The Pet Photographers Club Podcast Archives

Today’s guest launched her dog sports photography business in late 2019.. Within months the 25 upcoming events she’d booked had all been canceled due to covid. Having quit her career job, she was forced to pivot and spend most of 2020 learning as much as she could to relaunch as a pet portrait photographer. Implementing everything she learned, her focus became building relationships which now means most of her clients come from referrals. I’m talking about Michelle Crandall of Pets in Focus and you’ll want to tune in to hear all about that and her business today.

We covered

• How covid forced Michelle to change from dog sports to portraits 
• Why Covid was a blessing in disguise 
• Knowing your values right now 
• Why Michelle hasn’t gone back to dog sports
• Anxiety around education 
• How Michelle transitioned her name from dog sports to portraits with marketing 

IN THE MEMBERS-ONLY EXTENDED EPISODE:

• How managing a Pet Parade helped Michelles business 
• The marketing plan Michelle is focusing on
• Charitable marketing 
• Partners don’t need to be dog related 
• Michelle’s process to choosing a product menu
• Michelle’s meat selling product 
• Michelle’s process
• The biggest time saver
• The labs Michelle works with and why the variety

When today’s guest moved cities, continuing her landscape photography as her primary income felt impossible without local connections. She considered the contacts she did have and realized they were in the dog world. Combining her love for dogs with her love for nature, Kim Hoshall utilised these contacts to launch a pet photography business. She’s tried many different pricing structures and marketing strategies in the last ten years, and in today's episode- we spoke all about them!

We covered

• From a career in dance to professional photography
• No connections
• How Kim's income is split between landscape photography and pet photography
• The importance of connections 
• How to get started in a new city
• Kim's best lead source 
• Why offer multiple session types, and is that working?

IN THE MEMBERS-ONLY EXTENDED EPISODE

• The attraction to destination adventure sessions
• Kim's most popular product
• How Kim reaches her typical average sale and what she wants to change
• Starting a local dog community podcast as a marketing strategy

This week’s guest found herself with a quiet start to the year after her biggest lead generator, a local event was cancelled right before she was taking time off for an overseas trip. I’m talking about a returning guest to the show, Ina Jalil who instead of allowing herself to mellow in stress, invested in more coaching and took action. Fast forward four months, she’s had a 5 figure sale, her highest to date, and is almost fully booked until Australian winter.

Tune in to today’s episode to learn how she turned business around and before that, the perhaps surprising impact of her rebrand- which has helped her business mindset!

We covered:

• Ina’s journey from side hustle to professional
• The reason Ina specialises in pets 
• Digging into your why and the impact
• Why Ina uses her name as her business name 
• What happens when you rely on one lead source
• How Ina smashed marketing in a rush 

IN THE MEMBERS-ONLY EXTENDED EPISODE:

• The questions Ina asks to help with big sales 
• 10k sale - what they bought and why they booked now 
• Repeating a 5 figure sale 
• SEO, blogging and backlinks 
• Sony advocate 
• Personal projects for creativity and more bookings

Mentioned links in the show notes

I initially asked today’s guest on the show when I learned about his super successful truck studio and we did talk about it, but he also shared so much else including what gave him the confidence to take out a loan to build this business. 

I’m talking about Ryan Erickson who last year, in his first year of full time business turned over more than $200,000 from 150 clients spending an average of $1500 each. There’s tonnes of really great insights and learnings in the first part of this episode, but if you want to know how he found those clients, and here the benefits of his business plan and what that included, be sure to listen to the members-only half. If you’re not yet a member to hear that second half, use the link in the show notes to sign up today with a 14 day free trial.

