072: My Aversion to Sales Cost Me a Fortune

072: My Aversion to Sales Cost Me a Fortune

There is one moment in my career that still makes me cringe. Years ago, I stood outside a breakout session at a photography conference while a stranger tried to convince me to attend a class on sales. I refused. I thought sales meant being pushy, manipulative, and everything I never wanted my business to become. Looking back, I can honestly say that decision cost me more money than almost anything else in my career. In this episode, I'm sharing the exact 8-step sales framework I wish someone had forced me to learn years earlier. This isn't about scripts or convincing people to buy. It's about learning how to ask better questions, listen more than you talk, and help people articulate what they actually want before you ever make an offer. Whether you're booking discovery calls, running in-person sales sessions, or simply trying to feel more confident talking about your pricing, this framework will completely change the way you think about selling. Because the best salespeople aren't the ones who talk the most. They're the ones who listen the best. In this episode, we'll cover: * The biggest mistake I made that held my business back for years. * The 8-step conversation framework I use for both discovery calls and in-person sales. * Why most clients aren't actually buying "photos." * How to uncover what people really want before you ever mention your pricing. * Why silence is one of the most powerful sales tools you'll ever use. * The moment you should finally make your offer—and what to do immediately afterward. If sales has ever made you uncomfortable, this episode will completely reframe what it actually means to sell. Bye for now, Posers. Timestamps: 00:00 Welcome to Posers 00:35 Italy Vacation Vibes 01:49 The Sales Lesson I Dodged 03:14 Conference Hallway Regret 05:55 Eight Step Sales Framework 07:37 Steps One to Four 10:10 Steps Five to Eight 12:42 Why Listening Is Sales 15:40 Framework in the Sales Room 20:03 Study It and Go Sell 21:17 Outro and Call to Action 🔗 Connect with Jodi: 📸 Website: https://www.j-annephotography.com [https://www.j-annephotography.com] 📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/j.annephotography [https://www.instagram.com/j.annephotography] Love this kind of coaching? Make sure you’re on my newsletter list where I share the behind-the-scenes of launches, pricing, posing psychology, and what it really takes to scale a photography business with soul. 📣 Help Spread the Word! The Mastermind Waitlist → If this episode lit something up for you, if you recognized yourself in the pattern of working hard without seeing the growth you know you're capable of the Posers Mastermind is where we fix that. This is my most comprehensive program for photographers who are done leaving money on the table and ready to build a business with actual strategy behind it. We go deep on marketing, lead generation, content, email, sales psychology, pricing, client experience, and the mindset it takes to run a profitable company, not just a busy one. Everything I taught in this episode is just the surface of what we build together inside. I built this business as a single mom of three boys with no fallback plan and no safety net. Failure genuinely was not an option. The strategies I teach inside the Mastermind are the same ones that turned my camera into a career, my career into a company, and my company into a life I'm incredibly proud of. If you're ready to stop hoping the bookings come and start building the machine that makes them get on the waitlist for the next round. https://j-anne-photography.kit.com/posers-waitlist [https://j-anne-photography.kit.com/posers-waitlist] The Posing Method → My signature course that teaches you how to pose the brain instead of the body so you can drop dopamine and oxytocin in the first two minutes of a shoot and completely transform your galleries. https://j-annephotography.com/the-posing-method [https://j-annephotography.com/the-posing-method] Pass Platinum → Stop scrambling for a last-minute sale. Use my link to get 2 months of Platinum free WITH A MONEY BACK GUARANTEE when you start collecting cash on autopilot. https://success.passgallery.com/jodianne-platinum-referral [https://success.passgallery.com/jodianne-platinum-referral]

