284 - New Business Blues

your website. And I'm sure many of you can also relate to the fact that as business owners in the modern era, that can be kind of a tricky line to walk. It seems like everyone everywhere is telling us that we have to put more of ourselves into our businesses. Make videos as we walk the dog, you know, share behind the scenes of our vacations and our cooking projects. And I get it, you know, I like binging that content from other people as

much as the next guy. But a, my brain just isn't wired to constantly pick up my phone and record what I'm doing. And B, despite all evidence to the contrary, I deeply believe that outside my circle of friends and family, nobody cares, or maybe nobody should care about the details of my life, right? You're here for the business

stuff. But a couple of weeks ago, my marketing director, Dana, and I were talking about the new business that my husband and I started this year, the business that we have invested a lot of money into, and that now occupies at least a day's worth of my time each week, the business that I am now the official CEO of. And she was like Annemie tonken, think anyone cares about your personal life, but for the love of God, you teach business, and now you've started a whole new business and a whole new

industry. Don't you think that the people who look to you for business advice might want to hear about this giant business project that you've been working on. And as usual, Dana's probably right. So here goes. Welcome to this can't be that hard. My name is Annemie tonken. Tonken and I help photographers run profitable, sustainable

businesses that they love. Each week on the podcast, I cover simple, actionable strategies and systems that photographers at every level of experience can use to earn more money in a more sustainable way. Running a photography business doesn't have to be that hard, you can do it, and I can show you how many of you know that my husband, Riley and I met as photographers. He was a wedding photographer for 15 years, and we originally met at a networking event before the

pandemic. Actually right around the time we started dating, he started dabbling in Airbnb. First he listed the spare room in his house, then he scraped together the money to buy the house next door, and then he built a tiny house in the yard of that house next door. And by the time the pandemic hit and his wedding business, you know, like everyone else's, was turned upside down, he had enough regular income from Airbnb that he felt like he could kind of take that opportunity to retire

from weddings. Because he had been probably ready to do that for a couple of years at that point, but just hadn't been, I don't know, mentally ready to make that leap for a while. You know, 2021 2022 he was kind of finishing up the weddings that he had booked, and was just focused on dialing in his Airbnb

game. We were ultimately able to add a couple more properties, and he was devoting all this time to getting those furnished set up, you know, automating things, improving his guest experience, training his

housekeeping team. But around the time that we got married, he was starting to kind of get to a point with Airbnb where he had automated himself out of a job, like he it took him a couple hours a day, maybe, to manage communication and, you know, dealing with housekeepers and dealing with client requests and all that sort of stuff, but he had gotten to a point where he just didn't have enough work to fill his time. And he's like me, I mean, we are not good at sitting still. We always need to

have a project going. So he was doing a lot of gardening, a lot of baking, a lot of tinkering with things, and that was great. But, you know, I knew that that wasn't going to last, and he was getting kind of itchy. And like me, he also loves being an entrepreneur and working for himself. So it wasn't like he was going to go out and get a job. So he started kind of brainstorming and researching and daydreaming about starting a new business. But you know, unlike most of us photographers.

He actually has a photography degree, and he was like, I have no idea. I'm not qualified for anything else. This is all I've ever done. So he just, you know, literally started with a blank page and put together a bunch of things that he wanted and didn't want in a business, and started trying to find something that fit the bill. And his criteria were pretty. Money. A lot of them were a pretty transparent, like pendulum swing from the wedding industry, right? He didn't want to work in the

luxury business. He didn't want a business that revolved around him or his name or like required that he be lifetime BFFs with everyone he worked with. He wanted a business that he could buy or start and then grow, optimize and sell in a relatively short period of time, like, you know, 10 years or less. And he wanted it to be something that was in the essential services sector, that wasn't particularly prone to lawsuits and wasn't going to be threatened by AI, which is a

pretty random list of stuff. So needless to say, it took him a fair amount of time to figure this particular puzzle out. And I have so much appreciation for the wide net, like mental net that he cast in terms of, like all options were on the table in terms of, you know, legal ways to make money. But when he did solve this puzzle, my gentle, sensitive artist of a husband came to me and announced that he thought that we should start a small asphalt repair company.