We covered:

• Ryan’s journey from weddings to pet photography
• Why open a truck studio 
• Fundraisers and charitable work 
• Growing a portfolio 
• What gave Ryan the confidence to go all in
• Ryan’s backup plan

IN THE MEMBERS-ONLY EXTENDED EPISODE:

• Market Research and data, business plans and how that’s helped Ryan reach success
• Photo Truck total set up cost
• Ryan’s Turnover
• How in person events act as passive marketing for Ryan
• Why farmers markets 
• In Person Sales and the client process

Links in the shownotes: https://thepetphotographersclub.com/podcast/1602

How does an $8500 average sale sound to you with a cost of goods of just 5%. That is reality for today’s guest who deliberately moved their studio location to be in a town that aligns with their studio brand. I’m talking about Kim of Kimberly Sarah Photography. She joined us back in season five to share all things client experience and I’ve got her back today to share her insights into achieving consistently high sales. They’ve also just launched a new business, Hey Winston and if you’ve ever dreamed of outsourcing your sales- then it is for you!

We covered:

• What is a luxury studio these days 
• Low volume, high price point  
• What is a Dog Art Gallery 
• How to choose a town for your studio space
• Kimberly Sarah Photography average sale, and how they reach it
• Why they have a studio if they could make the same money without it
• Kim’s biggest tips for getting high sales 
• What is Hey Winston! And how can you help photographers and what will it cost 

IN THE MEMBERS-ONLY EXTENDED EPISODE:

• Kim’s studio sales process 
• Pricing and product options at Kimberley Sarah Photography
• The key questions Kim asks that lead to higher sales

Blogging challenge: https://thepetphotographersclub.com/blogging-challenge

Other links in the show notes: https://www.thepetphotographersclub.com/podcast/1601

For most of us pet photographers, we have to have a strong, layered marketing plan in order to get consistent bookings. But what if your website did all the heavy lifting for you? For today’s guest, Angie Rose, that’s exactly the case. Her marketing budget is almost exclusively spent on a her content creator who does all her blogging, which she admits wouldn’t get done otherwise. That blogging, combined with the main website is her biggest lead source and then it’s through her booking process that those leads are converted into dream clients.

If ditching expo’s, affiliate programs and Facebook marketing sounds like a dream to you- tune into this episode to hear how Angie runs her business without all that!

We covered:

• What clients book Angie for 
• Angie’s booking rate and the process to booking 
• Working with professionals to establish a high converting website 
• How the website helps attract enquiries and convert them to bookings

IN THE MEMBERS-ONLY EXTENDED EPISODE:

• The benefits of using your name as a business name 
• How people find Angie’s website 
• The positive impact of blogging
• Outsourcing content creation for newsletters and blogging
• How Angie customises her sessions 
• Why pets with their people?

MENTIONED LINKS

www.angierose.com

www.facebook.com/AngieRosePetPhotography

www.instagram.com/angieprose

www.thepetphotographersclub.com/blogging-challenge

Today’s guest has over 25 years of experience as a pet photographer. Back when she started, pet photography basically didn’t exist. A lot has changed in the photography world since then, but as you’ll hear, a lot of things haven’t really either. I’m talking about Margaret Bryant of Bryant Dog Photography who started out shooting dog sports on film but quickly realised that wasn’t sustainable (for the time) and moved into studio portraits. Since then she’s photographed thousands of dogs in her home studio in Texas and even published a couple of books.

One of which is helpful for us as fellow pet photographers as it’s full of posing tips and other advice. It’s called Dog Photography: How to Capture the Love, Fun and Whimsy of Man’s Best Friend

We covered a lot in this episode, from Margaret’s experiences in the early days of her business, to who our biggest competitor is and how we can book clients anyway. And if you’ve been thinking about offering puppy packages, definitely tune into the second half to hear exactly what Margaret is offering.

