On this episode of Cowgirls with Cameras, Kim, Phyllis, and Cara chat about all the things they wish they knew BEFORE starting their photography businesses.

Be sure to stop by the Cowgirls with Cameras website: https://cowgirlswithcameras.com and be sure to follow us on social media @cowgirlswithcameras. 

The Cowgirls with Cameras Photography Challenge for this episode!

WATER

The #cwcphotochallenge is designed to get you to sharpen your photographic eye and skills. This episode’s challenge is NEW PERSPECTIVE. We challenge you to try photographing things you photograph often from a different angle or perspective. Move your feet, change your lens, Post your challenge images on Instagram using the hashtag #cwcphotochallenge

Transcript
Jaz:

It's time to laugh, learn and take your photography to the

Jaz:

next level with your favorite cowgirls with cameras, Cara, Kim

Jaz:

and Phyllis.

Kimberly Beer:

Hey everybody, welcome to the Cowgirls with

Kimberly Beer:

Cameras Podcast. I'm Kim with Kim Beer Photography and Be More

Kimberly Beer:

Business

Cara Taylor Swift:

and Cara with Fast Horse Photography

Phyllis Burchett:

and Phyllis with Phyllis Burchette photo.

Kimberly Beer:

Hello everybody. Well, guys, it's July when we

Kimberly Beer:

are taping this. I don't know about where you all live, but

Kimberly Beer:

I'm assuming it's the same. It's hot as the dickens as somebody

Kimberly Beer:

would say and humid. I think we all share a hot, humid,

Kimberly Beer:

miserable climate right now.

Cara Taylor Swift:

Absolutely not a dry bra in the place.

Kimberly Beer:

Nope, nor a dry thigh.

Phyllis Burchett:

You can definitely fry an egg on my

Phyllis Burchett:

truck.

Kimberly Beer:

Oh goodness. So yeah, that's the current state

Kimberly Beer:

of affairs and I don't know about Phyllis and Cara, but I

Kimberly Beer:

have been personally seeking the air conditioning. Now. Phyllis

Kimberly Beer:

escaped us and went to Iceland. So I don't know what the weather

Kimberly Beer:

is like in Iceland is it like cooler and humid. I imagine the

Kimberly Beer:

word ice in the Iceland.

Phyllis Burchett:

Iceland is really not as cool as you think.

Phyllis Burchett:

But it was much cooler than it was here. Because in Georgia, we

Phyllis Burchett:

were having courses like you guys, I'm sure 100 plus degree

Phyllis Burchett:

weather every day. And I did escape that Thank goodness. It

Phyllis Burchett:

was like probably 5060s during the day and I guess the probably

Phyllis Burchett:

the lowest we got was maybe high 40s at night and course you know

Phyllis Burchett:

there is basically no night because it's the land of forever

Phyllis Burchett:

light where you have the midnight sun and you know sunset

Phyllis Burchett:

at like midnight and sunrise at 2:30am and it basically never

Phyllis Burchett:

gets dark. That is

Cara Taylor Swift:

so awesome. What a neat place to get to go

Cara Taylor Swift:

shoot. So this was with your Iceland tour, right? Yes,

Phyllis Burchett:

my Iceland equine photo tour wastes a farm

Phyllis Burchett:

called a scallop farm in the south of Iceland, where the

Phyllis Burchett:

people treat us like the stars that we wish we were. Now I pay

Phyllis Burchett:

the farm to do setups and and I did that just for you to pay the

Phyllis Burchett:

farm to do setups for us where they moved the horses around in

Phyllis Burchett:

front of the waterfalls and the water and just all kinds of

Phyllis Burchett:

different iconic Icelandic scenery is just stunningly

Phyllis Burchett:

beautiful. And this year, they had just finished their spa. And

Phyllis Burchett:

so we got to enjoy the spa and the Icelandic spa experience

Phyllis Burchett:

too. So that was besides the five star chef. It was an

Phyllis Burchett:

amazing place to be. And then of course I extended my trip

Phyllis Burchett:

another week after my tour and got to travel the ring road

Phyllis Burchett:

which I had never done. This was my eighth trip to Iceland and I

Phyllis Burchett:

have never been in the north. So a friend of mine flew and

Phyllis Burchett:

Suzanne and then one of my Iceland attendee stayed with me

Phyllis Burchett:

and Trudy and we drove the ring road and we went up and spent

Phyllis Burchett:

two nights on Grimsey Island. And then off the north. We took

Phyllis Burchett:

ferry over and stayed on the island for two nights and gotten

Phyllis Burchett:

to photograph puffins for a couple of days and experience

Phyllis Burchett:

the summer solstice while we were up there and we had a lot

Phyllis Burchett:

of fun. It was a really great trip and just I think I was bent

Phyllis Burchett:

on I had too much listed to do we didn't get to everything we

Phyllis Burchett:

wanted to do because I think I was over ambitious in our

Phyllis Burchett:

scheduling but that's okay, this just means we'll have to

Kimberly Beer:

go back. Yep, amazing. Well, Cara I are back

Kimberly Beer:

here in the United States sweating through our bras with

Kimberly Beer:

our thighs sticking together in our butts burnin on our car

Kimberly Beer:

seats.

