Family Membership - An Exclusive Club
“We’re part of a community. Our strength is our diversity. A shelter from adversity. All are welcome here.”
That page of the aptly named All Are Welcome always chokes me up when I read it to my kids. It’s one of our very favorite kids’ books, and we’ve read it so much that my daughter started humming the rhythm of the lines with me as I read, when she was two. It’s a book about inclusivity, safety at school (* sobs in anxiety *) and learning from each other, while welcoming each other into the community. “You have a place here. You have a space here. You are welcome here.” (Thank you, Suzanne Kaufman, for such beautiful words.)
Being inclusive is important, and it’s something I take seriously as a business owner. If we’re not a good fit, it won’t be because of the way you look, who you do or don’t believe in, or the family members you love. I think every family deserves to be documented and to have their photos displayed proudly on the walls of their home.
I have a secret though. It’s a club that’s exclusively open to certain people, and it’s called the Family Membership. (Shhhh, it’s a secret.)
This exclusive club is only open to clients I’ve worked with before, and who enjoyed the experience enough to want to work with me again.
The point of the membership is to take one thing off your plate - remembering to schedule family photos every year - and to put it on mine. I manage the membership with an elaborate system of levers and pulleys, in order to help me remember what each family in the membership needs. (JK, the elaborate system is actually a workflow of quarterly emails and a self-scheduling calendar. But levers and pulleys might be a good addition to my office.)
Clients in the membership (aka Family Members) get preferential treatment - they get first dibs on my calendar, and because we’ve worked together before, they get a discount on the different types of sessions I offer, along with a hefty price cut on my classic hour-long sessions. We also spread the cost of the membership (aka the cost of their annual session) over the course of 12 months, which is charged through my lever and pulley system automatically on the same day each month. So, one other thing to not have to remember.
Several of my Family Members like to save their 60-minute family session for their annual family update, and then schedule a 30-minute session around each kid’s birthday, when grandparents tend to be in town, and they can get updated birthday photos. It’s ingenious, in my opinion.
So, why is this amazingness only open to previous clients? It’s not that I don’t trust strangers (although…). It’s because we both want to get to know each other before we sign a 12-month contract. I want to know that you’re as enthusiastic about your family photos as I am. And you want to know that I’m going to deliver on my promises before we enter a year-long commitment to work together.
The 2024 version of the APP Family Membership is coming up in February! So, while it’s too late for us to work together and get you into the membership this year, we have time to work together in 2024 so you can join in 2025. (And if we worked together in 2023, you’ll get an invitation here in the next couple of weeks!)
While it’s an exclusive club, I love to invite new members, to help you keep up with this wanted-but-overwhelming annual task project, and encourage you to keep updated photos of your kids around so they can see themselves on the walls of your home. To help you express to them and help them remember how deeply you’ve always loved them. That’s really what I’m here for.
