PhotoBizX The Ultimate Wedding and Portrait Photography Business Podcast

Premium Members, click here to access this interview in the premium area Charles Moll of www.charlesmoll.com is a full-time wedding photographer based in Bozeman, Montana, with 7 years of experience. Before wedding photography, he honed his marketing, videography, and photography skills worldwide while working for non-profits. Since pursuing photography full-time, the Wedding Photo Journalists Association has recognised him as one of the top 150 photographers in the world. Around 80% of his business is weddings, with the other 20% being volume and family photography. His website and online presence are very wedding-centric. Most of his clients come from Google, referrals, networking groups, and The Knot and Wedding Wire. In the past 3 years, he's had to start from scratch twice after relocating. In this interview, Charles shares how he wins out-of-town wedding photography clients with smart SEO, not big advertising. Here's some more of what we covered in the interview: Seven years strong — Charles Moll has been running a full-time photography business for seven years now, earning his place among the top 150 wedding photographers worldwide. It's been a steady, intentional build, not an overnight story. Non-profit beginnings, business brain — Starting out in the non-profit sector gave Charles more than a good heart — it sharpened his marketing, video, and storytelling skills, which he’s carried straight into building a thriving photography business. Weddings by design — He didn’t fall into weddings by accident. Charles chose this path, wanting to combine meaningful storytelling with a business that could support him long-term. When COVID hit, he rebuilt — Like a lot of photographers, Charles took a hit when weddings disappeared. But instead of sitting back, he used the time to rework his pricing, double down on education, and come back stronger and more focused. From safe job to full-time leap — Leaving full-time work wasn’t a reckless jump. Charles mapped out milestones, kept a close eye on finances, and made the move carefully — managing both his mindset and money along the way. Rebuilding after every move — Relocating to a new city meant starting over — twice. But with strong SEO and consistent marketing, Charles kept enquiries coming and momentum steady. Tapping into a booming market — Based now in Bozeman, Montana, Charles is positioned perfectly in a growing luxury wedding hotspot — working across the state with clients who value quality and experience. Winning the Google game — Out-of-town couples don’t care who’s “known” locally — they care who shows up online. Charles made sure he’s the one they find, and it’s paying off. A brand that speaks for itself — The “Charles Moll” brand feels clean, professional, and premium. Couples feel that before they even enquire — it’s all been built intentionally. Quality over quantity — Rather than chasing 40 weddings a year, Charles works with 15–20 couples — the right fit — delivering a high-touch experience that clients remember and rave about. Pricing with a strategy — Raising prices was never about charging more for the sake of it. Charles restructured his offers to align with what his ideal clients actually want — and it’s working. Full-day coverage, full trust — Unlimited wedding day coverage removes pressure from couples and builds trust early — plus, it leads to bigger bookings naturally. Listings that make sense — Paid listings on platforms like The Knot and WeddingWire aren’t just throwing money away — they’re smart investments that continue to deliver genuine enquiries. A smooth path to booking — Quick video calls, clear next steps, no confusion. The faster and easier the process feels, the quicker couples commit. Leading, not selling — Charles positions himself as a guide, not a salesperson. That trust-first approach consistently leads to bookings without the hard sell. The small touches add up — He covers credit card fees for his couples — a simple gesture that leaves a big impression and builds loyalty. More than just great photos — Sure, the photos are beautiful, but it's the experience Charles creates that gets people talking — and referring. Albums that feel like heirlooms — Albums aren’t just products to upsell — they’re part of the experience. When couples see and feel them in real life, they want them. Designing albums together — Live album design calls aren’t just about getting sales — they deepen the emotional connection, leading to more pages and bigger orders naturally. Networking with purpose — Local networking groups aren’t just social time — they’re part of Charles’ bigger business plan, bringing in family shoots and extra work that keeps his business balanced year-round.   What’s on Offer for Premium Members If you’re on the fence about becoming a premium member, join with the $1 trial today and get access to the FULL interviews each week, a fantastic back catalogue of interviews, and have ALL future interviews delivered automatically to your phone or tablet. Plus, special member-only interviews. I just put myself as the lowest priced photographer on there, because at that point, I was just like, I need to book weddings. I need to shoot… I just need to put my name out there and show that I'm doing work. – Charles Moll You'll also receive access to the members-only Secret Facebook Group, where you can connect with other Premium Members and interview guests to help, support and motivate you to take ideas you hear in each episode and put them into action. The group also has FB live video tutorials, role-play, and special live interviews. You will not find more friendly, motivated, caring and sharing photographers online. Seriously, that's not all. Going with that four full day unlimited collection has really been awesome. I thought it would have hurt me… but for whatever reason like that has allowed me to really provide just a huge amount more value to my clients, and then be willing to invest in my higher tier collections, which really surprised me. – Charles Moll In addition to everything above, you'll get access to instructions on forming or joining a MasterMind Group with other premium members. These groups are super motivating, make you accountable, and build friendships with other pro photographers with motives similar to yours – to build a more successful photography business.     What is your big takeaway? Following this interview, I’d love to know if you're taking anything from what Charles shared. Is there something you heard that excited or motivated you to the point where you thought, yeah, I'm going to do that! If so, leave your thoughts in the comments below; let me know your takeaways and what you plan to implement in your business based on what you heard in today's episode. My process is identical. No matter where an inquiry comes through… As soon as I get their info, I'll try to get them on the phone, with the goal of getting folks to a video call where we can walk through everything. – Charles Moll If you have any questions I missed, a specific question you’d like to ask Charles, or a way to thank you for coming on the show, feel free to add them in the comments area below.     iTunes Reviews and Shout-outs I check for any new iTunes or Google reviews each week, and it's always a buzz to receive these… for several reasons. Firstly, it's confirmation that I'm on the right track with the interviews and that they are helping you improve your photography business. That's awesome! Secondly, iTunes and Google are the most significant podcast search engines, and your reviews and ratings help other photographers find PhotoBizX. More listeners mean more interviews and, ultimately, a better show. If there is something people are really excited about, I'll throw it into as a gift… just as an incentive to book more. – Charles Moll If you have left a review in the past, thank you! If you haven't and you'd like to, head to https://photobizx.com/itunes or https://photobizx.com/google. You can leave some honest feedback and a rating, which will help me and the show. I'll be sure to thank you on the show and add a link to your website or blog if you let me know the URL of your website and your name. Alternatively, if you've left a review for PhotoBizX and are looking for more backlinks to help your SEO, leave a review for the new Photography Xperiment Podcast. Email me your keywords or phrases and where you'd like me to link them. As soon as I dropped that second or that engagement session from that collection, it really opened up that package for a lot more folks… I do a four package method, so I'm really trying to book that, you know, second one from the top. – Charles Moll Another great way to get a backlink to your site is to send a video testimonial. It doesn't need to be fancy, and your phone will be perfect. Click record and tell me how PhotoBizX has impacted you and your photography business.​ Links to people, places and things mentioned in this episode: Charles Moll Website Charles Moll on Instagram Charles Moll on Facebook I'm constantly redoing my collections. I'm constantly tweaking my pricing, and it's really just trying to find, like, that sweet spot of, like, you know, what do I need to include to be able to book clients? You know, where are the sticking points in my collections? – Charles Moll Thank you! Really appreciate you tuning in. Big thanks to Charles for being so open and honest in this chat. There’s a lot of noise out there, and it’s great to hear from someone who’s actually shooting, still building, and doing it for the right reasons. We covered everything from spotting the fakes to finding the right support — and what it really looks like to build a business you’re proud of. Hope you love this one as much as I did. For me, I really use the networking groups to grow the other parts of my business outside of weddings, because, you know, wanting to be more in that high end wedding market, I want to keep my brand pretty, pretty focused online. – Charles Moll That’s it for me this week; I hope everything is going well for you in life and business! Thanks, and speak soon Andrew Episode Transcript Email Download New Tab 614: Charles Moll - Winning Out-of-Town Wedding Photography Clients with Smart SEO   Andrew Hellmich: Today's guest is a full time wedding photographer of seven years. He's based in Bozeman, Montana, in the US and before wedding photography, he was honing his marketing, videography, and photography skills across the globe while working for nonprofits. Since going all in with photography, he's been recognized as one of the top 150 photographers in the world by the Wedding Photojournalist Association. Around 80% of his business is weddings, with another 20 being volume and family photography. Now, in saying that, his website and online presence is very much wedding -centric. The majority of his clients are coming from Google, referrals, networking groups, plus The Knot and Wedding Wire, and in the past three years, he's had to start from scratch twice after relocating in the state. I'm talking about Charles Moll, and I am looking forward to learning so much more. Charles, welcome. Charles Moll: Thanks so much for having me, Andrew. I'm super excited to be here and, yeah, excited to chat a bit about business. Andrew Hellmich: Fantastic, mate. What? Why go all in with wedding photography when it sounds like you had a pretty awesome job working for the nonprofits? Charles Moll: Yeah, I think for me, like, wedding photography is always the most fun that I've had doing photography. I love, really the journalism aspect and telling people's stories. And pretty early on in photography, I realized, like, probably being a photojournalist isn't going to be something that will pay the bills very well. But, you know, weddings are a great way to still do that storytelling piece, get that front row seat to tell folks his stories, and, you know, actually be able to make a living as well. So for me, I just love weddings. They're a blast, and it's fun to see people on like, the just one of those really big days of their life, when it's a lot of big emotions for really everyone involved, from the bride and groom or, you know, the family, or whatever it might be. Andrew Hellmich: Yeah. I mean, I think you're right. I mean, weddings is the one, I guess, genre where you can be a photo journalist and get paid for it and make a good living doing it. Did you start shooting weddings while you were working for the nonprofits? Or, like, tell me about that transition? Charles Moll: Yeah. So I went to school for photography, graduated in 2017 and then worked for nonprofits, and I wanted to get into photography as one of those things where I was kind of too scared to take the leap into doing my own business. So, for me, it was the safe option to just have that nice nine to five type of job. But I think the first wedding I shot would have been 2017 or 2018 and it was just, it was just a blast, like I just loved it start to finish. And then after doing that, I was like, "Okay, I gotta figure out a way to actually make this work" and, you know, take this risk and try and make it into more of a career. Andrew Hellmich: What happened then? Did you, like, did you quit the other job? Did you start booking some weddings? Like, tell me about the actual transition. Charles Moll: 2019 was kind of my first year pursuing doing photography as a business. I picked up a few weddings and more family and just photo shoots there, trying to just get my name out there. I was really doing the shotgun approach, just throwing everything out that I could. I really did not think about my business in any thoughtful way at all during 2019 and then 2020 and COVID happened, and just absolutely demolished my business. You know, I think I had maybe one shoot that whole year. And really the main reason for that is I hadn't built any good procedures, good processes for my business, and the pandemic just tanked it. So 2021 rolled around and it was like, "Okay, I need to actually try and do something better". Things were opening up a bit in Montana. So really decided I need "Okay, if I'm going to take this leap to doing photography as a business, I need to do it a lot more thoughtfully. Start investing in education, reading books". And what I did that year is I had a profile on The Knot or Wedding Wire. I can't remember which one, and I just put myself as the lowest priced photographer on there, because at that point, I was just like, I need to book weddings, I need to shoot, I need to get out into the world. I need to meet people, and I just need to put my name out there and show that I'm doing work. And had a pretty okay. I mean, I shot a lot, but I didn't make any money that year, but it really allowed me to leverage my business to 2022 where I was able to quit my full time job, work part time through the winter, and then by 2023 was able to take my business full time. Andrew Hellmich: Wow. Okay, that's a bit of a journey there. So in 2019 through to 2021 were you still working for the nonprofits, were you? Charles Moll: Yep, I was. I was doing fundraising and marketing. So it was a great opportunity with that job, just to learn a lot about how to how to grow a business, even though, you know, it was growing someone else's business, I learned a lot about social media, SEO, networking all those sorts of things and just how to communicate my value to people and just become a better communicator, which really reap dividends in actually being able to book higher and higher budget clients and take it full time. Andrew Hellmich: When you decided to go full time. Did you say that was 2022, 2023? Charles Moll: Yeah, 2022 was when I took the leap to quitting my job and being like, part full time. I had a part time job in the winter when things were slow and yeah, really, what the main reason for that was, is I was just super burned out. I mean, between working a full time job and then putting every spare moment into trying to get my business off of the ground. I was, I was just toast. Andrew Hellmich: I remember those days. I know what