In this episode of Mini Mentoring, Angie Wynne and I discuss whether it’s a good idea to raise your prices when it means that your prices will be higher than those of other local photographers in your area - particularly photographers with more experience. Show notes: thiscantbethathard.com/podcast/055 Resources: New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources. Join our community! We'd love to welcome you into our supportive, business-...
Oct 23, 2020•14 min
Navigating the subject of online privacy can be tricky… we want to be respectful of our clients’ wishes, but we have our own needs, too… particularly the need to share our work in order to get more work. If the threads in online forums are to be believed, my perspective on this subject is rather different from that of most people, but it’s worked well for me for several years, so I figured I’d share it on the podcast. Show notes: https://www.thiscantbethathard.com/podcast/054 Resources: New to t...
Oct 20, 2020•25 min
In this episode of Mini Mentoring, Tristen Aque and I discuss the tricky process of getting referrals as a brand new photographer (and not just any old referrals, but bluebird referrals)! If you’re not a brand new photographer, never fear: this episode's got some good food for thought about referral programs in general, too! Show notes: thiscantbethathard.com/podcast/mm-053 Resources: New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources. Jo...
Oct 16, 2020•19 min
Bookkeeping is one of those things… you know you need to take care of it, but you’d probably rather not dedicate one minute more than absolutely necessary to it, right? Trust me: I get it. That’s more or less how I feel, too, but today’s conversation is so straightforward, actionable, and filled with great pointers that I PROMISE it’s worth your time! Show notes: thiscantbethathard.com/podcast/052 Resources: New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's...
Oct 13, 2020•42 min
In this episode of Mini Mentoring, Briana Averwater and I discuss how to break through the inevitable plateaus in business, namely, once you’ve gotten established, moving from “good enough” to truly great. Show notes: thiscantbethathard.com/podcast/mm-051 Resources: New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources. Join our community! We'd love to welcome you into our supportive, business-focused private Facebook group. Go to facebook.c...
Oct 09, 2020•17 min
FIFTY WHOLE EPISODES!!! Today’s episode is a quick one where I give the credit for this milestone where it’s due: to YOU. Thank you so much for tuning in and being part of This Can’t Be That Hard… whether you’re a member of the Facebook Group , are one of my Blueprint Students , or just subscribe and listen. To show my appreciation, I collected and put together 50(+) pieces of photography wisdom from everyone willing to contribute. The compilation turned out - unsurprisingly - to be pretty aweso...
Oct 06, 2020•5 min
In this episode of Mini Mentoring, Lyndsay McNiff and I discuss the best way to sell her clients on her decision to switch from all-inclusive pricing to the Simple Sales System. Resources: New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources. Join our community! We'd love to welcome you into our supportive, business-focused private Facebook group. Go to facebook.com/groups/thiscantbethathard to request access. Long-time listener? Leave a re...
Oct 02, 2020•18 min
If navigating your business sometimes feels like going through a maze, that’s because it is. Standing between you and the next big goal or milestone is a series of decisions that can feel very much like turns in a maze - some giving you a short cut to the solution, others leading to a convoluted series of twists and turns. But there’s a secret to the maze that any successful businessperson knows, and that’s what today’s podcast is all about. Show notes: thiscantbethathard.com/podcast/048 Resourc...
Sep 29, 2020•22 min
In this episode of Mini Mentoring, Dana Walsh and I discuss the best way to navigate the minefield that is mini-sessions… setting yourself apart, maintaining your brand, attracting the right clients, and pricing your minis in a way that brings people in the door without sacrificing profit. Show notes: thiscantbethathard.com/podcast/mm-047 Resources: New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources. Join our community! We'd love to welco...
Sep 25, 2020•18 min
The Family Narrative crew is back on the podcast, and this time we’re talking about finding the right way to allocate the education budget in your business. Do you invest in online courses? In-person workshops? Mentoring programs? Memberships? With so many options (and a thousand teachers for each platform), how do you decide? Kate Thompson, Posy Quarterman and I chat about our own personal experiences and strategies, and give a bit of insight on how we turned those ideas into the basis for The ...
