The Pet Photographers' Journal

A disappointing ordering appointment usually looks like one of a few things. They don’t show up. They turn up and say, my gosh, this is so expensive, or I thought this included all the digitals. Or you relied on them to book it in, and they ghosted you. It feels like it fell apart on the day. It didn’t. Something was broken earlier in the process, before the session ever happened.

In this episode I’m breaking down why the sale process shouldn’t start at the ordering appointment, what my own client journey looks like so there are no surprises, and a real planning call from this week where I knew exactly what formats I’d be shooting for before the session. Plus the consultation questions that plant the seed, the tells that show you who values artwork, and how I use AI to create the content that does this educating, without letting it write everything for me.

The episode covers:

• Where the sale actually starts (and what your consultation, questionnaire, and nurture sequence are doing in the background)
• What I ask on a planning call that shapes the entire shoot before I pick up my camera
• How to make sure clients arrive at the ordering appointment already thinking about their wall, not being introduced to the idea for the first time
• Where AI fits into building the content that does this education work for you, week after week, without you writing every caption from scratch

One thing to try this week: pull up your consultation questions and check whether any of them get the client imagining the finished photo in their home, not just what they want photographed.

On Thursday 30 July (Wednesday 29 July in the US) I’m running a free live workshop where we build a slim context file so Claude knows your business, your pricing and your offers, then your own Brand Voice DNA document, so your content sounds more like you and can educate clients about the artwork long before they book. Live on Zoom, 10am AEST, replay available.

Register here: https://www.inajphotography.com.au/claude-workshop

My paid workshop for pet photographers who want a marketing system that brings in consistent bookings, not random ones.

Details and registration: https://www.inajphotography.com.au/the-pet-photography-marketing-system-workshop

A free community for pet photographers who want to build a profitable, sustainable business with less overwhelm. Inside, I share practical marketing tips, business lessons and mindset shifts, and free resources. It’s also where you’ll hear about the next free training first.

Join here: https://www.skool.com/pet-photographers-collective-3125/about?ref=9c7b56d2963f48a791297a43a29109e1

Ghosting, low sales, clients surprised by pricing. This is something I work on closely with my Mastermind clients, from the client journey to the consultation to the ordering appointment itself.

Learn more: https://www.inajphotography.com.au/mastermind

Instagram: @inaj.thepetphotoceo

Email: [email protected]

Free Consistent Bookings Audit: https://www.inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit

Mentoring & Coaching for Pet Photographers: https://www.inajphotography.com/for-photographers

Back when I charged around $250 a session, my marketing sounded like every other pet photographer's. Pet photography pricing works differently now, and generic AI content can do the same damage that generic marketing always did: it makes you impossible to tell apart from anyone else.

In this episode I'm breaking down why generic content, including lazy AI-generated content, makes you blend in with the big ocean of photographers, and why that's the real reason you can't raise your prices, not your market, not your niche. I get into what AI slop actually looks like, the anchor line I keep coming back to (using AI isn't the problem, using it lazily is), and how consistent branding and positioning since 2023, not AI, is what actually lets you charge for the artwork instead of the files.

• Why generic content leaves price as the only thing left to compare you on
• The mindset issue behind "nobody in my market will pay more"
• What AI slop actually looks like: emojis, short sentences, "this is not X, it's Y," and em dashes everywhere
• Using AI isn't the problem. Using it lazily is.
• How I turn 15 to 20 minutes of voice notes into content with a human-first process, not a copy-paste prompt
• Why consistent branding and positioning, not AI, is what let one of my mastermind clients land a $9,000 sale from a single client
• Why I use AI in my own business, and where my line is
• One thing to try this week

One thing to try this week: read your last five captions or emails back and ask honestly, could any pet photographer have written this? If yes, that's the gap.

Register for the free live Claude workshop, Thursday 30 July: inajphotography.com.au/claude-workshop

On Thursday 30 July I'm running a free live workshop. We build a slim context file so AI actually knows your real business, then your own Brand Voice DNA, so AI finally writes like you instead of like everyone else. Live on Zoom, 10am AEST (Wednesday 29 July, 8pm ET / 5pm PT), replay up for 72 hours.

