Todays interview is double pronged… Not because I have both Jamie and Natalie Hosmer of Jamie and Natalie Photography in Colarado Springs on the show.
Becasuse, there are two parts to this interview…
First up, these are the guys who won the competition to trial outsourcing a complete wedding or portrait photography shoot with the Image Salon. The deal was shoot a job as you normally would and send the files away to be processed. Hear all about the experience – good and bad – in the first part of the interview.
Secondly, we'll be getting all personal and talking business, marketing and sales which was a big request of mine after visiting Jamie and Natalie's website – one of the best I've seen.
With blog post titles like…
“4 COLD HARD NIPS… ERR—TIPS—FOR A COLORADO WINTER WEDDING”
And
“THE POWER OF A WIENER: SHOULD YOU EAT BEFORE YOUR ENGAGEMENT SESSION?”
Plus
Page titles like … “FREE BEER”
This is not only a fun interview, it's full of fantastic ideas about attracting clients and growing a business fast. These guys are photographers to watch (or listen) and learn from.
Here’s some of what we cover:
What’s on Offer for Premium Members
If you’re a premium member, you should have received an email with links to your version of this episode where you can hear lots more content and we dive deeper into some of the earlier topics plus some new ones that I pushed hard for and include:
If you’re on the fence about becoming a premium member, join with the $1 trial today and get access to the FULL interview with Jamie and Natalie, get access to an amazing back catalogue of interviews and ALL future interviews delivered automatically to your phone or tablet.
Plus, access to a members only Secret Facebook group where you'll connect with other members and interview guests to help, support and motivate you to take what you hear in each episode and put it into action. You will not find cooler, more motivated and caring photographers online.
What is your big takeaway?
Following this interview, I’d love to know what your biggest takeaway is – what is the one thing that you’d like to implement or learnt from what was shared? Let me know by leaving your thoughts in the comments below.
The best thing we've done for ourselves is to not worry about what our clients think about us – Jamie Hosmer
If you have any questions that I missed, a specific question you’d like to ask Jamie and Natalie or if you just want to say thanks for coming on the show, feel free to add them below.
Winner of the Bittersweet Design Boutique Competition
Congratulations Caroline of www.carolinedyersmith.com in Switzerland (great website by the way) – you are the winner of the $100 gift voucher to use with the Bittersweet Design Boutique!
Caroline left a comment following the Ross Simmonds episode and says, “Also excited to hear about the Design by Bitter Sweet competition – LOVE their ‘Venice – Wedding Photography Marketing Magazine’ – I’ve been wanting to create a magazine to give to my clients as a welcome gift, this would be just perfect.”
Email me at andrew@photobizx.com and I'll fill you in on how to claim your prize.
Make sure you let us see what you come up with once you've finished your design -I'd love to see it.
Is Your Website Mobile Friendly?
I was chatting with Ben Whitmore of benwhitmorephoto.com in the blog comments area and the topic of SEO and ranking came up.
Ben is quickly outranking older competitors for some competitive keywords because of the weight Google is giving mobile friendly websites – which his is.
Ben says, “… which is great for my local area because there are so many wedding photographer sites that were built 10 years ago that, because of their older algorithms, were automatically ranked higher locally. They won’t be now because they’re not updated frequently or mobile friendly – Google are penalising this as we speak.”
Ben went on to share a link to easily check and test if your site is indeed mobile friendly at: https://www.google.com.au/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/
Shoot The Frame – Photo Competition
A couple weeks ago, Tristan Hewat from “Shoot the Frame” a monthly online photography competition site asked me to be a guest judge for the month of May.
First thing I did was check the site and loved what I found – a well laid out, attractive and easy to navigate website with beautiful photography. Initial thought… I'm in, this should be fun!
Tristan and I got talking and I asked if there's anything he could offer PhotoBizX listeners if I mentioned the whole judging thing on the podcast? He said ‘yes' and came up with a great offer if you want to enter your photography into the competitions.
Head to shoottheframe.com/photobizx to enter and you'll get 3 entires for $10 (usually $15).
Also, you can submit any combination of portraits, landscape or wildlife with your three photos and Tristan's guys will sort them into the correct categories. Usually entrants need to choose which contest to enter, PBX listeners can enter a combination for the $10.
At the very least, head over and have a look at this gorgeous gallery for the 2016 portrait winners – these are fantastic!
Oh yeah… If you enter, you can let me know but don't tell me anything about or show me your entry. Better yet, let me know after I've judged the competition.
iTunes Reviews and Shout-outs
Each week I check for any new iTunes reviews and it's always a buzz to receive these… for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, it's confirmation that I'm on the right track with the interviews and that they really are helping you improve your photography business. That's awesome!
