August 20, 2025 • 36 mins
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This week’s episode dives into photography business strategy for the busy seasons and beyond. I’m sharing a personal update on how my own business has shifted this year and what I’m seeing across my coaching clients and communities.
If you’ve been worried about not having enough clients booked yet or stressing about the wave of fall sessions ahead, you are not alone. In this episode I break down why photographers are seeing these trends, the mindset piece that can make or break your business, and some of the tools I’m using to simplify marketing before things get hectic.
I’ll also share details on Senior Sunday, Content Fuel, and how you can grab access to the Photo Bundle that’s packed with resources worth over $2,000 for just $97. If photography business strategy is top of mind for you right now, you’ll want to listen in.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Tried and True with the Dash of Woo, where
we blend rock-solid tips with alittle bit of magic.
I'm Renee Bowen, your host,life and business coach and
professional photographer atyour service.
We are all about gettingcreative, diving into your
business and playing withmanifestation over here.
So are you ready to getinspired and have some fun?
Let's dive in.
Hey, hey, welcome back to Triedand True with the Dash of Woo.
(00:27):
I'm Renee, your host.
Today's show is not ourtraditional format.
I have been having a lot ofguests on the show and you guys
know I like to have a mix ofguests with solo episodes.
But it's been sort of a busyseason for me and I feel like we
just need to have a little bitof a catch-up, you and me.
So today's show is going to bekind of short and sweet.
(00:50):
It's a little bit of a lifeupdate from me, letting you guys
know sort of like what's goingon with me and what's top of
mind as well.
Like there's always sort oflike some things bubbling in my
coaching communities, whetherit's like one-on-one or with my
groups, like things that arecoming up, and anytime I
mentioned that to you guys, toanyone, like on social, usually
on Instagram.
I always get a lot of feedbackthat, oh my God, me too.
(01:12):
So I just feel like I'm goingto follow the intuition of this,
my own intuition, and kind ofshare a couple of things that
have been coming up in mycoaching communities, because
more often than not it'sprobably going to be or feel
timely to you as well.
But first, a little bit of anupdate from me on the business
(01:34):
side.
Okay, so this summer was not asbusy for my photography side of
my business as it normally is,and that was kind of by design
because I had a really, reallybusy first two quarters really
of this year.
Spring especially was reallyreally crazy for me.
March and April.
(01:57):
I had so many seniors and I hada lot of people trying to get
in for last minutes, but I don'tknow.
It was just one of those thingsand I don't know if it was
something that you guys alsonoticed.
As if you're a photographer,senior photographer specifically
, I always have clients inspring, but this year was really
a lot and, like I said, I don'tknow if it's just nationwide or
(02:21):
regional.
We had those really awful bigfires here in California in
January.
So I do feel like that kind ofplayed a little bit into that.
I also just know, in generalour high school senior clients
are waiting longer to book and Iknow that for a fact because a
lot of my coaching students aredealing with that just right now
(02:42):
in their businesses.
They're like, why are peoplenot booking?
I'm normally pretty much fullby now and they're not and
they're freaking out.
So that kind of brings me tosome one of the things that is
coming up in my communities andI'll get to that in a minute, so
stay with me here for a second.
But in general my summer was notas busy outside shooting, which
(03:05):
was really kind of nice,because I had a crazy, crazy
spring, really busy, really good, profitable months, like we're
talking, really good.
And then my son graduatedcollege and so we went out to
Boston for that.
So it was just busy.
So by the time I got home inJune I was just kind of tired
and a little bit of burnt out,I'm not going to lie.
So I have been doing thepodcast and I'm doing my
(03:28):
coaching.
So the coaching side of mybusiness didn't slow down, it
actually picked up.
But the photography side of mybusiness slowed down, which was
fine.
So for me it's a little bit ofan ebb and a flow.
Sometimes both of them are athigh capacity, which is hard,
and I've been trying for thelast several years to navigate
(03:49):
that a little bit better, tryand predict how I can make that
flow easier for me, because,yeah, when both sides of my
business are really, really busy, that doesn't leave a whole lot
of room for me and I'm not onboard with that.
So this summer was kind of nice, I have to say.
We didn't really go anywherebecause we had gone to Boston
(04:12):
for the graduation, stayed home,did a lot of things local in LA
.
We did some LA things, visitedsome friends, had some nice
dinners, went to the beach,chilled at home, you know, and
caught up on things, and I didhave a long list of things that
I needed to actually reallycatch up on that I didn't do so.
(04:33):
Now I'm heading into a reallybusy fall, so I'm not really
sure how that's going to getdone, but I'll get to that too
in a second.
So for me it is now picking up.
I'm recording this inmid-August, right, so we're
about to go into Q4 pretty soon.
That is definitely top of mindfor everyone in my coaching as
(04:57):
well, and it's notoriously justlike a super busy time of year
for most photographers,especially for senior
photographers, and especially ifyou live in a climate that is
super, super hot in the summer,so most people do want to get in
in the fall and plus yearbookdeadlines, things like that.
So I feel like a lot of us aresort of like bracing for this
(05:20):
really, really busy time and Ijust want to speak to that in a
minute as well like somestrategies that you can use for
that.
But in general, I just have kindof really enjoyed this pace.
I'm not going to lie, I think Ijust really needed it and it
was like the whispers of burnout.
It wasn't like major burnout orlike having a nervous breakdown
(05:43):
or anything like that Nothingsuper dramatic, thankfully but
it was like a little whisper oflike I think you really need to
take a little bit slower.
So that's been really nice.
I've been able to dig deeperinto like my own health and
well-being, you know, andprioritizing that and
prioritizing my walks andmeditations, and that's been
(06:05):
really really good because Ifeel like I've been able to
really double down on all ofthat which I am going to need in
the next four months becauseit's just going to be.
It's going to get busy again,which I mean when it's busy we
make money.
So we definitely don't want totell the universe that we don't
want that, but I do feel likethis is one of those things
(06:30):
that's top of mind right now.
I have a lot of photographersand creatives in general in my
communities kind of in that sameboat.
They're like okay, I'm notsuper busy yet.
So I'm really stressed aboutthat, about the fact that I
don't have enough clients on thebooks yet, and I also know that
I'm probably bracing for areally busy fall.
(06:51):
So how can you basically makesure that you don't say yes to
too many things out ofdesperation and out of fear,
basically, because when youdon't have clients, it's really
easy to look at the calendar andfreak out and have that anxiety
(07:14):
raise and kind of go to thatplace of lack.
You don't do it on purpose,it's definitely not something
that you're trying to makehappen, but before you know it,
you are really, reallydistracted and over-concerned
with the fact that you're notbooked enough, and so you try
and do all the things.
You try and do more.
(07:34):
Okay.
Well, maybe I need a newstrategy.
Maybe I need to be marketinghere more, maybe I need to be
you know, maybe my SEO needs tobe better.
You start digging into these,these practical solutions for
strategy, which, okay, that'snot a bad thing I'm not saying
don't do that but what I see alot of you guys doing is
(07:55):
hyper-focusing on that stuff andnot realizing that the other
side of this is the mindsetpiece, which is you need to
relax enough to allow thosethings to drop in.
So if you're constantly doing,doing, doing, doing, doing, and
you're like freaking out andyou're stressed and you find
yourself really distracted, likeyou sit down to work but then,
as soon as, like, light runstarts to process something, you
(08:17):
pick up your phone.
And I'm saying this because Ido this, because you're like
your brain is so dopamineseeking and so distracted and so
stressed that you feel like youhave to be like moving from one
thing to another, to another,to another immediately and you
can't sort of like just calm theheck down and relax.
That's a sign that youabsolutely need to do that.
(08:38):
You need to find a way toregulate, okay.
