One Year In and the 4 Bottlenecks Keeping Pet Photographers Stuck

One Year In and the 4 Bottlenecks Keeping Pet Photographers Stuck

In one week, it will be a year since I released the very first episode of The Pet Photographers' Journal. I honestly didn't know if I'd still be here doing this. I didn't know if I'd stay consistent. I didn't know if it would matter to anyone. But here we are. Over 5,000 downloads later, and I get messages from photographers telling me these episodes have genuinely helped their businesses. That means everything. This episode is a little different. I want to mark the milestone, share some of what's happened in the last twelve months, including some wins from photographers I've worked with, and then get into something practical. Because after a year of working with pet photographers through workshops, one-on-one coaching, and the Consistent Bookings Mastermind, I've seen the same underlying problem show up again and again: inconsistent bookings. But this problem doesn't always come from the same place. And if you're trying to fix the wrong bottleneck, you'll keep spinning your wheels. So today I'm walking you through the four bottlenecks I see most often, and how to figure out which one is yours. A note before we dive in: this episode was recorded during a hard personal time. My dog James was diagnosed with cancer, and stepping back from parts of the business while navigating that has been genuinely tough. I mention it briefly in the episode. Thank you to everyone who reached out with kind messages. It has meant more than I can say. RESOURCES MENTIONED: Take the free Consistent Bookings Audit (takes about 5 minutes, gives you a personalised result) → https://www.inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit [https://www.inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit] Consistent Bookings Mastermind (six-month small group program) → https://www.inajphotography.com.au/consistent-bookings-mastermind [https://www.inajphotography.com.au/consistent-bookings-mastermind] Ep. 9 — Why Your Bookings Are Inconsistent (And It's Not What You Think) → https://open.spotify.com/episode/5mUVzPbNGALeVcKvGUDKlF [https://open.spotify.com/episode/5mUVzPbNGALeVcKvGUDKlF] S2 Ep. 6 — From Overwhelmed with Marketing to Fully Booked for Spring with Sharon Canovas → https://open.spotify.com/episode/4LC6bhrtoIgx1RCKXG4IYH [https://open.spotify.com/episode/4LC6bhrtoIgx1RCKXG4IYH] S2 Ep. 13 — From Zero Clients to a $9,000 Sale: Yunet's Pet Photography Story → https://open.spotify.com/episode/5C9OWzfPhdsE8x8x3IuXeY [https://open.spotify.com/episode/5C9OWzfPhdsE8x8x3IuXeY] 💬 JOIN THE PET PHOTOGRAPHERS' COLLECTIVE If you want to sign up for the workshop, join the Pet Photographers' Collective, it's a free community for pet photographers who want to build a profitable, sustainable business with less overwhelm. Inside, Ina shares: ✨ Practical marketing tips ✨ Business lessons and mindset shifts ✨ Free resources to help you grow Connect with other photographers who get it and start creating a business that truly supports your life, not consumes it. Join here → https://www.skool.com/pet-photographers-collective-3125/about?ref=9c7b56d2963f48a791297a43a29109e1 [https://www.skool.com/pet-photographers-collective-3125/about?ref=9c7b56d2963f48a791297a43a29109e1] ✨ WANT TO BE COACHED LIVE? Interested in being featured on a future coaching episode? Apply here: https://forms.gle/oocMwawVB3de6aM29 [https://forms.gle/oocMwawVB3de6aM29] 📲 CONNECT WITH INA Instagram: @inaj.thepetphotoceo [https://instagram.com/inaj.thepetphotoceo] Email: ina@inajphotography.com [ina@inajphotography.com] Free Consistent Bookings Audit - find your gap in getting consistent bookings: https://www.inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit [https://www.inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit] Mentoring & Coaching for Pet Photographers — Learn More: https://www.inajphotography.com/for-photographer [https://www.inajphotography.com/for-photographers]

Third Party Marketing for Pet Photographers: How Kirstie McConnell Built a Fully Booked Calendar After Relocating to a New CityThird Party Marketing for Pet Photographers: How Kirstie McConnell Built a Fully Booked Calendar After Relocating to a New City