it's like. It is tough. Charles Moll: Yeah, it was, it was a lot, for sure. Andrew Hellmich: So did you have, like, a certain number of weddings that you needed to have on the books? Did you chat about this with your partner or your wife? Like, what was the exit strategy from the full time job? What was the catalyst that said, Okay, "I can make the leap now". Or did you just think, "You know what, I'm going to risk it?" Charles Moll: It was a bit of both. I think when I left, I had a pretty solid amount of weddings left that summer. I think I had eight or so, because I left my job mid-summer, and it's like, "okay, this will be enough to at least float me through", I think it was like October, November. And then if things, you know, money gets tight, I can pick up a part time job while I'm trying to book the next season. And that was kind of a weird time where, for whatever reason, I think it was mainly I did a big jump in pricing. I was able to book a ton of weddings for 2024 but 2023 was just kind of slow, and I think it was this thing of the people who were wanting to invest more in wedding photography, they were planning their wedding a little bit further out. So it was very much not a thoughtful decision. It was just like, "I can't do this anymore. I just need to do something different and take that risk". Andrew Hellmich: Were you scared to take the risk, or were you excited about it? How did you feel? Charles Moll: Oh, man, I was, I was freaking out the whole time. It was this thing, my wife and I had this kind of joke where I was like, "Okay, you need to give me a date that I can freak out, because otherwise I'm just going to freak out every day". So she's like, "Okay, you can't freak out till October 1st". It's like... Andrew Hellmich: Okay, cool. Charles Moll: I'm going to put my head down. I'm going to do what I need to do, and then when October 1st comes around, I'll freak out. And that just kind of became a rhythm that we would do, where you know, take these little gaps, and then it would be like, "Okay, I'm gonna try to make it till this date and then reassess". Because I don't know. I just found that if I was always worrying about, "Oh no, am I going to do? Am I doing enough?", I would just become so over critical and get more frozen, instead of being like, "All right, I have this date down the road. I'm going to do everything I can, and then when that date comes, I'll reassess". Andrew Hellmich: I believe I don't know, because I'm not a US citizen, but I understand that healthcare is a huge aspect in regards to having a full time job. So when you leave the full time job, I'm guessing you lose that healthcare or those healthcare benefits. Is that one of the first things you have to look after when you go out on your own? Or do you go onto your wife's healthcare? How does that side of things work? Charles Moll: I guess, fortunately and unfortunately, my nonprofit job didn't have health care. So it wasn't looking at our budget and things. It wasn't expense that we were looking or having to replace as much. It was just like, "Okay, this is already something we're paying for". You know, we didn't make enough to have to pay through the nose for it, but it was still, you know, we still had to pay a pretty penny, of course, but yeah, so thankfully and on, thankfully didn't have health care. So I think that made that transition a little less shocking. Of like, "Oh no, we need to find how to budget". You know, this much more a month, it was just like, "All right, well, this is already part of our budget. We know the numbers that we need to kind of hit". And yeah, my wife was working, I think she was part time, then she's in the process of going through grad school. And actually, she got into grad school that winter of, gosh, what that meant, 23 so, yeah, that definitely added this a bit of a stressor. But my main goal with my business when I started is like, "Man, I want to be able to put my wife through grad school so she can actually be fully present, not have to work on top of it, and I can provide for her through that". And thankfully have been able to do that. Andrew Hellmich: Well, I guess you managed to support you and your wife, pay the health care all through the wedding photography and the part time job. Charles Moll: Yep. Yeah. Andrew Hellmich: Awesome, amazing. Charles Moll: No, it was. I think it's one of those things, I still look back. I'm like, "How the heck did this even work?" But somehow, you know, she's got two months left to grad school, and it's like, "Holy cow". We're like, "We've almost done it. We've almost made it through this adventure". So, yeah, it's, it's been pretty exciting. Andrew Hellmich: That's so good, man. Congratulations! Charles Moll: Thanks. Andrew Hellmich: That is no mean feat. That is amazing. Tell me a little bit about Bozeman, like I just pulled up on Google that I can see, like the first thing I saw was snowy mountains, and so it looks like it gets very cold there in winter. Is it a big population? Is that where all your clients are coming from? Can you shoot all year round? Tell me a little bit about the area that you're servicing. Charles Moll: Bozeman is really interesting in that it's probably about 50,000 people. It's not a very like huge town in and of itself, but it's blown up since, I mean, it's been blown up for the past 15 years or more, but really since COVID and with the show Yellowstone, like Montana and Bozeman, has just become kind of this new destination, hot spot for folks. I started getting inquiries, and would talk to people and be like, "Oh, why'd you choose Montana?", they're like, "Well, we just love this show, Yellowstone". It's like, "Okay, that's not really even filmed in Bozeman, but I'll take it, like that's great". So it's really become a very luxury market very quickly. I mean, it's always been more high-end, but in really the past four years, the market has, there's been, like, a notable shift. I mean, I went to college in Bozeman, and when you know I was going to school, it's like you'd go downtown, and it was just a bunch of dirty ski bum cars, and now you go, and it's like BMWs, Teslas, and just a very huge demographic shift. I mean, I think the cost of the average home has honestly probably quadruple in the past few years. Like it's been insane, and I feel grateful to have been able to, like, get in and ride the wave, a little bit of the market changing, but Montana, as well, just being not that populous of a state, like I end up shooting the whole state, and not just the Bozeman area. So, you know, it's a big state. I drive a ton, but, yeah, I've been the furthest I've driven within the state so far. It's about six hours. So really photographed the whole state. Andrew Hellmich: And, yeah, right, okay, so when I said in the intro, and, you know, we were chatting via email before I learned that the fact that you had moved a couple of times and had to start from scratch. So, I mean, is it really starting from scratch, or is it, were you able to keep the website, keep all the SEO and everything still really worked. You just had to relocate your, and where you lived. Charles Moll: Yeah, it was a bit of both. It was, thankfully for the weddings, it didn't really matter so much where I lived. So I was able to keep my SEO. Bozeman was one of the better markets, so I really have left my website pretty much the same, which has helped to keep that growth just continuing. But it would be that thing of like, "Okay, I need to, like, build a whole new network of wedding vendors. I need to build a whole new network of other folks for", you know, having that diversification of income within photography, because I don't want to put all my eggs in the wedding basket as much as I love it. You know, they are big ticket items. It's like, you lose two or three weddings. It's like, shoot that's 10 to $20,000 depending on the wedding. So trying to find ways to diversify and really needing to always be networking when I get into those new communities, so it doesn't impact the wedding piece so much. For more my family photography and volume photography piece was always the starting over part. Andrew Hellmich: Got it, okay. And then when you say volume photography, is that school sports teams? What is that? Charles Moll: Yeah, primarily schools and sports teams, you know, anything from like a volleyball team to a whole school, just the generic head shots to doing, you know, like a whole sports league of, like, 300 kids. It's not really the most glamorous photography, but it's fun, and it's a good way to have that more consistent income, because, you know, photography is not something you can really always rely on. "Okay, I'm going to have this many clients for sure, for weddings a year". But with volume photography. It's like, once, you know, pick up a couple leagues, it was like, "All right, cool. Every year I'm going to have these folks on this general date", and can have a better idea of what each year's income will look like. Andrew Hellmich: Absolutely. Yeah, you get a little bit more of that stability. Are you actually based in Bozeman now, or were you trying to rank for Bozeman while you were living outside of Bozeman? Charles Moll: Yeah, so I initially tried to rank for Bozeman when I was in Bozeman, got to page one of Google with that, and then we moved to Missoula. We lived there for a year and a half, and we didn't really know where we were going to end up long term. So I didn't want to mess too much with my SEO. I built some venue pages in more that Missoula market, which is about three hours away from Bozeman, started networking with the venues around there, but then we ended up moving to another town, Helena, recently, which is about an hour and a half from Bozeman. So kind of split the difference between Missoula and Bozeman. And it's allowed me to kind of keep both markets that I've been able to build in. So not as much a total restart, but a little bit of just that challenge of like, you move to a new town, you gotta start over with those connections, but still can access those old connections as well. Just have to drive, you know, a couple hours. Andrew Hellmich: Okay, I've got it, I'm getting a better picture now. So what happens then, when a couple from, say, Bozeman, or someone that's a couple that's going to Bozeman to get married, they obviously, they see your website. They love the photos. They can see that you're based in Bozeman. They call you to meet up, and then you say, "Hey, I'm an hour away. I don't live in Bozeman". Do you get any sort of negative pushback from those couples? Charles Moll: I really haven't. With my communication, I always just try to move it to a video call to keep it easy for people and just be like, "Hey, let's set up a video call". And honestly, probably 70% of my couples don't even live in the state, on their destination weddings coming to Montana, so it's pretty expected that it'll be a video call anyway, and then, even if they're local, a lot of folks don't want to worry about, "Oh no, we have to go meet with you. Set aside more time, the drive time and everything". People have been pretty excited about just doing video calls, and I've built all my collections so that travel and lodging is included, so it doesn't really even come up, where people ask "Where I'm based out of", and if they do, I'll tell them honestly, like, "Oh, I'm in Helena. And they go, "Cool, that's a great area", and that's about it, right? Andrew Hellmich: Okay, I love it. This is sounding like a really cool business, and it sounds like I wouldn't say you sort of stumbled into a great location, because you obviously you want to live there, but it sounds like the clients are coming to you almost automatically, because you've been able to rank your website so well for the area, and people are coming looking for photographers in Bozeman or in Montana. Is that the way it is? Charles Moll: The website has been huge for leads, and it's been awesome. I think what's cool too is people don't really know where in Montana they want to get married, and they don't really understand how big the state is. So people look at a Bozeman photographer for a town like Kalispell, which is six hours away, and in their mind, they're like, "Oh yeah, we'll just hire someone from Bozeman", if they like the work. But for whatever reason, like the size of Montana is really hard for folks to wrap their head around, because it's, it's a huge state, and, yeah, it's really cool. It's cool to be in a state that is getting more destination weddings and is slowly becoming, like this wedding hot spot a bit more. Andrew Hellmich: Perfect for you, perfect. All right, I want to ask more about the marketing and the business side of things in just a second, I can see on your website, and we were chatting before we started recording that. You know, on your About Page, you've got 'Charles,' and then in brackets, you've got 'CJ'. So you go by CJ with your friends, but you took the business decision to market yourself as 'Charles Moll'. Why did you do that? Charles Moll: Yeah, I did that, was pretty early on. I just thought 'Charles' sounded a bit more professional and wanting get more into the wedding space, I thought 'Charles' sounds more like a professional business where 'CJ 'sounds, I don't know, I thought of it sound more like a little kid or something. So I was like, "Oh, I'll go with Charles". But then I always run into the problem where I'll answer the phone, I'll be like, "Hey, this is CJ". And folks will be like, "Oh, is Charles available?", dang it. So I've just put that on my website, and have tried to get better at introducing myself as 'Charles'. I think I've almost gotten there, but that was a bit of a learning curve to, like, switch my name in my head, but yeah. Andrew Hellmich: If you're hanging out with your buddies, your family, do they all call you. 'CJ'? Charles Moll: Yeah, just about everyone does. My wife calls me 'Charles', a little bit. But outside of that, pretty much everyone calls me. CJ, Andrew Hellmich: Okay. So knowing what you know now, after being in business for seven years and marketing yourself as 'Charles', would you do the same thing again, or would you do anything differently? Charles Moll: I think I probably would leave it the same. Yeah, I think it, it does have a bit more professional of a sound to it. And I think also I like my logo and how that turned out. So I don't know if I would change it, just because I like my logo. Andrew Hellmich: I love that. Now that is someone that's attached to their logo. I love that. Yeah, and I agree. I think Charles sounds more upmark, it does. I mean, particularly if you're trying to attract that kind of client. Charles Moll: Yeah. And I think it's funny, because at the time, I wasn't, you know, I didn't know anything about the wedding industry, and I was just throwing spaghetti at a wall. And was like, "Yeah, that seems good". But you know, one of those happy accidents where I think it has allowed me to enter into some more professional spaces, and people feel very comfortable with me there and not feel like, "Oh, this is just some kid we've hired". Andrew Hellmich: With the business where it is now. How many couples, do you have a target revenue, a target number of clients? Like, what are you trying to achieve year on year? Charles Moll: My goal with weddings is 15 to 20 weddings a year. I'm not someone where I want to try and do a massive volume of weddings. Part of that's just with all the travel. I mean, last year, you know, spending every weekend driving three hours from Missoula to Bozeman, having to drive, you know, a day early to make sure I get there on time, if I had car issues or anything, I try to keep my number of weddings a bit lower so I can provide a better experience. 