as a product. You will determine exactly what your market is and what kind of work opportunities are within your market. You will determine if your product or service should appeal to the consumer or commercial markets. You will research who your potential clients are and how to approach them effectively.
Session B
Understanding Your Competition
In this session, you will research and determine who your competitors are and why. You uncover different ways that will help you stand out and rise above your competition. You develop what can you offer that is unique using your own creativity. I show you how to brainstorm and think outside the box so that your service or product will stand out.
Session C
Defining Your Business
In this session, you will learn how to design exactly what you plan to sell based on your market. You will determine what your market wants and choose your main keywords. I help you outline the important details of your elevator pitch, mission statement, bio, and tagline depending on your business model. This process is centered around the development of your brand showcasing your product or service to your market in a distinctly clear way.
Session D
Determining The Cost To Run Your Business
Do you know what it will cost to run your business? Having a budget and understanding the cost involved to start and maintain your business is crucial for success. But how do you determine the business cost if you haven’t started it yet? In this session, I help you develop a list of possible expenses that apply to your business model in order to determine the cost of running it. I help you develop a list of living expenses and outline your estimated monthly budget cost. Using your personal and estimated business expenses you will develop your CODB (Cost Of Doing Business) budget to ensure you know how much it will cost to grow your business.
Session E
Developing Your Brand
Your brand is important in growing a successful business because this is how a customer identifies with you, your service, or your product directly. In this session, you will develop the essential elements that your brand should include, and what it should look like. You will determine the mood, color scheme, and other important visual elements needed to develop matching business materials. I show you how to create a brand-style template so you can use it to develop marketing materials such as your website, social shares templates, and business cards. I offer insight into services that will help you build your own marketing materials using your brand style once you have it developed.
Session F
An Introduction To SEO
In this session, I teach you the basics of SEO (search engine optimization) and why it is important with everything you do online. I help you understand how to strengthen your website content to help grow your online presence among your competitors. I share ways you can make the content on your site more appealing to google search as well as your customers. I share how to properly size your images and what information to include regarding ALT tags, descriptions, and image titles. Learning the importance of these elements is crucial for having a healthy site and being found by potential clients online.
Session G
Building Your Social Media Presence
Once you understand SEO you need to learn how to design precisely what you plan to sell based on your market. In this session, you will determine what your market wants and how you can reach them using keywords. Using the elements of proper SEO you will research and determine the right keywords that will reach the market you want to attract. Depending on your business model, I help you outline the important details using keywords and content that connect your brand and market successfully. Using those elements you will then develop an elevator pitch, mission statement, bio, and tagline. This process is centered around the development of your brand showcasing your product or service to your market in a distinctly clear way.
Session H
Time Management Principles
In this session, you will discover the best methods to help manage your time efficiently. I share with you potential apps and software that can help you use your time more efficiently. Tools that can you schedule calendar appointments directly with your clients, time blocking, task development, and proper allocation for successful planning.
Session I
Developing Your Chart Of Accounts For Quickbooks
This session helps you to develop your chart of account list for your income and expenses. I offer possible list items based on your business services and expenses. I also share the basic setup of these items in Quickbooks, which can easily help allocate your taxes. You will develop your own list that includes the aspects of your type of small independent business.
Session J
Developing Your Cost Of Doing Business
Prerequisite Session D- Determine The Cost To Run Your Business. In this session, I show you how to determine how to price your work based on your market. I work with you to understand how to use your personal and business expenses combined with income to create an average daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly budget cost outline to run your business. This prepares you for the costs involved to run the business you want with the lifestyle you desire.
Session K
Understanding What To Charge
Before you can sell a product or service you need to determine the market value of what you offer and the time it will take to deliver it successfully to your customer. In this session, we walk through the steps of how determining what you should charge for your service or product. You will research your competitors and market to understand the value of what you offer. Using that information you will determine your own pricing and develop your own list of possible products and services. I will also provide you with tips to how this information can be used in Quickbooks.
Session L
Bidding, Estimates And Invoices
How do you bid on a job? This session offers different ways to understand your client’s needs, determine the use, and possible expenses, to develop an estimate, proposal, and invoice. I share ideas for laying this information out clearly for your customer and what should be included in your estimates, proposals, and invoices. I offer tips for developing your steps and following up with your customers. After taking this session, you can create your own estimate, proposals, and invoices.
Contact me!
Are you working on your brand and in need of a new headshot? Are you working on marketing for your product or service and need photos of your office, facility, or staff in the field? Got a project you need professionally photographed? Contact me and I will show you ho I can help!
Contact us and let’s start building something!
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Photography
Imagery that shows compassion, strength, and beauty.
Photography with a story to tell