Sam Adler

What I’m doing to make a million dollars in my business PART 2: If you’re looking for part 1, scroll back to the reel of “This is what Im doing to make a million dollars”. Currently I’m in Ravello on the Amalfi Coast with my business coach @leahgervais_ on a VIP day(s). Just me and her digging real deep into my business to see how I can scale it. Between the 6 figure blog, multiple 5 figure food photography clients, and the different offers I have for teaching/coaching containers were building it up to see how to get to that goal. We’re diversifying in a nutshell. The thing is that I dont want to do it just for the numbers. I am absolutely NOT willing to sacrifice my lifestyle (being present for my kids, not working weekends, burning myself out, not making any profit, travelling) for the thrill of saying I made a million. I’m learning how to do it the way that I want, and thats truly the most important thing to me. This experience has taught me not only how to do that, but also to appreciate how far I have already come in building a business from literally an idea I had in my head. Also that I am a sh*t ton more resilient, smart, and business minded than I give myself credit for bc like I said, I made this all up in my head. But the thing is, thats also the best part ♥️ To my first million, I see you, im coming for it. #foodphotographer #miamifoodphotographer #commercialfoodphotographer #learnfoodphotography #foodphotography

So many emotions being on this trip. Last time I was here on the Amalfi coast I had no photography business. I had a blog that wasn’t making any money yet. I had nothing that I owned, that was mine, just my 2 kids. I had gone through a serious bout of PPD and I was just being myself again. Now, I’m back 6 years later learning how to grow a business to a million dollars. To say I’m grateful would be the understatement of the century. I spent close to 20k on this trip. From money that I make from my business. I upgraded my flight, am staying in 4-5 star hotels and hired private drivers - because I believe in abundance, allowing yourself to live the life you dream of, and because I am fucking worth it. And so are you. PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GD don’t skimp on the things you want in life. No one is gonna hand it to you. Stop wasting your time. Enough of the excuses. No more “oh it’s fine for her but not for me” or “I wish that were me”. Decide what you want and take baby steps to make it happen. That’s what I did. Go. Now. Run. See you at the finish line. #foodphotographer #positano #positano🇮🇹 #positanofood #drinkphotography #drinkphoto #cosmopolitan

3 reasons why you NEED to join us on our Italy food photography retreat ⬇️ 1. Hone your photography skills with hands on styling and photography sessions with 2 industry experts in a luxurious house set in Massa Fermana Italy 🤩 1:1 feedback included! 2. Elevated experiences like truffle hunting/truffle cooking class, a restaurant shoot at an olive grove, and movies under the stars will make this an unforgettable experience 🎥 3. Advanced Learning & Networking: Learn advanced business strategies, pricing, and licensing from 6 figure business owners. 💰 Also, last time @roberta.dallalba and I held this retreat we sold out in less than 2 days!!! 🤯 We only have 10 spots available, so run to the link in my link tree to book your room! CANNOT WAIT TO HANG OUT IRL! #foodphotograohyretreat #photographyretreat #italyphotographyretreat #italyretreat #foodphotographyandstyling #foodphotographer #foodstylingandphotography #foodphotography

Comment “class” and it’s yours! 🫶🏻 This workshop was made for the food photographers who want to understand exactly how to price themselves, finally charge more for their work (without working harder) and negotiate like a pro. In this workshop you’ll learn the 3 things you need to go from 3K -25K contracts, things like: 🙌🏻 The do’s and don’ts of food photography pricing 💵The # 1 reason why you’re leaving business changing money on the table 📣 The exact strategic approach I use to raise my rates with clients I am already working with. Plus, its all free! Comment the word class and it’ll get sent straight to your inbox! #foodphotograpytips #foodphotography #learnfoodphotography #commercialphotography #miamifoodphotographer #foodphotographer

Excited to share some of my most recent work for a client website- mitziandmom.com This mother-daughter duo has the most delicious pies, cookies, and decorated sugar cookie sets in South Florida! This was a super fun project to work on. My clients dropped off 11 pies, 8 cookie types, and 21 sets of decorated cookies at my in home studio. I offered a day rate and estimated it would take 5 days to shoot everything. It’s honestly the best when you get to see your work out in the world, especially when its work you did for clients who are so great to work with! If you want to learn more about how to price your food photography work and getting higher paying clients, comment the word class and you’ll get a link to my FREE pricing and licensing workshop straight to your dm’s! #foodphotographyandstyling #foodphotographer #miamifoodphotographer #learnfoodphotography #foodphotography #foodphotograpytips

