Okay, I'll just say it: I am an Airtable evangelist. I have been for years. It runs my episode archive, my client data, my business dashboard, my production workflows - honestly, it runs a lot of my personal life too. And I know that sounds like something I'm pitching, but I genuinely make zero money on Airtable. I just really, really believe in this tool.

The problem is that what Airtable does can be hard to explain - and that makes a lot of photographers click around in it for a few minutes, get confused, and close the tab forever. That's exactly why I brought Ashley Rose back on the show this week.

Ashley was here in February for a conversation about organizing your business (go back and listen to that one if you missed it). This time, we went deeper on Airtable specifically: what makes it genuinely different from a spreadsheet, how it stacks up against tools like Dubsado or HoneyBook, and the kinds of things photographers are actually building inside it that you might not have imagined yet.

In this episode, we cover:

•   The real difference between a spreadsheet and a database - and why it matters for your client experience
•   How automations inside Airtable can handle client follow-up, reminders, and team communication without you lifting a finger
•   Why Ashley recommends Airtable even for photographers who have zero clients yet
•   A conversation about whether you should keep your CRM alongside Airtable (or if you can let one of them go)
•   Where to start if the blank canvas feels overwhelming

If you've been curious about Airtable but didn't know where to begin, this one's for you.

LINKS:

• Follow Systems Over Stress by Ashley Rose for practical systems, workflows, and business tips and Ashley's masterclass.
•  Explore The Photographer’s Business Dashboard — an all-in-one Airtable system and course designed to help photographers organize leads, projects, finances, and workflows with ease. 

Sign Up for the FREE Webinar: Economy Proof Your Business - 3 Ways to Make More Without Charging More

Resources:

• New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources.
• Join our community! We'd love to welcome you into our supportive, business-focused private Facebook group. Go to facebook.com/groups/thiscantbethathard to request access.
• Long-time listener? Leave a review!

Tech tools and software are an easy thing to accumulate. Most of us add tools when we find them, promising ourselves we'll dive in "as soon as we have time. Before long, we've got a giant tech stack that just kind of happened.

In this episode, I'm talking about the costs of "tech debt" - not just the financial expense, but the minutes, hours, even cumulative days that we all spend on workarounds, redos, and tweaks, all the while thinking, "I'm sure I had a tool that was supposed to do that!"

We'll also cover the three layers of your business where tech tends to accumulate, along with a simple, three-question audit to help you see your system clearly.

The goal here isn't a perfect stack... it's just an intentional one, where you've got all the tools you need (and none you don't).

Resources mentioned: Photographer's Business Dashboard 

Sign Up for the FREE Webinar: Economy Proof Your Business - 3 Ways to Make More Without Charging More

Resources:

• New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources.
• Join our community! We'd love to welcome you into our supportive, business-focused private Facebook group. Go to facebook.com/groups/thiscantbethathard to request access.
• Long-time listener? Leave a review!

Ever wonder what it actually looks like to build a profitable photography business on lower prices and higher volume? That's what this conversation with Naomi Boyer is all about.

After a rough year in 2024 where inquiries were down and the business just felt like an uphill battle, Naomi decided to try going all in on something she'd been developing on the side: school and event photography built on a high-volume, streamlined model.

The result? Was so great that she shifted her entire business model.

This episode gets into the real mechanics of making a volume model work - not just the vision, but the actual tools, pricing logic, and workflow decisions that make it profitable rather than just busy. Naomi is honest about where volume photographers go wrong (usually by trying to cut costs in exactly the wrong places) and what she's built to make the numbers actually work.

We dig into...

•   How Naomi recognized the workflow she'd already built was more valuable than she realized
•   Why volume pricing requires MORE business knowledge, not less
•   The tools that make her system run
•   The difference between "volunteer" clients (like school photos) and popup studio clients - and why the numbers are surprisingly different
•   What she'd tell any photographer considering this model before they dive in

Naomi also has a workflow resource for photographers who want to look over her shoulder at exactly how she runs these sessions - details below.

Links:  

• Get access to Naomi's School Photographers Playbook 
• Get inspired by Naomi's work.
• Edit smarter, not harder: ImagenAI
• Simplify your sales and client experience here GotPhoto
• Bring your images to life with stunning prints at Color Inc Photo Lab

Sign Up for the FREE Webinar: Economy Proof Your Business - 3 Ways to Make More Without Charging More

Resources:

• New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources.
• Join our community! We'd love to welcome you into our supportive, business-focused private Facebook group. Go to facebook.com/groups/thiscantbethathard to request access.
• Long-time listener? Leave a review!

What if the most profitable thing in your business isn't your highest-priced offer?