And if your jaw just dropped, rest assured, minded to as has every single person that we know, who has you know heard about this new venture, like wedding photographer turned Asphalt Man. I won't bore you with the details, but the short version of the story is that now, in addition to photographing families and hosting a business podcast and supporting 1000s of photography students around the world. I am also the proud owner of a business called Green Street blacktop and a semi truck named

Dolly. So as you can imagine, obviously, I'm not out there shoveling tar, but I am pretty involved in the back end of the business. Obviously, I have lots of opinions about systems and automation and messaging and optimizing, and it's honestly been really fun and really challenging to help start a business in an entirely new to

me sector from scratch. It has given me ample opportunity to kind of flex my creative muscles and my air table muscles, and I'm learning all kinds of stuff about supply chain and materials tracking and human resources. I mean, this is like the last thing in the world. If you told me even two years ago that this would be what I was doing, I would have laughed. But life keeps teaching me that you shouldn't you shouldn't make

assumptions, right? But this process has also been really humbling and nerve wracking at

times. Literally everyone that we have met in this business, you know, we've been trying to get to know other people in the industry, and everyone has either gotten into the business through some sort of family connection, like, their dad owned the business and they took over, or they have worked for years in the industry and then, like, scraped together money to actually start their own business and kind of go out with their own hang their own

shingle. And then there's, you know, me and Rai showing up at this payvex conference that we went to I was wearing, you know, my big earrings and my like black jumpsuit, and at one point I was taking notes on my laptop during a presentation, and this guy next to me, who is like in head to toe camo, drinking a Mountain Dew, you know, not taking notes, just sort of sitting there, leans over and Literally asks me if I was the professional note taker for the

conference. So to say that the two of us don't entirely fit into the standard mold for this business is definitely an understatement. But you know, we've also taken on a big pile of debt to get this business started. My experience with conferences thus far in my life has mostly been limited to photography conferences, right and on the trade show floor at WPPI. I think the most expensive thing that one might splurge on would be like, you know, a new

camera body, right? At that same conference with the camo guy I saw like men standing around wearing crocs, placing orders for equipment that started at $3 million and you know, I was like, Oh, we're in the big leagues now in terms of in terms of taking on business debt and all that sort of stuff. We are very much in it. But even though that business, that industry, is different in all of the ways that you might imagine from

photography. What's been really eye opening is the fact that in reality, at its base, it's not been that different at all. This business, just like. Photography is about betting on yourself. It's about knowing that there is stuff that you don't know and knowing that you'll figure it out. It's about, you know, accepting that it's hard, especially in the beginning, and figuring out ways to make it easier. It's about educating yourself and equipping yourself for the job at hand.

It's about seeing a need out there in the world, fixing someone's problem, being willing to kind of be the solution to that problem. It's about differentiating yourself in the market and sort of figuring out what your you know unique value proposition is. It's about identifying your bluebird clients and creating messaging and offers and pricing that will speak to them. And you know, it's about delivering a good product with good customer

service. It is also about learning to live with the ebbs and flows and uncertainties of entrepreneurship, and I am very much in that all over again, which has brought me kind of a renewed sense of empathy for you, for the people that may be listening, who are not in a great place, necessarily, In their photography business, or they're still in the beginning of their photography business, and it all feels new and foreign

and out of their depth. So I don't really know what this episode is supposed to help you with. I don't have a worksheet for you, but I hope that you've enjoyed learning a little bit about this weird new side hustle of mine, and certainly, if you live in Central North Carolina and need a pothole filled, you know where to find me? Well, that's it for this week's episode of This can't be that hard. I'll be back Same time,

same place next week. In the meantime, you can find more information about this episode along with all the relevant links, notes and downloads at this can't be that hard.com/learn. If you like the podcast, be sure to hit the subscribe button. Even better, share the love by leaving a review in iTunes. And as always, thanks so much for joining me. I hope you have a fantastic week. You.