Juggling A Successful Portrait Business & Creative Work with Suszi McFadden

Summary

The Portrait System Podcast: Episode Summary

Title: Juggling A Successful Portrait Business & Creative Work with Suszi McFadden
Host: Nikki Closser
Guest: Suszi McFadden
Release Date: November 10, 2024

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1. Introduction

In this enlightening episode of The Portrait System Podcast, host Nikki Closser engages in a deep conversation with Suszi McFadden, a successful portrait photographer based in Sunnyvale, California. Suszi shares her journey from a corporate marketing role to building a thriving photography business, balancing client work with creative endeavors, and leveraging networking to expand her reach.

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2. Suszi McFadden’s Journey from Marketing to Photography

Suszi opens up about her transition from a full-time marketing position at a software company to pursuing her passion for photography following a layoff.

Suszi McFadden [05:26]: "I wish it were 9 to 5. It was more like 7 to 9."

She describes the challenges of shifting from marketing a company to marketing herself, highlighting the pivotal moment when she chose to focus on her side hustle in photography after consulting for two years post-layoff.

Suszi McFadden [05:03]: "I had the privilege of being able to say, what do I want to do? ... It has been my joy and my privilege ever since."

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3. Balancing Client Work and Creative Projects

Suszi discusses how she manages her portrait business while dedicating time to creative projects that ignite her passion.

Nikki Closser [10:04]: "And it seems like you've been able to blend those two pieces pretty, pretty well."

Suszi emphasizes the importance of doing what she loves alongside her client work, ensuring her creative spirit remains nourished.

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4. The Power of Networking

A significant portion of the conversation revolves around the role of networking in Suszi's business growth. She shares her initial reluctance towards in-person networking and how finding the right group transformed her approach.

Suszi McFadden [22:32]: "I've gotten so many clients out of it."

Suszi highlights the effectiveness of joining structured networking groups where everyone has a chance to speak, making it less intimidating and more productive.

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5. Collaborating with Stylists

Suszi underlines the value of collaborating with stylists to enhance her clients' presentation in photos. She explains her process of offering wardrobe consultations and how it benefits both photographer and client.

Suszi McFadden [12:33]: "Everybody who comes to me gets one hour of complimentary wardrobe consult with a stylist before their session."

This collaboration ensures clients look their best while maintaining authenticity in their appearance.

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6. Engaging in Creative Work and Gallery Shows

Beyond client work, Suszi delves into her creative photography projects, often collaborating with models and abstract artists. She recounts her experience organizing gallery shows, which not only showcased her work but also expanded her clientele.

Suszi McFadden [38:19]: "It absolutely did turn into an opportunity to kind of see and be seen by a different market than it my, where I'm growing."

These creative projects are described as both fulfilling and instrumental in enhancing her portfolio and reputation.

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7. Leveraging Email Marketing for Business Growth

Suszi admits that while she excels in in-person networking, she recognizes the need to bolster her email marketing efforts. She discusses strategies like special offers tied to events (e.g., gallery shows) to engage her email list.

Nikki Closser [44:10]: "And that includes booking photo shoots. Definitely."

Both Suszi and Nikki emphasize the importance of timely and targeted email campaigns to convert leads into bookings, stressing the effectiveness of limited-time offers.

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8. Equipment and Tools

When asked about essential gear, Suszi highlights the importance of having reliable lighting equipment and quality cameras. She shares her preference for Godox lights and her transition into using constant lights for specific shoots.

Suszi McFadden [56:11]: "I like to control my light. I don't do as well with found light, although I'm starting to play with it a little bit."

This technical insight underscores the role of equipment in achieving desired photographic outcomes.

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9. Personal Life and Interests

Outside of photography, Suszi enjoys spending time with her dog and husband, participates in a community choir, and indulges in retouching for fun. These activities provide a balanced lifestyle and fuel her creative energy.

Suszi McFadden [57:21]: "I hang out with my dog and my hubby and I apologize to him for putting the dog first."

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10. Advice for Aspiring Photographers

Suszi offers valuable advice to newcomers in the photography field, emphasizing the importance of enjoying the creative process, continuous learning, and allowing time between shooting and editing.

Suszi McFadden [58:48]: "Enjoy the process, to experiment, and to just to know that you grow into it and your style will change and keep learning."

She also recommends taking breaks before retouching to maintain a fresh perspective on her work.

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11. Conclusion

The episode wraps up with both Nikki and Suszi reflecting on the key takeaways: the indispensable role of networking, the balance between business and creative passion, and the strategic use of marketing tools to grow a photography business. Suszi's journey serves as an inspiration for photographers aiming to build a sustainable and fulfilling career.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Suszi McFadden [05:26]: "I had the privilege of being able to say, what do I want to do? ... It has been my joy and my privilege ever since."

• Suszi McFadden [22:32]: "I've gotten so many clients out of it."

• Nikki Closser [10:04]: "And it seems like you've been able to blend those two pieces pretty, pretty well."

• Suszi McFadden [58:48]: "Enjoy the process, to experiment, and to just to know that you grow into it and your style will change and keep learning."

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Final Thoughts

This episode of The Portrait System Podcast offers a comprehensive look into managing a successful portrait photography business while nurturing creative projects. Suszi McFadden's insights on networking, collaboration, and strategic marketing provide valuable lessons for photographers aspiring to elevate their craft and business.

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Connect with Suszi McFadden:

• Instagram: @SuzMcFaddenPhoto
• Facebook: Suze McFadden Photo
• Website: suzemcfaddenphoto.com
• Gallery Website: humanessence.photography

Transcript

[Nikki Klosser]

Hey there, it's Nikki Klosser and I want to let you know about an awesome free giveaway for people on our email list. If you haven't already, click the link in our podcast description or go to theportraitsystem.com signup to get on the list. If you sign up, you'll get a free posing 101 PDF to jumpstart things. It's an epic PDF, so you'll definitely want to get this. Also, just by being in our email community, you'll get deals, sales and information about any of our upcoming events and activities. So head over to theportraitsystem.com signup and sign up. Today you're listening to the Portrait System podcast.

[Susie McFadden]

It was so eye opening to me to be on the other side of it and feel what my clients were feeling and also see why that clothing choice made so much sense.

[Nikki Klosser]

Welcome to the Portrait System Podcast. I'm your host Nikki Klosser and this show is here to help you succeed in the world of photography and business. To help you learn to become financially free doing what you love and and so much more. With over 1 million downloads, countless photographers have taken what they've learned from both our episodes and from theportraitsystem.com and they have grown their businesses, quit their day jobs, and are designing a life of their dreams. We keep it real and share stories about the ups and downs that come with running a photography business. You'll hear real life stories of how other photographers run their business and you'll learn actionable steps that you can take to reach your own goals. Thank you so much for being here and let's get started. Hey everyone, it's Nikki Klosser here. My guest this week on the Portrait System podcast is Susie McFadden and we covered a ton of great topics during this episode. Susie has her business in Sunnydale, California and she splits her time between her personal branding clients and also doing really incredible creative work. The creative work she does lights her up and feeds her passion and she shares how she juggles her everyday clients with doing photo shoots just for herself. Suzy also talks through how important networking has been for her business and she also shares how she's able to get her photos into a gallery. One more thing Susie and I chatted about is creating special offers through your email list and how that can increase your bookings. All right, let's get started with Susie McFadden. Hi Susie, welcome to the Portrait System. How you doing?

