The Podcast for Pet Photographers

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S10E12 | Five Aha! Moments from 2021 with Caitlin & Kirstie (Must Listen Episode)
Podcast, Interviews, Season 10 Kirstie McConnell Podcast, Interviews, Season 10 Kirstie McConnell

S10E12 | Five Aha! Moments from 2021 with Caitlin & Kirstie (Must Listen Episode)

Oh my goodness, it is ALMOST DECEMBER?! Where did 2021 go? To celebrate our annual Black Friday Super Sale, Kirstie and Caitlin took a look back through the 2021 Podcast Archives to pick out our personal top five AHA! moments.

If you missed any of these episodes along the way, consider this your sign to go back and have a listen. Or just tune into this episode and we’ll sum up the best bits for you!

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S10E11 | Sarah Stangl Raised Her Swiss Dog Photography Prices by 75% - and Business Boomed!
Podcast, Interviews, Season 10 Kirstie McConnell Podcast, Interviews, Season 10 Kirstie McConnell

S10E11 | Sarah Stangl Raised Her Swiss Dog Photography Prices by 75% - and Business Boomed!

When Sarah Stangl was faced with the unnerving realisation that her pet photography side hustle was not profitable enough to become her full-time job, she knew she’d have to either raise her prices, or quit altogether. She took the leap, bumped her prices by significant 75% and focused on creating incredible hiking dog photo experiences in the Swiss Alps. Tune into our in depth interview with Sarah Stangl of Abenteuerhunde to find out all about her European adventure dog photography business.

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S10E10 | Four Ways to Boost Your Business with Personal Projects
Podcast, Interviews, Season 10 Kirstie McConnell Podcast, Interviews, Season 10 Kirstie McConnell

S10E10 | Four Ways to Boost Your Business with Personal Projects

Whether you're just starting out in the world of professional pet photography, or you're a seasoned pro, a familiar trap that many of us can fall into is creating photography for our clients and not ourselves.

Creating a personal photography project will not only reignite your passion for your craft, but it can also seriously boost your business.

Tune into this week’s episode to learn about four ways personal projects have helped increase my client base, revenue and marketing strategies.

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S10E09 | Improve your images with better composition
Podcast, Interviews, Season 10 Kirstie McConnell Podcast, Interviews, Season 10 Kirstie McConnell

S10E09 | Improve your images with better composition

Have you ever looked at your image and thought "something is just not quite right?" but you can't put your finger on what's making you uncomfortable? It could be one of many things; colour temperature, focus, the dogs expression, to name a few.

Sometimes all we need is to step back to the fundamentals of photography and look at them as individual aspects. In today's members only episode, Craig and Charlotte do just that as they review the composition of 10 submitted images.

Craig and Charlotte are the co-founders of Unleashed Education. Between them they have over 30 years of photography experience.

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S10E08 | Getting started with offering professional printing and products as a pet photographer with Atkins Photo Lab
Podcast, Interviews, Season 10 Kirstie McConnell Podcast, Interviews, Season 10 Kirstie McConnell

S10E08 | Getting started with offering professional printing and products as a pet photographer with Atkins Photo Lab

Making the transition from an all-inclusive, digital only photographer, to offering products can be overwhelming. Firstly, there are so many suppliers, and each of them have so many unique products to choose from! And even once you choose products- how do you price them?! Then there is the file handling and the preparing images for print. Is it all worth it?

Paul and Kate of Atkins Pro Lab in Adelaide Australia joined me in this episode to answer all your questions, and to reassure you that it doesn’t have to be complicated.

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S10E07 | Blogging Isn’t Dead with Mikaela Vargas of Pet Marketing Unleashed
Podcast, Interviews, Season 10 Kirstie McConnell Podcast, Interviews, Season 10 Kirstie McConnell

S10E07 | Blogging Isn’t Dead with Mikaela Vargas of Pet Marketing Unleashed

So - be honest with us. Are you up to date with your blogging? Or are you like so many of your fellow photographers, so busy working on all the other areas of your business that blogging tends to fall by the wayside. Is blogging even still a thing these days, anyway?!

Um yes, yes it is. Tune into our interview with Mikaela Vargas from Pet Marketing Unleashed to learn how you can confidently and efficiently produce blog posts that not only attract your dream clients, but also increase your web traffic and inquiries. We’ve got news for you - blogging is not dead!

