Welcome to another exciting episode of the Cowgirls with Cameras podcast! On this episode, Cara, Kim and Phyllis dive deep into the art of networking and explore how photographers can effectively establish connections to propel their careers to new heights.

Join us as we unlock the secrets of effective networking and discover how you can pave the way to success as a photographer. So grab your favorite camera, tune in, and prepare to unlock a world of opportunities on "The One About Photography Networking".

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

next level with your favorite cowgirls with cameras, Cara,

Kim, and Phyllis.

Welcome to the Cowgirls with Cameras Podcast.

I'm Kim with Kim Beer photography and Be More

Business.

I'm Cara with Fast Horse photography.

And I'm Phyllis with Phyllis Burchett

photo. Good morning, guys.

Hey, good morning.

Gosh, how is everybody? It feels like forever

since I've seen both of you all of us at the same time on

camera.

Well, you guys have been having all your

adventures. I'm just happy to actually see you on camera. This

is the first time we've recorded Cowgirls with Cameras and we can

see your face. You're moving. You're not a blur. You're not

frozen and you're not delayed. This is going to be a whole new

experience.

Yeah, it's gonna be crazy. I'll tell you the new

internet. I'm just so giddy. I want to post about it on

Facebook, just so it's a memory so that it'll come up every

single year. And I'll be able to say yes, this was the week that

I got Joy new into tech world that I joined the tech world and

yeah, we talked about on The Business Animal is quite the

adventure to get it installed. The installer guys came and when

I greeted them at the dorm like you guys have got a challenge

where Yeah, because they had to run 574 feet is what the guy

said 574 feet of the cable had to go across the end of our

lake. So they had to get my boat and we didn't have orders. And

so I'm like, Oh my gosh, you don't have orders. How are you

going to do this? I'm just shocked. They did it. And what

the guy said he immediately said he goes, I have shovels. We have

shovels. It's not a problem. So they took their shovels to the

boat and they shoveled their or shovel or it Hanalei across the

lake and did you get any video because I was I had a sick goat.

And so I noticed he was down when we walked out there to do

that. I think he got busted too hard by another goat. And so I

was with him the whole time that this was going on. So yeah, I'm

kind of sad, but I needed to be where I needed to be. So the

livestock takes precedence over my desire to document the so

cam, do they just lay the cable like threw the legs in? It's

just so the fish can nibble on it and everything? No, it's up

in the air. There's pole.

Oh, I didn't know if it was like an

underground like No, whatever you

Oh, okay. Yeah, totally thinking it was

sinking down under

Yeah, no, no, they have vision of that it's

light poles. So it's put in by our Electric Co Op. So it's with

our power. And so it's up above the lake, it's 574 feet from the

pole across the lake to the pole in our yard. And they shimmy up

the pole, they had to get a ladder across the lake, too. So

it's been an adventure through this entire thing for the poor

Electric Company. Because we don't have like a road that runs

right up to our power poles. It's off of a really rural road

and then it's through to people's property. So it's a

challenge. The guy said, he goes, I'll tell you he goes

you're not the most challenging we've had, but you're close.

Well, I'm I just am happy that for us. That

means that we're gonna be able to actually have like really

good conversations with you instead of having to wait for

the delay. I know for you to catch up. And Phyllis and I are

always one step ahead. And now you're going to be caught up

with us. So I noticed this so yay. Celebration Day is it's so

exciting.

That was the only time that was ever one step

ahead of Kim,

though. Yeah, you're screwed

Well, anyway, what else have you guys been up to? Besides Kim

getting high speed internet for the first time?

Oh, well, okay, I guess that was Kim's big

news. My big news.

I guess I'll talk about I've been home since from Iceland and

just trying to play catch up, but I won't go into the details

about everything I've been doing to play catch up, as we all know

about office work and stuff like that. But ah Gosh, I really

really had a great time over the Fourth of July weekend. I got to

go biking swimmin hanging out with friends and family a lot

had people over for cookout Oh, Tuesday so we had a really for a

really great four day weekend that I don't get to have very

often here at home. So that was that was a lot of fun. But I

think when this episode actually airs that we will all be in

Montana at the dry head with a really great group of

photographers. I'm excited about seeing everybody some of them I

know very well some of them not so well but I'm anxious to get

to know all these girls even better. So I think we're going

to have a great time personally. This ranch is one of my

favorites, the family the kids, the dogs, the horses the

scenery, they just you

No, they never disappoint. So from the dry head, I will go on

to the grand ranch north of Bozeman to spend a few days

photographing their new retreat center for their owner, Eartha

LAN, Alana sorry. artha is like Kim. She's also a certified

instructor with touch by horse. And it's a really cool ranch

because they use gypsy vanners For most of the ranch work, so

that'll be something a little different. And that's what I am.

And we'll be doing.

