Is your photography business ready for the next curveball? Pat Miller sits down with industry powerhouse Carrie Wilds for an actionable episode on evolving your studio beyond weddings and future-proofing your work.

Episode Highlights 🎤💡:

(09:58) - Why corporate work and headshots are more profitable

(14:48) - Why you should expand before you need to

(18:25) - How to add services without confusing your brand

Connect with Pat Miller ⬇

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Connect with Carrie Wildes ⬇

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I'm Pat Miller, and this is The Professional Photographer Podcast. We're back with another high performer series here on the show, and we get to sit down with high performer Carrie Wildes, based in sunny Florida. And today, instead of talking about how things are always going to be perfect in your business, we're going to talk about how even high performers have to make changes in what they do, and how do they go about making those changes. Carrie's going to talk about her path as a high-flying wedding photographer that started to add other lines of business as well, and how it's really helped out what she does. So what does it mean to make a change? When should you know that you should make a change? How do you evaluate the change? How do you talk about it? All of those things may be questions that you are considering when it's time to make a change in your photography business. It's a good thing a high performer is here to give you all of the answers. Carrie Wildes is standing by. We'll talk to her next. Carrie, welcome to the show. How are you today?

Hey, great. Thanks so much for having me. I'm excited to be a part of it.

I'm excited to have you here. Hopefully you're going to bring some of that Florida sun to the podcast because it's still cold up here in the Upper Midwest. Has the weather been nice near you lately?

Oh, it's full-on summer here now. It was like 85 yesterday. I think we get a cold front like in a couple of days, which means it'll be like 80.

Oh, wow.

So just in time for everybody's spring break, it is full-on Florida sunshine, which I will not complain about. So it's very nice out.

That sounds amazing. Okay. If someone hasn't met you other than knowing you're from Florida, tell them who you are and what you do.

Yeah, absolutely. So I am Carrie Wildes. I own Carrie Wildes Photography based in Tampa, Florida, and we photograph weddings, corporate events, portraits, headshots, branding, and then other interesting projects that happen to come about.

And today's episode is a High Performer series, 'cause you're kind of a big deal. And today's episode is about how it wasn't always that way. Wasn't there a time when it was more weddings than anything else? And today, we get to talk about change in the business. How has your business changed over time?

Yeah, I mean, I can't believe I'm saying this will actually be my 19th year, doing this full-time, which is so crazy because I'm only 29, you know. So, it goes by quickly. But I will say I started off only doing weddings, and because that's what I loved, and that's kind of, you know, like where I started and what you do. And I feel like back then it was very– a lot of the education was very geared towards like doing– niching yourself into like one thing. And so, and it was, you know, everything was different back then. So I had 3 teams, there was 8 of us, and I had an editor and we did probably 95% weddings versus now I do a really big mix of corporate events, weddings, portraits, a lot of headshots as well. And then my team is much smaller. It's myself, one of my photographers that's been with me the entire time, and then I have 2 other photographers that shoot with us when needed, and I still have an editor too.

That sounds fantastic. And you mentioned it used to be people wanted you to narrow down to one or two styles. You're doing more than that. It seems like in the wedding industry, people cling to just being a wedding person. Is that changing? Do you know what I mean? Like, if you're gonna narrow yourself to one industry, it seems like that is still prevalent inside the wedding industry. Is that right, or am I wrong on that?

I feel like from what I'm hearing that wedding photographers do really still just stick to weddings because even like in the corporate space, you know, a lot of the venues that we are preferred photographers on, you know, for weddings, they also refer us for corporate. But they say, you know, there's not many wedding photographers that do corporate events or that are willing to do them. So I feel like it is still, especially wedding photographers kind of stick within that realm of just doing weddings.

So you've made the change to include a mix of products outside of doing weddings. How would you rank the mixture of work that you do? Do you do a lot of corporate? Do you do a lot of portrait work? How does that all kind of distribute beyond the weddings?

You know, I would say it now distributes pretty evenly, like headshots, like if you group all portraits together, so like engagement sessions, family, maternity, that kind of thing. you know, corporate events, which, Linda, one of my photographer who's been with me forever, she's my main second shooter and then she loves corporate events. So a lot of the corporate stuff I book her on. But yeah, it's like a really, you know, gotten to be like a really even mix. So throughout the years, it's kind of like, you know, the percentages of what I'm doing has gone like more corporate events than weddings. You know, not more, but like, you know, grouping everything. If you're grouping everything together, the percentages have gone up and then on weddings have gone a little bit down, if that makes sense.