We covered:

• What did pet photography look like in the 90’s
• Photographing dog sports, on film!
• Why Margaret changed business models
• The reason Margaret opened a home studio 
• What’s changed in terms of sales over the last 20 years
• Where do Margaret’s clients come from
• Margaret’s golden rule to survive unexpected difficult times after making it through the GFC and Covid

IN THE MEMBERS-ONLY EXTENDED EPISODE:

• How to make it easy to book through your website
• How audience can get to know you and like you for a better client experience 
• The reason a client should choose you (and not their iPhone or AI)
• What are “in but not in” photos
• How being observant can help your client and your bottom line
• Managing expectations for a good client experience 
• Puppy first year - what it looks like, pricing, structure and why the client can own the responsibility
• Dog birthday parties as a pet photographer
• Biggest tips for someone wanting to do puppy first year 
• The impact of AI for us as pet photographers in business 

It’s been just over a year since today’s guest launched her pet photography business. She spent 2022 learning all about business and hit the ground running in 2023. She’s proof that actioning what you learn is the only way to meet your goals. Tune in to today’s episode to hear all about the marketing strategies that worked and didn’t, to get this pet photography business off the ground for England-based photographer, Diane Gollowitzer of Dogs in Focus Photography.

If you are looking to see who has recently walked the path you’ve just stepped onto- today’s episode is for you.

We covered:

• Starting a photography business without knowledge of photography 
• Why Diane quickly realised she needed to re-brand her pet photography business
• How starting a new business is just like dating!
• Following your passion and aligning your business with your values and desires 

IN THE MEMBERS-ONLY EXTENDED EPISODE:

• How Diane filled her first few months in business with paying clients
• Christmas Markets and the difference the audience can make
• Giveaways as a training ground
• Selling gift vouchers 
• What Diane would do differently next time
• Other marketing avenues Diane has tried

Check the show notes for links!

What if I told you that it’s possible to be completely fully booked thanks to past clients either returning or referring? That is the reality for today’s guest, who clearly doesn’t do things in halves! A quick look at either his Instagram or Website is proof of that with stunning images, useful information and beautiful design so it isn’t a surprise to learn that his client experience is also seamless. In today’s episode, we broke down exactly what that experience looks to make his clients tell all of their friends!

We covered:

• The reason Carlos is running his business part-time
• Client availability for a part-time business offering this style of pet photography
• The marketing campaign that actively seeks out the friends of his clients and turns them into clients too
• An overview of Carlos' client experience and the elements that lead to referrals

IN THE MEMBERS-ONLY EXTENDED EPISODE:

• The role of an assistant
• What a thinking dog first looks like
• How custom sales videos work 
• Selling products with a hands-off approach
• Carlos’ pricing structure

Full show notes found here: https://thepetphotographersclub.com/podcast/1511

Despite this interview being with one of the world’s best equine photographers, it’s not about horse photography at all! Instead, Shelley and I dived deep into the editorial world. If you have your own stock library of images, this might just be a great way to add some passive income to your business. Shelley shared exactly how she finds these clients, what it is they’re buying and how her system works to sell images to magazines. In the members half we got into the numbers and then had a little chat about licensing too. 

Shelley is truly a wealth of knowledge and what she shared in this interview is sure to get your mind ticking with ideas. 

We Covered:

• Who is Shelley
• When and why Shelley stopped working for private clients 
• What Shelley thinks is the best training for photographers
• The difference between commercial and editorial photography
• Why would a magazine order commissioned photography over stock images
• Can you make money from editorials 
• What advice Shelley has for someone wanting to do editorials but without a stock library 
• How Shelley got into Commercial photography 
• What is the difference between commercial, branding, and editorial?
• Offering video as an edition service 
• Where does stock imagery fit into your business model

IN THE MEMBERS-ONLY EXTENDED EPISODE

• Becoming a member of publications to attend conferences
• Connecting with editors at events - what to ask
• What these conferences look like (American horse publications)
• What will a magazine pay for a stock image and is it worth it
• Submitting photo essays and pitching 
• Portfolios Vs Photo Essays
• Shelley’s income
• Licensing 
• Pricing 
• Documentary equine films - passion or commercial projects?

Links and show notes can be found at https://thepetphotographersclub.com/podcast/1510