Tara Shuler is a sales trainer, author and founder of Convo Control who believes photographers spend too much time explaining their packages and too little time asking questions. In this interview, we explore why sending a price list can stall a promising enquiry, what’s behind “we need to think about it”, and the awkward situation where Mum wants $5,000 in wall art while Dad has no idea what the photos cost. Tara’s approach centres on understanding why clients want the photos in the first place. We cover qualifying free-session leads, following up without another “just checking in” message, and uncovering objections before the sales appointment. Some of her suggestions pushed me outside my comfort zone—and will have you questioning whether your conversations help clients see the value or simply leave them comparing prices. The post 690: Tara Shuler – When Mum Wants $5,000 in Photography Wall Art and Dad Wants to Leave appeared first on Photography Business Xposed - Photography Podcast - how to build and market your portrait and wedding photography business.

Pipi Diamond of Soulful Photography in the San Francisco Bay Area has spent 12 years building her pet and family photography business. Now she wants to sell it—and she’s candid about why. With three photographers trained, annual gross revenue listed at US$139,000 and an asking price reduced from US$75,000 to US$50,000 after losing her studio lease, Pipi shares what preparing a photography business for sale actually looks like. We cover what prospective buyers want, the staff and systems she’s put in place, a charity auction strategy that brought in around a third of her sessions, and why delegating the photography hasn’t removed the stress of ownership. Whether selling is on your radar or years away, this conversation raises a question worth considering now: what would someone actually be buying if you stepped away? The post 689: Pipi Diamond – Can You Sell Your Photography Business—or Will You Have to Close It? appeared first on Photography Business Xposed - Photography Podcast - how to build and market your portrait and wedding photography business.

Andrew “Ferdi” Ferdinands has photographed more than 3,000 events over 17 years and built an event photography business bringing in around $200,000 a year. At its busiest, his team covered roughly 400 events in a year, including 44 in one month. What caught my attention is that Ferdi says 80% of his work comes from referrals and word of mouth, even though he rarely asks for them. He believes the way a photographer makes people feel on the day has a lot to do with whether they book again or recommend you. It’s why he looks for people skills first when bringing photographers onto his team. We get into how he manages a pool of more than 30 photographers, what happens after a shoot, his straightforward pricing, and how he’s using AI to cut down the admin. If you photograph events, weddings or families, there’s plenty here to consider about the experience you give clients before they’ve even seen their photos. The post 688: Andrew Ferdinands – How To Get 80% of Your Photography Work Through Referrals appeared first on Photography Business Xposed - Photography Podcast - how to build and market your portrait and wedding photography business.

Ina Jalil is the photographer behind Ina J Photography, a multiple six-figure pet photography business in Canberra, Australia. Since her first appearance on the podcast in 2022, she has photographed more than 1,000 dogs, grown annual revenue to around $305,000 and increased her average sale from roughly $600 to $2,800. In this interview, Ina shares how she transformed a disappointing book project—with 48 sessions and just over $20,000 in sales—into a second project that generated more than $72,000 from 26 sessions, with 25 of those clients purchasing. She also breaks down a Facebook campaign that turned a $689 ad spend into more than $33,000 in sales and explains why pre-shoot consultations, transparent pricing and better client qualification have become non-negotiable. We also explore how Ina uses AI as a virtual studio manager to review her consultation and sales calls, identify missed questions, build an objection bank, draft client emails and help improve her marketing. It’s an honest look at testing ideas, learning from campaigns that fail and building repeatable systems that allow a photographer to shoot fewer sessions while generating higher sales. The post 687: Ina Jalil – The Pre-Shoot Consultation That Raised Her Average Sale from $600 to $2,800 appeared first on Photography Business Xposed - Photography Podcast - how to build and market your portrait and wedding photography business.

Megan Jones of Megan Michael Photography has built one of the most impressive photography businesses I’ve come across. Her studio has grown from $610,000 in revenue in 2023 to being on track for $3.5 million in 2026, with a team of 13 employees, three full-time photographers and the capacity to photograph up to 14 sessions a day. In this interview, Megan shares how she moved from $200 sessions to a luxury-volume photography model, why she replaced herself as the photographer, how her team generates and handles hundreds of leads each week, and why boudoir now accounts for around 80% of the business. We also go deep into her Santa photography, where she photographs around 175 clients a year, averages roughly $2,000 per session and sells personalised Christmas storybooks for $4,200. Megan also explains how she thinks about pricing, emotional sales, limited-edition campaigns, client experience and creating a studio that feels highly personal to the client while operating like a machine behind the scenes. If you’re interested in scaling a photography business, selling higher-value products or simply seeing what’s possible beyond the traditional owner-operator model, there’s plenty to think about in this one. The post 686: Megan Jones – How 25-Minute Santa Sessions Became a $300K+ Photography Business appeared first on Photography Business Xposed - Photography Podcast - how to build and market your portrait and wedding photography business.

