Ever have the feeling you were starting your photography business on the back foot? Always something stopping you from reaching what you know you're capable of. Not enough time, raising kids, a full time job, too much competition, don't have the right photography gear, don't live in the right area, the list goes on…

Todays guest, Justin Erickson has been diagnosed with the degenerative eye disorder, Keratoconus, which ultimately can lead to blindness. Currently his symptoms include double vision and ghosting but it will get worse. Here's the thing, his passion is photography and he's pursuing it with a passion. He's not taking no for an answer and starting a wedding photography business!

Here’s some of what we cover:

  • Setting up a wedding photography business while keeping a full time job
  • Fulfilling a dream to have your own photography business
  • From college to photography business – will it be sustainable?
  • Why work full time in a photo lab in preference to assistant shooting
  • Photography challenges while dealing with a degenerative eye disorder
  • Shooting weddings with double visions, ghosting and blurred vision
  • How to improve your business skills
  • The importance of setting up your own website
  • The need to have multiple social media platforms to market your business
  • How to measure the effectiveness of your website
  • How to get referrals from other photographers in your local area
  • Why you need to separate your personal Instagram account from your business account
  • Why you need to be consistent with what you post on Instagram
  • What kind of photos should you be posting to your business Instagram account?
  • Choosing the right hashtags to increase Instagram followers
  • How clients are finding Justin's business
  • Word of mouth marketing and how to make it work for you
  • How often should you post to Instagram?
  • How Justin's pricing has developed and changed since starting
  • Why you shouldn't be posting your prices online
  • The best time and place to discuss pricing with clients

Justin Erickson 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 from where we dive deeper into some of the earlier topics plus some new ones that I pushed hard for that include:

  • What Justin brings to client meet ups and booking appointments
  • Strategies to have clients sign up and book him during first consultations
  • Why you should be passing on clients to someone else if they're not the right fit for you
  •  Wedding client meeting locations – where and when?
  • Having a long term plan for your photography business
  • The best thing Justin has done for his business
  • The biggest setback Justin experienced in his business
  • What Justin would do differently if he is to start again
  • The importance of attending photography workshops
  • Handling unhappy clients

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 Bryan Caporicci, get access to an amazing back catalogue of interviews and ALL future interviews delivered automatically to your phone or tablet.

You got to stop being a procrastinator – Justin Erickson

Plus, access to a members only 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.

Justin Erickson Photography Podcast

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.

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

Justin Erickson Photography Podcast

Competition Time with The Image Salon – we have a winner!

I've been in touch with Natalie Hosmer of Jamie and Natalie Photography who was the winer of the Image Salon competition!

They have a small destination wedding lined up to put The Image Salon to the test.

More details to follow in an upcoming interview once they've been through the entire process of outsourcing a full wedding to professional photo editors.

Here's what was included with their win:

  • A test run process with one of our editors in order to lock into the winning photographer’s editing style
  • A gallery of up to 500 images edited at our BASIC+ level, along with 25 images edited at our BEST level
  • A three to five business day turnaround for the job

Natalie will be assigned her own editor, with whom she can develop a close working relationship. She'll provide direct feedback to the editor and the plan is to have a beautifully edited collection of wedding images delivered without doing any of the work herself. Let's see how it all pans out.

Justin Erickson 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 and your name.

Congratulations Sam!

Earlier today Bernie Griffiths and I received a very cool email from Sydney photography Samantha Olsen who has just been awarded the 2016 editors choice award from Two Bright Lights.

Hey Guys

Just wanted to share the award I gained in my 2nd year of business. Just wanted to thank you as I couldn’t be here without your help.

Kind Regards,
Sam

Sam's hard work to get published placed her among the top 5% featured, from a community made up of over 40,000 photographers and event professionals. Sam has been featured on POPSUGAR, The Knot, Green Wedding Shoes, Borrowed & Blue, Munaluchi Bride Magazine, Destination Weddings & Honeymoons and Southern Weddings Magazine.

Awesome work Sam!

Justin Erickson Photography Podcast

Spencer Lum's Momentum Sales Course is Opening soon

I'm a big fan of Spencer's approach to sales, marketing and branding, it's no surprise he's been on the show a couple times. If you're not already reading his blog, you absolutely should be – he has a knack of simplifying the complicated and making the whole wedding photography thing makes more sense.

If it's sales you're struggling with, I can't recommend his sales course more highly. The new release has been refined, updated and is ready to go. Spencer has a series of helpful videos to give you a better idea of the course content which are a big help on their own.

Spencer's big claim is he can help you 1.5x your revenue in 12 months.

You can find out more here: Momentum Sales Course for Wedding Photographers

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

Justin Erickson Website

Justin Erickson on Facebook

Justin Erickson on Instagram

George Street Photo & Video

White House Custom Colour

VSCO Presets

Squarespace

Episode PBX062: James Day – Facebook is Out, Instagram is In for Marketing Your Wedding Photography (Premium Podcast)

Episode 089: Pei Ketron – How To Use Instagram for Photography Business Owners

Episode 125: Sue B. Zimmerman – Instagram Marketing for Photographers

Lightroom

Noemi Photography

NKCF

Two Bright Lights – Service to help photographers get featured on blogs

The Image Salon – professional photo editing for wedding and portrait photographers

Equipment

Canon EOS 6D 20.2 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 3.0-Inch LCD (Body Only) – Wi-Fi Enabled

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM Standard Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras

Justin Erickson Photography Podcast

Thank you!

Thank you again for listening to the show and thanks to Justin for coming on and sharing so much.

Don't let any obstacles stop you from doing what you love and keeping you from going forward – Justin Erickson

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