15 is like "I hit my wedding, like goals of where I'd like to be financially", and then if I hit 20, that's great. Obviously, I'd probably take more than 20 if people were asking for, like, a Tuesday in February, because not many people are wanting to book a wedding in February in Montana anyway. So just depends on the time of year, but really trying to keep my number of weddings less and just provide more of a high-end client experience to folks. Andrew Hellmich: What is your average couple spending on their wedding photography? Charles Moll: Last year, it was around, what would that be? Around 4400 and this year, I think we've moved it up to about 5400 so.. Andrew Hellmich: Oh, wow. Okay. Charles Moll: Yeah, really trying to push the market as hard as I can to raise my prices. I feel like my wife and I also have a joke that I'm constantly redoing my collections. I'm constantly tweaking my pricing, and it's really just trying to find, like, that sweet spot of like, you know, "What do I need to include to be able to book clients?", you know, "Where are the sticking points in my collections", and seeing, you know, "How can I hit those higher and higher numbers that I'd like to hit?". And even, like, looking at this year, I have a client who booked me. I think it would have been in probably last, gosh, that would have been like last February, and it was one of my highest bookings. And I think it was around like 7-7400 and then I have another client just booked me, and I think they paid the same thing, but there was way less included in the package, and just was able to tweak some things to make the pricing flow a bit easier in the conversations and be able to sell a bit higher of a wedding. Andrew Hellmich: Got it, all right. I'm gonna ask you a little bit more about that. Sounds like, are you sort of targeting $100,000 in turnover from weddings, and then anything above that's a bonus. And then you've got your volume and your portrait photography on top of that as cream. Is that how you look at it? Or is it a different way? Charles Moll: Yeah, I would say something like that. Yeah. Really, the main thing I'm thinking through is if I can book those number of clients, which I guess would be around 100k and then really trying to fill in the gaps with that extra volume photography and that sort of stuff. Because, you know, I have had couples call off the wedding. I think this year, I had two couples call off their weddings. And it's like, even though it's great to be able to charge more for a wedding, really losing those clients is starting to, I just feel it a bit more than I did, you know, when I was charging.. Andrew Hellmich: Sure, that hurts, absolutely. Charles Moll: Two grand a wedding. It was like, "Shoot". But now it's like, "Okay", you know, there does need to be that diversification, just for stability in the business. Andrew Hellmich: Totally get it. So do your couples, do they pay you a retainer, a deposit that's non-refundable once they do book? Charles Moll: Yep, yeah, I do $1,000 deposit to lock in their date, and then the full balance just being paid one month before the wedding. And that's worked pretty well. I'm a big saver, so, you know, we'll just kind of save through the year. Have a general idea at the end of like, 23 was able to see, like, "Okay, this is, you know, we have this amount in our bank account, we'll be pretty good through here, can budget based off of that,". Yeah. Andrew Hellmich: What happens when a couple calls up to cancel? Do you keep that $1,000, is that non-refundable? Can they use it for family photography? Or what do you do? Charles Moll: Yeah, generally, it's ends up just being non-refundable. And part of that is because a lot of the folks are out of state. If someone did want to use it for family photography, I would be super excited to let them do that. And then what I do say to folks is like, "If I am able to rebook your wedding date, I will be able to refund that". But it starts to get to this thing of like, you know, it's usually more last minute when folks cancel, and it's just pretty hard to rebook those dates. So.. Andrew Hellmich: Yeah Charles Moll: Yeah. Unfortunately, I hate that I have to, like, keep the deposit, but it's also one of those things, like, man, yeah, if so many folks canceled, you know, there's the marketing expense for each client. There's any work that I've put into prepping that's like, I don't know, just one of those things to keep things a bit more safe. Andrew Hellmich: Totally agree, it's business, isn't it? It's business. Charles Moll: Yeah, it's a bummer, but yeah. Andrew Hellmich: What did you do to tweak the prices that, you know allows you to, say, make more profit now or charge more, you know, like, I think you use an example earlier. You said you photographing this other couple. They're spending, paying, you know, $5,400 but they got less inclusions. What did you do there to tweak things? Charles Moll: There were two, like, big changes that I made. The first one was last year. I noticed that I was having this sticking point. I think my starting wedding was 3400 I think it was six hours of photography, and then the next one, I can't remember how many it included. I think it's probably like eight or so. But then my next collection up had two photographers, an engagement session, and it had more coverage. But what I was finding is that because so many couples were out of state, the engagement session was becoming the sticking point of folks not wanting to book that collection because it had the engagement session. So for them, it was like, "Well, I guess we don't need this because it has that session, we don't want to pay for that". And then they talk themselves out of the second photographer, they talk themselves out of the additional coverage. And they'd just be like, "Yeah, we'll go with this, this seems like everything we have". But as soon as I dropped that second or that engagement session from that collection, it really opened up that package for a lot more folks. I do a four package method, so I'm really trying to book that, you know, second one from the top. So getting rid of that engagement session really opened that up. Just because of how the market is here, not many folks were wanting that. And then the other big thing that was a game changer this year is I made the transition to doing full day unlimited coverage for folks, rather than doing hourly coverage. So still doing the four collections I have, like my base wedding, which is six hours of coverage. And that's what I'll tell people on the phone. And then on the phone, I'll be like "Most folks, they'll choose to go with a, you know, full day unlimited package. Those start at either 49 or 54 I can't remember which it is off the top of my head". And then when we get into those conversations, you know, one of the packages has an album, another one has the two photographers and a little bit better of an album. And then there's the top package, which is, you know, everything in the kitchen sink, multiple albums and all that sort of stuff. And going with that four full day unlimited collection has really been awesome. I thought it would have hurt me not having hourly marks in people not wanting to get those higher packages, but for whatever reason like, that has allowed me to really provide just a huge amount more value to my clients, and then be willing to invest in my higher tier collections, which really surprised me. Andrew Hellmich: That's cool. All right, so a couple of things, with the package that people were sort of steering clear of, because you had an engagement sheet, you didn't change the price, but you just took the engagement session out, and then more people were happy to book it. Is that the way it went?   Sign up to listen to the Premium Version   Andrew Hellmich: For sure. I agree with that 100%. Man, I've got one more thing I want to ask you about in regards to albums, before that, where is the best place for the listener to see more of your work? Where can they find you online? Where can they follow along with your journey? Charles Moll: Yeah, and you can see my website. It's CharlesMoll.com M-O-L-L, and then on Instagram is Charles.Mall_ photo. Andrew Hellmich: Got it. I'll have links to those in the show notes. So listener can easily find you there. In regards to albums, I mean, are they still popular these days with today's couples? And do you upsell additional pages after they've purchased a sort of an album that comes with a package? Charles Moll: Yeah, I would say albums have been a massive selling point for couples. I really have built it as part of my brand. It's what people see on the website, and if people work with me, usually they're excited about getting an album, and partially that's because I'll post about them on social media. I've really tried to have like, a really high quality album. I use Blacksmith albums, and they're just like, these really sweet albums. And then I do a design, and I mean over, not in person, but a video call design with each couple so, you know, if they have an album and it includes 20 pages, we'll hop on a zoom call. It'll take, you know, two to three hours for them to go through everything. And then we'll build the album in real time, and that's been a great way to upsell folks a little bit, because kind of my thought process was, you know, I've already spent the whatever it is to secure this client in advertising. Being able to add that album the additional pages is a great way just to expand that sale a little bit more. And what's worked really well for me there is immediately after the wedding, I'll let them know, like, you know I'm designing or I'm going through all your photos, and when the photos are about finished up, I'll give them a call and say, like, "Hey, your images are about ready. Would love to set up a time to design your album". We set that usually two weeks or so after they should get their images, we'll hop on a call. Sometimes they've picked all the photos for their album. I usually encourage them to or we'll pick them during the Zoom call. And I've found that people pick way more photos than will fit in any album. Even if I tell them, like, "Hey, this album is only going to have 50 to 60 photos", they'll pick 120 plus. And then you just, you know, we'll design it in real time. We'll go page by page, and folks end up adding, usually, at least 10 pages. In the past, what I did is I would add, they would have to buy each page additionally, but I've started doing clumps of pages during the sale, and that's worked better. Just like, "Hey, 10 pages is, I can't remember, let's say, $400 and then 20 pages is 700", so it's a little, you know, they save a little bit if they add more pages. And that's been huge. I feel like confident that my album process has finally worked through the kinks. And it's actually, you know, folks are adding more and more, and there aren't those sticking points of, like, "Man, you're telling me I have to add $50 per page?", being able to see like, oh, you know, 20 pages costs x, and they see that at the beginning of the call. So there's no surprises. They know what it is. They feel comfortable with it. But it never worked when it was like, "All right, time to fork over $50 a page", it was just like, "Oh shit. This is gonna be, this is gonna be like, $1,100 or whatever". Instead of just seeing like, "Oh, it's gonna be $1,100, cool", because then they can kind of put that in their mind, and they feel comfortable with it. Andrew Hellmich: Right. That's funny. It's the psychology of it, isn't it? Because, I mean, if I'm adding per page and seeing the dollars go up as certainly as a male, I'm thinking, "Oh my god, this is adding up real quickly". Whereas Linda, my wife, she'd be just looking at the photo, she wouldn't even be thinking about the price till the very end. But I'm looking at every page that gets added on. So yeah, the psychology of it, I can understand why that works. Charles, what software are you using to do your album designs in real time? And are you doing that over Google Meet as well? Charles Moll: Yeah, I am. I use Fundy. It works really great. If we pick the photos during the call, I'll just say, like, "Hey, we're going to take a five minute break". They have their like, auto design feature, and that usually gets us at least started with the design. I'll make a couple tweaks. We end up changing every page so much anyways, that folks are pretty happy with it, kind of what I'll do is, once I get that base design made, we'll just go through it page by page. The first time we go through it, we will only look at the images and just say, like, "Okay, do you see any images you want to keep on this page", we're not looking at design, and we'll cut out everything they don't want, and then we start going through and fine tuning the design. And I found like that to be the way to save the most time. And then usually once people finalize that design, it gets really hard for them to say no to that page, because they have that like, emotional attachment of like, "No, we worked so hard. We got rid of all these photos. We worked together to make this page perfect". Because when I first started doing albums, I would pre-design the whole thing and then be like, "All right, cut out the pages you don't want", and it never really resulted in a sale. But when we started doing it in real time, people had this affinity towards their images and towards their pages, and then when they get their albums, they're super excited to actually experience it tangibly. Andrew Hellmich: Unreal, and they're so invested, I can see that process would work. Well, how long does that normally take you for an album design like in general? Charles Moll: In that real time? I think the calls are usually two, two and a half hours or so. I think my longest was about four, but that was, it was, gosh, it was a massive outlet, 80 or 90 pages, and we selected the photos during the call. So, I mean, it's one of those, like, occasionally it'll be these super long calls, but I don't know. I found it better than going back and forth and approved for, you know, over 15-30 emails. It just it's like, "Nope, we're going to set aside this time. We're going to do it. I'm going to let you know on the front end that this takes a lot of time". And I think because it takes a lot of time, it actually kind of has helped to actually sell the albums, because that two hour markets, and most people are pretty over it, and they're like, "I don't want to have to deal with getting rid of more pages. We'll just get the album". And then they're excited. Andrew Hellmich: We'll just take it. Charles Moll: I mean, honestly, it's, it's an heirloom, like, I don't know, yeah, at the time, it might seem like this huge expense, but 10 years from now, like having that album and that tangible reminder their wedding is going to go way further than, like, all your digitals on some album, on some hard drive somewhere. Part of my pitch always is like, "Man, when I started photography and got a CD of images, and that was cool, and I don't even own a disc drive anymore, but you know, we still have books. We still have all that stuff". And people really buy into that, and they really want that tangible piece. And it's like you invest so much in your wedding photos to be taken. It's like that expense of the album really, I think makes a lot of sense, because otherwise you spent all this money to never really experience these photos. Andrew Hellmich: That's true. It's true, and it's also the only real record of the day, unless there's a videographer. But, yeah, the book's going to be around for generations, which is amazing, Charles. I love your process, and I love the way the business sounds. I love everything you've shared. You've been super generous. Thank you so much for coming on, for sharing everything you have. Congrats on your success and looking forward to following along and hearing about the future, great years ahead. Mate, thanks again. Charles Moll: Thanks so much for having me. It was a blast. And yeah, I really appreciate it. Scroll back to top Sign up to receive email updates Enter your name and email address below and I'll send you periodic updates about the podcast. powered by The post 614: Charles Moll – Winning Out-of-Town Wedding Photography Clients with Smart SEO appeared first on Photography Business Xposed - Photography Podcast - how to build and market your portrait and wedding photography business.