So I talk about nervous systemregulation a lot Basically.
This can look like a lot ofdifferent things.
Whatever works for you, for mewalking, meditation, hypnosis,
journaling those are like my topgo-tos and those are like my
non-negotiables, like I'm notletting myself off the hook with
these things, because I knowthat those things are going to
(08:59):
support me when I do getstressed Because, yes, I also do
still get stressed about nothaving enough clients on the
books.
Those photographers, by the way,just as a side note that you
see online, who are like I'mbooked until class of 2027 or
whatever it is, you know whatI'm talking about.
First of all, it's really easy.
You see that as a photographerand you're not booked, and you
(09:21):
see that on their Instagram andyou're like, oh my God, how are
they booked?
And then you immediately gointo fear mode scarcity, lack,
mode, freak out, mode, basicallyon.
Okay, I need to figure out whatthey're doing and immediately
implement that.
So I need you to remember,first of all, that you don't
(09:42):
really know what their businesslooks like.
Okay, is it possible that theytake less clients in general
than you?
Is it possible that they arepriced differently than you?
That's a big one.
Okay, if you see a photographerout, there is super booked.
Do you know their pricing.
Because those of us who arepriced on the higher end of
things like more average $3,500,$4,000 per client we do IPS, we
(10:09):
do in-person sales, we sellproducts, things like that.
That's what I do and that'swhat I teach this boutique model
of higher-end luxury portraitphotography and even wedding
photographers.
I coach wedding photographers.
They are on the higher end aswell, or they come to me to
learn how to be on the higherend.
You get what I'm saying.
There's that because there's alot, there's a million different
ways to price yourself rightLike you can do this and you can
(10:32):
sell products.
You can also do this and sellyou know high res images but
have them priced higher.
You can be mid range, you couldbe super low range.
You could not sell products.
You could be turn and burnright.
Wherever you are in this journey, I'm not judging you.
I'm just kind of like paintingthe picture here, and what I'm
trying to kind of say about thatis that a lot of the times when
(10:55):
I see people talking about howthey are booked out, most of the
time those photographers arenot making $4,000 a client.
They're more around the $1,000,which is I'm not saying that's
bad, but there's a bigdifference there.
Okay, so, like you know, if youdo the math at $3,000 to $4,000
(11:16):
a client and you're workingwith like 30 to 40 clients a
year as opposed to that otherphotographer charging $1,000 or
even lower is going to have towork with a heck of a lot more
people to make the kind ofnumbers that you may want to
make in your business.
So, first of all, we don't knowwhat people want and need to
make in their business andthat's their business.
(11:38):
You know what I mean.
We don't know how they runtheir business, we don't know
their business model and maybeyou might have a hint, maybe
that person has talked about itonline and you were like, yeah,
renee, I do know sort of whatthey're doing, okay, fine, but
you also don't know a lot of theinner workings, of how that
looks for them and how they gotthose clients and how they've
(12:01):
been able to book out a year inadvance.
Let's just say, okay, so, andwhat they do for that and their
audience may or may not work foryou and your audience.
So I just would encourage youto stay in your own lane.
Okay, get off social if youneed to.
First of all, if you are aphotographer and you're just
(12:23):
following a whole lot of otherphotographers.
You know you might want to becareful about that.
I've spoken at length aboutthis on how that can be a
slippery slope to feeling reallycrappy about yourself.
If you allow it, most of youdon't need to be following that
many photographers.
It's really nice to cheer eachother on.
You know we all have ourbuddies.
(12:44):
That's great, like that'sreally awesome.
But I want you to beinteracting with more of your
target clients, because that'show you're going to get more of
your target clients.
So that's just a little sidenote.
But just be careful about whatyou allow into your field,
because whatever you sort ofallow into your awareness like
that is going to get in to yourunconscious mind.
(13:08):
It might trigger you, it mightseep in really sneakily, it
might start showing up in otherways, and so just pay attention
to what you're consuming onlineand allowing yourself to sort of
like fall into Okay.
So there's that piece of it,but it can be really really hard
(13:29):
to look at your calendar andimmediately try and not freak
out what I'd like you to doinstead.
It does sound counterproductive.
Okay, I'm just going to prefaceit with that it's going to
sound crazy.
That's okay.
Just stay with me here for asecond.
There is a method to thismadness.
(13:49):
I'm not saying you shouldn't bedoing strategy.
Okay, like, yeah, ifsomething's not working in your
business and you know you needto tweak something, yeah, that's
why you would seek out coaching, that's why you might buy
someone's program or whatever.
That's why people come to me.
I get it.
But most of the time peoplecome to me for that strategy and
they realize, oh, I've got someinner work to do as well.
(14:13):
Because, yes, we can map thisout, I can help you come up with
this strategy, but are yougoing to implement it?
Are you actually going to stickwith it?
Because you might still belistening to that inner saboteur
that's telling you you're notworthy enough, you're not good
enough, whatever that might be.
If we don't also deal with that, you're not going to actually
(14:33):
do the thing that we put intoplace.
So that's why my coaching doescover both of those spaces for
you, it's mindset and marketing,it's strategy and will.
Hello.
So I want you to relax a littlebit more.
I want you to prioritize yourself-care.
I want you to prioritize yournon-negotiables whatever that is
.
I'm not saying you have to doall the things.
(14:54):
Pick one or two things that youknow work for you and just
commit to that so that you cancalm down internally and make
your unconscious mind feel safeenough to receive.
Because when you feel safe, youopen up.
Okay.
When you are stressed andfrantic and panicked, you close
(15:15):
up.
Everything closes up right.
It's constricting energy.
But when you let go and likethink about when you go for a
massage, okay, like I don't knowabout you, but I and maybe it's
because I was a massagetherapist and I just have had so
much body work done I instantlyfall into that massage place
Like I don't care even how goodthe therapist is, which I did
(15:38):
for a long time.
Like I would get reallynitpicky about how good the
massage therapist was because Iwas one and I know what they
should be doing.
Really, now I don't care.
Now I'm just happy to be on thetable.
Like honestly, it's like I'mjust happy to be here, I'm happy
to not be thinking about all ofthis other stuff for the moment
(15:58):
.
I'm thankful that someone isjust rubbing this gigantic knot
in my neck, because my neck ispretty gnarly all the time.
So for me.
I just fall into it, like I geton the table and I'm like I am
done.
I fall asleep during deeptissue massages all the time,
like they could be digging sodeep into my back and I'm like
(16:19):
I'm good, I'm out.
So that's kind of what I'mtalking about.
I want you to get to that placewhere you're like in just trust
and relaxation and knowing thatthe universe has your back.
Okay, so remind yourself I amwell-resourced, I have it, I got
this, I know I'm good.
(16:39):
Just keep reminding yourself ofthat because you are.
I promise you, even if you area fairly new beginner listening
to this podcast, I guarantee youthat you're more well-resourced
than you were last year.
You can find proof of that.
So just decide what you want tofind proof of.
You are the captain of this shipand going into fall, this is
(17:03):
going to be really, reallyimportant just in general,
because the busier you get withyour life not even just your
business, but both at the sametime and then going into the
holidays it can definitely feellike a lot, and I'm going to
talk about that a lot how, ifyou don't set in place some
strategies for marketing, thatwill happen without you before
(17:25):
you get busy.
Then it's really hard tobacktrack that, because you get
busy shooting and editing andworking with clients and you
don't have time to edit anymoreand then come January you're
like, oh my God, where's myclients?
So this is sort of that samevibe, it's just that it's a
different time of year, but it'sstill relevant because a lot of
(17:46):
people are just in general,waiting to book right.
They're kind of waiting to thelast minute.
