Montana Diaries Creative Business Blog

creative business resources, Shownotes, extra media, and links from the pod!

 
 
Podcast Shayna Lloyd Podcast Shayna Lloyd

39: Overcoming Imposter Syndrome w/ Small Business Strategist Melissa Koehler

MELISSA KOEHLER

Helloooo and welcome back to the Montana Diaries Podcast, I’m Shayna and I’m so freaking stoked you’re here because on today’s episode we have the incredible Melissa Koehler, a Small Business Strategist who is passionate about helping women build a business they can be proud of! On this episode of the MD Podcast, we dive deeeepppp into what it takes to build businesses as a creative woman, imposter syndrome, shifting careers, and much more.

calling all photographers!

join me for my FREE masterclass: HOW TO UPLEVEL YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS USING VIDEO

EVERYTHING you need to know about integrating video into your photography biz without buying new equipment, getting super techy, or wasting your precious time!

 

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN…

1. Why video is KING online, AKA why YOU should incorporate video into your business strategy

2. The leg up that hybrid shooters have in the photo + video industries and why it IS possible to learn with your existing equipment

3. Action steps you can take RIGHT NOW toward incorporating video content!

Overcoming Imposter Syndrome w/ Small Business Strategist Melissa Koehler

psssttt…

join us in the Facebook group, your space for talking all things creativity + business!


MEET MELISSA KOEHLER

“HI! I'M MELISSA KOEHLER.

After successfully growing several businesses over the years - including one that earns seven figures annually - becoming an Enneagram coach, getting StoryBrand certified, and starting my own podcast, I uncovered a passion to help other entrepreneurs do the same! And there’s good news for you: You don't need to hustle your life away to get there! Let's connect and get you running your own profitable business without missing out on life!”

MELISSA KOEHLER

Helloooo and welcome back to the Montana Diaries Podcast, I’m Shayna and I’m so freaking stoked you’re here because on today’s episode we have the incredible Melissa Koehler, a Small Business Strategist who is passionate about helping women build a business they can be proud of! On this episode of the MD Podcast, we dive deeeepppp into what it takes to build businesses as a creative woman, imposter syndrome, shifting careers, and much more.

A chat w/ Melissa Koehler, small business strategist

  • Melissa began her career as a professional scrapbooker before eventually shifting into full time photography — she dives right into talking about her fears and objections she had during this time growing a creative business without feeling “qualified.”

I think so many of us deal with imposter syndrome. In our heads, we think everyone else has it figured out and is doing better, or someone will figure out we’re not the complete expert in our field. That stops us from doing things that bring joy to our hearts. Every creative entrepreneur deals with that. With social media, we get to look at EVERYTHING everyone else is doing, and we think they’re doing it perfectly and have education in that thing. We think if we do the same thing...we’ll get criticized. At the heart of it, we’re scared of being judged.
— Melissa Koehler
  • Melissa and I chatted about the transition from service-based business to education — she mentored other photographers during her tenor as a successful photographer, and this process of helping other creatives toward their goals became her favorite thing to do.

  • Melissa is big on doing “gut checks” in business, and she talks through how she periodically stops to ask herself if her business moves and lifestyle is bringing her joy. As she transitioned out of photography, she kept checking in with herself and asking her own why, which helped her work on her clients’ “why’s” as well. She credits her ability to communicate in a way that is “loving, kind, and constructive” to her success in transitioning to the education world.

  • As a story-brand certified and enneagram-certified educator with multiple businesses under her belt, Melissa now does small business strategy for every type of creative business. She has integrated a one-to-many model into her business to scale the type of help she’s able to give

Anndddd that was Melissa Koehler, the incredible small business strategist, isn’t she awesome!? My favorite part of the episode was how beautifully Melissa talks about imposter syndrome and her take on how to overcome it. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the topics we discussed here— head over to the Montana Diaries Podcast Facebook group and write a post to continue this discussion, or just introduce yourself over there. Don’t forget to leave your honest review on the Apple Podcasts app — it helps us get more amazing guests like Melissa and I’ll give you a shout out on a future episode. Please go create something today, friends, and I’ll catch ya in the next episode.


hey, photog friend!

If you’ve been wanting to learn videography with the gear you already own, I have a free guide just for you!

Read More
Podcast Shayna Lloyd Podcast Shayna Lloyd

38: Create the community you need w/ the founder of GirlGetAfterIt Cassidy Wendell!

CASSIDY WENDELL

Helloooo and welcome back to the Montana Diaries Podcast, I’m your host Shayna and I’m so freaking stoked you’re here because today we have Cassidy Wendell, the Bozeman Montana based founder of GirlGetAfterIt. Cass is a powerhouse of an entrepreneur and I couldn’t believe all of the wisdom she brought to this episode of the pod — I got so much out of her story of grief and finding community and figuring out how to run the successful business she has today. She indulged my curiosities and I’m so grateful because I legitimately learned so much from her and I know you will too — there are a tonnnn of tangible tips on top of all of the inspiring stories and encouragement. Cassidy is incredible.

calling all photographers!

join me for my FREE masterclass: HOW TO UPLEVEL YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS USING VIDEO

EVERYTHING you need to know about integrating video into your photography biz without buying new equipment, getting super techy, or wasting your precious time!

 

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN…

1. Why video is KING online, AKA why YOU should incorporate video into your business strategy

2. The leg up that hybrid shooters have in the photo + video industries and why it IS possible to learn with your existing equipment

3. Action steps you can take RIGHT NOW toward incorporating video content!

CASSIDY WENDELL: Creating community, navigating grief, starting a successful clothing brand, and more!

psssttt…

join us in the Facebook group, your space for talking all things creativity + business!


MEET CASS

“Hey, I’m Cass!

#GIRLGETAFTERIT was born out of a passion for wellness and need for community.

When I was 22 years old, I suddenly lost my dad to a stroke. In those years that followed, I went through a period of isolation, depression and felt disconnected from anything and anyone that my “old life” was made up of.

I knew I needed a support system, but wasn’t resonating with anything that was out there. so, instead of searching for a squad, I created one. What started as a selfish act, soon turned into a women’s wellness community I could only dream of.

Since hosting my first event back in 2017, I’ve seen first-hand how life-changing it can be to feel seen, heard and supported - for both myself and the people I’ve connected with. You start to believe in yourself. You begin to dream bigger. You chase goals, you get after it, and you inspire others to do the same.

now, I know just how important your mental, physical and emotional health is to your overall well-being, how community plays a huge role in professional and personal success, and how the feeling of being supported can ultimately change your life.

With the help of #GGAI, I have made it my life’s mission to empower women all over the world through movement, community and impact.