Sep 22, 2020•41 min
In this episode of Mini Mentoring, Melissa Jeffcoat and I discuss the best way to introduce a big price jump to the clients you love and don’t want to lose… a necessary and often intimidating step that most of us have to make at least once in a while! Show notes: thiscantbethathard.com/podcast/mm-045 Resources: New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources. Join our community! We'd love to welcome you into our supportive, business-fo...
Sep 18, 2020•15 min
Today I’m talking about a sneaky mistake that most of us make at least occasionally - something that seems when we’re doing it like it’s a way to make big changes less risky, but which often derails our efforts entirely. HBS professor Michael Porter calls this particular mistake “straddling,” and as I’ll point out in my examples everyone - from individuals to giant corporations to YOU - is vulnerable… at least if you’re not careful! Show notes: thiscantbethathard.com/podcast/044 Resources: New t...
Sep 15, 2020•13 min
In this episode of Mini Mentoring, Jess Koehler - one of the women who joined me for the CRM roundtable discussion in episode 32 - joins me to talk about questionnaires … what to ask and when. Show notes: thiscantbethathard.com/podcast/mm-043 Resources: New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources. Join our community! We'd love to welcome you into our supportive, business-focused private Facebook group. Go to facebook.com/groups/thi...
Sep 11, 2020•18 min
I met Amanda Thorson in Australia last summer and we became fast friends - we share a sarcastic sense of humor and a very practical approach to our work - and when I decided to talk about alignment on the podcast, I knew I wanted to have her on as a guest. You see, when I talk to photographers about the three successful models, nearly everyone immediately self-identifies as a workhorse or a unicorn. The only examples of a donkey business we seem to think of are the Olan Mills’ and the Lifetouche...
Sep 08, 2020•43 min
In this episode of Mini Mentoring, I talk with Paige Daniels about marketing your business - best practices and how to know if they’re working. Show notes: thiscantbethathard.com/podcast/041 Resources: New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources. Join our community! We'd love to welcome you into our supportive, business-focused private Facebook group. Go to facebook.com/groups/thiscantbethathard to request access. Long-time listene...
Sep 04, 2020•18 min
In 2019, I gave a talk at The Family Narrative called “Creating a Business that Feeds Your Soul (and Your Family)”. My initial intention was to put together a talk on pricing, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt like the talk needed to be about alignment. Pricing, after all, isn’t a one-size-fits-all thing… but in order to work, pricing DOES need to be in alignment with your business model and your market. This episode is the second part of that talk, covering the five areas of your...
Sep 01, 2020•24 min
In this episode of Mini Mentoring, I talk with Carolyn Soling about how it’s still possible to make time for your business while quarantining at home with kids. Resources: New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources. Join our community! We'd love to welcome you into our supportive, business-focused private Facebook group. Go to facebook.com/groups/thiscantbethathard to request access. Long-time listener? Leave a review!...
Aug 28, 2020•17 min
In 2019, I gave a talk at The Family Narrative called “Creating a Business that Feeds Your Soul (and Your Family)”. My initial intention was to put together a talk on pricing, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt like the talk needed to be about alignment. Pricing, after all, isn’t a one-size-fits-all thing… but in order to work, pricing DOES need to be in alignment with your business model and your market. Over the course of this episode and next, I’m presenting a modified version o...
Aug 25, 2020•23 min
In this episode of Mini Mentoring, I talk with Ana Vallejo about the challenges of getting started in a big, oversaturated market. Show notes: thiscantbethathard.com/podcast/037 Resources: New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources. Join our community! We'd love to welcome you into our supportive, business-focused private Facebook group. Go to facebook.com/groups/thiscantbethathard to request access. Long-time listener? Leave a re...
Aug 21, 2020•17 min
Cornell Watson may be relatively new to photography, but he’s already making huge waves in the industry… not just with his stunning family photos, but also with his message. And it was a combination of those two things that recently helped Cornell land a solo museum exhibition - something very few photographers ever achieve, much less within two years of the start of their careers. Today, Cornell and I talk about how the opportunity for the show came about, the concept he came up with, and the e...