071: Staying Affordable Will Ruin Your Business

I keep hearing the same thing over and over right now... in my DMs, on coaching calls, inside the Mastermind. Photographers telling me they're stuck. They tried to raise their prices, bookings dried up, they panicked and dropped back down, and now they're too scared to touch their pricing again. I'm going to tell you why that fear is pointed in the wrong direction. Staying stuck in the middle of the market isn't playing it safe, it's the fastest way to price yourself out of business completely. In this episode, we'll cover: * Why the market right now looks like a barbell — busy at the cheap end, untouched at the luxury end, and getting crushed everywhere in the middle * Why you can't just "decide" to go luxury when you need bookings fast — and what actually earns you that tier of client * The real story of a photographer who dropped her prices to save her business, and lost her best clients in the process * What happened in my own studio with a client who spent over $10K in one sitting — and what she said while handing me her card that changed how I think about pricing forever * The scarcity mindset loop keeping photographers underpriced, and why it has nothing to do with your talent * Three things to focus on if you're the $800 photographer trying to move up: positioning over pricing, real relationships over marketing, and designing for rare instead of available "You keep pricing your work off of your own bank account instead of hers." Pick a direction. Not for this month, for who you're building toward. If this episode hit something for you, I go even deeper on the strategy inside The Posing Method and inside the Mastermind. Links below. Go do something brave. Timestamps: 00:00 Podcast Cold Open 00:35 Italy Trip Banter 01:57 The Mid Price Trap 05:31 Two Buyer Economy 11:40 Barbell Market Explained 14:51 Why Luxury Is Different 19:56 Status And Certainty 22:18 10K Client Mindset 25:24 Fix Positioning Not Price 27:35 Pick A Direction Wrap 30:29 Outro And Call To Action 🔗 Connect with Jodi: 📸 Website: https://www.j-annephotography.com [https://www.j-annephotography.com] 📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/j.annephotography [https://www.instagram.com/j.annephotography] Love this kind of coaching? Make sure you’re on my newsletter list where I share the behind-the-scenes of launches, pricing, posing psychology, and what it really takes to scale a photography business with soul. 📣 Help Spread the Word! The Mastermind Waitlist → If this episode lit something up for you, if you recognized yourself in the pattern of working hard without seeing the growth you know you're capable of the Posers Mastermind is where we fix that. This is my most comprehensive program for photographers who are done leaving money on the table and ready to build a business with actual strategy behind it. We go deep on marketing, lead generation, content, email, sales psychology, pricing, client experience, and the mindset it takes to run a profitable company, not just a busy one. Everything I taught in this episode is just the surface of what we build together inside. I built this business as a single mom of three boys with no fallback plan and no safety net. Failure genuinely was not an option. The strategies I teach inside the Mastermind are the same ones that turned my camera into a career, my career into a company, and my company into a life I'm incredibly proud of. If you're ready to stop hoping the bookings come and start building the machine that makes them get on the waitlist for the next round. https://j-anne-photography.kit.com/posers-waitlist [https://j-anne-photography.kit.com/posers-waitlist] The Posing Method → My signature course that teaches you how to pose the brain instead of the body so you can drop dopamine and oxytocin in the first two minutes of a shoot and completely transform your galleries. https://j-annephotography.com/the-posing-method [https://j-annephotography.com/the-posing-method] Pass Platinum → Stop scrambling for a last-minute sale. Use my link to get 2 months of Platinum free WITH A MONEY BACK GUARANTEE when you start collecting cash on autopilot. https://success.passgallery.com/jodianne-platinum-referral [https://success.passgallery.com/jodianne-platinum-referral]

070: The Preset Was Never the Problem

This episode is a little different. It's not about marketing. It's not about pricing. And it's definitely not about presets. It's about the stories we tell ourselves. After a conversation with a photographer who told me she'd purchased hundreds of preset packs over the last decade and still wasn't happy with her editing, I realized we weren't actually talking about Lightroom anymore. We were talking about confidence. We were talking about perfectionism. We were talking about the exhausting habit so many of us have of searching for an external solution to an internal wound. And that's where this episode goes. I share a deeply personal story about one of my closest friends growing up, body image, and the realization that the same distorted thinking that can affect the way we see ourselves often sneaks into the way we see our work, too. In this episode, we'll cover: * Why buying another preset probably isn't going to solve your problem * The surprising connection between body image and creative confidence * How perfectionism quietly disguises itself as productivity * The psychology behind why we keep "tinkering" instead of moving forward * Why the hardest work in your business usually has nothing to do with photography * The question I want every photographer to ask themselves before opening Lightroom again * How self-doubt keeps us stuck and what it looks like to finally call it by its real name If you've ever found yourself endlessly tweaking your galleries, chasing the "perfect" edit, or convincing yourself that you'll finally market your business once your work is "good enough"... This one's for you. Timestamps: 00:00 Podcast Cold Open 00:47 Episode Disclaimer 01:59 Remember That Girl 02:56 Beauty She Couldn't See 04:45 Body Image Spiral 06:14 Evidence Wasn't Enough 07:09 Business Mirror Moment 07:18 Preset DM Story 08:17 No One Click Fix 09:16 Hundreds Of Presets 10:42 Confidence Behind Tinkering 12:50 Tough Love Advice 13:30 Her Honest Breakthrough 14:01 Editing as Avoidance 14:52 The Deeper Wound 15:54 Business Dysmorphia 18:21 Presets Aren’t the Fix 20:10 Perfectionism Disguised 24:04 The Real Cost 25:14 Questions to Sit With 26:48 What We Could Build 27:41 Closing and Support 28:15 Podcast Wrap Up 🔗 Connect with Jodi: 📸 Website: https://www.j-annephotography.com [https://www.j-annephotography.com] 📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/j.annephotography [https://www.instagram.com/j.annephotography] Love this kind of coaching? Make sure you’re on my newsletter list where I share the behind-the-scenes of launches, pricing, posing psychology, and what it really takes to scale a photography business with soul. 📣 Help Spread the Word! The Mastermind Waitlist → If this episode lit something up for you, if you recognized yourself in the pattern of working hard without seeing the growth you know you're capable of the Posers Mastermind is where we fix that. This is my most comprehensive program for photographers who are done leaving money on the table and ready to build a business with actual strategy behind it. We go deep on marketing, lead generation, content, email, sales psychology, pricing, client experience, and the mindset it takes to run a profitable company, not just a busy one. Everything I taught in this episode is just the surface of what we build together inside. I built this business as a single mom of three boys with no fallback plan and no safety net. Failure genuinely was not an option. The strategies I teach inside the Mastermind are the same ones that turned my camera into a career, my career into a company, and my company into a life I'm incredibly proud of. If you're ready to stop hoping the bookings come and start building the machine that makes them get on the waitlist for the next round. https://j-anne-photography.kit.com/posers-waitlist [https://j-anne-photography.kit.com/posers-waitlist] The Posing Method → My signature course that teaches you how to pose the brain instead of the body so you can drop dopamine and oxytocin in the first two minutes of a shoot and completely transform your galleries. https://j-annephotography.com/the-posing-method [https://j-annephotography.com/the-posing-method] Pass Platinum → Stop scrambling for a last-minute sale. Use my link to get 2 months of Platinum free WITH A MONEY BACK GUARANTEE when you start collecting cash on autopilot. https://success.passgallery.com/jodianne-platinum-referral [https://success.passgallery.com/jodianne-platinum-referral]

