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- [00:00]
A
I love bringing Dana with me to conferences. If you don't know Dana, Dana is my co host in the Consistency Club, but she's also been working with me here at this Can't Be that Hard for almost five years now. We work together great. We have a lot of fun. She is sort of the marketing brain. I, you know, am the ops person and the idea person. But when it comes to getting together in person, we don't get to do it all that often because we live on opposite sides of. Of the country. So I make it a point every year to bring her to any conferences that I'm going to where she's available, basically. And for the last two years, that has been true for the Reset Conference. What I love about having Dana with me at conferences is that despite perhaps evidence to the contrary, I'm kind of an introverted person by nature. Once you get me going, talking, I will probably not stop it. It could be a problem. But I hate interrupting people. I always feel awkward if I'm, you know, if there's a group of people standing there and I, you know, walk up and try and introduce myself. Like, I really have to kind of psych myself up in those kinds of scenarios, and conferences can be like that now. As a side note, I love about the Reset Conference that they really set it up to not feel like that. It is not, you know, thousands of people. It's. It's mostly women, which makes it easier for me anyway, and it's just a very friendly group of people. But having Dana there as my sort of, you know, sidekick, buddy, whatever, just means that every conversation or every group of people is available to us because Dana will happily, you know, run up and say hi. So. So one thing that she plans every year whenever we go to conferences together is to do this. She calls it her Dana on the street thing, where she brings along her podcast microphone and interviews people about various things. And she's helped us with our Horror Story episodes. She has asked people, you know, all kinds of different questions. And this time this past spring, one of the questions that she was asking people at the conference was, was to share the advice that they would give themselves at the beginning of their career, you know, however long they had been in business to date, what would they say to themselves starting out? And it was super fun to kind of go through these responses because some of the people she was talking to had been in business for decades. Other people had been, you know, just coming up on the anniversary of opening their business. But we all learned so many things along the way and we all, all gain perspective that of course, we wish we had when we started out. And I love that she put the answers to these questions together because that means that we all get to benefit from the advice that these people would have given to themselves. So this is intended to be sort of an easy, light episode for you as you are finishing up what I'm sure has been a busy season, but hopefully it will inspire you as you start to think about the beginning of next year and you start pointing your compass in a new direction. These words of wisdom can help you decide what really is important, what will be top of the list as you move forward into the next chapter of your career. Welcome to this Can't Be that Hard. My name is Annemie Tonkin and I help photographers run profitable, sustainable businesses that they love. Each week on the podcast, I cover simple, actionable strategies and systems that photographers at every level of experience can use to earn more money in a more sustainable way. Running a photography business doesn't have to be that hard. You can do it and I can show you how to.
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If you had it to do over again, or if you were like, having coffee with your younger self. What's some advice that you would give to yourself or a photographer who's like, just starting out? I feel like a lot of people give this advice, but invest in education early. Early on I started Senior Allergy and immediately people felt like I should know what I'm talking about. But I started to learn as I share. Do you know what I mean? So when I started, I didn't know anything, but because I had this sort of perspect Persona that I didn't put on for myself, but it just, people thought, oh, well, senior Ology must know everything. Yeah. And so why would she need to come to this workshop or this retreat or this, you know, to learn anything? So for a long time I was like, scared to invest. So, like, I didn't get that early on education that I think would have been so beneficial. So I think that's, that's the tip. So I feel like I'm hearing invest in education early. And also don't be afraid to, like, own. I don't know this. No matter where you are in your journey, whether you're just starting or you're, you know, quote unquote seasoned, like, it's okay to just be like, I am always learning. Right? Absolutely. And I think no matter where you are in this business, however many years, you can always learn from someone else. Always. What's the advice that you would give to your younger self or maybe to somebody that's just starting out. I will answer emails from sometimes as my fake ba. I think that's a good tip. Have a fake va. It's a lot easier for me as my VA to come back and say like, oh, the policy here is this. And it's not coming from. It's not coming from me. It's coming from someone who just is following the policy. I love that. Give yourself a fake va. That is so great. You know, she's. She's real cheap to work with too. Wow. She is. She is the best person on my payroll. Always does what I asked her to do. Wow. What advice would you have? Just go for it. Do everything in terms of like, go full time in terms of, like, do all the get creative as I possibly can. Like, don't look at other people's photos and try to compare yourself to them because then you're going to try to look like their photos and you want to be yourself and have your own creative look. That's great advice. What advice would you give yourself? I would tell myself that there's no right or wrong way to do my business. And I do. I should do what feels right to me. And I can always pivot and tweak along the way. And it does not have to be a hundred percent thought out and figured out in order to start. I love that. I always say, don't get it perfect, just get it going. That is great. I'm very type A, so it's really hard. That was really hard for me. But I had somebody tell me pretty early on, you know, to just think visually of progress over perfection. And so that helped me to. Okay, each day I can make a little bit of progress and it isn't going to be. And it's not going to be perfect. That's great advice. Thank you so much. Imagine the day you're starting your photography business. What would you tell your younger self? I would probably tell myself that you shouldn't charge anything until you know what you're doing. Like, I started just like photographing families and, and charging like $50 and then doing photos that I didn't really feel connected to because it wasn't clients that I was choosing myself. And I could have grown my business so much faster and easier and in the way that I wanted if I had just done model calls and hired the type of people