Being the bargain shopper that I am, I emailed the owners of Groupon (Groupon is a deal-of-the-day website that is localized to major markets in the United States) to see if I could get them to promote my business and offer a "one day special" for me.
I had no idea if I could get a Groupon deal, but why not try, right? I photograph mostly weddings and thought getting a 'Groupon' deal would be a good way to get experience taking portraits.
On July 21 at 6am, all subscribers to the daily deals on Groupon were emailed about my special one day offer of 90% off a one hour photo session.
When 1,200 people had purchased the Groupon, the owners called me and asked if I wanted to place a cap on the number. I laughed to myself and told them 2,000, as the day before I was just hoping for 500.
A few hours after our conversation, at 3:00pm on July 21st and the 2,000th person bought the Groupon package for a 1 hour photo session. SOLD OUT!
2,000!
And almost instantaneously the little bold number in parentheses next to the word "Inbox" said 700, my phone was ringing off the hook, and I didn't quite no where to begin. First, breath, I thought. I remembered my dad's advice: How do you eat an entire elephant? One bite at a time.
Over the past two weeks, I have barely slept, eaten terribly, and sometimes cringe when I look at the numbers in my inbox going up, but I am loving all the incredible (and beautiful) people and families I have met during this process. What a blessing to have such great publicity and many people who entrust me to make them look good on camera:)
17 shoots down, 1,983 to go! One bite at a time:)