The Studio Takeover Podcast

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"I never thought of my work as a business. I was a freelancer..."
For generations creatives were taught that you had a side gig to pay you so you can make the work you wanted to make on the side, and that simply isnt the case any longer. From educators like Cat Ford-Coates and Sue Bryce portrait photographers are learning that their work IS valuable.
Jana was a street photographer for years and then in 2014 decided she wanted to learn more about studio lighting and dove into a personal project with the transgender community that, by all standards became wildly successful and her work toured for six years.
It was in this space that she discovered the transformational power of portrait and never looked back. A lifelong student discovering again and again that part of the creative process is yes, about what you want to create but also what you want to share with the world. Uncovering the things in the world she didn't understand and finding answers through her camera was the way she chose to connect more deeply with the world around her.
Her father greatly influenced her perspective through his writing. As a famous writer his philosophy was to create work that you want to create and shaping that work to have meaning for others, and it is this philosophy that has shaped how Jana has shown up in her multiple iterations as a professor, as a street photographer, a documentary photographer, and a portrait photographer.
Jana moved on from her ten year chapter in representing the transgender community through her portrait project and was inspired to photograph women and at an exhibition, one of her clients in attendance saw her image hanging, 30x40", and began to cry. Confused, Jana asked why and if she was ok and the client's response through her tears was "You captured the woman I've always wanted to be seen as, but didn't think the world saw..." and Jana rediscovered how her work had value and impact for others, again.
Photography is powerful both personally and professionally and is no longer relegated to photojournalism but for everyday people's lives.

To find Jana: 

• website: https://www.janamarcus.com/
• instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jmarcusphoto/

Full conversation on YT here: https://youtu.be/JDHae99v4DM

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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

Working with your partner, up-leveling your skills, and nurturing yourself by knowing your own limitations so that you can be at your best to serve your clients and grow your business with Joni Hough.
When we come into this space of owning and running a portrait business we often have expectations of ourselves in the name of "savings": we'll do hair and makeup and photograph our clients instead of hiring a professional. Seems innocent enough until the energetic bandwidth of DOING all of the things makes itself known to you and then you discover that it puts a very low ceiling on your capacity to serve at full power.
Then as we incorporate in person networking opportunities "people-ing" Joni and Cat discuss how they approach networking, and how they create opportunities within that networking, and even how to negotiate marathons and the requests received by others networking too.
Joni also shares her content topics in her marketing and how she is tying that to her own personal goals for the year!

You can find Joni here:
Website https://minthillphotography.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/minthillphotography/

Full Convo on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/HPbVUDue9ZM

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

Being a creative entrepreneur has its challenges and we could say those challenges are limited to the growth of our style, or improving technically, or in effective marketing even, but that isn't the all and the everything. Sometimes we have to make tough decisions too. Decisions like "do I get a job while I build this foundation?" or "do I take on THIS demographic so I can create what my heart loves too?"
Josh Beaton is my guest on this week's podcast and I think you will find his approach refreshing. For one, hes a funny dude but also, hes very connected to the work he loves to create and isn't interested in taking on work simply for the sake of it. If it isn't in alignment, it isn't something he's interested in creating.
Hailing from Chicago, IL hes run up against many struggles AND wins too! He has a very unique style which is a blessing and a curse for a burgeoning business but he isn't done yet. 
Naturally competitive hes discovered some joy and impact along the way through building his non-profit The Tween Esteem project, multiple awards across platforms like PPA, The Portrait Masters, and Icon Awards, and the list goes on.
If you haven't followed or connected with Josh just yet, you can find him here:

Website: 
https://www.joshbeaton.com/
https://www.thetweenesteemproject.org/

Instagram:
@joshbeatonphoto
@tweenesteem

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

Bassam and Cat rekindle their Artist Forge connection and dig into his discovery of photography and spending a year mastering his skillsets in lighting, and posing,  and upon his completion of that first year (2016) he exited his career as a VP in Aerospace. Bassam maintained a consultancy arm to stay connected in that industry for small and medium businesses but dove in headfirst in building his portrait business after assisting a friend on their photo shoot and discovering the joy that comes in photography. He was hooked on day one and hasnt looked back since!

As things happen and unfold once a decision is made, Bassam rented a shared studio space, spent a year portfolio building, and made connections within the industry with Pratik Naik, Bella Kotak, Sue Bryce and more. Bassam and Cat recap the milestones of his career as a portrait photographer and then they go even deeper into challenges as a male boudoir photographer (challenges in marketing) and address the sales process to encourage larger sales. Bassam has consistently been selling his largest package (what a problem to have right?) but within this conversation he and Cat uncovered an area where he may have been leaving money on the proverbial table. This conversation is not to be missed!

Bassam is such a brilliant business mind and paired with his artistry is a force! Make sure you follow and connect with Bassam below.

Website: www.kuriousphoto.com

IG: @bassam.sabbagh.photography and @kuriousboudoir

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

Full disclosure, Mitzi and Cat cuss like sailors. Buckle Up.

In the name of "streamlining" you realize you've created a house of cards versus a stable business and how your desire to be challenged in what you create and how you create that thing you create and what it teaches us as people, and as business owners, and artists. So Mitzi and Cat go down the rabbit hole of appreciating and understanding where your natural strengths lie (through Clifton Strengths and Wealth Dynamics) so that you CAN focus on what you ARE great at and employ support in areas where you NEED it and be kinder to yourself in the process.

It is understanding where your HEART is in alignment with your business that you can find the growth you are looking for and Mitzi discovered that when she was in avoidance; of her life, of what she WANTED FOR her life and her art was exactly when life (in doing what life does) forced her to really dig deep about what she truly is here to do and create her life into being.

