Freedom Focus Photography

203 - Budgets and financial planning are fascinating subjects, aren't they? I mean, who doesn't want to get lost in a world of numbers and spreadsheets and interest rates and taxes? Now that you're on the edge of your seat … Haha! Oh my friend, I get it. Talking about financial health seems so dry and it's easy to tune out but bear with me for a few minutes.  Or 40 minutes. Tha...

202 - To ask for tips or not to ask for tips?   That is not the question. Of course it isn't. It's never that obvious with Heather Lahtinen.     Do you leave a spot on your invoices for clients to tip you? I don't.    And I'm going to tell you why in this week's episode of the Hair of the Dog podcast but – and this is a big but – it's never as simple as what’s “right...

201 - Are you taking action every day?  There's so much happening in The Coaching Journals with our friend Heather Lahtinen this month. We're on Month 3 of our chance to listen in on Heather's coaching sessions with Monica Adalsteinsson of Pup + Me Photo in Phoenix and Christi Baker of Christi Baker Photography in Atlanta.    Monica is super excited (and we are thrilled for her too!...

200 - If you've been reading these emails or listening to the Hair of the Dog podcast for a while, you know there are two things that I look for every day: Wins Gratitude My friend, today, I am celebrating episode No. 200 of the Hair of the Dog podcast and I am incredibly grateful that you are along for the ride. Can I get a WOOHOO?   Now hang on … if I'm being absolutely truthful, I get...

199 - Have you ever looked at another photographer's locations and thought, "Ugh, I wish I lived there !"   Like Charlotte's ooey-gooey sunset light on the beaches of Brisbane, Australia? Or Alicja Zmysłowska's majestic mountainscapes?   Don't they make you wanna turn around and kick your spot right in the shin?   What if you took a different look at where you live? W...

198 - Have you ever cruised through the Hair of the Dog community on your Circle app and thought, "How are all these *&^%!es getting $10K sales and I'm not"?  First things first, it is great to have a goal to hit a $10,000 sale but let's settle one thing right now: It's also OK to not have them consistently. Or even to have had one at all!   I get it. It sounds blasphe...

197 - Heather Lahtinen is not fearless. I know, right? It's hard to believe. However, earlier this month, while we converged in Charlotte, North Carolina, with five pet photographers wanting to up their game at Progress Lab, I learned one of Heather's greatest fears.   Snakes.   Heather, Jessica Wasik and another photographer were driving to our next location when …   Holy sh*t. There&ap...

196 - It's time to check in with Heather and The Coaching Journals.  Two lucky members of the Hair of the Dog Elevate program – Christi Baker of Christi Baker Photography in Atlanta and Monica Adalsteinsson of Pup + Me Photography in Phoenix – won six months of one-on-one coaching with Heather.   But there was a catch! They had to agree to share their sessions with you, our Hair of the Dog po...

195 - DSLRs are dead. Long live the DSLR!   Are DSLRs dead? If you ask Robby Yankush, of YM Camera in Youngstown, Ohio , you're going to hear the straight talk.   They might not be dead yet but we can hear the death knell ringing in the distance.   This week's episode of the Hair of the Dog podcast features a replay of Gear Talk with Robby, a member's only workshop with Robby Yankus...

194 - Have you heard the old saying, "It's a marathon, not a sprint"? Laurie Elmer and Knicki Lucrezi of Urban Dog Studio in St. Petersburgh, Florida, started 20-some years ago by building the first partnership that mattered.   The one they have with each other.   Then they published a book together and now they're capitalizing on the relationships they've built in their c...

193 - Pride Month is coming up. For the entire month of June, the LGBTQ+ community celebrates the freedom to be themselves.  You might be tempted to post an image on Instagram of a dog with a rainbow bandana and proclaim yourself to be LGTBQ+ friendly. #ally #pridemonth #equality #loveislove  Please don't do that, says Lisa Peterson of Pawsh Photography in Minneapolis, my guest on this week&a...

192 - Welcome to the Coaching Journals!  Today, we're launching a new podcast series in which we're airing coaching calls between Heather Lahtinen and two members of the Hair of the Dog's Elevate community.     Elevate is our next-level program where you get one-on-one contact with Heather and her team of coaches. In six months, you will learn how to set goals, take specific actions...

