It's that time again! We realized last month that releasing our playlist at the end of the month wasn't the best, so we skipped October so we could be ready to share our favorites for this month at the beginning! Without further adieu, here's our November playlist! 

Highlights/Standouts:

• Moneytalks by AC/DC makes me feel like Luke's girlfriend again! We listened to this song all the time back in about 2006 when we first started dating!
• Thunder by Imagine Dragons has been our 'get stuff done' anthem lately!
• Ends of the Earth by Lord Huron is one of 'our songs.'
• Always have to throw in a little 80s flare, so there's some Peter Cetera on the list!
• Covers worth knowing are Out of the Woods by Ryan Adams, With or Without You by Scala, and Young Blood by Birdy.
• Luke and Becka have been playing Beautiful Trauma by P!nk for weeks! 

If you like our taste in music and want to see our previous playlist, check it out below!

• Luke & Cat's Playlist - September 2017

Join us next month for a list that is sure to be filled with Christmas music! Ho ho ho!

Lord Huron and Coldplay.
(Screen door open kinda music if you ask us!),

Luke & Cat

In the infancy of our business, we always felt a little sheepish telling customers that we only took cash or checks. And, if it was a check, they needed to make it out to our personal account, not our business name at the time, Our Little Ranch Photography. (Read more about what we learned while operating under that name here.)

 Can you imagine it? We found ourselves having the same awkward conversation time and time again:

“Actually please make it out to Luke Neumayr.”
“That’s N-E-U-M-A-Y-R.”
“Nope, not Y-E-R. Just Y-R.”
“Yup, strange spelling.”

Then, one day, after a very successful wedding shoot, we had the newlyweds and their immediate family members over for a “Preview Party”. (This was before the amazing online galleries of today were really a thing.) We showed them the highlights of the photos we took, and then, left them in privacy to discuss their ordering options. When we returned, we were beyond thrilled—the bride and groom wanted an upgraded album and the mother-of-the-bride wanted to purchase a separate album. The newlyweds started writing out a check (see conversation above) while that proud momma pulled out a credit card.

“Sorry”, we explained, “we don’t accept cards – only cash or check.”

“Ugh!” she sighed, “My husband will kill me! I’ve already overspent on the wedding. If I could pay with a credit card, I’ll have an entire month before I have to tell him!”

After fumbling for a checkbook – did she even have one in her purse? – she finally wrote out a check.

Checks in hand, we said goodbye and went back inside to celebrate another successful business transaction. Until the very next day, when we awoke to an email from that sweet, worried lady asking us to void the check. And that was our ‘aha’ moment.  We’d just lost out on $2000 sale because we had never bothered to set up a merchant account, and we preferred to avoid processing fees. 

The Takeaways:

• Practice Emotional Retail Therapy: We had an emotional buyer on our hands, swept up in the joy of seeing gorgeous photos of the bride and groom.  At that moment, our client was thinking with her heart, not her bank balance.  If she wanted to pay with credit and gain an extra month’s time, who were we to stop her?  Make it easy for them and remember –  not everyone will come back. How many times have you left something in a store, thinking you’ll come back for it, but then…you never do. It’s much easier to sell prints when clients first see the results.
  
  
• Give Credit Where Credit Is Due:  It’s an old business adage for a reason– you have to spend more to make more– and it’s right! That processing fee for accepting credit cards, is nothing compared to what you will lose if you don’t accept them. It’s just a cost of doing business.  In fact, these days, most, if not all, of our customers choose to pay with a card. And we can guarantee you that our average dollar sale is higher because of it!  Note: before adding on a convenience fee (i.e. passing along processing fees to customers who pay with credit), do your research. Depending on your state, this may not be legal. It’s not in Texas.
  
  
• Money Talks and So Do Your Clients: Think about appearances.  People are more likely to feel confident in a business that is professional and credible-looking. If you cannot accept cards or you only take checks written out to your personal account, your business practices may be speaking louder than your photos: 
  

  • Incorporate your business or set up a DBA

  • Get a business Checking Account

  • Get business Insurance

  • Set yourself up for Credit Cards

If you’re anything like us, chances are that your photography business started in some type of unexpected way. Like so many of our counterparts, we had no formal photography training and we had never operated a business before. When we first got started, the “boring business details” were the furthest thing from our minds. We are creatives – it was all about chasing light and making great photos.

We had long put off the hassle of signing up for a credit card system, telling ourselves that we wanted to keep all the money we made. We learned the hard way that this was not the best system. While some things give you piece of mind (insurance), others give your business it’s best chance at success (accepting cards). The next day, we signed up for a Square and the rest is history.

Loyalty Programs & Cash Back (two more reasons people pay with cards),

Luke & Cat

About this series: Besides being the signature to Luke’s email, this blog series features the things we’re loving as we start each Monday morning with gratitude and coffee!

View previous editions here:
Love & Coffee #1

Here’s what we’re discussing over our morning coffee on this week!

• We had our first ever family photos taken this week! Becka (our studio manager here at Luke & Cat and portrait and wedding photographer at our sister company Our Little Ranch Photography) took us out on the ranch and took photos of the 3 of us as well as just me and Luke! We hadn’t had professional photos taken of just the two of us in quite a long time! We are saving the family photos until we send out our Christmas card, but here’s one of the ones of just the two of us!

• These sticky pecan cinnamon rolls have been both the joy and bane of our existence. I had the idea of ‘jazzing up’ canned cinnamon rolls, which led me to finding this recipe. Four gooey-uncooked attempts later, we finally had a successful run with these! We halved the recipe and cooked it 30 minutes covered and then 10 minutes uncovered.
• Cat’s family’s cattle ranch hosted an educational summit for cattle ranchers on Friday. We were invited to speak about how ranchers can use photography (both professional and DIY/iPhone) to connect with their customers and help them to sell more cattle. It was an interesting merging of our two worlds, and we loved it! Did you know we live on a working ranch? 
• The Astros! We’re officially bandwagon jumpers. Several years ago, we were die hard Astros fans because one of the ranch’s customers was on the team. We went to tons of games to watch him play and had a blast. The past couple of years we’ve kinda been off the Astros fan grid mainly because we were super cheap and cut our TV package way down and didn’t get the channel anymore! But we’re loving watching the World Series and rooting for our hometown team!
• We about spit our coffee out when we saw that two of our fall editorials from our past Life & Craft Workshops were featured by Southern Living. It's such a treat whenever an older shoot resurfaces with new press. Thank you to Two Be Wed for their work in getting these national features for the Ralph Lauren Ranch and Romanticism Revisited editorials! 
• We have no heat! We made it through the coldest October night since 1923 (36°) with no heat! The backstory: when Knox was less than 1 week old, we smelled gas in our house. The gas company found a tiny leak under our home, and protocol was to pull the meter and turn off the gas. We thought the only thing that was using the gas was our hot water heater, so we bought an electric hot water heater and never turned the gas back on. Last week, our heater wasn’t working because (surprise!) it is a gas furnace. The gas company stood us up on Friday, leaving us Friday (44°) and Saturday night (36°) with no heat. We had a ceramic space heater going in Knox’s room while Luke and I survived with a fluffy white down comforter on our bed. We’re hoping to get heat today. Until then, I’m working with ear warmers on my head!

Love & Coffee (Buttered Pecan Creamer is everything!)

Luke & Cat