Over this year I've read almost 20 books, some of which were business related and other just personal. Of the business books I read, these FIVE incredible books changed how my business was this year but will exist the next decade!
Books take time, but the knowledge is worth it! I'd encourage you to read at least one of these books within the New Year to really take your business to the next level. Here are some affiliate links to the books:
How to Win Friends and Influence People
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The Bearded Tog podcast is created by mashed potato lover Adam Mason
Every year around this time, creatives and especially wedding photographers wonder what next year will be like. Some are confident and prepared for the next year: finances are in order, lots of clients are booked for next year, and they can rest easy during the holidays.
For others, it's not that simple. Maybe it's an inconsistent year or you haven't booked what you thought or what you need to make life work. The emails come in, but you're not hearing back from clients after you send them your pricing or maybe they've decided to go with someone else. You feel hopeless.
In this episode, I discuss why you're not being booked, reveal data from over 600 photographers and where they're at for next year and what you can do now to level up during the holiday season.
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The Bearded Tog podcast is created by mashed potato lover Adam Mason
When you first start any hobby or business, you begin ironing out your processes. Everything from how you collect payments to prepping for a particular gig. Surprises happen and then you learn from those surprises. Eventually, you get into a groove.
But years from now, you, you may need to make bigger and bolder changes. That entire groove you were in, may need to change. It's scary, but sometimes it determines how successful your business will be in the future.
In this episode, my good friend Sarah Bradshaw is honest about the decisions she thought she was "supposed" to make and how after coaching and researching, she decided against making those decisions. Sarah is an incredibly successful and magical wedding photographer in the Washington DC area.
See Sarah's work on Instagram:
@sarahcbradshaw
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The Bearded Tog podcast is created by mashed potato lover Adam Mason
If you're like me, the word "brand" makes you want to throw up in your mouth a little bit. It gets thrown around and honestly, I think that makes many of us not want to work on it.
But the truth is we can't hide the facts that 1) we have a brand 2) it does have importance and 3) we want the brand to reflect what clients we are looking to attract, so we can continue to enjoy what we do.
In this episode, photographer and food-lover Lauren Carnes describes how her background in branding and marketing has helped shape her photography business as well as shape it over the years to reflect her current passions. If you're dying for a change in your business or simply want to try something new, this episode is for you.
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The Bearded Tog podcast is created by mashed potato lover Adam Mason
Multiple times in my business, my personal work has captured the attention of those who were willing and ready to pay for it. It was awesome. Ashleigh Bing is a master of that now and has even gone viral in doing so.
Ashleigh Bing has been featured on Inside Edition, The Huffington Post, ABC News, CBS, NBC, Good Morning America, and the Today show just to name a few. All of this from one idea, one post, one piece of personal work she decided to take on. She shares about this and more in this episode!
Follow Ashleigh Bing
@ashleighbing
https://www.ashleighbingphotography.com/
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The Bearded Tog podcast is created by mashed potato lover Adam Mason
What would happen if you weren't able to work all of a sudden? Do you have a plan in place? People that you'd trust to continue the work for you?
Like many of us, Katelyn James had built her business to rely solely on her ability to show up and make things happen. But when things happened to her like a surprise tax bill or an urgent surgery, she knew she needed to have a plan in place for her sanity and her family.
In this episode, Katelyn James shares the details of adjusting and planning for transition times in her life, dealing with sticky client situations, and talks about her finance philosophy for both her business and personal life.
Follow Katelyn James:
Instagram: @KatelynJames
Website: http://katelynjames.com/
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The Bearded Tog podcast is created by mashed potato lover Adam Mason
Instagram! Everybody loves Instagram but only a portion of those people are generating actual leads and income from the app. Like many of you, I've been there. I put time into Instagram, the feed, the photos, the captions, even the description, but nothing.
It doesn't have to be that way. Through Tyler McCall's education, he's been able to help small businesses convert followers into paying clients and maximize their efforts. He also gets super real and talks about dealing with struggle and loss in his personal life, and how that affected his business.
Connect With Tyler McCall:
@tylerjmccall
The IG Advantage Facebook Group
FollowerToFanSociety.com
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The Bearded Tog podcast is created by mashed potato lover Adam Mason
New photographers! Want to break into the wedding business? What about second shooting? What if you could use second shooting as a way to grow your own business while still honoring the other photographers in your community?
