How do you create a business that lasts? In today’s episode, I have the honor of introducing you to photographer and business educator, Christine Deaton. Based in Arizona, Christine has a passion for photographing family milestones, as well as helping other photographers make an impact with their businesses. We’re diving into our controversial opinions about niching down, how to create the best client experience, getting started with sharing your knowledge, and more. 

On Quianna Marie Weekly, we’re chatting about business growing pains, finding genuine connections, and celebrating wins of all sizes through the lens of a photographer at heart. Sprinkled throughout stories and interviews with past clients, photographers and other business owners this podcast is designed to help you step into your purpose and to truly create a life you’re proud of, a life worth photographing and sharing.

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Review The Show Notes: 

Offering Maternity, Newborns, And Family Portraits (3:36)

Staying Grounded In A Saturated Industry (8:32)

Making Clients Fall In Love With You (13:52)

Sharing Your Knowledge And Education (24:19)

Investing In Mentors (30:12)

Marketing Advice For When Bookings Are Low (37:52)

Why You Need To Get In Front Of The Camera (46:27)

Key Tip From Christine (50:40)

Connect With Christine:

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Website 

Mentioned In This Episode:

118: The Gift of Branding and Real Estate Photography with Megan Williamson

107: Creating Boundaries For Abundance with Jessica Whitaker

101: Connection Call with Katie Levine

Review the Transcript:

Quianna Marie: Before I moved to Arizona, I was nervous about making friends. But to be honest, I was even more terrified of stepping on anyone’s toes in the desert. Just like any saturated market in any new city. Moving somewhere to begin a business in a new location can be really, really scary. Years ago, I hit the jackpot. When I attended show at United, which was once an annual photography conference here in Tempe, Arizona, I met a handful of friends that are still my photo besties today.

Introducing Christine Deaton Creative

For today’s episode, I have the honor of introducing you to an incredible photographer, business educator and wonderful mother, one of the sweetest souls that welcomed me to the desert and welcomes you to pursue your photography dreams, too. We’ll be sharing controversial opinions in the photo industry about niching down, creating lasting impressions and incredible experiences for your clients and stepping into new offers and education. If you’re not a photographer, don’t even worry stick around because Christine will be dropping lots of mic drop moments for client experience and retaining repeat clients year after year. I am honored to welcome Christine Deaton to Quianna Marie Weekly.

Christine is a published and award winning lifestyle and family photographer creating the most gorgeous love soaked editorial photography in the Scottsdale Arizona area and beyond. She has taken her passion for photographing milestones for families, and now offers editing courses, mentoring and so much more. Christine has a beautiful heart loves to dance always has a smile on her face and truly makes you feel loved and welcome just being in her presence. With a warm welcome.

Please welcome Christine Deaton.

Welcome to Quianna Marie Weekly, a podcast for creatives who love to celebrate wins big or small by dancing in the kitchen photographers who are excited to serve their clients and friends who are ready to chase really, really big dreams. You can find all of the resources mentioned in this episode at QuiannaMarie.com/podcast.

Join me as I share with you motivation, chat about growing pains, finding genuine connections and celebrating your wins through the lens of a photographer at heart. Come join me for a dance party. Ready? Loves though. All right, all right.

Quianna Marie: Welcome to the party. Christine! I’m so excited to be here. We’re gonna have so much fun. Oh my gosh, one of my favorite memories of you because I’ve I’ve known you for years attending the different spark or actually the United events for years, which show it and one of my favorite memories of you. Christine is actually at one of the rodeo parties and you just totally killing it on the dance floor in your cowboy boots line dancing, and I just remember. But I remember thinking like, That’s my girl like, I frickin love you. You’re so fun.

Christine Deaton: Thank you! I really like to dance! You know, we don’t get to do it that often. So like, why not just go out there and have a good time?

Quianna Marie: Yes. Oh my gosh, well, that is just a little intro to your personality. I feel like a lot of the same fabric. So let’s just dive right into these questions. Let’s go. So as a lifestyle photographer, and educator, I’d love to hear more about your thoughts around niching down.

These days, so many industry leaders are pushing us to focus and laser focus our offers. But honestly, I truly admire your business plan of offering a more well rounded lifestyle experience. So if you could please dive into why you love to offer portraits for maternity sessions, newborns and family photography. Let’s dive into that.

Offering Milestone Photography Without Niching Down

Christine Deaton: Yeah, for sure. Um, it’s funny because when I first started as a photographer, I actually studied or assisted under a senior photographer. And so I learned a lot about high school senior sessions and what that looked like and posing for a solo person. And then when I decided to go out on my own, it kind of happened by accident that I photographed a family friend as their family.

I just loved the experience. I have a family myself and so it was very familiar. My family was young at the time, and I just really wanted to serve families and I loved it. And then over time, I kind of evolved even more and really wanted to open up specifically to maternity and newborn along with family. And I just think there’s pros and cons to both.

