The Studio Takeover Podcast

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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 familiar with Fundy you know how powerful the program is in time savings and streamlining your customer's experience with you.

A lifelong entrepreneur, he knows the value of every hour entrepreneurs spend in running their businesses and portrait businesses are no exception. So many of us run head first into business ownership and are even excited to do so. But there comes a time where we have to start prioritizing where we invest that energy so that we can maintain our growth as artists and as CEO's.

And once that comes into play you start to realize what you're missing out on; picking your kids up from school, paying for college tuition, going on a walk even! How is your business supporting the life you want to be living?

Fundy is powerful! Since this episode was recorded I have personally dived deeper into the Fundy programs and used their software with four different clients. Now, in full transparency, I did fumble through the first image selection appointment however once I got the hang of things, not only does having examples of my Graphi artwork on the wall in front of my clients and then three different wall art mock ups with the client's images - It is an obvious choice. Gasps and all.

Find Andrew and Fundy here:

• fundydesigner.com 
• 50kextra.com 

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ABOUT CAT FORD-COATES

Cat Ford-Coates has been told to soften her whole career.

She didn't.

She built a multi-six-figure business teaching photographers that the thing keeping them stuck was never the market, the portfolio, or the pricing. It was the voice. The one that sounds like wisdom. The one that keeps moving the goalpost and calling it patience.

She's spent over a decade in rooms with photographers who are extraordinarily talented and somehow still convinced they should be grateful for what they have.

She disagrees. Loudly.

Cat serves photographers who already know what they want. Who know what they're capable of. Who have known for a while, actually, and have spent years finding sophisticated reasons not to claim it.

The question was never whether you're ready.

You already know you are. Stop pretending that you don't.

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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 Motherhood marketing campaign and where she's struggling with her lead generation and discuss her advertising strategy and sales psychology too.
So often we want our efforts to have an immediate ROI (return on investment), but when it comes to building relationships ROI is had as those relationships build and cannot be accrued always with direct correlation to a single investment (time or money). 
Looking at the year, Amanda has opportunities and plans and we cannot wait to see where she takes 2024!

Find Amanda Here:

• Website https://flaminglilystudios.com/
• Instagram @flaminglilystudios

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ABOUT CAT FORD-COATES

Cat Ford-Coates has been told to soften her whole career.

She didn't.

She built a multi-six-figure business teaching photographers that the thing keeping them stuck was never the market, the portfolio, or the pricing. It was the voice. The one that sounds like wisdom. The one that keeps moving the goalpost and calling it patience.

She's spent over a decade in rooms with photographers who are extraordinarily talented and somehow still convinced they should be grateful for what they have.

She disagrees. Loudly.

Cat serves photographers who already know what they want. Who know what they're capable of. Who have known for a while, actually, and have spent years finding sophisticated reasons not to claim it.

The question was never whether you're ready.

You already know you are. Stop pretending that you don't.

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 her. She shows up for networking, is consistent in her organic efforts on social, and employs paid advertising for her campaigns.
Ivana had a "successful" business my the overall metrics of her business in 22 and 23. She was booked three months in advance, she was reaching her 6 figure goals...but there was more at play.
The HOW of finding that success.
Toward the end of 23 she was realizing how burnt out she was as it was deeply affecting her mental and physical health. Exhausted, sick, tired...and she knew something had to change.
Ivana came to the US in 2017 from Bosnia and officially started her business in 2019. An Artist, as many of us are she thought her focus needed to be in the creative aspects of her work; refining her camera tech and Photoshop skills which garnered the success and recognition from Adobe. However, as many of us do we expect that the creative recognition will open the flood gates of paid clients. And while that to some extent can be true, if you don't have a sustainable business model to support those leads then you very quickly realize that you find overwhelm & even resentment.
Her next step was in building out a business model that by 2023 where she was working 80 hr weeks and was no longer able to tap into the love her clients deserved.
Another beautiful insight Ivana brings is in comparison: of others work, of others businesses and instead of looking at those successes others are experiencing as evidence that she couldn't achieve the success she desired, she chose to see those successes as evidence that she COULD. It's proof of concept that it can and will work.
Now after working with Cat for 6 months in 2024 she has made more money and is working with half the clients than in 2023. She reached her highest revenue month ever in April of 2024, moved from NC to Chicago, IL and booked out through July in May AND took a month off to visit her home in Bosnia.
Relocating your portrait business doesn't immediately mean a wild dip in revenue. You CAN establish yourself before you move a single box. Ivana is proof of that and as her Mentor, I am so very proud of her tenacity and love for her work and her Art.