I see a lot of new photographers make mistakes when they want to start doing weddings and second shooting. In this episode, I'll teach you how to be the most sought after second shooter in your community, make more money, and become a better photographer. From getting second shooting gigs, to maximizing your photos after the wedding, this episode is for you!
Connect With Me:
@masonphotography
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The Bearded Tog podcast is created by mashed potato lover Adam Mason
What do brands like Apple, Nike, and Whole Foods have in common? They all have a group of their customers that are their tribe! A tribe is your most supportive past, current and sometimes future customers that end up doing a ton of marketing FOR YOU.
Hope Taylor has done just that with her photography business. Between weddings, education and a thriving senior spokesmodel program, Hope Taylor has created a group of clients who are so ecstatic about her work that they can't help but share about it. She's also been able to formalize the process of getting potential clients excited about working with her, before they even send their first email.
Hope Taylor is 21 years old. She started her business at just 16 and has essentially skipped college to maintain her amazing business. In this episode she shares tips on how to start your own tribe, how she dealt with malicious people, and encourages people to be authentic.
Connect With Hope Taylor:
@hopetaylorphotography
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The Bearded Tog podcast is created by mashed potato lover Adam Mason
Have you ever used an external hard drive? Is your data safe? If your computer broke into pieces today, would you have all of your client images?
In this episode, I talk about my backup strategy and how I keep all of my data safe. From my computer to my external hard drives and cloud backup, this is a nerdy episode about everything I do to backup and what you should do too!
Dropbox: Sign Up
Backblaze: Sign Up
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The Bearded Tog podcast is created by mashed potato lover Adam Mason
Jason Vinson is one of the top 100 wedding photographers in North America. Based in Arkansas, he and his wife create unique and innovative images together for their clients. He's a photographer's photographer, always pushing the boundaries and playing around with his gear.
In this episode, Jason talks about how he is able to attract clients that both love and look for his creative work in their images. He also chats about his writing with Fstoppers and transitioning from a traditional full-time job to full-time photography.
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The Bearded Tog podcast is created by mashed potato lover Adam Mason
Zoe Rain is a professional music and fashion photographer, based out of Chicago. She is most known for her work as Macklemore's tour photographer, as well as her recent work with Ed Sheeran, Miley Cyrus, and more.
In this episode, Zoe talks about how she went from studying photography in high school to being on tour with Macklemore and creating a name for herself. She gives insight on when to work for free and how to license your photos to publications and get paid for it!
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The Bearded Tog podcast is created by mashed potato lover Adam Mason
Have you taken the purposeful steps to go full-time into your business? Have you crunched the numbers like your pricing and expenses, your portfolio and business relationships are intact?
In this episode, photographer Sam Hurd shares his story of how he went from working his day job in DC to shooting 50+ weddings a year, teaching workshops all over the globe, and positioned himself in the wedding industry as a champion.
We also talk about what camera gear Sam is digging right now, which is always a fun conversation!
Connect with Sam Hurd
samhurdphotography.com
Instagram @iamthesam
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The Bearded Tog podcast is created by Washington DC Wedding Photographer Adam Mason
Any time someone pursues something, there's a series of moments or a season of transition. From fear of failure, to inspiration and dedication, to momentum and pride. These can be constant or ever-changing and we can become overwhelmed, paralyzed even of the effort and the daunting journey ahead.
But I believe you can do it! I am a testament to this as well as my buddy Natalie Franke, founder of Rising Tide Society, a network of creative entrepreneurs who believe in community over competition.
After years as a successful wedding photographer, Natalie saw a gap that needed to be filled. This is the truest calling of an entrepreneur.
In this episode, Natalie Franke opens up about her journey from wedding photographer, to Rising Tide Society and her latest adventure with HoneyBook and how she's handled all of those transitions. We both share tips on how to take on transitions and even talk about Rising Tide Society's "Tinder Moment".
