This Can't Be That Hard – Details, episodes & analysis

I frequently hear from photographers who are thinking of reducing their prices as a way of attracting more clients. While I understand their logic, my advice is always to proceed with caution: the (potential) short-term gain always has to be weighed against the (potential) hit to their business' long-term sustainability.

In today’s episode, I'm sharing a cautionary tale about a business that recently shut down due to their financial missteps. This was a business I relied on for my own business, and their sudden and unexpected closure left me and hundreds (thousands?) of other business owners in a tough position. My hope is that this episode creates a silver lining of sorts out of the dark cloud of this story, because I don't want any of you to make a similar mistake in your own business!

Resources:

• New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources.
• Join our community! We'd love to welcome you into our supportive, business-focused private Facebook group. Go to facebook.com/groups/thiscantbethathard to request access.
• Long-time listener? Leave a review!

In this episode, I'm diving in on the artistry of photography - a topic I don't often cover on this podcast... but not to worry: it doubles a business conversation, too! Ashley Kaplan is my guest, talking about how creating truly unique and memorable photographs can be a huge part of your business and marketing plans if you know how to position and sell that difference. 

Ashley has mastered the skill of differentiating her work from her competition's... so much so that she is able to command higher prices and stay booked out months in advance. Tune in to learn how to lean into your inner artist to create a business that not only fills your bank account but also your artistic soul.

Links:

• Unlock your photography potential with Ashley Kaplan's Education site, where you can apply for mentorship or dive into her signature course, A Sense of Place. 
• Explore more of her work and offerings on her main website.

Resources:

• New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources.
• Join our community! We'd love to welcome you into our supportive, business-focused private Facebook group. Go to facebook.com/groups/thiscantbethathard to request access.
• Long-time listener? Leave a review!

I consider myself a systems and workflow fanatic. Whether it's a system or a piece of tech, I geek out about tools that help us optimizing and streamline our workflows, not just because I've experienced firsthand how those tools can make or break you in business, but because it genuinely brings me joy to watch people get hours (days! weeks!!!) of their year back by investing in the few hours it takes to get a new set up and running.

That's what tools are supposed to do, after all: allow us to optimize our businesses, serve more clients, and at the same time find that elusive work-life balance we all want. And the tool we're discussing on the show today does EXACTLY that.

I'm chatting with Noella Andres from Imagen AI. Imagen AI is helping photographers find more freedom by doing the heavy lifting on culling and editing so we're free to focus on the areas that really matter when it comes to customer service and growth.

Links:

•  Get 1500 Free Edits when you try out Imagen AI 
• Connect with Noella on Instagram 
• Check in with the Imagen.ai Instagram account.

Join us for the Future of Marketing Summit on August 6th. Click HERE to get your free ticket!

Resources:

• New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources.
• Join our community! We'd love to welcome you into our supportive, business-focused private Facebook group. Go to facebook.com/groups/thiscantbethathard to request access.
• Long-time listener? Leave a review!

VIP Days have been gaining popularity over the last few years as a way for business owners to offer high-touch, high-value services that deliver fast results to their clients. If you've ever wondered how you could expand your photography business, either to increase revenue, stand out from the other photographers in your area, or to allow for more flexibility in your schedule, today's conversation about VIP Days with Jordan Gill of Systems Saved Me is going to get your wheels turning! 

We're covering:

• What VIP days are
• Who they're perfect for
• How photographers can create VIP offers in their businesses
• The do's and don'ts of a VIP offer
• And more!

Links: 

• Find Jordan here: SystemsSavedMe.com
• And on Instagram here: @SystemsSavedMe
• Sign up for the Simple Sales Masterclass where Annemie teaches the 6 steps to running a profitable, sustainable photography business you love. 

Join us for the Future of Marketing Summit on August 6th. Click HERE to get your free ticket!

Resources:

• New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources.
• Join our community! We'd love to welcome you into our supportive, business-focused private Facebook group. Go to facebook.com/groups/thiscantbethathard to request access.
• Long-time listener? Leave a review!

Most of the time on this podcast I give you ideas for how to refine your business, streamline your systems, and improve your workflow. But today I want to talk about WHY doing those things is important. One of the (many) reasons it's good to have a well-run business is so can keep your eyes open for the golden opportunities that are all around you. 

Sometimes as soloprenuers, we're so busy juggling the many hats we have to wear that we can struggle to see the forest for the trees (especially during the busy season)... and that happens in larger corporations, too. Today, I'm sharing a short story about how a big company failed to do that in the hopes that it will inspire you to re-commit to the customer service that makes our small businesses shine. 

Links:

• Sign up for the Simple Sales Masterclass where Annemie teaches the 6 steps to running a profitable, sustainable photography business you love. 
  
  
• Join the free This Can’t Be That Hard Facebook Group - the most supportive, business-focused group for photographers out there! 

Join us for the Future of Marketing Summit on August 6th. Click HERE to get your free ticket!

Resources:

• New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources.
• Join our community! We'd love to welcome you into our supportive, business-focused private Facebook group. Go to facebook.com/groups/thiscantbethathard to request access.
• Long-time listener? Leave a review!

If you’ve been a photographer for any amount of time, you’ve probably had a card malfunction, or a drive corrupt, or watched as Lightroom choked in the middle of exporting a session. 

Oh 💩, right? In those moments, I always wish I could just pick up the phone and call my own personal IT department to make THEM fix it. 

This past spring, in the wake of the worst data nightmare that I have personally experienced, I was connected with Ryan Hamic of Zen Flow tech, who - it turns out - is exactly that: on-call tech support for photographers. He's a specialist in data recovery (and helping you avoid losing data in the first place).