Phyllis Burchett:

Well, you know it's a tough job but somebody's

Phyllis Burchett:

got to do it. Cool,

Cara Taylor Swift:

what a great it sounds like everybody had a

Cara Taylor Swift:

great experience. I've been looking at the images that

Cara Taylor Swift:

people are posting and stuff like that and it just looks

Cara Taylor Swift:

Phyllis it just looks like it was as gorgeous as you would

Cara Taylor Swift:

expect it to be just everything looked amazing. I'm so glad

Cara Taylor Swift:

you're back though we missed you here on the flip side

Phyllis Burchett:

I had a great group and um, as much as I loved

Phyllis Burchett:

it and as much as I love to go and be on the road I still love

Phyllis Burchett:

to come home and and be at home too. So my dog is getting to

Phyllis Burchett:

where she really doesn't know who I am this time she did

Phyllis Burchett:

actually act like she kind of miss me though. So there was

Phyllis Burchett:

that?

Kimberly Beer:

Well, we missed you for sure. So I've been

Kimberly Beer:

keeping cool in the air conditioning as much as

Kimberly Beer:

possible. I've been working on a four days to get to and please

Kimberly Beer:

don't quote me on this title if I decide to change it but four

Kimberly Beer:

days to get to lightspeed and light room. So I'm working on a

Kimberly Beer:

little online course and also developing group Gestalt

Kimberly Beer:

experiences for our workshop participants kind of plan and

Kimberly Beer:

out and I feel a little bit like an evil genius or not not an

Kimberly Beer:

evil genius. A Good genius, figuring out things that we're

Kimberly Beer:

going to be able to do to express our creativity and get

Kimberly Beer:

out of our own way at our workshops. So I'm super excited

Kimberly Beer:

about some of the things I've come up with and can't wait to

Kimberly Beer:

get them published and out there in the world.

Phyllis Burchett:

Yeah, don't don't say evil genius, because

Phyllis Burchett:

nobody will want to join you.

Cara Taylor Swift:

I think it sounds awesome cam. I can't wait

Cara Taylor Swift:

until you can share some of that with our op ed some of our

Cara Taylor Swift:

upcoming events and even in it just getting people prepped for

Cara Taylor Swift:

upcoming events. That is so cool. I've also been hanging out

Cara Taylor Swift:

inside I'm in Florida, and we've had some record heat here. It's

Cara Taylor Swift:

been hot and miserable in the summertime rains have started in

Cara Taylor Swift:

the evenings. So photo shoots are getting rescheduled right

Cara Taylor Swift:

and left. It's been a little sloppy and a little messy to try

Cara Taylor Swift:

to to keep it all together. But on the flip side, I have had a

Cara Taylor Swift:

ton of client art to design the last couple of weeks. So I have

Cara Taylor Swift:

been in the process of ordering frame pieces to put framed

Cara Taylor Swift:

pieces together ordering and designing albums. It has been a

Cara Taylor Swift:

lot of that. So I've been having just everyday stuff coming to

Cara Taylor Swift:

the door that I'm having to unwrap and review and prep. And

Cara Taylor Swift:

that's kind of the fun side of it. When you get to see from the

Cara Taylor Swift:

beginning when you start working with your client that kind of

Cara Taylor Swift:

initial concept to when you're holding tangible products in

Cara Taylor Swift:

your hand at the end. So all week long, I have been framing

Cara Taylor Swift:

and finishing stuff and unwrapping stuff and then re

Cara Taylor Swift:

wrapping it and and all of that good stuff. I have also been

Cara Taylor Swift:

shooting in the water. So I have been getting out to some of the

Cara Taylor Swift:

swampy areas of Florida and wading in and getting like

Cara Taylor Swift:

really wet. I had to put someone on Gator watch the other day

Cara Taylor Swift:

because I was so scared I was gonna get eaten by an alligator

Cara Taylor Swift:

that was gonna sneak up behind me while I was on the water. I'm

Cara Taylor Swift:

very scared of alligators. So I've been doing some cool time

Cara Taylor Swift:

shooting, I guess you would say just trying to beat the heat and

Cara Taylor Swift:

get the images that I need to get just having a lot of fun.

Cara Taylor Swift:

And we are all getting ready to head off to Montana next, like

Cara Taylor Swift:

what 10 days from now nine days from now. So I think we're all

Cara Taylor Swift:

in that last crunch to try to get stuff done before we head to

Cara Taylor Swift:

Montana. Are you guys ready?

Phyllis Burchett:

I'm ready mentally to go to Montana but I

Phyllis Burchett:

have a lot of catching up to do but yes I cannot wait to to be

Phyllis Burchett:

in Montana and see Kristin and Brighton's new baby little

Phyllis Burchett:

Aspen. I'm excited to be back at the dry head. I love everybody

Phyllis Burchett:

there we got a great a great group going with us. I'm very

Phyllis Burchett:

excited to be to be at the ranch. Oh, I'm

Cara Taylor Swift:

excited to see everyone everybody at the

Cara Taylor Swift:

ranch all of the participants and hang with you guys in person

Cara Taylor Swift:

instead of just on these zoom calls or on the podcast. So

Cara Taylor Swift:

that's awesome.

