This Can't Be That Hard

Want to make more money? I mean… who doesn’t?!? But most of the time, we think the only way to make more is to charge more. Not true! Today, I’m sharing three super-effective strategies for earning more money that you can implement quickly and easily in your business without raising your rates (or worse, discounting your work to try and get more clients). Resources: New to the podcast? Go to thisc...

If you’ve ever stared longingly at the photo byline in a major publication and wondered “how can I get THAT job?!?" today’s interview is for you! For the last couple of years, Carolyn Fong’s portraits have frequently been seen illustrating stories in top news publications and ads for major brands, but the path to get there was neither short nor easy. In our conversation, Carolyn shares the de...

Since his last guest appearance on This Can’t Be That Hard, a lot has happened in Cornell Watson’s career. Most of it has been hugely positive: he’s become a regular contributor to several major news outlets, including the New York Times and the Washington Post; he’s received several awards, including a grant from the Alexia Foundation, and - last summer - was offered an artist’s residency at the...

Gloria Chou is an expert when it comes to P.R. and how to pitch yourself. And maybe “pitching yourself” isn’t on your radar as something you believe you need to do, but it should be! Think about it: you’re pitching yourself when a client contacts you, when you’re applying for a job, when you’re asking to be considered as a speaker at a conference or a guest on a podcast… as entrepreneurs, we’re re...

The Pareto Principle (aka the 80/20 rule) tells us that only 20% of our actions are responsible for 80% of our success… so the big question is: how do we find that 20% and do MORE of it? Well, one thing that definitely WON’T help find the 20% is dragging your feet on taking action. Today I want to remind you that the thing that makes your art better - getting out of your own way and trying (and ye...

It’s hard to write the show notes when you haven’t listened to the episode, but that’s exactly what I’m doing, because this episode was fully managed - from concept to final edit - by my amazing marketing wingwoman, Dayna… and I’m not going to listen to it until it drops. What I CAN tell you is that it features the stories of five of my amazing students, and who doesn’t love a good story? I seriou...

If you’ve ever scrolled Instagram and found yourself gazing longingly at someone else’s perfect-looking life, wondering why you don’t have your ish together like they do, this episode is for you. Given that I’m always talking about systems and streamlining and automating, I don’t doubt that some people might imagine that I’ve got it all figured out, particularly when it comes to business. Well - s...

For years, you’ve heard people talk about the two main choices you had for running a photography business: in-person sales and all-inclusive sales. Both of those models can be successful if they’re managed right, but both also have some pretty significant drawbacks - all-inclusive photographers are leaving (big) money on the table and giving their clients a less complete experience, and IPS photog...

You’ve heard me talk about Bluebird clients before - those ideal clients who love your work, happily pay your prices, let you do your thing artistically, then sing your praises all over town. You may also have heard me talk about snake clients - the ones who drain your time and energy, complain about your prices, micromanage your work, then top it all off with bad reviews. This week on the podcast...

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...