I think it’s really important to just photograph what makes you happy. You know, like, if you’re gonna go out and do this every day and take time away from your family time away from your personal life. You love what you’re doing. And you don’t want to get bored. You don’t want to resent your clients. You want to have a good time. And the more that you love what you’re photographing, the better you’re going to be at it because you’re going to be passionate about serving those clients.

So yeah, I have I think there’s pros and cons like if I was serving just to high school seniors, for example, I feel like it would be much easier to onboard. I only have like one onboarding workflow, because I’m only serving one client. But with serving like a maternity newborn family session, the style guides, I’m sending the onboarding questionnaires, the email reminders, all of those things have different workflows, because they have different needs.

The things I need to tell a new mom who’s bringing in a newborn are way different than the things I have to tell a mom who is coming with just her husband, cuz she’s pregnant, or a mom who’s bringing four kids between the ages of 12 and eight, you know, and her husband to a session, it’s just different. So it creates a little bit more work on my end. But again, like I love it, one of the pros of it is that I never get bored, I always have something different kind of coming up. So it’s never like, I’ve been photographing these newborns over and over and over. And I’m getting bored, like, I would like to have something different, I want to change it up. I don’t have to worry about that.

Creating A Business That Lasts Through The Seasons

Quianna Marie: I love that so much. So not only for the variety for yourself, like staying on your toes. And, you know, you could totally niche that down into once one lump sum of family milestones, right? Like, it really is just one service that you’re providing you showing up, you’re making your clients feel comfortable and giving them something to look forward to.

But I also love and this is why this is really important to bring this up now, especially for a lot of photographers listening is when you have that variety, you’re not stuck only offering those things, right, like so like, just, for example, like even like getting through COVID, or getting through these pandemics, or these unforeseen circumstances, you can actually lean on different seasons, different things that you’re available for, right? Because I mean, you have your high school senior seasons, you have your busy mini session seasons for families, like you just can, you can lean on those different niches or niches throughout the year. And I just think that’s beautiful.

Quianna Marie: I love it. I feel like you were saying like, there’s different seasons for everything.

Being Intentional With Your Business

Christine Deaton: One of the things that was really hard for me, having my own family to work with is like, in the holiday season, I was slammed and I was no fun. And I felt a lot of pressure to like meet my financial business goals. In this condensed amount of time.

One I also wanted to like have relaxing, fun holiday time with my own family. And so to be able to find niches that are more year round, and that have different seasons, was really helpful to my business side of things. I’m kind of like I love because I want to serve anyone who values photography, who values having photos of the people they love. So whatever you call family, like I want to photograph that. Oh,

I love that too. Because it could just be me and my dog. Right, like just totally family. Yeah, totally. Yes. Yes. I love that. Well, we are like in the thick right now of mini sessions and last minute family holiday photos. And so I would love to know from you like when this busy season rolls around and and we go to these locations. And I know both both you and I are in the desert, right?

We’re here in the Scottsdale Phoenix, Mesa area. And we see dozens and dozens of photographers like out just doing their thing and, and I actually will see them and I’ll smile at the cute families. You know, they’re there for picture day. And I’ll say, Oh, happy picture day, you know, and they smile as they’re kind of walking by or I tell the moms how beautiful they look.

Obviously, they put everything into this shoot with on them, right. And so make sure I’m complimenting the moms. But I want to ask you though, for someone who may just be starting with photography, it could be a little bit discouraging to see so many photographers offering this literally the same thing in your like in your hometown. So how do you stay grounded and market yourself to stand out from other photographers?

Christine Deaton: So the first thing I want to say is we all start somewhere. Like I’m telling my son this right now he is has his permit. And he when we’re out there driving, and he’s just like, I’m nervous, like, how am I going to and I’m just like, every single one of these drivers was 16. Once they all had to figure it out, like you’ll get there too. And the same thing goes with photography. Like I was a newbie once I was going out in the desert, being like, I don’t know where I’m going, I don’t know if this is going to be good. Like, I just got to figure this out. I’ve been practicing. So I was there one time too. So the first thing I will say is remember that we all started there and make friends make friends make friends, like making industry friends, is so rewarding in so many ways. First of all, running into them on location is the best. It is so much fun. Like I love to try and get behind the scenes for my photographer friends. When I see them on location, like they don’t even see me. And I’m just like, get this video of them working and then I’m gonna send it to them later. Because it will those totally make their day and they’re like in their element doing their thing. Like that’s my favorite.

Running into friends. I know it can feel intimidating. I feel like the photography industry’s really swung in such a positive direction, as a lot more open, and I’m not telling you any of my secrets or my spots and stay away from me, and I don’t want friends, that’s fine there. They don’t have to be for you. But I would say like 90% of the people I run into are like, Yeah, let’s be friends, I’ll follow you on Instagram or like, let me see your work. So that’s the first thing is make friends because it feels less lonely, it feels less isolating, and it’s so fun to run into them on location.

