The Studio Takeover Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Having lost everything on more than one occasion, Keri innovated her life and how she was showing up for her family, her business, and herself. At times it felt like she was creating something from nothing; her photography business, she wrote a book, stepping forward to teach manifestation online during the pandemic, and then in 2022 she created a 40 Over 40 campaign and she disco...

Send us Fan Mail Get OBSESSED. Like so obsessed within your creative process that you grow, evolve, and become more as an Artist. Jerry shares how if you're only considerate of the outcome; the final shot, the revenue, then the joy experienced from achievement is only from the result. It lasts for a fraction of a second, and it is in his obsession with the process of creating that he stays IN...

Send us Fan Mail In business now for ten years, Kimberly has found her stride as a boudoir photographer based out of Raleigh, NC. She has this enthusiasm for her work and what she does for her clients that is magnetic and her studio is finding new heights. She's spent the past ten years loving on her community and clients and finding that is paying off in more than just referrals but in autho...

Send us Fan Mail Once Darina started seeing the aha moments and transformations her clients were experiencing in their portrait sessions with her, she dove deeper into WHY.  As photographers we sort of know on a subconscious level that we are also mindset coaches, therapists, and more in addition to being photographers. Darina has taken that role beyond the subconscious level and developed her exp...

Send us Fan Mail Is the value of our work as portrait artists in the medium of print? In the digital file(s)? Or in HOW your clients FEEL when they experience that work day in and day out in their homes and where they choose to display that work? Now, we compound that experience in the materials we use to source and produce that artwork however, Andrew is the head of Fundy, and if you are at all f...

Send us Fan Mail Between discovering her pregnancy and the pandemic occurring almost simultaneously, Amanda could exit the wedding space and begin to build her portrait business. The wedding industry taught her alot about valuing her business, her service, and her products which she incorporated into her portraits, especially in her love of her motherhood sessions. She and Cat go through her Mothe...

Send us Fan Mail An introvert's introvert, Ivana has learned that she COULD make excuses about not doing what's required for a portrait business owner to become successful: Im an introvert Its scary It cant happen in my town and the list goes on... But she also knows that SHE is responsible for the growth and success she's after for her business & she doesn't let fear stop...

Send us Fan Mail Coming from a career as a piano teacher in Texas, and growing her portrait business to full time alongside her very supportive husband, Paula has discovered that having a sustainable foundation is the first step but her growth of that business is in discovering WHO she loves to photograph. Working from her home studio to keep her overhead low her next goal is to purchase a new spa...

Send us Fan Mail ADHD comes with it's own host of challenges and with the stigma historically associated with neurodivergence, can be a a point of contention for many creatives. Jen pulls back the curtain on the modes of the brain. Default: reflective, contemplation, rumination, day dreaming Active: Taking action Thoughts lead to emotion, to the emotion, to the action (or inaction). As neurod...

Send us Fan Mail Finding the mirror for your clients and yourself through portraiture is where Bex Wood THRIVES. She's discovered that when she is overly critical, that behavior is mirrored back in her clients' level of confidence during their sessions. This was an aha for her so she created The Moxie Project in her studio to lean into helping her clients discover their truest and most c...

Send us Fan Mail On our business journey as portrait artists we will be faced with our own limiting beliefs around what we value. Canadian portrait photographer Aamel Abed shares how coming to the portrait space following a career in IT she sold her work, as many of us do for $60 a session and included everything for her clients. Then hopping on a plane from Canada to Las Vegas for the WPPI trades...

Send us Fan Mail "I want to give a gift..." Love Mim's approach in realizing that while she wants to be able to give a gift to the people she photographs and that means she needs to be sustainable and it needs to be worth her time. As much as we love our craft, the second we have created a business, we need to ensure that our infrastructure and sales process generates revenue so tha...

Send us Fan Mail Noel is expanding his offers in his branding and commercial work and already knows that in order to get results that no one else is getting, you have to incorporate what no one else is doing to get the desired results and create work your clients are thrilled to share in their brand and it is showing up in his opportunities with clients in New Orleans and outside of his local comm...

