Premium Members, click here to access this interview in the premium area.

Chris Garbacz of Epic Photography in Melbourne is an entrepreneur in the true sense of the word. He has launched 8 separate businesses and is only 32 years old! It's no secret that focusing on the business side of photography is the best way to achieve financial success. This is exactly what Chris has done from day one with his business.

He currently owns and runs the wedding side of the successful wedding and portrait photography studio, Epic Photography in Melbourne Australia.

He's also recently launched, Studio Ninja – arguably the most simple, beautiful and intuitive studio management software for portrait and wedding photographers.

I get the feeling after a few emails back and forth, Chris is totally into business and is willing to give anything a try in regard to marketing, advertising and sales processes. It's difficult to gauge excitement or enthusiasm from the written word but I could sense the buzz in every piece of correspondence we had.

Once the interview starts, it was obvious I had hit the mark with my assumption… Chris loves business and even better, he loves talking about what's working what's not and sharing everything.

Here’s some of what we cover in this interview:

  • Why build a career in photography with so many other business options available
  • Learning to run a successful photography business
  • Absorb everything you can from existing and successful photography businesses
  • Starting your own business when you have low or no funding
  • How to grow your business with little capital
  • The type of businesses Chris invested in the past
  • Why Chris prefers to outsource his photo retouchings
  • Cutting the deadwood from your business to concentrate on success
  • The success of your business depends on how much you really love what you're doing
  • Is it viable to market your photography business on Groupon today?
  • Why Chris is willing to let go of the portrait side of his photography business
  • How to get your business on the first page for Google searches
  • Going against the trend and best practices and writing for Google instead of clients
  • Why Chris prefers to show his photography pricing on his website
  • How to convert email enquiries into successful bookings
  • Why Chris encourages potential clients to shop around and compare before booking
  • Relying on vendor referrals as a marketing strategy for your business
  • Is it worthwhile paying vendors a commission for referrals?
  • The best Facebook marketing strategies working right now
  • How Facebook re-targetting works
  • The kind of ads Chris creates during the re-targetting process
  • What special offers Chris sends out via Facebook ads
  • How much Chris spends on Facebook ads and re-targetting
  • What do other photographers think of Chris and his business practices?
  • Google is the most valuable marketing tool for a successful business
  • What is Studio Ninja and who is it for?
  • Studio Ninja costs and set up
  • Is Studio Ninja the easiest photography business management software available?

Chris Garbacz Photography Podcast

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 for and include:

  • How long will it take to get ranked in Google and how to achieve it
  • What is on-page optimization and how it is done
  • Applying ‘forced navigation' to ensure low bounce rates
  • Why you need to consider the average time visitors spend on your website
  • How to create and build traffic to your website
  • Why you need to include the wedding venue when tagging your wedding photos
  • The importance of backlinking your website to vendors and other authority sites
  • Why you need to be listed on wedding-related websites that rank higher in Google
  • What cheeky techniques Chris does to get those extra bookings
  • What Chris would do to get bookings quickly if he is to start over
  • How is Google re-marketing different from Facebook re-targetting?
  • How Google re-marketing works

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 Chris, 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 more friendly, more motivated and caring photographers online.

Chris Garbacz Photography Podcast

What is your big takeaway?

Following this interview, I’d love to know if you're up for the challenge and wiling to invest a little time and effort into yourself, your writing and your business. If so, let me know by leaving your thoughts in the comments below and feel free to share links to your blog posts – I'd love to check them out.

I take action like crazy, like I really work hard to just take massive action and it's what got me where I am today – Chris Garbacz

If you have any questions that I missed, a specific question you’d like to ask Chris about the challenge or if you just want to say thanks for coming on the show, feel free to add them below.

Chris Garbacz Photography Podcast

Premium Membership + SEO Bundle – 2 Week Special!

I’m having a 12 month membership + SEO bundle, special offer for the next two weeks only!
The total cost of the 12 month Premium membership is normally USD$200 – you save $40 on the regular monthly price.
Included, if you sign up in the next two weeks, access to the PhotoBizX 2015 SEO course – 35 videos taking you step by step through SEO best practices from beginner to expert level. These videos were recorded by Gabriel Machuret (interviewed in episode 34 of the podcast) and show him actually doing what he's teaching in the videos.
  • Learn how to best use your limited time, prioritise your SEO tasks, have your site ranking well without being a blogging machine.
  • Easy to follow step by step, bite size video tutorials where Gabriel teaches by showing you exactly what to do as he does it. See his monitor as he makes changes and tweaks to real websites.
  • Learn the theory behind SEO to understand exactly what Google is looking for in 2016 with your website and prioritise your tasks no matter how little time you have to work on your site.
  • Learn how to analyse your competition to find why they are ranking well and what needs to happen for you to outrank them.
  • Get into the backend of your website and learn which changes you need to make for your site ranking well and being seen by your prospective clients.
  • Follow the course checklists and steps to rank well in your studio (or home) location or the location you want to be attracting clients from.
  • What you need to avoid doing to prevent being penalised and how to obtain epic links to boost your rankings.
  • Learn how to become the online AUTHORITY in your local area for your genre of photography.
This is the same course made available to listeners at the end of 2015 for $199
SEO for Photographers
BONUS part 2 is the SEO Cookbook by Zach Prez (who I interviewed in episode 79 of the podcast) valued at USD$99.