LFG,
Cass”

CASSIDY WENDELL

Helloooo and welcome back to the Montana Diaries Podcast, I’m your host Shayna and I’m so freaking stoked you’re here because today we have Cassidy Wendell, the Bozeman Montana based founder of GirlGetAfterIt. Cass is a powerhouse of an entrepreneur and I couldn’t believe all of the wisdom she brought to this episode of the pod — I got so much out of her story of grief and finding community and figuring out how to run the successful business she has today. She indulged my curiosities and I’m so grateful because I legitimately learned so much from her and I know you will too — there are a tonnnn of tangible tips on top of all of the inspiring stories and encouragement. Cassidy is incredible.

Before we jump into the interview, I’ve been LOVING reading reviews of our offerings at the top of the show, so here’s a kind review of my signature course Videography for Photographers by a photographer I look up to so much, so this review blew me away…I mean, I definitely have to get this lady on the podcast because she’s incredible in her own right but here’s Angie Rich’s review of my video course:

I’m blown away because I have been doing hybrid shooting and I have had a hard time navigating the mechanics and settings, so I stopped because I couldn’t figure it out. I started Videography for Photographers and it’s three modules, 17 sessions — it goes over mechanics, storytelling, editing, how to implement, how to tell a story with videography. I’m so blown away because this is what I needed. If you’re someone who is on the fence and you want to implement video into your business, I highly recommend investing in this course because Shay literally lays it all out for you and it’s freaking good. I promise you, 10/10.
— Angie Rich

Wow, Angie, thank you so much for your kind words. I know I already said it, but I look up to Angie wayyyy more than she even probably realized so to have her say such kind things about the course I worked so hard on…ahhh. It’s mind blowing. If you would like a shout out of your own, then write a review of the podcast on the Apple Podcasts app! It helps me out SO MUCH and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. It’ll take two minutes!! Nowwww onto the conversation with Cassidy Wendell.

A chat w/ Cassidy Wendell, founder of GirlGetAfterIt

  • After landing her “dream job” working in sports marketing for the MSU Bobcats straight out of college, Cassidy navigated through extreme grief and isolation that eventually lead her to seeking a community of women that she was severely lacking. Eventually, that community turned into GirlGetAfterIt.

GirlGetAfterIt is a wellness community that brings women together through sweat-working events and gear that gives back — we host monthly meetups and create a space for women to meet new friends and try new things in safe, welcoming, inviting space.
— Cassidy Wendell
  • The initial events Cass hosted were fairly successful, and she gave out stickers at each one that said “#GIRLGETAFTERIT.” This was a hashtag she used on her social media posts often, and also said to her personal training clients often. Eventually, attendees started requesting more products with the slogans like t-shirts. Cassidy realized that it was catching on — she trademarked #GIRLGETAFTERIT early in her business. She explained it’s just how her mind works — she goes after it before she’s ready. Today, GIRLGETAFTERIT still hosts monthly events and sells “gear that gives back,” and has just expanded to multiple states.

  • GIRLGETAFTERIT really gained momentum during the pandemic — Cass went full time into the business, the retail side exploded as more and more women worked from home and craved community + bought into the brand, and a partnership with Lululemon went through for the brand, which Cass is extremely proud of.

  • When the gear/apparel side of GIRLGETAFTERIT initially launched, Cass used a service called Bonfire, which is a drop-shipping platform — meaning Cass just had to design and launch the product to her community, and they took care of the production and distribution. For this service, they needed to sell a minimum order before the company would make the product. The year after, they switched to a true drop-shopping platform called Printful where they create the one-off orders as they’re ordered. They used that service for about a year, with a few pop-up shops sprinkled in that year — Cass just made bulk orders through Printful for those events. Cass explained the fees for drop-shipping were huge compared to having on-hand inventory, and the quality control wasn’t the best it could be because she wasn’t seeing the product before it was sent to the customer. GIRLGETAFTERIT took baby steps to stepping away from drop shipping completely, and they’re making more big changes for 2022.

  • Today, GIRLGETAFTERIT uses a launch model for the retail side of the business. This is largely for Cassidy’s lifestyle goals — instead of constantly having to fulfill orders and working on a hamster wheel, Cassidy can control the drops of new products. This move also adds more creativity and freshness to the apparel side of the business.

  • The community side of GIRLGETAFTERIT is split between the virtual space and in-person events. This year, GGAI implemented an ambassador model where these ambassadors can bring the in person events to their own cities upon approval. Cassidy’s three-year plan for the community is to bring GIRLGETAFTERIT to all 50 states.

  • Cassidy’s main goal for her personal life is to gain complete autonomy over her personal and professional life, including work-life balance and location freedom. For GirlGetAfterIt, she sees its future as being a “BumbleBFF but cooler.” I freaking love her, you guys.

Anndddd that was Cassidy Wendell, the founder of GIRLGETAFTERIT — isn’t she the best!? My favorite part of the episode was how intentional Cassidy was about seeking out the community she was lacking, especially amidst her grief…. But also, on a tangible level, I learned SO FREAKING MUCH about retail!!! I’ve always been interested in drop-shipping and having a business like that, so it was really kind of Cass to shine a light on that part of her business. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the topics we discussed here— head over to the Montana Diaries Podcast Facebook group and write a post to continue this discussion, or just introduce yourself over there. Don’t forget to leave your honest review on the Apple Podcasts app — it helps us get more amazing guests like Cassidy and I’ll give you a shout out on a future episode. Please go create something today, friends, and I’ll catch ya in the next episode.


hey, photog friend!

If you’ve been wanting to learn videography with the gear you already own, I have a free guide just for you!

Read More
Podcast Shayna Lloyd Podcast Shayna Lloyd

37: Live a life filled with grace, passion & purpose w/ Geomyra Pollard

GEOMYRA POLLARD

Helloooo and welcome back to the Montana Diaries Podcast, I’m Shayna and I’m so freaking stoked you’re here because on today’s episode we have the lovely Geomyra Pollard, an incredible wedding planner turned business coach who is all about serving creatives, professionals & working parents who are ready to live a life filled with grace, passion & purpose! Geomyra is incredible and I know you’ll get so much from her story of juggling marriage, parenthood, building a business, navigating grief, and living with a chronic illness.

calling all photographers!

join me for my FREE masterclass: HOW TO UPLEVEL YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS USING VIDEO

EVERYTHING you need to know about integrating video into your photography biz without buying new equipment, getting super techy, or wasting your precious time!

 

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN…

1. Why video is KING online, AKA why YOU should incorporate video into your business strategy

2. The leg up that hybrid shooters have in the photo + video industries and why it IS possible to learn with your existing equipment

3. Action steps you can take RIGHT NOW toward incorporating video content!

GEOMYRA POLLARD: Live a life filled with grace, passion & purpose

psssttt…

join us in the Facebook group, your space for talking all things creativity + business!


MEET GEOMYRA POLLARD

“Hi Friend, I’m Geomyra! The coach and support you’ve been looking for!

It is my mission to be the strategic support and encouragement for creatives and professionals seeking a well-rounded life filled with grace, passion, and purpose.