And thinking about this as change and talking with a high-performer studio that's doing such a great job, how did you make the decision to roll in different styles of photography? Was that out of necessity? Was that just future planning and adding some insurance to the business? How did you go about making that decision?

You know, I started getting requests for especially like headshots. Corporate events we've kind of always done. We do more of them now. But really it was just because I had gotten requests from people and I usually, you know, I get bored easily. So I'm like, you know, versus just doing weddings, like if a company is like, "Hey, we have headshots that we need." Like I have one great company that is local here in Tampa. And last year they contacted me and they're like, "Hey, whenever we have a new employee, we need someone to send them to the photographer we had doing all of our headshots. We're not working with them anymore." And so we worked out a deal. And I mean, I've done, gosh, probably, you know, from since last year when we started working together, maybe $20,000–$25,000 of headshots, which is amazing. And they're a repeat client all the time. So it mainly has come from like requests of doing things, and I'm like, oh, you know what, I really love doing that. Or from a portrait perspective, I've been around a really long time. So a lot of my clients are having babies or anniversary parties or portraits and that kind of thing. So like today, for example, actually this evening, I have a maternity session from one of my wedding clients. So I have a lot of people that come back to me now, too, and it's because I've known them for a long time. So they'll, you know, for those really important key moments that they want photographed, they'll come back, and then I get to see them for babies and maternity and, you know, all the important things in life as well.

As someone that used to do more weddings than anything else, do you still introduce yourself as a wedding photographer or do you introduce yourself as a photographer that sometimes does weddings?

You know, I always try to introduce myself as I own a photography company, which I think is important, and that sets you up as a business owner and not just, I'm a photographer. which being a photographer is great, but, you know, like, I own the business. So I think setting yourself up that way, not only does it remind yourself that like, this is what I do, but then it also, you know, people are like, oh, she owns a photography company, you know. So, I try to introduce myself that way because it's true. I mean, that's really what I do. It's I'm not, you know, a photographer. I mean, I am, but I do a lot of other things too.

Can you go deeper on that for a second? Because some people are running a great photography business, but they don't think of themselves maybe as a business owner or entrepreneur. How important is it to remember that you're running a company that happens to take pictures, not a camera that gets paid to do so?

Yeah, I think for from a mindset perspective, it's really, really important for yourself, maybe even more than other people, just so that you're in that mindset that, you know, I own a business and that is something that is a lot more than just maybe the actual task at hand that that business is doing. you know, so that's something that I think mindset is so, so important for everybody because then it sets you up. And, you know, in the photography industry, what I feel like has happened, and it's kind of always been this way, but, you know, you feel like it's always getting worse. The respect level that we get as photographers is pretty low, if we're honest, you know, with like 7 billion mini sessions, you know, like when the holidays come around, everyone that has a camera picks it up and does mini sessions and that kind of thing. So I think it also sets up the level of respect that you deserve as a business owner because you are, you know, it's a lot of work and you are an entrepreneur and a business owner.

Speaking of being a business owner, some of these lines that you brought in beyond weddings, they're more profitable than weddings, maybe not gross revenue, but the profit margin is pretty good. So can you share some of behind the scenes of why it's good to do headshots or corporate work?

Yeah, I mean, with, with corporate and headshots, it's a matter of budget. It's not an emotional decision. It's not, you know, like, this is my once in a lifetime, like, wedding and like, you know, all of that. Like that's very different from corporate events or headshots. Those are things that like need to get done. Like they just do. And that corporate mindset is more of, "Here's the money we have to spend. We need to get it done. We want it to be great." And they let you do it. you know, and, you know, from a headshot perspective, it's also helping people feel comfortable and confident. And, you know, you get that one shot of them that's the best. They're like, "Oh, my gosh, that's like totally me. And I did not want to do this. I hate doing headshots." That's what every single person who comes to me is like, "Ugh, I hate getting my headshots done." And I'm like, don't worry, that's what everyone says. But by the time they're done, you know, they love it and they feel great, and that's how they're going to be able to promote their business, or them if they're looking for a job.You know, and you're charging for like that one image versus like potentially an entire day of work too. So if you're pricing it appropriately, you know, you can do really well, especially with headshots.

Beyond the types of pictures that you're taking, are you finding that everything is changing quickly and we're having to adapt faster than we did before?

Oh, 100%. Like, I feel like in the past, you could change your business, your communication, you know, the things you're working on to make your business better. You could do it every, like, I don't know, maybe 3, 4, 5 years. And I feel like since COVID pretty much every year, you really have to look at what's working. Things are changing so quickly, especially with AI thrown in there now. And then, you know, the different generations are important that are, you know, coming into the age of like Gen Z is wedding age now. So, you know, I feel like millennials is where it started. The communication factor had to become really, really different with millennials. So I feel like that kind of started and set the scene for like now we really need to think about like how are we communicating with these different generations and what do they want to see? So the changes are like annually, if not even like every few months now.