Kimberly Beer:

Yes, I agree. I'm looking forward to it. I'm

Kimberly Beer:

looking forward to hanging out with everybody and being able to

Kimberly Beer:

just kick back and do some shooting and enjoy the horses

Kimberly Beer:

and the Cowboy Western lifestyle and really just dig deep into

Kimberly Beer:

creativity and have some fun. I've had a little bit of a

Kimberly Beer:

Debbie Downer spring. So I'm ready for a happy trip and a

Kimberly Beer:

happy summer. So speaking of happiness, when we start a

Kimberly Beer:

business, sometimes we think everything is gonna be sunshine

Kimberly Beer:

and roses. And then we get into our business a little ways a few

Kimberly Beer:

years and we look back and there are things that we would have

Kimberly Beer:

liked to have known back there when we very first started the

Kimberly Beer:

business. So our topic for today's episode is all three of

Kimberly Beer:

us are going to share what we wished we knew before we started

Kimberly Beer:

a business. So if we could go back and talk to that Kara Kim

Kimberly Beer:

or Phyllis that was sitting there dreaming about being a

Kimberly Beer:

photographer or thinking about being a photographer and wanting

Kimberly Beer:

to start a photography business. What advice would you give to

Kimberly Beer:

that person? What would you tell them so that they could do their

Kimberly Beer:

business with less frustration and more happiness and joy?

Kimberly Beer:

Kara, do you want to kick us off with your top suggestions for

Kimberly Beer:

what you wished you knew when you started your business?

Cara Taylor Swift:

Yeah, I would love to because when I started,

Cara Taylor Swift:

I think I did everything wrong. Initially, I just jumped in and

Cara Taylor Swift:

immediately started a Facebook page and was like, I have a

Cara Taylor Swift:

business. I mean, I was just jumping right in and we have we

Cara Taylor Swift:

all know that's not the way to do it. Okay, so if you've done

Cara Taylor Swift:

that, that's okay. You can take the steps now to get your

Cara Taylor Swift:

business rolling in a more professional manner, like I had

Cara Taylor Swift:

to do. I think some of the things that I learned really

Cara Taylor Swift:

early on that kind of beat me back into my place and really

Cara Taylor Swift:

schooled me in the early days of my business was understanding,

Cara Taylor Swift:

first of all the actual cost of doing business and like what was

Cara Taylor Swift:

included in that. So I did spend some time doing a lot of work

Cara Taylor Swift:

around my cost of doing business, understanding what

Cara Taylor Swift:

types of costs it's actually very expensive to be a

Cara Taylor Swift:

photographer in case you know, people don't know that already.

Cara Taylor Swift:

So it was a there It was a lot to learn there. I would also say

Cara Taylor Swift:

that I learned this, this took a while. When I first started, I

Cara Taylor Swift:

had this goal that I wanted to photograph everyone. I was going

Cara Taylor Swift:

to photograph weddings, I was going to photograph seniors, I

Cara Taylor Swift:

was going to photograph horses and pets and families, and I was

Cara Taylor Swift:

gonna photograph everything. What I learned really quickly

Cara Taylor Swift:

was that I didn't enjoy photographing anything, except

Cara Taylor Swift:

for horses and horse people. So really quickly, I was in this

Cara Taylor Swift:

weird place where I wasn't loving what I was doing, because

Cara Taylor Swift:

I wasn't shooting what I wanted to shoot on a regular basis. So

Cara Taylor Swift:

I learned that it's okay not to be everyone's photographer. And

Cara Taylor Swift:

even within your own niche, it's okay not to be everyone's

Cara Taylor Swift:

photographer. So once I was got okay with that, and got myself

Cara Taylor Swift:

in a place where it was okay, when people didn't book me when

Cara Taylor Swift:

they moved on to other folks, because they weren't a good fit

Cara Taylor Swift:

for me, in my business. I think it just gave me so much more joy

Cara Taylor Swift:

in the work and made me a better business person. The last thing

Cara Taylor Swift:

I would say is that I learned that for me personally, having

Cara Taylor Swift:

outlets out there have continued professional development, that

Cara Taylor Swift:

that was really crucial for my growth as a photographer, and it

Cara Taylor Swift:

was really crucial for my mindset around being a business

Cara Taylor Swift:

owner, and around photography in general. I know that was kind of

Cara Taylor Swift:

quick. But those are the three things I think that really

Cara Taylor Swift:

jumped out at me, you know, when we sat down and started talking

Cara Taylor Swift:

about this topic today. What about you guys?

Kimberly Beer:

Yeah, so I agree with all of those. I think that

Kimberly Beer:

they're fantastic suggestions for people, when they're

Kimberly Beer:

starting to think about their business, especially the costs,

Kimberly Beer:

that was a huge realization for me as well, in the transition

Kimberly Beer:

from an hourly wage, to running your own business. That's,

Kimberly Beer:

that's a struggle for a lot of people. And when you get used to

Kimberly Beer:

being paid an hourly salary, or and or a salary position, so

Kimberly Beer:

hourly, or salary, and the paycheck comes from somebody

Kimberly Beer:

else, not from you, I think it's easier when you make that

Kimberly Beer:

transition, it can be a little bit of a jolt, let's say, so do

Kimberly Beer:

you have anything to add? Before I put my two cents into this

Kimberly Beer:

topic?