As someone who has excelled in the corporate world and flown high in the entrepreneurial world, I know that anything is possible with hard work, dedication, and a plan! As a (HARD) working mom, I undoubtedly believe we can have a successful business AND a happy family. I assuredly know that we all have a distinct purpose here on earth. I believe that now is YOUR time. You my friend are also one of my big whys and I believe in you! Let's get to work and make big things happen!”

GEOMYRA POLLARD

Helloooo and welcome back to the Montana Diaries Podcast, I’m Shayna and I’m so freaking stoked you’re here because on today’s episode we have the lovely Geomyra Pollard, an incredible wedding planner turned business coach who is all about serving creatives, professionals & working parents who are ready to live a life filled with grace, passion & purpose! Geomyra is incredible and I know you’ll get so much from her story of juggling marriage, parenthood, building a business, navigating grief, and living with a chronic illness.

A chat w/ Geomyra Pollard, life & business coach

  • Geomyra is a wife, mom, and business coach — she is a former wedding professional, so we obviously had a tonnnnn in common! Being a wedding and event planner for twelve years lended itself well to stepping into the coaching space, and Geomyra uses her past business experience to help her clients today.

  • Geomyra is a huge proponent of getting things right from the beginning — she encourages her clients to set up their systems in business from the get-go, and to build on a strong foundation.

  • While building her wedding planning business, Geomyra had to deal with seasons of grief while simultaneously learning the importance of systems — her business bookings exploded amid some of the hardest times she’s had.

  • Shortly after Geomyra finished her master’s degree, she was diagnosed with fibromyalgia.

For me — I thought, do I leave while I’m on top? Or do I wait until I screw something up and leave in a puddle of tears? I knew I was going to school to do other things, but I thought I would do planning and coaching. But no. I’m a woman of faith, I knew God had other plans for me.
— Geomyra Pollard
  • Looking back, Geomyra knows it was the right move to transition into full time coaching because she is able to deliver a boutique experience for her coaching clients. She is big on time freedom, especially with helping fellow parents manage their time with systems.

I highly, highly, highly recommend this podcast episode for EVERY creative business owner struggling with finding purpose. My key takeaway from Geomyra is how important it is to establish systems earlyyy in business so that when life happens, the business continues to run and clients continue to be served well. I’d love to hear your thoughts on everything we discussed here so head over to the Montana Diaries Podcast Facebook group and write a post to continue this discussion, or just introduce yourself over there. Don’t forget to leave your honest review on the Apple Podcasts app — it helps us get more amazing guests like Geomyra and I’ll give you a shout out on a future episode. I’m so freaking honored that you’ve chosen to spend your time and attention on this podcast today — I don’t take it for granted at all, time and attention are so incredibly precious, so here’s your reminder to spend yours on creating something this week. Let me know how it goes. I’ll catch you in the next episode. Bye for now!


hey, photog friend!

If you’ve been wanting to learn videography with the gear you already own, I have a free guide just for you!

Read More
Podcast, Business Resources Shayna Lloyd Podcast, Business Resources Shayna Lloyd

32: Experimenting and taking creative risks in 2022

Experimenting and taking creative risks in 2022

calling all photographers!

join me for my FREE masterclass: HOW TO UPLEVEL YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS USING VIDEO

EVERYTHING you need to know about integrating video into your photography biz without buying new equipment, getting super techy, or wasting your precious time!

 

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN…

1. Why video is KING online, AKA why YOU should incorporate video into your business strategy

2. The leg up that hybrid shooters have in the photo + video industries and why it IS possible to learn with your existing equipment

3. Action steps you can take RIGHT NOW toward incorporating video content!

Experimenting and taking creative risks in 2022

psssttt…

join us in the Facebook group, your space for talking all things creativity + business!


Experimenting and taking creative risks in 2022

Hellloooo and welcome back to the Montana Diaries Podcast, on today’s episode I’m going to be talking about experimenting and taking creative risks — I freaking knowww that creative business can slowly turn into factory work, especially with portfolio consistency and client expectations, so let’s talk about the who, what, when, where, and how of staying creative when you make money from your creativity. This episode is dedicated to Morgannnn, the owner of Elizabeth Samuel Photography, who suggested the topic on Instagram — she asked specifically about double exposures and creative edits. Remember, you can alwayssss let me know what topics you want covered on the pod!

When you make money from your creativity you need a different creative outlet lol

Okeyyy, let’s get into this — I’m obsessed with creativity and business and what it is to make money from creativity, so this topic gets me pretty fired up. Let me start by saying this: When you make money from your creativity, you either need a different creative outlet or you need to figure out how to continue nurturing your creativity that you’ve monetized — honestly, I think you need to do both things because I don’t think the second thing is 100% possible all the time. Let me explain.


I’m an avid reader. My real life, no bullshit, no irony involved dream is to be a novelist — I have stick figure self portraits from early elementary school with speech bubbles saying that when I grow up, I want to be a writer. Except I spelled “writer” wrong, with two t’s. 


Soooo I went to college, and I studied english literature and creative writing alongside my more practical communication studies major which yes obviously that’s a joke of a major but don’t tell that to 17 year old me making life decisions, but oh my god did I do anything possible to avoid reading and writing once those things became obligations. 


It became obvious to me that it wasn’t good for my brain to make reading and writing a job. Everyone gets so hung up on doing work that you’re passionate about because we’ve made what we do for a living such a huge part of our identity and personality — we’ve made what we do synonymous with who we ARE. Butttt here’s what I realized is true for me: I do like editing video and photos, I love aesthetics and I’m good at planning things while staying flexible because it makes me feel in control, which it’s always good when your occupation is well suited to your pathologies. I like business. It feels good to MAKE SOMETHING for someone that has an impact and makes them feel good and to be able to make money doing that.


But I can’t say my ego or sense of self or concept of myself as a creative or worth in general is tied to, like, wedding films. Thank God. 


I have to be honest in saying that I think it’s a mistake to tie your finances to your creativity and, like, artistic ego. And I think that’s what we’re talking about here, when a creative turns their real hobby and their actual creative outlet into something that makes money…and then they lose the joy of play and experimentation and all of that good stuff because now there’s pressure and expectation and, yes, fear attached to doing the thing that they once did for fun. Because it’s a job. 

Read big magic

Here’s where I tell you to read Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. And, listen, I’m not the type to gatekeep books — if you’re not a reader or you don’t have time, then please consider buying the audiobook and LISTENING to Big Magic — Liz reads it herself and it’s beautiful.

I spoke on this in a recent episode about money, which I’ll link in the shownotes, but Big Magic made me realize that as long as I was supporting myself then I didn’t actually care how I made money. My number one obligation, for my entire life, is to the pursuit of creativity. To being interested and interesting, to creating more than I consume, to keeping my heart open to magic and ideas — to not being beholden to money and obligation and others’ expectations.

But, like, it’s nice to make money with creative business. Welcome to this entire Podcast.