When Kirstie McConnell found out she was moving back to Australia after six years in Italy, she had six months to prepare. By the time she landed in Melbourne, a city where she knew almost no one professionally, she had 26 sessions already booked. Her first three shoots were four days after arriving home. In this episode, Ina sits down with Kirstie, one of Australia's original pet photographers and co-host of the now-closed Pet Photographers Club podcast, to unpack exactly how she did it. This is a masterclass in knowing your numbers, building a client system that does the educating for you, and making third party marketing work the way it's supposed to. Key takeaways: The client should hear about pricing at least 10 times before they ever sit down at the ordering appointment. The voucher says it, the letter says it, the video says it, the questionnaire says it, the phone call confirms it. By the time they are looking at their photos, no one is surprised. Third party marketing works when it is genuinely a win for the partner. If they are not distributing your vouchers, the problem is not the system. It is that you have not made it worth their while. Kirstie does commercial shoots, provides wall art for store fit-outs, and makes the whole process require zero effort from the partner. Sending 80 emails got Kirstie 10 partners. If each of those partners generates 20 clients at a $2,600 average, that is $500,000 in revenue from 80 emails. Do the numbers. The step most photographers skip is the automated funnel between voucher receipt and first phone call. If clients are not converting, this is usually where the leak is. Know your capacity and protect it. Kirstie caps at 12 sessions a month because she knows what happens to quality, turnaround time, and her personal life when she pushes past it. CONNECT WITH KIRSTIE: Instagram: @classicoportraitsaustralia [https://www.instagram.com/classicoportraitsaustralia] Websites: Classico Portraits Australia: classicoportraits.com.au [classicoportraits.com.au] Classico Portraits Italy: classicoportraits.com [classicoportraits.com ] RESOURCES MENTIONED: Wistia (free for a small number of videos): wistia.com Fillout Forms: fillout.com Airtable: airtable.com MailerLite: mailerlite.com Fundy Wall Designer: for superimposing artwork into client home photos 💬 JOIN THE PET PHOTOGRAPHERS' COLLECTIVE If you want to sign up for the workshop, join the Pet Photographers' Collective, it's a free community for pet photographers who want to build a profitable, sustainable business with less overwhelm. Inside, Ina shares: ✨ Practical marketing tips ✨ Business lessons and mindset shifts ✨ Free resources to help you grow Connect with other photographers who get it and start creating a business that truly supports your life, not consumes it. Join here → https://www.skool.com/pet-photographers-collective-3125/about?ref=9c7b56d2963f48a791297a43a29109e1 [https://www.skool.com/pet-photographers-collective-3125/about?ref=9c7b56d2963f48a791297a43a29109e1] ✨ WANT TO BE COACHED LIVE? Interested in being featured on a future coaching episode? Apply here: https://forms.gle/oocMwawVB3de6aM29 [https://forms.gle/oocMwawVB3de6aM29] 📲 CONNECT WITH INA Instagram: @inaj.thepetphotoceo [https://instagram.com/inaj.thepetphotoceo] Email: ina@inajphotography.com [ina@inajphotography.com] Free Consistent Bookings Audit - find your gap in getting consistent bookings: https://www.inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit [https://www.inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit] Mentoring & Coaching for Pet Photographers — Learn More: https://www.inajphotography.com/for-photographer [https://www.inajphotography.com/for-photographers]

The Facebook Ad and Giveaway System That Books Out a Studio 4 Times a Year with Jason Krygier-Baum from Fido Foto