Well, that's awesome. I'm excited to see you

guys and dry head. I'm so ready for a trip. That's photography

related, because I've done a bunch of family stuff over this

summer. And I've been you know, you guys know, I've been

coordinating camp. For my 10 year old and we've had a ton of

family living in Florida, people come visit you a lot in the

summertime. So we've had a lot of family. And they're all

officially gone. So yeah, so I'm ready to get on the road and

head to Montana and see you guys be able to do some work in

person. And I'm working on my shot list of things that I want

to focus on myself while I'm at dry hits. I'm pretty excited

about that. Yeah, so other than that I had a viewing an ordering

appointment this last week. So I'm designing a photo album and

doing some last minute edits. I designed this really cute donkey

picture for one of my clients bathrooms. So we took a picture

of her donkey, and it's going to be a canvas in her bathroom. And

it says hey there and then it says like nice Hee ha or

something like that. And it's just super cute. I'll have to

send it to you guys. It's adorable. So I'm really excited

about that just doing fun things it feels like this week, and I'm

finally getting caught up. So just in time to go to Montana

and get behind again on everything. And then I'm already

prepping for fall because that's when my season is going to start

back up again. So I'm already doing all the kind of laying the

foundation. So I'll be ready to get back from all the travel and

start shooting fall and holiday sessions. So yeah, it's crazy.

It's a crazy time.

That's awesome. Phyllis, I want to say one thing

about what you said about her that I love her that she is the

most amazing woman and she has such an interesting story. She's

got a book coming out. I don't know if you knew that.

So I'm on the cover of her book. Yeah, I mean,

I'm not. I'm not currently on the cover, but Oh, my pictures.

My pictures are on the cover.

Or her picture that I took.

Yeah, one thing I wanted to mention, as you said

she's a certified instructor or we both are we are not we are

certified Gestalt insists we sign a contract saying we don't

teach it. So I just thought oh, I want to clarify that. I guess

when I say instructor I'm thinking that you're your

therapy. I'm not a therapist, but yeah, work Gestalt this.

Yeah, we're certified Gestalt this, but I didn't want anybody

calling me saying can you teach me how to do that? Because I

can't

I guess I never even think about you

teaching touch by horse. I think of you more being practitioner

post practitioner. Okay. Yes. So yep, that's exactly terminology.

I have been corrected. I'm behind and I'm corrected today.

No worries. I just didn't want to get hurt

with it. I in trouble. It's not you. It's us. So anyway, okay.

So are we really what are we talking about today? It's kind

of exciting. I'm excited to get started on our topic, because I

love it.

Well, before we get into the topic, can you

let folks know just real quick what we've got because I don't

want anyone to miss out.

So in large red print in front of me is the

thing that I need to do. Yep. And I got totally off track and

Cara is like Kim, focus up women focus up, get it together.

Well, we went out of order if you want to, I'm

gonna give her some grace. We went out of order. It's in

bright red bold on the top of the page, just

so you know, it's right in front of your face and

a larger thought than everything else.

She got excited about the internet.

There's no delay, so I don't have time to think

about it.

Okay, so if you would like to join the chaos and humor of what

is cowgirls and cameras like is on this podcast. This is how

much fun we have in our events. It is laughter It is joy. It is

photography. It is art. It is so many amazing things that are

available to you when you come to one of our events. And I want

to tell you about three of our upcoming events this year that

we still have some spaces for and the first one is our

cottonwood event. And it's at the end of August in Nevada. And

it's at a beautiful ranch called the cottonwood ranch guest ranch

and the family there is amazing. They are very good models and

incredible hands and it's got kids it's got a ton of dogs,

lots of cows, lots of really cool horses and some really

unique scenery.

that you don't always see in workshop photos. So we would

love to have you come there we have one coveted spot open for

this event, and would dearly love to get that spot filled for

the ranch and for us and for some lucky person who gets to

come with us. So if you're interested in that the

information is on our website at Cal gross with cameras.com. And

you can fill out a little form there. This is an event where we

do what we call an onboarding appointment with where we talk

to you before you officially come to the event or officially

sign up for the event. We are going to be assigning

mentorships there's mentorships ahead of this event. We're going

to be doing that in the next week. So we would love for you

to join us and to get on board with cottonwood. Like I said,

You won't regret it. If you're wanting to learn photography,

take your photography to the next level. Or if you want to up

your business game or get out of your own way creatively. This is

the workshop to do it. If you want to add to your portfolio,

this is the workshop to do it. So it's a great place to come

reach out to us for that if you have questions you can get to

any one of us on social media or through email or through the

website. The other two events that we have, we have a unique

experience coming up as a first time workshop in October in

Colorado at the trappers Lake Lodge, a photographer that came

to one of our workshops has helped us set this up. It is at

her family's campground, which I have had the privilege to stay

at Phyllis and Cara haven't seen the gorgeousness of this place,

but it is in the true wilderness. And there's going to

be opportunity to photograph in the wilderness as well as some

ranches around the area. And if you want to talk about scenery,

oh my word, this place is stunning. I mean, it literally

takes your breath away. So it's beautiful. We have a couple of

spots open for that workshop as well, that is not going to be

highly educational workshop, you're going to come you're

going to shoot we're going to have a lot of good laughter

around fires and, and really enjoy ourselves in that

particular event. And then in October following that event,

Phyllis and I are going to be doing the workshop through art

of the cowgirl in Oklahoma, it'll be at the Cross Bell ranch

and Pawhuska I hope I say that right. I always second guess

myself whether I say Pawhuska right or not. But it's good.

