This Can't Be That Hard

Last summer, I created a program designed to protect me and my business from an unforeseen event that might prevent me from working for a period of time… I was thinking of a broken leg or some other kind of short-term disability situation. But in an incredibly fortunate, timely way, that program has protected me and my family financially during the Covid-19 outbreak when, like the rest of you, I h...

Despite what you may think, your job as a photographer is not making amazing photos. Your job is to help your clients transform  in some way, or experience a feeling that they want or need to feel, and the tool that you use to create that transformation or experience that feeling is your amazing photos. But making amazing photos is just one part of that job. This week on the podcast, I'm goin...

One of the most common things that I hear from my listeners is that they feel bombarded. Whether they have their own goals or are being told by others that they need to buy this or offer that... there's no shortage of ideas, but they get stuck in analysis paralysis about what their next step should be. Unfortunately, there's no one size fits all answer to that question, but there is a on...

What assumptions are you making that are hurting you and your photography business? Assumptions may be a necessary part of the way we navigate the world, but if this past few weeks has taught us anything, it's that assumptions can also be dangerous. Today I want to talk about some of the more harmful assumptions that you may be making so that we can flip the script and open up some possibilit...

Over the past few weeks, I have caught myself many times thinking "Ah, I cannot wait for things to get back to normal". And then sometime last week, it hit me like a ton of bricks. Things are not going back to normal. We are not going to go back to pre-COVID 19 life anytime soon. So, I have been doing some thinking about what that means and that is what I want to talk to you about in tod...

Today I have two of my super-besties on the podcast - Kate Thompson and Posy Quarterman, who are my co founders of The Family Narrative and also happen to be two of my very best friends - and I'm really excited to share our conversation today. I have been planning all along to have them on the podcast periodically because I find our conversations about the state of the industry to be really g...

I will be completely honest: this last week has been a little less productive than I had initially hoped. I think I had my sights set on taking advantage of some extra space in my schedule to get some really big things done, but I have been in something of a fog. And if you're like me or most of the people who I'm chatting with on social media, you feel that way too. And here's the...

I could not be more excited to share today's interview with you. As you know, it is my very first time interviewing someone for the podcast and who better to interview than the fabulous Elena S. Blair! I first got to know Elena because she taught for us at the Family Narrative in 2019. Elena is a woman who is a self taught photographer with no background in business, much like a lot of us, wh...

I am recording this on Monday for release first thing Tuesday morning. And so you're not going to get a whole lot of fancy editing (not that you normally do anyway). I am doing this on the fly because I know that a lot of you are understandably feeling very lost and concerned about what you can do in the coming weeks and months to potentially make up for some of the lost income happening in t...

Today’s podcast is going to be a little different. I’m going to be sharing a series of messages that I was exchanging over the last few days with one of my Simple Sales Blueprint students. I wanted to share this exchange because it has taken me on a highly emotional journey that started with empathy, which then morphed into white hot anger, and which I am now resolved to channeling into action. Re...

Today, we’re talking about 3 tools that I believe have the power to benefit every single photographer’s business, full-stop. I realize that is a pretty lofty promise, but I feel pretty strongly about it, and I'm excited to tell you why on today’s episode. Resources: New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources. Join our comm...

One of the biggest perks of being an entrepreneur is that you get to carve your own path. You get to make all the decisions without having to have any meetings or pitch anybody about anything. It can be exhilarating to be free to have an idea and execute it without anyone stopping you. The only downside is that there's nobody there to guarantee that your path is going to lead anywhere, much l...

One of the biggest frustrations that I hear from a lot of photographers is that they are struggling to market their businesses effectively. So, today I'm going to talk about the biggest mistake that I see most photographers making in their marketing strategy, and how a simple mindset shift can help make your marketing become much more effective. Resources: New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbe...

The core of our success as small business owners and photographers is the concept of trust. Trust - or lack of trust - affects pretty much every piece of our business. By being aware of that and actively cultivating it, we can take a much more active role in our success instead of waiting around wondering when it's going to happen. Developing trust with our clients and our wider audience is t...

As artists who create custom work, we don't have the same ability as some other entrepreneurs to scale our businesses. It's like we're on a hamster wheel… if we want to make more money, we have to do more work. Right? Well, sort of. Although custom photography may not be scalable in the same way that manufacturing widgets is, I have two suggestions that I believe will help you creat...

I hardly know a single photographer who hasn't stressed and struggled over pricing at some point or another. And the truth is that most photographers continue to stress and struggle about it a lot longer than necessary. In today's episode, we're taking the phrase "charge your worth" and throwing it out the window. Resources: New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com...

Have you ever looked at another photographer’s website or Instagram feed and said to yourself, "How in the world is that photographer booking more work than I am?" Or "How is that photographer making more money than I am?" If you have, then this is the podcast for you. It's my goal to deliver real world, actionable business strategies each week to help your photography bus...