This Can't Be That Hard

Despite the fact that Pinterest marketing can be an incredibly powerful tool for photographers, it’s largely overlooked or misunderstood. Today on the podcast, Pinterest marketing expert Carolina Guzik shares the reasons why we should all consider Pinterest to grow the number of photography leads we get, covers the anatomy of a great marketing pin, and offers listeners a free download covering how you can turn Pinterest into a traffic-generating machine in three steps. With just a little effort (she says she only spends about an hour a month on Pinterest), you can see real growth on this free and underutilized platform!

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!

Even during a regular year, summer can be a hard time for me to stay motivated about pushing my business forward, and god knows this year has been anything BUT regular! For many photographers, this is one of the most important times of year for your business, because it’s the time that you connect (or reconnect) with potential clients to ensure that they remember to book you when the time is right!

Today’s podcast is all about email marketing for photographers, which - done right - is one of the cheapest and most effective ways to fill your calendar with sessions. We’ll talk about why email marketing is smart, how to get a list started (or revive a cold list), and how to plan for a year’s worth of content in just an hour!

(Oooh, and I’ve got a brand new freebie for you, too! You can find that at thiscantbethathard.com/podcast/024)

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!

This is a short episode designed to help you get a big-picture view of your business. Whether you’re brand new or have been in business for years, one of the harder things to do - especially as someone in a one-person business - is to keep an eye on the big picture as you necessarily navigate the day to day minutia. The big picture is important, though, and the way I look at it is by breaking it into four main quadrants.

Today, I’m talking about what those four quadrants are, how they fit together, and what I’m focusing on here at This Can’t Be That Hard.

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!

This episode was pre-recorded a couple of weeks ago - before George Floyd was murdered. I considered postponing the drop date and focusing on more pressing issues this week, but although current events and the conversation around them has changed, my chat with Nick North focused on a topic that happens to be highly relevant to business owners right now, and that topic is messaging.

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!

Feeling outraged by what is going on right now? Good. Now is the time for action, and today’s podcast is about fundraising, which is one way you can turn your outrage into something meaningful. As a photographer, you have a useful set of skills - this is a short guide to help you think through how to put them to work to raise money. If you are unsure what to fundraise FOR, you will find a brief list of just a few of the well-vetted organizations that merit your consideration in the show notes.

There are many more important voices out there right now than mine, so I’m just going to put this out there and shut up. Let’s get to work.

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!

Today’s episode is filled with big words and big ideas, which will come as no surprise if you’re familiar with Yan Palmer. Yan is a film photographer based in Utah, and although our conversation was focused on the push and pull of business and art, we ended up talking about quite a bit more than that as well. I love this episode and I know you will, too.

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!

There are very few one-size-fits-all rules when it comes to pricing your photography, but there is at least one:

It is ALWAYS better to calculate and charge the correct amount per session - even if you’re not booking enough sessions to meet your overall income goals - than it is to charge less than the correct amount - even if it means you book more sessions.

In today’s podcast, I explain why that rule is universal, then talk you through the steps you need to take if you’re not charging enough per session to get your business on the road to success.

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!

Leslie Kershaw is a documentary family photographer in Washington, D.C.

I first met Leslie Kershaw through The Family Narrative - she was one of the teachers at our very first conference in 2017, and over the course of the three years that I’ve known her, I’ve always been so impressed… not just by her work (which is incredible), but by what has always struck me as her incredibly strong internal compass.

As creatives and entrepreneurs, I think most of us struggle to stay focused, to prioritize, and to know when to say no, but Leslie always seems to have a clear path, and follows it 100%. She balances the demands of a successful photography business, a full-time job working for a pharmacy association, and life as a wife and mother of three all with incredible grace. 

My original intent when I asked Leslie to be on the show was to find out more about how she did that, but our conversation going deeper. In today’s episode, in addition to talking about boundaries, Leslie and I chat about 

• adjusting to the new reality of Coronavirus and its effect on our ability to manage our time  and be productive

• mindfulness

• commercial and stock photography

• and so much more

You can see Leslie’s work at lesliekershaw.com, and on IG @lesliekershawphoto or @lesliekershaw

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 summer, I created a program designed to protect me and my business from an unforeseen event that might prevent me from working for a period of time… I was thinking of a broken leg or some other kind of short-term disability situation. But in an incredibly fortunate, timely way, that program has protected me and my family financially during the Covid-19 outbreak when, like the rest of you, I haven’t been able to work.

Today, I’m detailing that program and inviting you to join me for a workshop I’m creating to teach you exactly how you can do the same.

Show notes: thiscantbethathard.com/podcast/017

Workshop info: thiscantbethathard.com/club

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!

Despite what you may think, your job as a photographer is not making amazing photos. Your job is to help your clients transform  in some way, or experience a feeling that they want or need to feel, and the tool that you use to create that transformation or experience that feeling is your amazing photos.

But making amazing photos is just one part of that job.

This week on the podcast, I'm going to talk about the job we think we have versus the job that we actually have, and then once we've defined our actual job, we're going to talk about what it takes to do our job in a way that creates loyal, raving fans.

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!