Send us Fan Mail "I never thought of my work as a business. I was a freelancer..." For generations creatives were taught that you had a side gig to pay you so you can make the work you wanted to make on the side, and that simply isnt the case any longer. From educators like Cat Ford-Coates and Sue Bryce portrait photographers are learning that their work IS valuable. Jana was a street ph...

Send us Fan Mail Heather is a POWERHOUSE!! From schools to corporations Heather has mastered the art and science of high volume branding photography. In this discussion Cat and Heather discovered their mutual love of systems and Heather shares with us how she got IN to photographing high volume work, and how she's evolved her processes to serve her clients at her best. Having started as an on...

Send us Fan Mail Working with your partner, up-leveling your skills, and nurturing yourself by knowing your own limitations so that you can be at your best to serve your clients and grow your business with Joni Hough. When we come into this space of owning and running a portrait business we often have expectations of ourselves in the name of "savings": we'll do hair and makeup and p...

Send us Fan Mail Being a creative entrepreneur has its challenges and we could say those challenges are limited to the growth of our style, or improving technically, or in effective marketing even, but that isn't the all and the everything. Sometimes we have to make tough decisions too. Decisions like "do I get a job while I build this foundation?" or "do I take on THIS demogra...

Send us Fan Mail Bassam and Cat rekindle their Artist Forge connection and dig into his discovery of photography and spending a year mastering his skillsets in lighting, and posing,  and upon his completion of that first year (2016) he exited his career as a VP in Aerospace. Bassam maintained a consultancy arm to stay connected in that industry for small and medium businesses but dove in headfirst...

Send us Fan Mail Full disclosure, Mitzi and Cat cuss like sailors. Buckle Up. In the name of "streamlining" you realize you've created a house of cards versus a stable business and how your desire to be challenged in what you create and how you create that thing you create and what it teaches us as people, and as business owners, and artists. So Mitzi and Cat go down the rabbit hole...

Send us Fan Mail As a husband, father, and employee to an Artist! Simon is a humble man taking his folio building and learning through CreativeLive (courses by John Cornicello) quite seriously, but after encouragement from his friend Angie Whitten and guidance from Saray Taylor-Roman and myself with The Consultation Collection stepped into TFP (trade) sessions into charging sustainable pricing and...

Send us Fan Mail "Enthusiasm" is from the Latin root "Enthios" which means: to be filled with a Godlike energy. Emily Pearl IS a very enthusiastic person. When she lights up, she ⭐️LIGHTS⭐️ UP. And it is THAT energy that not only draws her portrait clients to her, but powers the work she creates. It is how she taps into love to CREATE. Emily and Cat talk and dance through fai...

Send us Fan Mail As a man in the boudoir photography world Ben has been very intentional with how he shows up for his clients in creating safe environments, a clinical approach, and assuredly in his marketing to educate his audience about his work. He's uncovered and developed his style, at first through emulation of photographers before him like Peter Hurley and Sue Bryce and learned that he...

Send us Fan Mail What you allow for yourself is up to you. Coming from a career as a nurse practitioner into full time as a portrait photographer, Hadonica has grown her business to support how she wants to live her life. She's been able to leave nursing and expand into two locations, and she now leverages her portrait business and revenue into real estate to build her personal wealth. "...

Send us Fan Mail Being an entrepreneur can be isolating. You're trying to figurer out all the "things", and you can feel like you are alone. Judith was courageous enough to bring her startup portrait business and share her story, and even receive mentoring from Cat Ford-Coates to be shared on the Takeover podcast so that she has some direction moving forward. You don't HAVE to...

Send us Fan Mail My mentor has always said "You will learn more about who you are as a person when you start and learn to run a business (successful and unsuccessful)." And today we are talking with Angie Whitten who leans INTO that motto to grow and scale her portrait business and who she is as a person. She shares her journey from the auto industry and how her husband encouraged her to...