191 - I received this email shortly before we left for spring break in Belize earlier this month: Dear Nicole, We’re canceling your Airbnb because we -- whoopsie! -- double-booked and you're out, sucka. OK, sure, I'm paraphrasing but that is what happened. And you know what? I was a wee bit frustrated. OK, not frustrated. I was legitimately pissed off.  But I had two choices in moving fo...

190 - Think about it for a second. What is stealing your time?  OK, I'm going to stop you right there because that's your big problem: thinking about it.     Our friend Heather Lahtinen, the master of productivity and top dog at Flourish Academy, recently learned that the best way to get things done is less thinking – more doing.     If you give yourself too much time and flexibility to...

189 - It's time for a reality check. Yes, you can do it all but do you have to? No! Guys, my life changed the day I figured out all the things in my business that I didn't want to do. Could I do them? Yes. Were they filling me with joy and satisfaction? No. Were they letting me spend time with my family and take all the trips I love to take?   Oh hell to the no.   Sara Monika, a document...

188 - Do you feel like you're just faking it sometimes?   When you think to yourself "I am not good enough" or "I'll never be as good as Blabla," you are hearing imposter syndrome take over in your brain.   And let me tell you, I do it too.    I have left sessions wishing I had planned better, realizing I missed that shot or thinking I screwed the whole thing up.   My...

Like Nicole, Karinda Kinsler's soul dies a little whenever a client doesn't order artwork. Since we know how defeating that feels, today's podcast is here to help you avoid that experience. Karinda is an equine photographer based in Montgomery, Texas, but her clients come to her from all around the country, paying a premium price for her sessions.  Through those sessions she's...

186 - If you're a regular listener to this podcast, you know I'm a big fan of gratitude and acknowledging our wins.    And holy cow, am I full of wins and gratitude today. J. Nichole Smith and I are still soaring from all the wins we counted at Global Pet Expo, where we re-introduced the pet industry to Animalhaus Stock Photography.    Global Pet Expo is one of the biggest pet-industry t...

185 - Do you know what Occam's razor is? Basically, it's the principle that the simplest explanation is most likely the right one.  When we get wrapped up in fear and dread -- some of us get paralyzed into inaction -- the best solution may be the easiest one.     Take our friend Heather Lahtinen, for example.     She looked at her YouTube channel, realized she needed to update a bunch of...

184 - Get your sparkle pants on. This episode is going to be a doozy.  There are few pet photographers who don't know who Kaylee Greer is. The brilliantly creative mastermind behind Dog Breath Photography and the author of Dogtography, Kaylee's energy is 24-7 overflowing and infectious.    Listen to this woman giggle and your day instantly gets better.    Here's the thing, though: S...

183 - Do you ever have those days when you just don't feel like there's enough time to get everything done?  Yeah, me neither. LOL! LIES! Some days, I feel like my to-do list looks like Santa's list in those kids' Christmas movies. Yours probably feels pretty similar.    That feeling like I never have enough time? That's a limiting belief -- and it doesn't serve me to...

182 - I know it's nice to think you can just put up a website, post a few times on Instagram and get found by tons of clients.  I sure wish it was that easy.    It isn't. You have to actively market your pet photography business to get found.    One of the best ways to do that, according to Zoe Hiljemark, is local PR.    Public relations. AKA earned media.     We're talking about ge...

181 - Oooh, sometimes don't you want to just punch something?  It's so easy to get frustrated when you're running a business, especially a photography business where you get to wear all the hats … photographer, marketer, accountant and on and on. There are more constructive things we can do, though, to ease our stress load and take action in our business. Johl Dunn joins me on this...

180 - You've heard the old cliché about death and taxes, right? They're the only two certain things in life.   And neither one is pleasant.   But Tiffany Bastian is, and she makes one of those certainties less painful. The taxes, of course.   Tiffany is the founder of Bastian Accounting, an organization that works exclusively with photographers, helping them get and stay tax compliant. H...

179 - There is no such thing as "competition."  Every pet photographer has a different style, a different approach, a different attitude toward doing business.   That's why it's OK to make friends with other photographers in your area.  Heather Lahtinen and I both run educational websites to make you a better photographer and a better businessperson. Sure, you could say we&apos...