PUSC, Oklahoma, which and we've we talked to another ranch that

we're super excited about shooting at the family is there

is amazing. And I know the place that we're staying at is

amazing. So it's going to be a really interesting, beautiful

experience, it will be a little more educational than a workshop

or retreat kind of situation. So it's kind of more of a workshop

or clinic. And again, if you're wanting to learn photography, or

if you're wanting to branch out into doing more photography,

build your business, all of the above, it would be a great place

for you to come and I believe Phyllis, it's the second weekend

in October, the 13th 1415. Somewhere in there 14 1517. Yes,

the actual event is the 13th 14th and 15th We are

checking in our group will check in the because lodging is

included, we'll check in the 12th of October. So think about

coming with us to a fun event and come Laugh with us and shoot

with us and have fun and enjoy the All the Pretty Horses. I

think that if you want to network, we're talking about

networking today as a topic. So it's a perfect opportunity to

network with other photographers. Beautiful segue

care a beautiful thing I've been sitting here waiting to do.

So networking, so this gets me on my soapbox a little bit,

because I have been a professional business person

entrepreneur for 30 years. And a lot of what I have done over

those years is help small businesses, just like

photographers, as a matter of fact, a whole bunch of

photographers market their businesses out into the world.

And one of the most common things that I hear people say is

I just don't have enough business or I'm worried there

isn't enough business for me to be able to have in this area or

how do I get customers or I get those questions. And people get

very frustrated with that. And they get frustrated with

figuring out how to get clients. And then social media came along

and everybody was like, Oh yeah, I can just post on social media

and that will get me all the clients I need. And then they

felt like failures when that didn't happen. So networking to

me is way more than social media. It's what

made more than putting a few posts out there. It is getting

out and talking to people, it's boots on the ground. It's

chatting about your business, it's telling people about your

business, it's speaking about your business, it's becoming the

biggest advocate for your business that is out there. And

so because it's so important, and I do a lot of instructing

for businesses, I have an entire workbook around creating your

network. And for me, there are three parts to the network that

you should create for your business, the first one is going

to help sustain you. The second one is going to be with

businesses that are complementary to yours, that are

going to be your joint venture partners. And then the final

network is with your customers and where they're at. And the

structure of our episode today is that each of us are going to

take that particular topic and get you a little bit more, get

you some inspiration and education around what you need

to do to build your network in each of those three areas.

Because all three of those areas are very, very important as a

solopreneur, which most photographers are sustainability

is really, really important because it's hard. And I know

Kara has talked about this, I believe Phyllis has as well. I

know I have being a solopreneur is hard. Right, Kara? You talk

about a lot. I always say I feel like I'm on my own little

island. Yeah, because you spend so much time alone. And you

know, when you're not with your clients, it's it is it's very

lonely, and you kind of feel like you're writing your own

playbook sometimes. And that does not have to be the case,

you don't have to be alone in your single business ownership.

No, you don't. And the very first part of your network, and

probably some of the easiest part of your network to build is

going to be building a group of people around you a support

system, a sustainable system that I call your sustainability

squad, and it's composed of some different people. And I'm gonna

run those down really quickly. We have The Business Animal

episode on this, I think. So we're going to refer you in the

show notes of this episode to some of Cara and I's podcast

episodes where we like super deep dive into a couple of the

topics that we're sort of mentioning in this podcast, but

I'm going to run over the members that you need to recruit

for your sustainability squad, these are the people that are

going to support you. And that support is absolutely critical

in you being sustainable as a solopreneur and not feeling like

you're out on an island, or that you don't have the answers or

that you're not able to navigate this without support and help

from other people. So the number one person, people group of

people, you may have multiple people in these roles, or you

may have one or two as your mentors. These are people who

are usually paid, they help you understand very specifically

about what you're trying to accomplish. They are the ones

that have walked the path you're on themselves, and they're a

representation of your future vision. In photography.