I don't know if it's just likethe climate of the world and
everybody's like, oh my God, theworld can just end tomorrow.
So like, why plan anything?
Maybe I don't know.
I find myself sort of, you know,falling into that a little bit
too.
Just some silly things Like Ihaven't planned enough of.
(18:06):
Like you know, my son is movingback home from Boston to LA and
I'm going to be leaving inanother week to go out there and
help him pack up, and there arejust some things that I needed
to do, to plan for that, that Isort of like knew I needed to do
and just didn't do, which isvery, very unlike me, by the way
, I'm a Virgo.
I'm like a hyper planner.
So for me I was like okay, well, maybe that's not a bad thing,
(18:31):
right, like, maybe me likeletting go of that, it kind of
felt okay and it still got done.
Like I still, I still let's.
Well, the move hasn't happenedyet.
So let's reconvene after thisweekend and after the move and
I'll let you guys know howsmoothly that went.
Because, yes, I am flying outto Boston and staying there
(18:54):
three days.
We're going to pack up clean.
I have one of those U-Haul pods, like those boxes, it's like a
giant box that they will comeand deliver.
We will load it up with all hisstuff because he's accumulated
quite a lot of things in thelast four years, and then we're
going to drive his car backacross country with like the
most valuable things in there,like his guitars.
(19:14):
So that does stress me out alot.
Just in general, that reallytriggers my anxiety.
But we did that on the waythere.
He just didn't have as muchstuff because we purchased
everything when we got there andI was thinking, you know, we
can definitely sell a lot of hisstuff.
We could do that and we might,we might still do some of that.
But I mean we could also justpack it up and move it back,
(19:36):
because he's going to be gettinginto a different apartment here
anyway pretty soon, and so he'sgoing to need to rebuy this
stuff.
So I'm like, okay, we hereanyway pretty soon, and so he's
going to need to rebuy thisstuff.
So I'm like, okay, we might beable to like make this a little
bit more efficient.
So, anyway, that all needs tohappen and it all needs to
happen at a timely pace, right,like we have to be out by a
(20:00):
certain date, we have to cleanby a certain date, and he has
roommates and they're guys andso we will see how interesting
that is.
But yeah, about a week and ahalf ago we had all summer to
plan this, and it has beenessentially planned.
And about a week and a half agohe told me that he might want
to stay in Boston.
And I was like, really, you hadall summer, you had all summer
(20:26):
to plan this, bro.
Like what, why are we waitingtill the last minute?
In his defense, he was offeredlike a manager position at the
job that he has, and so he wasgoing to be making a little bit
more money.
So I think it felt morefeasible.
But then, after about a week anda half of looking at new
apartments, because he wouldhave to get a new apartment, new
roommates, the whole deal andthen looking at how much he'd
(20:48):
actually be taking home.
Wasn't that much?
You know, it sounds like a lotto somebody right out of college
.
And then you start doing thosenumbers which I mean.
Thankfully, I work with numbersand creatives all day, every
day, and I was able to like justquickly sort of like whip up a
spreadsheet and logistics forhim and I was like, do you
(21:10):
really want to live like this?
Because, like it is reallygoing to be tight.
Like it's going to be reallytight.
Boston has surpassed even LAand New York and San Francisco
as far as high rental prices, soit leads the nation in
overpriced rentals because ithas like 30 something colleges
in that town, so they know thatthey can get it.
(21:31):
So he just yeah, it was goingto be too hard to find a place
that he could actually affordand then still have money to
live on.
So he scrapped that idea anddecided to stick with our plan
of us driving back acrosscountry, which I think is going
to be like a fun little bookendfor us, because I drove out
there with him four years agoand now we'll be driving back
and he's like a whole differentperson.
(21:52):
It's so fun to like as theparent.
If you're listening and youhave little kids, you know I
know that a lot of people liketo scare you about like, oh my
God, just wait until their teenyears or wait until you know
whatever, their college.
I really do feel like a lot ofthat is overblown.
First of all, I loved being aparent to teenagers.
(22:14):
Like that was my time to shine.
Truly.
It was harder for me when theywere little.
There was like that pocket oftime, that magical pocket of
time between, like, the ages of,I would say, five and nine, or
four and eight, like somewherein there.
That was fun, that's like thebest age, because they're
independent enough to like wakeup in the morning and get
(22:36):
themselves a bowl of cereal.
They don't need you to like youknow, be right there with them
the whole time.
They have a little bit, alittle bit of easy independence,
but they're also still soenamored by you as, like their
parent, and they listen and theyare super excited about
everything and they stillbelieve in all the magical
(22:59):
things and it's like fun.
It was a really, really funtime to be a parent during those
ages, that was probably myfavorite.
But before the age of four,really really hard.
Now I had three under the ageof two, so that might have
something to do with it.
And plus, all my kids haveneurodiversity and we all do too
, like my whole house.
So it was really chaotic for along time.
(23:21):
And then the teenage years.
My husband had a harder timewith that than I did.
Like, once my kids got to likethat preteen stage, I was like
okay, you're like cooked, you'rekind of like you're almost
there, you're almost cooked.
Right, that prefrontal cortexis not formed, but like you have
some big ideas and you havesome big questions and I love
(23:41):
that Like.
So I loved being a parent tothem as teenagers and now as
adults it's all a differentthing.
Yeah, could he move acrosscountry by himself?
Yeah, of course he's old enough, he has a car, he knows how to
do all that.
But I had parents who helped medo that kind of stuff.
(24:02):
I never felt like I had to becompletely on my own, which is
very rare for a Gen Xer likemyself.
Most of us didn't have thatkind of support, but I did and
it was one of the things that Ipromised myself when I had kids
was that I was going to be thatfor them too.
So like, yeah, anytime theyneed me, I'm there.
But anyway, all that to say, Igot a lot going on, and I know
(24:23):
you do too, so I want you guysto just get ready for that.
We're mid-August.
You got a little bit of timenow to put some strategies in
place, whatever that might looklike for you.
One of the big strategies thatI'm working with with my
coaching clients is implementinga lot of AI into their systems,
because most of us can't afforda VA or a social media expert
(24:47):
or anything like that.
That's a cost that is hard forus to incur as solopreneurs.
That's just the way it is, sothat $20 a month ChatGPT pro or
plus subscription is well worthit if you know how to use it the
right way.
So a lot of people buy that,but they're not using chat GPT
in a way that is reallybenefiting them and making
(25:11):
things more efficient and quick.
Okay, so one of the things thatI have for senior photographers
in the way of AI is that I didcreate a custom GPT that you
guys are loving, and I lovehearing the feedback on this.
It's been super fun.
It's called Senior Sunday andshe is going to help you create
all your content and also giveyou some mindset tips as well as
(25:31):
stay on track.
And it's so easy.
All you have to do is justupload your brand information.
I suggest you put that in theform of a PDF, so keep it handy,
give it a little bit of contextand Senior Sunday will help you
create an entire plan, a blog,social posts, the whole thing.
It's designed to make this very, very easy.
(25:52):
It is programmed with all myyears of marketing knowledge to
teenagers.
Okay, so it's up-to-datemarketing data that I have
programmed it with for Gen Alphaand Gen Z, because we're moving
out of Gen Z into Gen Alpha andour clients are changing like
(26:13):
drastically.
So we really, really, reallyneed to know how to reach them
on a different level because,yes, we are selling to the
parents, the seniorphotographers they're the ones
purchasing but those teenagersare the ones who are finding you
and convincing their parentsthat they want you, so you do
need to know how to reach themon social, with SEO, all the
things and Senior Sunday.
It's only 44 bucks, by the way,and no, I had a lot of
questions asking me is it $44 amonth?