What if you could run four campaigns a year, spend around $40 to acquire each client, and predict exactly how many sessions you'd fill? That is exactly what Jason Krieger-Baum has built at Fido Photo in Toronto. He has been photographing pets for over 17 years, and in this episode he pulls back the curtain on the giveaway-based lead generation model that now drives his entire business. No organic social. No cold outreach. Just a system that works. This conversation gets genuinely specific. We talk numbers, ad structure, booking rates, same-day ordering, and why Jason believes he would start with this model all over again if he were beginning today. What we cover: * How Jason went from a high-touch luxury brand to a streamlined, high-volume studio model and why he thinks it is the better business * The giveaway structure that generates 400 to 450 leads per campaign and converts roughly 35 to 40% of winners into booked clients * His exact ad spend: $8 to $10 per lead, $4,000 to $5,000 per campaign, run four times a year * Why he spends $500 a day on ads and does not stress about optimising every dollar * His same-day ordering appointment process and how he culls 350 images down to 30 in just 15 minutes * The automated booking workflow he uses in Go High Level so clients book themselves without a single phone call from him * How he physically mails a printed magazine to every client a month before their session to prepare them for the experience * Why he does not post on social media at all right now and what he does instead Key timestamps: * 02:40 Jason's 17+ years in pet photography and how Toronto shaped his approach * 05:00 Two brands, one pivot: the difference between Jason KB and Fido Photo * 09:00 Pricing breakdown including digitals, portraits, wall art, and coffee table books * 14:00 The booking workflow from lead to session without phone calls * 17:00 How Jason shoots six sessions a week across three days * 20:00 Culling 350 photos in 15 minutes and running a same-day ordering session * 32:00 How the giveaway model actually works, who wins and how many book * 37:00 The ad spend breakdown and the ROI equation he uses * 39:00 How he structures his Facebook campaigns: ad sets, audiences, and one ad per set * 1:20:00 Why he puts zero effort into social media and what he is building instead Connect with Jason: Instagram: @fido.foto [https://www.instagram.com/fido.foto] Website: fido-foto.com [https://www.fido-foto.com/] Resources mentioned: * Go High Level / Difference Maker Revolution (CRM and automation platform Jason uses for his booking workflow) * ProSelect (slideshow and ordering session software) 💬 JOIN THE PET PHOTOGRAPHERS' COLLECTIVE If you want to sign up for the workshop, join the Pet Photographers' Collective, it's a free community for pet photographers who want to build a profitable, sustainable business with less overwhelm. Inside, Ina shares: ✨ Practical marketing tips ✨ Business lessons and mindset shifts ✨ Free resources to help you grow Connect with other photographers who get it and start creating a business that truly supports your life, not consumes it. Join here → https://www.skool.com/pet-photographers-collective-3125/about?ref=9c7b56d2963f48a791297a43a29109e1 [https://www.skool.com/pet-photographers-collective-3125/about?ref=9c7b56d2963f48a791297a43a29109e1] ✨ WANT TO BE COACHED LIVE? Interested in being featured on a future coaching episode? Apply here: https://forms.gle/oocMwawVB3de6aM29 [https://forms.gle/oocMwawVB3de6aM29] 📲 CONNECT WITH INA Instagram: @inaj.thepetphotoceo [https://instagram.com/inaj.thepetphotoceo] Email: ina@inajphotography.com [ina@inajphotography.com] Free Consistent Bookings Audit - find your gap in getting consistent bookings: https://www.inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit [https://www.inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit] Mentoring & Coaching for Pet Photographers — Learn More: https://www.inajphotography.com/for-photographer [https://www.inajphotography.com/for-photographers]

How to Keep Marketing When You're Too Busy Doing the Work

Right now I've got 16 sessions booked for May, ordering appointments to run, editing to get through, and prints to deliver. And I'm still marketing. I know that probably sounds like a lot. This episode is about what that actually looks like, and why having a system already in place means marketing doesn't have to stop just because life gets full. I also share the moment that changed how I think about this entirely. A trip to Iceland, two months of no marketing at all, and coming home to a completely empty January and February. No bookings. No enquiries. Checking my emails constantly and genuinely thinking about applying for other jobs. That experience is a big part of why I built the repeatable marketing system I use today, and why I created the workshop. ENROL IN THE PET PHOTOGRAPHY MARKETING SYSTEMS WORKSHOP The Pet The Pet Photography Marketing Systems Workshop starts 14 May 2026 7:30 AM AEST (13 May 2026 5:30PM ET). More info about the workshop or to enrol visit: https://www.inajphotography.com.au/the-pet-photography-marketing-systems-workshop [https://www.inajphotography.com.au/the-pet-photography-marketing-systems-workshop] 💬 JOIN THE PET PHOTOGRAPHERS' COLLECTIVE If you want to sign up for the workshop, join the Pet Photographers' Collective, it's a free community for pet photographers who want to build a profitable, sustainable business with less overwhelm. Inside, Ina shares: ✨ Practical marketing tips ✨ Business lessons and mindset shifts ✨ Free resources to help you grow Connect with other photographers who get it and start creating a business that truly supports your life, not consumes it. Join here → https://www.skool.com/pet-photographers-collective-3125/about?ref=9c7b56d2963f48a791297a43a29109e1 [https://www.skool.com/pet-photographers-collective-3125/about?ref=9c7b56d2963f48a791297a43a29109e1] ✨ WANT TO BE COACHED LIVE? Interested in being featured on a future coaching episode? Apply here: https://forms.gle/oocMwawVB3de6aM29 [https://forms.gle/oocMwawVB3de6aM29] 📲 CONNECT WITH INA Instagram: @inaj.thepetphotoceo [https://instagram.com/inaj.thepetphotoceo] Email: ina@inajphotography.com [ina@inajphotography.com] Free Consistent Bookings Audit - find your gap in getting consistent bookings: https://www.inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit [https://www.inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit] Mentoring & Coaching for Pet Photographers — Learn More: https://www.inajphotography.com/for-photographer [https://www.inajphotography.com/for-photographers]