You’ll realize when you talk to those friends that they’re experiencing the same things as you, you’ll be like, I had this client goes to me or I had this other thing happened or I panics because my camera was like glitching on me, or I couldn’t get the right light at this location. And they’ll be like, Oh, me, too, I’ve had this problem. And they might share ways that they resolved it, or you can just, you know, commiserate together. Either way, it feels better.

Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing. Don’t worry that like their clients dress better, or they have the better Spa at that location, or you’ve seen their work and they’re so much better than you are. First of all, there’s someone out there your your work. We all just keep like ratcheting up the ladder of ourselves. And we don’t need to worry about what everyone else is doing. Because if you get in your head too much, you’re gonna psych yourself out.

It’s like, you’re gonna have a missed opportunity. I just think focus on your work. So when I go to a session, I’m like, what did I learn from the last session I just edited that I can improve on for this family and for this session, because there’s always something even now today, I will get intimidated with myself. I think there’s ebbs and flows of your confidence.

Your work, especially when you’re in a creative industry and you feel like an artist. You’re the biggest our own worst critics, right? Like we’re always harshing on our own vibes. We’re just like, kind of giving ourselves a hard time and really critiquing and overthinking. Anytime I have a session that I’ve been stressed out about, and I share it with like my husband, or even the client for that session, and I hand it off, and I’m like, Oh, I don’t know, I don’t feel like it was my best.

They’re like, This is amazing. It’s beautiful. I’m blowing this up in my house. And you’re just like, wait, what you love it? Like, I was really nervous. It’s just, you know, we are our own worst critics. So yeah, make friends and be your own competition. Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing cuz you will continue to grow. Like, when I look at my work, even a year ago, I’m like, yay. Like, we could just keep growing. Yes.

Oh my gosh, these are incredible tips. And I’m so happy you share those because I feel like that can be really intimidating in itself, right is like, oh, gosh, like there are so many things we get kind of I call it Doom scrolling when we’re on social media, and we’re comparing ourselves to others thinking, Oh, my gosh, and I will tell you like being a lifestyle portrait photographer for 15 to 20 years now, I still have families that will roll up in jeans and shoes that don’t match like don’t match like the family cohesively right, or dads that wear baseball hats, and you know, all these things that as a photographer, of course, like I wish I could change.

But I tell you what, like, these families come back to me every single year, and they tell their friends. So it may not be this, like anthropology looking like you know, just like, wow, this is a super luxury photoshoot that but they literally pay my bills and they fill my cup. So if anybody’s listening and thinking like, gosh, I’m comparing myself to all these other photographers are these models, like, there may also be getting families that dress differently, but they’re serving them with the biggest heart.

That’s what matters. Oh my gosh. So let’s dive in a little bit deeper. I would love to hear what you’re doing on these photo shoots or a part of your client experience that really makes people trust you and love you. And I know you are always posting repeat clients, right? So families that are coming back to you throughout their entire life, you know, their their maternity, their newborn, their family sessions, and then their holidays every year. I mean, this is amazing. So tell us what you’re doing to make people just fall in love with you, Christine?

How To Have Clients Fall In Love With You

Christine Deaton: Well, that’s one thing I’m really, really proud of in my business is just the client experience because that’s so much of the feedback that I get back from my clients. And I think that’s so important because you want people to feel loved, safe and appreciated. And like if you can make your clients feel those three things, they are going to come back.

So things that I hear from my clients even before our session ends like before, we’re giving our goodbye hugs and taking my goodbye selfie. The things that my clients are telling me are that was the easiest session ever. That went by so quickly. I’ve never felt more confident my husband said That was the most painful photoshoot we’ve ever done as a family, my kids said, You’re the most fun, like, those things make me so happy because it’s already like, it almost gets me choked up just to think about it. But like, as a mom, myself, photos are so important and so special.

Prepping Clients For Their Shoots

They’re literally like all I have left of my little tiny babies, like I look at my teenage boys now. And I can see their little like five year old faces in their big man faces now, and it like breaks my heart. Just want to like still smash those tiny, chubby cheeks, you know, but like, they’re not there anymore. But I have these beautiful photos I can look back on and I’ve used my photos to make albums for my children. And even to this day, like my 13 year old will pull out his baby album and be like, look through this with me. And he’ll want to like sit and look at his baby pictures.

He’ll ask me questions. Tell me a story. Tell me a funny story from when I was a baby. Tell me what it was like when you were pregnant. Like he wants to know how I felt about him at different stages of life because he can’t remember. And I just think it’s so much pressure for moms like they want it so bad. And they want to capture and like encapsulate the feeling and connection that they have with their family and each member individually.