The SEO Cookbook is a 60-page PDF that teaches photographers everything they need to know about search engines and how to rank well in search. The book is organized into simple recipes, each taking anywhere from 15 minutes to 4 hours.

The recipes allow you to focus on a specific part of your website a little bit at a time. For example, you can optimize your homepage one day, images another day, then a blog post, then learn how to get featured on another website.

With the SEO Cookbook, you can move forward at your own pace. It covers how Google works and how to exploit its ranking factors. It gives you step-by-step instructions for improving every page of your website so searchers can find you.

If you'd like to learn more about the SEO Cookbook, click here.
SEO COOKBOOK

THE SPECIAL OFFER

Sign up for a 12 month membership, and get the two bonuses included!


If you have an existing 12 month membership, email me andrew@photobizx.com and I'll organise a manual invoice for USD$200 and add an additional 12 month membership and access to the 2 SEO bonuses.

If you have any questions or want to simply add 12 months to your existing membership, just hit reply and we’ll sort it out.

Click here for the 12 Month Membership signup page.

Chris Garbacz Photography Podcast

Spencer's example blog posts for the challenge

The blog challenge put out by Spencer Lum in the last episode has well and truly kicked off and a bunch of premium members have jumped at the challenge of posting once per day!

It's not too late to get started – in fact, there's no time limit but you have to start sometime – it may as well be today.

What has been surprising is hearing from listeners taking the challenge, just how much more aware they are of what's happening in their day to day life and the ease in which they have been able to tie those observations back to their photography and more importantly, their prospective clients and their brand.

I love what Kristin Mitchell said inside the members Facebook group…

I've been really inspired by this project. I was out to lunch with a good friend of mine (also a wedding photographer) in Glasgow today. We sat outside because it's been hot and sunny here for 3 weeks (unheard of!). And I read some of your blog posts to her from my phone because I was so inspired by this project. I can't imagine a scenario where I would go to lunch with a friend and read other photographers blog posts to them! – Kristin Mitchell of Struve Photography

And here are a couple of examples from members:

Amanda Perris of Furry Hearts Photography – Embodied Love

Grant Kennedy of Grant K Images – I'll Be Fine

Barry Forshaw of Barry Forshaw Photography – Newcastle Engagement Photography

If you're putting yourself to the test, please link to your posts in the comments are below, I'd love to check them out and I know other listeners will too.

Chris Garbacz Photography Podcast

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 of your website and your name.

Chris Garbacz Photography Podcast

The NEW Photography Xperiment Podcast is live and available

Following the success and support shown by listeners after the experimental format of the recent interviews, the new Photo Xperiment Podcast has been launched and is available on this site and in iTunes now.

Interviews are underway and I'll be looking for new guests, not restricted to wedding and portrait photographers. If you have someone you think would be a good fit, let me know in the comment area below or email me, andrew@photobizx.com.

The idea behind these interviews is to get into the headspace of the photographer and find what makes them tick, what drives them, their thought process, philosophy on shooting and how they achieve what they do with their photography. So yeah, a little technique type content too.

These interviews will not focus on the business of photography – that'll be preserved solely for the weekly and unchanging format of the PhotoBizX podcast.

To hear these interviews in your podcast app, you will need to subscribe to the podcast – these interviews will not be delivered automatically if you're subscribed to PhotoBizX. Open your favourite podcast app and search “Photography Xperiment Podcast” or enter the feed URL,  https://photobizx.com/feed/xperiment/ into the search field of your podcast app.

Chris Garbacz Photography Podcast

Links to people, places and things mentioned in this episode:

Epic Photography by Chris Garbacz

Epic Photography on Facebook

Epic Photography on Instagram

Epic Photography on Twitter

Studio Ninja

Smart Passive Income

The Smart Passive Income Podcast by Pat Flynn

Google Keyword Planner

Google Adwords

Easy Weddings

Episode 076: Hamish Symington, Studio Management Software Solutions for Photography Business

Episode 154: Bryan Caporicci – Is Sprout Studio the All In One Photography Management Software?

Tave

Mail Chimp

Chris Garbacz Photography Podcast

Thank you!

Thanks again for listening to the show and thanks to Chris for coming on and being totally open about what he's doing in his business to achieve the success he is.

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