Mentorship is such an important piece of learning photography,

because there's only so much of this art and science that you

can effectively get from a book or from a video course, having a

mentor is one of the best ways to learn photography. It's one

of the reasons why we offer it with our higher end workshops

and experiences. And it's also why all three of us are mentors,

you can find out about our own mentorship programs on our

website. It's such a crucial part of photography. The next

group that I'm going to talk about are teachers, those are

people who give you a very, very specific skill. Again, they're

usually people that are paid or where you're attending things in

a classroom situation. I think all three of us step into that

role during our events, where we're actually teaching and

helping you hold a camera and figure out where everything is

at. That's a very specific teaching piece. Teachers are

different from mentors as mentors are where you want to

go. Teachers have very specific knowledge they need to impart

about us one area of what you're learning. It can't be the same

person by the way. The next group is coaches. Coaches aren't

necessarily in your same, like they don't need to be

photographers. But what they do is they're the people who help

you realize your potential. They're the ones that are going

to push you hold you accountable. And I can tell you

in my own business, I don't think I really reached success

until I started working with coaches. Coaches are the people

who will get

The best out of you. They don't need to be other photographers

they can be anybody in the coaching world can help you get

what you want to get out of your life. Another set of people that

you need to attract or go out and recruit are advisors. These

are people like insurance agents, lawyers, accountants, IT

professionals, bankers, financial advisors. And they're

the people in your business and even in your creativity, who are

going to be able to advise you about specific things that you

don't want to learn every detail of. So I don't want to know

everything about insurance. I have an insurance agent that I

trust to be able to answer those questions. And then the final a

wealth no of two more groups, one of the most important groups

that you will recruit to advance your business is a sponsor. And

that's the next group I want to talk about. Sponsors are the

people who go out into the world and tell people about you. Now,

here's the thing. We are cowgirls with cameras. And

although I know there are men that listen to this podcast, I'm

gonna guess that the mass majority of people who listen to

us are women. And as women, culturally, we struggle with

asking for sponsors, please, please, please get a coach to

help you figure out how to recruit sponsors into your

business. These are the people who are going to move you

forward the fastest. They're the people who go out and tell their

entire barn, how wonderful of a photographer you are, and get

everybody signed up to be on your photography list at that

barn. That's an example of how a sponsor would work. There are

amazing people there. Oftentimes, they do it just out

of the goodness of their heart, or because they want to see you

be successful. And it's really important that you reward these

people with a lot of thank yous and appreciations. Because

they're really an important part of your growth and expansion in

your business. And then the final group of people that you

need to recruit are your cheerleaders. Those are people

who are going to tell you on those days when things look like

they're going to hell in a handbasket that it's going to be

okay, that you can do this. They're there to celebrate your

wins when you have a really good day, or they're there to

celebrate and clap when you show them that photo that you did,

and you're gonna go hang in a person's house that you're so

excited about. They're just an amazing group of people. And

they don't need to have anything to do with your photography. But

at times, they're your friends and family. But it's important

that you recognize them, and that you actively seek out that

process for the rah rah rah. So what do you guys think of all of

that? I know curious heard it before, but I don't know Phyllis

has heard my whole spiel about sustainability squads. In terms

of networking, which of those people in your squad do you

think are the most essential to have in your corner? I think

your sponsors for business building and your mentors for

personal growth. I think that those two categories in this are

so so very important for me sponsors are who have

leapfrogged my career forward, I mean, they're like rocket fuel.

Let me give you an example. I had a client that years and

years and years ago, I did photographs for her one time,

and she hired me to do just that photography shoot. But when she

saw my work, she was so excited about what I had done that she

contacted, like 12 or 15 other people and set up photo shoots

for me, she talked to me, by the way, she didn't do this without

my complete input in it. She asked me, she said, I have these

friends. They all live in a row on the East Coast, I would love

to have you work with all of them. I'd like to make these

introductions and tell them about you because I think you're

very talented. And I would love to see your work more out into

the world. It was right at the beginning of my photography

career. And I was able to work at some really nice barns that I

probably would not have gotten into otherwise. And I would have

never met the people. They weren't within my personal reach

of a network. And it did it leapfrogged my entire world

forward, especially in the market that that was in. So I

think sponsors are incredibly important. And I think mentors

are the people who, like I said, they've walked the path before

you so they're able to help you navigate where you want to step

and also to give you a good map to where the landmines are, that

might derail you

You. Awesome. Well, thank you for that. And Kim, are you going

to you have a workbook around this that I have seen and played

with? I do and also and what you're talking about? Yeah. Are

you planning on making that available at some point?

Absolutely. Okay, awesome. So we'll make sure we can share

that we are, and I'll tell you what we're gonna put it in our

Lincoln bio, we're gonna put the link on our Facebook account,

but we're gonna put the link in bio on Instagram. So if you go

to our, I'm hoping you go to our social media. While you're

there, make sure you like and follow and maybe hand us a few

comments. Yeah, there'll be available. And it gives you step

by step where you might find these folks how you work with

them, and gives you an opportunity to work through how

to build out this part. And also the part of your network that

Kara is going to talk about, which is your joint venture

squad. So the joint venture people are incredibly important.

That's another, another group that is definitely added to my

bottom line. So that's what I'm going to talk about. Go ahead,

fellas, I was just going to ask, is that going to be a freebie

cam? Or is that? Yeah, it's free. Okay, awesome. That's

wonderful. Thanks for doing that. pretty helpful. I used it

originally to I sat down and went through the whole thing.

And it was like, Who are my people? I don't know. And then,

and kind of thinking about what role they play in my life as a

business owner. So it was kind of neat, and it kind of showed

me where I was pretty strong. And Where I was weak, where I

could maybe do a little more networking work and building and

pulling people in. So it was a cool experience. That's

something I've never really I mean, I know I have a network.