Register here: inajphotography.com.au/claude-workshop

💬 Join the Pet Photographers' Collective (free community)

A free community for pet photographers who want to build a profitable, sustainable business with less overwhelm. Inside, I share practical marketing tips, business lessons and mindset shifts, and free resources.

Join here: skool.com/pet-photographers-collective-3125

📲 Connect with me

Instagram: @inaj.thepetphotoceo

Email: [email protected]

Free Consistent Bookings Audit: inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit

Mentoring & Coaching for Pet Photographers: inajphotography.com/for-photographers

Not long ago, Stacey Sherman's pet photography business still felt like a hobby. It wasn't the real, paying business she wanted, and it frustrated her. A self-described procrastinator who struggled hugely with confidence. Today she's opening her second studio.

In this episode, Ina sits down with Stacey Sherman of BarkHop Studio, a founding member of the Consistent Bookings Mastermind, for an honest client story. Stacey shares what actually shifted for her: how she found the confidence to back herself and negotiate, how she started taking consistent action instead of putting things off, and how she built marketing she can turn on and off, including the community events that now bring her whole town out. If you know the marketing you should be doing to grow your pet photography business but keep putting it off, this one's for you.

• You don't need more information, you need to see it made real. As a visual learner, what unlocked Stacey was seeing Ina's actual assets, not another abstract course.
• Your community events are marketing. Strut Your Mutt drew 400 people, 200 dogs and 30-plus vendors, and built partnerships that market her for free.
• A campaign doesn't have to be a big scary thing. Build it once, keep the assets, tweak and repeat.
• Confidence is the real product. From imposter syndrome to a second studio, a VA and 19 booked sessions. Her two words: motivation and confidence.
• Turn the marketing tap on and off. A repeatable system lets you switch it on for bookings and pause it when life needs you.

Look at the events you're already doing and write down which ones are actually marketing. Get next quarter's one repeatable event onto your calendar now, before you're scrambling to pull it together.

Stacey Sherman is the photographer behind BarkHop Studio, a studio pet photography business she has built over two and a half years. A former family photographer, she found her way to pet work through fostering and rescue, with a second studio on the way. She is a founding member of Ina's Consistent Bookings Mastermind.

Connect with Stacey

Website: http://barkhopstudio.com/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/barkhopstudio

Stacey's story is exactly what the Mastermind is built for. The Consistent Bookings Mastermind is open for enrolment: a group coaching container focused on implementation support to help you build your repeatable marketing system, with full support across pricing, sales and mindset. inajphotography.com.au/mastermind

Not ready yet? Start with the Free Consistent Bookings Audit: inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit

Join the free community on Skool

Drop a voice note or DM on Instagram (@inaj.thepetphotoceo), first name or anonymous.

Instagram: @inaj.thepetphotoceo · Email: [email protected] · Mentoring & Coaching

If you've ever felt like you're posting and posting and still staring at an empty calendar, this one's for you.

In this episode I'm sharing a small change to the podcast (more solo episodes, and moving to fortnightly), and why that decision is actually the exact lesson I want to talk about: doing more isn't what gets you booked. Doing the right things, on purpose, is.

I break down the difference between passive marketing (your social media, your blog, your SEO) and active marketing (campaigns that actually create a reason to book), and I walk you through a real campaign I'm running in my own studio right now, Dogs of the Season.

I'm also launching a new segment called Off the Record. If there's something you're stuck on, send me an anonymous voice note and I'll coach you through it on air.

In this episode:

• Why posting more often isn't the same as being booked
• Passive vs active marketing, and why you need both
• The Dogs of the Season campaign, start to finish
• How a 12-month marketing calendar lets you plan once and repeat
• Why marketing now is what fills your spring and autumn seasons
• One active campaign to plan this week

The mastermind is currently open for enrolment. It's a group coaching container focusing on implementation support to help you build your repeatable marketing system along with comprehensive support of your business from pricing, sales, and mindset.