[Susie McFadden]

I'm doing well, thanks. I'm glad to Be here.

[Nikki Klosser]

Where are you calling in from?

[Susie McFadden]

I am in Sunnyvale, California, which is Silicon Valley.

[Nikki Klosser]

Okay, awesome. I feel like there's a lot of photographers there.

[Susie McFadden]

We have a lot of photographers in general here. We actually have quite a few folks from the portrait system nearby, and we get together and play and work and collaborate and it's a lot of fun.

[Nikki Klosser]

Oh, that's awesome. I love that.

[Susie McFadden]

Yeah. Good. Northern California group gets together fairly frequently.

[Nikki Klosser]

Very cool. That's such a great, like, part to our whole community is just being able to, you know, get together with other creatives and share ideas and. Yeah, it's really nice to be able to have that.

[Susie McFadden]

It's nice. You know, we don't do it as often as we would like just because the Bay Area is pretty big. So even though we're all here, that could mean a lot, especially during rush hour. But we try and get together when we can.

[Nikki Klosser]

I remember that from when I lived in Seattle, it was very similar. There were times I just didn't want to leave to deal with traffic and finding parking and.

[Susie McFadden]

And one of the benefits of the work we do. Right. Is we very rarely need to be caught in that. So our ability to. Or I will speak for myself, my ability to handle it well.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah.

[Susie McFadden]

Has diminished tremendously over the years.

[Nikki Klosser]

Oh, yeah.

[Susie McFadden]

I don't want to sit in that.

[Nikki Klosser]

I know. When I think back to just what my commute used to be like when I had to drive in rush hour twice a day, you know, so ten times a week. Ugh, gosh, it was brutal. Now I'm always like, yeah, I start my shoots at 10:30 because that gives me time to get the kids to school, wait for rush hour to end, maybe stop. And, you know, I am exactly the same.

[Susie McFadden]

That's my workday as well. Very right in the middle. You miss it on both sides.

[Nikki Klosser]

It's funny, the benefits that really come with being an entrepreneur. It's just the little things that add up to very big things.

[Susie McFadden]

Yes, absolutely.

[Nikki Klosser]

Because you were not always a photographer. You were in a full time kind of 9 to 5 before, right?

[Susie McFadden]

I wish it were 9 to 5. It was more like 7 to 9.

[Nikki Klosser]

I feel like 9 to 5 is just null and void at this point.

[Susie McFadden]

Exactly, exactly. Yeah. I worked for a software company. I was in marketing. It was a very harsh reality for me to come out of that and realize that marketing myself was an entirely different animal than marketing a company. But I was there forever. And then my name came up in layoff bingo, which happens in the tech industry. And at that point, I had the really the privilege of being able to say, what do I want to do? And is it this? Do I want to go out there? Do I want to get another job doing what I'm doing? Or do I want to take some time to focus on this photography thing that I'd been doing as a side hustle? And I had the ability, the time and the means to be able to do that. And it has been my joy and my privilege ever since.

[Nikki Klosser]

Wow. If you had never been laid off, how long ago did you get laid off?

[Susie McFadden]

2014, 2016. I got laid off and then I wound up consulting for two years because it was really hard for me to imagine not bringing in that paycheck. And then by the time I had consulted for two years, I went, okay, I'm done. And I believe that I was done in 2016.

[Nikki Klosser]

2016, okay, all right.

[Susie McFadden]

It all blends together.

[Nikki Klosser]

I mean, if you hadn't been laid off back then, do you think you would still be doing that job?

[Susie McFadden]

Oh, God. Well, that's almost 10 years. I hope not, but very likely. I'm not a big kind of risk taker and walking away would have been very difficult for me. So I was actually very grateful to be laid off. It happened at the right time in my career and in my life for that to happen. I am child free by choice, so we don't have kids that we need to worry about all of that. So I was able to kind of take that moment. But would I have walked away? Probably not. I'm a big. I'm a big chicken that way.

[Nikki Klosser]

You know, you're not alone in that, though. A lot of people, it's. It's a. It's a big scary leap. And sometimes I feel like, you know, the universe or God or whatever you believe throws you this bone and it's like, okay, this might feel real shitty at the time and it might be really hard right now, but what could you turn it into? What? How could you grow from it and make your life better?

[Susie McFadden]

Exactly.

[Nikki Klosser]

And I'm not saying that's an easy transition by any. I don't mean to sound like, you know, flippant about it, like, oh, yeah, just take the sign and go for it.

[Susie McFadden]

It's a gift. No, I. And it was interesting because I was ready to be gone and I still had the post layoff reaction time of, you know, so like, as I said, it was a gift, and I knew it was a gift at the time, but I still had the reaction of, oh, my God. This is hard. What is this going to change? Like, suddenly all the things that I've come to take for granted are no longer there. And it was tough. And so I realized that when I was having a hard time dealing with it, that folks who aren't prepared for it, who aren't ready, who aren't looking for an excuse, I can't even, you know, it's not easy. It's the reason it's up there right in the stressors. The stressors list. And unfortunately, where I live, it's kind of part of the industry. Right. And I got lucky and I made it through quite a few of them. And I kind of knew when they announced the next round that, okay, this is the one where I'm going, like things had changed enough at work. I'm like, oh, yeah, I'm on this list.

[Nikki Klosser]

Well, I think, you know, and for people out there who are listening, who are kind of in a job that they know they want to get out of, I think one, we could at any time be fired, laid off. The company could close down, reorganization. Anything can happen at any time. And that's why I think if you're someone who's not a risk taker and you probably wouldn't just jump out on your own, it's important to have that preparation. I mean, whether you are planning on just leaving on your own or if it's always possible that you could get laid off or whatever, that preparation piece I think is crucial because I mean, the difference between getting laid off and not having any idea of what you're going to do next, or not having anything prepped in your business versus if you're ready for it, it could make the transition a lot easier. Even though it can be hard mentally and emotionally, whatever. But it could make.

[Susie McFadden]

Right.

[Nikki Klosser]

Make it easier, I think.

[Susie McFadden]

Oh, the fact that I was already doing photography on the side, which meant that I wasn't giving it nearly as much attention as it deserved. But again, it was a joy for me. And I have friends going through kind of this, not so much with layoffs, but with retirement. Right. What am I going to do? Where am I going to find that joy? How did you find photography, like all of those things? And the photography has really just been a natural extension of joy for me in this. In this chapter of my life.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah. And it seems like just from chatting with you briefly before we started recording and looking at your work and that sort of thing, it feels like there are two big parts to what you do in your business. One being, you know, the Clients and the bringing in money and, you know, the branding. I think you do. Correct me if I'm wrong, but mostly like branding, personal branding, headshots, that sort of thing.