They put in so much effort and work in the clothes in the prep and all this stuff. Then to have your family show up. And just be like, I don’t want to do this is this almost over like annoyed, I don’t want to hug the person next to me, like, that just feels really defeating. It just like breaks my heart. So I want the experience to be as positive as possible for everyone so that mom can, like, be like, Wow, that was all the things I wanted it to be like everyone loved each other for a whole 60 minutes.

It was so much fun. And we can leave and not be like angry or stressed out, you know, we can like enjoy the rest of the day. So I think the three things that I do to really help, you know, make this possible for my families, there’s actually four, I’m not gonna lie. Okay, four things, the first thing I do is the way that I prep my families. So in my workflow on my onboarding workflow, I have the way I set up my emails to go out to my clients to prep them for their sessions. Just a little information, like where we’re meeting, what time we’re meeting, why it’s important to meet at that time, because I work with natural light, and we don’t want to be late and you know, look for scheduling with traffic and all the things I remember. And I sent out an email of like a week before and I’m like, does anyone need a haircut?

Does anyone need this that like, let’s remember these things? Because now we’re a week out, you know, and then the day of I or the day before I send a reminder of like, do we need snacks in the car, do we need water bottles do we need toys that are going to make someone happy? Like all these little details along the way, I’m like holding their hand and walking them closer and closer to our session date. And all along, they have their style guide that really walks through what every family member at every age should be wearing, and how you know, to coordinate all of that, I always invite the lead from any family to text me prior like pictures of their wardrobe.

So we can coordinate together if they’re if they’re worried or have questions about things. So really just like hand holding them all the way up to their session, so they know what to expect. And in that very last email that I sent my clients 24 hours before their session, the whole email vibe is just Do not stress, something’s gonna happen tomorrow, that’s gonna throw you off your game, your makeups not going to come out the way you wanted it to a kid isn’t going to let you brush their hair, someone’s going to refuse to put on the shoes that you bought, like, something’s gonna happen.

It will all be okay. Like, you’re still gonna have beautiful pictures because I’m going to take care of you. All you have to do is get to our location, and we will figure it out. And even this year, I had a mom show up on location. Her her husband and her daughter flawless, gorgeous matched her six year old was in like a Tonka Truck shirt.

He refused to change and she’s just like, it wasn’t worth fighting. Like he’s wearing this. And I was like, do not worry. So at first I was like, let’s see what his shirt looks like backwards. And we put it on backwards because I was playing on the back. And he was down with that. But you could tell it was backwards. It didn’t look right. So I was like a turn of background.

I just decided internally, I was going to edit as many of their pictures as possible to make his shirt plain. And so I pose them in ways like I made him get on dad’s back. So like his chest was completely covered so you couldn’t see him. I had them hugging mom front to front and looking at the camera sideways so you couldn’t see it. But then when I posed them as the family for face camera, I just said okay, sure to make sure nothing was covering it or weird.

She was so grateful. It was like their session ran so much smoother because we just let him lead. We said we’re not going to fight him. We’re going to make it work. And it was helpful. Even mom was like, You know what, this is the season he’s in as a stick You’re old, and we’re just going to embrace it. This is we’ll laugh at it one day that he had this outfit on. And the rest of us looked great, you know. And I’m like that is so the way to go.

Just supporting your families walking them along the way. And then really quick, when I’m in session, I love to compliment my families on their wardrobe as soon as they show up, even if it’s not according to my style guide, like you mentioned, coming in with baseball caps or jeans that aren’t isn’t like a dressed up gene, or sneakers that don’t match and are dirty and dusty. Like, you know what, you guys look amazing. We’re going to take such great photos today, I can’t wait to capture you know, your relationships, because they think they look good. Like, even if it’s not your style guide, they would have never shown up and pay for pictures, if they thought they didn’t look good. And just always like to show them the back of the camera. After the first couple minutes. As soon as I know, I know, like a flattering shot of anyone, it could be just one person or it could be the whole group. I show everyone I’m like, look at how good you guys look.

Then they’re like, oh, wow, like, it does look good, you know, but I always make sure it’s a shot that’s like impressive and flattering. Because you don’t want to scare anyone, if you’re just like, well, I know I can make this look better in post, don’t show that one. Show the one that’s like already, like I don’t really need to do anything to this. And then my third thing is I’m never afraid to like overly take control, and just say, Hey, we’re going to stop for a second, I’m going to analyze the light, I want to like really contemplate some different posing.

Then when I get them in their pose, I’m like, I’m fixing this piece of hair, I want you to turn your chin just like this, I want you to come down, I’m gonna I want you to do this with your fingers. And I’m gonna like, I will get in there and like, tell them every single little thing. And that gives them so much confidence because they’re like, Whoa, she’s not missing a detail. So I think hand holding complimenting them when they show up showing the back of the camera and doing all the details. They’re like, full of so much confidence.