Click here for more info: The Consistent Bookings Mastermind

Instagram: @inaj.thepetphotoceo

Drop me a voice note or DM on instagram for the "Off the Record Segment".

Email: [email protected]

Free Consistent Bookings Audit - find your gap in getting consistent bookings: https://www.inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit

Mentoring & Coaching for Pet Photographers — Learn More: https://www.inajphotography.com/for-photographers

Have you ever scrolled past a shelter dog and thought "that photo doesn't do them justice"? Adam Goldberg had the same thought, and he did something about it.

Adam is the founder of AGold Photos and the creator of Second Shot, a mission-driven adoption photography programme placing professional photographers inside shelters to give animals a real chance at being seen. What started as weekend volunteering has grown into a network spanning five shelters across the US, with a goal of reaching 50 in the next three years.

In this episode, Adam shares the full story of how Second Shot came to life, how the model actually works, and what he's looking for in photographers who want to get involved.

What We Cover

• How Adam's photography career started inside a shelter and why he never really left
• The transition from shoot-and-burn events to IPS studio and what he learned the hard way
• Why he walked away from private clients to focus solely on shelter photography
• What a Second Shot session looks like from start to finish, including how he photographs up to 50 animals a week
• The three-person system he uses to keep sessions efficient and stress-free for the animals
• How brand sponsorships fund the whole programme so shelters get the work for free
• What he looks for in associate photographers and what the pilot programme involves
• The tools and workflow that make the volume manageable (including AI editing)
• Where Second Shot is headed and how you can apply to be part of it

About Adam Goldberg

Adam Goldberg is a professional pet photographer and the founder of AGold Photos, based in Tampa, Florida. He is also the creator of Second Shot, a programme that partners with animal shelters and brands to fund and produce professional photo sessions for adoptable animals. Adam has been photographing shelter animals for 10 years and has raised over $250,000 for animal charities through his work.

Links and Resources Mentioned

• Apply to be a Second Shot associate photographer: secondshotpet.com
• Adam on Instagram: @agoldphoto
• Adam's email: [email protected]
• Evoto AI editing software: Use Discount Code ADAM15 for 15% off on annual subscription plans and 20% off on 200 credits pay-as-you-go. Sign up using this link https://link.evoto.ai/goldberg

If you want to sign up for the workshop, join the Pet Photographers' Collective, it's a free community for pet photographers who want to build a profitable, sustainable business with less overwhelm.

Inside, Ina shares:

✨ Practical marketing tips

✨ Business lessons and mindset shifts

✨ Free resources to help you grow

Connect with other photographers who get it and start creating a business that truly supports your life, not consumes it.

Join here → https://www.skool.com/pet-photographers-collective-3125/about?ref=9c7b56d2963f48a791297a43a29109e1

Interested in being featured on a future coaching episode? Apply here: https://forms.gle/oocMwawVB3de6aM29

Instagram: @inaj.thepetphotoceo

Email: [email protected]

Free Consistent Bookings Audit - find your gap in getting consistent bookings: https://www.inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit

Mentoring & Coaching for Pet Photographers — Learn More: https://www.inajphotography.com/for-photographer

In one week, it will be a year since I released the very first episode of The Pet Photographers' Journal. I honestly didn't know if I'd still be here doing this. I didn't know if I'd stay consistent. I didn't know if it would matter to anyone.

But here we are. Over 5,000 downloads later, and I get messages from photographers telling me these episodes have genuinely helped their businesses. That means everything.

This episode is a little different. I want to mark the milestone, share some of what's happened in the last twelve months, including some wins from photographers I've worked with, and then get into something practical. Because after a year of working with pet photographers through workshops, one-on-one coaching, and the Consistent Bookings Mastermind, I've seen the same underlying problem show up again and again: inconsistent bookings.