Natalie Franke
Instagram: @nataliefranke
Website: nataliefranke.com
Rising Tide Society:
Website:risingtidesociety.com
Facebook Group: Rising Tide Society Facebook
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Full show notes: adammason.com/blog
What did you learn from this episode? What are you most afraid of? Email me: thebeardedtog@gmail.com
The Bearded Tog podcast is created by Washington DC Wedding Photographer Adam Mason
Please leave a review: bit.ly/beardedtog
Trying to figure out how to balance working your 9-5 with your freelance job? It can be challenging and you can feel overwhelmed.
In this episode of The Bearded Tog I discuss with Keith Lee how he balances a full-time job, having a family, and shooting 30 weddings a year! He's a busy man!!
Hopefully this episode can help you!
Follow Keith Lee:
Instagram: @keithleestudios & @keithleestudiosuncovered
Website: KeithleeStudios.com
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Full show notes: adammason.com/blog
What did you learn from this episode? What are you most afraid of? Email me: thebeardedtog@gmail.com
The Bearded Tog podcast is created by Washington DC Wedding Photographer Adam Mason
Please leave a review: bit.ly/beardedtog
What is virtual reality? Why is it so popular on YouTube, Facebook, and other sites?
New technologies can be hard to keep up with and know if we need to be aware of and implement them into our lives. Is VR something we should add or ignore?
In this episode of The Bearded Tog I talk with Griffin Harrington, a VR specialist for The Discovery Channel about the advances of VR in our culture, it's importance and how anyone can get started in VR.
WARNING: We get pretty nerdy, be ready!
Follow Griffin Harrington
Instagram: @griffinh
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What did you learn from this episode? What are you most afraid of? Email me: thebeardedtog@gmail.com
The Bearded Tog podcast is created by Washington DC Wedding Photographer Adam Mason
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In this episode of The Bearded Tog I invite the creator and founder of Ugmonk, Jeff Sheldon onto the podcast to talk about his design and product company that he started with just one t-shirt, and now is his full-time job.
I found Jeff Sheldon while I was working at Apple with designer friend Brian Hoff. Brian showed me Jeff's work and t-shirts and I was hooked!
Jeff and I also talk about what was the tipping point for him in his business, how his family deals with working, and how his email list and sharing his process has helped further his business!
Follow Jeff Sheldon
Twitter: @ugmonk
Instagram: @ugmonk
Website: ugmonk.com
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Full show notes: adammason.com/blog
What did you learn from this episode? What are you most afraid of? Email me: thebeardedtog@gmail.com
The Bearded Tog podcast is created by Washington DC Wedding Photographer Adam Mason
Please leave a review: bit.ly/beardedtog
Ever wish you could only do one part of your job? And get paid even more for it? The easiest way to do that, is to specialize. Specializing brings you to the top of your industry and thus clients will pay more for that specialty because they're the kind of clients who look for that!
When you want a certain kind of pizza, you go to a place that specializes in it right? If you just want something generic, then you choose Domino's or whatever's in the frozen section of the grocery store.
In this episode, I talk with Tiffany Farley, motherhood photographer and founder of The Fount Collective, a community devoted to the art of being a mother about how she chose to niche down into motherhood photography and have a more successful and enjoyable business.
Tiffany also chats about email marketing, her strategy and there's even a surprise coming soon to her list if you sign up soon!
Full show notes: adammason.com/blog
Follow Tiffany Farley
Instagram: @tiffanylfarley
Website: www.tiffanyfarley.com
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What did you learn from this episode? What are you most afraid of? Email me: thebeardedtog@gmail.com
The Bearded Tog podcast is created by Washington DC Wedding Photographer Adam Mason
Please leave a review: bit.ly/beardedtog
You're starting your business and you wonder to yourself "Should I be an LLC or a sole proprietorship?" What about a partnership? How do you know what's the best decision for you in the long run.
When I first started my business, I had these questions. Luckily, between having a great accountant and business lawyer, I was able to get set up properly in my state and with my business structure.
Also, if you've been in business for a while, it may be an appropriate time to update or change a few things. You could be losing money, at risk of someone else using your company name, or other kinds of situations.
In this episode, Skyler Showell of Showell Ventures LLC and I discuss the common mistakes businesses make when it comes to legal situations and how to set yourself up for success.
Here's the gist: The more you do now, the less hypothetical rough situations could hurt down the road.
Skyler has graciously offered to answer any questions and he's been my lawyer a while now. He's helped me with trademark and copyright, as well as a few other legal matters.