Premium Members, click here to access this interview in the premium area Walid Aami of  www.walidazami.com first appeared on the podcast a few years ago in episode 493, where we dived deep into pricing for all photographers, and working in the world of celebrities and commercial clients in Los Angeles. His photography journey started with an opportunity to work alongside Madonna, and from that moment, he knew this was his path. Since then, he’s photographed some of the biggest names in the world—Kanye West, Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez, Usher, Bernie Sanders, and Justin Timberlake, to name a few. His commercial work includes collaborations with major brands like Volkswagen, Target, and HP. Beyond his impressive portfolio, he is passionate about helping photographers understand their worth and build profitable businesses. We recently chatted over email about his STEP pricing course when I commented on his new direction and possible interview topics for PhotoBizX. He replied, “I'd love to have a harder conversation with listeners about their community, how they learn, who they choose to learn from, the real gurus and the fake ones, support within your inner circle, and how you talk to yourself.” This sounded perfect to me! The result is this interview, where Walid shares his thoughts and warnings about photography business coaches by calling out the fakes in the photography industry. Here's some more of what we covered in the interview: Fuelled by frustration — Walid mentors for free because he's sick of seeing good people misled by bad advice. No more pretenders — He calls out the “educators” with zero client work selling strategies they’ve never used. Do your homework — Photographers research lenses more than coaches. Flip that. Proof over promises — Look for consistent work, actual growth, and bookings—not just bold claims. AI ≠ experience — Be wary of cookie-cutter courses built by bots and marketers, not working photographers. Current or irrelevant — If they haven’t been booked recently, they shouldn’t be coaching. Walk it, then talk it — Only take pricing or strategy advice from someone still in the game. Pick with purpose — Choose mentors doing what you want to do. Not just anyone with a mic and a funnel. Depth over dabbling — Real authority comes from staying in your lane and going deep—not chasing trends. Gut check always wins — Testimonials are nice. But trust your instinct. It’s usually right. Build your own crew — A trusted circle beats any course or program. Edit your circle — Keep people who lift you. Let go of those who don’t. Tough love counts — The right mentor will push you. Not just pat you on the back. Support with substance — That’s what Visual Business Academy is: free, focused, and full of creatives who actually care. Talk nicer to yourself — How you treat yourself sets the tone for your whole business. Celebrate what counts — Walid’s “quick tens” remind us to anchor each day in gratitude and small wins. Still in the trenches — Walid’s not just teaching—he’s still shooting, directing, and creating at the top level. From refugee to front cover — No agent. No shortcuts. Just grit, talent, and making history with Vanity Fair Italia. Chaos over polish — Behind the scenes at that shoot? A mess. But the result? Magic. Confidence is contagious — Walid lives it, teaches it, and passes it on. What’s on Offer for Premium Members If you’re on the fence about becoming a premium member, join with the $1 trial today and get access to the FULL interviews each week, a fantastic back catalogue of interviews, and have ALL future interviews delivered automatically to your phone or tablet. Plus, special member-only interviews. The gut check will always, always win. The gut check is your direct direct line to you, and whatever higher source you believe in. – Walid Azami You'll also receive access to the members-only Secret Facebook Group, where you can connect with other Premium Members and interview guests to help, support and motivate you to take ideas you hear in each episode and put them into action. The group also has FB live video tutorials, role-play, and special live interviews. You will not find more friendly, motivated, caring and sharing photographers online. Seriously, that's not all. I do hope the community researches the gurus more than they research the latest gear, the latest restaurant to go to, the latest accessory to purchase, because this is your future. – Walid Azami In addition to everything above, you'll get access to instructions on forming or joining a MasterMind Group with other premium members. These groups are super motivating, make you accountable, and build friendships with other pro photographers with motives similar to yours – to build a more successful photography business.   What is your big takeaway? Following this interview, I’d love to know if you're taking anything from what Walid shared. Is there something you heard that excited or motivated you to the point where you thought, yeah, I'm going to do that! If so, leave your thoughts in the comments below; let me know your takeaways and what you plan to implement in your business based on what you heard in today's episode. The way you speak to yourself is going to dictate what you allow how others speak to you in your life. – Walid Azami If you have any questions I missed, a specific question you’d like to ask Walid, or a way to thank you for coming on the show, feel free to add them in the comments area below. FREE Live Training • TOMORROW! Another FREE Masterclass with the absolute guru of photography websites, SEO and all things tech, Alex Vita! Details andregistration here: https://learn.photobizx.com/beyond-seo-registration/ Only free till the live training happens tomorrow morning.   iTunes Reviews and Shout-outs I check for any new iTunes or Google reviews each week, and it's always a buzz to receive these… for several reasons. Firstly, it's confirmation that I'm on the right track with the interviews and that they are helping you improve your photography business. That's awesome! Secondly, iTunes and Google are the most significant podcast search engines, and your reviews and ratings help other photographers find PhotoBizX. More listeners mean more interviews and, ultimately, a better show. Please watch your circle… The words you allow into your ears, the words that go and settle into your brain, into your soul, are going to either sink you or they're going to take you through your voyage. And if somebody doesn't, if they question you, if they make you get that weird little feeling, your gut feeling, again, that I'm talking about. You have to edit those suckers out. Your future depends on it. It's your future. It's your life. – Walid Azami If you have left a review in the past, thank you! If you haven't and you'd like to, head to https://photobizx.com/itunes or https://photobizx.com/google. You can leave some honest feedback and a rating, which will help me and the show. I'll be sure to thank you on the show and add a link to your website or blog if you let me know the URL of your website and your name. Alternatively, if you've left a review for PhotoBizX and are looking for more backlinks to help your SEO, leave a review for the new Photography Xperiment Podcast. Email me your keywords or phrases and where you'd like me to link them. Believe in yourself and the world will catch on to how great you are. – Walid Azami Another great way to get a backlink to your site is to send a video testimonial. It doesn't need to be fancy, and your phone will be perfect. Click record and tell me how PhotoBizX has impacted you and your photography business.​ This is not a review this week, but a shoutout for Luci Dumas and the recent podcast episode in which she interviewed me! If you haven't had enough of my voice and want to hear some of my thoughts on the state of the photography industry and where I see gaps and opportunities for photographers to grow their businesses, have a listen in one of these spots: https://youtu.be/6_StiJ2JHA0 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/305-andrew-hellmich-build-your-photography-empire-one/id1467461210?i=1000703703945 https://open.spotify.com/episode/2WdxE50pkHeBjbfJxCPP3w?si=961eaae522d04052 Here’s a feel for what we get into in this chat… How wedding photography pricing has shifted over the years—and what it takes to stay relevant when the market’s flooded. The sneaky-good upsell tip I picked up at an AIPP event that gave my album sales a solid boost. Why real networking isn’t about chasing favours—it’s about showing up, adding value, and building proper relationships. My take on gift certificate collabs—and how I made it work with a local vet in a mutually beneficial way A simple but powerful SEO play: How I interview vendors, turn those chats into blog posts that rank and build real community connections. Links to people, places and things mentioned in this episode: Walid Azami Website Visual Business Academy on Discord Walid Azami on Instagram Walid Azami on YouTube Episode 493: Walid Azami – Photography business advice from a celebrity photographer You have to be in the game to be advising on the game. – Walid Azami Thank you! Thanks for tuning in. Really appreciate Walid for sharing so openly in this chat—there’s a lot of noise in the photography education space, and this conversation helps cut through it. He’s someone who’s actually still shooting, still building, and mentoring for what sounds like the right reasons. We covered a lot—from calling out the fakes to finding the right kind of support, and what it really means to build a career with purpose. Hope you enjoy this one! A good coaching program should never try to keep you in there the whole time… A true, good program has to be an end game, because the game shouldn't be for the coach, for the mentor, to always keep you in there and to keep milking you for money. – Walid Azami That’s it for me this week; I hope everything is going well for you in life and business! Thanks, and speak soon Andrew The post 613: Walid Azami – Calling Out the Fakes in the Photography Industry appeared first on Photography Business Xposed - Photography Podcast - how to build and market your portrait and wedding photography business.

Premium Members, click here to access this interview in the premium area Laura Langfield of www.llphotography.de is a pet photographer based in Germany who has been a PhotoBizX Member for 4 years and nothing makes me happier than having a chance to record an interview like this one. Laura recently emailed me about completing her first book project and included some of her numbers and details. She said… Apart from the amazing numbers, the project was an amazing experience and therapeutic after I lost my dog in 2023 after almost 15 years together. She added… I can honestly say that it is one of the most beautiful things I have ever done, and it was extremely well received. She finished by saying… I'm seriously thinking about making this an ongoing yearbook project and maybe also adding an exhibition in the future. As Richard Grenfell said in his training, if something works, do more of it. And there will always be new senior dogs. Get ready to dive in and learn more about this talented dog photographer and her fantastic book project, which earned her close to 50,000 Euro! In the interview, Laura shares how her senior dog book project became a €50K business. Here's some more of what we covered in the interview: Strategy beats struggle – Stop saying “nothing’s working.” The right plan changes everything. More than marketing – Senior dog sessions are therapy, storytelling, and community. Grief turned gold – A heartfelt idea became a €50K+ success. Old dogs, big impact – Niche project with senior pets brought in premium bookings. Traffic wins – Laura swears by traffic ads to attract high-quality clients without the back-and-forth. Filter first – Her system pre-qualifies leads, so only serious clients make it through. Let your landing page sell – Pricing, a quick quiz, and a Calendly link—automated and effective. Zoom = sales – Laura closes high-ticket pet sessions using ProSelect proofing calls. Wall art makes a comeback – Clients wanted more than digitals—they wanted their dogs on the wall. Books that move people – Double-page spreads and custom stories made every client feel seen. AI with heart – Laura uses AI to craft touching stories from owner-submitted questionnaires. No discounts needed – “People don’t need a discount. They need a reason.” And this gave them one. Give to get – Clients donated to charity instead of paying a fee. Good vibes = strong bookings. Covers create buzz – A voting frenzy brought in 400+ leads and 8+ new bookings. Chase bookings, not leads – Forget cost per click. Focus on cost per conversion. Make it a tradition – Laura’s senior dog yearbook is now an annual thing—with gallery dreams too. Small studio, big brand – From home office to high-ticket pet sessions. It’s all in the positioning. Stand out with service – Framed prints, albums, and full delivery in a digital-only world. Action beats ideas – That course sat for months. Then it sparked a game-changing launch. Introvert? No problem – Laura proves quiet confidence can still make big noise.  A sample page from Laura's beautiful book on Senior Dogs. What’s on Offer for Premium Members If you’re on the fence about becoming a premium member, join with the $1 trial today and get access to the FULL interviews each week, a fantastic back catalogue of interviews, and have ALL future interviews delivered automatically to your phone or tablet. Plus, special member-only interviews. People don't need a discount to book. They need a reason. – Laura Längsfeld You'll also receive access to the members-only Secret Facebook Group, where you can connect with other Premium Members and interview guests to help, support and motivate you to take ideas you hear in each episode and put them into action. The group also has FB live video tutorials, role-play, and special live interviews. You will not find more friendly, motivated, caring and sharing photographers online. Seriously, that's not all. I have been successful with lead ads, but it's a lot of work, because you have to talk to a lot of people, and it's quite hard to get them on the phone. So for now, doing everything alone, it just took so much time to get the bookings that I'd rather pay more per lead and have less work because the people are more pre qualified and I don't have to talk to as many people to get the bookings I need. – Laura Längsfeld In addition to everything above, you'll get access to instructions on forming or joining a MasterMind Group with other premium members. These groups are super motivating, make you accountable, and build friendships with other pro photographers with motives similar to yours – to build a more successful photography business.   What is your big takeaway? Following this interview, I’d love to know if you're taking anything from what Laura shared. Is there something you heard that excited or motivated you to the point where you thought, yeah, I'm going to do that! If so, leave your thoughts in the comments below; let me know your takeaways and what you plan to implement in your business based on what you heard in today's episode. Don't look at the cost per lead. Look at the cost per booking. – Laura Längsfeld If you have any questions I missed, a specific question you’d like to ask Laura, or a way to thank you for coming on the show, feel free to add them in the comments area below. FREE Live Training • Tuesday, April 22nd • 8am AEST Another FREE Masterclass with the absolute guru of photography websites, SEO and all things tech, Alex Vita! Details andregistration here: https://learn.photobizx.com/beyond-seo-registration/ Only free till the live training happens next week.   iTunes Reviews and Shout-outs I check for any new iTunes or Google reviews each week, and it's always a buzz to receive these… for several reasons. Firstly, it's confirmation that I'm on the right track with the interviews and that they are helping you improve your photography business. That's awesome! Secondly, iTunes and Google are the most significant podcast search engines, and your reviews and ratings help other photographers find PhotoBizX. More listeners mean more interviews and, ultimately, a better show. My eldest dog passed away in 2023 and I just know how important the photos I took of him over the years to me. I really want to give that feeling to others too. And that's why I chose senior dogs for the project. – Laura Längsfeld If you have left a review in the past, thank you! If you haven't and you'd like to, head to https://photobizx.com/itunes or https://photobizx.com/google. You can leave some honest feedback and a rating, which will help me and the show. I'll be sure to thank you on the show and add a link to your website or blog if you let me know the URL of your website and your name. Alternatively, if you've left a review for PhotoBizX and are looking for more backlinks to help your SEO, leave a review for the new Photography Xperiment Podcast. Email me your keywords or phrases and where you'd like me to link them. My goal was to shoot 30 dogs. I photographed 34 in the end, and that was with 25 clients. – Laura Längsfeld Another great way to get a backlink to your site is to send a video testimonial. It doesn't need to be fancy, and your phone will be perfect. Click record and tell me how PhotoBizX has impacted you and your photography business.​ Links to people, places and things mentioned in this episode: Laura Längsfeld Website Laura Längsfeld on Facebook Laura Längsfeld on Instagram How To Advertise Like A MoFo and attract the people you want to your photography business The Profitable Book Projects for Photographers Episode 397: Richard Grenfell – The Coaching Diaries with Steve Saporito Episode 549: Richard Grenfell – The successful and profitable move from family to boudoir photography Episode 402: Katie Kolenberg – Take control and thrive with your photography business during the pandemic Episode 470: Katie Kolenberg – Profitable photography book projects Q&A Strangely, this year, I got a lot of wall art orders, while the years before, I got more album or folio box orders. So it's quite interesting. I don't really know why they changed this year, but people do definitely show or want to have photos of their dogs on their walls. – Laura Längsfeld Thank you! Thanks for tuning in! Massive shoutout to Laura for pulling back the curtain on what it really takes to build a thriving pet photography business—without the discounts, the hustle-for-every-client mindset, or the fluff. From heartfelt beginnings to a €50K+ senior dog project, Laura’s story is all strategy, purpose, and quiet confidence in action. This is proof you don’t need to be loud, lucky, or in the “right” location—you just need the guts to do things differently. Hope you enjoy this one as much as I did! Go for it, and don't worry if the ads are more expensive than you are used to, or if it is maybe going a bit slow in between, just tweak a little bit on your landing page and your ads, and maybe restart the ads and then go on from there. – Laura Längsfeld That’s it for me this week; I hope everything is going well for you in life and business! Thanks, and speak soon Andrew The post 612: Laura Längsfeld – How a Senior Dog Project Became a €50K Business appeared first on Photography Business Xposed - Photography Podcast - how to build and market your portrait and wedding photography business.