Ben McCoy is the founder of Good Life Portraits, a Perth-based portrait studio that has grown from Ben working out of the back of his car to a seven-person team, around 80 portrait sessions a month and a business tracking towards $2 million in annual revenue. In this interview, Ben breaks down the systems behind that growth, including how he generates leads, why getting prospects onto the phone is still critical, and the numbers he watches closely — around $17 per lead, roughly $105 to acquire a client and an average sale of about $2,400. We also get into his use of AI and Go High Level to nurture leads, answer client questions, book calls and reduce the workload on his team, plus why he believes the real challenge for photographers isn’t taking better photos — it’s building a business that can keep running and growing without the owner doing everything. It’s a particularly useful conversation for photographers who feel capped by their own time, are considering hiring, or want to understand what a genuinely systemised, high-volume portrait studio looks like behind the scenes. The post 685: Ben McCoy – The $17 Lead, $105 Booking and $2,400 Portrait Photography Sale appeared first on Photography Business Xposed - Photography Podcast - how to build and market your portrait and wedding photography business.

Lucas Z is the founder of The Big Split and has spent more than a decade running a photography business in Aspen, Colorado. Despite having a successful business and good money coming in, Lucas found himself $25,000 in credit card debt, behind on taxes, with no real savings or assets — and at one point calculated he was spending 99.5% of everything he made. That experience led him to develop The Big Split, a simple way of handling irregular income by dividing money into clear buckets for business, tax, lifestyle and paying yourself first. In this interview, we talk about why photographers can be making good money and still feel broke, how irregular income creates the feast-or-famine cycle, the financial leaks that quietly drain a business, and the difference between simply earning more and actually keeping more. Lucas also shares how he cleared $25,000 in debt within five months, built more than $60,000 in savings in his first year using the system, and why the real problem for some photographers isn’t pricing or marketing at all — it’s what happens to the money after it arrives. If your income is inconsistent, your bank balance never seems to reflect how busy you are, or you’re earning well but still don’t feel financially secure, there’s plenty in this episode to think about. The post 684: Lucas Z – Why Photographers Making Good Money Still Have No Money appeared first on Photography Business Xposed - Photography Podcast - how to build and market your portrait and wedding photography business.

Gabi Kline Leon is a pet and equine photographer who built her business around a very different idea — she doesn’t see herself as simply a photographer, but as a commissioned photo artist. That mindset has helped her build a low-volume, high-value business where clients regularly spend thousands, her average sale is around $6,000, and one client spent $50,000 across multiple sessions and finished artwork. In this interview, Gabi shares how she moved from Israel to the US after seeing another photographer make $62,000 in a month, landed a $5,000 first client, struggled through the early COVID years, and eventually built a business around premium pricing, in-home consultations, multiple sessions, printed products and simple pricing. We also get into the marketing side — including the magazine partnership that generated more than $100,000, the mini-session days that brought in over $10,000 a month, her views on SEO versus Google Business Profile, and why getting in front of real people still matters. There’s plenty here for photographers thinking about pricing, positioning, sales, client experience and how to create a business that relies on fewer, higher-value clients. The post 683: Gabi Kline Leon – How to Build a Photography Business Averaging $6,000 Per Client appeared first on Photography Business Xposed - Photography Podcast - how to build and market your portrait and wedding photography business.

Myriam Ménard has built a 17-year wedding photography business around something many photographers are moving away from — real relationships, intentional curation and knowing exactly who she wants to work with. Based in Montreal and photographing weddings across Canada and Europe, Myriam charges up to $22,000 CAD for local weddings and starts at €12,000 for European destination weddings. Yet her approach to attracting those clients isn’t built around funnels, algorithms or constant posting. In this interview, Myriam shares why she’s investing more heavily in offline networking, how carefully curating your portfolio can shape the clients you attract, why she believes other people talking about your work will become increasingly important, and how clarity around who you are can influence everything from your pricing to the weddings you book. It’s a thoughtful conversation about premium positioning, creative identity, relationships and building a photography business that actually feels like you. The post 682: Myriam Ménard – The $20K Wedding Photographer Who Doesn’t Chase Marketing Trends appeared first on Photography Business Xposed - Photography Podcast - how to build and market your portrait and wedding photography business.

Richard I’Anson has spent 40 years building a photography career that has taken him to more than 100 countries and all seven continents. In this interview, Richard shares how he went from shooting weddings and portraits to becoming one of Australia’s best-known travel photographers, why those early years were crucial to his success, how the stock photography market has changed, and why photography tours have become such an important part of his business today. We also talk about print sales, licensing, building a body of work, making money from travel photography, and what it really takes to stay in business for four decades while still loving the work. The post 681: Richard I’Anson – From Wedding Photographer to a 40-Year Travel Photography Career appeared first on Photography Business Xposed - Photography Podcast - how to build and market your portrait and wedding photography business.