This Can't Be That Hard

Websites can be so much work: updating our photos, writing copy, figuring out layout and structure, trying to understand and work on SEO... and the list goes on. Given all that work, is really even necessary for photographers to have a website in this day and age? Carolina Guzik from The Tog Republic joins me on the podcast this week to share her insights on why the answer to that question is a re...

As a solopreneur, it’s easy to forget that the money our clients pay us isn’t what we ultimately make - that number gets whittled down by business expenses. And too many solopreneurs just take whatever’s leftover at the end of the month or year and call it a day. But I think you should set a target salary and build it into your pricing (it’s IMPORTANT to make money in your business! That’s why we...

Here are some of my favorite moments from this past year, including spotlights from some of my guests who came on and shared their real world stories, their struggles, and their insights and how those things have impacted their careers as photographers. LINKS: Simple Sales Blueprint Masterclass Episode 80 with Sabrina Gebhardt Episode 92 with Amy Sanusi Episode 125 with Elke Van den Ende Episode 1...

When I put podcast episodes together, my goal is always give you something valuable and actionable that you can use in your business. What I love about interview episodes is that new voices and perspectives bring valuable insights to ME as well! After 68 episodes in 2021, I figured we could all use a refresher - a best of the best, if you will - so I put together a quick tour of some of the highli...

With the new year right around the corner (can you believe it?), it’s the perfect time to start thinking about your goals for 2022.  But if you’re like most people, yearly goals can get lost in the flotsam and jetsam of day to day life.  So today I want to talk to you about six ways you can identify what goals you’d like to achieve for next year and the best way to do it. Resources: New to the pod...

In order to create a successful path forward, sometimes we must first look back and take stock on our past.  And this is the perfect time of year for that introspective exercise.  In this episode I share with you the 6 areas of business I examine every year; because I’ve learned even the tiniest bit of insight, when harnessed, can snowball into big wins for the next year. Register here for January...

Henry Ford once said “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said ‘faster horses.’” I hear a lot of photographers who feel stuck doing or NOT doing, selling or NOT selling certain things in their businesses based largely on what their clients tell them they want or what they see other photographers around them doing. And as much as I know that it’s important to keep an eye on the...

The biggest mistake photographers make when it comes to marketing is that they aren’t consistent about it. Today on the podcast, Julie Christie breaks down her overwhelm-free strategy for creating consistent content that will get your business in front of prospective clients and earn their trust over time.  We’ll discuss  What the different options are when it comes to key content How to plan key...

Well, guys, we've made it, it is Thanksgiving here in the US. And whether you're here in the US or not, whether you celebrate this holiday of questionable origins or not, I think we can all benefit from taking this annual opportunity to focus a bit on gratitude.  And today’s quick episode to remind you to show gratitude …to yourself. Resources: New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathar...

I know you’re busy, and I promise: today’s podcast isn’t going to add to your to-do list. Instead, I wanted to spend my time this week celebrating the value of what we do for a living. It can be easy - especially this time of year - to feel worn down, under-appreciated, and burned out. So Kami Vanous and I are chatting about why we do what we do, and why self-care (in the form of boundaries and pr...

Lisa DiGeso is a newborn photographer, podcaster, and fellow education junkie, and although we could easily have spent the entire episode bonding over those overlapping points on our respective bios, instead we dove deep on her online education platform, The Milky Way. Long before Covid forced ALL the photography conferences online, Lisa was figuring out how to create an online experience that tru...

It's November, and you know what that means: it's getting to be feel-good movie season! In that spirit, I bring you today's conversation. Melissa is a student of mine, and over the course of the last 18 months, I have loved watching her business skyrocket: she’s nearly quadrupled her prices and is busier than ever… even in the wake of a move from DC to Florida.  But it wasn’t until...