Secondly, iTunes is the biggest search engine when it comes to podcasts and it's your reviews and ratings that help other photographers find PhotoBizX. More listeners means more interviews and ultimately a better show.
If you have left a review in the past, thank you!
If you haven't and you'd like to, head to https://photobizx.com/itunes and you can leave some honest feedback and a rating which will help both me and the show and I'll be sure to thank you on the show and add a link to your website or blog if you let me know the URL and your name like these photographers did:
Love it
In iTunes by Jenna Myers of JMY Photography in Canada on April 19, 2016
You're blowing the other photography podcasts out of the water in my opinion. I love listening to them and always come away from them with a slightly different perspective, or new idea.
In other podcasts I feel like the advice they give is very, very broad and vague and could be interpreted in different ways. I also feel that other podcasts exist as a platform to sell another product, or guests products, and I feel like yours is an insanely great resource, not a series of sales pitches.
Absolutely essential
In iTunes by Patric Pop of Patric Pop Headshots in Geneva Switzerland on April 20, 2016
Subscribing to this podcast has helped me expand so much as professional photographer.
Andrew Hellmich brings in a rich variety of the best in their fields, everything from wedding, to newborn and pet photographers, portrait and specifically headshot photographers adding to the content.
Is it worth paying for the premium segments of the podcast? HELL Yeah! Worth every single penny. It is a sheer pleasure to discover other professionals sharing their insights.
Links to people, places and things mentioned in this episode:
Jamie & Natalie Photography Website
Jamie & Natalie Photography on Facebook
Jamie & Natalie Photography on Instagram
Pro Photo Designs by That's Kinda Cool
Episode 034: Gabriel Machuret – SEO Strategies for Photographers, Be Impossible for Google to Ignore
Episode 092: Kristen Kalp – How To Brand Your Photography Business the Right Way
Episode 123: Kristen Kalp – How To Get The Best Portrait Photography Sales
Episode 054: Nikki McArthur – Reveal Your Personality for Portrait Photography Success
Episode 136: Bernie Griffiths – A Challenge for You to Book More Portrait Photography Sessions
Thank you!
Thanks again for listening to the show and thanks to Jamie and Natalie for coming on and sharing what you did. It was terrific to hear about their outsourcing experience and the marketing, website copy and personal stuff was just gold. Loved every minute of the chat.
And thanks to Jean-Michel from The Image Salon for helping make this episode possible by putting up the offer of outsourcing.
If you have any suggestions, comments or questions about this episode, please be sure to leave them below in the comment section of this post, and if you liked the episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post!
That’s it for me this week, hope everything is going well for you in life and business!
Thanks and speak soon
Andrew
Andrew, love how you dug and really explored in this interview. And look forward to other bonus interviews(you need to come up with a name, other than Experimental) in the future. Keep asking them how they define success too.
Question for Jamie and Natalie – how did you find The Image Salon’s burning and dodging? Previously when I have looked at outsourcing toning that was not something others did, which really seemed odd to me.
Hey Rollin! Great question. Our contact, Amanda, at The Image Salon did some very light burning and dodging, which we found to be in-line with our tastes. With the level of responsiveness that they had on our other requests, we imagine they would be open to doing it with a heavier hand (if that’s your style). 🙂
Thanks Rollin – working on more of these as I type.
New name sorted and jingle on the way too 🙂
For sure, happy to keep asking about defining success – I’m always interested to hear answers to that one too.
I really enjoyed this one!
It was great to hear from photographers who only started a few years ago. Somehow it makes success seem that much closer and more achievable. So interesting to hear about doing the sales sessions in your own home, although the one time I used a TV to display my images, I found that the colour was so off and saturated it made me want to jump out of the window!
Cheers guys for coming on the podcast and sharing so much!
Thanks Damian – I love interviewing newer photographers as much as the “rock stars” for the podcast and agree, they make success feel more achievable and dispel the notion you need to be “discovered” to make it as a photographer.
I know of a few photographers using TV’s for sales sessions, I’ve never tried it. I’m guessing there are some calibration tricks that you need to sort out before the clients arrive. 😉
This was a great interview and a massive thankyou to Natalie & Jamie for sharing – a fantastic testament to how great Andrew’s podcast is with all is hidden & not so hidden gems.
I’m actually really happy for you guys for winning the comp!!
Cheers,
Mikey
Thanks Mike – I agree, what a great couple to win the comp!
Love knowing you’re enjoying the interviews after listening for such a long time.
Bummed I didn’t get to meet you in person in Melbourne last week… Next time!
Thanks Mikey! We were over the moon to win the competition. We couldn’t agree with you more about the great stuff Andrew is able to incorporate into this podcast. Only wish we found it sooner!