I feel like I'm dying to know what's the difference between a millennial and a Gen Z wedding. Can you just point out anything? Because I'm just dying to know how those might be different.

Well, especially the communication. Like millennials, I feel like they kind of hem and haw around and like, I don't know, they're just different to communicate with. Gen Z, I actually really like Gen Z. They do their research. They're going to like look at all the different things, literally do their spreadsheets, figure it out. And then, by the time they come to you—and I'm talking weddings—they're like, "We want you. Like, these are the things we want. We already read your bio. We know where your studio is. Like, we know all the things," and they're kind of ready, you know? So I really like how they think, but you have to like know how they think, and communicating with them is way, way, way different in warming them up because they're researching, you know. So that's really different from Millennials, really different from like— I consider myself a Xennial, so, you know, I, I feel like Xennial is the best, but, you know, all the generations are really, really different to communicate with.

As a proud Gen X-er, I will point out that we've been overlooked once again. So that's fine. No worries. We don't care. That's how we roll. That's fine.

Technically, I would be considered X, but like I'm on that fence a little bit. So I feel like that 4 or 5 years that's considered like Xennial is the best of both. So that's what I claim.

All right. That's fine. Like I say, we're okay being overlooked. It's happened our whole life. We'll just be at home eating a peanut butter jelly sandwich after letting ourselves in after school.

It's true. It's true.

No big deal. We have people that are watching this right now and they're excited to learn from a high-performing studio, but they're crushing it in the wedding industry. They're just, this is what I do. I do weddings. I'm killing it right now. They may not want to make any changes, but if they were to think about some of the changes, how would you coach them up? How would you tell them it's okay to do what you're doing, but you may want to look over here as well? How would you start that conversation?

Yeah, I think that if you're crushing it, now is the time to start looking because you're not in the danger zone yet. Like, I feel like sometimes, you know, you wait to look at something different until you're in the danger zone. You're like, oh my gosh, I don't have the number of weddings I need, you know, that kind of thing. So I would say, you know, when you shoot a wedding, you're photographing all the things. You're doing headshots, you're doing portraits. You're doing product photography; you're doing an event. So you're literally— you have all the skills. So, you know, kind of think about like, what do you really enjoy doing? Do you love photographing the candidates during the reception? Like, do you love doing like the formal portraits of the family or like the close-ups? So they're kind of like headshots. So like, what are those things you like to do? And then maybe see if you have some contacts, you know, like if you enjoy doing events, probably a lot of the venue contacts that you know, they do corporate events also. So it's just a matter of letting them know, hey, I do this as well. And it might be the same person that you already know, or they might have someone who does, you know, corporate events. So it's actually pretty easy, I feel like, to, you know, cross over. It does take some time. So if you're crushing it, you know, start like thinking about what else you like to do because you might not want to do weddings, you know, forever as your kids get old. If you have kids, when they get older, you know, like my kids are 11 and 12 now, so like they have a lot of weekend stuff. So I don't want to do the number of weddings that we used to do because I want to see their sports. And like my daughter does synchronized swimming, and she has competitions, you know, on the weekends sometimes. So, you know, you want to think about like where also personally are you going to be in, you know, 3, 5, whatever years. And there's things you can do that will support your personal goals as well.

It's really good advice to start looking around before you need it because no one wants to make a change. You have to make a change. But I want to ask about that. What does it feel like? When do you know that what you're doing isn't working? Like what's going on in your heart, in your head when it's time to make a change or else? What's going on in the business when you have to start adding other lines?

I think for, number one, I think that it's if you know your sales numbers, you'll know. You'll be like, oh, my gosh, I am not hitting my sales goals or I don't have the number of weddings booked, you know, in the upcoming year that I really want to have booked. And sometimes you can just tell if you're just going through the motions and you're not excited about what you're doing, you know, then you might want to take a look and see like, what can I do to be excited about this again and love what I'm doing? Because, you know, if you're not excited about it, other people are going to be able to, you know, know that as well. So I think it's, you know, those two things, like both internally and then like from a numbers perspective, you'll be able to know.

I think people might worry about making a change because it may screw up what they're already doing. I'm a wedding photographer, but now I'm doing events. How do we go about communicating and deploying the change so we can get the word out that we're offering other opportunities, but we're not maybe ruining the brand that we've built to date? How do you balance those two things?