I love that so much. I’m literally like, because I’m such a visual person. I’m like pretending that you’re photographing me right now. Like, oh my gosh, like what a breath of fresh air to know that they’re taken care of. They’re really in good hands before they even show up. And that’s always been my thing, too is like, please don’t stress the fact that everybody is here, at this one location, we’re going to capture the magic. And I think when people have confidence in you as a photographer, that’s when their confidence starts to rise, right?

They feel like they’re in good hands, and you’re going to make them look good, feel good. They’re gonna be so excited to see the photos. I feel like, just because I know you personally, like, I feel like you’re already making that fun shoot, like a timestamp for these moms that are just desperate to capture, like you mentioned, like capture their, the sweetness and just the love of their family. And when you don’t treat it like, okay, we’re just going to dress in plaid and meet up in the desert and take pictures.

Right? When it doesn’t look just like a photo shoot, it actually feels like a fun experience for these young families. Then the photos are just bonus, like the photos are like, Oh, wait, like, Oh, I forgot we’re actually getting pictures because I had such a great time. It was so painless, and easy. And actually fun. Like, I love that you’re creating that space. And that just memory for your families. And

I do I try and I try and you know, think about the age groups that I’m working with, especially with the kids because I can work with anything from like, I can have a toddler in front of me. And the next session, I could have college kids with their parents because their home, you know, for the holidays, and it’s just like, obviously, you’re gonna approach a toddler and a college aged kid differently.

Their relationship with their parents is different, but I’m just coming up with like little silly things. Like let’s not tell mom what we did last night to the college kids or, you know, and then the little kids it’s like, who’s the stinkiest one in the house? You know, let’s tickle them and you know, so it’s just yeah, making it an experience for sure. I

love that so much and and I just let’s tap into a feel like you are just this wealth of knowledge and now you are starting to offer more education. And I feel like you were just a natural born leader and sharer and coach and teacher. So maybe overshare at a lot that’s okay, you’re in a definitely a safe space because I’m the same way I live. I always say sorry, this right like this, you may not have asked for this advice, but I’m going to tell you anyway. So many of us may be tapping into education, right?

We’re going to start offering these things. We’re trying to tap into new streams of income and different opportunities. And so I would love to hear from you. At what point did you have to reach where you felt comfortable starting to actually share your knowledge and share education what kind of shifted for you to become that photography coach.

Yeah, I feel like like the initial kind of push was honestly just getting other photographers in my DMs and saying like, Hey, do you have a preset that you sell? Hey, do you ever do workshops? Would you be willing to you know, tell them XY and Z are How did you set up your business? A lot of things I would normally answer in what I call a one on one mentor session now, we’re things I was kind of doing at the time. So in the beginning, you know, I was getting these DMS.

If it was something easy that I can answer in like one or two sentences, I’ll just tell you the answer. You know, if someone’s just like, hey, where did you get that dress for your client closet? Girl, I’m gonna send you the link. I don’t care. Like you can do the same thing. But then if it became a more complex question of like, how did you set up your business?

Legally, I’m like, okay, that’s gonna like, take us 30 minutes to talk about minimum. So we should probably schedule a chat and like, I can like bullet point how I did it, and talk about that kind of stuff? Or how do you do your marketing? Well, I mean, again, like I can say, I use Canva. That’s like, an easy, you know, but it’s just like, that could become a longer conversation. So when it came down to these are gonna become longer conversations, I thought I should offer just like one on one mentoring. So that’s kind of where it started. I was doing one on one mentoring a lot. And then the mentoring started turning into I want to edit like you there was a lot of like, how are you getting these colors in the desert? How are your clients skin tones looking like this?

How are you getting kind of this finish on your photos. And that is for sure, a longer conversation. And so after working with some mentees on the editing, I decided, You know what, this is like a very repetitive type of thing to teach. So I and I wanted to release my presets, I should back up a little bit. Okay. So I got asked a lot for my preset, I had created my own personal preset. And so I knew from trial and error, that releasing just a preset isn’t ever enough. Like, I can’t tell you how many presets I bought.

I’m just like that didn’t do what I thought it was going to do. Like is wasted the 100 bucks, or 150 or 200 or 250. Like, I bought presets, you know, I’m like that’s not working. So I knew what I wanted to release my preset that it needed to come with an editing course, so that you got the big picture. So because we don’t always all shoot in our camera the same.

So the way you’re gonna manipulate your photos and editing is going to vary. And I wanted you to have all the tools and know how to manipulate the preset to work for you so that you could create a signature style. So that kind of birthed my presets and editing course. But yeah, that’s kind of how I jumped into education. But education is a full time job on top of being a photographer.

It’s one of those things where I feel like for me, they’re both a priority, but I’m not chasing education with my marketing. If it comes to me, if photographers say I want to do one on one mentoring, I want to learn your editing style, I am here for you and I will 100% pour into you and I am involved in my student community. In our Facebook group, like my students, if I learn anything new, I’m immediately in our Facebook group.