That's the question behind this episode - and the answer might surprise you. I brought in two photographers, Jenn Chen and Allison Maxwell, who have each built something I find genuinely fascinating: a lower-priced, accessible offer that sits at the front of their business and funnels clients into their higher-ticket work. Not as a loss leader or freebie, but as an actual profit center that also happens to grow their audience and warm up ideal clients.

Jenn runs a family and newborn photography business in California and started doing confetti mini sessions early in her business as a creative list-building strategy. Allison is based in central Arkansas and built her Playful Portraits offer out of necessity after an unexpected relocation.

In this episode, we dig into...

•   How both women made sure their accessible offer felt genuinely different from their full work (so it wouldn't cannibalize their regular bookings)
•   The soft, non-pushy way they convert mini clients into full-price clients over time    
•   Why Allison says 95% of her full-price work traces back to Playful Portraits - either directly or through referrals
•   What it actually looks like to be a "model mullet" - donkey in the front, unicorn in the back

Links:  

• Follow Jenn Chen on Instagram: 
• Explore Allison Maxwell’s Photography Resources
• See Allison’s Work on Instagram 

Sign Up for the FREE Webinar: Economy Proof Your Business - 3 Ways to Make More Without Charging More

Resources:

• New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources.
• Join our community! We'd love to welcome you into our supportive, business-focused private Facebook group. Go to facebook.com/groups/thiscantbethathard to request access.
• Long-time listener? Leave a review!

You know that moment when you look at your bank statement and realize you're still paying for software you stopped using three months ago? Yep. We've all been there.

Profitability isn't just about what you charge - it's about what you keep. And for most photographers, there's money unnecessarily leaking out of the business every single month that a little attention could stop.

In this episode, I'll walk you through my strategic approach to evaluating business expenses - not as a slash-and-burn exercise, but as a way to make your spending actually work for your business model. You'll come away with:

•   A clear process for getting every expense out of your head and onto paper (or into Airtable!)
•   Two simple filters to help you decide what's worth keeping and what isn't
•   The "don't starve your business" principle (because cutting the wrong things can cost you more in the long run)
•   A lightweight tracking system to keep expenses from getting away from you again

Whether your bank account is looking slim after slow season or you just want to feel more in control of where your money goes, this episode gives you a practical framework to work through it.

LINKS:

•   Photographer's Business Dashboard
•  Business model quiz

Sign Up for the FREE Webinar: Economy Proof Your Business - 3 Ways to Make More Without Charging More

Resources:

• New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources.
• Join our community! We'd love to welcome you into our supportive, business-focused private Facebook group. Go to facebook.com/groups/thiscantbethathard to request access.
• Long-time listener? Leave a review!

What if "Just raise your prices" is the wrong advice for right now?

That's a question a lot of photographers have been sitting with lately - and honestly, it's one worth taking seriously. When budgets feel tight and bookings feel uncertain, the standard advice can start to feel a little tone-deaf. But here's the thing: there are real, strategic ways to increase your profitability without ever touching your prices.

In this episode, I'm revisiting a framework I introduced way back in Episode 38 - the Donkey, Workhorse, and Unicorn business models - and looking at it through a fresh lens. Because after 16 years in this industry, I can tell you that the most profitable version of my business wasn't the one where I was working the hardest or charging the most. It was the one where I finally got smart about how I was structured.    

In this episode, I'm breaking down:  

• Why profitability is about what you KEEP, not just what you charge  
• The three business models that can all be profitable in photography (and the very different ways they get there)  
• Why the donkey model is the most misunderstood (and often the most profitable) of the three  
• How to calculate your actual effective hourly rate so you can see exactly where you stand

This episode is the first in a four-part pricing and money series, and it sets the foundation for everything we'll be covering this month. Whether you're feeling nervous about the economy or just curious about whether there's a smarter way to structure things, this is a good place to start.

LINKS:

• Take the business model quiz:
• Listen to Episode 38 (from 2020)

Sign Up for the FREE Webinar: Economy Proof Your Business - 3 Ways to Make More Without Charging More

Resources:

• New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources.
• Join our community! We'd love to welcome you into our supportive, business-focused private Facebook group. Go to facebook.com/groups/thiscantbethathard to request access.
• Long-time listener? Leave a review!

What if the reason your marketing isn't converting has nothing to do with your content... and everything to do with the part that comes after it?

In this episode, Annemie and Dayna get a little theatrical to break down one of the most important (and most avoided) distinctions in your business: the difference between marketing and selling, and why you genuinely can't have one without the other.

Using Wicked as their framework, they make the case that Glinda (your marketing) gets all the love, while Elphaba (your selling) gets an unfair bad rap. But here's the truth: the magic only happens when they work together.