Consume content that makes you want to create

On the back of that book recommendation, let me also encourage you to consume content that makes you feel the urge to create something. Start being critical of the state of mind you get in when you’re consuming — are you watching Netflix to shut your brain off and mindlessly consume? Are you scrolling TikTok to do the same thing? Or do you seek out media that inspires you, that lights a fire under you, that spurs you to action? If you’re feeling a lull in your creativity, if you’re tending toward burnout, all I’m saying is that part of the problem might be the way you’re consuming — not necessarily your creative process in general.

Systemizing your creative business

Speaking of the creative process — you should have one.

I’m sorry, I’m that guy that systemizes creativity. I know, I know — you want freedom and whimsy and inspiration, you’re an arteest.

But actually, I’m sorry, you’re the one who has made your creativity your job. You have a responsibility, for the sake of the health of your business and your own sanity, to come up with systems and frameworks to exist within so that the WORK part of your work can get done and then your creativity can flourish. Structure breeds creativity, I promise.

Here’s another writing example: Have you ever tried writing long form content, like an easy or a blog post, and the blinking cursor on the blank page was just way too overwhelming and you couldn’t write anything at all? Have you tried outlining instead? Have you tried setting a timer and brain dumping? Having something, ANYTHING on the page helps you write faster, spoiler alert. Take this podcast, for example — if I didn’t have a framework… it would never get done. Ever. I have an intro and outro format that provides structure. I usually have a topic, and then I set a timer for five minutes to brain dump points. I then bold those points and consider them mini topics. The one we’re on right now is “systemizing your creative business.” Then, I set ten minute timers to write without judgement under every bolded point. Just throwing up words on the page, everything I think about the bolded point. The timer puts the pressure on for work, but it takes it off for the words sounding good — I’m literally just typing how I talk.

Afterward, I edit and then when I’m recording I’m likely to riff a bit and expand on some things, but the process and structure BREEDS the creativity. The freedom of a blank page just causes paralyzation and overthinking and procrastination. This applies to all creative work, I really believe that.

We like to romanticize creativity, and trust me, I believe there’s plenty of room for the romantic side of creation…but it isn’t all that. It’s work. It’s process.

Experimenting when you make money from your creativity

Now, back to the main point of this episode, experimenting when you make money from your creativity. Is it possible to stay creative, to experiment, to grow, to innovate when you have paying customers and clients that expect a certain thing from you?

Sure. But with caveats.

You do need to deliver work that’s consistent with your portfolio but idk there’s nothing wrong with putting weird experimental artsy shit alongside that other work — this is honestly where being a human comes in and curating your personal branding to make people expect that out of you. During sessions when I’m trying something new I’m literally like “k imma get a lil weird now” and then I lay on the ground usually for some dope ass sick ass angles idk, also the original question that made me think of this topic in the first place was about double exposures and creative edits for video and how I use fractals… you guys, I’m not techy or particularly talented or anything, I try weird shit and have fun and figure out how to stay sane in my job — I don’t ask for permission to try things out or over research or over think, if I want to do something and I don’t know how to do it then I Google it and then just freaking do it, creativity is NOT THAT SERIOUS — if you feel anxious about a client complaining about the experimental stuff you delivered alongside the regular stuff, here’s a fun blanket response, this is for photographers but feel free to shift it to whatever creative service you do: Oh my goodness, I’m so thrilled you loved some of the photos in your gallery more than others! It’s such a huge brand value of mine to deliver content that is consistent with the rest of my portfolio and I’m over the moon you found a few in your gallery that suit you — I also understand you noticed the experimental stuff I included! How fun are those!? Thanks so much for letting me get weird during our session, it keeps me creative! You’ll prolly see the fun ones on my social media, and I’m so pumped to see what you do with the others! Message me when you print them so I can see!

See how I’m coming from a place of positivity, of service, and reminding my client that they don’t have to love every photo in the gallery and I’m fulfilling my contractual obligation by delivering the amount of photos promised in my signature style? There’s no need to be defensive because you didn’t do anything wrong.

If you absolutely do not want to get weird with clients, then you need to style your own shoots and get creative on your own time. The only thing I’ll say to this is I do have a friend who does this often and then shoots and edits super clean with her real clients but thennnnn sometimes feels frustrated that she doesn’t book more creative clients. See the disconnect there?

In conclusion, you guys, creativity isn’t serious idk why we make it life or death, I don’t mean to be blase about your insecurities but maybe that’s something you need — like idk, nobody needs what we do and we aren’t performing surgery or anything and I don’t think you need to overthink this just create create create and put pretty things into the world and weird things and things maybe only you will like because we’re going to die eventually, maybe soon, and your legacy shouldn’t be cookie cutter generic bullshit. Was that helpful?

I’ve been talking about Liz Gilbert too much, I sound like a fangirl and I’m sorry, but there was this great moment in her podcast she used to do where she and her guest, I’m so sorry I don’t remember the exact context — but they were talking about a musician they loved that put out this batshit album that sounded nothing like his previous work, and the guest hated it but then came to admire it because it was experimental and weird and he acknowledged that he wasn’t put on this earth to be a song writer monkey. A modern day example would be Ed Sheeran — I know he’s kinda considered white bread as far as singer song writers go but I do find him brilliant, and he put out that collaboration album where every song was a collab and nothing fit together and it was experimental and odd, and truly I think I skip every song when it comes up on shuffle because it’s just not my thing but — goddamn, good for you Ed Sheeran. You aren’t my song writer monkey.

And to you, my dear listener — you aren’t a factory. You aren’t a photography monkey or a jewelry designer monkey or a painter monkey or a graphic design monkey or any kind of monkey at all besides the bit of genetic makeup we share with monkeys, you’re a creative being. You make money from your creativity so you have contractual obligations and an obligation to your clients to produce work they hired you to do with the expectation that it will look similar to your other work, but other than that? It’s not that serious. You WON capitalism, you’re making money out of nothing, out of things you make. You make a living with creativity. You survive and feed yourself by playingggg — you have to nurture that bit of you that needs to create, to play, to be free so you can avoid burnout and keep winning. Hooray, you’re doing the thing, friend, now don’t ruin it by getting too serious. You’re not a monkeyyyy.

I’m dying, that whole metaphor didn’t really work but ya know? I’m trusting that the spirit behind it might. Leave it to me to mix creativity with competition, you’ve unlocked the exact reason I’m exhausting to everyone who loves me.


hey, photog friend!

If you’ve been wanting to learn videography with the gear you already own, I have a free guide just for you!

Read More
Podcast, Business Resources Shayna Lloyd Podcast, Business Resources Shayna Lloyd

31: Online marketing for creative business in 2022

Online marketing for creative business in 2022

calling all photographers!

join me for my FREE masterclass: HOW TO UPLEVEL YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS USING VIDEO

EVERYTHING you need to know about integrating video into your photography biz without buying new equipment, getting super techy, or wasting your precious time!