I’m like you guys, I’m posting a small tutorial, I just learned this new thing, I have to share it with you. And I think that’s another reason why I loved getting into education and becoming a photography educator, because I couldn’t keep it to myself. I was like, I want to share all these things. I love learning. And I want to share as soon as I know a new thing. I’m like, Oh, I gotta tell you this new thing. So that’s kind of how I started.

I love that. And you know what I feel like this needs to kind of like rewind really fast to just kind of paint this picture for anyone listening, when you’ll know when it’s time to start offering education when people are literally in your DMS asking you, right? Like you literally have to walk the talk, you have to live by example, and go out and chase those really big dreams and build a business and a lifestyle that you love.

People will ask questions like people, people are nosy, and they want to know these things. And so if you’re out there living it, of course, it’s going to be so much easier for them to just directly ask you. And then I love how you mentioned how you did the work, right?

You took a lot of time to truly curate this incredible editing course. And perfect your presets and all the back end stuff that needed to happen. So when people did say, hey, I need help. Great, I got you. I already have this workflow in place. And I think that’s incredible.

Yeah, before I was a full time photographer, I kind of like dipped my toe. At first and I told you I assisted with a senior photographer, and I was her full time editor. I started picking up other professional photographers as their personal editors to so I had a boutique editing business before I even decided, no I want these to be my clients and I want to have the creative direction and I want to have my own editing style. And so I edited for a dozen photographers in the US and Canada. Before I decided to become photographer so I was very well versed in the editing world. And so when I decided to sell my preset editing course I was like this is a no brainer.

Quianna Marie: That’s amazing and I Love that that’s just another like another little timeline checkpoint for you, where this magic wouldn’t have really happened unless you had experienced that, right? So I just, oh, that’s just so much fun. I love that. So let me ask you, Christine, speaking of coaches, did you invest in coaches and mentors yourself? Do you have any workshops that you highly recommend? Or what advice would you give to someone that is looking for a good mentor?

Christine Deaton: 100%, you should invest in mentoring workshops, continued education. It wasn’t until I started doing the acronym new, very stagnant. And I was always that person was like, I can figure it out on my own. By watching a few YouTube videos. If I do this, if I do that, I’ll figure it out. Well, guess you could do it that way, it’s going to take you a very long time. And there’s going to be a lot of trial and error. And as soon as I got fed up with that, and I was just like, I want to grow.

Now I’m tired of like, wading through the weeds to figure out if I’m getting this, right. And I invested in education, and I went to workshops, holy cow, like, I was legit. Like, I became a professional full time photographer, it happened like that. So I tell people all the time, and especially even when students contact me, and they say, I’m really interested, I just don’t know if this is how I should invest. I’m like, Look, I don’t want you to do this.

Unless, you know, for you, but I will tell you from experience, whether it’s me or another educator, you will grow exponentially when you invest in your education. Like, to me it’s a no brainer, I last year. I don’t I don’t even know what to tell you. But it was in the five figures. I invested in education and mentors, because I knew that that money was coming back to me. Because as soon as I do those things, I get better.

I’ve never looked back since. So for sure. I love like you said we met at the United slash now spark weight spark slash now. You know, I can’t remember which way it goes. It’s working out. Yeah, yeah. So we met at first that united were and it was just a photography conference. And now it’s Spark, which is more of a creative business conference, which I love, because it’s so great for networking, and you learn so much more, because other industries do things different, that can still apply to us. And you still meet tons of photographers, so I love going to spark every year.

It’s local for us, which is super helpful. In January this year, I’m headed to the East Coast, I’m going to be mentoring under a newborn photographer so that I can continue to specialize in my newborn work. I’ve done online mentoring with just like a business mentor who helped me with my education offerings, who wasn’t a photographer at all, but really just specialized in education.

I mean, it’s never ending, I’m always out there looking. And I know all of us do this. I know people are doing it to me, and I’m doing it to other people. We’re always like, hiding in the wings watching and seeing what other people are doing. And then we think, yeah, I definitely want to do that. And that’s when you jump in their DM or you go to their website and you say I want to learn from you. Like, you’ve made it official, like you’ve done enough to show me, I want what you got, and I’m ready to work with you. I do it all the time. And there’s no way I would end a year in my business without having invested in education in at least two different places.

Yes. Oh my gosh, well, I love how you mentioned kind of a mix, right? So you had like the business mentoring for your business, and like education and coaching, mentoring, all that stuff, where you are in alignment now moving forward, but then also, totally sharpening your craft and sharpening your toolkit for your newborn photography. Like, this is such a beautiful thing.

I think, I think sometimes like and I’m happy you mentioned this too, because I can relate to that, when I was that, like, what do you call that the University of YouTube, like, I just I tried to figure out everything on my own. I was really scrappy and I really didn’t have a lot of the extra funds to put towards my education 1015 years ago. And now flash forward and I’m like, Oh my gosh, oh, that workshop or that event, only $2,000. But I have to fly to Dallas or I have to fly to right to Austin to do this.