In this episode:

• Why marketing alone won't grow your business, and what has to happen next
• Where selling gets its "wicked" reputation (and why that's worth unpacking)
• How understanding your numbers changes your relationship with pricing conversations
• What it looks like to switch hats between marketing mode and selling mode, and why that skill is everything

No sparkly wand required... but it wouldn't hurt!

Sign Up for the FREE Webinar: Economy Proof Your Business - 3 Ways to Make More Without Charging More

Resources:

• New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources.
• Join our community! We'd love to welcome you into our supportive, business-focused private Facebook group. Go to facebook.com/groups/thiscantbethathard to request access.
• Long-time listener? Leave a review!

Picture this: you're cruising down the highway, passing billboard after billboard without really registering any of them. Then hunger strikes, and suddenly that McDonald's sign is the only thing you can see.

That's how marketing works: you're not introducing yourself once and hoping for the best. You're showing up again and again, so that when your client's _"I need a photographer!"_ moment finally hits, yours is the name that comes to mind.

But here's the catch: even when someone is ready to pull off at the next exit and book, their brain starts throwing up speed bumps: questions about pricing, worries about their messy house, uncertainty about how the whole process works.

In this episode, Annemie and Dayna break down how to use your email and social media marketing to sand down those speed bumps before someone even _thinks_ about booking, making the decision to hire you feel easy, obvious, and overdue.

In this episode, we cover:

• The rule of seven, and why the repetition in your marketing isn't annoying, it's necessary
• Four of the most common client hesitations and how to address each one
• How to turn your FAQs and prep guide into a steady stream of evergreen content
• Why a clear, specific call to action matters more than you think (and what "vague booking" is costing you)

By the end, you'll have a whole new way to think about your social and email content... less like a relentless content treadmill, more like a helpful guide walking your ideal clients right to your door.

Sign Up for the FREE Webinar: Economy Proof Your Business - 3 Ways to Make More Without Charging More

Resources:

• New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources.
• Join our community! We'd love to welcome you into our supportive, business-focused private Facebook group. Go to facebook.com/groups/thiscantbethathard to request access.
• Long-time listener? Leave a review!

For a long time, SEO gave us a set of rules to follow. There were a lot of rules, and following them all wasn't ever _simple_, but at least the playbook was fairly clear. These days, though, the landscape has shifted…

With the proliferation of AI tools and search algorithms, the way people find information online is evolving quickly. The rules around SEO are changing as well, and many photographers are wondering what actually matters now.

This week I’m joined by Corey Potter of Fuel Your Photos. Corey is a former wedding photographer who now helps photographers make their websites more discoverable, and he’s been studying AI's impact on search since the very beginning.

In this conversation, Corey breaks down what SEO really looks like in 2026. We talk about how AI powered search tools are influencing the way people look for photographers, why ranking on Google doesn’t always guarantee clicks anymore, and what photographers should focus on instead.

If SEO has started to feel overwhelming lately, this episode will help you focus on the fundamentals that still matter… clarity, consistency, and making it easy for both people and search tools to understand exactly how you help your clients.

Resources:

• New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources.
• Join our community! We'd love to welcome you into our supportive, business-focused private Facebook group. Go to facebook.com/groups/thiscantbethathard to request access.
• Long-time listener? Leave a review!

If you’re anything like most photographers, the thought of walking into a fundraiser, hosting an event, or introducing yourself at a networking mixer makes you want to put on your soft pants and climb back into bed. Which is exactly why I’m betting the rock quadrant of your marketing system is probably the one that needs the most attention.

The truth is, in-person marketing can be one of the fastest ways to build real momentum in your business… but that requires finding opportunities that feel aligned and doable!

For this episode, I went back through the archives and pulled together some of the best strategies we've covered on the podcast and bundled them into one super episode. These strategies aren't just effective, they're very doable! Grab a notebook, because there are a lot of ideas packed into this one...

• First, Nicole Begley shares charitable marketing strategies that actually convert.
• Then Michelle Franzetti walks through her creative approach to hosting gatherings that bring people together.
• Next, Michelle McAfee explains how to use your studio or other physical spaces as a relationship building tool.
• And finally, Angelica Pompey shares practical scripts for how to start conversations with anyone and what to say once you’re in the room.

You’ll walk away with permission to keep things simple and a reminder that the goal of networking is not to "win" the room. It’s to show up, be helpful, and let those relationships compound over time.

Ready to start filling your rock quadrant and building real momentum in your marketing? Listen in… and don’t forget to grab this week's action items at thiscantbethathard.com/darkroom.

Resources:

• New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources.
• Join our community! We'd love to welcome you into our supportive, business-focused private Facebook group. Go to facebook.com/groups/thiscantbethathard to request access.
• Long-time listener? Leave a review!