 

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN…

1. Why video is KING online, AKA why YOU should incorporate video into your business strategy

2. The leg up that hybrid shooters have in the photo + video industries and why it IS possible to learn with your existing equipment

3. Action steps you can take RIGHT NOW toward incorporating video content!

Online marketing for creative business in 2022

psssttt…

join us in the Facebook group, your space for talking all things creativity + business!


Online marketing for creative business in 2022

Hellloooo and welcome back to the Montana Diaries Podcast, on today’s episode I’m going to be talking allll about online marketing for creative entrepreneurs in 2022. I get asked about this topic allll the freaking time, but this episode is a special shout out to Whitney Jones, who suggested this topic in the Montana Diaries Podcast Facebook Group! Soooo here’s your reminder to join the group — you can post about anything related to business or creativity, and also ask questions that will be turned into episodes.

WHY I THINK SEO AND MARKETING ARE IMPORTANT/A CONSTANT CONVERSATION IN THE CREATIVE BUSINESS SPACE

Ahhhh, marketing for creative business. Listen, I know it’s easily the sexiest and most fun thing about creative business — everyone wants to try allll of the tips and tricks when it comes to marketing because it’s fun and it feels like a needle mover, but let me encourage you right at the top of this episode to dedicate yourself to figuring out what it would take to be SUCCESSFUL with marketing.

Becauseeeee I feel like a lot of creative business owners make marketing their jobs. Like, every day. And let the actual business things fall to the side.

I also know that social media strategy dominates the marketing conversation but here’s one hard truth: likes and followers and comments don’t move the needle forward in your business. Followers are not clients.

PEOPLE LOVE TALKING ABOUT MARKETING BUT NOT ABOUT SELLING LOL

People love talking about marketing, but not so much about selling. I’ve heard it all — that selling feels icky, that you don’t want to bug people, that it’s rude.


Can we please just act like a business and make money a simpleeeee math equation for a second? How much is your main offer? How much money do you need to make in a year? How many sales is it to reach that amount? Perf, that’s how many people you need to convert into clients or buyers. Everyone wants 10,000 followers but you don’t freaking need 10,000 clients — hopefully just being armed with the knowledge of what your real number is can empower you to serve those people. Now let’s get into my marketing suggestions for you to implement in 2022.


Now, to the actual selling bit: We have to get it out of our heads that selling is icky — you have a produce or service with value. Presenting your offer is valuable to the buyers who need or want your product. Good marketing will get your product or service in front of the people who want to buy it. 


Here’s an example: When I was looking for a lifestyle photographer to photograph my newborn in our home, I could not freaking find one. I was searching hashtags like #missoulanewbornlifestyle #missoulalifestylephotographer and #missoulanewbornphotographer and nobodyyyyy was blatantly advertising what I was looking for. I feel like in-home lifestyle photographers have to exist, but they weren’t selling to me. It wouldn’t have been icky or salesy for them to figure out how to get in front of me — it would have been HELPFUL to me. 


So what the heck are these lifestyle photographers doing? Slapping up random IG or Facebook posts every day without ever taking the time to talk about their offers? Where is the strategy to get in front of me? Maybe they’re marketing every day, but are they strategizing? Are they selling?

HERE ARE MY SUGGESTIONS FOR OTHER CREATIVE BUSINESS OWNERS IN 2022

  1. Define your offers really well so that you know exactly the types of buyers you’re trying to get in front of. 

  2. Don’t make your social strategy the be-all-end-all of your business — being active on social media is great, but you don’t own social media platforms and they can go away at any time. Instead, I suggest implementing a content marketing strategy that can be repurposed across platforms. I talk about this a tonnnn in the episode we just did on batching, so be sure to go check it out — the link is in the shownotes

  3. SEO — Search engine optimization, bb. Soooo taking the steps to figure out how to make your offer as searchable as humanly possible — I do this with weekly blog posts packed with key words I’d like to rank for on Google. The most helpful way to this I’ve found involves video, so if you’d like a more in-depth explanation on that then pleaseeee feel free to snag my free resource at montanadiaries.com/learnvideo ! I can also do an episode on this strategy in the future if you want that, so let me know. 

  4. Referrals — Past clients + customers can be a huuugggeee asset, so serve the heck out of them and ASK for their reviews and for them to tell their friends about you. Sometimes an email or a text can get you leads right away — people want to support you, especially if you serve them well. On the other side of this, there could be other businesses that work well with your product or service. Do strategic collaborations or ask them how YOU CAN SERVE THEM in exchange for their referral. 

  5. Paid ads — I’ve always been a huge believer in Facebook ads, but I’m diving a bit deeper into TikTok and Pinterest in 2022. My thing with ads is that if they’re converting, then there really isn’t any amount of money that I wouldn’t spend on them. 

  6. Other — Other ideas I’ve heard of include getting your brochures or magazines into other businesses that make sense, a photographer in the Facebook group said she’s trying out putting her canvases in businesses in hospitals as displayed artwork, it’s always a good idea to show your face in your community so trade shows and pop ups are always a great idea. But I’m including this “other” category because I’d loovveee to hear from YOU about out of the box marketing strategies you’ve tried or you want to try, so go to the Facebook community and let us know what you’re cooking up and how it’s going!

WHAT I’M FOCUSING ON IN MY BUSINESS FOR MARKETING

Soooo, I thought it might be helpful and maybe a lil fun to take my business through the six steps I just covered so you can see what I’m focusing on marketing wise in 2022.

  1. So, if number 1 is defining my offers — my main offer is elopement videography and photography, with my secondary offers being smaller multimedia sessions like couples and engagements and some branding work. I know how many elopements I need to reach my financial goals, so everything I do for content marketing is focused on serving my elopement audience and reaching that amount of sales. Butttt for my smaller offers, I’ll mostly engage on stories or ask friends in the areas I’m targeting to help me spread the word about specials. I’ll talk a bit more about this in a future episode because I have some segmented financial goals this year making me take on more random sessions. On the education side of the business, my main offer is my course Videography for Photographers and the mentorship calls for creative entrepreneurs. 

  2. Point two is where I said don’t make social media the entirety of your strategy, and so what I do is I make sure to have one piece of original content per week on my website that I then repurpose for social media — you can hear all about my content batching strategy in the last episode of the pod. I’ll link it in the show notes — buttt, basically, for the elopement side this might be a blog post about how to pick a destination location for your adventure elopement — soooo, then, I would make IG posts and TiKToks/Reels that steal points from the blog post that week. I might have a YouTube video that goes along with it that gets posted to YouTube, maybe I cut up that video for the other socials. I’ll have pinterest graphics that lead back to the blog post. See what I mean? Make one piece of original content that serves the overarching goal, which is serving potential buyers of your main offering. Strategy driven doesn’t have to mean complicated.

  3. SEO — my SEO plan relies pretty heavily on my blog content and putting in words and phrases that I want to rank in search for. Northwest Montana, elopement videography, video education, Glacier National Park, photography course — these are all example. My biggest SEO tip that serves me well is integrating YouTube videos on my website that contain titles that I want to rank in search for, like Glacier National Park Elopement Videographer. Learn more about this strategy in a free class I host at montanadiaries.com/learnvideo!