We’re lucky a lot of stuff, luckily happens here in the Phoenix area. But I mean, we just throw money out because we know the return that we’re going to get and and it’s not just the how to take better pictures, right? It’s not the just like, what workflows and systems are they using? We can figure that out. But I’ve noticed that when I do invest in myself, I always leave a completely different person.

Absolutely. And the boosting competence is huge. Like first of all, you make friends, which is like in the industry so important, like we talked about earlier, you make friends and then you have such a confidence boost, like even if I’m invested, which I’ve done this I’ve gone and invested in like a styled Shoot, let’s say and I’ll be there shooting and just in the shoot maybe I don’t learn anything new, maybe I think I could have done this myself. But one thing I learned is like, Oh, the person to my right and the person to my left aren’t doing it any better.

They’re doing it exactly the same, that at least solidifies like, I’m doing it right, or I’m not behind the eight ball. Or if I look to my right and left, and they’re doing it better, or you know what, then I’m gonna learn from them. So no matter what you’re gaining something, you know, and I think that’s always helped me so much. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been like, stepped into a room and thought, I’m going to be the least talented here, or I’m going to be the least experienced here, and then leaving and being like, oh, no, I’m actually good. That changes everything. When you’re a creative entrepreneur. You’re just like, Okay, I’m not that bad. Like,

I got this. Yes, that validation is everything. I I remember years ago, I attended the Amy and Jordan workshop. It was like a wedding workshop here in Scottsdale. And don’t get me wrong. Like I learned a ton about client experience.

Even their like closing details when it came to like, your like client consultations like whoa, like mind blowing phrases and key points that I learned from them. But you’re absolutely right, just been in the room with them and dozens of photographers from around the country, because they had a lot of people come from all over. And same thing. I remember thinking I belong here. Like if I ever once doubted that I was not qualified. I wasn’t smart enough.

I wasn’t creative enough to be a wedding photographer, like, I left there being like, this is where I’m supposed to be. And sometimes we need to pay for that. Like sometimes we need to put ourselves in these rooms, just for that kind of like ego boost really, and confidence boost.

Quianna Marie: Well I would love to know to before we get into more about your like content, photos and your branding photos. You’ve shared so much. I kind of skipped over this question.

I want to go back and ask you. But what advice would you give to a photographer or business owner? Where the bookings seem low? And I don’t know about you? I know a lot of us are in whole bunch of different like photography, Facebook groups and stuff in I would say, in general across the country, right? I mean, photography is a luxury, we know that. Although you and I both agree that it’s a necessity.

We need these family heirlooms and everybody has different priorities. Some people are like, I don’t want to cook and I’m gonna eat all the time. Like, that’s where they’re gonna put their money. Other people are like, you know, I have to have the nicest car. I’m driving a 10 year old car like, that doesn’t bother me. Yes. So we all have our priorities.

We have our priorities. And but I do think as a whole, there are a lot of like, there’s a lot of panic going on, like, bookings are low, and people are being a little more cautious with their spending. Right. So what advice and personally before I even ask you, I just want to share, like, I don’t think photography is going anywhere, like I think I totally agree. Right? Like the idea of capturing your family, capturing your milestones like weddings will forever be about two souls, you know, committing to each other.

So it doesn’t matter if it’s just the two humans getting married. And then you as the photographer, like there’s all this like a birthright like it’s always going to happen. People are constantly evolving and having babies like you, I can go on and on about how these family milestones are just they’re not going anywhere. But what advice would you give to someone that maybe keeps getting ghosted, or their bookings just aren’t coming in like they used to?

Marketing Your Business In A Saturated Market

What type of marketing advice would you like to share right now that we can do today to kind of drum up some business for us?

Well, the first thing I would say is ghosting is very real. And it happens at every level of photography business. So whether you’re a luxury wedding photographer, and you’re charging $20,000 for a wedding, or you’re a newbie, and you’re charging 100 bucks per family session, you can get ghosted, and it’s gonna happen a lot. It’s just part of doing business.

It mostly happens when people either fine pricing or they just, I know even for me, when I go to book, I’m reaching out to multiple photographers, and I’m just kind of getting more information. And I’m going to start leaning in one direction or another. I know because I’m a photographer myself. And because I work. In the service industry, I’m always gonna let the ones I’m no longer interested in no, like, I’m going in another direction.

Just wanted to let you know, I really appreciate your work. It’s beautiful. We’re doing something else. And you know, I’ll send a nice little email and that’s it, like, tie a ribbon on it, and we move on. If every client did that with me, that didn’t want to work with me, I would feel so good. But, you know, just the like, no response. Silence stinks.

So it’s for sure happening. Um, I would say the best thing you could do right now, if you’re worried, is speak to those clients concerns. Like, why do you think you’re getting ghosted? Do you think it’s your pricing Do you think that they don’t value the investment in photos, like, speak to that worry with your clients and ease their worry, I think you can do that in your social media feeds, I think you can do that in newsletter emails to your subscribers speak to why it’s important to you the value you see in it.