[Susie McFadden]

Yes.

[Nikki Klosser]

And then the other part of it is what feeds your soul, that creative work.

[Susie McFadden]

Yes, absolutely.

[Nikki Klosser]

And it seems like you've been able to blend those two pieces pretty, pretty well.

[Susie McFadden]

I have, and I'm really fortunate. And I'm actually starting to get clients who are seeing my creative work saying, I want to do that. But for the most part, my client work is brand work. I do the networking, I'm out there, I'm the marketing, working with different folks on mostly. I should say mostly entrepreneurs and mostly female entrepreneurs. And mostly female entrepreneurs of a certain age. Right. The folks who are drawn to me, and I love doing it and I have a great time. But you don't get to. You don't get to have as much fun. Right. You don't get to play with makeup and with fabric and with styling and all of the things that I just love to do. And I am one of those weirdos. I love to retouch. I love the retouching process. And so obviously with brand, you can't go a little too crazy because you want everybody to look like themselves. But with my creative work, I can really play with the software and the coloring and all of the things.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah. So, yeah, it's. It really is interesting how someone might have their bread and butter be one genre, but then what really lights them up might be something else. And it's nice to have the ability to do both of those things.

[Susie McFadden]

It really is.

[Nikki Klosser]

Well, and it sounds like, though, that the branding part of it lights you up, too. Just hearing how you were saying, you work for your branding shoots, it's the solopreneurs, it's women who you connect with and all of that. So I feel like there's that part that also might feed your soul in addition to the creative part.

[Susie McFadden]

I'm definitely a people person. I love working with people. And of course, as you know, as you've talked about, photography can be a fairly individual experience. And so working with clients, to me, is fantastic. I love it. I do a full service portrait experience. Everybody who comes to me gets one hour of complimentary wardrobe consult with a stylist before their session, and then the full hair and makeup when they come in.

[Nikki Klosser]

Okay. Before their session, as in like a couple weeks before.

[Susie McFadden]

Right. Before they come to me. So that if they decide. I've had a couple who have met with the stylist and said, oh, we're going shopping. And they go shopping before they even come in.

[Nikki Klosser]

All right.

[Susie McFadden]

Others, she'll just help them find their closet, what their colors that are best for them, what works best for photography. Because she understands photography is a little different than, you know, what you might wear anywhere else.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah. Okay. I'm so glad you said that, because there have been some really amazing clothing stylists who I met through, like, networking groups and stuff, who. They would refer their clients to me, which was amazing. However, I almost feel like there was that kind of photography knowledge piece missing, because sometimes they would come with these, like, lots of layers and, you know, which we know. Lots of layers makes things look bulky in photos. Right. Whereas in person, you can see the movement and you can see, you know, that it's layers or whatever. And in photos, sometimes it can make someone's body look different than what it is because it looks so bulky or boxy or, you know, whatever. Where in real life it'd be great. But for photos, maybe not quite. So I'm.

[Susie McFadden]

Yeah, I'm somebody who wears big, flowy clothes all the time. And when I got my portrait taken and they're saying, oh, yeah, you can't wear that, I'm like, but this is what I live in. No, my stylist is fantastic. And especially, you know, during COVID she had to pivot. And so a lot of her work was, how do you look professional on zoom? How do you uplevel your game on video? So she had that kind of camera video knowledge that she's now bringing to by portrait business.

[Nikki Klosser]

Okay. Yeah.

[Susie McFadden]

And again, I. She's getting clients through me and also sharing her clients with me, which is fantastic.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah. That's such a great partnership. And it seems like I'm guessing that maybe there's a happy medium between keeping the clients in clothing that feels like them and that they love, and also making sure it is something that looks really good on camera.

[Susie McFadden]

Yes. And I will say that one of the things that helps me with that the most is that I got my photo taken. And I cannot stress highly enough how important it is to go to a photographer you adore and trust to take your photos and be on the other side of the camera. And I was in things. I mean, I was laughing, going, are you sure? Because I wouldn't leave the house in this. And they wound up looking phenomenal in photos because, of course, she knew how to pose me. She knew how to do all of that. I had the privilege of being photographed by both Sarai and Kat.

[Nikki Klosser]

Oh, nice.

[Susie McFadden]

So it was so eye opening to me to be on the other side of it and feel what my clients were feeling and also see why that clothing choice made so much sense.

[Nikki Klosser]

Mm. I love photographing other photographers.

[Susie McFadden]

Yeah.

[Nikki Klosser]

I mean, granted, it's always a little bit more nerve wracking because expectations can be a little bit higher. I really do love giving other photographers the experience and just having them feel so special. And like you said, talking about, you know, the outfits that might look great and how they want to present themselves and showing them how it feels to be posed by, like, I can pose someone with my eyes closed and make them just so comfortable and show how confident I am with it and giving them that experience. I think it just really, like, amplifies how important it is that you are also doing that for your clients. Like, when you experience it, you're like, okay, yeah, now I see why this is so important that I need to do the same for my own clients.

[Susie McFadden]

I think I learned more getting my photo taken than I did in any other kind of. And not even so much like, all of the videos and everything helped. And it got me to the point where when I was getting my photo taken, I was able to have these aha moments, which if I hadn't taken the videos to get there, I don't know that I would have had the same kind of reaction, that same aha. But then just being there and actually physically being maneuvered moved, and posed and all of that. And interestingly, the photos I have of myself get more traction than the photos I share of my work, because I'm putting myself out there, totally showing people who I am. I'm using my experience as a way of saying, you can do this too. Like, this wasn't easy for me. I'm behind the camera for a reason. Thank you very much. And look at what I did. Look at what I got, and look at how I can use these. And people really react to that. That really resonates with them.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah, definitely. I remember when sue photographed me, I was like putty in her hands. Like, she had full control over me. And I. Okay, I am that person who's saying, I am not. Like, I am not good in front of a camera. I'm just not. And I think that that is. Most people can probably relate to that feeling. And when you've got a photographer on the other side who is in full control in a very loving and confident way.

[Susie McFadden]

Yes.

[Nikki Klosser]

It makes such a difference. Such a difference.

[Susie McFadden]

Yeah. And then you say, oh, I want to be this for my clients.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah.

[Susie McFadden]

I want. I want my clients to feel the way that sue just made me feel.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah.

[Susie McFadden]

And it's just, it's such a wonderful thing to bring into the studio with you.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah. And I talk about this a lot, how I use this sort of, like, language of what we're. What we're speaking about in my marketing quite a bit. And in fact, just this morning, I'm in a networking group here in Michigan and the owner of the group had said, like, oh, introduce yourselves and tell everybody what you do. And I was like, you know, hi, I'm Nikki and I love photographing people who are not comfortable in front of a camera. I know exactly how that feels. And I got you. You know, like, it's like talking about that within your marketing.

[Susie McFadden]

Yep.