Yeah. But I don't specifically think about it like you guys.

Do. You know what I'm saying? Right? Well, and I never did

either. And so we had this conversation when we talked

about sustainability squat on The Business Animal podcast, and

as far as what I call sponsors, are my past clients. They're all

my sponsors, because that's how I got most of my referrals was

from past clients. And I guess I consider that a sponsor. I don't

know if that's right or not, but it is it is to an extent, but I

would say you have other sponsors, I would say both Kara,

and I sponsor you. I know that all three of us sponsor each

other. I think if you ran into somebody on the road that you

thought would be a good fit for me, you would sponsor me. And I

know if I found somebody that wanted something specific that I

thought either you or Cara could fulfill, I would definitely

sponsor you to them. Sponsors are the people who like you meet

them at the photography clubs, that say, you know, I bet your

work would look beautiful in this gallery. Let me go talk to

them. And here's the thing, when I talk about women struggling

with sponsors, here's the thing when people say that, like, Wow,

you're really talented, I think your work would look beautiful

at this gallery that I go to. The point is, is not to go Oh,

that's nice. The point is to say, thank you for that. I

really appreciate it. Could you introduce me to the gallery

owner? Or do you think you could and this is the terms that, you

know, put in a good word for me for being able to do that, you

know, tell people who I am. It really is years ago, I had this

boyfriend who's like, it's all about who you know. And I always

thought he was full of something. But, you know, in

actuality, that was one thing that he said that was right.

It really is a lot about who you know. And that's where those

sponsors come in. And it can just move your business and you

light years forward in where you're going, when somebody

walks in and says, Oh, you need to work with this person, or I

know this individual, and they would be a great asset for your

gallery for your barn for your business. Whatever it happens to

be, it really does make a huge difference. When you walk in,

you are ready are liked and appreciated and are seen in a

totally different light than somebody who would be a stranger

that walked in off the street. So ask for sponsorship guys,

that's the bottom line to it. When people show an indication

of wanting to sponsor you are wanting to talk about you bend

over backwards to encourage that and give gratitude for it. Give

them everything that they need to be able to go out into the

world and tell people about you. Yeah, we really do have to

sometimes to do a better job of like, reinforcing that. I had a

time recently where one of my clients we hung artwork in her

home and she's like, Oh my god, I love this so much. I want to

have a little party and have my equestrian friends over and do a

sip and see but do it for my artwork on my walls. And I would

love to have you come and I was like, Oh my gosh, what a fun

idea. But I never like I didn't follow up with it. Because that

would have been a really great opportunity for me to say hey,

were you serious about that? I think that would be a lot of

fun. I would really love to

help you put that together and be a part of

that. Because for me as a business owner that would have

been putting me right in front of well, it's not too late. It's

not too late Kara. Yeah, I know. It's not too late. I just it's

like it's a courage thing. Sometimes saying like, women

sometimes aren't the best at stepping into those

opportunities, boldly and bravely and making it happen for

ourselves. It is, yeah, it's a struggle, we tend to kind of

wait and see if it'll just happen for us. So yeah, that's

such a good point. Yep. So I'm going to talk about another part

of networking called joint ventures. And I love this part

of networking. And for me personally, the time and effort

that I've put into establishing joint ventures with other like

like minded business owners has been probably the fastest way

that I scaled my photography business early on, just to give

kind of a definition, joint venture collaborations can allow

photographers entrance into new markets, and they put you in

front of new potential customers, they also give you

potentially access to specialized staff, unique

equipment, and they create an opportunity for problem solving,

that can really go beyond what you can even think possible. So

I've got some examples here, which I'm going to go over in a

second. But I just want to say that, in my experience, joint

ventures have provided an opportunity for cross promotion,

that has brought me so much value, and has brought new

clients and has just really added value to even the clients

that I already have. So there's just some really cool things

that you can do there. I feel like that my experience with

joint ventures has given me new knowledge. They can help you if

you've got staff, or you're working with people, they can

help you across train staff, that technology piece can't be

understated because I've done joint ventures where maybe I

didn't have access to certain gear, or certain equipment or

certain spaces. And by teaming up with other business owners, I

was able to gain access to that space because they had access to

that space. And the problem solving side of joint ventures

is something that as a solopreneur, sometimes you get

you know, I say you're on your island, you're on your island.

But having the problem solving piece of that and being able to

have another like minded business owner, maybe not a

photographer, maybe it's somebody that does something

totally different. But is in your you know, for me, it would

be the equestrian well, maybe they're in the equestrian world,

and they know something about horses that I don't know. And we

can go back and forth and work together to problem solve.

That's been huge. So the big key about this is that you've got to

be strategic. So you've got to really think about who you want

to and who you need to form a joint venture with. I think

about looking for businesses that complement what I do. So

businesses that complement my photography, business and

businesses that align with my brand and to some extent, how I

view the world and how I navigate my client experiences.

