Today's episode is our 200th episode, and in this episode I am going to break down seven lessons that I've learned from creating 200 episodes that can definitely be applied to running your photography business. Stay tuned. Thank, welcome to The Hair of the Dog podcast. If you're a pet photographer ready to make more money and start living a life by your design, you've come to the right place.

And now your host, pet photographer, travel addict, chocolate Martini connoisseur, Nicole Begley. Hey everybody, Nicole here. Welcome back to The Hair of the Dog podcast. I am so excited that you're here and I am absolutely floored that this is our 200th episode 200 that is a lot of podcast episodes. Can you believe it? I am absolutely honored that you've been here along this journey,

and I can't wait to create 200 more for you. So before we dive into this, I have seven things that I wrote down that are things that I have learned from this podcast of sticking to it really of 200 episodes because not gonna lie, as a creative, as an entrepreneur, I tend to get bored of things when they get repetitive. I don't know if any of you feel that way out there,

but I definitely do. And sticking to something weekly, you guys, 200 episodes, we have never missed a week. What Absolutely insane. I was like, there's gotta be some lessons here and there definitely are. So I'm gonna share those top seven lessons here in a minute. But first I wanted to give you just a quick up update of what is going on here at Hair of the Dog HQ because it has been now,

oh gosh, about seven years since I took this whole online education thing and started that. And I really just can't believe that it's been that long. And I'm also very excited for what's coming up in the future. So we have the hair of the Dog Academy, that's not going anywhere. We are actually working on the back end to create a whole new craft section.

I mean, we already have quite a bit of craft information in there from behind the lens episodes to pet photography edu to fundamentals of pet photography and all of our post-processing courses. But I'm building out even more, and I am so very excited for it. And then of course, we've just redone all of our business modules and they are, man, they are so,

so, so good. And so we have those coming up. We also have a lot of new workshops coming up. We have the Progress Lab, which is a new workshop I taught with Heather and I've gotta say the first one that we held, we have another one coming up in October, so you can get on that wait list at Hair of the Dog academy.com/workshops.

We're gonna be opening registration for that October one, really within the next week or so. So get on that wait list if you want more information there. That was the most transformative workshop that I've ever been a part of. And I absolutely loved it. It was incredible. Our students loved it. The transformations that I saw and witnessed were just heartwarming.

And I am so excited for all of these women that joined us at that First Progress lab. This new one, we've expanded from two and a half days to three days. It's also gonna be here in Charlotte, October 10th, 11th and 12th. And we rented a big house on the lake so that all of our students can stay together instead of at hotels.

So it's all inclusive. Stay in a beautiful house on a lake, and we are going to talk all about what is standing in the way of you elevating your business to where you want it to go. Oh my gosh. So excited for that. Also, putting the finishing touches on a Hound vision that I'll be teaching with Kaylee Greer and Sam Haddocks from Dog Breath Photography.

It the end of January, early February. The dates that we are looking to have the house are like January 24th to February 2nd. So we'll have two sessions kind of in those few days there. And Hound Vision is a great workshop for those of you that want to dive into three full days of elevating your craft of pet photography. We'll be shooting, we'll be editing,

we'll be talking about all things pet photography, three very intensive days in a beautiful beachfront home in Annamaria Island, south of Tampa, Florida, because there is really no better place to be at the end of January than in some Florida sunshine. So that is super exciting. As soon as we have the house finalized, we have it reserved. I just need to sign a contractor too.

And then we will get that information out there and we'll be opening registration for that sometime in August, likely. And then last but not least, we have our bark adventure. This is a new breed of Barca that I am so excited about. So back in 2016 when we had our first Barcelona, we didn't have all this online education, so we had five days to talk about marketing,

talk about pricing, talk about craft, talk about editing, talk about all the things that go into running a successful pet photography business. But now we have so much content of that and so much availability for you from our academy and Shirtless Unleashed education. And so there's just so many ways that we can help serve you. So we have elevated the barca's to a new type of experience,

one in which you're still gonna get amazing transformations, one in which you're still gonna get lots of incredible help around photography with from myself, from Kayleigh, from Charlotte. We also have Craig Turner Bullock joining us as a guest instructor for this next Barca Barky Vic in the southern coast of Iceland, our bark adventure. We are going to be basically traveling up and down the coast of southern Iceland,

photographing dogs and horses every day in some of the most iconic, beautiful locations, as well as adventuring together on things like ATV rides or spa days or horseback rides, or going to photograph a puffin colony. Like all sorts of amazing adventures. It's going to be nine days, yeah, nine days, eight nights, I believe. The second through the ninth.