Your Next Busy Season Is Being Decided Right Now

I'm recording this right at the start of my busiest month. Sixteen sessions in May. And almost every single one of them was booked from campaigns I ran back in January and February. That gap between when the marketing happens and when the bookings land is the thing most photographers miss. And it's exactly what this episode is about. If you're in a busy season right now and you're not thinking about what happens next, or if you're staring at a quiet calendar wondering how it got this way, this one is for you. In this episode: * Why the feast and famine cycle is not about how hard you're working (and what it's actually about) * The 4 to 6 week marketing lag and why your empty calendar is never about now * What a National Love Your Pet Day giveaway brought in, including one client who spent $6,000 and another who spent $3,980 * Sharon Canovas's story: how a stunt performer in Hamilton, Ontario went from scrambling for bookings to a fully booked spring by planning her whole year in December * The one action to take this week, depending on your season and hemisphere RESOURCES AND LINKS MENTIONED: * The Pet Photography Marketing Systems Workshop starting 14 May 2026 7:30 AM AEST (13 May 2026 5:30PM ET): https://www.inajphotography.com.au/the-pet-photography-marketing-systems-workshop [https://www.inajphotography.com.au/the-pet-photography-marketing-systems-workshop] * Sharon Canovas's episode: From Overwhelmed With Marketing to Fully Booked for Spring Listen on Captivate [https://the-pet-photographers-journal.captivate.fm/episode/from-overwhelmed-with-marketing-to-fully-booked-for-spring-with-sharon-canovas] | Listen on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/episode/4LC6bhrtoIgx1RCKXG4IYH?si=fkcqwFv0TACgxhPle1s84A] YOUR ONE ACTION FROM THIS EPISODE Write down your next peak booking window. Count back four to six weeks from that date. That's when your marketing needs to start. Not when the season arrives. Not when your calendar starts looking quiet. Now. 💬 JOIN THE PET PHOTOGRAPHERS' COLLECTIVE If you want to sign up for the workshop, join the Pet Photographers' Collective, it's a free community for pet photographers who want to build a profitable, sustainable business with less overwhelm. Inside, Ina shares: ✨ Practical marketing tips ✨ Business lessons and mindset shifts ✨ Free resources to help you grow Connect with other photographers who get it and start creating a business that truly supports your life, not consumes it. Join here → https://www.skool.com/pet-photographers-collective-3125/about?ref=9c7b56d2963f48a791297a43a29109e1 [https://www.skool.com/pet-photographers-collective-3125/about?ref=9c7b56d2963f48a791297a43a29109e1] ✨ WANT TO BE COACHED LIVE? Interested in being featured on a future coaching episode? Apply here: https://forms.gle/oocMwawVB3de6aM29 [https://forms.gle/oocMwawVB3de6aM29] 📲 CONNECT WITH INA Instagram: @inaj.thepetphotoceo [https://instagram.com/inaj.thepetphotoceo] Email: ina@inajphotography.com [ina@inajphotography.com] Free Consistent Bookings Audit - find your gap in getting consistent bookings: https://www.inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit [https://www.inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit] Mentoring & Coaching for Pet Photographers — Learn More: https://www.inajphotography.com/for-photographer [https://www.inajphotography.com/for-photographers]