So I'm going to look for other businesses that maybe are in the

equine industry, or in a closely relatable industry. But there

are people that I feel I can build a good relationship and

that people that when I look at them as business owners, I

respect the work that they're doing, I value the work that

they're doing. And they're not something that's going to make

my brand look bad, if that makes sense. So I like the way they

work their businesses, I respect the way they run their

businesses. And I feel like that meshes and lines up well with

mine. So here are some examples of joint ventures that I have

seen other photographers do, and I'm going to share them with

you. And also, there's a couple here that I've done personally

that I want to share. The first one is a horse photographer that

joins up with an Equestrian Club to photograph events. So for me

early on in my photography, business, we have a horse

Council, I become a member of the horse Council, and I

sponsored an event really early on, so I photographed the event.

And as part of that relationship. As the

photographer, I provided images that them for marketing. But the

council then put my information on their website, a direct link

to my website. They put me as a sponsor for the council, so that

when horse people that were new to the community or in the

community looking for equestrian businesses that were trusted by

the community by the council, they would see me listed there

as the photographer of choice. And that was a really good

mutual way that we were helping each other out. And it brought

me early on a bunch of business and it brought me a ton of new

relationships.

So within my local community, another joint venture that I

formed at one point that I really enjoyed was I joined up

with a local fashion boutique. So this was a place downtown.

They are not horse people. They're not selling the

equestrian community. But I had needed access to beautiful

clothing and wardrobe for my clients. And I wanted to have

some options there. So I reached out and I suggested, how about

we join up and you style models, and I will photograph them. So

it's a win win for both of us. My clients look great, they've

got great clothes, and then she's getting people in her

clothes. I can help provide you with images, you're providing

the clothing and the styling. And that was a really great way

that we came together. It saved us both money we both were in

vested financially together. And we had a contract between the

two of us to do a certain number of shoots and it went really,

really well. The third one I want to share is another one

that I have done personally and it's still a joint venture that

I have today, where I joined with a hair and makeup artist,

Kara with onsite news, Phyllis and Kim, I know you guys have

met Kira, and she provides hair and makeup to equestrian clients

that I work with. And she also refers her clients to me for

horse photography, but I refer anyone that I come in contact

with it needs hair and makeup to her. And that's been really

beneficial for her because she has had a lot of my clients that

I've worked with work with her for our equestrian shoots, but

then also go back to her for their wedding and go back to her

when they do family portraits and they need other hair and

makeup needs met. But for me, she has come out and she's done

a really great job. She offers a discount package to my clients

that's included with their portrait session. And she's also

done hair and makeup for our horses on the beach workshop at

a discounted rate so that our models are really beautifully

styled for some of those shoots. And then a couple other examples

of photographers in joint ventures wedding photographers,

so those of you that are listening that do some weddings,

joining up with wedding planners to offer packages to engaged

couples who are planning a wedding, the photographer can

provide like a customized package. And then in return, the

wedding planner refers clients to the photographer. And then I

think those are the ones that I have here. Do you guys have any

other examples of joint ventures in the photography world that

you really have enjoyed? Yeah, our joint ventures

as well are like, like in the beginning, I teamed

up with you Kara to do the horses on the beach workshop.

Yep. Kim, I teamed up with you to do the winter workshop. I

mean, then that just one thing led to another and then here we

are. Yeah, I have a great team up with equine photographers

network for powder horn with Carien Schippers. We do a

retreat or two out there every year. And we do joint ventures

with branches too. I know Korean teams, like the worst strife

people and stuff like that endless opportunity. Yeah, that

I dabble in, in my world. A photography is one of the best

ones for joint ventures. And you can think outside the box.

Right. So I'm going to give you an example of the photographer

that I think that outside of the box for a joint venture. So I

belong to a group of people called the wellness consortium

in Kansas City. And it's a bunch of wellness practitioners who've

gotten together have meetings were led by a wonderful woman

named Michelle Robin, who has a great vision for all of this.

But there's a photographer who identified an opportunity. And I

think this kind of crosses over into what Phyllis is going to

talk about here in a moment about networking with your

customers, right. She wanted to work with people in the wellness

space. So she started inserting herself into all of these

meetings. But now she got a joint venture project with the

actual consortium itself and did headshots at several of the

meetings. And she's been doing all of my photography, like my

photography for my business, he kind of stuff and she's just an

amazing little photographer. Her name is Corey Brown, and she's

gotten a ton of interest. And then the joint venture just

boosted her right on up. She got to meet a whole bunch of new

customers. And it was just a big deal. So joint ventures are so

much fun. And I gotta tell you, I am feel gifted and always in

gratitude of this joint venture that the three of us do together

so I don't know where my life would be without it so they can

be very important to you. That seems a little extreme. How was

that much.

Her life wouldn't be nearly as enriched

and full without us. Probably less stressful though.

I'm thinking you guys would have less stressful

life without me in it. That to

me

I think I'm the one that always causes the

stress.

Not so much I do enough of that on my own, I

don't need somebody else to, to create it for me.