No, seven days, six nights, I don't remember. Oh my gosh, I can't do that math. Anyway, June 2nd to June 9th are the dates for the event, and we'll be opening registration for that in August, September as well. Truth be told, because there's so many more moving parts here, I'm actually working with a travel agency to help me organize this because it is a whole new evolution of this type of experience.

Cause we're not staying in one house together for five days. We're making it longer, and we are moving around and we are just filled to the brim with all sorts of amazing activities and it's going to be incredible. And we have a couple special surprises for you as well. So anyway, you get on the wait list of all of these things. Jump on over to www.hairofthedogacademy.com/workshops

and you will be able to jump on those wait lists and get notified when we open because it's quite possible that some of these events will fill just from our wait list. So just fyi. Okay, the other piece that is coming up is that I have really enjoyed working one-on-one with people. I used to do that way back in the day and then I kind of got away from it cuz it got so busy.

But I've realized again recently that having that one-to-one interaction can sometimes lead to just really fast breakthroughs. I actually had a student here the other day yesterday, and we photographed in the morning, we went to lunch, talked about some business, we came back and we dove all into like some post-processing and all sorts of editing questions that she had. And it was such a majorly breakthrough day for her and so much fun for me.

I really, really loved it. So if you're interested in working one-to-one with me in person here in Charlotte, just reach out, shoot me a dm, shoot me an email, and I would love to chat with you about that. I'm also putting together an opportunity for continued online support. Basically an accountability program, accountability coaching with myself, and that we will have basically three months,

two calls a month. So six calls or six months, 12 calls, two calls a month, and you're not gonna be able to hide. We'll be on our call and we'll be talking about what's next. And then you know, I'll, I'll support you. We'll kind of lay out the next two weeks. Foundation what you need to do. You'll go off,

do it, come back, report back again. I'll be here to help give you feedback and help you figure out that path and move forward more quickly to get your business up and running. Really, really excited about that. It can be used for business, it could also be used for craft if you want to, you know, have feedback on editing or shooting and those kinds of things.

So really depending whatever your goal is, it can be for either one of those. So more details of that are coming soon too, if you wanna get in on that, or if you wanna kind of maybe be one of my Guinea pigs here as we start to roll this out, just reach out to me, let me know that you're interested and I'll give you some more information to make sure that you are on that list when that gets announced as well.

So anyway, that's all the exciting stuff that's going on here at Hair of the Dog hq. Cammy's doing well too. She's sleeping next to me. That's all unrelated. Okay, anyway, let's dive into it for the seven lessons that I have learned from 200 podcast episodes. Oh my gosh. All right, so we're gonna kind of go backwards here.

Number one, I guess this number seven is that systems are a essential. And contrary to popular belief, creating systems actually gives you more freedom. So, so many people are reluctant to put systems in place in their business because they think it's gonna like just tie them down to have to do something some way. But it actually frees us up to be able to focus on other things,

to be able to focus on marketing your business or taking some time away from your business, because creating those systems is what allows us to move efficiently and to give the best experience to all of our clients. So when I created this podcast, I knew, cause I know myself now after 13 years of business, I know myself well and that if I had to do the repetitive tasks week after week with this podcast,

it would a hundred percent fall off the radar because I would get busy with other more exciting projects that I wanna work on. And I don't wanna do this repetitive thing again and again. So I knew I had to create a system out of the get-go, and I had to have help around this. So, you know, I obviously have a team of three incredible women that help me out here at Hair of the Dog hq.

And so we created a system together in which I record this podcast and then it goes off to them and they make all the magic happen week after week after week. So thank you, Venus. Thank you Liz. Thank you Amanda. So yeah, so create systems and if you don't have a team, that's okay. You don't need to have a team to create systems.

It allows you to, you know, to really just kind of streamline your efforts and your decision making. And if you're getting to the point where you're doing like, man, I really could probably hire someone to help me once I edit these images, take those images for the rest of you know, the things and the delivery, and these are that.

So look at your business of these different areas that you might be able to outsource and freeze up so much of your time. I actually had a great episode on outsourcing episode number 180 9. Take your Back Your Time with Sarah Monica. It is a fabulous conversation. So definitely check that out. www.hairofthedogacademy.com/ 1 8 9. And that will just kind of dive into this creative systems and outsourcing piece.

Okay, so that is number seven. Number six is to plan ahead or batch your tasks. So when we context switch and multitask and jump from this to this, to this, to this, oh my gosh, you guys, it takes so much bandwidth and so much energy to like turn that moving ship. And if we can look at our business and our tasks and the things we need to do and create some batch time.

So maybe it's, hey, Thursday afternoons I edit. Or even if you don't wanna assign a day, maybe it's like, all right, today I'm gonna do these editing tasks tomorrow, I'm gonna do these marketing tasks this day I'm gonna do these production tasks this day I'm gonna update some website tasks. Instead of jumping around day by day to do different things.