(26:35):
No, it's just $44 total and,yes, that is far lower than
you'll probably find any otherGPT.
I saw somebody selling a GPTthe other day that basically
does the same thing as this.
It's for a different market.
It's not for seniorphotographers, but they're
charging like $800 for it, andthen most people are charging
(26:56):
like a $75 a month subscriptionto their GPTs.
This is just 44 bucks total, soyou buy it and you get it.
Also, if you have content fuel,if you want to get content fuel,
which is the other thing that Ihave for you guys in the realm
of AI, it's a bank ofnever-ending prompts Okay, so I
(27:18):
consider myself a very goodprompter.
I've been using Chat2BT sincethe day it came out.
I know how to prompt chat.
I get really good results frommy chat.
So content fuel is somethingthat I started selling last year
around I think it was BlackFriday.
It started off as 250 prompts.
Now there's more than that andI just keep adding to it and
(27:40):
you're locked in at the pricethat you purchased it for, and
for now at least, because thiswill change probably in the next
six months or less.
For now, you get Senior Sunday,the link to that inside of
ContentFuel, because ContentFuelis a candidock.
I wanted to make this as easy aspossible for you guys.
(28:01):
I didn't want to create acourse.
We have to log in and all ofthese stupid things.
It's a link, you purchase it,it's $75 total and for now,
because the price will increaseover time, it's $75.
You get an email that sends youthe link to the Canva doc and
(28:21):
that's it.
You've got access to it.
There it is, and inside theCanva doc is the link to Senior
Sunday, and so you get both for75 bucks.
So it's a pretty great deal.
And on that note, I havesomething really really cool.
So yesterday I announced ifyou're on my email list, you
(28:41):
should have gotten the emailthat talked about the photo
bundle that I am a part of thisseason.
This is volume three of thephoto bundle.
You guys might know ReedGallagher.
He's a senior photographer outof Texas and this is his third
year of doing this bundle.
The bundle is like 23 resources, I believe, and they're really
(29:02):
good ones, you guys.
Some of them are fantastic.
There's a financial resource inthis that is worth almost $400.
And then there's content fuel.
I added content fuel to that,so you get content fuel, which
includes Senior Sunday andmultiple other courses programs.
It's worth well over $2,000.
It's 97 bucks, but it's onlyavailable for one week, so you
(29:26):
only have until August 26th tobuy this.
The link for it is in the shownotes.
You can't miss it.
If you are a photographer ofany kind it's not just for
senior photographers.
If you are a photographer ofany niche and you are interested
in a lot of education for avery low price, this is your
chance.
Okay, so I'm really, reallyexcited to be a part of it this
(29:49):
year and, like I said, you canget Content Fuel and Senior
Sunday included, as well as somany other great resources.
I looked through some of themlast night, just sort of like
perusing what everybody wasoffering, and I'm literally
blown away by some of the thingsthat people have in there.
So y'all need to get on that.
And then I'm also going to becoming up in September and
October.
(30:10):
I'm going to be involved in twodifferent AI conferences.
One of them you can sign up fornow for the waitlist, and you
definitely want to sign up forthis.
It's called Her AI and I lovethis because, first of all, the
women who are hosting it arephenomenal.
They are power users of AI, sowe're talking really, really
(30:32):
intricate automations.
They're very knowledgeable whenit comes to AI, and all of us
who are involved in this summitare really passionate about
getting more women to use AI,because right now, it's still
pretty male dominated and weneed more female voices training
(30:56):
these models.
So I'm really excited to be apart of it.
You guys are going to love it.
If you're a female entrepreneur, hop on the list.
The link is in the show notes.
It's called Her AI Summit, andif you sign up for the wait list
, you're going to find outimmediately as soon as it goes
online and that's coming.
(31:17):
I have a really awesomepresentation that I am creating
for it.
It's something completely new,so that's coming up.
And then I'm also going to beinvolved in another summit
called Ease and Alignment AI,and that's going to be really,
really awesome.
So that's coming soon too.
And then I am going to beputting on my own class.
A lot of you guys have beenasking me this for a while.
You photographers in particular, my coaching students, my
(31:41):
Elevate students and myone-on-one students get a lot of
this from me because this isvery top of mind for us.
Like I said, we need helprunning our business and most of
us can't afford someone like aphysical person to do it.
So AI really has been alifesaver for me.
I have created custom GPTs thatrun various pieces of my
business.
(32:01):
Again, I'm really great atprompting so I can get really
good results really, reallyquick.
I just sent a really meaty,meaty prompt that I added to
ContentFuel, so if you own it,it's there now.
It's like a multi-step promptthat trains your chat for you to
(32:22):
just kind of go in and say,okay, let's go, and it gives you
a list of all of thesedifferent things, like a blog
post, but very specific to blogposts social posts, and then
within that, how many reels, howmany carousels, how many
stories.
It's very, very intricate, andso I am going to be teaching a
(32:42):
class and I haven't fullydecided, but I think I'm going
to have it on my birthday.
I think it's going to be alittle, because that's kind of
like the only day in Septemberthat I have that's not fully
booked out with other stuff, andI think it might be kind of fun
to host a little birthday partyfor myself, of course, because
(33:04):
I'm a Vir party for myself, ofcourse, because I'm a Virgo.
We have birthday month becausewhy not?
And yeah, september 17th, Ithink, is going to be the date
for this class.
My coaching students in Elevateand my one-on-one coaching
students who are working with meat that time will get it for
free, and I don't know how muchit's going to be yet.
I'm still putting togetherthose details.
It's one of the things I got tocheck off the list this week
(33:26):
before I leave for Boston.
So watch for that.
If you are on my email list, Iwill put the link to get on my
email list below, but if you'reon it, you will obviously get
information on that.
First, I want it to beinteractive.
I want to have it live so thatI can answer your questions and
walk you guys through sort ofthe basics of it, so from
(33:48):
beginning to advanced concepts,right, and then after the fact,
I will sell it as its ownstandalone course and it'll be
priced higher when I do that.
So you're going to want to jumpin when it's the live, because
you will get access to thatreplay and you'll have it for
the lower price.
(34:08):
You'll get locked in, and I'llprobably include content, fuel
and senior Sunday inside of thatfor people Like a lot of you
guys might have it already, butI'll probably include it in it.
Anyway, all that to say, that'scoming in September too, so
come and spend my birthday withme and I'll give you presents.
All right, I think that's all Ihave for you guys today.
(34:31):
I know it's kind of a lot goingon.
I hope that you are regulated.
I hope you're going into fallseason feeling really good, but
if you're not, you know where tofind me.
I do have some openings forcoaching.
Elevate's not signing up untilJanuary, so you can't get in
that.
But you can sign up forone-on-one and I am offering a
(34:53):
very, very limited number ofone-on-one calls.
So normally when I doone-on-one coaching with
creatives and photographers, itis for a minimum of three months
, because to get into yourbusiness and really like make
some changes, we need time.
However, with the AI stuff andI'm really leaning more heavily
into this by this time next yearI wouldn't be surprised if I'm
(35:16):
like doing mostly AI, but we'llsee All that to say, because I'm
doing a lot more of that andI'm teaching a lot more of it
and it's coming up inconversations.
Like a lot of my DMs are aboutthis.
I have opened up a limitednumber of just one-on-one,
one-off calls, right, so you canjust pay for one 90-minute
session with me and then we candig into your AI.
(35:39):
I can help you create your ownGPTs.
I can help you create your ownown plan.
Basically, however, we wantthat to look like multiple GPTs
because, like, once you createone, then you get the idea, but
we can get your AI, like lockedand loaded in 90 minutes.
So that is also something I'moffering.
I'll put the link down below aswell.