Be a part of Ivana's project FACES in Chicago! You can find Ivana and her work:

• Website: https://ivanadesancic.com/
• Instagram: @ivanadesancic.portraits
• Facebook: Ivana Desancic Portraits

Want results for your portrait business like Ivana? DM Cat directly on instagram to see if she can help you. https://www.instagram.com/catfordcoates/

Full video interview available on Youtube here: https://youtu.be/xjZJl0gKoKI

Support the show

ABOUT CAT FORD-COATES

Cat Ford-Coates has been told to soften her whole career.

She didn't.

She built a multi-six-figure business teaching photographers that the thing keeping them stuck was never the market, the portfolio, or the pricing. It was the voice. The one that sounds like wisdom. The one that keeps moving the goalpost and calling it patience.

She's spent over a decade in rooms with photographers who are extraordinarily talented and somehow still convinced they should be grateful for what they have.

She disagrees. Loudly.

Cat serves photographers who already know what they want. Who know what they're capable of. Who have known for a while, actually, and have spent years finding sophisticated reasons not to claim it.

The question was never whether you're ready.

You already know you are. Stop pretending that you don't.

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 space (commercial or a second house) to create an epic location with multiple concept opportunities to grow in her craft and the variety she offers for her clients.

Where she's been challenged has been in work/life balance and discovering how she manages her time to ensure that she stays present for her life; time with her husband and to have the space to enjoy her meditation, and prioritize her manifestation practice. She stays in control of how her energy is directed to achieve the goals she has in place.

Paula has a beautiful vision for her business and understands the pieces of her workflows that are to be outsourced so she can enjoy concept development, set design, and growth.

You can find Paula Here:

• website: https://paulanluu.com/
• facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Paulanluu
• instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paulanluu/

Support the show

ABOUT CAT FORD-COATES

Cat Ford-Coates has been told to soften her whole career.

She didn't.

She built a multi-six-figure business teaching photographers that the thing keeping them stuck was never the market, the portfolio, or the pricing. It was the voice. The one that sounds like wisdom. The one that keeps moving the goalpost and calling it patience.

She's spent over a decade in rooms with photographers who are extraordinarily talented and somehow still convinced they should be grateful for what they have.

She disagrees. Loudly.

Cat serves photographers who already know what they want. Who know what they're capable of. Who have known for a while, actually, and have spent years finding sophisticated reasons not to claim it.

The question was never whether you're ready.

You already know you are. Stop pretending that you don't.

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 neurodivergents tend to lean into the default, especially when self judgement comes into play. AKA the internal shit storm.

It's about resetting the nervous system which is not an "easy" path, but giving yourself some grace is the first step. Address the initial thoughts and shift them from judgement to empathy because inaction breeds more fear and fear breeds more inaction, and the vicious cycle continues.

Jen Swedhin is a brain coach for creative entrepreneurs, and the digital unicorn behind Team Get Shit Done. For nearly 10 years, she has flung herself headfirst into learning about ADHD, and helping others begin to understand (and embrace!) their own neurodivergent brains. Her experience as a systems strategist, successful business owner, and recovering perfectionist gives her unique insight into the challenges that creative entrepreneurs face. In addition to coaching, her and her team help photographers grow their business, master their workflows, and become more organized and efficient. She has three kids, a funny husband, and knows all the good swear words.

LINKS: 

• website: https://teamgetshitdone.com
• FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/teamgetshitdone
• IG: https://instagram.com/team.getshitdone

Support the show

ABOUT CAT FORD-COATES

Cat Ford-Coates has been told to soften her whole career.

She didn't.

She built a multi-six-figure business teaching photographers that the thing keeping them stuck was never the market, the portfolio, or the pricing. It was the voice. The one that sounds like wisdom. The one that keeps moving the goalpost and calling it patience.

She's spent over a decade in rooms with photographers who are extraordinarily talented and somehow still convinced they should be grateful for what they have.