069: The 6 Excuses Costing You Six Figures

If you've ever caught yourself saying, I don't have time, I'm not good at business, I'll start next year, or I've already tried that and it didn't work... this episode is for you. Today I'm calling out the six biggest excuses keeping photographers stuck. Because the truth is, your camera isn't the problem. Your editing isn't the problem. Your talent isn't the problem. Your excuses are. In this episode, I'm breaking down the lies we tell ourselves that feel productive, responsible, or even logical, but are quietly costing us bookings, confidence, momentum, and ultimately... six figures. I'm sharing the mindset shifts that helped me build financial freedom after my life completely fell apart, and why waiting for the perfect time, consuming endless free content, or quitting after one failed attempt will keep you exactly where you are. This episode is packed with tough love, real talk, and practical perspective that will challenge the way you think about your business and the woman running it. In this episode, we'll cover: * Why "I don't have time" is usually a prioritization problem. * The identity shift from photographer to CEO. * Why there is no such thing as the "right time." * The hidden cost of free education and information overload. * Why consistency beats talent every single time. * How to stop collecting excuses and start building the business you actually want. If you're ready to stop playing small, stop waiting, and start taking ownership of your success, this episode is your wake-up call. Bye for now, Posers. Timestamps: 00:00 Welcome to Posers 00:35 Spicy Mom Energy 03:40 Excuse One No Time 09:09 Excuse Two Business Skills 12:10 Excuse Three Start Now 14:15 Excuse Four Right Time 17:01 Excuse Five Invest Wisely 22:34 Excuse Six Tried Before 26:32 No Bullshit Pep Talk 29:36 Outro and Call to Action 🔗 Connect with Jodi: 📸 Website: https://www.j-annephotography.com [https://www.j-annephotography.com] 📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/j.annephotography [https://www.instagram.com/j.annephotography] Love this kind of coaching? Make sure you’re on my newsletter list where I share the behind-the-scenes of launches, pricing, posing psychology, and what it really takes to scale a photography business with soul. 📣 Help Spread the Word! The Mastermind Waitlist → If this episode lit something up for you, if you recognized yourself in the pattern of working hard without seeing the growth you know you're capable of the Posers Mastermind is where we fix that. This is my most comprehensive program for photographers who are done leaving money on the table and ready to build a business with actual strategy behind it. We go deep on marketing, lead generation, content, email, sales psychology, pricing, client experience, and the mindset it takes to run a profitable company, not just a busy one. Everything I taught in this episode is just the surface of what we build together inside. I built this business as a single mom of three boys with no fallback plan and no safety net. Failure genuinely was not an option. The strategies I teach inside the Mastermind are the same ones that turned my camera into a career, my career into a company, and my company into a life I'm incredibly proud of. If you're ready to stop hoping the bookings come and start building the machine that makes them get on the waitlist for the next round. https://j-anne-photography.kit.com/posers-waitlist [https://j-anne-photography.kit.com/posers-waitlist] The Posing Method → My signature course that teaches you how to pose the brain instead of the body so you can drop dopamine and oxytocin in the first two minutes of a shoot and completely transform your galleries. https://j-annephotography.com/the-posing-method [https://j-annephotography.com/the-posing-method] Pass Platinum → Stop scrambling for a last-minute sale. Use my link to get 2 months of Platinum free WITH A MONEY BACK GUARANTEE when you start collecting cash on autopilot. https://success.passgallery.com/jodianne-platinum-referral [https://success.passgallery.com/jodianne-platinum-referral]