They're limited, like the spotsare not, like it's not daily
(36:02):
stuff, like I have themsporadically on my calendar.
So if that is something thatyou think you might need some
help with, go ahead and grabthat link below and then grab
one of those spots because theymight go quick.
All right, I hope you guys havea great rest of your week and
touch base with me on Instagramand let me know how you're doing
.
All right, have a good one.
Love you, bye.
Welcome to Tried and True with the Dash of Woo, where
we blend rock-solid tips with alittle bit of magic.
I'm Renee Bowen, your host,life and business coach and
professional photographer atyour service.
We are all about gettingcreative, diving into your
business and playing withmanifestation over here.
So are you ready to getinspired and have some fun?
Let's dive in.
Hey, hey, welcome back to Triedand True with the Dash of Woo.
(00:27):
I'm Renee, your host.
Today's show is not ourtraditional format.
I have been having a lot ofguests on the show and you guys
know I like to have a mix ofguests with solo episodes.
But it's been sort of a busyseason for me and I feel like we
just need to have a little bitof a catch-up, you and me.
So today's show is going to bekind of short and sweet.
(00:50):
It's a little bit of a lifeupdate from me, letting you guys
know sort of like what's goingon with me and what's top of
mind as well.
Like there's always sort oflike some things bubbling in my
coaching communities, whetherit's like one-on-one or with my
groups, like things that arecoming up, and anytime I
mentioned that to you guys, toanyone, like on social, usually
on Instagram.
I always get a lot of feedbackthat, oh my God, me too.
(01:12):
So I just feel like I'm goingto follow the intuition of this,
my own intuition, and kind ofshare a couple of things that
have been coming up in mycoaching communities, because
more often than not it'sprobably going to be or feel
timely to you as well.
But first, a little bit of anupdate from me on the business
(01:34):
side.
Okay, so this summer was not asbusy for my photography side of
my business as it normally is,and that was kind of by design
because I had a really, reallybusy first two quarters really
of this year.
Spring especially was reallyreally crazy for me.
March and April.
(01:57):
I had so many seniors and I hada lot of people trying to get
in for last minutes, but I don'tknow.
It was just one of those thingsand I don't know if it was
something that you guys alsonoticed.
As if you're a photographer,senior photographer specifically
, I always have clients inspring, but this year was really
a lot and, like I said, I don'tknow if it's just nationwide or
(02:21):
regional.
We had those really awful bigfires here in California in
January.
So I do feel like that kind ofplayed a little bit into that.
I also just know, in generalour high school senior clients
are waiting longer to book and Iknow that for a fact because a
lot of my coaching students aredealing with that just right now
(02:42):
in their businesses.
They're like, why are peoplenot booking?
I'm normally pretty much fullby now and they're not and
they're freaking out.
So that kind of brings me tosome one of the things that is
coming up in my communities andI'll get to that in a minute, so
stay with me here for a second.
But in general my summer was notas busy outside shooting, which
(03:05):
was really kind of nice,because I had a crazy, crazy
spring, really busy, really good, profitable months, like we're
talking, really good.
And then my son graduatedcollege and so we went out to
Boston for that.
So it was just busy.
So by the time I got home inJune I was just kind of tired
and a little bit of burnt out,I'm not going to lie.
So I have been doing thepodcast and I'm doing my
(03:28):
coaching.
So the coaching side of mybusiness didn't slow down, it
actually picked up.
But the photography side of mybusiness slowed down, which was
fine.
So for me it's a little bit ofan ebb and a flow.
Sometimes both of them are athigh capacity, which is hard,
and I've been trying for thelast several years to navigate
(03:49):
that a little bit better, tryand predict how I can make that
flow easier for me, because,yeah, when both sides of my
business are really, really busy, that doesn't leave a whole lot
of room for me and I'm not onboard with that.
So this summer was kind of nice, I have to say.
We didn't really go anywherebecause we had gone to Boston
(04:12):
for the graduation, stayed home,did a lot of things local in LA
.
We did some LA things, visitedsome friends, had some nice
dinners, went to the beach,chilled at home, you know, and
caught up on things, and I didhave a long list of things that
I needed to actually reallycatch up on that I didn't do so.
(04:33):
Now I'm heading into a reallybusy fall, so I'm not really
sure how that's going to getdone, but I'll get to that too
in a second.
So for me it is now picking up.
I'm recording this inmid-August, right, so we're
about to go into Q4 pretty soon.
That is definitely top of mindfor everyone in my coaching as
(04:57):
well, and it's notoriously justlike a super busy time of year
for most photographers,especially for senior
photographers, and especially ifyou live in a climate that is
super, super hot in the summer,so most people do want to get in
in the fall and plus yearbookdeadlines, things like that.
So I feel like a lot of us aresort of like bracing for this
(05:20):
really, really busy time and Ijust want to speak to that in a
minute as well like somestrategies that you can use for
that.
But in general, I just have kindof really enjoyed this pace.
I'm not going to lie, I think Ijust really needed it and it
was like the whispers of burnout.
It wasn't like major burnout orlike having a nervous breakdown
(05:43):
or anything like that Nothingsuper dramatic, thankfully but
it was like a little whisper oflike I think you really need to
take a little bit slower.
So that's been really nice.
I've been able to dig deeperinto like my own health and
well-being, you know, andprioritizing that and
prioritizing my walks andmeditations, and that's been
(06:05):
really really good because Ifeel like I've been able to
really double down on all ofthat which I am going to need in
the next four months becauseit's just going to be.
It's going to get busy again,which I mean when it's busy we
make money.
So we definitely don't want totell the universe that we don't
want that, but I do feel likethis is one of those things
(06:30):
that's top of mind right now.
I have a lot of photographersand creatives in general in my
communities kind of in that sameboat.
They're like okay, I'm notsuper busy yet.
So I'm really stressed aboutthat, about the fact that I
don't have enough clients on thebooks yet, and I also know that
I'm probably bracing for areally busy fall.
(06:51):
So how can you basically makesure that you don't say yes to
too many things out ofdesperation and out of fear,
basically, because when youdon't have clients, it's really
easy to look at the calendar andfreak out and have that anxiety
(07:14):
raise and kind of go to thatplace of lack.
You don't do it on purpose,it's definitely not something
that you're trying to makehappen, but before you know it,
you are really, reallydistracted and over-concerned
with the fact that you're notbooked enough, and so you try
and do all the things.
You try and do more.
(07:34):
Okay.
Well, maybe I need a newstrategy.
Maybe I need to be marketinghere more, maybe I need to be
you know, maybe my SEO needs tobe better.
You start digging into these,these practical solutions for
strategy, which, okay, that'snot a bad thing I'm not saying
don't do that but what I see alot of you guys doing is
(07:55):
hyper-focusing on that stuff andnot realizing that the other
side of this is the mindsetpiece, which is you need to
relax enough to allow thosethings to drop in.
So if you're constantly doing,doing, doing, doing, doing, and
you're like freaking out andyou're stressed and you find
yourself really distracted, likeyou sit down to work but then,
as soon as, like, light runstarts to process something, you
(08:17):
pick up your phone.
And I'm saying this because Ido this, because you're like
your brain is so dopamineseeking and so distracted and so
stressed that you feel like youhave to be like moving from one
thing to another, to another,to another immediately and you
can't sort of like just calm theheck down and relax.
That's a sign that youabsolutely need to do that.
(08:38):
You need to find a way toregulate, okay.
So I talk about nervous systemregulation a lot Basically.
This can look like a lot ofdifferent things.
Whatever works for you, for mewalking, meditation, hypnosis,
journaling those are like my topgo-tos and those are like my
non-negotiables, like I'm notletting myself off the hook with
these things, because I knowthat those things are going to
(08:59):
support me when I do getstressed Because, yes, I also do
still get stressed about nothaving enough clients on the
books.
