Hi friend.
Have you ever bought a photography class that you were absolutely convinced was going to change your business and you log in, do the work, finish it and realize not much actually changed?
Maybe you learned something.
Maybe the instructor was fantastic.
Maybe the course delivered exactly what it promised.
But somehow…
Your business still looked the same.
If you’ve ever had that experience, I want to suggest something that might surprise you.
I don’t think you bought the wrong class.
I think you were trying to solve the wrong problem. So lets talk about it.
The Problem with Photography Education
One of the things I’ve noticed after teaching photographers for well over a decade is that photography education asks us to do something that’s actually really difficult.
Before we buy a class, hire a mentor, or invest our time and money, we’re expected to diagnose our own business and our own problems.
We have to decide what’s holding us back.
Do I need help with lighting?
Should I take a marketing class?
Maybe it’s my pricing.
Maybe it’s SEO.
Maybe it’s social media.
Maybe I need a new website.
The problem is you don’t know what you don’t know.
And when you don’t know what you don’t know, it’s incredibly easy to spend your time solving the wrong problem.
A Problem I See All the Time
And I see this happen all the time.
Let’s say a photographer says they’re having a hard time booking clients. Well a lot of times, she just assumes she has a marketing problem.
So she buys a marketing course. She rewrites her website, starts posting more on Instagram, learns some SEO.
And none of those things are bad. In fact, those are all really important things to know and to do when you are a small business.
But what if marketing isn’t actually the problem?
What if people were already finding her website but her portfolio wasn’t converting them?
What if her lighting is inconsistent?
What if her editing is all over the place?
What if every gallery images looks like it was taken by a different photographer?
What if her posing doesn’t yet support the style she’s trying to create?
Better, more consistent marketing will absolutely get people to her website.
But If the portfolio isn’t doing its job, they’re not going to book. And no amount of marketing is going to fix that.
Hard truth.
Sometimes It’s the Exact Opposite
So now let’s flip the script a little.
Because I’ve also worked with photographers who create absolutely beautiful work.
Their lighting is gorgeous.
Their posing is consistent.
Their editing is beautiful.
But they’re still not booking.
In that case, the portfolio isn’t the problem.
Visibility is.
They don’t need another lighting class. They don’t need to lower their pricing (which is always the first thing photographers want to change when they aren’t booking).
They need people to actually find them.
Same symptom: not enough bookings.
Completely different solution.
And that’s why trying to diagnose your own business can be so hard.
Why We End Up Buying So Many Courses
This is why so many photographers end up with computers full of online courses they’ve never quite finished.
And this is why SO many photographers believe that course doesn’t work for them.
It’s simply because when you don’t know what you don’t know, it’s hard to find what you need.
And so you stay stuck.
What Changed for Me
One of the biggest shifts in my own career happened when I stopped looking at my photography business as a collection of separate skills.
Lighting over here.
Posing over there.
Editing.
Marketing.
Pricing.
Website.
Portfolio.
Instead, I started seeing them as one connected system.
Your lighting and posing create your brand
Your brand is reflected in your portfolio.
Your portfolio gives your marketing direction..
And together, your marketing and your portfolio bring in the right clients.
And once you start booking the right clients consistently, once you start making consistent money, once you trust that you know what you’re doing, your confidence changes.
And that makes it easy to talk about your business, and easier to charge a profitable wage.
Everything is connected.
A healthy business is an ecosystem, not a collection of one-off things.
Once I understood that, I stopped trying to fix random pieces.
I started building the whole system intentionally.
And honestly, that’s when everything began to change for me.
This realization is a big part of why I created my Certification program the way I did.
I didn’t want to teach another class that solved one little piece of the puzzle. I wanted to create a place where we could look at the whole thing.
Your lighting, your posing, your editing, your portfolio, your brand, your marketing, your pricing. Even the things you don’t know you don’t know.
Because that’s how you build a business that actually works.
A Small Challenge
So here’s something I’d love for you to think about this week.
Instead of asking yourself,
“What class should I take next?”
Try asking,
“What evidence do I have that this is actually the problem?”
And if you need some help, schedule a call with me! I’d love to talk, face to face to hear what is going on with you and your business and help you see what you need to move forward.
I’ll link my calendar in the show notes.
Let’s talk.
Thank you for being with me today. If this episode resonated with you, please head over to iTunes, hit subscribe, and leave a five-star review. Share this episode with someone in your photography circle who could benefit from it — and let’s normalize having honest conversations and sharing our opinions, even if they’re unpopular.