But this problem doesn't always come from the same place. And if you're trying to fix the wrong bottleneck, you'll keep spinning your wheels.

So today I'm walking you through the four bottlenecks I see most often, and how to figure out which one is yours.

A note before we dive in: this episode was recorded during a hard personal time. My dog James was diagnosed with cancer, and stepping back from parts of the business while navigating that has been genuinely tough. I mention it briefly in the episode. Thank you to everyone who reached out with kind messages. It has meant more than I can say.

Take the free Consistent Bookings Audit (takes about 5 minutes, gives you a personalised result) → https://www.inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit

Consistent Bookings Mastermind (six-month small group program) → https://www.inajphotography.com.au/consistent-bookings-mastermind

Ep. 9 — Why Your Bookings Are Inconsistent (And It's Not What You Think) → https://open.spotify.com/episode/5mUVzPbNGALeVcKvGUDKlF

S2 Ep. 6 — From Overwhelmed with Marketing to Fully Booked for Spring with Sharon Canovas → https://open.spotify.com/episode/4LC6bhrtoIgx1RCKXG4IYH

S2 Ep. 13 — From Zero Clients to a $9,000 Sale: Yunet's Pet Photography Story → https://open.spotify.com/episode/5C9OWzfPhdsE8x8x3IuXeY

If you want to sign up for the workshop, join the Pet Photographers' Collective, it's a free community for pet photographers who want to build a profitable, sustainable business with less overwhelm.

Inside, Ina shares:

✨ Practical marketing tips

✨ Business lessons and mindset shifts

✨ Free resources to help you grow

Connect with other photographers who get it and start creating a business that truly supports your life, not consumes it.

Join here → https://www.skool.com/pet-photographers-collective-3125/about?ref=9c7b56d2963f48a791297a43a29109e1

Interested in being featured on a future coaching episode? Apply here: https://forms.gle/oocMwawVB3de6aM29

Instagram: @inaj.thepetphotoceo

Email: [email protected]

Free Consistent Bookings Audit - find your gap in getting consistent bookings: https://www.inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit

Mentoring & Coaching for Pet Photographers — Learn More: https://www.inajphotography.com/for-photographer

When Kirstie McConnell found out she was moving back to Australia after six years in Italy, she had six months to prepare. By the time she landed in Melbourne, a city where she knew almost no one professionally, she had 26 sessions already booked. Her first three shoots were four days after arriving home.

In this episode, Ina sits down with Kirstie, one of Australia's original pet photographers and co-host of the now-closed Pet Photographers Club podcast, to unpack exactly how she did it. This is a masterclass in knowing your numbers, building a client system that does the educating for you, and making third party marketing work the way it's supposed to.

Key takeaways:

The client should hear about pricing at least 10 times before they ever sit down at the ordering appointment. The voucher says it, the letter says it, the video says it, the questionnaire says it, the phone call confirms it. By the time they are looking at their photos, no one is surprised.

Third party marketing works when it is genuinely a win for the partner. If they are not distributing your vouchers, the problem is not the system. It is that you have not made it worth their while. Kirstie does commercial shoots, provides wall art for store fit-outs, and makes the whole process require zero effort from the partner.

Sending 80 emails got Kirstie 10 partners. If each of those partners generates 20 clients at a $2,600 average, that is $500,000 in revenue from 80 emails. Do the numbers.

The step most photographers skip is the automated funnel between voucher receipt and first phone call. If clients are not converting, this is usually where the leak is.

Know your capacity and protect it. Kirstie caps at 12 sessions a month because she knows what happens to quality, turnaround time, and her personal life when she pushes past it.

Instagram: @classicoportraitsaustralia

Websites:

Classico Portraits Australia: classicoportraits.com.au

Classico Portraits Italy: classicoportraits.com

Wistia (free for a small number of videos): wistia.com

Fillout Forms: fillout.com

Airtable: airtable.com

MailerLite: mailerlite.com

Fundy Wall Designer: for superimposing artwork into client home photos

If you want to sign up for the workshop, join the Pet Photographers' Collective, it's a free community for pet photographers who want to build a profitable, sustainable business with less overwhelm.