Those photographers, by the way,just as a side note that you
see online, who are like I'mbooked until class of 2027 or
whatever it is, you know whatI'm talking about.
First of all, it's really easy.
You see that as a photographerand you're not booked, and you
(09:21):
see that on their Instagram andyou're like, oh my God, how are
they booked?
And then you immediately gointo fear mode scarcity, lack,
mode, freak out, mode, basicallyon.
Okay, I need to figure out whatthey're doing and immediately
implement that.
So I need you to remember,first of all, that you don't
(09:42):
really know what their businesslooks like.
Okay, is it possible that theytake less clients in general
than you?
Is it possible that they arepriced differently than you?
That's a big one.
Okay, if you see a photographerout, there is super booked.
Do you know their pricing.
Because those of us who arepriced on the higher end of
things like more average $3,500,$4,000 per client we do IPS, we
(10:09):
do in-person sales, we sellproducts, things like that.
That's what I do and that'swhat I teach this boutique model
of higher-end luxury portraitphotography and even wedding
photographers.
I coach wedding photographers.
They are on the higher end aswell, or they come to me to
learn how to be on the higherend.
You get what I'm saying.
There's that because there's alot, there's a million different
ways to price yourself rightLike you can do this and you can
(10:32):
sell products.
You can also do this and sellyou know high res images but
have them priced higher.
You can be mid range, you couldbe super low range.
You could not sell products.
You could be turn and burnright.
Wherever you are in this journey, I'm not judging you.
I'm just kind of like paintingthe picture here, and what I'm
trying to kind of say about thatis that a lot of the times when
(10:55):
I see people talking about howthey are booked out, most of the
time those photographers arenot making $4,000 a client.
They're more around the $1,000,which is I'm not saying that's
bad, but there's a bigdifference there.
Okay, so, like you know, if youdo the math at $3,000 to $4,000
(11:16):
a client and you're workingwith like 30 to 40 clients a
year as opposed to that otherphotographer charging $1,000 or
even lower is going to have towork with a heck of a lot more
people to make the kind ofnumbers that you may want to
make in your business.
So, first of all, we don't knowwhat people want and need to
make in their business andthat's their business.
(11:38):
You know what I mean.
We don't know how they runtheir business, we don't know
their business model and maybeyou might have a hint, maybe
that person has talked about itonline and you were like, yeah,
renee, I do know sort of whatthey're doing, okay, fine, but
you also don't know a lot of theinner workings, of how that
looks for them and how they gotthose clients and how they've
(12:01):
been able to book out a year inadvance.
Let's just say, okay, so, andwhat they do for that and their
audience may or may not work foryou and your audience.
So I just would encourage youto stay in your own lane.
Okay, get off social if youneed to.
First of all, if you are aphotographer and you're just
(12:23):
following a whole lot of otherphotographers.
You know you might want to becareful about that.
I've spoken at length aboutthis on how that can be a
slippery slope to feeling reallycrappy about yourself.
If you allow it, most of youdon't need to be following that
many photographers.
It's really nice to cheer eachother on.
You know we all have ourbuddies.
(12:44):
That's great, like that'sreally awesome.
But I want you to beinteracting with more of your
target clients, because that'show you're going to get more of
your target clients.
So that's just a little sidenote.
But just be careful about whatyou allow into your field,
because whatever you sort ofallow into your awareness like
that is going to get in to yourunconscious mind.
(13:08):
It might trigger you, it mightseep in really sneakily, it
might start showing up in otherways, and so just pay attention
to what you're consuming onlineand allowing yourself to sort of
like fall into Okay.
So there's that piece of it,but it can be really really hard
(13:29):
to look at your calendar andimmediately try and not freak
out what I'd like you to doinstead.
It does sound counterproductive.
Okay, I'm just going to prefaceit with that it's going to
sound crazy.
That's okay.
Just stay with me here for asecond.
There is a method to thismadness.
(13:49):
I'm not saying you shouldn't bedoing strategy.
Okay, like, yeah, ifsomething's not working in your
business and you know you needto tweak something, yeah, that's
why you would seek out coaching, that's why you might buy
someone's program or whatever.
That's why people come to me.
I get it.
But most of the time peoplecome to me for that strategy and
they realize, oh, I've got someinner work to do as well.
(14:13):
Because, yes, we can map thisout, I can help you come up with
this strategy, but are yougoing to implement it?
Are you actually going to stickwith it?
Because you might still belistening to that inner saboteur
that's telling you you're notworthy enough, you're not good
enough, whatever that might be.
If we don't also deal with that, you're not going to actually
(14:33):
do the thing that we put intoplace.
So that's why my coaching doescover both of those spaces for
you, it's mindset and marketing,it's strategy and will.
Hello.
So I want you to relax a littlebit more.
I want you to prioritize yourself-care.
I want you to prioritize yournon-negotiables whatever that is
.
I'm not saying you have to doall the things.
(14:54):
Pick one or two things that youknow work for you and just
commit to that so that you cancalm down internally and make
your unconscious mind feel safeenough to receive.
Because when you feel safe, youopen up.
Okay.
When you are stressed andfrantic and panicked, you close
(15:15):
up.
Everything closes up right.
It's constricting energy.
But when you let go and likethink about when you go for a
massage, okay, like I don't knowabout you, but I and maybe it's
because I was a massagetherapist and I just have had so
much body work done I instantlyfall into that massage place
Like I don't care even how goodthe therapist is, which I did
(15:38):
for a long time.
Like I would get reallynitpicky about how good the
massage therapist was because Iwas one and I know what they
should be doing.
Really, now I don't care.
Now I'm just happy to be on thetable.
Like honestly, it's like I'mjust happy to be here, I'm happy
to not be thinking about all ofthis other stuff for the moment
(15:58):
.
I'm thankful that someone isjust rubbing this gigantic knot
in my neck, because my neck ispretty gnarly all the time.
So for me.
I just fall into it, like I geton the table and I'm like I am
done.
I fall asleep during deeptissue massages all the time,
like they could be digging sodeep into my back and I'm like
(16:19):
I'm good, I'm out.
So that's kind of what I'mtalking about.
I want you to get to that placewhere you're like in just trust
and relaxation and knowing thatthe universe has your back.
Okay, so remind yourself I amwell-resourced, I have it, I got
this, I know I'm good.
(16:39):
Just keep reminding yourself ofthat because you are.
I promise you, even if you area fairly new beginner listening
to this podcast, I guarantee youthat you're more well-resourced
than you were last year.
You can find proof of that.
So just decide what you want tofind proof of.
You are the captain of this shipand going into fall, this is
(17:03):
going to be really, reallyimportant just in general,
because the busier you get withyour life not even just your
business, but both at the sametime and then going into the
holidays it can definitely feellike a lot, and I'm going to
talk about that a lot how, ifyou don't set in place some
strategies for marketing, thatwill happen without you before
(17:25):
you get busy.
Then it's really hard tobacktrack that, because you get
busy shooting and editing andworking with clients and you
don't have time to edit anymoreand then come January you're
like, oh my God, where's myclients?
So this is sort of that samevibe, it's just that it's a
different time of year, but it'sstill relevant because a lot of
(17:46):
people are just in general,waiting to book right.
They're kind of waiting to thelast minute.
I don't know if it's just likethe climate of the world and
everybody's like, oh my God, theworld can just end tomorrow.
So like, why plan anything?
Maybe I don't know.
I find myself sort of, you know,falling into that a little bit
too.
Just some silly things Like Ihaven't planned enough of.