  4. 4 is referrals and I’m lucky to have incredible couples on the service side of my business who do tend to tag me and talk me up to their friends. Honestly, though, it’s really my vendor relationships that do the most as far as referrals go and I take my vendor relationships really really seriously — I always always always come from a place of service with other vendors. I send them content from our shoots, I offer head shots when I see them on location, I try to gas them up on social media. On the education side of the business, I’m diligent about collecting reviews and using the heck out of those reviews in everything educational I do, like this podcast! I also run affiliate launches where affiliates get a commission for referring people to my paid offerings. 

  5. Paid ads — I would love to do a follow up on this point in a couple of months when I have some data to share, so let me know if that’s something you want! I’m going to be running TikTok ads and Pinterest ads for the education side of my business, but I can absolutely do the same thing for the photo/video side to test out some methods for you guys. 

  6. Number 6 was the “other” category, and while I don’t really do in-person markets as much anymore, I am testing out the “OPP” strategy with other people’s platforms — this basically just means pitching to get on other people’s podcasts as much as possible to expand our reach. 


hey, photog friend!

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30: ALL about how I handle MONEY in my business!

ALL about how I handle MONEY in my business!

calling all photographers!

join me for my FREE masterclass: HOW TO UPLEVEL YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS USING VIDEO

EVERYTHING you need to know about integrating video into your photography biz without buying new equipment, getting super techy, or wasting your precious time!

 

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN…

1. Why video is KING online, AKA why YOU should incorporate video into your business strategy

2. The leg up that hybrid shooters have in the photo + video industries and why it IS possible to learn with your existing equipment

3. Action steps you can take RIGHT NOW toward incorporating video content!

ALL about how I handle MONEY in my business!

psssttt…

join us in the Facebook group, your space for talking all things creativity + business!


ALL about how I handle MONEY in my business!

Hellloooo and welcome back to the Montana Diaries Podcast, on today’s episode we’re talking moneyyyy, baby. I’ll take you through why I make it such a big point to be open about money, my personal money values, why I was so conservative at the beginning of my business, how money flows through my business, my money distribution system, and how I handle goal setting with money. Be sure to stick with me until the end because I’ll give you a free resource to help you create a system for handling money in your creative business AND will take you through the goal setting process I use with students in my mentorship calls to figure out how the heck to reverse engineer your financial goals and figure out EXACTLY how much you should be making each month and how to make that happen.

WHY I MAKE IT SUCH A POINT TO BE OPEN ABOUT MONEY AND TALK ABOUT IT A LOT

First, I want to talk for a second about whyyyy I make it such a point to talk about money and be open about it. Something you should know about me is that I don’t feel particularly emotionally attached to money —

The shame attached to money + the taboo of talking about money keeps class lines intact, it keeps people poor and proud, it keeps women in the dark about gender pay gaps in their industries. I believe so strongly in the proximity principle, too, the idea that surrounding yourself with people and ideas that align with where you want to be makes those dreams possible — I remember going to New York for the first time and going to readings and sitting down with real working writers and that industry become less…mystical and far away and whatever else, and finally feeling like 1. My dreams were possible and 2. Not being sure if I wanted the BUSINESS of story and writing to be how I made money. I remember the power of networking and finding a strong support system of women in the photography industry and leaning on each other to blowwww up our businesses and travel the world together, I remember how finding community and being transparent about business and money changed everything for me. I grew up in a household with a lottttt of financial trauma and weirdness around business and money and debt and it made me run the otherrrr way from that mindset when I came into adulthood — I was head in the sand about my bank account, I spent like crazy and gave without a passing thought and paid for everything and spent what I made because I didn’t freaking want to be the person always asking how much something cost or looking for a deal instead of having a nice experience and enjoying nice things. Whichhhhh I would way rather be that version of myself than the alternative I grew up with, but still. There was a happy middle ground. Mostly I just didn’t want to have anyyyy emotional attachments to money whatsoever, which isn’t…I don’t know, sustainable or realistic in a capitalist society. And I don’t HATE capitalism, I kind of nothing it, which I recognize is privileged. But I own a business and money these days is just… gamified, I guess.

The media I consumed while coming of age that informed how I feel about money: The Minimalists, Rent; La Vi Boheme + Big Magic — Elizabeth Gilbert saying she didn’t want to ask writing to finance her life, that she also wanted to stand on her own two feet financially and to have someone else support her was infantilizing and to infantilize oneself is demeaning to the soul. I got it into my head that I wouldn’t have any ego about how I made money, that I just needed to be able to support myself, and that’s served me well. Nothing realllyyyyy feels like life or death in my business, I’m going to figure out how to make money. I’m scrappy.

MY PERSONAL MONEY VALUES

Soooo…all of this brings me to my personal money values that I hold today. My twenties are almost over, I feel like I have enoughish perspective to quantify this for you. If I’m being totally 100% honest — I still feel a lot of, just…dissociation still, when I think about money. I don’t feel any particularly strong attachment to it, but it isn’t all la vi boheme like I romanticized when I was younger. There are things I want — I want to be financially free, which to me means debt free and to own the things that I have. If you know me in real life, you know that my husband and I don’t own nice cars or many frivolous things. I want to own a piece of Montana, I want to cultivate a home. I want to earn those things with our own money, that is very very very important to me and to be honest there are people in our lives that don’t understand how important it is and don’t really respect it. I don’t want..excess in my life, I don’t want to hoard money — I want to FEEL abundant but I want to do whatever I can to not become a person that chases the feeling of abundance by buying things. I want to travel the world.

Buttt I still have this thing where I don’t want to feel fear of losing money, I don’t want to feel fear of losing nice things. I pretty much refuse to. If I ever start feeling that way, I tell myself to stop. And it shouldn’t be as simple as that probably but ya girl has some brain chemistry things going on — there isn’t a better way to describe it then I choose to feel nothing about money things most of the time. If that sounds completely foreign to you then please know that I get it — if you can relate and you’ve done better at putting words to this than I can, then please reach out, I’d love to talk about it.

WHY I WAS SO CONSERVATIVE AT THE BEGINNING OF MY BUSINESS + DAVE RAMSEY

Soooo let’s talk about why I was soooo freaking conservative in my business, especially in the beginning, and our boi Dave Ramsey.

I don’t subscribe to Dave Ramsey’s values in general and I don’t think those are are good with money need to be as extreme as he is, but finding Dave Ramsey straight out of college was a freaking blessingggg — I was in debt and I needed a roadmap and for someone to say it was possible to live debt free. So that’s the plan Brandon and I followed in our personal life in the beginning of our marriage, but the ideals also bled over into Montana Diaries — thank goodness!! Becausseeeee I was so against debt and I was being so conservative with my money, I didn’t go crazy with equipment or tech or subscriptions or anything frivolous. We were barebones in the business for years — I only upgraded equipment when I had the money, I slept in my car after travel weddings, I was the definition of bootstrapped.