When you're able to batch your items, you are able to be so much more efficient and effective. So I highly recommend that. And also that planning ahead piece, I have done so many podcast episodes with Heather about productivity and how to get, you know, be more effective and efficient. So definitely check out some of those. One of those great episodes is episode number one 90,

which is Ninja Productivity with Heather www.hairofthedogacademy.com/ 1 9 0, if you wanna check that one out. But yes, batching plan ahead that ninja Productivity episode. Heather and I talk about how we manage our calendars with really just diving into ahead of time of like we're basically planning out our week. Okay, number five, you need to market. All right, you guys knew this was coming.

It's all the way down to number five though. But it is critical. It is really number one important. If you want more people to see your offers or learn about your business, you need to put it out there. Same thing with my podcast. I can't just create this podcast and hope that random people searching on YouTube or not YouTube podcasts, whatever their podcast player is,

end up coming across this show, this episode, and fall in love with it and see it. I need to market it. I need to send out emails weekly, letting people know, letting you guys know what our new episode is. We post on social media, we are out there marketing this business or this podcast I get on other people's podcasts to get in front of other audiences.

So it really all is the same thing. And we need to do this in our business too. Always asking ourselves, how can I get in front of new people, in front of new audiences and bring those new audiences into my current audience? Okay, number four, always have a call to action. Always be asking someone to take the next step when your business,

and it doesn't have to be by now. You guys have listened to now 200 podcast episodes. Rarely am I on here talking about like, Hey, I've got this program and this is gonna help and this and this, but this podcast has been absolutely critical for the growth of my business and bringing new people into the business because it connects with people and there still are calls to action.

Like for instance, I just gave you two calls to action. Go listen to those other two episodes. Your calls to action sometimes can be, Hey, follow me on social media. Hey, let me know about your dog. Let me know. How crazy is your dog in a level of one to 10, you know, what's your dog's nicknames?

Things like that. Like you can have silly little calls to action like that, but we should always be having some sort of call to action to interact with our audience and also encouraging them to take those micro commitments to make, take those micro actions that will then lead them to hopefully taking a bigger action, which is booking their consultation call or moving forward to become a client with your business.

Okay, here we go. Number three, you are good enough to be doing this and people want to know you. You guys, when I went to go start this podcast, I had all sorts of head trash, all sorts. Number one, I always felt like I'm not good at talking with people. So why on earth would I wanna start a podcast?

You guys truly, like when I was a kid, it would be like, oh, call and order the pizza. It was like shuttering just, oh, just so much fear. I have to pick up the phone. What? And talk to a stranger and say, I'd like a large cheese pizza and give them my address. Oh my God,

the horror. These things never go away. I think people see me doing this podcast, see me doing YouTube videos, seeing me doing education pieces, teaching workshops, being visible and talking to you guys and helping you all. They just, they see this and they think that I am immune to the head trash thoughts of, who are you to be doing this?

What are you gonna talk about? You're not really good at making small talk. Like, don't you just wanna go sit on your couch anyway? Like, yes, I have all of those. I have all of those thoughts. So you are in good company, you are not alone. But here's the thing, you are good enough because we all are.

And also people want to know you. When you are running a photography business, you basically are a personal brand, just like this podcast. This podcast is mostly me without me, there's not much of a podcast here without you. There's not much of a photography business of your business. So people want to know you, people wanna connect with you. It is okay to put yourself out there.

It is okay to be seen. You are good enough to do that. And like I said, that will attract your people to you. Like moths to a flame. Once you put yourself out there with a video or getting on the phone, talking to people, letting your face be seen on your website, that is what connects people, because we do business with people we know,

like, and trust. So let your audience know you, like you, and trust you. And remember, yeah, some people maybe aren't gonna like you, that's fine. They're never gonna buy from you anyway. So isn't it better to get them outta the way earlier? Yes. But the most of the people are actually going to connect more with you.

And once they connect more with you, they're more likely to move forward with you versus somebody else that is not putting themselves out there like that. All right, number two, focus on how you serve and have fun. So here's the thing, when we're focused on ourselves and our own feelings, then we get all that head trash again, all that talk of like,

who are you? What, what are you thinking? You're not good enough for this. They're gonna judge you. They're gonna laugh at you. Is this good enough? What are they gonna think when you say this? Like that doesn't matter. Let's, let's get out of our own head thinking about how it affects us. And instead, can we ask ourselves,

what do my potential clients need to hear from me? Put yourselves in the shoes of that person that has that dog that maybe it's getting older that hasn't done photos yet. What do they need to hear from me? So that they will have these beautiful, wonderful photos that they will treasure forever and ever, because we are putting ourselves in their shoes and we are putting our,