3 steps to price your food photography professionally: First, save this post to come back to later! 1- Know your business expenses- How much are you spending every month on subscriptions, gear, software? Getting a grip on this will lead you to knowing how much money you need to make a month to be profitable. 2- Set a realistic goal that covers expenses and a salary for yourself. Use this number as the baseline for your projects. Increasing the amount for projects or for clients that might be a littler harder to work with. 3- License your work! If a client wants to use your images in multiple places (print, website, ads,) that all adds up on your estimate on top of what your fee is. The longer they want it, the higher the price will be too. For commercial work like food photography, this is industry standard! Bonus tip number 4: Keep it professional- Have your estimate, contracts, proposals, invoices, and portfolio set up in a professional way. Bonus points if your personality shines through! If you want to learn how to price your work, license your photos, and negotiate higher rates with clients comment the word “CLASS” for a free workshop sent straight to your inbox! #foodphotography #foodphotographer #learnfoodphotography #piephoto #miamifoodphotographer #foodphotographytips

There’s a reason I wrote “MY” 😂 Years ago I felt the pressure to get the 100mm lens bc everyone raved about it. But when I got it and tried using it I realized it wasn’t for me bc it didnt support the wide scenes I liked to style and capture. So first before you buy anything- think about how you like to work, and then get a lens to support that! With that being said- here are MY favorite lenses to use: 24-70mm - I pretty much shoot on this exclusively right now, and it’s always my go to. I like the zoom features and the ability to go low down on aperture too. I can get close up sharp shots as well as wider scenes. 50mm 1.4 - I shot exclusively on a 50mm 1.8 for the first three years of my business until I knocked it over with my elbow and it shattered everywhere 🫠. I took it as a sign to level up and go for the 1.4! Again love the low aperture here but I don’t use this lens as much anymore bc I have the 24-70 85mm- I love this lens for straight on shots where u want just a tighter crop than the 70 can get me. Unpopular opinion- I have the 100mm but it literally collects dust on my shelf 🤷🏻‍♀️ 🙈. I said what I said! I know lots of people love their 100 lens but it’s just not my fave! What’s your go to? #foodphotography #foodphotographer #learnfoodphotography #commercialfoodphotography #miamifoodphotographer #fortlauderdalefoodphotographer

The studio is officially closed for the week of Passover! So grateful I was able to finish up a clients project this week before the holiday so I can take the time off and enjoy it with family. Catch us eating this flourless chocolate cake allllll week long from frostingand lfettuccine.com @frostingandfettuccine. I’ve already made two bc I know one’s not good enough! I’ll be off the gram for the next couple of days, see u on Thursday! #foodphotographer #cakephotography #flourlesschocolatecake #ooo #commercialfoodphotography

What no-one told you when you started your food photography business: 1- No two clients are the same so why should your pricing be? This is why I dont have a rate sheet. It is so much better to find out what the client needs are first, and then build a custom quote for them after. Otherwise you’re doing yourself a disservice because you could be giving a lower rate than you should be. 2- Licensing your images is industry standard. Have you been sending out proposals and doing work without charging for licensing? If yes, you’re most likely leaving thousands of dollars on the table! 3- Closing a deal with your clients can take weeks! My largest jobs have taken the longest from first contact to contract. There’s a lot that goes into a 20K+ project and most likely different people that need to sign off on it. Just because you haven’t heard back from your client yet doesn’t mean they are ghosting you! If you have a food photography business and want to learn how to go from 3K to 25K contracts, come to my free pricing working tomorrow on 3/17 at 12 pm EST! The link is in my bio to join, or you can comment the word “class” and have it sent in a DM. Can’t wait to spill ALLLLL the beans tomorrow and watch you transform your business!! #learnfoodphotography #commercialphotography #foodphotographer #foodphotography #miamifoodphotographer