She disagrees. Loudly.

Cat serves photographers who already know what they want. Who know what they're capable of. Who have known for a while, actually, and have spent years finding sophisticated reasons not to claim it.

The question was never whether you're ready.

You already know you are. Stop pretending that you don't.

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 confident self.

It didn't come without growth within herself though. She uncovered that her own negative self talk affected how she was able to feel in her own life and now she shares that growth with everyone she photographs.

Bex had been photographed by Cat in 2022 and at the time thought the experience was her "arrival" to her next level and then following the experience uncovered that there were some aspects of her growth she hadn't yet faced. Now she is able to look on those portraits from a space of love to realize that it was a milestone in her growth as not only a business owner, artist, and a human being.

Her experience in being photographed has allowed her to realize how she shows up in the world, her own personal forgiveness, and in appreciating her own authenticity and being able to define what that looks like for her in her life and this allows her to create magical portrait experiences for her own clients so they too can accept where they are, define who they are becoming and have tangible proof that this version of themselves does exist.

Find Bex here:

• Website: https://bexwood.com/
• Instagram: @bexwoodphoto

Support the show

ABOUT CAT FORD-COATES

Cat Ford-Coates has been told to soften her whole career.

She didn't.

She built a multi-six-figure business teaching photographers that the thing keeping them stuck was never the market, the portfolio, or the pricing. It was the voice. The one that sounds like wisdom. The one that keeps moving the goalpost and calling it patience.

She's spent over a decade in rooms with photographers who are extraordinarily talented and somehow still convinced they should be grateful for what they have.

She disagrees. Loudly.

Cat serves photographers who already know what they want. Who know what they're capable of. Who have known for a while, actually, and have spent years finding sophisticated reasons not to claim it.

The question was never whether you're ready.

You already know you are. Stop pretending that you don't.

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 tradeshow to see "who these people were that were charging a THOUSAND dollars for their sessions and who they thought they were to charge so much" she discovered her next level of education with The Portrait System.
She and Cat sat down in September of 2023 and Amel shared proudly she was averaging about $7000 in monthly sales (not too shabby) when Cat challenged her to reach for $10,000 instead of being complacent.
Amel had to face that what she was earning wasn't enough for the income goals she had set and the way she was structuring her work would require far too many clients to reach those goals, so she enrolled with Cat as her Mentor and in just a few short months is now treating her business like a BUSINESS and making a difference not only in her sales process but also in how she shows up for the community of women she serves.

Find Aamel here: 

• Website https://www.diamondsportraits.ca/
• Instagram https://www.instagram.com/diamondsportraits/

Support the show

ABOUT CAT FORD-COATES

Cat Ford-Coates has been told to soften her whole career.

She didn't.

She built a multi-six-figure business teaching photographers that the thing keeping them stuck was never the market, the portfolio, or the pricing. It was the voice. The one that sounds like wisdom. The one that keeps moving the goalpost and calling it patience.

She's spent over a decade in rooms with photographers who are extraordinarily talented and somehow still convinced they should be grateful for what they have.

She disagrees. Loudly.

Cat serves photographers who already know what they want. Who know what they're capable of. Who have known for a while, actually, and have spent years finding sophisticated reasons not to claim it.

The question was never whether you're ready.

You already know you are. Stop pretending that you don't.

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 that our investment: in gear, wardrobe, education, subscriptions, insurance, and what WE are paid so the love we pour into our clients and our craft is accounted for so we can keep going.

What does that require of us?

• Knowing what our energetic limits are and managing our time so that we can serve at our full power.
• Projecting where and when those inquiries and bookings will ebb and flow
• Knowing WHO and WHAT we want to photograph 
• Connecting, really CONNECTING within our communities to make people aware of what we do, who we serve, and that there are opportunities to participate

Mim has this beautiful way of seeing people, and seeing through how we judge ourselves and being present enough to be of service to them when they are ready to shift that narrative. 

Cat gives Mim an exercise too in organizing her calendar so that she can be effective and sustainable in her marketing efforts so that Mim can be consistent throughout the year to reach the goals she has in place and you can too!

