Intro: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the Posers podcast, the place where we skip the fluff. Say the quiet parts out loud and dig into what really matters. This is where photography, psychology, and business collide. I'm Jody, your host, and I'm bringing you my raw takes, hard wins, and a whole lot of unfiltered honesty about what it takes to build a photography business that actually connects and makes money.
So ladies, grab your headphones and get your tits up and your ears open because we are going to build something really incredible together.
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to another episode of The Posers podcast, my absolutely exquisitely beautiful posers. , I'm gonna drop something on you right here in the first sentence, and you're gonna be like, "Damn, Jody kinda woke up and chose violence today." , It's a little bit of an uncomfortable truth.
Hopefully, it's an uncomfortable truth [00:01:00] that is going to kick you in the ass a little bit too because you know that's possibly one of my favorite things to do. , Here it is. You only have 11 weeks left in this year. 11. That's it. Like- That's wild. It feels like 2026 just got started.
Like, I don't know where she went. It feels like I was just on a boat on the coast of Italy. Can I even get through one podcast episode without bringing up Italy? No, I can't, because I'm already dreaming of Italy 2027, okay? But here's the thing, just like summer bodies are made in the winter, incredible businesses don't start getting built in January.
There is no version of, like, new year, new me for your business. So we're about to be heading into fall right now, and if your fall isn't what you wanted it to be, [00:02:00] then, , you might find yourself where you're just kind of thinking like, "Ugh, I'll get through the rest of the year, and I'll just deal with what I've got, and then next year.
Next year is it. Next year I'm gonna really, like, buckle down and I'm gonna do the thing." I wanna remind you that you probably said to yourself these same exact things about 2026. 2026 was probably supposed to be your year, and if it wasn't and you're now in the position where you're like, "Hey, you know what?
2027, I'm gonna show up. I'm gonna do the thing. Like, 2027 is gonna be my bitch. I am going to kick so much ass in 2027," I just wanna remind you that you said the same exact thing about 2026. The photographers who are fully booked, or are going to be fully booked in 2027, they aren't going to wait until January to start scrambling to figure out how they're gonna get there.
They are doing [00:03:00] the boring, sometimes unglamorous groundwork for it right now. Right now in these next 11 weeks. While everybody else is maybe telling themselves that 2027 is gonna be a new version of them, and they're gonna get to know that new version later, I don't want that to be you. I want you to know that later doesn't actually exist.
Later is just you kicking exactly what you need to be doing down the road again, and again, and again. And if you keep on kicking her down the road, she will never happen. Okay? So if you have not noticed from the intro of this podcast, it is fucking go time. It's been go time. All right? But now it's like fire should be under your ass.
It is really, really, really go time. So today I am giving you these seven moves that if [00:04:00] you don't start them now, you are going to be kicking yourself by December 1st, and then you're going to find yourself in March And you are going to be wondering why everyone else around you has a booked out spring, and you are still, , wondering where all your clients are, all right?
So before you spiral, because I'm telling you, , it is fucking go time, , I know that sometimes you might hear, something along the lines of, , that you need to build your brand or that you need to build your personal brand behind your photography brand. And then your whole entire nervous system goes into hiding at the idea that you think that means that you have to become, , a full-time influencer and that you have to start dancing on reels, and that you need to start, , oversharing what you had for breakfast.
And I wanna tell you that it does not mean that. I want you to build your photography brand with a little sprinkling of your personal [00:05:00] brand mixed into it. The thing that is going to make a stranger stop scrolling and think, "That is exactly the photographer that I need to be hiring in 2027." So I know that you already have some version of this that is getting you booked right now.
So I just want to add to it. I just want to, like, set that on fire a little bit. Not to burn it down, but to, , explode it into something even bigger that will work harder for you. So you've got the shoots that you have lined up for fall right now to use for behind the scenes, to, , pack your shooting bag in, , a little video while you're talking about the shoot that you're heading to.
, You've got the ability of, , throwing a camera over your shoulder to look at your computer screen while you cull, while you edit, while you have voiceovers going. [00:06:00] You have shoots that are going to give, like, prime examples of kids being chaotic , and dads being grumpy and moms looking insanely gorgeous from the styling boards that you gave her.
You've got all of that that is about to pop off, and it's about to happen. So you're really on this precipice of an incredible fall that can fuel what you need it to fuel for 2027 if you use it the way that you should. So let's not kick this episode down the road any further, and let's get into that list of seven things that you need to be doing right now, or you're going to find yourself deep in regret come December 1st.
So number one, I want you to get painfully clear on what you want to be known for exactly. And there's one sentence that can help you do this. You fill in the blanks on this sentence: I help blank feel [00:07:00] blank through blank. Okay? So I help overwhelmed moms feel like themselves again through portraits that don't look like every other mini session on the block.
Okay? It is specific. If someone watches three of your reels, or reads three of your emails, or, , scrolls through three of your carousels and still can't tell you who you photograph and why it matters, that is not simply a content problem. That is a brand clarity problem. So I need you to get insanely clear on the exact client that you serve, and then I want you to speak directly to her.