our thoughts in the goal of service to them. So when we do that, it's no longer about us. And then we're thinking about them, and then we can reach out to them, we can talk to them, we can reach them where they are at, talk to 'em about what they're feeling, what they're thinking, what they're worried about, what they're,

you know, what they want aspirational wise from these photos. Like we can start to get in their head space and speak to them directly when we stop thinking about how they're going to think about us. So definitely, definitely, definitely focus on the service, focus on your client and have fun. Ask yourself, how can this be fun? If you are worried about marketing,

ask yourself, how can this be fun? If you are nervous about going to a shoot, hello, I have one tonight. I'm a little nervous. I'm like, oh, I hope I'm gonna be able to create images that she loves. Been doing this for 13 years, but that still crosses my mind. Instead, why don't I say, oh my gosh,

I can't wait to create these for my client. I know she's gonna love these and we are going to have fun. How can this be fun? How can marketing my business be fun? How can creating this partnership be fun? How can this focus on serving other people? Once you start to ask the fun and the service, I guarantee you're gonna have a whole new outlook on growing your business.

And then the big one, the number one thing I have learned from 200 podcast episodes is that commitment is important. Have there been weeks when I felt like not recording a podcast? Yeah. Have there been weeks where I'm like sliding in under the wire? Like my team, this recording, this is one of those weeks, by the way, because it was a 200th episode.

I think I was building it up too high in my brain of like, oh my God, what am I gonna do? It needs to be really special. And then I finally yesterday thought, oh my gosh, yeah, why don't I just do the lessons that I've learned from this 200 episodes. It's now Friday morning, this podcast comes out on Tuesday.

So sorry team, but at least I have the next month already in the queue ready to go. But anyway, commitment. Commitment is important because there are gonna be times you don't feel like doing things in your business. And here's the thing, I hear so many people saying like, oh, how do I manufacture this motivation? Like I'm waiting till I'm motivated to do this,

or I'm sitting down in my business and I'm just doing whatever I'm motivated to do. Guess what? There's certain things that you're never gonna be motivated to do. And here's the other thing. You know how you manufacture that motivation? Oh, by getting to work and actually taking the action, and then you start to sh see the action that you've taken and you're like,

oh man, that's really motivating. Let's take some more. So having that commitment, taking that action and knowing that we are in this for the long game, like growing a photography business is not an overnight goal. It does, doesn't happen overnight. There needs to be a long game there. So can you make the commitment to that long game? Can you make the commitment to making those partner marketing connections,

to connecting with local rescues, to connecting with charities, to getting yourself seen and out there and looking for other podcasts in your area to be on, or blog posts you could do, or ways to get in front of other audiences? And just knowing that if you make that commitment to taking those actions, the long game is going to be successful, having faith that that long game is gonna be successful because you are taking the actions and keeping that commitment.

So that is my commitment to you to keep showing up here every Tuesday for as long as you want to hear from me. All right, let me recap these seven things that I've learned. Okay? Number one, create systems. Number two, plan ahead and batch your tasks. Number three, you always, always, always need to be marketing. Number four,

always have a call to action. It doesn't have to be by this, but have some sort of call to action to get your audience used to making, taking micro actions. Number five, you are good enough and people want to hear from you because we do business with people we know, like, and trust. Number six, focus on who you're serving,

how you can serve them, and how it can be fun. And I promise a lot of that self-doubt will fall away. And here we go, the top one commitment. Have that commitment to keep taking the action and having faith that that long game is going to pay off. I know that it will. I hope you guys have enjoyed this recap episode,

those seven things that I've learned from 200 episodes. If you have enjoyed this podcast, could you please, please, please do me a favor here, come see. Here's my call to action for you. Whatever you're listening to this podcast on, especially if you're on iTunes, can you please go ahead and rate this podcast and leave a review? I would really,

really appreciate it. That helps other people find this show and enjoy it as well. And you know, really just makes me and my team feel great when we see another great review of somebody that this is helping, because that is what manufactures my motivation to keep going with this commitment to you. So anyway, thanks so much for being here for 200 episodes.

I appreciate every single one of you for letting me have the time in your ears to chat about all things business mindset and pet photography, and look forward to 200 more. Bye everybody. See you next week. Thanks for listening to The Hair of the Dog podcast. This was episode number 200. If you wanna check out the show notes for access to any of the resources that we mentioned,

simply go to www.hairofthedogacademy.com/ 2 0 0. Thanks for listening to this episode of Hair of the Dog Podcast. If you enjoyed this show, please take a minute to leave a review. And while you're there, don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss our upcoming episode. One last thing, if you are ready to dive into more resources, head over to our [email protected] of the dog academy com.

Thanks for being a part of this pet photography community.