[Nikki Klosser]

Can make such a difference because people don't know, you know, they see your photos and, you know, I mean, obviously the best way is if someone else has been photographed by you and they tell everyone how amazing the experience was.

[Susie McFadden]

Yes, absolutely.

[Nikki Klosser]

But if you're just. Someone's got eyes on you for the first time because they're looking for photos, if you can infuse that into your marketing, that I'm going to help you through this whole thing and I'm going to make you so comfortable. And even if you hate being photographed, I promise you're going to walk away loving this. Like, that has really helped me to garner, like, a new clientele, I guess, from all of that.

[Susie McFadden]

I completely agree. And my big thing when I'm speaking to networking groups and I presented in a couple different ones, is putting yourself into your brand. That we're not one of these big companies where our logo or our color scheme or our name is what's selling us. People are being drawn to us as people, as individuals, as connection. And if they don't see that, you know instantly, they're going to find somebody else that they jive with. And so for me, it's like, use these photos to put yourself out there, let people know who you are so that when they're searching on Google, when they're looking for your services, they're seeing you. And I think that's both for photography and for, like, about me's and who you are being more open. I always joke that, you know, I offer this luxury experience. I'm not luxury. It's not about me. Oh, no, me personally.

[Nikki Klosser]

Oh, you personally? I was going to say your business, especially your creative work to me.

[Susie McFadden]

Oh, no, no. My business is luxury, but I personally am not.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yes, Same.

[Susie McFadden]

So I'll be in overalls and barefoot photographing them while they're looking like a million bucks.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yep. I am the same.

[Susie McFadden]

And I'm like, if you're expecting me to come, like, graceful and elegant and all of the things, I'm going to scare the heck out of you when you walk in my door. So I want people to see who I am before they even get to that point.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yep, yep.

[Susie McFadden]

You know, and then once we have the consult, they'll see who I am.

[Nikki Klosser]

A little bit more.

[Susie McFadden]

And again, lots of positive adjectives to describe myself. But, you know, elegant, luxury and glamorous is not on that list. And so that's what the photos. Allow me to tell.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah, that's great. So, yeah, very cool.

[Susie McFadden]

Yeah.

[Nikki Klosser]

Okay. So you have that, you know, kind of personal branding side to it, and you had mentioned that you do the networking. You're a people person, you know, is that how you're bringing in most of that part of your business? We're going to talk about the creative side in a second, but, oh, no worries. As far as the personal branding part of it, is that how you bring in most of your clients?

[Susie McFadden]

I will tell you that I'm on. I, I've done the accountability call for however long that's been in place through gps. And one of the big things that they've talked about, and especially Angie, is in person networking.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yep.

[Susie McFadden]

And I'm like, oh, my God, I hate in person networking more than I can even say. And I shopped around until I found a networking group where I walked in the door and went, ah, okay, this feels right. And in person networking has, like, changed my business.

[Nikki Klosser]

That's. Yeah, that's.

[Susie McFadden]

I've gotten so many clients out of it.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah.

[Susie McFadden]

And then referrals out of it. Because these women also now know me.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yep.

[Susie McFadden]

Right. And it's, it's not just a somebody who took their picture that they're referring. It is, oh, my God, I know this person. She's amazing. Come to her. And I've gotten between the in person networking and the word of mouth has been really wonderful. And I'm making a point of going out to my clients saying, can you give me a Google review? My next step, which I have been avoiding, is video and seeing if I can get some video testimonial.

[Nikki Klosser]

They're so powerful.

[Susie McFadden]

I know.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah.

[Susie McFadden]

And I just need to do them and I haven't.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah.

[Susie McFadden]

But yeah, getting over the hurdle to do in person networking was.

[Nikki Klosser]

Oh, changed my life.

[Susie McFadden]

Game changing. Yeah.

[Nikki Klosser]

I mean, there's that I will say that that has been one of the things that has allowed me to be as successful as I am as a photographer. Is the in person networking. Definitely.

[Susie McFadden]

Yeah.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah. And it doesn't have to be. Gosh, I know it's so daunting and whatever, but, like, in my personal branding course, I have this whole segment on how to nail it. You know, how to nail networking. Even if you're not an extrovert or if you don't love it, like, there are certain steps that you can take that will just change your networking game. And it's. Yeah, it's really important.

[Susie McFadden]

Yeah. I'm really glad that I didn't settle for a group that didn't feel right and kept looking. And again, once it felt right, I'm like, okay, this is it and I can make this work.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yep.

[Susie McFadden]

And also collaborating with the other women in my group. So not just expecting them to come to me, but I'm also going to them. And it's a very collaborative kind of support system.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah, absolutely. And finding the right group is important too. I went through a couple groups that I was like, this is not for me. Definitely not for me. Like, in it, that group suited other people for their perspective. But for me, I was like, no, that one's not going to work.

[Susie McFadden]

Yeah.

[Nikki Klosser]

So I don't want people to get to discourage if they go to one and they're just like, that didn't feel right.

[Susie McFadden]

Oh, if I had stopped after one. Yeah. I wouldn't be where I am.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah.

[Susie McFadden]

I went to a number of them and, you know, I say I'm a people person and I enjoy it, but, like, I find it really hard to go up to an existing group of people who are chatting and kind of inserting myself into that, saying, hi. So I found one that was a little bit more structured. Right. Where you don't have to kind of break into existing groups.

[Nikki Klosser]

Like, everyone gets the chance to speak.

[Susie McFadden]

Everyone gets a chance to. Yeah.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yep.

[Susie McFadden]

And to me, that made all the difference in the world because it's like, oh, okay. I don't need to be. I don't know if the word's confident. Confident enough to just walk up to a group of people and introduce myself.

[Nikki Klosser]

Like, always have to read the room and you don't want to interrupt people and. Yeah, there's.

[Susie McFadden]

Exactly, exactly.

[Nikki Klosser]

That makes sense. Real quick, I know we kind of glazed over the styling and we talked a little bit about the stylist. But before I forget, will you just tell people how that works? Like, are you Paying the stylus out of, like, part of the session fee. Are. Are they paying the stylist separately? Like, how does that work? Really quick.

[Susie McFadden]

I do. I now. This is new. I now require a booking retainer for folks to book the session. $500 booking retainer. And I just. Mostly. Because, okay, if they cancel on me, fine. I control my own calendar. But if they cancel on my makeup artist, like, I didn't feel right with that. So I have a booking retainer, and that booking retainer now means to me that I can pay my stylist and makeup artist and not lose money.

[Nikki Klosser]

Okay. Yep.

[Susie McFadden]

And they get paid, they come in, and then if my client orders a package, which they always do, they can apply that $500 to the price of my packages.

[Nikki Klosser]

Awesome.

[Susie McFadden]

So once they're in, there's no session fee, but getting that initial retainer allows me to bring in these other professionals without worrying about losing money.

[Nikki Klosser]

Okay, so you're. You're basically just paying the stylist a fee for the work that she's doing. Yep. Got it.