On weds 4/17 at 12pm EST, I am hosting a free workshop on how to go from $3k to $25k contracts! 2 years ago I decided to make a big change and no longer focus on sponsored work. It was super scary but something I just had a gut feeling about. I let go of my management team 👋🏻 and totally rebranded. Bye @frostingandfettuccine, hello Sam Adler photography! Flash forward to me now, signing on my highest paying and most creative jobs 😭 (shooting two websites, catalogues, and more!) I really truly know want you to know that this is possible for you too- which is why I made this free workshop! Comment the word class below or sign up using the link on my profile and you’ll get the link sent straight to your inbox! See you on weds! #learnfoodphotography #foodphotographyandstyling #foodphotography #foodphotographybusiness #commercialphotographer #commercialfoodphotographer

Here’s 3 things I did over the course of my food photography career to go from making 3K on contracts to making 20k+ on contracts sine 2021: 1. Pricing- Instead of just throwing out a random number that felt good to me I figured out how much money I needed to charge to sustain and grow my business. I dont charge per photo and I dont charge per hour. I know how to charge what I’m worth because of the value I bring to my clients. 2. Licensing & Usage- OMG have you not heard me yelling this from the rooftops? If you are not charging for licensing and usage as a commercial photographer you are leaving SO much money on the table! For the first few years of my business I knew nothing about it, after learning everything I can, it’s the biggest game changer for me. It’s also not anything I saw in any food photography class until just a couple years ago, which is why I teach it now! Bc we ALL need to be charging for it. 3. Negotiating- In the beginning negotiating was scary to me, especially if you are starting to charge more for your work. But I learned some strategies and now I find it like a fun game! Bonus tip number 4- I invested in learning from different commercial photographers in different fields to make sure this is how it works across the board. Spoiler alert, it does. 🎉 If you want to grow your food photography business in 2024, and learn each of these things to get you better paying contracts, comment the work “class” and ill send you the link to my Free pricing workshop I am hosting on Wed April 17th at 12pm Est! Can’t wait to see you there its gonna be so fun!!! #learnfoodphotography #commercialfoodphotographer #foodphotographybusiness #foodphotographer #foodphotographyandstyling #commercialphotographer #foodphotography

RIP to all that money, for reals. When I first started my food photography business I knew nothing about licensing and usage, and therefore left a lot of money on the table. It wasn’t anything I knew about or knew how to charge for. When I finally realized what I was missing out on, I dove in REAL deep to learn everything I could about pricing myself effectively and how to charge for licensing and usage on top of that. Flash forward me charging over 20K+ for contracts where the licensing was *literally* more than the actual work. If you’ve been following me for a while you know I am super PASSIONATE about creatives knowing how to charge their worth, which is why I am hosting a free live workshop next week on 3 things you need to go from 3k to 25K contracts!! In this workshop we’ll go over: 1. The do’s and dont’s (almost said donuts) of food photography pricing 2. The number 1 reason why your’e leaving money on the table + what my contracts looked like before licensing and after 3. My exact negotiation strategy on how to raise your rates with clients you already have. It’s all happening live on April 17th at 12pm EST. Grab the link in my bio to register because there’s only one LIVE class and you dont want to miss it! #learnfoodphotography #commercialfoodphotographer#foodphotography #foodphotographybusiness #foodphotographer #foodphotographytips

That time I went to shoot this pineapple cake with cream cheese frosting and found the cutest baby dried pineapples in the store the week before but then when I went to shoot someone ate half the bag 🫠 

I made it work though! Bc after all isn’t food photography all about trouble shooting? If I had had more I would have scattered them all around, I love a more rustic scene! On the agenda for this week is a pie and cookie shoot for a client, and 2 ice box cakes that are currently sitting in my freezer. So many goodies in one week! PLUS tomorrow I am putting out the link for my free workshop on 3 things you need to go from 3k-25k contracts!!! Make sure you’re following along so you don’t miss it! #foodphotography #foodphotographer #foodphotographybusiness #miamifoodphotographer #commercialfoodphotographer#pineapplecake #cakephotoshoot

The number one thing you must have for food photography: GOOD LIGHT! I always tell my students, you can have the most beautifully styled scene but if you dont have good lighting it won’t look nice. Yet if you have really great lighting and a super simple scene like this, you can come out with a show stopping photo. Whether thats natural or artificial light, its the most important thing to get right when setting up your shots. I have a really big NW facing window here and the light is beautiful from 1pm on but in the morning it totally sucks. Its super helpful to know which direction your light is coming from if your using natural- usually a south or north facing window will give you the best light!

Follow along for more food photography tips! #foodphotographybusiness #foodphotographer #learnfoodphotography #foodphotography #commercialphotographer #miamifoodphotographer