Thank goodnesssss — I’m so freaking grateful to have a business today that isn’t built off of stress and debit and credit and I grew alongside my business. I think being frugal and debt free keeps you creative, too. You aren’t beholden to anything and also people are hiring based off of your existing portfolio and you get to blow them away every year with your improved equipment.

CHANGING HOW I REQUEST + RECEIVE MONEY — HONEYBOOK

Sooo now that I’ve painted a picture of how conservative I’ve been in my business, I do want to talk about systems that have really served me and helped me grow, and the first way I systemized how money is handled in my business happened when I changed our process for requesting and receiving money.

In the beginning, my clients paid with check, cash, or through PayPal and everything was a bit scattered and messy. I never really knew when I was getting paid, which resulted in me making the majority of our money during the three months of peak wedding season and being pretty dry the rest of the year. There was a huge cash flow problem in the business and no actual system.

This sounds like a freaking ad, I swear — but for real, everything changed in the business when I FINALLY bit the bullet and got a CRM. I honestly chose Honeybook because literally every podcast I listened to advertised it, and now I’m one of them, I’m such a cliche. But Honeybook is amazing and I love it and I understand now. Here’s a simplified version of how the workflow works: I created an inquiry form in Honeybook that I then embedded in the contact page on my website, so when people fill it out, a project is automatically created on Honeybook. Honeybook is connected to my email inbox, so the filled out form also goes to my inbox.

I have PDFs related to all of my services that I’ve uploaded to my library on Honeybook, so depending on their requests or questions, I just attach the PDF that serves my client best from my library and it gets sent to their email. If they chose a date on the form, the project that was automatically created also gets added to my calendar as a “tentative project.” Which is soooo nice, it makes it so quick to see if I’m available, because I’ll also get a warning about date conflicts.

I alsoooo add all of my meetings and calls and personal time to my calendar, so that warning comes up if projects conflict with those too.

So, when a client agrees to book, I create a proposal which is where their invoice and contract can live all in one place. I’m able to create their payment plan with dates that also get added to my calendar so I know when payments are being made, and then they sign their contract and make the payment online from the same link. Once they pay their retainer and sign the contract, they’re booked officially in my calendar aanndddd honeybook is connected to my bank account, so the payment goes in their automatically.

It’s now SO MUCH EASIER to keep track of the cash flowing through my business, and having a system for requesting and receiving money now has made everything so much more efficient, and I’m able to visually see where the money is coming from and how much more I need to focus on making each month.

Honeybook is dope — you know I have to get my affiliate link in here, it’s montanadiaries.com/honeybook — just get it if you haven’t. Seriously. It does so much more than I’ve even outlined here.

CREATING A SYSTEM FOR MONEY — HOW PROFIT FIRST HELPED ME

Now I want to talk more about the actual system we have for distributing our money once it’s in the account — we’ve modeled our system after the method in the book Profit First, which I highly recommend. Anddddd it’s largely due to how my monkey brain works, let me explain:

When I was in college, I had a lot of jobs, but my most consistent job was waitressing. I would come home with a consistent 80-100 in ones and fives. I think my portion of the rent in college was $375 per month, and I used an envelope system to make sure I was saving the correct amount. I had a January envelope under my bed, so I’d get home from work and stuff my stack of cash in the envelope. Once the envelope reached $375, it would get sealed, and then I would start my February envelope. I was always 6 months ahead on rent because of this envelope method — I knew that my brain needed a physical container to understand what my money was for, and that I would respect it and even forget about it once it was in that physical container. It served me well.

I’m big on working with my brain, not against it.

Aannddd when I found out about Profit First, I realized it was a really similar concept to the envelope method.

A super watered down version, here we go: Basically, I have five bank accounts — Income, Operating Expenses, Owners Comp, Profit, and Taxes. Money flows into the income account, and then I distribute it as follows: 35% to OpEx, 35% to Owner’s Comp, 5% to Profit, 25% to taxes. I distribute it whenever, but I make sure it’s caught up on the 10th and the 25th of each month because I pay myself on those days and I make sure my P&L excel sheet is caught up — would Quickbooks be better? Probably, but this is what I do.

I truly believe that having a plan for your money will enable you to reach whatever goals you want to reach, and this system removes every bit of emotion I might have with how my money is allocated — I know my brain, I do my best to be kind to it. I work with my mind, not against it. Here’s the thing: The operating expenses account is for business spending — there’s no debate about whether or not to use that money because it’s in that account to be used. The percentage that goes to the owner’s pay account is there TO PAY ME, so I’m never able to make excuses not to pay myself. Systems work, they eliminate emotional decision making — defer to the system.

HOW I WORK THROUGH MONEY GOALS WITH STUDENTS + MY METHOD — REVERSE ENGINEERING HOW MUCH MONEY I NEED, GAMIFYING, MONEY ISN’T SCARY IT’S JUST MATH LOL

Nowwww let’s talk about how I work through money goals with students during mentorship calls and my method for reverse engineering how much money you need — I like to make it a game. Money is just points. Money is just math. It isn’t scary, I promise.


You know I’m bigggg into reverse engineering goals, so financial goals are no different. I do a super super super simplified version of the bucket method on mentor calls — the amounts are shifted and the amount of buckets is smaller so I don’t freak people out, but it’s the same concept. I’ll take you through it now:


What is the ideal amount of money you would like to make in a year? A lot of people have noooo idea how to answer this question, so here’s how I frame it: how much money does it take to live comfortably? If your business is a side job, if your partner is the main bread winner — pretend worst case scenario happens and you lose your main job or your partner loses their main job and you have to upkeep your lifestyle. Mortgage, car maintenance, bills, groceries, lifestyle expenses, fun money, everything. How much money would that realistically take? Okay, you have a number to work with now. I think it’s always a great goal to make your business profitable enough that it could finance your life, at least. 


Let’s be conservative here and pretend the amount you came up with is $50,000. That’s $50,000 paid out to YOU and not $50,000 that you make in your business. I like to make the numbers easy and make the goals feel superrrr achievable, even if they’re going to be hard work, so I tell my students to plan on paying themselves 50%, put 25% in a tax account, and 25% in the business account for operating expenses. 


That means, in our hypothetical scenario — if you want to make 50,000 with your business, then the business needs to make $100,000. Are you still with me?


