This Can't Be That Hard

Today’s show is like that first crisp fall day - cozy, nostalgic and full of inspiration. Jude Charles is an author and filmmaker who has produced stories for companies like Google and Steve Harvey... but Jude started out like a lot of us do: with a camera, a passion, and a desire to succeed. 

As visual artists and storytellers, Jude reminds us about the importance of what he calls “roadmapping” for clients - understanding their needs, creating a vision, and learning how to quickly and authentically build trust and connection.

Pour yourself a cup of coffee (or tea!) and settle in for an uplifting conversation. 

Links: 

• Check out Jude's work on his website
• Join The Dramatic Leverage Newsletter
• Follow Jude on Instagram

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!

Most photographers I know have had a tough year so far… I’m not sure whether it’s the post-covid bounce or the economy or something else, but inquiries and bookings have been down… pretty much across the board.

The good news is that things look like they’re finally turning a corner, but if you are one of the people who have been feeling the strain in 2023, today’s conversation with Briana Tresko is going to hit home.

Briana bravely said yes to coming on the show to talk about some ideas for what to do when you are hearing a lot of “let me get back to you’s” from your inquiries, without shooting your whole business plan in the foot. 

Links: 

• Connect with Brianna on her website
• Follow Brianna on Instagram @brianacphotography

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 are at a place in your photography business where the busy season means you're fully booked, you know how crushing it is when you have to turn people away. 

This week my guest is the brilliant Jaye McLaughlin, a family photographer in the New York metro area sharing her GENIUS strategy for managing the high client demand during the busy season - without having to turn anyone away! Jaye's been using this strategy for nine seasons straight, so she takes us through the core principles behind it, the ways it's evolved over the years, and the critical do's and don'ts to keep in mind so you can apply this in your business immediately!

Whether you're a seasoned photographer or just starting, Jaye's insights are bound to leave you inspired and full of ideas. Grab your notepad and let's get started!

Links: 

• Check out Jaye's website
• Connect with Jaye on Instagram: @JayeMcL

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!

Your website is arguably the most valuable marketing tool you have as a photographer. From the moment a potential client lands on your site until they click the button to connect with you, your website is doing all the work of attracting and connecting you to that client. 

That’s a pretty big job, so in this episode, I want to walk you through a quick audit of your home page to make sure it’s in tip-top shape. I’ll dive into 6 key feelings your website homepage needs to evoke that will help lead prospective clients from curious to connection. Get out those notebooks and get ready to polish up your homepage!

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!

Last year my friend Erin Brown brought the term “purposely part-time” to the podcast, and the response was absolutely overwhelming. It turns out that many photographers are intentionally part-time in their businesses - for reasons ranging from other careers they don't want to give up to being home with their families after school - so that phrase has caught fire! 

Today I’m speaking with Lydia Fine - another purposely part-time photographer - about how she balances everything from mom life, to corporate life, to wife life, to photography life. Sometimes, what we need to hear is that we aren’t alone, so if you're purposely part-time and feeling judgment or pressure around the goals you have for your career, I hope you find comfort and a few great tips in this episode! 

Links: 

• Check out Lydia's work on her website
• Connect with Lydia on Instagram : @lydia_apolloandivy

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!

We are all being bombarded with sales pitches nearly every waking hour. As a matter of survival, our brains have become very good at saying "oh that sounds interesting... I'll get to it later." 

Without a compelling, time- or scarcity-based call to action, we tend to put off non-essential decision-making - including the decision to book a photographer - even if those decisions involve something we genuinely want.

To sum this month's lesson up in a single sentence, creating urgency is good; abusing it is bad.

Most photographers I know are so worried about coming across as pushy or manipulative that they miss out on one of the most powerful strategies to increase conversions.

But leveraging sales psychology doesn't have to be manipulative. As long as you are honest about the parameters of your offers and use them sparingly, they can give the people who want to hire you anyway the permission/kick in the pants that they need to do so today rather than tomorrow.

This month, we're going to explore different ways to encourage your followers and subscribers to "act now," (but maybe without using that "act now" phrase, which most of us associate with late-night infomercials).

Learn more about Revenue on Repeat at thiscantbethathard.com/revenue

• Watch the Simple Sales Masterclass where Annemie teaches the 6 steps to running a profitable, sustainable photography business you love.
• Join the TCBTH Facebook Group - a supportive, business-focused group for photographers.
• Leave a review!

If you’ve ever considered a photography mastermind group, you know that once you dip your toe in that water it can get overwhelming pretty quickly. How do you know which group is the right fit? What questions should you ask? What goals should you set? What results can you expect? The list goes on...

Today I am talking with Elena S. Blair who has been a leader in the group coaching space for quite some time now. Tune in to hear the reasons she believes mastermind groups can be so transformative for photographers, and her best recommendations for finding the right group for you.

Links: 

• Learn more and get on the waitlist at ElenaSBlair.com 
• Follow on Instagram: @ElenaSBlair_Photography 

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!

Talking about the importance of pricing and sustainability is my jam, but I typically approach it from the "this is why it's important for YOU" perspective. The fact of the matter is that when enough photographers aren’t charging sustainable prices, it has major implications for the industry as a whole.

Today's guest is Bonnie Sindelar. She’s a newborn and family photographer in Nebraska and the founder of Happily Ever Photo, a photographer directory where prospective clients can go to find their dream photographer. Bonnie brings a fascinating perspective on the photography industry as a whole and shares why it's so important that we value what we do, educate ourselves (and our clients), and most importantly, charge profitable rates. 

Links: 

• Get listed on Happily Ever Photo
• Connect with Bonnie on Instagram 
• Check out Bonnie's work at Genesis Photo
• Read her blog post about pricing (4 Reasons Your Photographer Can’t Pay Their Bills and 3 Ways We Can Fix That)

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 wish you could peek inside your clients' heads and hear what they're thinking? Yeah, me too. Which is why I (finally!) decided to interview one of my own long-time photography clients about her experience as a client, and specifically her thoughts about my membership program.

We (necessarily) spend so much time thinking about photography from our own perspective that it can be hard to put ourselves in our client's shoes. But if we want to be great at providing services our clients want, we should pay attention to what they need. Which is why I am so excited for this episode! I don't know why it took me over 200 episodes to bring one of my photography clients on the show, but it was definitely worth the wait! 

Links: 

• Interested in creating a Membership program in your business? Check out Revenue on Repeat for a templated, step-by-step guide. 

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!

Mind: blown... there are now a thousand Simple Sales Blueprint students out there in the world! When I first launched the Blueprint back in January 2020, I had no idea whether anyone would be interested in my system, but in just three short years, Simple Sales has taken root and spread like wildfire in the photography world.

As my education business has grown, I've gotten more and more questions about how I made that leap. Today felt like a good time to pull back to the curtain on that journey, and talk about the similarities and differences between running an education business vs. a photography business.

I got into education because I felt like I had a lot of good insights about running a business, but no doubt: this new chapter has taught me even more. I think today's episode is valuable even if you're not interested in getting into education, but if you are, you won't want to miss it.

Links: 

• Anatomy of a Breakthrough by Adam Alter
• Sign up for the Zoom call on 7/26/23 to learn more about creating an online education course for photographers
  
  

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!