Premium Members, click here to access this interview in the premium area Renee Bowen of www.reneebowen.com first appeared on the podcast in our start-of-the-year predictions episode, where some of the world’s best photography business coaches shared their insights. In that episode, she talked about AI fatigue and how clients are craving real, authentic content—content created by you to showcase your true self, not some perfectly curated, made-up version of you. In her photography business, she specialises in high-end luxury branding and portrait photography. With a psychology degree, she knows how to get inside her clients’ heads, tap into what makes them unique, and combine that with her incredible photography skills to create personalised, next-level work. Based in Los Angeles, she’s a married mother of three, host of the Tried & True With a Dash of Woo podcast, photography business coach, and course creator. From the outside looking in, she’s running a successful photography business focusing on headshots, personal branding, and senior portraits. In this interview, Renee shares how to create a profitable senior portrait photography business by creating images that sell and shooting what teens want and parents buy. Here's some more of what we covered in the interview: Real > AI – Emotion beats perfection. Clients connect with you, not a filtered bot. Luxury meets psychology – Renee blends stunning visuals with buyer behaviour to sell more than just photos. From accidental to intentional – What started as headshots became a multi-six-figure brand. Redefining senior portraits – Editorial-style shoots that ditch the cap and gown clichés. Built demand from scratch – Educated a market that didn’t know what it was missing. Teens want cool, parents want keepsakes – Speak to both and win the booking. Model teams = marketing gold – Teens do your promo for you. Social media shifts fast – Facebook had its day. TikTok is now. Stay ahead or fall behind. Selling didn’t come easy – But strategy beats sleaze. Always. What works there won’t work here – Your brand, location, and audience matter. Don’t copy. Customise. Albums sell. Digitals don’t. – Tangible memories = higher spend and happier clients. $3500+ sessions? Absolutely. – When pricing, products, and experience align, sales follow. Set the tone early – Clear offers, smart pricing, elevated experience from first touch. Selling starts at the shoot – Use psychology to plant seeds, not pressure. Teens + parents = different vibes – Master both worlds for effortless sales. Instagram is your storefront – If you’re not visible, you’re not viable. TikTok is the new Google – Know how to be found where Gen Z searches. It’s not your town, it’s your mindset – Small-town photographers can charge luxury prices too. Design it, then sell it – Show off stunning albums to inspire bigger buys. Partnerships that pay off – Cross-promote with vendors who serve your dream clients. TikTok tip: keep it real – Short, raw, unpolished content wins. Stop overthinking. Coaching that goes deep – Mindset shifts, strategy tweaks, real growth—for photographers who mean business. Senior Portraits by Renee Bowen What’s on Offer for Premium Members If you’re on the fence about becoming a premium member, join with the $1 trial today and get access to the FULL interviews each week, a fantastic back catalogue of interviews, and have ALL future interviews delivered automatically to your phone or tablet. Plus, special member-only interviews. By the time, if I've done my job right, by the time they sit down with me and we're going over their images, they already know they're getting an album, because I have pre sold that album multiple times, unconsciously throughout the process. – Renee Bowen You'll also receive access to the members-only Secret Facebook Group, where you can connect with other Premium Members and interview guests to help, support and motivate you to take ideas you hear in each episode and put them into action. The group also has FB live video tutorials, role-play, and special live interviews. You will not find more friendly, motivated, caring and sharing photographers online. Seriously, that's not all. With Tiktok, don't overthink it. That's that's the first thing. Don't overthink it. Keep it short. The main thing with Tiktok is authenticity. Honestly, just lean into just being you. – Renee Bowen In addition to everything above, you'll get access to instructions on forming or joining a MasterMind Group with other premium members. These groups are super motivating, make you accountable, and build friendships with other pro photographers with motives similar to yours – to build a more successful photography business. What is your big takeaway? Following this interview, I’d love to know if you're taking anything from what Renee shared. Is there something you heard that excited or motivated you to the point where you thought, yeah, I'm going to do that! If so, leave your thoughts in the comments below; let me know your takeaways and what you plan to implement in your business based on what you heard in today's episode. Tiktok is great for reach and visibility and reaching a lot of people. I get a lot of out of state clients from Tiktok specifically. – Renee Bowen If you have any questions I missed, a specific question you’d like to ask Renee, or a way to thank you for coming on the show, feel free to add them in the comments area below.   The FREE training with Heather Lahtinen is coming up this week! The Secret Weapon That Changes Everything: The #1 Tool for Levelling Up Your Photography Business What if the key to success wasn’t just taking better photos, perfecting your pricing, or mastering more marketing strategies? What if one simple mental tool could completely shift how you approach your business—and your results? In this game-changing training, you’ll discover the same mental framework elite performers—entrepreneurs, professional athletes, and members of the armed forces—use to master their mindsets, overcome challenges, and achieve peak performance. After the main presentation, Heather will be doing some live coaching with a few attendees while on the call and with everyone able to watch and listen in! All the details and registration are here –> https://photobizx.com/model iTunes Reviews and Shout-outs I check for any new iTunes or Google reviews each week, and it's always a buzz to receive these… for several reasons. Firstly, it's confirmation that I'm on the right track with the interviews and that they are helping you improve your photography business. That's awesome! Secondly, iTunes and Google are the most significant podcast search engines, and your reviews and ratings help other photographers find PhotoBizX. More listeners mean more interviews and, ultimately, a better show. I really believe it starts with their first interaction with you, whether it's going to be on your website, whether they found you on Google, or if they find you on Instagram or Tiktok. A lot of my clients find me on Tiktok and Instagram because that's where they are. – Renee Bowen If you have left a review in the past, thank you! If you haven't and you'd like to, head to https://photobizx.com/itunes or https://photobizx.com/google. You can leave some honest feedback and a rating, which will help me and the show. I'll be sure to thank you on the show and add a link to your website or blog if you let me know the URL of your website and your name. Alternatively, if you've left a review for PhotoBizX and are looking for more backlinks to help your SEO, leave a review for the new Photography Xperiment Podcast. Email me your keywords or phrases and where you'd like me to link them. Our website really should be doing most of the heavy lifting for us. They need to see themselves in our brand. They need to want to be a part of it, because our website and our brand is not about us, it's about them, and so how they feel when they experience the brand. – Renee Bowen Another great way to get a backlink to your site is to send a video testimonial. It doesn't need to be fancy, and your phone will be perfect. Click record and tell me how PhotoBizX has impacted you and your photography business.​ Links to people, places and things mentioned in this episode: Renee Bowen Website True With a Dash of Woo Podcast Renee Bowen Instagram Renee Bowen on Tiktok 2025 New Year Special – Photography Business Predictions by the Coaches – Part 2 Authenticity is a word that does get thrown around a lot…but it's it's really just about not being fake, because your senior clients are going to smell a fake a mile away. They don't want any part of that. And they want to know that you're a real person. – Renee Bowen Thank you! Thanks for tuning in! Massive thanks to Renee for openly sharing what it actually takes to grow a profitable senior portrait business. No fluff, no overnight success—just smart strategy, serious mindset shifts, and a tonne of intention behind every move. Proof that you don’t need to wait for the “right” market or perfect timing—you just need to back yourself and build something worth talking about. Hope you love this chat as much as I did! I like to kind of keep my pricing pretty simple, because I really do think that an overwhelmed, confused brain is just going to shut down and it's not conducive. I just like to keep things pretty simple and clean. I don't like my ordering sessions to take more than about an hour, if possible. – Renee Bowen That’s it for me this week; I hope everything is going well for you in life and business! Thanks, and speak soon Andrew The post 611: Renee Bowen – Senior Portraits That Sell: What Teens Want, What Parents Buy appeared first on Photography Business Xposed - Photography Podcast - how to build and market your portrait and wedding photography business.

Premium Members, click here to access this interview in the premium area George Tatakis of  www.tatakis.com was a rare and beautiful find for this podcast episode. It's rare to feature a European photographer on the podcast, particularly a photographer who shoots in the style and income-producing strategy of George Takais. After exchanging a few emails, I learned enough to ask him to do this interview. I'm pretty sure we can all learn something from his entrepreneurial spirit and go-getter attitude. To give you a little background… He's currently bringing in well over $100,000 Euro through photography. He's based in Greece. He shoots exclusively in black and white. He has multiple income sources, including selling his work through a gallery in Geneva, photographic book sales through Amazon, licensing fees for using his photography in commercial applications, partnerships with a travel company, selling work through museum shops, mentoring and portfolio reviews, and commissioned work. He left his job as an electrical engineer to chase his dream of being a photographer. It was a hard slog, but photography is now his primary source of income. In this interview, George shares how he has been able to turn a creative obsession into a thriving photography business. Here's some more of what we covered in the interview: Engineer turned artist – Walked away from a safe career in Greece to chase what lit him up. Went all-in with nothing lined up – Quit the day job with zero income, but 100% belief. Slept in cars to chase the dream – No money, no plan B—just vision and a camera. Defied cultural norms – Ignored the voices saying “photography isn’t a real job.” Carved out a niche in Greek tradition – Found his voice in storytelling portraits that honour his roots. Built it on a shoestring – Couch-surfed, hustled, and made it work without money. That first dollar hit hard – It wasn't much, but it proved he could make this real. Saw business as the game-changer – Says 80–90% of success is business, not the camera. Heart-led obsession – The kind of devotion that keeps you up at night—in the best way. Hustled to build community – Ran photo walks, co-founded a creative hub, and made his own opportunities. Landed early brand deals – Sales savvy + great work = ambassador gigs and exposure. From candid to crafted – Evolved into powerful, stylised portraits with deeper stories. Persistence landed prestige – Followed up relentlessly and landed a solo show at the Benaki Museum. One exhibition changed everything – Led to international recognition and collaborations (including with a French publisher). Exhibitions brought credibility, not cash – But they opened bigger doors. Got into Athens Airport – Thought beyond galleries, pitched his way into a major public space. Licensing deals followed – Smart networking = his work on Hollywood film sets. Still grounded – Big wins, but still humble. Still surprised it all worked. Won’t compromise for cash – If a job doesn't align with his vision, he walks. Web presence matters – Uses his site and blog to connect, attract, and build brand equity. Now chasing film – Creative restlessness led to video—a fresh challenge with income potential. Future-proofing with video – Sees filmmaking as both creative evolution and financial smarts. Believes in hustle + heart – Luck helped, but action opened every door. Proved it’s possible—even in crisis – Built success in the middle of Greece’s economic mess. Only do it if you must – He’s clear: this path isn’t for dabblers. Sacrificed for the dream – Slept rough, kept going, never stopped. Bride in Diafani, Olympos, Karpathos, Greece, by photographer George Tatakis What’s on Offer for Premium Members If you’re on the fence about becoming a premium member, join with the $1 trial today and get access to the FULL interviews each week, a fantastic back catalogue of interviews, and have ALL future interviews delivered automatically to your phone or tablet. Plus, special member-only interviews. Business is the biggest part of the journey. I mean, I would say that 80 or 90% of my time goes to the business side, and then it's only 10 to 20% which is the creative side. And I know that many artists don't realize that, and I think I'm blessed in a way that I started as an engineer. – George Tatakis You'll also receive access to the members-only Secret Facebook Group, where you can connect with other Premium Members and interview guests to help, support and motivate you to take ideas you hear in each episode and put them into action. The group also has FB live video tutorials, role-play, and special live interviews. You will not find more friendly, motivated, caring and sharing photographers online. Seriously, that's not all. I think filmmaking is a more lucrative work in these days. I think that even social media move toward this direction of videos. I also find YouTube to be an exciting place to be, because I think you do work that lingers on the platform, actually. So for example, you can do the video today, and after a couple of years, people will still be watching that video, which is not the case with other platforms. Also, there is more money in creating videos. – George Tatakis In addition to everything above, you'll get access to instructions on forming or joining a MasterMind Group with other premium members. These groups are super motivating, make you accountable, and build friendships with other pro photographers with motives similar to yours – to build a more successful photography business. GREECE. Thrace. Issakion. 2020 What is your big takeaway? Following this interview, I’d love to know if you're taking anything from what George shared. Is there something you heard that excited or motivated you to the point where you thought, yeah, I'm going to do that! If so, leave your thoughts in the comments below; let me know your takeaways and what you plan to implement in your business based on what you heard in today's episode. You have to be where the opportunity lies, and then wait for luck to strike and give you the opportunity that you want to take. – George Tatakis If you have any questions I missed, a specific question you’d like to ask George, or a way to thank you for coming on the show, feel free to add them in the comments area below. Karagouna costumes of Trikala, Thessaly, Greece iTunes Reviews and Shout-outs I check for any new iTunes or Google reviews each week, and it's always a buzz to receive these… for several reasons. Firstly, it's confirmation that I'm on the right track with the interviews and that they are helping you improve your photography business. That's awesome! Secondly, iTunes and Google are the most significant podcast search engines, and your reviews and ratings help other photographers find PhotoBizX. More listeners mean more interviews and, ultimately, a better show. I actually started by organizing a photo walk. Immediately after quitting my job, I thought to myself that if you want to be in this business, then you want to get to know people that revolve around photography. – George Tatakis If you have left a review in the past, thank you! If you haven't and you'd like to, head to https://photobizx.com/itunes or https://photobizx.com/google. You can leave some honest feedback and a rating, which will help me and the show. I'll be sure to thank you on the show and add a link to your website or blog if you let me know the URL of your website and your name. Alternatively, if you've left a review for PhotoBizX and are looking for more backlinks to help your SEO, leave a review for the new Photography Xperiment Podcast. Email me your keywords or phrases and where you'd like me to link them. I would probably say that after five years, I started being able to fully fund the projects and be able to spend time in actual hotels myself. So I would say, like, for the first two years, maybe three, I was completely trying to do everything as free as possible, without hotels or that stuff. – George Tatakis Another great way to get a backlink to your site is to send a video testimonial. It doesn't need to be fancy, and your phone will be perfect. Click record and tell me how PhotoBizX has impacted you and your photography business.​ This week, a big shoutout to Donna Todd, who shoots equestrian photography art and was recently looked out of her Facebook account, finally got it back and has offered to help anyone who ever finds themselves in the same situation. Here's the email chain we exchanged during her ordeal… Hi Andrew, hope you're well. I'm one of your subscribers and love your podcasts. I am just writing to you in the hope that, with your vast network, you may be able to help me. My Facebook was hacked without me knowing, I have since found a fake page with my name and DOB, etc, that may have caused the problem. As the fake hackers sent some of my friends, friend requests and my friends alerted me and took a screenshot of the fake page.. Facebook has disabled both my business account and personal account due to some dubious activity they were performing, which, as you can imagine, is very distressing. They say I have 178 days to appeal, and I have tried through my Instagram page, which I still have. Do you know of any Facebook experts who may be able to help me get my Facebook accounts back? I have tried everything I can think of and even paid some guy who turned out to be a scammer. All the best Donna Todd.   I put Dona in touch with Richard Grenfell, who faced something similar and shares how he managed to get his accounts back here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1B69ed27NA&pp=ygUQcmljaGFyZCBncmVuZmVsbA%3D%3D  Richard was invaluable and spoke with Donna but could not help her get her accounts back — he had faced and dealt with a different issue where hackers rang up a massive bill for FB Ads with his account! Then, earlier this week, I learned that Donna had her account back! She shared the following details: Hi Andrew, It was a gruelling process, lol! Firstly, I contacted a professional hacker who scammed me, charging an upfront fee and then telling me he had my account on a proxy and that if I wanted it, I would need to pay him triple the amount that I had already paid him…I refused and reported him to Meta. So needless to say, he didn’t help at all, so I definitely don’t advise anyone going down that path. I still had my Instagram account, so I verified it by paying a fee of, I think, about $20 per month. Once you are verified, there is support, and you can open a case with them there. I let them know that my account was hacked and that I was restricted and couldn’t gain access to my Facebook accounts. Eventually, someone replied, and after weeks of answering the same questions, they finally gave me back my accounts. I'd be happy to help anyone if it happens to them. Donna Dowry in Olympos, Karpathos by photographer George Tatakis Links to people, places and things mentioned in this episode: George Tatakis Website George Tatakis on Facebook George Tatakis on Instagram George Tatakis on YouTube 95% is work, and then maybe five, up to 5% is luck. But this, you know, this small bit of luck goes a long way. – George Tatakis Bride, Metaxades, Thrace, Greece, by photographer George Tatakis Thank you! Thanks for tuning in! Massive thanks to George for sharing the raw, real stories behind his creative journey. From sleeping in cars to landing exhibitions in major museums and airports. His path proves you don’t need a trust fund, perfect timing, or a Plan B—just obsession, grit, and a deep belief that this is what you’re meant to do. What an inspiration. I think that in this kind of in this line of work, if you are not extremely excited about creating art, then business will not work. – George Tatakis That’s it for me this week; I hope everything is going well for you in life and business! Thanks, and speak soon Andrew George Tatakis with Nea Vyssa Girls I had the realization how business workw before starting to pursue something in art. I think people that start by going to a fine art school, for example, don't take into consideration the business part or the marketing that is needed. I think this can be the problem for them. – George Tatakis The post 610: George Tatakis – Turning Creative Obsession Into a Thriving Photography Business appeared first on Photography Business Xposed - Photography Podcast - how to build and market your portrait and wedding photography business.