[Susie McFadden]

And her hope, of course, as with all of us when we do things like that, is that they will meet with her and go, oh, my God, you're amazing. I want to hire you for a more extended color analysis, wardrobe revamp, shopping, all of the wonderful things that she offers.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yep. Yeah. Stylists can be really great in that way. And it's not only helpful for just the photo shoot, but it's in general. It's nice to learn what colors work best for your skin tone and your hair color. And, you know, just in general, to have that information is really helpful. So I feel like it's a very valuable service that you can add. And not all photographers do that. So it's, you know, it's a way that you can kind of market yourself that not only do you get a photo shoot, but you also get X, Y, and Z with it. So that's great.

[Susie McFadden]

Yeah.

[Nikki Klosser]

All right, let's talk a little bit about your creative work, because you've been highly awarded with your work. It's just, you know, especially some of your creative work is really cool and really beautiful.

[Susie McFadden]

Thank you.

[Nikki Klosser]

And as you were saying earlier, that that truly lights you up. The retouching part of it, I'm assuming, the creation of the portraits themselves, that whole process. I want to hear a little bit more about that. About. Is this something you make money from? Are you getting clients from these creative portraits? All that good stuff. But I want to encourage people, too, to look at your. On Your website, you have a tab for awards, and people can kind of just like, scroll down and see the different awards that you've gotten. And just some of this really cool work. There's this one portrait that I really love. It's the purple hair outfit. Yeah. That color just really jumped out at me. And just the lighting and everything. It's a very dynamic portrait. I love that.

[Susie McFadden]

Thank you. Especially since her eyes don't show. Right. It's kind of fun how you kind of think that eyes are everything. Right. But there's just something about that pose, which I just went, oh, my God. Even without the eyes, I kind of loving that.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah. Yeah. That's a really great point. It's a really great point.

[Susie McFadden]

So I got into the creative work honestly by doing meetups here locally. I work out of my home, so I have a home studio. But I would go before I even took this journey to do this as a. As a professional. I would go to these meetup groups where somebody would bring in a model, we'd all get together and do this. And what I found is that most of the time, I was the only female photographer in the group.

[Nikki Klosser]

Wow. Yeah.

[Susie McFadden]

And so I brought kind of a different vibe to it all, but also, I connected really well with these models, and it was like, oh, I want to work with you again. I want to work with you again. And so I started having these one on ones with some of these models, and we just kind of play together. The one that you pointed out, she is one of my absolute favorite models to work with. She is incredibly talented. She creates her. She does her own makeup, she creates her own headpieces, all of those things. So we'll talk about kind of what we want to do, and she can help make it a reality. Like, she's amazing. And so I work a lot with models for my work. It is not a money maker for me, and oftentimes it is a money loser for me. So I do quite a lot of trade for prints with models who are doing that. Right. Where instead of my charging them for photography and them charging me for their time, we just call it even. And we, you know, we work together, we create something together, and we share our talents.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah.

[Susie McFadden]

But I will also pay working models if they have kind of the right look or the right energy for concepts I have in mind.

[Nikki Klosser]

Hey, just a quick break to tell you that since you're here listening, you have access to a really great offer for our listeners only. We have a special promo code you can use to get 50% off the cost of membership, just go to theportraitsystem.com or click the link in the description and use the promo code PODCAST50 to get 50% off of a membership. We rarely discount membership, so this is a big deal. As I hope you already know, the membership is how I and so many guests on this podcast reached our success. And it gives you access to countless amazing videos, an awesome community, and all the tools you need to build a massively successful business. So use the code podcast50Now to join the community and to start building the business of your dreams. I'll see you there. And I feel like this is such an important thing to do. Maybe not. It doesn't necessarily have to be the same style, you know, the creative style or whatever, but to do shoots like this, that I keep saying feed your soul, but really that's what it is. That just make you happy?

[Susie McFadden]

Yep.

[Nikki Klosser]

Not only. I mean, it's helping grow your portfolio in a really cool way. It makes you happy with what you're doing, but you're also learning so much in the process.

[Susie McFadden]

Absolutely.

[Nikki Klosser]

That's a big piece to it.

[Susie McFadden]

And working with models who already know how to pose. So flow posing to me is so. Cause I take way too many pictures, way too many snaps when people are flow posing, but just what they know, their bodies. Right. And so you can sit there and say, I'm envisioning this. Can you do it? And I'm saying this as the most awkward person on the planet. Right. So I'm getting my photo taken, and I don't know how to move my arm in any way that's even remotely graceful. But I can ask these models to do things, and they are just so aware of their own bodies that they are able to do it, to be able to kind of play and experiment. Right. So a lot of what I do in the creative area is literally playing. What happens if I turn this light off? What happens if I turn that light off? What happens if we move you here? And those are things which I can't do quite as much with somebody who's paying me, because if they don't work. Right. And so. And then, of course, if they work, then I say, okay, I want to reproduce this with a client.

[Nikki Klosser]

Exactly. It's like the pressure's off, you know, the pressure's off. You can have fun with it. You can experiment, you can get crazy with it. You know, all the things that.

[Susie McFadden]

All of it.

[Nikki Klosser]

I mean, you know, we want to do a little bit of that with our regular client shoots, but Again, it's got to be super focused on what they need and what they want out of it. And, yeah, I do have a client.

[Susie McFadden]

Wardrobe, and I will try and get all of my clients to play at the end. Like, we've got what you want. Let's play.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah, exactly.

[Susie McFadden]

And the ones who are in there for hardcore branding very rarely take me up on it, but some do. And they'll buy the, you know, the image with wings, or they'll buy the image with the big, flowy dress, which is fun because I'm like, you're all made up. You feel like a million bucks. Let's try something that is just for you. Right. The same way that the creative work is just for me. And they'll do it, and they'll have fun. And sometimes they'll say, oh, my God, this is awesome. I have absolutely no need for it. Thank you. And other times they'll be like, I love it. I want it.

[Nikki Klosser]

Absolutely. And like, I've told clients before, like, hey, if you hate these photos, they don't ever have to see the light of day. But I can't tell you how many times I upgraded or upsold, I guess, to the next package because they just had to have those additional photos that they didn't necessarily come in for.

[Susie McFadden]

Exactly, exactly.

[Nikki Klosser]

It really increased my sales to add on just an extra fun outfit or two.

[Susie McFadden]

Yeah. And again, especially since, again, they're made up. They feel beautiful already. And so when you're feeling that good and they've just had this session for their branding, when you're feeling that good, then it's like putting on that tulle robe or the flowy dress that isn't really your style. Suddenly it's like, sure, why not? Let's do that. Let's play.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yep, definitely.

[Susie McFadden]

And a lot of that I learned by playing with my creative work. It's like, okay, which fabric tosses and what's the best way to wrap? And all of the things that I've learned through a lot of the educational videos, through the portrait system that I'm not gonna. Not gonna take the time to try and figure out if I'm wrapping the fabric. Right. With a client.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yep.

[Susie McFadden]

So I do that with somebody else.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yep.