Phyllis Burchett:

I think the biggest thing is that growing

Phyllis Burchett:

and you're not only growing as a photographer, when you're

Phyllis Burchett:

starting out, but growing in your business knowledge, like

Phyllis Burchett:

hiring somebody a good at accounting for your taxes,

Phyllis Burchett:

getting your LLC or your business model, a business plan

Phyllis Burchett:

set up and all that and learn learning about what you can and

Phyllis Burchett:

can't use for deductions. And I think really, I've always been

Phyllis Burchett:

self employed all my life. But when I started the photography

Phyllis Burchett:

thing, it was a different kind of business model than what I

Phyllis Burchett:

had been used to. And part of the time, I was like doing

Phyllis Burchett:

things because I enjoyed it not really getting paid the right

Phyllis Burchett:

amount for it. Because I was like, Well, I just liked doing

Phyllis Burchett:

it so much. And you have to be careful about that. Because you

Phyllis Burchett:

don't have to charge less just because you're starting out. I

Phyllis Burchett:

mean, I think I think one thing is no one the cost of doing

Phyllis Burchett:

business like like Kara said, there's different places you can

Phyllis Burchett:

go to. To help with that you need to understand how much your

Phyllis Burchett:

business costs to operate in order to adequately price your

Phyllis Burchett:

work. There's so many different ways to price your work and

Phyllis Burchett:

different price structures you can do. And I think just valuing

Phyllis Burchett:

your work and providing that value to your clients is

Phyllis Burchett:

something that will always there's always going to be like

Phyllis Burchett:

Kara said there's always going to people that are price

Phyllis Burchett:

shopping and looking for photographers that will give you

Phyllis Burchett:

know will give the most for the least amount of costs. And these

Phyllis Burchett:

people aren't going to be your clients and you need to learn to

Phyllis Burchett:

be okay with that if you educate your clients and communicate

Phyllis Burchett:

with them so they know the difference between what you have

Phyllis Burchett:

to offer and what you bring to the table versus another

Phyllis Burchett:

photographer, then that'll really help that communication

Phyllis Burchett:

is really big, just taking the time to understand also what

Phyllis Burchett:

outcome your new client is looking for. So that you are

Phyllis Burchett:

able to manage those expectations I think is huge. I

Phyllis Burchett:

would also highly encourage as a I didn't join professional

Phyllis Burchett:

photographers America of America till later so I think that was a

Phyllis Burchett:

big one. There's so many things that they can help you with that

Phyllis Burchett:

are very beneficial to new photographers coming into the

Phyllis Burchett:

business I'm sorry I love quotes so you know me I'm always like

Phyllis Burchett:

sharing quotes so I do love the quote about Comparison is the

Phyllis Burchett:

thief of joy because I'm really bad to compare my work to other

Phyllis Burchett:

photographers and worse when I was starting out which

Cara Taylor Swift:

I think so many people are that way we

Cara Taylor Swift:

can't help it sometimes right we

Phyllis Burchett:

all do that I mean and there's nothing wrong

Phyllis Burchett:

with it to a certain extent to have always have a level of

Phyllis Burchett:

excellence or whatever that you want to strive to, to you know

Phyllis Burchett:

to compare your work to or at least you know try to get there

Phyllis Burchett:

but it's also can get into your head and really kind of beat you

Phyllis Burchett:

down sometimes if you're not careful on really get to your

Phyllis Burchett:

self esteem if you're not careful even With gear, I mean,

Phyllis Burchett:

I have to admit that I'm a terrible gearhead, I love I love

Phyllis Burchett:

having the latest and the greatest. But I think the

Phyllis Burchett:

biggest thing when you're starting out is it just remember

Phyllis Burchett:

that a camera is only your tool. And it's an extension of you as

Phyllis Burchett:

an artist, that spending time learning composition, exposure,

Phyllis Burchett:

and how to use light and how to see light is way more important

Phyllis Burchett:

than what camera you're using. Because you can do all that with

Phyllis Burchett:

any camera and your your job, ultimately, in the end is to

Phyllis Burchett:

create emotion with your art. And that'll come from your heart

Phyllis Burchett:

and from your head, not necessarily from the kind of

Phyllis Burchett:

equipment you're using.

Kimberly Beer:

Wow, there's some great advice in there some

Kimberly Beer:

really good wisdom from somebody, like you said, who has

Kimberly Beer:

been self employed for your entire life and then having been

Kimberly Beer:

employed as an artist? It's a little different than being

Kimberly Beer:

employed as a horse trainer or a breeder or something along those

Kimberly Beer:

lines. It's it's a little different career. Right? Kara?