Inside, Ina shares:

✨ Practical marketing tips

✨ Business lessons and mindset shifts

✨ Free resources to help you grow

Connect with other photographers who get it and start creating a business that truly supports your life, not consumes it.

Join here → https://www.skool.com/pet-photographers-collective-3125/about?ref=9c7b56d2963f48a791297a43a29109e1

Interested in being featured on a future coaching episode? Apply here: https://forms.gle/oocMwawVB3de6aM29

Instagram: @inaj.thepetphotoceo

Email: [email protected]

Free Consistent Bookings Audit - find your gap in getting consistent bookings: https://www.inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit

Mentoring & Coaching for Pet Photographers — Learn More: https://www.inajphotography.com/for-photographer

What if you could run four campaigns a year, spend around $40 to acquire each client, and predict exactly how many sessions you'd fill?

That is exactly what Jason Krieger-Baum has built at Fido Photo in Toronto. He has been photographing pets for over 17 years, and in this episode he pulls back the curtain on the giveaway-based lead generation model that now drives his entire business. No organic social. No cold outreach. Just a system that works.

This conversation gets genuinely specific. We talk numbers, ad structure, booking rates, same-day ordering, and why Jason believes he would start with this model all over again if he were beginning today.

What we cover:

• How Jason went from a high-touch luxury brand to a streamlined, high-volume studio model and why he thinks it is the better business
• The giveaway structure that generates 400 to 450 leads per campaign and converts roughly 35 to 40% of winners into booked clients
• His exact ad spend: $8 to $10 per lead, $4,000 to $5,000 per campaign, run four times a year
• Why he spends $500 a day on ads and does not stress about optimising every dollar
• His same-day ordering appointment process and how he culls 350 images down to 30 in just 15 minutes
• The automated booking workflow he uses in Go High Level so clients book themselves without a single phone call from him
• How he physically mails a printed magazine to every client a month before their session to prepare them for the experience
• Why he does not post on social media at all right now and what he does instead

Key timestamps:

• 02:40 Jason's 17+ years in pet photography and how Toronto shaped his approach
• 05:00 Two brands, one pivot: the difference between Jason KB and Fido Photo
• 09:00 Pricing breakdown including digitals, portraits, wall art, and coffee table books
• 14:00 The booking workflow from lead to session without phone calls
• 17:00 How Jason shoots six sessions a week across three days
• 20:00 Culling 350 photos in 15 minutes and running a same-day ordering session
• 32:00 How the giveaway model actually works, who wins and how many book
• 37:00 The ad spend breakdown and the ROI equation he uses
• 39:00 How he structures his Facebook campaigns: ad sets, audiences, and one ad per set
• 1:20:00 Why he puts zero effort into social media and what he is building instead

Connect with Jason:

Instagram: @fido.foto

Website: fido-foto.com

Resources mentioned:

• Go High Level / Difference Maker Revolution (CRM and automation platform Jason uses for his booking workflow)
• ProSelect (slideshow and ordering session software)

If you want to sign up for the workshop, join the Pet Photographers' Collective, it's a free community for pet photographers who want to build a profitable, sustainable business with less overwhelm.

Inside, Ina shares:

✨ Practical marketing tips

✨ Business lessons and mindset shifts

✨ Free resources to help you grow

Connect with other photographers who get it and start creating a business that truly supports your life, not consumes it.

Join here → https://www.skool.com/pet-photographers-collective-3125/about?ref=9c7b56d2963f48a791297a43a29109e1

Interested in being featured on a future coaching episode? Apply here: https://forms.gle/oocMwawVB3de6aM29

Instagram: @inaj.thepetphotoceo

Email: [email protected]

Free Consistent Bookings Audit - find your gap in getting consistent bookings: https://www.inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit

Mentoring & Coaching for Pet Photographers — Learn More: https://www.inajphotography.com/for-photographer

Right now I've got 16 sessions booked for May, ordering appointments to run, editing to get through, and prints to deliver.