68: STOP. Collaborate and Listen

Yes. I am quoting Vanilla Ice. Yes, it shows my age. I don't care. Because before you roll your eyes and keep scrolling... I need you to actually stop and listen to what I'm about to say. This might be the most important conversation we've had on this podcast yet. Your ideal clients are out there right now. They are spending money. They are trusting other businesses with their time, their attention, and their wallets. And they have absolutely no idea you exist. Not because your work isn't good enough. Not because your prices are too high. Not because the market is too saturated. Because you are waiting to be found instead of going where they already are. This episode isn't about strategy. I'm not handing you a script today. What I AM doing is dismantling the mindset that is quietly keeping your business smaller than it deserves to be — because no amount of strategy works until this part does. We're talking about fear. Rejection. What it actually costs you to stay invisible. And why Jen Gottlieb is right when she says that being found isn't just a goal — it's your responsibility. The how is coming. And when it does, it's going to change everything. But first — we fix the brain. Tits up and ears open. Timestamps: 00:00 Podcast Intro 00:45 Owning My Blind Spots 06:27 Why Collaboration Works 07:34 Responsibility To Be Found 13:12 Interruption Vs Trust 16:23 Fear Of Rejection 17:22 Rejection Therapy Lessons 20:40 Pitch The Gap 26:25 One Small Next Step 28:38 Wrap Up And Resources 30:00 Subscribe And Goodbye 🔗 Connect with Jodi: 📸 Website: https://www.j-annephotography.com [https://www.j-annephotography.com] 📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/j.annephotography [https://www.instagram.com/j.annephotography] 🔗 Resources mentioned: Jen Gottlieb Keynote → https://www.instagram.com/p/DZk6hWRvSDr/ [https://www.instagram.com/p/DZk6hWRvSDr/] Jia Jiang - What I Learned from 100 Days of Rejection (TED Talk) → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vZXgApsPCQ [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vZXgApsPCQ] Adam Grant - How to Pitch Your Best Ideas → https://www.ted.com/talks/worklife_with_adam_grant_how_to_pitch_your_best_ideas [https://www.ted.com/talks/worklife_with_adam_grant_how_to_pitch_your_best_ideas] Love this kind of coaching? Make sure you’re on my newsletter list where I share the behind-the-scenes of launches, pricing, posing psychology, and what it really takes to scale a photography business with soul. 📣 Help Spread the Word! The Mastermind Waitlist → If this episode lit something up for you, if you recognized yourself in the pattern of working hard without seeing the growth you know you're capable of the Posers Mastermind is where we fix that. This is my most comprehensive program for photographers who are done leaving money on the table and ready to build a business with actual strategy behind it. We go deep on marketing, lead generation, content, email, sales psychology, pricing, client experience, and the mindset it takes to run a profitable company, not just a busy one. Everything I taught in this episode is just the surface of what we build together inside. I built this business as a single mom of three boys with no fallback plan and no safety net. Failure genuinely was not an option. The strategies I teach inside the Mastermind are the same ones that turned my camera into a career, my career into a company, and my company into a life I'm incredibly proud of. If you're ready to stop hoping the bookings come and start building the machine that makes them get on the waitlist for the next round. https://j-anne-photography.kit.com/posers-waitlist [https://j-anne-photography.kit.com/posers-waitlist] The Posing Method → My signature course that teaches you how to pose the brain instead of the body so you can drop dopamine and oxytocin in the first two minutes of a shoot and completely transform your galleries. https://j-annephotography.com/the-posing-method [https://j-annephotography.com/the-posing-method] Pass Platinum → Stop scrambling for a last-minute sale. Use my link to get 2 months of Platinum free WITH A MONEY BACK GUARANTEE when you start collecting cash on autopilot. https://success.passgallery.com/jodianne-platinum-referral [https://success.passgallery.com/jodianne-platinum-referral]