Premium Members, click here to access this interview in the premium area Brooke Jefferson of www.brookejefferson.com/photography was first featured in the Coaches Predictions episode that kicked off in 2025, where she said that Behind The Scenes Content (BTS) will be a game changer for photographers this year. She knows exactly what it takes to turn a passion for photography into a thriving business. She is a photographer, business coach, and Book More Clients Photography podcast host. She first picked up a camera in 2014, with a baby on her hip and a borrowed camera, hoping to earn extra income for her family. What started as a side hustle quickly turned into a full-time career, and by 2018, she left her job as a teacher to go all in with photography. One of her coaching clients, Loretta, says… “Best investments I've made for my business. I've tried a couple of other photography coaches, and while they shared some valuable information, Brooke is 100% the secret sauce.” With over a decade behind the camera and six years as a coach, Brooke is walking the walk, not just talking the talk. In this interview, Brooke shares how living in a small town doesn't mean you can't have a booked-out photography business. Here's some more of what we covered in the interview: From borrowed camera to booked out – Brooke went full-time with her photography Small town, big growth – marketing works anywhere when you know what you’re doing Clients come from community – Google, referrals, Facebook groups… Brooke uses them all Style that stops the scroll – your signature look matters more than you think Shoot what you love, attract who you want – personal work brings the right clients Studio smarts – Brooke turns her studio into a year-round money-maker Right clients, right growth – niche down, stand out, stay booked Collab > competition – peers can be your best referral partners Inspired, not imitating – stay true to your style and still stand out Coaching that moves the needle – refine your strategy, raise your prices, grow Map it before you make it – goals first, bookings second Want to go full time? Set the target – Brooke helps photographers define what “full-time” actually means Profit starts with pricing – charge your worth with confidence Goodbye pricing panic – shift the fear and raise your rates Be consistent, be booked – clear style and messaging = magnet for dream clients Raise your prices without losing your people – it’s about scaling with intention Post your prices, get better leads – no more fluff inquiries Moving locations? You’re not starting over – rebuild fast with SEO, networking and local marketing Social growth that books – tagging and sharing is more than just engagement Don’t post everything – curate a feed that converts Show the work and the work-in-progress – BTS builds connection and trust Get found on Google, not just Insta – local SEO = leads that stick Network like a human, book like a pro – in-person wins every time Need clients fast? Use this strategy – Brooke’s go-to for quick bookings The “Book More Photography Clients” Podcast – weekly marketing & biz advice that works Learn while you listen – coaching, interviews, real talk on building your biz No matter your niche – weddings, families, newborns… there’s something here for you What’s on Offer for Premium Members If you’re on the fence about becoming a premium member, join with the $1 trial today and get access to the FULL interviews each week, a fantastic back catalogue of interviews, and have ALL future interviews delivered automatically to your phone or tablet. Plus, special member-only interviews. My dream session is when a client reaches out and they want me to photograph them on their own property, whether that's their ranch or their farm. And the best part is when we can't drive to the location. We have to ride the ATVs. That is my favourite thing to do. So we get a little bit of fun and adventure. – Brooke Jefferson You'll also receive access to the members-only Secret Facebook Group, where you can connect with other Premium Members and interview guests to help, support and motivate you to take ideas you hear in each episode and put them into action. The group also has FB live video tutorials, role-play, and special live interviews. You will not find more friendly, motivated, caring and sharing photographers online. Seriously, that's not all. I have to know your booking goal. I have to know your revenue goal. That is the very first place I start. From there, I dig into what you already have. And typically where people want me to start is their pricing and packages. So that's the very next place I'll go. – Brooke Jefferson In addition to everything above, you'll get access to instructions on forming or joining a MasterMind Group with other premium members. These groups are super motivating, make you accountable, and build friendships with other pro photographers with motives similar to yours – to build a more successful photography business. What is your big takeaway? Following this interview, I’d love to know if you're taking anything from what Brooke shared. Is there something you heard that excited or motivated you to the point where you thought, yeah, I'm going to do that! If so, leave your thoughts in the comments below; let me know your takeaways and what you plan to implement in your business based on what you heard in today's episode. Networking, networking, networking. The things that photographers don't want to do, because it is so easy to type up a social media post, cross your fingers and hope you get bookings, it is so much harder to leave your house and actually go and talk to real humans and get your name out there, your business cards, things like that. But it can be done. – Brooke Jefferson If you have any questions I missed, a specific question you’d like to ask Brooke, or a way to thank you for coming on the show, feel free to add them in the comments area below. iTunes Reviews and Shout-outs I check for any new iTunes or Google reviews each week, and it's always a buzz to receive these… for several reasons. Firstly, it's confirmation that I'm on the right track with the interviews and that they are helping you improve your photography business. That's awesome! Secondly, iTunes and Google are the most significant podcast search engines, and your reviews and ratings help other photographers find PhotoBizX. More listeners mean more interviews and, ultimately, a better show. I am heavily relying on happy clients to keep my name going in the community. – Brooke Jefferson If you have left a review in the past, thank you! If you haven't and you'd like to, head to https://photobizx.com/itunes or https://photobizx.com/google. You can leave some honest feedback and a rating, which will help me and the show. I'll be sure to thank you on the show and add a link to your website or blog if you let me know the URL of your website and your name. Alternatively, if you've left a review for PhotoBizX and are looking for more backlinks to help your SEO, leave a review for the new Photography Xperiment Podcast. Email me your keywords or phrases and where you'd like me to link them. Something that I am passionate about teaching, that works really well for me, is getting very involved in my community. I'm trying to make it to local events, partnering with business owners, things like that. So I try to market my business in a variety of ways so that the leads are always coming in. – Brooke Jefferson Another great way to get a backlink to your site is to send a video testimonial. It doesn't need to be fancy, and your phone will be perfect. Click record and tell me how PhotoBizX has impacted you and your photography business.​ Links to people, places and things mentioned in this episode: Brooke Jefferson Website Brooke Jefferson on Instagram Work with Brooke Jefferson Book More Photography Clients Podcast Voxer Thank you! Thanks for listening! A huge shoutout to Brooke for keeping it real and pulling back the curtain on what it really takes to build a lasting photography business. From a borrowed camera to six-figure success, her story is proof that you don’t need a big city, fancy gear, or a backup plan—just purpose, strategy, and a whole lot of grit. Show the best of the best. Don't show them all, especially when you're newer, you're going to need more content. You're going to have to re-share these sessions again while you're building your clientele, so just don't show everything all at once. – Brooke Jefferson That’s it for me this week; I hope everything is going well for you in life and business! Thanks, and speak soon Andrew The post 609: Brooke Jefferson – How a Small-Town Photographer Built a Booked-Out Business appeared first on Photography Business Xposed - Photography Podcast - how to build and market your portrait and wedding photography business.