Tune in to hear my tale of woe, along with Ryan's best tips and secrets for protecting your photography data... this episode could save you thousands of dollars and even more headaches! 

Links: 

• Follow Ryan @ZenFlowTech on Instagram
• Or find him at www.ZenFlowTech.com 
• Sign up for the Simple Sales Masterclass where Annemie teaches the 6 steps to running a profitable, sustainable photography business you love. 

Join us for the Future of Marketing Summit on August 6th. Click HERE to get your free ticket!

Resources:

• New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources.
• Join our community! We'd love to welcome you into our supportive, business-focused private Facebook group. Go to facebook.com/groups/thiscantbethathard to request access.
• Long-time listener? Leave a review!

For years, I've encouraged photographers to talk to prospective clients on the phone. For a variety of reasons, I believe it's the best way to not only book more clients, but to start the process of working together off on the right foot.

But these days, more and more people - photographers AND their clients - are reluctant to pick up the phone... which has led some of my students to explore different ways to initiate contact.

Sabrina Jill and Melissa Arlena are students of mine who've been using a different strategy that's been very successful for them. Instead of an initial call, they both use personalized videos to respond to inquiries, and their results have been fantastic. Today, they're taking us behind the scenes on the details of the strategy and why it works!

Links: 

• Find Sabrina's website HERE and connect with her on Instagram HERE
• Check out Melissa's website HERE and follow her on Instagram HERE 
• Sign up for the Simple Sales Masterclass where Annemie teaches the 6 steps to running a profitable, sustainable photography business you love. 
• Join the free This Can’t Be That Hard Facebook Group - the most supportive, business-focused group for photographers out there! 

Join us for the Future of Marketing Summit on August 6th. Click HERE to get your free ticket!

Resources:

• New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources.
• Join our community! We'd love to welcome you into our supportive, business-focused private Facebook group. Go to facebook.com/groups/thiscantbethathard to request access.
• Long-time listener? Leave a review!

One of the most common questions that I get asked here at This Can't Be That Hard is: “How do I get more photography clients?"

Right? It's the photography marketing magic bullet (say that 10 times fast!) that we are all looking for.

But as you know by now, I’m a believer that there is no one-size-fits-all strategy for your marketing. It’s about trying different things, seeing what sticks, and above all, staying consistent. That said, I sure do love sharing fun, interesting strategies when I hear about them....

Today’s guest, Raymond Hatfield of the Beginner’s Photography Podcast is sharing a unique marketing tactic that worked like gangbusters for him. It’s a fun twist on marketing that I think will get your wheels turning and leave you with a smile on your face!

Links: 

• Check out Raymonds amazing podcast, www.BeginnerPhotographyPodcast.com 
• Sign up for the Simple Sales Masterclass where Annemie teaches the 6 steps to running a profitable, sustainable photography business you love.
• Join the free This Can’t Be That Hard Facebook Group - the most supportive, business-focused group for photographers out there!

Join us for the Future of Marketing Summit on August 6th. Click HERE to get your free ticket!

Resources:

• New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources.
• Join our community! We'd love to welcome you into our supportive, business-focused private Facebook group. Go to facebook.com/groups/thiscantbethathard to request access.
• Long-time listener? Leave a review!

When your first start your photography business, you need to make a plan for a period of time where you're building your client base up. It's normal to run at a loss for a year or two, but you need to have a plan in place for moving from that deficit into the land of profit. (If your profitability runway is too short, you’ll risk feeling like a failure. If it’s too long, you may never get off the ground)

There are so many things to think about when you run your own small business that it can be difficult to find the right balance between marketing, education, customer experience, and of course pricing yourself profitably.

Today, I want to spend some time talking about how to navigate being a new photographer and share some advice on how to become profitable as soon as possible.

Links: 

• Pricing for Photographers Mini Course 
• Sign up for the Simple Sales Masterclass where Annemie teaches the 6 steps to running a profitable, sustainable photography business you love. 
• Join the free This Can’t Be That Hard Facebook Group - the most supportive, business-focused group for photographers out there! 

Join us for the Future of Marketing Summit on August 6th. Click HERE to get your free ticket!

Resources:

• New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources.
• Join our community! We'd love to welcome you into our supportive, business-focused private Facebook group. Go to facebook.com/groups/thiscantbethathard to request access.
• Long-time listener? Leave a review!

As the busy season creeps up on us, often our stress creeps up right along with it. While some stress is inevitable (more clients = more work to do), it’s important to remember that at least part of the reason we chose to be photographers was to have freedom, flexibility, and control over our schedules and lives, so we need to run our businesses accordingly!

This week, my guest is Flourish Academy founder Heather Lahtinen. With over 20 years of experience as a wedding photographer, Heather's got a lot of wisdom to share on finding balance in your business. We talk about how to reframe your overwhelm, and cover 7 practical strategies to reduce your stress this busy season. 

Links: 

• Learn more about the Flourish Academy
• The Flourish Academy Podcast
• Sign up for the Simple Sales Masterclass where Annemie teaches the 6 steps to running a profitable, sustainable photography business you love. 
• Go listen to these past episodes of "This Can't Be That Hard" :
  • Episode 38: The Donkey, The Workhorse, and The Unicorn 
  • Episode 157: Money Doesn’t Make the Model 

Join us for the Future of Marketing Summit on August 6th. Click HERE to get your free ticket!

Resources:

• New to the podcast? Go to thiscantbethathard.com/welcome to get access to 3 of Annemie's best free resources.
• Join our community! We'd love to welcome you into our supportive, business-focused private Facebook group. Go to facebook.com/groups/thiscantbethathard to request access.
• Long-time listener? Leave a review!