(18:06):
Like you know, my son is movingback home from Boston to LA and
I'm going to be leaving inanother week to go out there and
help him pack up, and there arejust some things that I needed
to do, to plan for that, that Isort of like knew I needed to do
and just didn't do, which isvery, very unlike me, by the way
, I'm a Virgo.
I'm like a hyper planner.
So for me I was like okay, well, maybe that's not a bad thing,
(18:31):
right, like, maybe me likeletting go of that, it kind of
felt okay and it still got done.
Like I still, I still let's.
Well, the move hasn't happenedyet.
So let's reconvene after thisweekend and after the move and
I'll let you guys know howsmoothly that went.
Because, yes, I am flying outto Boston and staying there
(18:54):
three days.
We're going to pack up clean.
I have one of those U-Haul pods, like those boxes, it's like a
giant box that they will comeand deliver.
We will load it up with all hisstuff because he's accumulated
quite a lot of things in thelast four years, and then we're
going to drive his car backacross country with like the
most valuable things in there,like his guitars.
(19:14):
So that does stress me out alot.
Just in general, that reallytriggers my anxiety.
But we did that on the waythere.
He just didn't have as muchstuff because we purchased
everything when we got there andI was thinking, you know, we
can definitely sell a lot of hisstuff.
We could do that and we might,we might still do some of that.
But I mean we could also justpack it up and move it back,
(19:36):
because he's going to be gettinginto a different apartment here
anyway pretty soon, and so he'sgoing to need to rebuy this
stuff.
So I'm like, okay, we hereanyway pretty soon, and so he's
going to need to rebuy thisstuff.
So I'm like, okay, we might beable to like make this a little
bit more efficient.
So, anyway, that all needs tohappen and it all needs to
happen at a timely pace, right,like we have to be out by a
(20:00):
certain date, we have to cleanby a certain date, and he has
roommates and they're guys andso we will see how interesting
that is.
But yeah, about a week and ahalf ago we had all summer to
plan this, and it has beenessentially planned.
And about a week and a half agohe told me that he might want
to stay in Boston.
And I was like, really, you hadall summer, you had all summer
(20:26):
to plan this, bro.
Like what, why are we waitingtill the last minute?
In his defense, he was offeredlike a manager position at the
job that he has, and so he wasgoing to be making a little bit
more money.
So I think it felt morefeasible.
But then, after about a week anda half of looking at new
apartments, because he wouldhave to get a new apartment, new
roommates, the whole deal andthen looking at how much he'd
(20:48):
actually be taking home.
Wasn't that much?
You know, it sounds like a lotto somebody right out of college
.
And then you start doing thosenumbers which I mean.
Thankfully, I work with numbersand creatives all day, every
day, and I was able to like justquickly sort of like whip up a
spreadsheet and logistics forhim and I was like, do you
(21:10):
really want to live like this?
Because, like it is reallygoing to be tight.
Like it's going to be reallytight.
Boston has surpassed even LAand New York and San Francisco
as far as high rental prices, soit leads the nation in
overpriced rentals because ithas like 30 something colleges
in that town, so they know thatthey can get it.
(21:31):
So he just yeah, it was goingto be too hard to find a place
that he could actually affordand then still have money to
live on.
So he scrapped that idea anddecided to stick with our plan
of us driving back acrosscountry, which I think is going
to be like a fun little bookendfor us, because I drove out
there with him four years agoand now we'll be driving back
and he's like a whole differentperson.
(21:52):
It's so fun to like as theparent.
If you're listening and youhave little kids, you know I
know that a lot of people liketo scare you about like, oh my
God, just wait until their teenyears or wait until you know
whatever, their college.
I really do feel like a lot ofthat is overblown.
First of all, I loved being aparent to teenagers.
(22:14):
Like that was my time to shine.
Truly.
It was harder for me when theywere little.
There was like that pocket oftime, that magical pocket of
time between, like, the ages of,I would say, five and nine, or
four and eight, like somewherein there.
That was fun, that's like thebest age, because they're
independent enough to like wakeup in the morning and get
(22:36):
themselves a bowl of cereal.
They don't need you to like youknow, be right there with them
the whole time.
They have a little bit, alittle bit of easy independence,
but they're also still soenamored by you as, like their
parent, and they listen and theyare super excited about
everything and they stillbelieve in all the magical
(22:59):
things and it's like fun.
It was a really, really funtime to be a parent during those
ages, that was probably myfavorite.
But before the age of four,really really hard.
Now I had three under the ageof two, so that might have
something to do with it.
And plus, all my kids haveneurodiversity and we all do too
, like my whole house.
So it was really chaotic for along time.
(23:21):
And then the teenage years.
My husband had a harder timewith that than I did.
Like, once my kids got to likethat preteen stage, I was like
okay, you're like cooked, you'rekind of like you're almost
there, you're almost cooked.
Right, that prefrontal cortexis not formed, but like you have
some big ideas and you havesome big questions and I love
(23:41):
that Like.
So I loved being a parent tothem as teenagers and now as
adults it's all a differentthing.
Yeah, could he move acrosscountry by himself?
Yeah, of course he's old enough, he has a car, he knows how to
do all that.
But I had parents who helped medo that kind of stuff.
(24:02):
I never felt like I had to becompletely on my own, which is
very rare for a Gen Xer likemyself.
Most of us didn't have thatkind of support, but I did and
it was one of the things that Ipromised myself when I had kids
was that I was going to be thatfor them too.
So like, yeah, anytime theyneed me, I'm there.
But anyway, all that to say, Igot a lot going on, and I know
(24:23):
you do too, so I want you guysto just get ready for that.
We're mid-August.
You got a little bit of timenow to put some strategies in
place, whatever that might looklike for you.
One of the big strategies thatI'm working with with my
coaching clients is implementinga lot of AI into their systems,
because most of us can't afforda VA or a social media expert
(24:47):
or anything like that.
That's a cost that is hard forus to incur as solopreneurs.
That's just the way it is, sothat $20 a month ChatGPT pro or
plus subscription is well worthit if you know how to use it the
right way.
So a lot of people buy that,but they're not using chat GPT
in a way that is reallybenefiting them and making
(25:11):
things more efficient and quick.
Okay, so one of the things thatI have for senior photographers
in the way of AI is that I didcreate a custom GPT that you
guys are loving, and I lovehearing the feedback on this.
It's been super fun.
It's called Senior Sunday andshe is going to help you create
all your content and also giveyou some mindset tips as well as
(25:31):
stay on track.
And it's so easy.
All you have to do is justupload your brand information.
I suggest you put that in theform of a PDF, so keep it handy,
give it a little bit of contextand Senior Sunday will help you
create an entire plan, a blog,social posts, the whole thing.
It's designed to make this very, very easy.
(25:52):
It is programmed with all myyears of marketing knowledge to
teenagers.
Okay, so it's up-to-datemarketing data that I have
programmed it with for Gen Alphaand Gen Z, because we're moving
out of Gen Z into Gen Alpha andour clients are changing like
(26:13):
drastically.
So we really, really, reallyneed to know how to reach them
on a different level because,yes, we are selling to the
parents, the seniorphotographers they're the ones
purchasing but those teenagersare the ones who are finding you
and convincing their parentsthat they want you, so you do
need to know how to reach themon social, with SEO, all the
things and Senior Sunday.
It's only 44 bucks, by the way,and no, I had a lot of
questions asking me is it $44 amonth?
(26:35):
No, it's just $44 total and,yes, that is far lower than
you'll probably find any otherGPT.
I saw somebody selling a GPTthe other day that basically
does the same thing as this.
It's for a different market.
It's not for seniorphotographers, but they're
charging like $800 for it, andthen most people are charging
(26:56):
like a $75 a month subscriptionto their GPTs.