[Susie McFadden]

And again, get to play. And that's with colors, with backdrops, all of it.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah. No, it's kind of cool. Cause with the creative work and, you know, you've entered into different awards and things, and you get a lot of street cred from it too. You know, it's kind of nice to Be able to throw something up on your Instagram or your website or whatever. That's like, I won the whole category or I got a silver or whatever it is. It gives you a little bit of street cred. I mean, I don't think that is going to be the, you know, only reason people are going to book you or anything, but it certainly does help well.

[Susie McFadden]

And I've had a couple clients at least see my creative work, saying, I want to work with her. Which I'm like, oh, that's the dream right there. Right. Of course. Is somebody who says, oh, I love that side of what you do. Let's do that together. Which is super exciting.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah.

[Susie McFadden]

And I've also had the amazing privilege of somebody who was in charge of finding art for an event space come to me and say, did you want to display your portraits? And I'm like, I would love to, but isn't that a little weird? Like, who wants to come and see photos of other people, Right. That aren't really themselves? Like, people want to see themselves in photos of their friends. And I said, what if I partnered with a gentleman by the name of Brandon Stauffer? He does abstract photos. And what if we brought the two together? And so he and I created a gallery piece, a gallery show of my portraits matched with his abstracts. And it was fascinating because he did, you know, color grading, pulling colors from my photos and bringing them into his abstracts. And it was like, you had the portrait matched with this kind of, like, the essence of it, just through abstract, camera, motion, light, all of that. And we hung it in this gallery space or in this event space, got great feedback on it. We got in the newspaper, we got, like, all of. All of the press, which was fabulous. And as a result, actually got a gallery show the following year locally, which, honestly, seeing your work in a gallery, there's just no big or high. Oh, I'm sure it was phenomenal. And, you know, we gave an artist talk about how we came together, like, all of the different things that went with it, and again, got some pressure. And so people are kind of finding me through that, through the creative work now, which is super fun.

[Nikki Klosser]

Okay, so this gallery situation. Yes. Like, how do you even begin? I know you said someone initially had reached out about it, you know, whatever, but, like, for the next gallery show, like, how did you even find this? Where does someone even begin to find a gallery that would let them their work in it, you know?

[Susie McFadden]

Well, I got really lucky, Right. And it goes back to that whole networking thing both of the Situations that I was in, I received personal introductions, which was phenomenal.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah.

[Susie McFadden]

And I've actually now put out to my networking group going, we're looking for a place to hang a road. Do you know of anywhere? Do you know of someone? The next step for me is to actually start reaching out to get like cold calling galleries. What's nice at this point is we have the press from the previous shows. We have, you know, a press release. We created a website for the gallery show. I know I put a book together. Not, not for sale. It was, you know, it's a photo book, so the cost would be prohibitive for people to purchase it, but it allows me to go into a curator and say, here's the portfolio and we have them all already printed and ready to go. And so we've kind of, at this point, it's just kind of a well oiled collection. But when we started, it was literally just word of mouth.

[Nikki Klosser]

Wow.

[Susie McFadden]

You know, and connections and it, you know.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah, that goes back to again, why networking is so important. You know, it's talking to people. And Bethany Quinn, I interviewed her recently on this podcast and she wanted to break into a totally different genre that she had never done before. Photographing horses, like equine photography. And she didn't have a horse. She was not part of this like horse community or whatever. And that's what it, what it took was talking to people and networking. And now she's like doing this really amazing equine photography work all because of just talking to people.

[Susie McFadden]

Isn't that amazing?

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah. So it's, it's, gosh, it's just so important.

[Susie McFadden]

And our main gallery show, I got through a friend, it wasn't even networking. So, you know, your friends know that you do this and that you love it and they have connections that you might not even know about. Right. You know, it doesn't need to be somebody in the art world like, so this was a friend who knew somebody on the board of the gallery and she just did a quick email introduction.

[Nikki Klosser]

That's great.

[Susie McFadden]

And yeah, it's again, so incredibly fortunate. And now kind of my work is cut out for me because it's like, okay, now I need to figure out now that I have all this, how do I go to people cold and say, would you give us a show? And that's a little bit more daunting. And I think I have a lot more to learn about that because some galleries are pretty strict about what your artist statement, the format it has to be in and all of those things. But it is on the list. It's on the vision board for 2025 to find a new home for this.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yep.

[Susie McFadden]

And right now, Brandon and I have the most. You know, we have galleries in our homes. Right. Because we have the. We did all of our images on metal with exhibition mounts. So we have a lot of metal prints floating around in both of our homes looking, looking for walls while we wait for the next. The next space to come up.

[Nikki Klosser]

Now, I know it's a very cool, exciting feeling to have your work in a gallery. Have you found that it brings you in any clients or referrals or anything?

[Susie McFadden]

Absolutely. So I did in both of the shows, I had out a little lead collection box and gifted a complimentary session. So my mailing list expanded tremendously just from folks putting the. Putting their cards in.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah.

[Susie McFadden]

And then I did have folks, you know, look at my work saying, oh, my God, I want, you know, this is amazing. I want to do a session. Which, you know, can't knock that. So it absolutely did turn into an opportunity to kind of see and be seen by a different market than it my, where I'm growing, which is kind of fun.

[Nikki Klosser]

What do you. When you, when you, I'm assuming your email list, is that what you're talking about when you said, okay, how do you capitalize on that once that comes in, you know, once you grow your list, are you offering shoots through that, you know, are you sending them an email later thanking them and offering them something special? Or how do you go from there?

[Susie McFadden]

So I will put out there right now that I don't do it nearly enough. I have not. That's.

[Nikki Klosser]

You're not alone in that.

[Susie McFadden]

I need to, I need to grow my email marketing push. But I did go out and, you know, everybody got a, you know, hey, hang tight. We're still, you know, we're still collecting entries, show closes on X, you know, come on in. And then the winner got hers. And then the. Whoever didn't win, I reached out saying, hey, you didn't win. But yep, here's an offer to bring you into.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yep. You know, that is exactly what I've done.

[Susie McFadden]

And I now need. I tend to do something at the end of the year, you know, for returning clients or if you found me through X and all of these different things to. To do it, I need to do it more often. But, you know, I've just started blogging, so now I have a little bit more content than I did even a month ago. So I'm hoping to do the email list A little bit more frequently.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah. I mean it is statistically proven that you are more likely to sell more through your email list than social media. For sure.

[Susie McFadden]

Yeah.

[Nikki Klosser]

And that includes booking photo shoots. Definitely. It's something that you can, especially even with past clients, you know, to reach out to past clients via email saying, hey, it has been, you know, a long time since you've done your photos and it's time for an update and you could give some sort of special offer whether it is you cover the session fee or give them a hundred dollar gift voucher as you know, for being a loyal client. And it's like people are so busy and it might be in the back of their mind that they want to book something but everyone has a million things going on and if you make it really easy for them, like Black Friday is coming up for example, you know, do some sort of, hey, if you book between now and, you know, February or whatever, give them a specific time period within there, then they're more likely to book like if you make it really easy for them. I was sorry, let me back up. If you, if you say within that email I'll give you XYZ or you get this bonus or something like that. If you book between now and whatever date you choose, someone's much more likely to do that then they just might be thinking in the back of their head oh, I guess I should get new photos done. But they don't because they forget or it's just way down on their to do list or they're busy or whatever. But when you put it right in front of their face with a call to action and a special offer, it makes such a difference.