So all the things we've talked about up to this point, really

have been about you going out and working with like other

businesses or very specific people, it's finding your

customers through somebody's illness, I think you're gonna

help us understand how to just go directly to the customers,

right? Well, it depends on what your market is, too. I think

going where your customers are, and positioning yourself as an

expert is greatly beneficial. No matter what kind of photographer

you are, I know years ago, when I was going to just starting my

professional career, actually, I guess I was more of an advanced

photographer at that point, I joined a site called Better

photo.com. And it was a contest website where you upload your

images and you put them into the theme for the you know, whatever

theme it might be for that month, and they have a contest

every month, they had, each theme had a first place. And

then they had the overall winner and that kind of thing. And I

tell you what, by joining in and being active on this site, I got

so many great connections that turned out to be so useful to me

to this very day, I even got a big gallery showing and Ohio

from ban on better photo, I got numerous jobs from being on

better photo and form so many friendships that I went and shot

with and learn from. And all these are networking and making

connections. And I think that's beneficial is to entering Beto

contest is a great way to get your work seen. But not only to

get your work seen, but to be seen as an artist and to form

more connections that way as well. And I know at first it can

be scary. But just jump out there and start doing it and

you'll get better. And the more you'll learn to I really think

that entering photo contests because sometimes they do

critiques or they may tell you different things about what they

did or didn't like about your work. And that's very helpful. I

think constructive criticism is hugely important to us to grow

as photographers and artists, I think find relevant networking

events and workshops, workshops, or retreats or tours to do like

what we have whether you join in with cowgirls with cameras or go

to another workshop. That's a huge part of networking. I know

it was for me at first because professionally, they used to

call me the workshop clean because I went to so many. But

it gave me a great opportunity to meet people to photograph

things I wouldn't have otherwise gotten to see and to meet and to

learn. So I think that's something that we even now in

this point in my career, I still go to other people's events, to

do things and see things that I would not have been able to do

otherwise, I think you can meet a lot of people through them.

And then follow up on these connections too. I think you'll

make lifelong friends and huge networking part of my business

has been workshops, treat every conversation you have with these

people as an opportunity to allow people to see the person

behind the camera. I think that's really important,

especially with the day of social media and everything, and

be a really good listener. I think don't always just talk

about yourself, you know, listen to the person you're engaging

with and be as interested as you are interesting. Join local

camera clubs. I think that's another one that's really good,

too. I used to be a member of a couple of big ones here in

Georgia, I've kind of fell apart or fell away from those because

they were just too far away from me. But there's also a great

site called meetup.com. Where you can you can find photography

events that are local to you. That might be more specific to

what the type of photography you enjoy. Whether it be landscape

or macro or equine photography. I think that's a great site.

It's called meetup.com meetup.com. I'm gonna

check it out. I haven't I haven't heard of that one.

Sounds like a dating site. Sounds like something you single

ladies would be. Yeah, you've heard of it. Haven't you? Cam?