Kimberly Beer:

How long have you been a photographer,

Cara Taylor Swift:

I think I've been a business for seven years

Cara Taylor Swift:

now, I can't remember right around seven years. So it's

Cara Taylor Swift:

gotta be right around that seven, it's gonna be right

Cara Taylor Swift:

around seven years, probably an anniversary coming up. I feel

Cara Taylor Swift:

like I'm new in the world of photography, it was a situation

Cara Taylor Swift:

where I had a quick learning curve. And I was fortunate

Cara Taylor Swift:

enough that I had the time to do it, I was at a place in my life

Cara Taylor Swift:

where I could commit to all of that legwork that goes in in the

Cara Taylor Swift:

early stages. So I made a lot of mistakes in the beginning, but I

Cara Taylor Swift:

also had the luxury, I think of working through them. And I had

Cara Taylor Swift:

the time to do that. And Phyllis,

Kimberly Beer:

you said you've been you've had a lifelong self

Kimberly Beer:

employed lifelong entrepreneurship. And then I've

Kimberly Beer:

been an entrepreneur for over 30 years. So it's interesting that

Kimberly Beer:

we have so many decades of experience underneath our belts.

Kimberly Beer:

And yet, there's a wide range of advice here. And I'll put my two

Kimberly Beer:

cents. And now I look at this a little differently now that I my

Kimberly Beer:

advice, when I was seven years in business was be way different

Kimberly Beer:

than it is now one of the things that I think is so important for

Kimberly Beer:

business owners is to know that anything is really possible, you

Kimberly Beer:

just need to know enough about what you want to do to order the

Kimberly Beer:

deck of your life to stack up the way you want to win. And so

Kimberly Beer:

if I could go back and do this over again, I would sit down

Kimberly Beer:

with myself and I would say how do you really want to spend your

Kimberly Beer:

days? And how do you really want to spend your weeks? And how do

Kimberly Beer:

you really want to spend your months? And how do you really

Kimberly Beer:

want to spend your year because I think that when I started my

Kimberly Beer:

business, I had a very corporate notion of what that should look

Kimberly Beer:

like. And the reality was really pretty far away from that. But

Kimberly Beer:

if I would have said the truth about how I wanted to spend my

Kimberly Beer:

days, how I wanted to spend my weeks, my months, my years, I

Kimberly Beer:

would have said exactly the way that I'm living now. Now it took

Kimberly Beer:

me 20 Something 25 years to get to this point, because I didn't

Kimberly Beer:

have that question answered way back then. So I would say start

Kimberly Beer:

with a vision of what you really want to do. Where's your passion

Kimberly Beer:

at? What is it that you want to do? And yes, we're going to all

Kimberly Beer:

have to do administrative work. And we're all going to have to

Kimberly Beer:

do tasks that we don't like. But if you had your choice and could

Kimberly Beer:

write your own ticket, what would that look like? The second

Kimberly Beer:

thing that I wished I knew was how important not just who I

Kimberly Beer:

knew in the world, but who knew me. So taking that time to

Kimberly Beer:

really let myself be present with people so that they could

Kimberly Beer:

get to know who I was as an artist as a person as an

Kimberly Beer:

entrepreneur as a business owner. So I always say the

Kimberly Beer:

network is the important work. And it's it's really true, I I

Kimberly Beer:

always felt like entrepreneurship was rolling a

Kimberly Beer:

big heavy ball up a hill until I figured out how to work my

Kimberly Beer:

network. And then many hands make for light work to use a

Kimberly Beer:

quote for for Phyllis, many hands make light work. And so

Kimberly Beer:

when you have a network, that ball becomes so much easier to

Kimberly Beer:

roll. So if I could go back and do this again, I would have

Kimberly Beer:

concentrated harder on that. The third piece of advice I have is

Kimberly Beer:

that life will always get in the way. There is no good time for

Kimberly Beer:

anything and truly the sometimes you'll run into luck. So roll

Kimberly Beer:

the dice and if it doesn't come out in your favor, roll them

Kimberly Beer:

again. But you can look like I know right now inflation is like

Kimberly Beer:

scaring the bejesus out of me because every time I drive by a

Kimberly Beer:

gas station, I have a little mini panic attack or when I look

Kimberly Beer:

at my grocery bill or the feed bill for the animals or or the

Kimberly Beer:

damn airline ticket to fly to dry head or the rental cars when

Kimberly Beer:

we were booking a rental car the other day. I mean all of that

Kimberly Beer:

makes my breath catch in my throat and I have to remind

Kimberly Beer:

myself that life will always be getting in away. And there's

Kimberly Beer:

many times in the 30 years I've been an entrepreneur that I took

Kimberly Beer:

divergent exit ramps because I panicked, I went back and I got

Kimberly Beer:

a day job somewhere because I was worried about it. And the

Kimberly Beer:

truth is, is that I always found a way. And I think if I would

Kimberly Beer:

have been able to tell myself back then hey, look, just stick

Kimberly Beer:

with it, you'll be okay, don't panic life is it's always going

Kimberly Beer:

to be in the way. So just keep going. Just keep going. Roll

Kimberly Beer:

those dice again, and again and again. And then the final thing,

Kimberly Beer:

I think, when I started out in the world of graphic design and

Kimberly Beer:

photography, that's where my business was established. And I

Kimberly Beer:

really loved being a photographer and a graphic

Kimberly Beer:

designer. And in the beginning, people hired me because they

Kimberly Beer:

liked what I did. And that was great. And then I started to get

Kimberly Beer:

more clients. And when I started to get more clients, I started

Kimberly Beer:

to have to make other people's creative visions come true

Kimberly Beer:

through my own creative lens. And that was really, really

Kimberly Beer:

hard. I'm not gonna lie, I struggled a lot with that it

Kimberly Beer:

ended up showing up as procrastination missing

Kimberly Beer:

deadlines, it terrible things in my business and things that I

Kimberly Beer:

really fought against. And one of the things that I wish that I

Kimberly Beer:

would have known is that creativity is like a muscle, you

Kimberly Beer:

have to train it, and you have to flex it. And over time, you

Kimberly Beer:

get really good at delivering it on demand. But don't be so hard

Kimberly Beer:

on yourself in the beginning, because it takes time to get

Kimberly Beer:

that. So if you have to procrastinate, if you have to

Kimberly Beer:

call a client and say, Listen, I need an extra week on this

Kimberly Beer:

project. And I apologize, but I've got to have this creative,

Kimberly Beer:

I got to let my creativity have enough time. You know, be honest

Kimberly Beer:

about those things. Don't hide from them. And know that as you

Kimberly Beer:

progress through your business, as you do it more and more, the

Kimberly Beer:

easier and easier it gets. And today, it most of the time, not

Kimberly Beer:

all of the time. But most of the time, my creativity feels

Kimberly Beer:

effortless. It's not a problem I pick somebody can come to me

Kimberly Beer:

with, Hey, how would you lay this out? Or what would you do

Kimberly Beer:

here, and I can immediately have a creative idea. But that's been

Kimberly Beer:

honed and practiced over many, many years.

Cara Taylor Swift:

That is such a good point that you bring up

Cara Taylor Swift:

because I think as business owners or as as early in the

Cara Taylor Swift:

early years of photography, I think there's a tendency to

Cara Taylor Swift:

think we get to go out and we get to be creative. And we get

Cara Taylor Swift:

to shoot the things that we want to shoot. And we get to be

Cara Taylor Swift:

excited about it. And we're creating but the truth is, is

Cara Taylor Swift:

when you're a business owner, you're often working on someone

Cara Taylor Swift:

else's time, someone else's ideas, and you're having to be

Cara Taylor Swift:

creative on command. And I was just going to point out that you

Cara Taylor Swift:

and I have talked about this before over on our other show

Cara Taylor Swift:

The Business Animal Podcast, episode number 27, connecting to

Cara Taylor Swift:

your creative magic, we talk and give a ton of strategies around

Cara Taylor Swift:

being creative on on demand. So I just wanted to throw that out

Cara Taylor Swift:

there because it is something I think that is underrated in the

Cara Taylor Swift:

early years of you know, things that you didn't think about when

Cara Taylor Swift:

you were starting your business. But it's such an essential part

Cara Taylor Swift:

of what not all of us, but a lot of us have to do as

Cara Taylor Swift:

photographers and it doesn't just include working with

Cara Taylor Swift:

clients. Think about the times that we're out. And we're at a

Cara Taylor Swift:

workshop and we're leading, you know, photography participants.

Cara Taylor Swift:

And there is sometimes there's folks and even ourselves

Cara Taylor Swift:

sometimes that we're just not feeling the creative Mojo that

Cara Taylor Swift:

day. But we don't have a choice we need to shoot we have to work

Cara Taylor Swift:

we have to help others be inspired to to be creative. So

Cara Taylor Swift:

we have to draw from that. Anyway, when you brought that

Cara Taylor Swift:

up. It just got me thinking that is such an important piece of

Cara Taylor Swift:

what we do.

Phyllis Burchett:

Definitely, I really agree with both of you on

Phyllis Burchett:

that. I do have one more thing to add, as far as things I wish

Phyllis Burchett:

I'd known is about marketing about how to market yourself, I

Phyllis Burchett:

think doesn't matter what a great photographer artists you

Phyllis Burchett:

are, if you don't know how to market yourself or your

Phyllis Burchett:

business, and I'm probably not a very good person to give advice

Phyllis Burchett:

on that because I think I'm a terrible marketer, but I think

Phyllis Burchett:

just taking care of your present clients are your past clients

Phyllis Burchett:

and in using those as referrals. And because I think that's one

Phyllis Burchett:

of your greatest assets is the is the people that you have done

Phyllis Burchett:

business with in the past is to really cherish those

Phyllis Burchett:

relationships and they are what's going to get you more

Phyllis Burchett:

business as your last client, your own clients. That's what's

Phyllis Burchett:

going to get you more business. So just marketing yourself and

Phyllis Burchett:

keeping those people that you've done business with as part of

Phyllis Burchett:

your assets in your box to keep for your marketing.

Kimberly Beer:

Absolutely. The network and your customers and

Kimberly Beer:

your network are so so important to your business and making sure

Kimberly Beer:

that they're well cared for being honest, being upfront and

Kimberly Beer:

really concentrating on service and building relationships is so

Kimberly Beer:

key to building a business. And Phyllis you say you don't think

Kimberly Beer:

you're good at marketing And yet, I think you're astounding

Kimberly Beer:

at it, you do a really good job at inspiring people as well to

Kimberly Beer:

do your marketing for you, for them to talk about you to talk

Kimberly Beer:

about your work, which means they've had that wow experience

Kimberly Beer:

that they need to have in order to be able to do that. And I

Kimberly Beer:

think all of us sort of question or marketing abilities at some

Kimberly Beer:

point in time, because it never feels like it's just always

Kimberly Beer:

perfect, but it is a big part of it. And understanding marketing

Kimberly Beer:

concepts is is important. And again, it's something you're

Kimberly Beer:

going to learn over time. That's, I guess that's one of

Kimberly Beer:

the bigger pieces of advice I have, it just takes time, folks,

Kimberly Beer:

things don't happen overnight, it takes a long time to grow a

Kimberly Beer:

successful business. And when you get to the other side of

Kimberly Beer:

that, and you can look back and see it, it's so worth the

Kimberly Beer:

journey. But there's so much to learn in between either of you

Kimberly Beer:

have anything you want to say before we head on to our gears

Kimberly Beer:

and gadgets.