[Susie McFadden]

Well, and I love that the putting a timeline on the special offer because I've always done a special offer but as you said, it's just kind of out there hanging and they'll get to it when they get to it. Where I really like the idea of book by. You don't have to have your session by that time but you need to.

[Nikki Klosser]

Book by X. Yeah, that's a very good distinction there. You pay for the session fee or whatever by X time and then. Yep. So it doesn't have to be. Yeah. Although I feel like there should be a close ended something on that too.

[Susie McFadden]

Yes.

[Nikki Klosser]

But it doesn't need to be as quick as if you book within. If you book now and during this Black Friday special and then you do your shoot within X amount of time, I guess.

[Susie McFadden]

Yeah, yeah. If Interesting. I'm going to think about. Because I have Never put parameters on it. And I think, I think you're right. I think that'll make a big difference in terms of inspiring people to act.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah.

[Susie McFadden]

As opposed to kind of shove it away in there. Well.

[Nikki Klosser]

And then you can. It gives you a reason to email them again later on saying, hey, just so you know, this offer is expiring, you need to get on it kind of thing.

[Susie McFadden]

Yeah.

[Nikki Klosser]

You're going to, you're going to miss out on getting these bonus photos or saving $200 on your session fee or whatever it is. People are like, oh, dang, I gotta, okay, I gotta do it. You know, send out six hours before, only six hours left to claim this special offer. I mean, that sort of stuff really works.

[Susie McFadden]

I love it. Writing it down. Inspired. Look at that.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah. I remember way back when I had gotten this, there was someone that I was following that I really liked and I had read her book and whatever and not photography related, but she had this workshop thing that she was offering and I got this email from her and it was like, doors are closing in two hours. And I was like, oh my gosh, I only have two more hours. And like, ah, you know, and so I ended up purchasing this workshop and I don't think I would have jumped on it like I did if I didn't know that I only had a certain amount of time left. It makes a big difference.

[Susie McFadden]

Yeah, absolutely. And you're better than I. I usually see those two hours after it's closed. And then I'm like, I wanted to do this so badly. I'm, you know, have to try and backdoor my way in going, help, please let me in.

[Nikki Klosser]

And it doesn't work for people who truly don't want what you're offering. Like, if someone really wants what I'm offering, that, you know, it'll work better, obviously. So, you know, and a lot of people aren't gonna book and that's okay. But the people who are really, they're just like on the fence. They know they want to do it, but they just need that extra little push because, you know, and here's the thing too. I know whatever product I'm offering a photo shoot or even like my photography products that I have, email templates, you know, posing guide, whatever. I know that this photo shoot is going to help my personal branding clients make more money in their own business. I know this is going to help them. It's going to make them feel good. They're going to bring in more clients because they're going to have these Professional photos, they're going to post more on social media. Their website's going to look better. Like, I know if they do this shoot with me, it's going to benefit them. I know that photographers are going to benefit from my personal branding course, from my email templates, whatever. So I feel good about giving them that extra push because I know what, they're going to get so much out of it in the end. So it doesn't feel salesy to me because I know that it's going to help them. Yeah, that makes sense.

[Susie McFadden]

Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think it's, you know, I was saying earlier in the, in our chat about how coming out of a corporate marketing job and then realizing how different it is to market yourself. And I will admit that I'm still getting over that hurdle. But once you get there to, for example, what you were just saying, it's like, why is it different? You know, why can't I market myself in the same way with the same dedication, the same frequency and the same confidence as I marketed somebody else's company?

[Nikki Klosser]

For sure.

[Susie McFadden]

And I totally agree with that. Like, what we have to offer to clients is amazing. And we kind of have to. Or I will say I, I kind of have to get over myself. Right. And say, I'm allowed to market this.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah.

[Susie McFadden]

It's, you know, I'm allowed to do this.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah. Ultimately, you're helping your client. I mean, that's why we do what we do. You're helping them, and you have to really believe in what you do and understand the value of what you're giving to someone. And remember you're helping them. And sometimes people need a little push, and that's okay. That's not being salesy because you know, in the end, what you're going to. This product that you're going to give to them, this service that you're creating for them is going to help them. And if that's what you have to, you know, get into your brain over and over and over that you are helping these people.

[Susie McFadden]

Yeah.

[Nikki Klosser]

That makes it easier to sell because it's, you know, you're not selling them something that is like a shitty product or.

[Susie McFadden]

Right. Absolutely right.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah. Like, it's, it's, it's something that people are going to benefit from. And that's really important to remember. And especially when you're thinking about your pricing, if you get like, weird about raising your prices or whatever, that's another thing to remember is that they're going to benefit tenfold from whatever they're spending with you know what I mean? It's. Yeah.

[Susie McFadden]

And it's funny. And that brings, brings my brain back, of course, to the in person networking. Because when I'm in person networking, I am all over that. Like that to me is such an easy, it's an easy sell, right, to talk to these women and say, oh my gosh, this is amazing. I haven't translated it to email marketing yet and I need to. And it's not for, you know, it's not like I don't know how to write. I can write, I can certainly craft the things. I just don't have it. I don't have the mechanisms in place to get them out regularly.

[Nikki Klosser]

Like as in a platform or just a schedule. Yeah, right.

[Susie McFadden]

And just holding myself to it and doing that. And I think that now after a year plus of in person networking, I can take. And chatting with you now I can take that energy from the in person and say, how do I translate this to a digital world?

[Nikki Klosser]

Absolutely. And Susie, the emails don't need to be perfect. They don't, they don't need to be designed perfectly. They can be simple. It's just about the messaging. It's just about putting it out there and letting people know that this is an option.

[Susie McFadden]

I love that.

[Nikki Klosser]

And getting it right in front of their face. Like, the emails that I send out aren't always perfect. And actually sitting here talking with you, I'm like, huh, I need to send an email, a Black Friday email list up to my email list about doing a photo shoot. Because, you know, I'm, I'm preaching all of this and a lot of times I do. I, you know, I'm pretty good with my email list sometimes, well, it depends. But when I am on it, gosh, it makes such a difference. So you know what I'll do? I'm gonna, I am gonna do this. I'm gonna do a Black Friday sale for photo shoots to all my photo clients or, you know, all the people. Because a lot of, a lot of people on my email list are also photographers. And I want them to know that, yes, you know, this is open to photographers too. But I'm going to do it and I'm going to, I'll, I'll let you know what my results are like. If I love that many shoots, I book from this because it'll be really interesting to see because it's been a while since I've done a push for photo shoots to my past clients and just, you know, to my email list in general. I've been doing A lot of networking lately, and that's been great. And, you know, same as you. I feel like sometimes I forget that I can use. I don't know. Yeah. Anyway, it's like, I know it works, but I don't always. I don't always stay on top of it either. Like you were saying with the schedule and all of that, it's like my ADHD brain doesn't always compute, this whole scheduling thing. But talking with you through it, I'm like, oh, gosh, Black Friday is coming up soon, and I really want to book a bunch of shoots, so let's do this.