Okay? I want you to, number two, create one repeatable content series. Stop reinventing the wheel every single week. Stop freaking out about not knowing what to post. I want you to pick one format, and it can be a behind-the-scenes of, , a [00:08:00] posing setup that you do. It can be the moment that a client sees a gallery for the first time.
It can be, a weekly, like, "Here's what my photos are worth" series. It does not matter which one. It does not matter how easy it is to do. It does not matter at all. It matters whether or not you can make 20 of them without running out of ideas by, I don't know, week three or something like that. Okay?
So number three, I want you to share your actual point of view. The reason why is because helpful content is everywhere. Tips and tricks are everywhere. Authority comes from having an opinion, especially one that makes some people feel uncomfortable. So you've gotta say the thing that you hate about shoot and burn sessions, or say the thing that you hate about and why you don't offer mini sessions, or why you hate full sessions and you only offer mini sessions.
Again, it's not about where you stand, it's about making [00:09:00] sure that everyone else knows that you draw the line in the sand, and where you draw the line in the sand, and why you draw the line in the sand. And I want you to say it even if everyone in the comments is going to disagree with you. You know what?
Actually, especially then, because that gives even more clarity for tip number one that I gave you earlier in this episode, to get so incredibly clear about who you serve and that your messaging will polarize those leads for you, and it will point you literally directly to your ideal client, and vice versa.
So number four, I want you to make sure that your profile leads somewhere. Your bio has three jobs. It needs to say who you help, what you help them do, and what to click next, okay? You need to have that one obvious next [00:10:00] step. Not a place to view some more of your portfolio or somewhere that they have to go to your website and then hunt and then find your contact form.
I don't care if you want them on a call or if you want it to be a booking site where they can self-book, just don't lead them to somewhere where they have to keep on digging and keep on doing more work in order to get to you. So Then number five, I want you to build an audience of your own. We all know that Instagram can vanish in a flash.
Your account could get banned. Has it happened to me? Yes, it has. Did I panic? Abso-freaking-lutely. But I didn't have to panic that bad because I knew that I had my audience in another place that I actually owned. And even if we're not talking about it being so severe as your whole entire account getting shut down like mine did, the algorithm can literally change on a whim.
So your email list is yours. Start [00:11:00] collecting it right now. Create one genuinely useful free resource like a posing guide or a styling guide or whatever fits your niche, and use your content consistently to funnel people onto that list. Funnel them onto your list, and then get them into your funnel, all right?
This also helps whenever you're repeating a content series because you can keep on driving towards your lead magnet and keep on growing your email list while you're also checking the other box that I told you that you're gonna be doing by creating that content series, okay? Number six, you are going to document all of the proof.
You're gonna save the client texts, you're gonna screenshot the wins, you're gonna record the testimonials while the emotion is still fresh. You're gonna capture before-and-afters. You're gonna ask your clients if you can record them right after the photo shoot. Whenever they are telling you how great that shoot was, whenever they are singing [00:12:00] your praises, create that highlight video right then.
Create that testimonial, and then put that into a highlight of reviews on your Instagram. Don't just tell people that you're good at this. Show them in the words of your own clients every single chance you get. And you know what? Don't even just stop there. Those testimonials Can then also get embedded into your weekly newsletters.
this content and this messaging should be hitting your audience from every single angle that you have access to them. All right. Then number seven, you are going to get in front of other people's audiences. I want you pitching podcast interviews with other people in your city that share your same audience.
I want you to collaborate with other vendors. I want you to go live. I know that's scary, but I want you to go live somewhere that isn't even your own page. I want you to teach inside of somebody [00:13:00] else's community. Your page is actually not the only room that people can discover you in. And honestly, it's not even the best room, because whenever you borrow other people's audiences, and then it comes with the owner of that audience, like already vetting you, already vetting your business, and putting their stamp of approval on you, that is really powerful social proof.
Okay? So you do not need thousands of followers. You simply have to connect your content to something that people can actually buy. You need the right hundred, one... Even if it's 100 people, you need it to be the right 100 people to understand exactly what problem you solve, trust you that you can solve it, and then know precisely how to hire you.
That's it. Literally. That's the whole entire game of [00:14:00] running a business. So the photographers who are going to be fully booked with the right clients in 2027, they are building that right now. Not come January 1st, not after the holidays. Right now, this week, while they've still got 11 weeks of runway left in this year to really capitalize on.
And if you want help building this instead of just knowing that you should be building it, that is exactly what we teach inside of the mastermind, and the doors for enrollment for the mastermind are going to open on October 1st. So check your show notes or check the newsletter that comes out with the podcast.
It will have the link so that you can make sure that you are one of the first to know that those doors to enrollment are going to be open, and that you can apply and book a call to talk directly with me to get inside of the mastermind for next year. [00:15:00] That is all I have got for today. Bye for now, my beautiful posers.
Outro: Okay, so that is a wrap on this episode of the Posers Podcast. If you loved it, please subscribe, rate, and review because honestly, algorithms are needier than all of our ex-boyfriends combined. And ladies, I need all the help I can get. If you've got thoughts, questions, love letters, even hate mail, please send them my way.
I actually read every single one of them. So until next time, stapled, stay messy and don't let the bullshit win. Tits up. Ears open and go build something. Incredible. Bye for now, friends.