And I'm still marketing.

I know that probably sounds like a lot. This episode is about what that actually looks like, and why having a system already in place means marketing doesn't have to stop just because life gets full.

I also share the moment that changed how I think about this entirely. A trip to Iceland, two months of no marketing at all, and coming home to a completely empty January and February. No bookings. No enquiries. Checking my emails constantly and genuinely thinking about applying for other jobs.

That experience is a big part of why I built the repeatable marketing system I use today, and why I created the workshop.

The Pet The Pet Photography Marketing Systems Workshop starts 14 May 2026 7:30 AM AEST (13 May 2026 5:30PM ET). More info about the workshop or to enrol visit:

https://www.inajphotography.com.au/the-pet-photography-marketing-systems-workshop

If you want to sign up for the workshop, join the Pet Photographers' Collective, it's a free community for pet photographers who want to build a profitable, sustainable business with less overwhelm.

Inside, Ina shares:

✨ Practical marketing tips

✨ Business lessons and mindset shifts

✨ Free resources to help you grow

Connect with other photographers who get it and start creating a business that truly supports your life, not consumes it.

Join here → https://www.skool.com/pet-photographers-collective-3125/about?ref=9c7b56d2963f48a791297a43a29109e1

Interested in being featured on a future coaching episode? Apply here: https://forms.gle/oocMwawVB3de6aM29

Instagram: @inaj.thepetphotoceo

Email: [email protected]

Free Consistent Bookings Audit - find your gap in getting consistent bookings: https://www.inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit

Mentoring & Coaching for Pet Photographers — Learn More: https://www.inajphotography.com/for-photographer

I'm recording this right at the start of my busiest month. Sixteen sessions in May. And almost every single one of them was booked from campaigns I ran back in January and February.

That gap between when the marketing happens and when the bookings land is the thing most photographers miss. And it's exactly what this episode is about.

If you're in a busy season right now and you're not thinking about what happens next, or if you're staring at a quiet calendar wondering how it got this way, this one is for you.

In this episode:

• Why the feast and famine cycle is not about how hard you're working (and what it's actually about)
• The 4 to 6 week marketing lag and why your empty calendar is never about now
• What a National Love Your Pet Day giveaway brought in, including one client who spent $6,000 and another who spent $3,980
• Sharon Canovas's story: how a stunt performer in Hamilton, Ontario went from scrambling for bookings to a fully booked spring by planning her whole year in December
• The one action to take this week, depending on your season and hemisphere

• The Pet Photography Marketing Systems Workshop starting 14 May 2026 7:30 AM AEST (13 May 2026 5:30PM ET): https://www.inajphotography.com.au/the-pet-photography-marketing-systems-workshop
• Sharon Canovas's episode: From Overwhelmed With Marketing to Fully Booked for Spring Listen on Captivate | Listen on Spotify

Write down your next peak booking window. Count back four to six weeks from that date. That's when your marketing needs to start. Not when the season arrives. Not when your calendar starts looking quiet. Now.

If you want to sign up for the workshop, join the Pet Photographers' Collective, it's a free community for pet photographers who want to build a profitable, sustainable business with less overwhelm.

Inside, Ina shares:

✨ Practical marketing tips

✨ Business lessons and mindset shifts

✨ Free resources to help you grow

Connect with other photographers who get it and start creating a business that truly supports your life, not consumes it.

Join here → https://www.skool.com/pet-photographers-collective-3125/about?ref=9c7b56d2963f48a791297a43a29109e1

Interested in being featured on a future coaching episode? Apply here: https://forms.gle/oocMwawVB3de6aM29

Instagram: @inaj.thepetphotoceo

Email: [email protected]

Free Consistent Bookings Audit - find your gap in getting consistent bookings: https://www.inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit

Mentoring & Coaching for Pet Photographers — Learn More: https://www.inajphotography.com/for-photographer