Aug 18, 2020•39 min
In this episode of Mini Mentoring, I chat with Andrea de Anda about the challenges (and opportunities!) involved in relocating your business across the country. Andrea is a wedding and family photographer (soon-to-be) based in Atlanta, GA. You can find her here and here . Show notes: thiscantbethathard.com/podcast/035 Resources: New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources. Join our community! We'd love to welcome you into our suppo...
Aug 14, 2020•18 min
This month marks the tenth anniversary of when I officially started my photography business, and there are so many lessons I’ve learned in the ten years since. Ten years ago, the opportunities for online education were pretty meager and podcasts really weren’t a thing, so a lot of the choices I made were based on little more than instinct… and some of those instincts were wildly misguided! I’m taking this anniversary opportunity to talk about the 10 biggest lessons I've learned in my 10 years as...
Aug 11, 2020•22 min
In this episode of Mini Mentoring, I chat with Rachel Castro about two problem clients she’s currently dealing with - what to do now, and how to prevent similar issues in the future. Show notes: thiscantbethathard.com/podcast/033 Resources: New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources. Join our community! We'd love to welcome you into our supportive, business-focused private Facebook group. Go to facebook.com/groups/thiscantbethatha...
Aug 07, 2020•24 min
Part 2 of the series All Things CRM features a conversation among 7 professional photographers who use 7 different CRMs. We talk about how we each use our CRMs, we compare features, and we deep dive on how using our CRMs has affected our businesses (and made us money)! Joining me today is my co-host/strategist for this series, Colie James, along with Sheena Magnesen, Kali Kraum, Jess Koehler, Kendra Greenberg, and Maryam Salassi. Show notes: thiscantbethathard.com/podcast/032 Resources: New to t...
Aug 04, 2020•1 hr 4 min
In this episode of Mini Mentoring, I chat with Kayla Kohn about the strategies and benefits of adding print sales to your business. Kayla is a family and newborn photographer based in Lawrence, KS. You can find her here and here . Resources: New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources. Join our community! We'd love to welcome you into our supportive, business-focused private Facebook group. Go to facebook.com/groups/thiscantbethath...
Jul 31, 2020•17 min
Today’s topic is so awesome, I couldn’t fit it into a single episode… or handle it all by myself! Colie James has helped me put together a two-part series on All Things CRM (that’s Customer Relationship Manager, if you don’t know). CRMs are a GAME-CHANGER in your business, and in Part 1, Colie and I talk about what they are and the power they hold. Even if you already use a CRM, this series is worth your time: I’ve been using one for six years and I learned about a whole bunch of features that e...
Jul 28, 2020•38 min
In the very first episode of Mini Mentoring, I talk to Kendra Greenberg about how to find a new client base after she significantly increased her prices. Show notes: https://www.thiscantbethathard.com/podcast/mm-029 Resources: New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources. Join our community! We'd love to welcome you into our supportive, business-focused private Facebook group. Go to facebook.com/groups/thiscantbethathard to request ...
Jul 24, 2020•18 min
We’ve all had bad customer service experiences (I had a doozy last week which was actually the inspiration for today’s podcast), and I believe most of us strive to give really GOOD customer service… but when it comes down to it, what does that mean? Giving your work away? Freaking out if you haven’t heard back from a client that they’re thrilled? Letting pushy clients walk all over you? No, no, and heeeelllll no. Today I’m teaching how the best defense against a problem is a good offense, and a ...
Jul 21, 2020•20 min
As photographers, we generally don’t have very complex business models. Once we learn some basic systems and strategies, it seems like everything should just fall into place. The big stumbling blocks for a lot of us - things like pricing, marketing, selling, workflow - those things are all pretty technically straightforward. So why is it that we get stuck? Caro Cuinet-Wellings is a French photographer with a background in education, and today she’s sharing some invaluable - and very practical - ...
Jul 14, 2020•42 min
Product sales are SO important when it comes to running a professional and profitable photography business - not to mention one of the cornerstones of the Simple Sales System - but they’re also a pretty big hurdle for a lot of photographers, either because they’re not currently offering products and don’t know where to start, or because they’ve been trying to offer products but haven’t seen much success. Today I’m diving into five strategies for choosing, pricing, and delivering products that wi...
Jul 07, 2020•27 min