Find Mim here:

• Website: https://www.mimquinephotography.com/
• Instagram: @mim_quine_photography

Full episode also available on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/v23kuSsAX_U

Support the show

ABOUT CAT FORD-COATES

Cat Ford-Coates has been told to soften her whole career.

She didn't.

She built a multi-six-figure business teaching photographers that the thing keeping them stuck was never the market, the portfolio, or the pricing. It was the voice. The one that sounds like wisdom. The one that keeps moving the goalpost and calling it patience.

She's spent over a decade in rooms with photographers who are extraordinarily talented and somehow still convinced they should be grateful for what they have.

She disagrees. Loudly.

Cat serves photographers who already know what they want. Who know what they're capable of. Who have known for a while, actually, and have spent years finding sophisticated reasons not to claim it.

The question was never whether you're ready.

You already know you are. Stop pretending that you don't.

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 community and his show is on the road serving clients in Las Vegas, and California.

Coming into the photo space in photo journalism and in survival mode alongside two service industry jobs, he found his niche in environmental portraiture. Following that, he received his military orders and brought his camera into the field, and realized he had a very distinct and unique opportunity in photo journalism with the Marine Corp.

In 2017 he was listening to a photography business podcast and found Peter Hurley's Headshot Crew and the game changed. Since then, Noel has become a mentor in The HSC space and loves being able to judge the weekly headshot contest to help other photographers evolve their work. A firm believer in "you learn the most by teaching" and is regularly reminded of refining the fundamentals to be effective in your work.

Noel has been building out a new space but is also discovering that his brand is commanding attention and in this next level finding the "new level new devil" challenges of growth and even though he doesn't love looking at the "numbers" but in being a provider for his family and business owner that he HAS to pay attention to the metrics that communicate the health OF the business.

During the pandemic he was faced with the decision of whether or not the photo business would survive. For three days he strongly considered closing, and realized his body was responding and was physically ill with the possibility of walking away. He had the support of his family with closing, but his girlfriend (now wife) supported his desire to keep going. Following a phone call he assumed a prank of a business call, then booking, his client commitments snowballed. In a time where everything was online, he suddenly had a market with a need and the floodgates opened.

"Head in the game; heart on fire..."

Full Youtube conversation here: https://youtu.be/4bqUoNqS5M8

Find Noel here:

• Website: noelmarcantel.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/noel.marcantel
• Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/user160252131
• Virtual Studio Tour: https://my.matterport.com/models/J5ChqcxP7Yo?section=media

Support the show

ABOUT CAT FORD-COATES

Cat Ford-Coates has been told to soften her whole career.

She didn't.

She built a multi-six-figure business teaching photographers that the thing keeping them stuck was never the market, the portfolio, or the pricing. It was the voice. The one that sounds like wisdom. The one that keeps moving the goalpost and calling it patience.

She's spent over a decade in rooms with photographers who are extraordinarily talented and somehow still convinced they should be grateful for what they have.

She disagrees. Loudly.

Cat serves photographers who already know what they want. Who know what they're capable of. Who have known for a while, actually, and have spent years finding sophisticated reasons not to claim it.

The question was never whether you're ready.

You already know you are. Stop pretending that you don't.

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 location photographer photographing children and families, she discovered that not only the WAY she approached sessions but how prepared she would be for different settings: step stools, lighting, and lions, and tigers, and bears, oh MY!
Heather shares with us her goals for 2024 and her team expansion and how she is moving through the world in her business to map out a year filled with thriving, and having impact for her clients.

Find Heather Here:

• Website: https://www.heathercrowder.com/
• Instagram: @heathercrowder
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-crowder-a657157/

Support the show

ABOUT CAT FORD-COATES

Cat Ford-Coates has been told to soften her whole career.

She didn't.

She built a multi-six-figure business teaching photographers that the thing keeping them stuck was never the market, the portfolio, or the pricing. It was the voice. The one that sounds like wisdom. The one that keeps moving the goalpost and calling it patience.

She's spent over a decade in rooms with photographers who are extraordinarily talented and somehow still convinced they should be grateful for what they have.

She disagrees. Loudly.

Cat serves photographers who already know what they want. Who know what they're capable of. Who have known for a while, actually, and have spent years finding sophisticated reasons not to claim it.

The question was never whether you're ready.

You already know you are. Stop pretending that you don't.