I met Melanie and her partner Heinz at a recent Jonas Peterson workshop in New Zealand. After sharing a few meals, a little wine, a couple of beers, some great conversation and the day with Jonas, it feels like I have an old friend joining me on the show.
Have one look at her website and you'll see, she lives and works in a tropical paradise. It's truly amazing!
She said something interesting to me last week though. She said that she wishes she had more interesting and diverse places to shoot. I ask in this interview, how could she possibly want more?
Here’s some more 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 from where we dive deeper into some of the earlier topics plus some new ones that I pushed hard for.
I usually list a range of topics covered for premium members but in this interview I won't be. The reason? Some of the things Melanie shared for premium members was a little “sensitive” and could negatively affect her business.
If you're in the position of setting up a photography business in a remote location or shoot destination work, you'll want to hear what Melanie has to share. I can't say more.
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 Melanie or if you just want to say thanks for coming on the show, feel free to add them below.
If you’d like an easy way to show Melanie your thanks, and support for the show at the same time, click the link to create a tweet and automatically show you’re listening: https://photobizx.com/tweet
SEO Course for Photographers
I interviewed William Bay of Flaunt Your Site back in episode 3 of the podcast and have mentioned his online courses a couple times since then.
Now he's just launched a brand new SEO Strategy Series. He's taken all the practices that have helped his clients get results and put it into a package that you can do for yourself without having to hire an SEO Specialist for $800-1,000 per month.
The promo code for $50 off is: xposed
A warning for all photographers!
Outsourcing is regularly talked about on the podcast and often encouraged but you do need to be careful.
Below is an email I received from a listener who is going through a terrible experience after outsourcing a Google Adwords campaign for your photography business. She has asked not to be named on the show.
Hi Andrew,
I would like to share this bad story happening to me at the moment… it may be worth sharing with PhotoBizX listeners.
A few month ago I received a phone call from a New Zealand company: C-mee offering their services to do my Google Adwords for me and / or SEO.
I decided I had to start relieving some parts of my business to others as I was very busy, so why not!
Their prices were expensive so I opted for the cheapest contract: Google Adwords with 6 targeted key words. I made a verbal agreement (they recorded me on the phone repeating their words) for a 4 month contract.
When it came to the end of the contract period (this month) they tried to re-sell more services and to renew the contract. They were calling me about 10 times per week.
I decided to stop the contract and to look after the Adwords campaign myself.
They replied that I needed to be “Google certified” to do that (what a lie…)! They also said that I was bound by a 30 days written notice to stop the contract and had to sign again for 4 months or to pay a 60% cancellation fee.
After kindly asking them to let me go and stop the contract they wouldn't listen.
I went to dispute the invoice and made a small claim.
It a bit stressful and I am feeling totally scammed. They have a Google account on my website, which I can not stop (I have called Google and because I don’t have the bank account number they are paying with I can’t stop them from advertising my website).
It means they keep marketing my page against my consent. My only solution would be to take down my website.
Anyway, I highly recommend anyone to look after their own Google Adword campaign and never go through an agency.
Best regards
I've since received a follow up message from the photographer saying:
My husband tried to call the company and they replied very aggressively.

Links to people, places and things mentioned in this episode:
Equipment
Canon EF 85mm f1.2L II USM Lens for Canon DSLR Cameras
Thank you!
Thank you again for listening to the show and thanks Melanie for being an awesome guests!
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
Hi Andrew and Melanie, what another great interview and what a lucky lady to be on this Island, sounds tops but i’m sure that it would get a little same same after a while. Melanie sounded lovely and very calm, and I feel like I know her already and would love to give her a big hug. Thanks Mel
Haha Mr Pennell!
I really enjoyed this interview. Melanie’s candid answers gave me an insight into what its really like being a Photographer in Raro. We married on a resort in Fiji and had a cousin (photographer) shoot is for us. We wondered how much the resort photographer would actually get considering the low wages on the island. Im glad to discover that there are photographers in the Islands who are charging what they are worth.
i liked how she started as a wedding planner (thats my dream backup job)
Kia Orana Teowai, thank you for sharing your comment. It is so great to know you received some insight from my interview. I can imagine having married in Fiji you can relate. I am very grateful for the piece of paradise I live on even with it’s challenges – that’s life ! 🙂
Thanks Te, glad you enjoyed the interview and nice to read your comments.
You sound like you know the Cook Islands well… Throwing “Raro” around like that 🙂
I think most photographers could make good wedding planners, I love that Melanie is actually doing it. Great idea!
Big hug ‘from a distance’ to you Paul ! The interview certainly presented a challenge not only due to some sensitive questions but the fact my heart rate was out of control – wow seriously nerve racking. Any way I survived Andrew’s probing questions and remembered that he is a great guy after all which explains the success of PhotoBiz Xposed. Just like skydiving – I would do it again. Thank you Andrew for having me on your show.
Ohhh shucks… Now I’m blushing. Big squeezy hug anyone? 😉
If you really want to see me out of my comfort zone, we can go skydiving next time we catch up.
Excellent interview guys 🙂 Very candid and informative!
Thanks Sarah – glad you enjoyed it 🙂