Phyllis Burchett:

I don't know if it's okay to include this.

Phyllis Burchett:

But I did do a blog post on this and included some advice from

Phyllis Burchett:

other photographers, Kara being one of them things that we all

Phyllis Burchett:

wish we had known when we were just starting out. And I think

Phyllis Burchett:

the general consensus was that we all wish we'd known more

Phyllis Burchett:

about business. But if you know we can link to that blog post in

Phyllis Burchett:

the show notes if that's okay, and maybe that would be helpful

Phyllis Burchett:

to somebody along with the great advice that you both gave here

Phyllis Burchett:

today.

Kimberly Beer:

Absolutely. And there's some fantastic

Kimberly Beer:

photographers that contributed to Phyllis this blog post that

Kimberly Beer:

it really good advice comes from them. All right, well, I'm gonna

Kimberly Beer:

skip on to one of my favorite tools in my camera bag that I

Kimberly Beer:

like to have with me at all points in time. And that is my

Kimberly Beer:

visible dust Arctic butterfly sensor cleaner. This tool is

Kimberly Beer:

kind of unique. So a lot of photographers are really afraid

Kimberly Beer:

of their cameras, sensors, probably because our

Kimberly Beer:

manufacturers or the people who care for our equipment have

Kimberly Beer:

drilled it into our heads that this is something that we can do

Kimberly Beer:

a lot of damage. And I totally agree with that. But when you

Kimberly Beer:

are in the middle of Montana, and you're on a photo shoot and

Kimberly Beer:

you're taking pictures, and you start to see big chunks of

Kimberly Beer:

sensor dust, you really don't have time to go send your camera

Kimberly Beer:

off to Canon or Nikon and let it be cleaned appropriately. So

Kimberly Beer:

there are times in the field where we do have to address what

Kimberly Beer:

is going on with our sensors, and especially as equine

Kimberly Beer:

photographers, we do see a lot of dirt and dust. Funnily

Kimberly Beer:

enough, I had a local camera person who used to clean my

Kimberly Beer:

equipment, he went out of business and COVID. And now I'm

Kimberly Beer:

a little distressed, but he would always sort of lecture me

Kimberly Beer:

about how dirty my equipment was. He was very, very

Kimberly Beer:

judgmental. About he'd be like, Why do you let your cameras get

Kimberly Beer:

so dirty? He wasn't impressed with what you were doing. So

Kimberly Beer:

yeah, he's like, this is not good for your camera. And I'm

Kimberly Beer:

like, well, it is the way that I have to do my job, there's dirt

Kimberly Beer:

comes along with it. So I would get a lot of judgment from him

Kimberly Beer:

about it. However, back to that situation where you're in the

Kimberly Beer:

field, you're noticing things on your camera sensor, well,

Kimberly Beer:

there's two common ways that you can clean the sensor in your

Kimberly Beer:

camera, other than the little electronic shake the sensor

Kimberly Beer:

thing that comes on your camera as an option, which by the way

Kimberly Beer:

you should always have turned on because basically what it does

Kimberly Beer:

is it jiggles the sensor a little bit and the loose pieces

Kimberly Beer:

of dust will fall off. And granted, they probably will show

Kimberly Beer:

back up again later. But at least you can get it out of the

Kimberly Beer:

way until you can get your camera to somewhere to get

Kimberly Beer:

cleaned. And your cameras should be cleaned at least once and

Kimberly Beer:

probably a couple of times a year depending on how dirty you

Kimberly Beer:

get it. So there's two ways that you can clean your sensor on

Kimberly Beer:

site or on location. One of them is is what's called wet

Kimberly Beer:

cleaning, which I don't recommend, there's things that

Kimberly Beer:

people will sell and you can get them they're a little like swabs

Kimberly Beer:

and there's actually a wet solution when dust gets stuck on

Kimberly Beer:

your sensor. It's generally the only way that you're able to get

Kimberly Beer:

that dust off is through a wet cleaning. And a lot of times I

Kimberly Beer:

think that's what they do the professionals use that kind of a

Kimberly Beer:

system but when you do that you also if you don't do it well or

Kimberly Beer:

you don't have the exact right equipment and you don't have the

Kimberly Beer:

exact right swab because all sensors are a little different

Kimberly Beer:

sized you can cause a lot of damage to the center because

Kimberly Beer:

you're actually touching it and that's where the Arctic

Kimberly Beer:

butterfly that was a long route to get you to the gear to the

Kimberly Beer:

gadget which is the Arctic butterfly it is a dry cleaning

Kimberly Beer:

system. And what it uses is a brush that has built up a little

Kimberly Beer:

bit of like static collectI vibes to it and you spin it and

Kimberly Beer:

then you wipe it across your sensor and then you hold it away

Kimberly Beer:

from your camera and spin it again so that the dust flies off

Kimberly Beer:

away from your camera and then you go back and do it a couple

Kimberly Beer:

of more times until all the dust is off. So if you have a good

Kimberly Beer:

practice of keeping your sensor cleaner on your camera turned on

Kimberly Beer:

and so mine cleans my sensor every time I turn the camera on

Kimberly Beer:

and every time I turn it off as well as whenever I initiate it

Kimberly Beer:

during while I'm shooting. If you do that frequently, chances

Kimberly Beer:

are any sensor dust that you have is it going to be truly

Kimberly Beer:

like really sticky sensor dust and so the dry cleaning will

Kimberly Beer:

work really really well. So this product is made by visible dust

Kimberly Beer:

it's a little handheld tool and it has a runs on a triple A or a

Kimberly Beer:

double A battery and you can get it from just about anywhere

Kimberly Beer:

Amazon b&h, all of those things. So visible dust Arctic butterfly

Kimberly Beer:

and I think Phyllis may have some things to add on other

Kimberly Beer:

cleaning topics I'm always jealous of Phyllis his camera

Kimberly Beer:

equipment always looks super clean. So listen to her as well.

Cara Taylor Swift:

I would just add real quick Arctic butterfly

Cara Taylor Swift:

does not we're not like endorsed by them or anything so we're

Cara Taylor Swift:

just we're just letting you know this is something that Kim has

Cara Taylor Swift:

used and she loves so if they would like to reach out to us

Cara Taylor Swift:

we'd be open However, at this time we are merely talking about

Cara Taylor Swift:

products that we know and love throwing that out there

Phyllis Burchett:

products that we use that we have experience

Phyllis Burchett:

with yes I for one I like the Zeiss disposable lens cleaning

Phyllis Burchett:

wipes because they come in you know they're already moistened

Phyllis Burchett:

you open the little pouch up use it I use it on all my lenses

Phyllis Burchett:

then I throw it away and also not to brag but the new Nikon Z9

Phyllis Burchett:

does and you have to enable it you have to go into the menu

Phyllis Burchett:

because as a default it comes disabled but it does have a

Phyllis Burchett:

sensor shield that if you enable that when you take your as soon

Phyllis Burchett:

as you turn it off that center shield if you you know take the

Phyllis Burchett:

lens off that center shield is there it will protect your

Phyllis Burchett:

sensor pretty easily which I love my other camera the Z6 two

Phyllis Burchett:

does not have that so it's real something really nice to have

Phyllis Burchett:

that sensor shield

Kimberly Beer:

for sure that is awesome. I really appreciate

Kimberly Beer:

that.

Phyllis Burchett:

I think we all would appreciate that on every

Phyllis Burchett:

camera we own one way we need to shout out to all camera makers.

Cara Taylor Swift:

Okay guys, I think that takes us to this

Cara Taylor Swift:

episode's Cowgirls with Cameras photo challenge. So we decided

Cara Taylor Swift:

that we because of the heat because of the weather because

Cara Taylor Swift:

it's summertime, this challenge is all about water so use

Cara Taylor Swift:

hashtag CW see photo challenge and post your equine equine

Cara Taylor Swift:

equestrian horses inspired images that have something to do

Cara Taylor Swift:

with water whatever your interpretation of that is, if

Cara Taylor Swift:

you tag us with hashtag CW see photo challenge or and or tag

Cara Taylor Swift:

cowgirls with cameras, we would love to see it and we would love

Cara Taylor Swift:

to share. And I think that's it for us today, guys. For folks

Cara Taylor Swift:

that are listening. If you haven't already followed us

Cara Taylor Swift:

online, we can be found on Instagram and Facebook at

Cara Taylor Swift:

Cowgirls with Cameras. We also have a website cowgirls with

Cara Taylor Swift:

cameras.com. And it's so important if you love this show,

Cara Taylor Swift:

if you've listened to a couple episodes, and you want to come

Cara Taylor Swift:

back and listen to more, we would really love it if you guys

Cara Taylor Swift:

would rate in review. So whatever program you're

Cara Taylor Swift:

listening to whatever app you use to listen, there should be

Cara Taylor Swift:

some way for you guys to rate and review. If you would do that

Cara Taylor Swift:

we would really appreciate it. And also if you stumbled across

Cara Taylor Swift:

this today and think you might want to hear more, click that

Cara Taylor Swift:

little follow so that we start popping up in your feed. Thank

Cara Taylor Swift:

you guys so much. It's been awesome to be chatting with Kim

Cara Taylor Swift:

and Phyllis today as well. And I'll see you guys in less than

Cara Taylor Swift:

10 days out in Montana. Can't wait looking

Phyllis Burchett:

forward to it.

Jaz:

Thanks for listening to this episode of Cowgirls with

Jaz:

Cameras. Don't let the laughter and learning stop here. Join our

Jaz:

community on social media. And be sure to visit our website for

Jaz:

more opportunities to fulfill your photography goals head to

Jaz:

cowgirlswithcameras.com That's cowgirlswithcameras.com See you