In keeping with the spooooky Halloween season, I’m dusting the cobwebs off my own personal crypt of In-Person Sales horror stories.  While IPS is widely known as the gold standard for selling photography - in some ways, with good reason - there's a bit of a dark side that few ever talk about... so today that's whta we're doing! LINKS: Simple Sales Masterclass Resources: New to the p...

Chatting with my friend Colie James always gets my creative juices flowing, but in today’s interview, I was also seeing dollar signs! Colie calls 2021 “The Year of the Pivot,” and we can all learn from her experiences and flexibility as she shares about how to handle tasks that no longer light you up, as well as leveraging what does light you up into possible revenue streams. But my favorite aha m...

It may seem early, but now is the time to start thinking about how to show your appreciation to your clients this holiday season. Every year, my goal is to strengthen the bond I have with my clients in a way that won’t break the bank (and may actually help bring in more revenue), and since I imagine those might be YOUR goals, too, I wanted to share some ideas and best practices. These five ideas r...

We all make transitions in our business, some larger (like starting our businesses in the first place or switching from weddings to portraits), some smaller (like increasing our pricing or changing our sales structure). What often happens, though, is that we make those transitions haphazardly - with a vague vision of the end goal in mind, but no organized plan for how to get from here to there. To...

I have a private Facebook group for photographers who want to talk business. Why private, you ask? Because I want people to feel free to ask hard questions - questions they may not want their friends and family (much less their clients) to see that they’re struggling with. The conversations are great, but certain topics tend to come up over and over again, so I figured I’d take some time this week...

Do you ever wish you could raise your prices but fear that your local market can’t or won’t support what you need to charge? If so, this interview with Elke Van den Ende is a must-listen.  Elke is a wedding and portrait photographer is based in Western Europe, where most portrait photographers charge just a few hundred pounds for their services. But when Elke ran her numbers and saw that those num...

I recently polled a big group of photographers asking them what three words or phrases they would use to describe their feelings about money. The responses were overwhelmingly negative, and filled with words like stress, shame, scarcity, guilt, and insecurity. And maybe it seems that since I teach photographers about how to price and sell their work, and since I come from an in-person sales backgr...

Back in Episode 117, I shared that I had decided the time was right to switch from dSLR to mirrorless, and that I was in the process of researching my camera options. I decided to share that research and decision-making process on the podcast in the hopes that it may provide a less techy, more practical approach to gear decisions in general and mirrorless cameras specifically. Although it took me...

What is going through someone’s head when they hire a photographer? Sure, they need to like the photos, and yes, they need to be able to afford the pricetag, but assuming both of those things are true, what makes someone choose one photographer over another? There are ten major drivers that motivate purchasing decisions, and once you know which one(s) are most relevant to your ideal clients, you c...

We’ve all seen the thread: a photographer gets an inquiry, sends off a response, then gets an angry response from this would-be client who is shocked and outraged at the prices they’ve just been presented with. These posts often get dozens or even hundreds of responses, and some of them, inevitably, push the original poster to “educate the client.” Today, I’m here to tell you that trying to educat...

Three years ago, fine art portrait photographer and body positivity advocate Amanda Thorson got an idea for a photo book. As of two weeks ago, that idea officially became a reality when she crossed the goal line on her Kickstarter. The photos are made, the book is designed, the funding is there… now all that’s left is to go to print! I chatted with Amanda about the whole process - what’s fun, what...

I have long preached phone calls and videos as important tools in any photographers communication arsenal, but I’ve never been able to perfectly describe the difference between when a text or email is appropriate vs. when you should pick up the phone or hit record on your camera… until I heard an interview with Juliet Funt. Funt is the author of a book called A Minute to Think, and while many of t...

When it comes to email marketing, do you ever wonder what your emails should say? How often you should send them? How you can grow a small (or non-existent) list? How you can tell whether what you’re writing is resonating with your audience? Or even just why you should bother with email marketing at all? Then this episode is for you! LINKS Flodesk Flodesk University Flodesk’s Facebook Community Qu...