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S10E06 | Managing client data, job statuses and to-do lists with a CRM
Podcast, Interviews, Season 10 Kirstie McConnell Podcast, Interviews, Season 10 Kirstie McConnell

S10E06 | Managing client data, job statuses and to-do lists with a CRM

Managing a business can be stressful. You have a thousand and one hats to wear, and with that, means a never ending to-do list. As your business grows, so does that to-do list, but you don’t need to have an office full of sticky notes and an excel file with client details. You can have all those things in a CRM (client relationship management software, and if you use a photographers specific CRM like Studio Ninja, you can also keep contracts, quotes, invoices and so much more in there too. Better yet, Studio Ninja comes with sample templates of all of things and more!

In today’s interview, Kirstie interviewed the co-founder of Studio Ninja to learn what makes them different, how they help you, and what exactly these CRM’s can do for you.

Oh and if you’re ready to make the switch- they offer a free migration service )yep, even from sticky notes!) and with our coupon, you’ll save 50% for the first twelve months.

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S10E05 | Personal Branding Photoshoots for Small Pet Businesses with Meg McMillan
Podcast, Interviews, Season 10 Kirstie McConnell Podcast, Interviews, Season 10 Kirstie McConnell

S10E05 | Personal Branding Photoshoots for Small Pet Businesses with Meg McMillan

If you’re a pet photographer who works with - or would like to work with - pet businesses then you’ve likely already realised that everything you already know about working with private clients really isn’t applicable when you move to the B2B space. Throw into the mix that most of the commercial photography education out there doesn’t apply when dealing with small, local or boutique pet businesses and you might find yourself totally lost about how to best serve these clients. We’re talking your local groomer, doggy day care, pet bakery - all businesses who could potentially bring in a fantastic new income stream - if only you knew how to serve them best.

That’s why we invited Personal Branding photographer Meg McMillan of Meg Marie Photography onto the show today. Meg is killing it in the world of small business and personal branding clients and today she shares how you can take that same approach and apply it to your pet photography business!

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S10E04 | Changing up your session offerings to suit you better with Angela Schneider
Podcast, Interviews, Season 10 Kirstie McConnell Podcast, Interviews, Season 10 Kirstie McConnell

S10E04 | Changing up your session offerings to suit you better with Angela Schneider

Like most of us, Angela Schneider of Big White Dog Photography in Spokane, WA, offered “standard” pet portraits in her local park. With some downtime during Covid, she rebranded to a name that suits her, and then took a moment to think about what she really enjoys and her adventure sessions were born.

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S10E03 | Rewiring Your Money Mindset for Sales Success with Johl Dunn
Podcast, Interviews, Season 10 Kirstie McConnell Podcast, Interviews, Season 10 Kirstie McConnell

S10E03 | Rewiring Your Money Mindset for Sales Success with Johl Dunn

Every now and then we have a guest on the show who gives me the exact kick-up-the-bum I didn’t know I needed. Johl Dunn of JD Mindset Coaching is that guest! He was one of our most popular presenters at the Pet Photographers Conference earlier this year, so we just knew we had to get Johl back to the Pet Photographers Club to share more of his expert advice and actionable tips for rewiring your mindset. We were so caught up in the conversation with Johl that we ended up going DOUBLE overtime (oops, sorry Johl haha) - it’s a fascinating conversation and one you definitely don’t want to miss!

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S10E02 | The Judges Panel: A Deepdive Discussion into the International Pet Photographer of the Year Awards
Podcast, Interviews, Season 10 Kirstie McConnell Podcast, Interviews, Season 10 Kirstie McConnell

S10E02 | The Judges Panel: A Deepdive Discussion into the International Pet Photographer of the Year Awards

Don’t you wish you could be a fly on the wall watching the judging that goes on behind the scenes of the International Pet Photographer of the Year Awards? Well now you can be!

We brought together the five judges of the 2021 Awards: Alice Loder, Cat Race, Craig Turner-Bullock, Sara Glawe and Caitlin J. McColl to share their top tips for pet photographers entering awards AND a members-only bonus deepdive video into their “Judge's Choice” favourite images. It’s totally fascinating to hear the judges agree about what they loved about each image - and argue about what could be improved. A definite must-watch panel discussion for any pet photographers interested in learning more about what catches the eye of these leaders of our industry.

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S10E01 | What to do when your mini sessions don't fill.. combining other skills with your pet photography and setting up a pet photography business with profit in mind
Podcast, Interviews, Season 10 Kirstie McConnell Podcast, Interviews, Season 10 Kirstie McConnell

S10E01 | What to do when your mini sessions don't fill.. combining other skills with your pet photography and setting up a pet photography business with profit in mind

We kicked off Season 10 with a Goal Trackers call. Goal Trackers are a member perk- a way to get to know other pet photographers, discuss your current goals and get some feedback from others. This quarters I was joined by Ina, Angela and Suzy.

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