Following a tear of her achilles and then weeks later being diagnosed with breast cancer life had propelled her into a reevaluation none of us ever hopes to be confronted with, especially as a new parent. And as Mitzi points out, you have to work through the traumatizing thing before you can reflect ON the lessons the trauma teaches us, she admitted to herself that the status quo of her success in business wasn't fulfilling in the way she had created it to be. It was time to shift and there was no going back.

Stripping away all of the fluff or as we coined "fucking shit up" is required to innovate, grow, and connect more deeply with ourselves and those we serve.

Find Mitzi Here:

• Website: www.mitzistarkweather.com
• Instagram: @mitzistarkweather / @rawportraitscourse

Enroll in Tei Hofford's Clifton Strengths coaching here:

• https://terihofford.com/clifton-strengths-coaching

Full conversation on YouTube here:

• https://youtu.be/jLMN-qQUonI

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

As a husband, father, and employee to an Artist! Simon is a humble man taking his folio building and learning through CreativeLive (courses by John Cornicello) quite seriously, but after encouragement from his friend Angie Whitten and guidance from Saray Taylor-Roman and myself with The Consultation Collection stepped into TFP (trade) sessions into charging sustainable pricing and giving an amazing experience alongside incredible imagery!
Sue Bryce even said to him "You're an amazing artist, you have beautiful work...but it needs to be consistent. You show me you can be consistent." and Simon realized that also meant it wasn't only the quality of his work, but his business too: his marketing, systems, service, shooting, and revenue.
Simon and Cat chat about where his revenue is today and Cat challenges him to set bigger goals for the revenue he's generating in his business and they talk through on this episode what is happening IN his business how he might get to those bigger revenue goals because once you can MASTER the fundamentals of the sales process, everything can be gamified. And then in understanding how to approach your business as an introvert or an extrovert will allow you to shift the excuses to your ability to execute your position in a way that serves you.
One of the things I personally love about how Simon approaches life and business is through his community and the relationships he has. "It isn't what you know but who you know" is just the beginning.




Find Simon Here:

• Website: www.SimonDiez.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/simon_diez
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/share/VThgGUHw3sh7UDwb/

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

"Enthusiasm" is from the Latin root "Enthios" which means: to be filled with a Godlike energy.
Emily Pearl IS a very enthusiastic person. When she lights up, she ⭐️LIGHTS⭐️ UP. And it is THAT energy that not only draws her portrait clients to her, but powers the work she creates. It is how she taps into love to CREATE.
Emily and Cat talk and dance through faith, manifestation, love, and the business of fine art portrait through the heart of community, exploration, and decision.
Many of us are "starting": sometimes from scratch, sometimes starting "again", and sometimes starting "over" and navigating the "how" can be challenging, even painful. We can see and feel what we want the success of it to be, but putting the pieces in place can BE painful and uncover ALL of our own limitations, all of where WE believe we and our work aren't "worthy".
But as we bet ON THOSE dreams and take the steps in doing the work, new questions and opportunities unfold for us all to create more:

• more confidence
• more impact
• more transformation
• more structure
• more of the art we desire to make
• more of the businesses we desire to own
• more VALUE in ourselves too

Creating the businesses we are dreaming of isn't for the faint of heart but for those with ALL of the heart and Emily has that in spades. I adore watching her work and business evolve as she builds and the results  of her dedication to her craft are resulting: multiple top tier awards from worldwide organizations like: Icon Awards, SWPP, WPE, TPM, and more, a new studio in Salt Lake City, Utah, a growing client base, and connections around the globe. Emily Pearl is more than "just" a Photographer. She is a business owner, a mother, and an artist and I'm excited to see her thrive in her business as it will propel her into creating more than "just" a studio, but a life filled with creativity.

You can find Emily Pearl here:

• Website: https://emilypearlphotography.com/
• Insta: https://www.instagram.com/emilypearlphotography

To see the full interview video: https://youtu.be/GxbOc8RWSyw

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

As a man in the boudoir photography world Ben has been very intentional with how he shows up for his clients in creating safe environments, a clinical approach, and assuredly in his marketing to educate his audience about his work.

He's uncovered and developed his style, at first through emulation of photographers before him like Peter Hurley and Sue Bryce and learned that he needed to learn to create work HE loved creating and experiencing as ART. 

His number one rule in his marketing is to give good information and not focus only on "Selling" your sessions. Share about your perspective, your process, and appreciate that YOUR authenticity, WHO YOU ARE is your super power.

Find Ben Here:

• Website https://benmarcum.com/
• instagram https://www.instagram.com/benmarcumphoto/
• TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@benmarcum
• YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/BenMarcumPhotography/

Full episode on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/SX9o-XoMU-A

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

What you allow for yourself is up to you. Coming from a career as a nurse practitioner into full time as a portrait photographer, Hadonica has grown her business to support how she wants to live her life. She's been able to leave nursing and expand into two locations, and she now leverages her portrait business and revenue into real estate to build her personal wealth.
"We can make as much or as little as we want to..."
Look to be more in your life and use THAT to receive and build more FOR your life.

Find Hadonica here:

• website https://www.hadonicasphotography.com/
• instagram https://www.instagram.com/hadonicasphotography/

Full conversation on YouTube

• https://youtu.be/JlmUhwVYMAc

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

Being an entrepreneur can be isolating. You're trying to figurer out all the "things", and you can feel like you are alone. Judith was courageous enough to bring her startup portrait business and share her story, and even receive mentoring from Cat Ford-Coates to be shared on the Takeover podcast so that she has some direction moving forward.
You don't HAVE to know all the things at first, but putting a sustainable infrastructure in place is paramount to your foundation and your capacity to survive the trials and tribulations of beginning. In this conve

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.