Now, that total amount for a goal might still seem abstract and a bit far away if you’re at the beginning stages of business. This is where reverse engineering comes in, or working backwards from our main goal. If you’re a service based business, what is the average cost of a client or what is the cost of your main offer? For me, the average client pays around 5,000 — sooo 100,000 divided by 5,000 is 20. I need 20 weddings and elopements if I want my business to reach six figures,that goal feels really doable to me and so then I’d focus my marketing efforts on achieving that goal. But if you don’t have a high ticket offer, it’s still doable! Let’s go even further on the math. Sticking with a photography example — what is a portrait session worth? $500, to low ball it? 100,000 divided by 500 is 200 clients in the calendar year — that seems like a lot. But 200 divided by 12 months is 16 clients. 16 sessions in 1 month still feels like a lot to me, but maybe it doesn’t to you. But these are numbers that are starting to feel possible, they’re starting to make the overarching goal feel realistic. If I was in this position I would think: How can I increase the spend of these clients? Can I make these sessions worth more? Can I upsell prints and albums? Can I add an offer to my suite? Can I run mini sessions or specials every month at that price point that can help me meet these quantity goals without me running around like a chicken with my head cut off? How can I make this possible?


If you’re a product based business, what is your highest selling offer? Maybe you sell hand made earrings or you make skincare products — yes, maybe I’m calling out some of my fave creatives who I know listen to the pod, ha! But let’s say your highest selling product is around $15 — $100,000 might seem so far away. Let’s do the math. $100,000 divided by 15 is 6,666 sales — divide that by 12, it’s around 555 sales per month. Don’t let the math be scary — know the numbers, even the estimates like we’re doing now.


KNOWING what your sales goal per month is will EMPOWER you to make marketing decisions. You’ll pay attention to what marketing channels are bringing people over to your website, what is actually causing people to inquire with you for your services and then how many of those people turn into leads. For product based businesses, you’ll see who is clicking to the website and then what percentage of your traffic turns into paid customers. Once you know that percentage, you’ll have a goal for how many people need to click on your website in the first place, which helps you make decisions for running paid ads if you go that route. It’s not scary, it’s MATH.


And even more than math… money almost turns into a point system with you know your numbers, it turns into a game. You know how in video games you get rewarded with points and if you get enough points you get to the next level? Just think of your money goals like that. 


One last thing: Make yourself a visual indicator for tracking your money. A thermometer to color in as you make sales is my favorite one. Do what you can to make your finances fun, because why the heck not. Goal setting in this way doesn’t have to be a scary weird thing — you can’t achieve your big goals unless you define them clearly, you need to know where you’re going.


hey, photog friend!

If you’ve been wanting to learn videography with the gear you already own, I have a free guide just for you!

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21: Pinterest Strategy for Creative Business w/ MY Pinterest manager Teresa Dietrich!

In episode 21, I’m talking with MY pinterest manager Teresa Dietrich about her journey to becoming a Virtual Assistant-turned Pinterest Strategist, her client workflow, and tips for creative entrepreneurs like you to create your own Pinterest workflows. We dive DEEP into the WHY behind Pinterest as well as the how, so be sure to listen alllll the way to the end so you can implement all of this goodness into your own business.

“Instagram is no longer a photo sharing app.”

When head of Instagram Adam Mosseri said that via an IGTV video this summer, I watched as photographers freaked the eff out on photography Facebook groups, on their stories, and yepppp my DMs.

 

Sooo… I wrote a free guide for YOU, photog friend. This guide is a DEEP DIVE into video marketing for photographers — not only do I provide tangible, actionable strategy for batching video content for YouTube, IGTV, Facebook, TikTok, and Reels, but I take the time to discuss the WHY of it all. Aannndddd this isn’t one of those guides where I throw up information on you that you have no hope of implementing during your busy photo season — I’m a working videographer and photographer, so I freaking get the struggle to implement a content creation strategy. As always, I’m here to meet you where you’re at with what you have

Teresa Dietrich: All about outsourcing Pinterest, the process of working with a VA, and creating a strategy that drives tangible results

psssttt…

join us in the Facebook group, your space for talking all things creativity + business!


Behind the scenes with MY Pinterest Manager!

In episode 21, I’m talking with MY pinterest manager Teresa Dietrich about her journey to becoming a Virtual Assistant-turned Pinterest Strategist, her client workflow, and tips for creative entrepreneurs like you to create your own Pinterest workflows. We dive DEEP into the WHY behind Pinterest as well as the how, so be sure to listen alllll the way to the end so you can implement all of this goodness into your own business.

TERESA DIETRICH

In episode 21, I’m talking with MY pinterest manager Teresa Dietrich about her journey to becoming a Virtual Assistant-turned Pinterest Strategist, her client workflow, and tips for creative entrepreneurs like you to create your own Pinterest workflows. We dive DEEP into the WHY behind Pinterest as well as the how, so be sure to listen alllll the way to the end so you can implement all of this goodness into your own business.

Starting a VA Practice

Teresa and I chatted all about the inception of her VA business — she took us through early client acquisition, to working with those first clients, to finally niching down to Pinterest. Teresa’s personal experience will be helpful to those who want to become a VA as well as business owners looking to work with one for the first time.

The Process of Outsourcing Pinterest

Soooo many creative business owners want to outsource things like Pinterest, but the thought is intimidating for them. Part of that intimidation is that they don’t know how the process works. Here is how it works with Teresa:

  1. Fill out an inquiry form. You’ll talk back and forth about how everything works, and ask any questions you might have.

  2. Schedule a call to make sure you vibe with the person you’re outsourcing tasks to!

  3. Agree on services rendered, payment, and get a contract in place.

Creating a strategy for Pinterest

After the agreement is made, it’s time to create a Pinterest strategy that aligns with your goals for your business. This isn’t about pinning pretty things and increasing vanity metrics that make you feel good — it’s about driving real, tangible results like email list building. Remember: You OWN your email list, but you don’t own social media platforms. Your marketing strategy should really focus on driving the needle forward with things you own.

Pinterest isn’t a social media platform in the way that Instagram and Facebook are — Pinterest is a search engine that people use in order to find inspiration, tools, and things to buy.

When I’m looking at our analytics every month, I’m looking at the email list to see if it’s growing. What Teresa is looking at are analytics related to Pinterest itself like impressions, pins, and clicks to see what is resonating with people so we can make more of that.

5 Steps to DIYing Pinterest if you Aren’t Ready to Outsource

  1. Clearly outline your goals: figure out who you want to find your pins, how you can help them, and where you want them to go.

  2. Keyword Research: Keywords are specific words that show Pinterest what your content is about. Collect keywords based on existing pins that people are searching for.

  3. Creating Pins: Create graphics that encourage people to click!

  4. Schedule out pins: We use Tailwind to schedule out pins in advance so that you’re consistently posting on Pinterest without having to think about it every single day.

  5. Create systems for batching Pinterest-related tasks: Take specific days to block out time to look at your analytics for the last month, create content, and schedule pins.

Work with Teresa

If you’re interested in outsourcing your Pinterest, be sure to check out Teresa on Instagram!

Get a shout out on the pod!

Be sure to rate and review the Montana Diaries podcast on Apple Podcasts to get a shout out on the pod! Just be sure to include your Instagram handle in your review so we can say thank you on a future episode — your reviews help us so much to get more amazing guests, climb in the charts, and continue to serve you!


hey, photog friend!

If you’ve been wanting to learn videography with the gear you already own, I have a free guide just for you!

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