Yeah, I think that is a tricky, a tricky balance. I had forever, maybe the first 10 or 12, maybe more than that. Gosh, probably 12 years of business. My website was just weddings. Carrie Wildes Photography, all wedding-based. And then we were getting requests for corporate events and different things like that. And on our blog, we would blog about those kind of things. But it was just– my website was just, you know, weddings. And I had a couple of people who were like, gosh, we, we didn't know you did that. Like, we would have hired you to do that if we knew that that was, you know, a thing. So I think number one, you know, starting to tell people, but then there's also really amazing ways on your website to showcase that you do that as well. And so I switched to that model to where now people can see the different things that we do, and then you click on it, and it's all very specific to weddings on one page. And then one page is geared towards headshots and things like that. So I think it's, you know, putting it out there. And most people, I don't think, will see it as a negative. There might be a few people who are like, "Oh, they do more than weddings, I want someone who just does weddings." But I think that's pretty rare. I think for the most part, people are like, "Oh, wow, that's really cool that you do those other things because, you know, I might need that in the future as well."

So those are some examples of how to do it right. What are some things that you've seen people do incorrectly? Maybe some mistakes when we're rolling out a big change in the business?

I think mistakes I've seen is maybe whereyou stop doing what you were doing totally, or you're like, I don't do this anymore. Now I do this, and it's not necessarily like proven in your business. Because I've seen a couple photographers who stop doing weddings and they're like, now we're doing boudoir, say for example, without it being like a proven tested thing where they have a good client base. And then it doesn't end up working. And then they're like, actually, just kidding. Now we're doing weddings again, you know. So again, you don't have to like just, you know, say, I'm stopping doing this, now I'm going to do this. Like, I think it's more of a, you know, you're adding a new thing in there and you're still doing what— there's nothing that changes about what you were doing. You're just, you know, adding a new genre, you know, kind of thing. So I think that there's the stopping and starting, I think, is really confusing to people. Or if it's like, oh yeah, they're back. Why are they back to doing weddings? Like, you know, I feel like that's kind of negative when you start, you start something and then you stop it. And people are like, "Oh, yeah, they stopped it because that didn't work," you know? So I feel like that's some of the stuff. And then also like, starting different, like too many brands, having like a brand for each of the different things, I feel like is really, really hard to manage. So if you have like an Instagram for each of the different things you do, unless you're a bigger company with like more employees where you have a social media person who can manage all of that, you know, I think making everything really separate is not the best way to go about it either.

Let's look big picture, like final thoughts on change in general. Is there anything that you see that's coming or that it's already here that you wish everyone that's watching the show would start acting on immediately?

I mean, you've probably heard it a million times, but the whole AI thing, if you are not already on board, you're already way behind. I mean, it is mind-blowing how fast all of it is moving, and I think there's, you know, a lot of people feel like there's a lot of negative connotations about it, but there's also so much about it that can make your life and your business so much easier. And actually, I was photographing a corporate event, and it was a medical technology company. So they do consulting for medical companies, and they help them know what software to use for their different areas of business. And AI was like a huge topic that they talked about, so I got to hear it because I was photographing the event. And they said, you know, like their biggest thing that they hear from people is that AI's gonna replace people in jobs. And they said what they believe in their perspective is that the people using AI are going to replace the people who are not using AI, not AI is gonna replace the people.

Carrie, thanks for coming on the podcast. Congratulations on all of the changes you've made in your success, and I really appreciate you being on the show today to share it with everyone else.

Yeah, absolutely. It was so great being here. And it's a continuous process. I feel like it's never, you know, there's always changes and things we can be doing. So I love sharing.

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of The Professional Photographer Podcast. Do us a favor before you go, will you? Hit like and subscribe. Tell a friend, leave us a comment, leave us a smoke signal, whatever. Tell us what you enjoyed about the show. We want to know what did Carrie say that made you go, "Oh, yes, that makes sense." When you do that, it helps us know what we're doing right on the show and the types of guests we should book more of. So that is really a way that you can help improve this podcast, and we appreciate it. The other thing is you can improve your business by becoming a member of Professional Photographers of America. If you're not yet a member, you are missing it because PPA offers incredible resources like equipment insurance, top-notch education, and a supportive community of photographers ready to help you succeed. It's perfect for photographers who are growing their business in a sustainable and profitable way. At PPA, you belong here. Discover more about membership at ppa.com. That's ppa.com. I'm Pat Miller, founder of the Small Business Owners Community and host of the show. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you right here next time. Take care.