Premium Members, click here to access this interview in the premium area Joe Jenkins of www.joejenkinsphoto.com sent one of the best interview requests I've received in the 12 years since starting the podcast. The subject line read: How a scam on Craigslist kicked off my full-time, professional photography career in NYC. Then, the email… My name is Joe, and I’m a full-time photographer in New York City. I fell into photography after a talent agency tried to scam me into buying a $1000 headshot session, and I decided to start taking my own. I wasn't even a photographer at the time. Since entering the profession in 2013, I’ve opened a studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where I do fashion, headshots, event and commercial work. I currently shoot for some of the largest brands and modelling agencies in the world. This year I photographed Reese Witherspoon for Docusign, Jeff Bezos for Oxford University, the head of Samsung North America and Eli Manning for other brands. I was hooked, but I wanted to clarify a few things before inviting him on for an interview and make sure there was going to be something in this for you, the listener, beyond a great-sounding story. I learned he is a full-time photographer, his sole income source. Before COVID, he earned about 150k/year, but his business dried up until his recovery in 2023. He currently does over 100k between headshots, event work, and fashion photography, though he expects he'll be back to 150k and beyond this year or 2026. In this entertaining interview, Joe shares how he went from a Craigslist scam to a six-figure photographer. Here's some more of what we covered in the interview: Scammed Into a Career – A dodgy Craigslist ad stole his money. Instead of giving up, Joe grabbed a camera and built a career. NYC Photography is Brutal – If you’re not hustling, you’re invisible. Joe cracked the code by adapting fast and stacking income streams. Fashion Photography is a Long Game – Want to shoot fashion? Get ready for unpaid “test” shoots—Joe invested years before the paid gigs rolled in. Big Money is in Advertising – Headshots keep the lights on, but Joe’s playing for seven-figure ad campaigns. Smart Free Work Opens Doors – Shooting for top modelling agencies = instant credibility. Done right, it leads to paying clients. One Revenue Stream = Disaster – Joe juggles headshots, events, fashion, and commercial work. One fails? The others keep cash flowing. Marketing That Actually Works – Google ads, social media, referrals—Joe figured out the formula for a steady flow of clients. Sales Skills = More Profit – Simple pricing, smart upsells, and giving clients what they actually need = bigger paydays. Work Fast, Earn More – A 15-minute LinkedIn headshot session? Done. When your workflow is dialled in, you don’t need to grind. No Plan B. All In. – 100-hour weeks, a Brooklyn studio, and zero backup plans—Joe made it work because failure wasn’t an option. Networking That Doesn’t Suck – A casual bar convo landed Joe a gig on Ink Masters. The best connections aren’t made at “networking events.” Hard Work Wins – Adapt, persist, and keep showing up. That’s the real secret to making it in photography.   What’s on Offer for Premium Members If you’re on the fence about becoming a premium member, join with the $1 trial today and get access to the FULL interviews each week, a fantastic back catalogue of interviews, and have ALL future interviews delivered automatically to your phone or tablet. Plus, special member-only interviews. The phrase fashion doesn't pay is, actually very literal, because it's such a competitive field that you work for free for a very long time. – Joe Jenkins You'll also receive access to the members-only Secret Facebook Group, where you can connect with other Premium Members and interview guests to help, support and motivate you to take ideas you hear in each episode and put them into action. The group also has FB live video tutorials, role-play, and special live interviews. You will not find more friendly, motivated, caring and sharing photographers online. Seriously, that's not all. I had $100,000 in the bank going into COVID Now, now I'm deeply in debt, and it's fine. The fortunate thing about photography is that if you can find the work, it's a very well paying field. It's extremely well paying field. It's just finding the work, it's just running it as a business, but it's still tough. I'm not gonna lie, especially becasue I had to pretty much rebuild from scratch after COVID, and it's still very much a hustle. – Joe Jenkins In addition to everything above, you'll get access to instructions on forming or joining a MasterMind Group with other premium members. These groups are super motivating, make you accountable, and build friendships with other pro photographers with motives similar to yours – to build a more successful photography business.   What is your big takeaway? Following this interview, I’d love to know if you're taking anything from what Joe shared. Is there something you heard that excited or motivated you to the point where you thought, yeah, I'm going to do that! If so, leave your thoughts in the comments below; let me know your takeaways and what you plan to implement in your business based on what you heard in today's episode. I feel part of the reason I work so much is because I feel like I'm close to breaking out. I feel like I can see this the finish line, and I'm sprinting towards it. – Joe Jenkins If you have any questions I missed, a specific question you’d like to ask Joe, or a way to thank you for coming on the show, feel free to add them in the comments area below.       iTunes Reviews and Shout-outs I check for any new iTunes or Google reviews each week, and it's always a buzz to receive these… for several reasons. Firstly, it's confirmation that I'm on the right track with the interviews and that they are helping you improve your photography business. That's awesome! Secondly, iTunes and Google are the most significant podcast search engines, and your reviews and ratings help other photographers find PhotoBizX. More listeners mean more interviews and, ultimately, a better show. Eventually you get to the point where your test work is so good that you start getting paid, which is where I'm at, but it's still pretty inconsistent. I still do a ton of free work. – Joe Jenkins If you have left a review in the past, thank you! If you haven't and you'd like to, head to https://photobizx.com/itunes or https://photobizx.com/google. You can leave some honest feedback and a rating, which will help me and the show. I'll be sure to thank you on the show and add a link to your website or blog if you let me know the URL of your website and your name. Alternatively, if you've left a review for PhotoBizX and are looking for more backlinks to help your SEO, leave a review for the new Photography Xperiment Podcast. Email me your keywords or phrases and where you'd like me to link them. My best advice as a photographer is to just diversify your revenue streams, or just try to really keep your source of business diverse. – Joe Jenkins Another great way to get a backlink to your site is to send a video testimonial. It doesn't need to be fancy, and your phone will be perfect. Click record and tell me how PhotoBizX has impacted you and your photography business.​ Links to people, places and things mentioned in this episode: Joe's website — Headshots NYC Joe Jenkins Event Photographer NYC Joe Jenkins on Instagram Joe Jenkins on Facebook The end game for me is to not make $1,000 a day, even though that's awesome. Like $1,000 a day is not bad money anywhere in the world, but my end game is to make seven figures off of my work. – Joe Jenkins Thank you! Thanks for tuning in! Big thanks to Joe for keeping it real on what it takes to succeed—hustling, marketing, and knowing your worth. From getting scammed to building a six-figure business, Joe's story highlights how strategic moves (and a no-plan-B mindset), you can make it happen. If you do what a photographer does, there is no better dollar on the planet than advertising money. – Joe Jenkins That’s it for me this week; I hope everything is going well for you in life and business! Thanks, and speak soon Andrew The post 608: Joe Jenkins – From Craigslist Scam to Six-Figure Photographer appeared first on Photography Business Xposed - Photography Podcast - how to build and market your portrait and wedding photography business.

Premium Members, click here to access this interview in the premium area Heather Lahtinen of https://flourishacademy.mykajabi.com/ first appeared on my radar when Wisconsin Dog Photographer and Premium Member Jan Bezzo recommended her. Jan emailed to tell me that she'd been coached by Heather in the past and would do so again, hopefully soon. Heather is no-nonsense and realistic but always treats people with integrity and kindness. Jan added… Heather just doesn't accept that “nothing is working” and helps you look at challenges from different perspectives, then works with you to troubleshoot. And Heather will give you tough love if needed. That was enough for me. Following that, Heather first appeared on the podcast in the coaches' predictions episode at the start of the year. I looked forward to discussing business, marketing, and mindset with this motivated and passionate coach behind The Flourish Academy and her Elevate program. In this interview, Heather shares why your photography business isn’t growing (And How to Fix It). Here's some more of what we covered in the interview: Stop Saying “Nothing is Working” – Heather challenges vague negativity. Get specific about what’s not working. Look at What Is Working – Shift focus from problems to wins. That’s where growth happens. No More Excuses – Blaming the economy, competition, or social media algorithms won’t fix your business. You’re in control. Business is Math or Mindset (And It’s Always Mindset) – Pricing and revenue goals are just numbers. The real challenge? The thoughts holding you back. Pricing is Just Math – The numbers don’t lie. The hard part is having the confidence to charge what you’re worth. Mindset is the Real Challenge – Fear, doubt, and hesitation around pricing or marketing come from beliefs, not reality. Your Success is Possible, No Matter Where You Live – Location isn’t the issue. Belief and action are. Double Your Prices? Easy in Theory, Hard in Execution – The math is simple. The mindset and marketing shifts are where the real work happens. Your Prices Reflect Your Belief in Your Value – If you don’t believe in your worth, clients won’t either. Raise Your Prices Faster – The longer you wait, the harder it gets. Fear slows action. Not Booking at New Prices? – It’s not just about the price. Manage your thoughts, adjust your approach, and keep refining. Self-Concept is Everything – How you see yourself as a photographer and business owner determines your success more than “confidence” ever will. Think Like a Pro, Then Like an Entrepreneur – First, own your craft. Then, own your business. The Three Identity Shifts – Photographer → Entrepreneur → CEO. Each stage requires new thinking. Marketing Can Be Simple – A one-page (or even half-page) plan focused on what’s already working is all you need. Go Deep, Not Wide – Master a few marketing strategies instead of chasing every new trend. Referrals and Experience Win — Successful photographers consistently grow through happy clients and strong word-of-mouth, not endless social media posts. Turn Clients into “Sneezers” – Deliver such a great experience that people can’t help but tell others. Human Connection Still Matters – Picking up the phone, responding quickly, and caring go further than you think. Define Success on Your Terms – Growth for the sake of growth isn’t the goal. Build the business that fits your life. Check Your “Why” for Staying Small – If you’re holding back on growth, is it a choice or just fear? Stagnation Can Lead to Boredom – Staying still for too long can turn into self-sabotage. Keep growing in some way. Balance is Possible – You can have a thriving business and time for other passions. It’s about intention and systems. Work Smarter, Not Just Harder – The goal isn’t more work. It’s more profit with fewer hours. Efficiency is everything. What’s on Offer for Premium Members If you’re on the fence about becoming a premium member, join with the $1 trial today and get access to the FULL interviews each week, a fantastic back catalogue of interviews, and have ALL future interviews delivered automatically to your phone or tablet. Plus, special member-only interviews. I don't tolerate excuses or reasons or circumstances or like the sky is falling or the weather or the economy or anything like that. That's never going to fly with me. – Heather Lahtinen You'll also receive access to the members-only Secret Facebook Group, where you can connect with other Premium Members and interview guests to help, support and motivate you to take ideas you hear in each episode and put them into action. The group also has FB live video tutorials, role-play, and special live interviews. You will not find more friendly, motivated, caring and sharing photographers online. Seriously, that's not all. I am a compassionate Navy SEAL. It's like someone who's like in your face yelling at you get up. Oh, but you know, I understand where you're coming from. It's hard to get up, and I've got you, but it's time to go, because we're done messing around. – Heather Lahtinen In addition to everything above, you'll get access to instructions on forming or joining a MasterMind Group with other premium members. These groups are super motivating, make you accountable, and build friendships with other pro photographers with motives similar to yours – to build a more successful photography business. What is your big takeaway? Following this interview, I’d love to know if you're taking anything from what Heather shared. Is there something you heard that excited or motivated you to the point where you thought, yeah, I'm going to do that! If so, leave your thoughts in the comments below; let me know your takeaways and what you plan to implement in your business based on what you heard in today's episode. Essentially, I want to create what Malcolm Gladwell calls sneezers. Sneezers are people who are infected with your business and they love you so much they're telling everyone. – Heather Lahtinen If you have any questions I missed, a specific question you’d like to ask Heather, or a way to thank you for coming on the show, feel free to add them in the comments area below. iTunes Reviews and Shout-outs I check for any new iTunes or Google reviews each week, and it's always a buzz to receive these… for several reasons. Firstly, it's confirmation that I'm on the right track with the interviews and that they are helping you improve your photography business. That's awesome! Secondly, iTunes and Google are the most significant podcast search engines, and your reviews and ratings help other photographers find PhotoBizX. More listeners mean more interviews and, ultimately, a better show. When I get inquiries and they don't book right after I raise my prices, here's what I'm going to choose to think, because your brain's going to go haywire, and it's going to say, What have I done? I've ruined my business. I better drop the prices. – Heather Lahtinen If you have left a review in the past, thank you! If you haven't and you'd like to, head to https://photobizx.com/itunes or https://photobizx.com/google. You can leave some honest feedback and a rating, which will help me and the show. I'll be sure to thank you on the show and add a link to your website or blog if you let me know the URL of your website and your name. Alternatively, if you've left a review for PhotoBizX and are looking for more backlinks to help your SEO, leave a review for the new Photography Xperiment Podcast. Email me your keywords or phrases and where you'd like me to link them. I have been in business for over 22 years. That means five presidential administrations, a major housing market crash, a couple of recessions in COVID, and I've never had a problem. And I don't think that's because I'm like, different or special at all. I think it's just because I don't allow circumstance to dictate my results, like there is no circumstance that could happen in the world or to me that could prevent me from moving none. – Heather Lahtinen Another great way to get a backlink to your site is to send a video testimonial. It doesn't need to be fancy, and your phone will be perfect. Click record and tell me how PhotoBizX has impacted you and your photography business.​ Links to people, places and things mentioned in this episode: 151 Ways to Get Clients in Your Photography Business Free PDF Elevate Your Photography Business Website Flourish Academy Coaching Flourish Academy on iTunes Flourish Academy on Spotify Flourish Academy on Instagram If you make your clients happy, if they are your number one priority, you can almost run… a lot of your referrals in your business can be run from that, and then you're killing two birds with one stone. – Heather Lahtinen Thank you! Thanks for tuning in! Massive thanks to Heather for cutting through the fluff and getting real about what actually moves the needle. Success in photography isn’t just about taking great photos—it’s about backing yourself, owning your pricing, and making smart, strategic moves. Heather laid it all out, from ditching excuses to doubling your rates with confidence. If you’re ready to stop playing small, charge what you’re worth, and build a business that works for you, this episode is the perfect fit, My thoughts are, if you are not where you want to be in business, revenue, growth, whatever, it has to be one of two problems… it is either a math problem, like my pricing or number of clients, right? It's a math problem or it's a thought problem. And all problems are thought problems, okay? – Heather Lahtinen That’s it for me this week; I hope everything is going well for you in life and business! Thanks, and speak soon Andrew The post 607: Heather Lahtinen – Why Your Photography Business Isn’t Growing (And How to Fix It) appeared first on Photography Business Xposed - Photography Podcast - how to build and market your portrait and wedding photography business.