Yeah, yeah, is hanging out a

pretty big here in Georgia. I don't know about in your states,

but it's big here in Georgia. I've generated many connections

by speaking at local photography clubs, not just local. I've done

one a couple in North Carolina and South Carolina as well. I'm

also a member of a local artists Gallery, which is a great

network locally, I think is great to have a good online

presence too. But I don't mean just just social media. You need

to have your own personal, professional website and

showcase your very best work and the services you offer. And ways

for people to contact you of course, be sure to include links

to your social media accounts where they can follow your day

to day work or your recent projects. Social media has been

a highly beneficial aspect to networking in my business. I

don't think I'd be where I am. If it wasn't for Facebook and

Instagram. I mean, maybe I would I just would have had to work a

lot harder. Don't forget to connect and engage with these

people that are your followers as well. It's really important

aspect of networking is don't just don't just put your work up

there and then when somebody comments, ignore them, go in and

tell them thank you or follow

Follow them and go and look at their work

and see what they're shooting or even if it's not, it may not

even be another photographer, it may just be, it may be a

potential client, a portrait client or a ranch or something

that you want to go shoot at. So you never know where this is

going to lead. I think it's really important to be a member

of and to be active in photography organizations, such

as professional photographers of America, equine,

photographers.net, Cowger, artists of America, I'm sure

there's others too. These are just some of the highlights. I'm

thinking of cowgirls with cameras, it's important to be a

member of all of these organizations. And don't

overlook the importance of connecting with other

photographers don't look at them as your competition. Yeah,

collaboration, partnerships, and referrals are all important

perks of these friendships. I think that's about all I have to

say. I think that is huge. That piece about other photographers

like we can have a tendency to think of other photographers, of

course, if they're in your local area, or they're serving your

demographic, there's a level of competition there. But I can't

tell you as a photographer, how many times I have sent clients

that have contacted me down the road to other people, because

they're just not a good fit for my business. And I think we can

recognize that a lot of us offer very different things. I mean,

the three of us alone, were equally photographers, but we do

something totally different. You know, in our businesses, yeah,

I've had people out of state that contact me for a job, and

yeah, it's just gonna cost way too much money for them by the

time they pay for my travel. And I would refer them to another

photographer. So please don't overlook these connections. And

because they could do the same for you one day, yep. You know,

like, I don't have a lot of desire to be a traveling

equestrian portrait photographer, like I've got a

family and I've got my own kid that I'm taking, you know what I

mean? Like I have a son that I need to be home more. So for me,

I get requests from out of state all the time, because I have a

nationwide audience. And they don't always realize that I'm

not a traveling, equestrian photographer. So what will

happen for me is that piece about the equine photographers

network, for example, you know, being a member and getting on

there and being active, I will go when I get those requests, I

will go on to Eb net, search the area, find them a couple

photographers, send them the information, shoot those

photographers, and notice, hey, heads up, just referred some in

your way, hope they're a good fit for you. That can happen to

you, too. You know, as you know, listener out there that can

happen to you, too, if you're open to the fact that you can

still network and collaborate and joint venture with other

photographers don't view them necessarily as your competition

that you always have to be out there being better than them all

the time. Yes. Okay. Is there anything else you guys want to

add? I think I just jumped on my little soapbox can rehearse, and

I jumped on mine. It's sort of fun to be on the soapbox, admit.

The only other thing I have to just reiterate

that I know we've already mentioned is that if you're

building your business, all of this is so important, it

sustains you. It helps you network with other businesses

and other like minded people, and also just really get

involved in going where your customers hang out. I mean,

wherever they are, you need to be showing up talking about your

business. And there's dedicate time to this. Oh, I have one

other thing I want to mention for our poor introverts who are

like, No, I don't want to network. It's scary and

horrible. So please be kind to yourself. Take a moment and say,

I'm gonna go to this event, I'm going to meet five people, and

then I'm gonna go home and read a book under my covers for two

days, you're fine. Take care of your introvert. Another really

good thing that you can do is find an extrovert buddy, who can

go start the conversations for you. That's always a good idea

for introverts. But you can do this and rah rah rah, if you

believe you can't do it. Our dear Kara, here is a big

introvert. And she does this and does it very effectively. But

she also has a good self care plan to come home and make sure

her introvert is well cared for. So don't let it scare you for

myself. Yeah. And that's how I set a goal if I have an event

that I have to go to, and I say have to because I never want to

go to events like I'm never like, Yay, that sounds like fun.

Never like I don't, I do not enjoy going to networking events

at all. So if you're listening to either care at all, but I

understand how important they are. So if I'm invited to one, I

first of all, don't just say no, because the first thing that

pops into my head is Oh, I'm so sorry. I can't make that. I have

another response. And it's usually something like Oh my

gosh, please give me some more information. That is the first

step that I'm not saying no. And then I give myself time to think

about it. I get the information. And then if I decide I'm going

to go I set a plan. You're going to stay for 30 minutes checkbox

one. Maybe I'll stay

Longer if I do great, that's a when I'm

going to talk to X number of people I don't know, because I

will walk around with the two people that I know the entire

time and not meet new people. I'm horrible about meeting new

people. So I will make it a goal to maybe meet five new people.

And even if it's just say hello, and to just briefly chat with

them. That's my goal. And I have found that if I push myself with

a limit that I don't have to go beyond if I don't want to, I

have had some amazing conversations and made

connections that I would never have made before. So if you're

an introvert like me, try that and see how that feels for you

set yourself some little goals. If you go above and beyond, you

can be super proud of yourself. If you hit your goal, you still

get to go home, curl up in your blankets and disappear and go in

your little introvert world and recover. But you still did a

good job. So that would be my little piece of that. Yes. And

I'm the twisted one of the three of us that can't wait to go to

the party. I'm thinking of the art of the cowgirl thing a

couple of years ago, they have a big smoothie party at the end of

the day. And through that.

That's funny that you bring it up because I was just thinking

about that too. Is that how we would go and sit at our little

table and cams wandering around? Like yeah, and I'm like, That's

a good one. I need to make it a point to try to talk to five

people before I go crawl in the hive. It could be two people it

just whatever. And then meet them and then make it a point to

ask them questions to learn what they do. And it's like you said

Phyllis, you treat every conversation like it could be a

potential connection or client down the line and, and if you

can handle those conversations that way, like what you learn

about people and how they're connected to other people. It's

been so valuable, but I as an introvert have to make myself do

those things. So I have to set some rules to get myself to do

those things. I'm going to be better at art of the cowgirl

this year. Yeah, the extrovert friend goes and blows through

all the rules and says we need to stay here for two hours and

talk to everybody.

Exactly.

But yes, so enjoy networking. It is such a good

way to build your business. And if you'll dedicate some specific

time really pinpointed to finding the networks, building

your sustainability squad, getting to know your customers

doing joint ventures, your business will leap forward your

abilities as a photographer will leap forward. It is just such a

big part of what we do in building up our cred as an

artist and as a photographer. So Nice job guys.

Thank you all for hanging out with us.

Thanks for listening to this episode of cowgirls with

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

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

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