that I wanted to photograph and then have that for my portfolio rather than show photos that I wasn't really feeling. Yeah, that's great advice. It's like, know what you want, stick to yourself and you'll get there faster in the end. Yeah, exactly. What advice would you give your younger self? So don't compare yourself to other photographers who are farther along on their journey. Don't copy pricing from strangers on the Internet because you don't know how they got there. Yeah, that's probably the biggest one that, that's the advice that I give all new photographers. Like, don't just be copying. Like, how did they get to that number? Is it paying their bills? Are you making a profit or are you negative money? Great advice. Yeah, so, so there's that part. And then just be yourself. Other people's opinions don't pay your bills. That's one thing that a mentor once told me and it's like, yeah, like don't be afraid to be yourself because there's only one you. Everyone else is taken and you know somebody is connecting with you. They're connecting with you for you. Like the photos. Yes. But like also because there was something about you and your personality and your service and, and whatever it is that you have to offer that they're buying into and your personal brand is the strongest way that you can have that know, like trust factor. Love that. What advice would you give yourself? While I'm driven, also, don't miss what I'm like, what's passing me by. I would, I would advise myself to make sure to absorb the beautiful aspects of my own life and existence and realities. And don't miss it by trying so hard to climb a ladder, so to speak. You know, I would, I would advise myself to climb the ladder of contentment and not success. That is such a good sound bite. I love that. Climb the ladder of contentment, not success. That is so good. What advice would you say? Be true to yourself. Don't worry about what others are doing. I think the comparison game was very huge when I started. And find a mentor. Well, I like find a mentor that's great that you look up to and can learn from. You can learn in anything. Like even if it's something you already know, you can learn from anyone, something new. So I love that you're going to coffee with your 20 year old self. You just started your photography business. What would you tell yourself? Have more confidence. Yeah. And not be so afraid to speak and have something to say. What advice would you have? Stick with it. And don't be afraid to charge more money and people are gonna love you for you. A lot of people can take Nice pictures, but they're gonna come to you because it's you and they love you. So be more you than you've ever been. That's amazing. That's great. Thank you. What advice would you give yourself? Don't be afraid to jump. I was afraid to jump, and I was kind of forced to jump. Like, literally was kind of, like, pushed into the situation. And the only reason I actually did it was because I had some kind of a conscience that would have felt horrible if I didn't, because they wouldn't. Because they wouldn't have had anything. So it's literally, like I said, literally, if I do horrible, it's better than what they don't have right now, which is nothing. So there it is. Yeah. That's pretty basic. Thank you. What advice would you give yourself or like, to a new photographer that's just starting. Invest in your future right away. Because I'm 10 years in and newer to, like, I'm new to reset. Like, this is only my second year coming, and the amount of things, like, my business is so established where I am, and I have hundreds of hundreds and hundreds of clients that, like, come to me all the time, that now I have this guilty feeling of, like, I can't change things on these loyal customers. Like, I'm either going to lose them or they're going to lose respect for me because I'm suddenly changing the game on them. I wish that I knew and invested in all of these, this incredible information as soon as I started, because it's. It's. I'm doing it. It's hard, and it's a slow process of kind of implementing all of this new information into my business. So it's not such a shock to all of my customers. But if I did it from day one, it would just be the way things were and I wouldn't have to worry about offending people. Not that you even have to worry about that, but, you know, I do. I feel like photographers, and especially women, like, we're empaths. We. We don't want to upset anybody, and that's just kind of the way that we roll. So get into it immediately and don't wait. Yeah. What advice would you give yourself? Just do it. You. You might regret not trying, but you'll never regret trying. So just give it a try. You can always reassess, you can always go back, but don't regret not trying it. If you had to give yourself advice right before you were about to start your photography career to your younger self, what would you Say, don't be afraid to reach out and network and meet. I'm just starting to, like, do that after 10 years. Yeah. I didn't have a good experience, like, starting because everyone around me was more of, like, the competition. I was the competition. So they kind of, like, blocked me out. Yeah. So I kind of, like, went into my shell. Yeah. So I guess just go out and keep doing that and keep meeting other photographers and find your group. Yeah. Yeah. Because that makes it more fun. Yeah. Right. Amazing. Thank you. So, like, if you were gonna have coffee with your younger self right before you started your photography business, what would you tell yourself? Okay, so my number one advice, I know this right off the bat is find what your policy is and stick to it. And this may not go towards wedding photography, but because I do a lot more portrait photography now. Yeah. When I first started out, I was. I did not have the confidence in my work, and a lot of photographers don't. So I would say, like, oh, well, here are my packages. Like, 10, 15, 20, whatever it was. Yeah. And I'm just giving everything because I felt like I wasn't doing a good job or I just felt like I was crap. And I look back at those photos now, and I was. I was not crap. Holy crap. I can't believe I. Oh, I was. Well, here you go. Here's 35 images. Even though you didn't pay for that. Yeah, I just gave them to you because I'm an idiot. And that's the one thing I love telling people, is find your policy. If your policy is, like, you get, you know, if you get 15 images, and then if you want more, okay for more. Or if your policy is, like, you pay for a specific package, stick to them, because it's consistency. And you never want to have one client get one thing and one client get another, and then they talk to each other and like, oh, well, Tracy gave me everything. Oh, then you're in trouble. You're in trouble. That's great advice. So that's my younger self beating. Really.
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That's it for this week's episode of this Can't Be that Hard. I'll be back same time, same place next week. If you like the show, be sure to check out thiscan'tbethathard.com to explore all the resources we have for photographers. And, of course, it would mean the world to me if you would leave a review of the show on itunes or Spotify. As always, thanks so much for joining me. I hope you have a fantastic week.