Full show notes: adammason.com/blog
Follow Skyler Showell
Twitter: @skylershowell
Website: showellvc.com
Email: sshowell@showellvc.com
Listen to The Bearded Tog episode with Skyler Showell
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What did you learn from this episode? What are you most afraid of? Email me: thebeardedtog@gmail.com
The Bearded Tog podcast is created by Washington DC Wedding Photographer Adam Mason
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This episode is incredibly special to me, as I've been a fan of Tony Hoffer's work and business style since before I was even a photographer. Between is love of people and working on his photography craft, he's become the most sought after photographer I know. He's been known to get up to 1,400 inquiries in 1 year!
How did Tony get that many inquiries? Was it advertising, SEO, social media or something else?
In this episode, I talk to Tony candidly about where he started, where he is, and where his company Hoffer Photography is headed. Few people work harder than Tony & Amy while building their business, and this episode is good for anyone looking to attract more clients.
Full show notes: adammason.com/blog
Follow Tony Hoffer
Instagram: @hofferphotography
Website: hofferphotography.com
Sign up for the next Hoffer Workshop!
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What did you learn from this episode? What are you most afraid of? Email me: thebeardedtog@gmail.com
The Bearded Tog podcast is created by Washington DC Wedding Photographer Adam Mason
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I wrote a LONG blog post with all of the notes from the episode, so if you want them you can checkout episode 11's shownotes.
Follow Adam Mason on Instagram: @adaminspired
What did you learn from this episode? What are you most afraid of? Email me: thebeardedtog@gmail.com
The Bearded Tog podcast is created by Washington DC Wedding Photographer Adam Mason
Andy Barron is a music & celebrity photographer. His website is littered with images from artists like U2, Alabama Shakes, Foster the People, Kendrick Lamar, The Civil Wars and more. He's toured with many bands like Switchfoot, Foster the People, and is currently on tour with the wonderful Chris Stapleton.
Even being around big name bands, Andy's a humble and laid back guy who's first goal is never just images of an artist. His first goal is to love people first and form relationships. This not only makes him a more enjoyable member of projects and tour, but also will create better images in the long run as artist are more comfortable with him knowing he's a friend, rather than only a photographer.
Full show notes: adammason.com/blog
Follow Andy Barron:
Instagram: @andybarron
Website: andybarron.com
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What did you learn from this episode? What are you most afraid of? Email me: thebeardedtog@gmail.com
The Bearded Tog podcast is created by Washington DC Wedding Photographer Adam Mason
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Ever wanted to get into boudoir photography but don't know where or how to start? How do you earn trust with clients?
How do you show your work?
My good friend Keith Lee has been doing boudoir for years alongside his amazing wife Ali Lee. Together they create amazing images, trust with their clients, and long lasting relationships.
In this episode, as someone who's never shot boudoir, I ask Keith Lee both the business questions, and the awkward ones! How does he approach boudoir as a man, where as the industry is primarily women? What does the process look like for building new clientele and ultimately, how does he stay creatively satisified?
If you're curious about starting your own boudoir photography business, or just want to hear some of the hilarious and thoughtful stuff Keith has to share, take a listen to episode 009!
Follow Keith Lee:
Instagram: @keithleestudios & @keithleestudiosuncovered
Website: KeithleeStudios.com
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What did you learn from this episode? What are you most afraid of? Email me: thebeardedtog@gmail.com
The Bearded Tog podcast is created by Washington DC Wedding Photographer Adam Mason
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Happy New Year! In our last episode we talked about accomplishing huge goals, one bite at a time. I thought in the spirit of transparency and to help those still looking for ideas or maybe who got their goals started late, that I should share some of my personal goals and the system I use to create those goals.
I believe everyone should have at least one big scary goal. If it doesn't scare you, it's not worth pursuing!
If you want to know the quick trick to making sure your goals are a good mix of scary yet achievable, especially through the S.M.A.R.T method, take a listen to this episode!
Also, let me know what you think of my goals and share some of yours!
What did you learn from this episode? What are you most afraid of? Email me: thebeardedtog@gmail.com
The Bearded Tog podcast is created by Washington DC Wedding Photographer Adam Mason
Full Show Notes: https://adammason.com/blog
Please leave a review: bit.ly/beardedtog