Premium Members, click here to access this interview in the premium area Caitlin McColl of www.ragamuffinpetphotography.com.au and www.tailsoftheworld.com is one of Australia's best pet photographers! Her work first caught my eye over ten years ago, and we followed up with episode number 24 of the podcast, where she shared the details of working with pet shelters — I listened back to part of that recording this morning, and oh my god, we both sound so young! We later followed up by recording episode 282 where we dived deep into her photography books as a marketing and sales tool. I've asked her back today, following a recent email where she wrote… G'day Andrew, I'm just sitting here editing and listening to the podcast and decided I really need to send you a thank you. I'm coming out the other side of a four year postpartum depression haze and having spent those years just doing bare minimum to keep my business afloat and family fed, I was feeling lost and uninspired in business. But I knew EXACTLY where I needed to go to reinvigorate myself and as always Photobizx didn't disappoint. I've spent the last few weeks binge listening, and for the first time in a long time, I feel enthused about work again. I asked if she'd feel up to talking about her experiences. Caitlin said yes, and in this interview, she shares her experience of postpartum depression to rebuilding a thriving photography business. Here's some more of what we covered in the interview: Mindset drives success – Overcoming challenges can transform your business. Outsource to grow – Hiring helps free up time for business growth. Diversify income – Multiple revenue streams create stability. Mental health matters – Prioritising wellbeing impacts business success. Maternity leave strategy – Six months off without losing income. Build the right team – Smart hiring streamlines operations. Expos = More bookings – Strategic approach secured 40+ sessions. Planning calls boost sales – Pre-session consults lead to bigger profits. Gear matters in pet photography – Investing in quality equipment pays off. Passion projects fuel growth – Tails of the World raised $150K and built brand credibility. Scaling means letting go – Hiring associates for business expansion. Asking for help is a strength – Support is key in business and life. What’s on Offer for Premium Members If you’re on the fence about becoming a premium member, join with the $1 trial today and get access to the FULL interviews each week, a fantastic back catalogue of interviews, and have ALL future interviews delivered automatically to your phone or tablet. Plus, special member-only interviews. I'm coming out the other side of a four-year postpartum depression haze, and having spent those years just doing the bare minimum to keep my business afloat and my family fed, I was feeling lost and uninspired in business, but I knew exactly where I needed to go to reinvigorate myself. – Caitlin McColl You'll also receive access to the members-only Secret Facebook Group, where you can connect with other Premium Members and interview guests to help, support and motivate you to take ideas you hear in each episode and put them into action. The group also has FB live video tutorials, role-play, and special live interviews. You will not find more friendly, motivated, caring and sharing photographers online. Seriously, that's not all. Rather than saying, Hey, can I talk to you about pet photography? My line is, Oh, would you like to win a pet photo shoot? Would you like to win a photo shoot with your dog? And nine out of 10 people are gonna say ‘no'. – Caitlin McColl In addition to everything above, you'll get access to instructions on forming or joining a MasterMind Group with other premium members. These groups are super motivating, make you accountable, and build friendships with other pro photographers with motives similar to yours – to build a more successful photography business. What is your big takeaway? Following this interview, I’d love to know if you're taking anything from what Caitlin shared. Is there something you heard that excited or motivated you to the point where you thought, yeah, I'm going to do that! If so, leave your thoughts in the comments below; let me know your takeaways and what you plan to implement in your business based on what you heard in today's episode. I feel like I'm really excited about my business, and I'm really excited for changes, and I want to work on it, rather than just doing the shoots and whatever I need to do to get by. So yeah, I can feel my like myself again, not like my old self. You never go back to your old self once you had kids, as you know, but I can feel my spirit back. It's really nice. – Caitlin McColl If you have any questions I missed, a specific question you’d like to ask Caitlin, or a way to thank you for coming on the show, feel free to add them in the comments area below. iTunes Reviews and Shout-outs I check for any new iTunes or Google reviews each week, and it's always a buzz to receive these… for several reasons. Firstly, it's confirmation that I'm on the right track with the interviews and that they are helping you improve your photography business. That's awesome! Secondly, iTunes and Google are the most significant podcast search engines, and your reviews and ratings help other photographers find PhotoBizX. More listeners mean more interviews and, ultimately, a better show. I've always been so geeky and passionate about automation and efficiency and productivity all that kind of stuff. But through the last four years, the importance of also being able to outsource became really, really apparent. – Caitlin McColl If you have left a review in the past, thank you! If you haven't and you'd like to, head to https://photobizx.com/itunes or https://photobizx.com/google. You can leave some honest feedback and a rating, which will help me and the show. I'll be sure to thank you on the show and add a link to your website or blog if you let me know the URL of your website and your name. Alternatively, if you've left a review for PhotoBizX and are looking for more backlinks to help your SEO, leave a review for the new Photography Xperiment Podcast. Email me your keywords or phrases and where you'd like me to link them. Every other year I have done this. I sell a loss leader discounted session voucher, and sell maybe 40 sessions. The sales of those cover the stall fee. – Caitlin McColl Another great way to get a backlink to your site is to send a video testimonial. It doesn't need to be fancy, and your phone will be perfect. Click record and tell me how PhotoBizX has impacted you and your photography business.​ Links to people, places and things mentioned in this episode: Tails of the World Ragamuffin Pet Photography Website Ragamuffin Pet Photography on Facebook Ragamuffin Pet Photography on Instagram Ragamuffin Melbourne Pet Photography on YouTube Focused on Time Podcast Online Jobs PH Episode 24: Caitlin McColl – The Business of Pet Photography Success Episode 282: Caitlin McColl – How to run profitable book projects for portrait and pet photographers Episode 559: Karinda Kinsler – Why you need to treat every photography client like a $20,000 client Thank you! Thanks for tuning in! Huge thanks to Caitlin for sharing her journey and game-changing insights. Her story proves success isn’t just about great photos—it’s about mindset, smart moves, and taking action. If you’re serious about growing a sustainable photography business, this is the stuff that matters. One of the big things that I've learnt through this is the importance of all my eggs not being in my own basket. – Caitlin McColl That’s it for me this week; I hope everything is going well for you in life and business! Thanks, and speak soon Andrew The post 606: Caitlin McColl – From Postpartum Depression to Rebuilding a Thriving Photography Business appeared first on Photography Business Xposed - Photography Podcast - how to build and market your portrait and wedding photography business.

Premium Members, click here to access this interview in the premium area Jeff Brown of www.thephotographersmentor.com needs no introduction if you've been listening for any time! He's appeared on the podcast multiple times, focusing mainly on LinkedIn and utilising that platform to attract and book clients. He also has a couple of courses on PhotoBizx—one on LinkedIn with a very recent update and another on building a high-converting and very simple website, recently mentioned by Richard Grenfell in his Advertise Like a MoFo course. His primary focus is Photography Business Mentoring, Accountability, and support, where he works with photographers worldwide. In addition to all that, he has published multiple books for photographers, which you can find on Amazon, including: The Photographer's Gratitude & Mindset Journal, Develop a Positive Routine for Happiness and Improved Self Belief: Your 100-Day Daily Self Help Diary—the perfect stepping-off point to kick-start your year. In this interview, Jeff shares the business failure that changed everything—and what you can learn from it to grow your photography business. Here's some more of what we covered in the interview: Your mindset is your biggest asset – A strong, positive mindset will help you attract more clients, charge your worth, and build a thriving business. Gratitude fuels success – Focusing on what’s working (even in tough times) boosts resilience, confidence, and momentum. Visualise the business you want – Act as if you already have the success you’re aiming for—this shifts your thinking and actions to make it a reality. Big goals need small steps — Breaking down big dreams into daily, achievable actions makes them feel doable and keeps you moving forward. Failure isn’t fatal—it’s a launchpad – Jeff’s rock-bottom moment led to his most successful business. Learn from setbacks and come back stronger. Mentors accelerate your results — The proper guidance helps you avoid costly mistakes and fast-tracks your success. It’s not about the gear — your mindset, marketing, and client experience matter more than the latest camera. Journaling keeps you on track – This simple habit of gratitude and goal-setting keeps you focused, motivated, and making progress. Resilience beats temporary setbacks – Every challenge you overcome builds the confidence to handle bigger opportunities. Your success starts in your mind – If you can see it, believe it, and take action, you’re already on the way. Morning routines shape your day – Jeff’s 4:44 AM start fuels creativity and productivity—what habits set you up for success? Struggling with social media? – Consistency and storytelling transformed one photographer into an industry leader—it can work for you too. Your mental health matters – Success isn’t just about business; looking after yourself is just as important. Gratitude + goals = unstoppable momentum – When you combine the right mindset with intentional action, your results will skyrocket. Failures are stepping stones, not stop signs – Each setback is an opportunity to learn, adjust, and grow into a more profitable, confident business owner. Want more bookings? – Visualise the clients you want, create content that speaks to them, and watch your calendar fill up. Writing a book builds authority – Publishing your expertise helps you stand out, attract premium clients, and open doors to new opportunities.   What’s on Offer for Premium Members If you’re on the fence about becoming a premium member, join with the $1 trial today and get access to the FULL interviews each week, a fantastic back catalogue of interviews, and have ALL future interviews delivered automatically to your phone or tablet. Plus, special member-only interviews. There's no such thing as a goal that is too big, because the process of achieving a big goal is exactly the same processes of achieving a small goal. It's just the time span is different. – Jeff Brown You'll also receive access to the members-only Secret Facebook Group, where you can connect with other Premium Members and interview guests to help, support and motivate you to take ideas you hear in each episode and put them into action. The group also has FB live video tutorials, role-play, and special live interviews. You will not find more friendly, motivated, caring and sharing photographers online. Seriously, that's not all. Realize that…not everything is bad as it initially seems….remember that there's so many people in the world who you influence and rely on you and love you and care about you…speak to somebody, take professional advice. – Jeff Brown In addition to everything above, you'll get access to instructions on forming or joining a MasterMind Group with other premium members. These groups are super motivating, make you accountable, and build friendships with other pro photographers with motives similar to yours – to build a more successful photography business. What is your big takeaway? Following this interview, I’d love to know if you're taking anything from what Jeff shared. Is there something you heard that excited or motivated you to the point where you thought, yeah, I'm going to do that! If so, leave your thoughts in the comments below; let me know your takeaways and what you plan to implement in your business based on what you heard in today's episode. I had a breakdown 10 years ago, and had a pub venture that went completely wrong…and that actually led me to running away…because I felt like a complete failure. And from that point, I had to reset my life. – Jeff Brown If you have any questions I missed, a specific question you’d like to ask Jeff or want to say thank you for coming on the show, feel free to add them in the comments area below. PhotoBizX with Johl Dunn presents this FREE training… Last year was a shocker. The last 4yrs even! Let’s not sugarcoat the fact that it has been challenging and that there has been a lot of uncertainty in the market. So why have some businesses struggled and some thrived? It all comes down to mindset, habit and our distorted view of reality (Johl will explain more in the training). In the training. Johl will share: The Real Reason Some Businesses Thrive While Others Struggle Breaking Free from Burnout: Practical Strategies to Reclaim Your Energy How to Create More Balance & Still Run a Thriving Business Productivity & Focus: Working Smarter, Not Harder Unlocking Joy & Fun in Your Business (Yes, It’s Possible!) The Ultimate Mindset Shift: You Are the Key to Your Success When: Thursday, February 27th @ 7AM AEDT – your local time is here Cost: FREE Recording? Yes, if you are registered, I'll have a recording available after the live training with free access. If you're not registered for the live training, the cost will be USD$47. REGISTER HERE: https://learn.photobizx.com/unblock-your-business-registration/ iTunes Reviews and Shout-outs I check for any new iTunes or Google reviews each week, and it's always a buzz to receive these… for several reasons. Firstly, it's confirmation that I'm on the right track with the interviews and that they are helping you improve your photography business. That's awesome! Secondly, iTunes and Google are the most significant podcast search engines, and your reviews and ratings help other photographers find PhotoBizX. More listeners mean more interviews and, ultimately, a better show. Now, 10 years later, I look back and realise that that was the best failure I ever had in my life, because it's changed my direction. – Jeff Brown If you have left a review in the past, thank you! If you haven't and you'd like to, head to https://photobizx.com/itunes or https://photobizx.com/google. You can leave some honest feedback and a rating, which will help me and the show. I'll be sure to thank you on the show and add a link to your website or blog if you let me know the URL of your website and your name. Alternatively, if you've left a review for PhotoBizX and are looking for more backlinks to help your SEO, leave a review for the new Photography Xperiment Podcast. Email me your keywords or phrases and where you'd like me to link them. I'm making sure that I'm directing my product and myself as a brand towards pet lovers… I'm not just a pet photographer, I'm a pet expert in a way. – Jeff Richards Another great way to get a backlink to your site is to send a video testimonial. It doesn't need to be fancy, and your phone will be perfect. Click record and tell me how PhotoBizX has impacted you and your photography business.​ I've always said that if you listen to the podcast without implementing anything you hear, it's purely entertainment and not the business resource it should and could be.  ★★★★★  Four reviews with one simple idea! Late last week, I received an email from a premium member and Las Vegas corporate event, convention and conference photographer Adrienne Angelo. She listened to the recent interview with Noel Marcantel, who talked about using a QR code that people scan at his business. I will try this tomorrow at a headshot station for a business with about 14 people who need new headshots. Fast forward a couple of days later, and Adrienne messaged me to say… “4 reviews at my 1st business today ”   Links to people, places and things mentioned in this episode: Jeff Brown The Photographer's Mentor Website The Photographer's Mentor on Facebook Jeff Brown on LinkedIn Jeff Brown on Amazon The Ambitious Photographer's Journal – Overcome Procrastination and Grow Your Photography Business Faster, 52 Week Photography Business Success by Jeff Brown The Photographer's Gratitude & Mindset Journal, Develop a Positive Routine for Happiness and Improved Self Belief: Your 100 Day Daily Self Help Diary by Jeff Brown The Photographer's Gratitude & Mindset Journal, Develop a Positive Routine for Happiness and Improved Self Belief: Your 100 Day Daily Self Help Diary by Jeff Brown Episode 397: Richard Grenfell – The Coaching Diaries with Steve Saporito Episode 549: Richard Grenfell – The successful and profitable move from family to boudoir photography  025 Premium Only Episode: Johl Dunn – Facebook Ad tactics with competitions and third party alliances Episode 330: Johl Dunn – How to create a money making portrait photography business Episode 526: Johl Dunn – Modern day marketing and success for portrait photographers Episode 556: Johl Dunn – Unlock Your Photography Business Potential and Stop  Unblock Your Photography Business – FREE TRAINING Thank you! Thanks for tuning in! A huge thank you to Jeff for sharing his invaluable insights and personal stories on building a successful photography business. His journey proves that success isn’t just about taking great photos—it’s about mindset, strategy, and consistent action. Whether mastering your niche, attracting high-value clients, or staying resilient through setbacks, Jeff’s advice is a game/life-changer for any photographer looking to grow their business successfully. Life is a massive roller coaster, and it's all about having more ups than downs, because you're going to have downs anyway, right? But you're going to get back up there. – Jeff Brown That’s it for me this week; I hope everything is going well for you in life and business! Thanks, and speak soon Andrew The post 605: Jeff Brown – The Business Failure That Changed Everything—And What You Can Learn From It appeared first on Photography Business Xposed - Photography Podcast - how to build and market your portrait and wedding photography business.