[Susie McFadden]

That's a great. You know. And it's Black Friday followed immediately by Small Business Saturday. Yeah, good point. We get both, so. And then I was actually listening to you. I was actually listening to you chat, and I'm actually a November birthday, so instead of doing Black Friday, which can be crowded.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah.

[Susie McFadden]

I think I'm gonna do a birthday plug and say, for my birthday, I'm gifting X. Yep.

[Nikki Klosser]

I love it.

[Susie McFadden]

And I think I'll do that. I think I'll do a birthday email. As you were chatting, I'm like, oh, that's a good reason to reach out and, you know, and touch my clients, as it were.

[Nikki Klosser]

Heck, yeah, I'm going to do it. Let's do it.

[Susie McFadden]

I love it. I can't wait to hear how it goes.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah. Cool. Well, this has been great. I'm excited for you for your next gallery opening. I know we talked about a lot of, like, a lot of different things in this episode, so thanks for kind of sharing little bits and pieces of all of the amazing things you're doing. Yeah, this is really great.

[Susie McFadden]

Well, and I really, you know, my big thing is if people can find ways to play, is do it if you have the time in your schedule. And it's just such a great way to learn and explore, and you can then bring what you learn into your clients. And there are models and aspiring models everywhere who would love to benefit from a good photographer's talent and would be willing to play and collaborate and create something really, really nifty. And then you don't have to do the experimentation. When you're with your clients, you come in saying, I know this works. I'm going to try this lighting setup or this look, and it's a lot of fun.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah. Fantastic. Well, thank you.

[Susie McFadden]

Thank you so much.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah, I do have a couple more questions for you.

[Susie McFadden]

Yes, ma'am.

[Nikki Klosser]

Quite. Yet I always ask the same questions at the end of the.

[Susie McFadden]

Oh, okay.

[Nikki Klosser]

And the first one is, what is something you can't live without when you're doing a photo shoot?

[Susie McFadden]

Oh, my. What is something I can't live without? I mean, am I allowed to say something as basic as lights?

[Nikki Klosser]

Absolutely, yeah.

[Susie McFadden]

Yeah. I'm kind of a control freak, so I like to control my light. I don't do as well with found light, although I'm starting to play with it a little bit. But I'm definitely a lights person.

[Nikki Klosser]

Awesome. What particular lights do you use?

[Susie McFadden]

I use not Godox. It's the companion brand. It's the same one, but Godox mostly. Okay. And then I'm just now starting to play with Constance.

[Nikki Klosser]

Oh, nice.

[Susie McFadden]

And I've got the Stellas.

[Nikki Klosser]

Awesome. Very cool. Yeah, I've been using a constant light with my. I have these big headshots days that I do and I've been using a constant light for that because normally I do natural light, but it's just. It's just too long of a day and the light changes way too quickly and often and they need to be really consistent. So I'm doing constant.

[Susie McFadden]

Yeah, I'm having fun with the. And I tend to be using the constant light for like my darker, moodier photos, which is interesting, but I'm having fun with it and starting to play.

[Nikki Klosser]

Awesome. All right, number two is how do you spend your time when you're not working?

[Susie McFadden]

I hang out with my dog and my hubby and I apologize to him for putting the dog first and just. I also, I am in a community choir, so I do some singing. Oh, cool. What else? And then, you know, I spend a lot of time retouching, but that's part of the photography. But again, I do it for fun. Right. So that's a little different than work, right?

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah. Awesome. All right, number three is what is a photography specific product that you would recommend to everyone?

[Susie McFadden]

Well, so this is hard for me. It's. I'm really just a kid. I don't play with a lot of toys. I've got my studio set up. I've got my backdrops, I've got my camera. I love my R5. I would recommend it to anyone and everyone, but that's not quite. And then again, I love my retouching tools and my plugins. So I use the exposure plugin and the Nik plugin. It's not Nik anymore. DXO plugin and a couple different plugins that I also adore. And I will also say Pratik's retouching series.

[Nikki Klosser]

Oh, yeah.

[Susie McFadden]

Changed my World.

[Nikki Klosser]

The master. Yeah.

[Susie McFadden]

Changed my world.

[Nikki Klosser]

Very cool. All right. And number four is what would you tell people who are just starting out?

[Susie McFadden]

My perspective is, you know, as we've talked about it is more from the creative side than from the business side. So I'm not going to have any great business recommendations for folks.

[Nikki Klosser]

That's okay.

[Susie McFadden]

But to enjoy the process, to experiment, and to just to know that you grow into it and your style will change and keep learning. Yeah, keep learning. And I look back at some of the photos I took when I first started out and I'm like, oh, that was a choice. Right? And you know, and we just kind of evolve into our art and just know that, you know, some days you're going to be feeling it and other days you're not so sure, you know, it's okay to walk away. And then my big thing is this is what I've learned over the years. Don't start retouching or working on your photos immediately after the session. Give yourself some time to walk away and then come back to it fresh.

[Nikki Klosser]

Awesome. That's great advice.

[Susie McFadden]

Yeah.

[Nikki Klosser]

Cool. Where can people find you online?

[Susie McFadden]

Oh, so many places. I am on Instagram @Suz McFadden Photo. That's S U Z Suz McFadden Photo. I'm on Facebook personally is Susie Lurie McFadden and again, Suze McFadden Photo. For my business page. I have my website, suzemcfaddenphoto.com and also the gallery show. We have our own website and it is human essence. Human followed by the word essence. All one word dot photography.

[Nikki Klosser]

Fantastic. Well, thank you and I'll let you know how my email goes.

[Susie McFadden]

Oh my God. I'm so excited to hear how that goes. I know. I love coming out of these things. I have a list too going. Oh, I'm so inspired from talking to Nikki. I need to to do all of these things.

[Nikki Klosser]

Well, good. We helped each other, so. And hopefully the listeners too. So. All right, Suze, it has been a pleasure to chat with you and yeah, I will talk with you soon.

[Susie McFadden]

Okay, thanks so much.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yay. Thank you so much for listening to the Portrait System podcast. Your 5 star reviews really help us to continue what we do. So if you like listening, would you mind giving us a review wherever you listen? I also encourage you to head over to sue brice education.com where you can find all of the education you need to be a successful photographer. There are over 1000 on demand educational videos on things like posing, lighting, styling, retouching, shooting, marketing, sales, business, and self value. There's also the 90 day startup challenge plus so many downloads showing hundreds of different poses. We have to do checklists for your business life, lighting, PDFs. I mean truly everything to help make you a better photographer and to make you more money. Once again, that's Sue Bryce Education combination.