This is just 44 bucks total, soyou buy it and you get it.
Also, if you have content fuel,if you want to get content fuel,
which is the other thing that Ihave for you guys in the realm
of AI, it's a bank ofnever-ending prompts Okay, so I
(27:18):
consider myself a very goodprompter.
I've been using Chat2BT sincethe day it came out.
I know how to prompt chat.
I get really good results frommy chat.
So content fuel is somethingthat I started selling last year
around I think it was BlackFriday.
It started off as 250 prompts.
Now there's more than that andI just keep adding to it and
(27:40):
you're locked in at the pricethat you purchased it for, and
for now at least, because thiswill change probably in the next
six months or less.
For now, you get Senior Sunday,the link to that inside of
ContentFuel, because ContentFuelis a candidock.
I wanted to make this as easy aspossible for you guys.
(28:01):
I didn't want to create acourse.
We have to log in and all ofthese stupid things.
It's a link, you purchase it,it's $75 total and for now,
because the price will increaseover time, it's $75.
You get an email that sends youthe link to the Canva doc and
(28:21):
that's it.
You've got access to it.
There it is, and inside theCanva doc is the link to Senior
Sunday, and so you get both for75 bucks.
So it's a pretty great deal.
And on that note, I havesomething really really cool.
So yesterday I announced ifyou're on my email list, you
(28:41):
should have gotten the emailthat talked about the photo
bundle that I am a part of thisseason.
This is volume three of thephoto bundle.
You guys might know ReedGallagher.
He's a senior photographer outof Texas and this is his third
year of doing this bundle.
The bundle is like 23 resources, I believe, and they're really
(29:02):
good ones, you guys.
Some of them are fantastic.
There's a financial resource inthis that is worth almost $400.
And then there's content fuel.
I added content fuel to that,so you get content fuel, which
includes Senior Sunday andmultiple other courses programs.
It's worth well over $2,000.
It's 97 bucks, but it's onlyavailable for one week, so you
(29:26):
only have until August 26th tobuy this.
The link for it is in the shownotes.
You can't miss it.
If you are a photographer ofany kind it's not just for
senior photographers.
If you are a photographer ofany niche and you are interested
in a lot of education for avery low price, this is your
chance.
Okay, so I'm really, reallyexcited to be a part of it this
(29:49):
year and, like I said, you canget Content Fuel and Senior
Sunday included, as well as somany other great resources.
I looked through some of themlast night, just sort of like
perusing what everybody wasoffering, and I'm literally
blown away by some of the thingsthat people have in there.
So y'all need to get on that.
And then I'm also going to becoming up in September and
October.
(30:10):
I'm going to be involved in twodifferent AI conferences.
One of them you can sign up fornow for the waitlist, and you
definitely want to sign up forthis.
It's called Her AI and I lovethis because, first of all, the
women who are hosting it arephenomenal.
They are power users of AI, sowe're talking really, really
(30:32):
intricate automations.
They're very knowledgeable whenit comes to AI, and all of us
who are involved in this summitare really passionate about
getting more women to use AI,because right now, it's still
pretty male dominated and weneed more female voices training
(30:56):
these models.
So I'm really excited to be apart of it.
You guys are going to love it.
If you're a female entrepreneur, hop on the list.
The link is in the show notes.
It's called Her AI Summit, andif you sign up for the wait list
, you're going to find outimmediately as soon as it goes
online and that's coming.
(31:17):
I have a really awesomepresentation that I am creating
for it.
It's something completely new,so that's coming up.
And then I'm also going to beinvolved in another summit
called Ease and Alignment AI,and that's going to be really,
really awesome.
So that's coming soon too.
And then I am going to beputting on my own class.
A lot of you guys have beenasking me this for a while.
You photographers in particular, my coaching students, my
(31:41):
Elevate students and myone-on-one students get a lot of
this from me because this isvery top of mind for us.
Like I said, we need helprunning our business and most of
us can't afford someone like aphysical person to do it.
So AI really has been alifesaver for me.
I have created custom GPTs thatrun various pieces of my
business.
(32:01):
Again, I'm really great atprompting so I can get really
good results really, reallyquick.
I just sent a really meaty,meaty prompt that I added to
ContentFuel, so if you own it,it's there now.
It's like a multi-step promptthat trains your chat for you to
(32:22):
just kind of go in and say,okay, let's go, and it gives you
a list of all of thesedifferent things, like a blog
post, but very specific to blogposts social posts, and then
within that, how many reels, howmany carousels, how many
stories.
It's very, very intricate, andso I am going to be teaching a
(32:42):
class and I haven't fullydecided, but I think I'm going
to have it on my birthday.
I think it's going to be alittle, because that's kind of
like the only day in Septemberthat I have that's not fully
booked out with other stuff, andI think it might be kind of fun
to host a little birthday partyfor myself, of course, because
(33:04):
I'm a Vir party for myself, ofcourse, because I'm a Virgo.
We have birthday month becausewhy not?
And yeah, september 17th, Ithink, is going to be the date
for this class.
My coaching students in Elevateand my one-on-one coaching
students who are working with meat that time will get it for
free, and I don't know how muchit's going to be yet.
I'm still putting togetherthose details.
It's one of the things I got tocheck off the list this week
(33:26):
before I leave for Boston.
So watch for that.
If you are on my email list, Iwill put the link to get on my
email list below, but if you'reon it, you will obviously get
information on that.
First, I want it to beinteractive.
I want to have it live so thatI can answer your questions and
walk you guys through sort ofthe basics of it, so from
(33:48):
beginning to advanced concepts,right, and then after the fact,
I will sell it as its ownstandalone course and it'll be
priced higher when I do that.
So you're going to want to jumpin when it's the live, because
you will get access to thatreplay and you'll have it for
the lower price.
(34:08):
You'll get locked in, and I'llprobably include content, fuel
and senior Sunday inside of thatfor people Like a lot of you
guys might have it already, butI'll probably include it in it.
Anyway, all that to say, that'scoming in September too, so
come and spend my birthday withme and I'll give you presents.
All right, I think that's all Ihave for you guys today.
(34:31):
I know it's kind of a lot goingon.
I hope that you are regulated.
I hope you're going into fallseason feeling really good, but
if you're not, you know where tofind me.
I do have some openings forcoaching.
Elevate's not signing up untilJanuary, so you can't get in
that.
But you can sign up forone-on-one and I am offering a
(34:53):
very, very limited number ofone-on-one calls.
So normally when I doone-on-one coaching with
creatives and photographers, itis for a minimum of three months
, because to get into yourbusiness and really like make
some changes, we need time.
However, with the AI stuff andI'm really leaning more heavily
into this by this time next yearI wouldn't be surprised if I'm
(35:16):
like doing mostly AI, but we'llsee All that to say, because I'm
doing a lot more of that andI'm teaching a lot more of it
and it's coming up inconversations.
Like a lot of my DMs are aboutthis.
I have opened up a limitednumber of just one-on-one,
one-off calls, right, so you canjust pay for one 90-minute
session with me and then we candig into your AI.
(35:39):
I can help you create your ownGPTs.
I can help you create your ownown plan.
Basically, however, we wantthat to look like multiple GPTs
because, like, once you createone, then you get the idea, but
we can get your AI, like lockedand loaded in 90 minutes.
So that is also something I'moffering.
I'll put the link down below aswell.
They're limited, like the spotsare not, like it's not daily
(36:02):
stuff, like I have themsporadically on my calendar.
So if that is something thatyou think you might need some
help with, go ahead and grabthat link below and then grab
one of those spots because theymight go quick.
All right, I hope you guys havea great rest of your week and
touch base with me on Instagramand let me know how you're doing
.
All right, have a good one.
Love you, bye.
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