Michael Rammell is a UK based wedding photographer with a full time “day job” and the mission to make wedding photography his primary source of income. With a family, a mortgage, car payments and every-day bills, Michael has a strategy and a two year plan that will see him achieve his goal. In this interview we discuss, his plans and the use of  his all important spreadsheet which is the guiding light to get on path to full time wedding photography success.

Here's some of what we cover:

  • The security of a full time day job
  • Booking weddings when new to the market
  • Marketing avenues for a newbie
  • Where to seek and take advice in regard to wedding photography
  • Training options to improve photography and business practices
  • Tracking everything with a custom built spreadsheet
  • Having a plan and strategy in place that will lead to success
  • Why focus purely on wedding photography as a source of income?
  • Hiring equipment for wedding photography
  • The freedom of dropping the gear obsession and just shooting
I imagine that many listeners have had to make the transition from full time job security (the day job) to working for yourself as a photographer, some of you may even be planning to right now. Whichever camp you are in, Michael makes some terrific points and from what he has to say, I think he'll succeed… do you?

Michael Rammell Podcast Interview

Premium Members

Premium members, you will be thrilled to know that Michael has kindly offered his incredibly detailed spreadsheet available for you to download. It's totally customisable to your local currency and adaptable to your wedding photography packages.

Make sure you listen to the audio also available in the premium area that has a full explanation of how you can most benefit from the spreadsheet.

What is your big takeaway?

Following the interview, I'd love to know what your biggest takeaway is – what is the one thing that you'd like to implement or remember from what Michael had to share? Let me and other listeners know by leaving your thoughts in the comments below.

What have you implemented so far?

In the last two episodes, I've encouraged you to leave me a voicemail message letting me know one thing you've implemented in your business as a result of the podcast. This week, I'm happy to play my first real voicemail message from long time listener and frequent commenter to the podcast, Paul Pennell.

You can check out some of Paul's work here: http://paulpennellphotography.com.au/

It really is easy and I'd love to have more feedback to play in future episodes of the podcast. Simply click the “voicemail” button at the right of the page and let me know one thing you have implemented in your business as a result of the podcast interviews.

If you mess up the first try, you can re-record or leave it to me to edit – I promise to make you sound great.

Michael Rammell Podcast Interview

iTunes ratings, reviews and Shout-Outs

Five fantastic ratings and reviews were left for the show this week and I am truly grateful for every single one. The reviews make a big difference in helping other wedding and portrait photographers find the podcast in the iTunes store. A big THANKS to every one of you fantastically awesome people!

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If you have the time and are happy to leave an honest rating and review, head over to iTunes.

Also, a few shout-outs to photographers/listeners that have made contact via email or social media this week:

Russell Hyde

Kate Little – http://katelittlephotography.com

Alyssa Kjondal – www.liveloveluxe.com.au

Shauna Donnelly

Lisa Easter – www.facebook.com/LisaEasterPhotography

Robin Penfold – www.robinpenfold.zenfolio.com

Brad Barlow – http://b2xphoto.com

Matt Streatfield – mattsphotography.com.au

Andy – http://www.kissandtellphotography.com.au

Thanks guys, it's been great chatting and hearing from all of you this week.

If you'd like to get in touch, ask a question or make a suggestion for the show, you can email me andrew@photobizx.com, find me on twitter https://twitter.com/andrewhellmich or on Facebook at https://photobizx.com/facebook – I'd love to hear from you.

Michael Rammell Podcast Interview

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

Michael Rammell's Website – http://rammellphotography.com

Michael Rammell on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/mikerammell

The Guild of Photographers – http://www.photoguild.co.uk

Squarespace, the website platform Michael Uses – http://www.squarespace.com

Frank Doorhoff – http://www.frankdoorhof.com

Kelby Training – http://kelbytraining.com

Cliff Mautner – http://www.cmphotography.com

Jerry Ghionis' Ice Society (if signing up, make sure you check the premium membership area for an Ice Society $100 discount code) – http://icesociety.com

Aspire Training in the UK – http://www.aspirephotographytraining.co.uk

Following the interview, Michael emailed me a link to a YouTube video that he felt would really help clear up the “gear envy” that so many new photographers seem to suffer from:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcbDeLtGw6M

That's it for me this week, hope everything is going well for you. I'd love for you to leave a comment below to let me know what you took away from this interview.

Speak soon

Andrew