You know, if you really feel like it’s super bad, you can possibly offer discounts, and just say, and they don’t need to know why you could just say like, it’s the holiday season, and I’m just, you know, really want everyone to be able to have a session, no matter the stage of life you’re in. I’ve had photographers who I follow and admire who are just like a Pay What You Can session there, like you could pay 50 bucks, or you could pay 500. Like, I just want you to have pictures to share. And you’ll still be able to invest the same amount of energy into the client who pays 15 The client and pays 500.

Because they deserve the same service, if that’s what you’re saying to them. But for me, personally, when I have a quieter is in the year, it’s just a season in the year, and that things are going to change. And every year is a little bit different from the next. So in a quieter season, I love for myself and for my business to do a style shoot just for me. Like I will find a model I will figure it out. And I will let my creative juices slow. And it’s so freeing to be in a session when I can tell my client slash model like this is going to be a little bit different than a normal session because I’m going to stop a lot and like really decide like, I’m going to push my boundaries.

That’s not going to come naturally to me, I’m not going to like be pumping out poses and doing things fast. Because I want to challenge myself, I’m going to do things in different light, I’m going to try different poses, it might feel awkward, it might not work, but we’re going to do it together because we’re gonna have some fun together. It’s a style shoot, I love doing that in a slow season, and then they’ll sing you post. And you’re excited about new work and you’re motivated.

So I love doing styled shoots in a quieter season. I think that if you’re getting ghosted by your ideal clients, I think it’s really important to type out and this can be boring work sometimes for photographers and creative, but to write out your ideal client avatar. And our industry. We call it an ICA to really know like who your client is, like I really, I had a mentor make me do this one time. And I was just like, oh, I don’t want to do this work is like homework, but I did it.

She my mentor wanted me to say like, who is your client? What does she do? She wakes up in the morning? And what is her day look like? Like, I have to type out her whole day like what is she doing? Who is she? Where she shopping? What is she doing for lunch? Like? Does she have kids she business with like all of the things? What does her house look like? What does she driving like? I need to know who she is, so that I can serve her and market to her.

Because if my marketing even visually isn’t appealing to that, ICA, she’s not going to stop her scroll to know what’s going on in my business or what my offerings are. So that changed my business a little bit when I was more honed in on my ICA and then pour into each inquiry, just like like they are your only person and show them so much love and attention.

When people feel seen, they want to stay with you. So that helps with the ghosting. It’s not, you know, ghost proof. But it helps. And then my last case is just grace, like it was Did you like it could have been your pricing. It could have been they had a family emergency. And they were just like, yikes, I can’t fit this into life right now. Maybe a family book session. And then the husband and wife are in a really challenging season.

They’re like, we can barely be in the same room, let alone pretend to be all lovey dovey in a family session. I don’t, they don’t need to explain that to me. All of us. None of us are immune. It can happen to all of us. So like, you can think life is great and easy. And I’m booking a session and then the next day you’re like, I cannot do that anymore. Something has changed. So it’s not always about the photographer, your work your thing.

Life is happening for everybody. So just give yourself grace. Give your clients grace. That’s what I think about when I think about ghosting because I’m always like, this isn’t about me, it’s something else because it happens every day. If I have five inquiries a day, someone’s gonna go.

No, I love that. You mentioned that so much. And like just to recap, I love that you’re being really, really proactive about getting your creative juices flowing with a styled shoot. Right? And that’s, for me, that’s always been my advice when bookings are slow is like, you need to still show up online. Like you need to show that you’re still in demand and you’re not lying.

You’re not like pretending that you’re at a photo shoot or do these things right that aren’t real. But when you are showing past work when you’re showing that you’re in demand and you’re showing, like, hey, like, I’m actually out here doing what I love, I’m ready when you are like I’m here, I’m still alive. Because if we’re not, if we’re not top of mind, when they are ready to start booking a photographer, they’re gonna go to someone else, right, which is great if that’s not our client. But definitely being really proactive and getting your creative juices flowing like, and I always share this too, not only with family styled shoots and maternity styled shoots, but weddings as well, people will only want to book something they’ve seen.

I think, like a lot of times, a lot of photographers and a lot of creatives, we have those types of brains. And I don’t mean any disrespect to anybody that doesn’t think like that, of course. But like we have those types of brains that we can picture something right, like we can actually see it come to life, just like pulling things out of thin air. Most people in our society and our, our neighbors and our friends, they can’t see what we see.

They have to see it on a Pinterest pin, or they have to see it on one of our Insta Stories, or they have to see it on our website to think oh, yeah, like this is worth it for me to do this. They want to recreate it. So definitely being proactive about getting those ideas out there. And I just love all your advice about being ghosted, knowing it’s not always about you, like life is happening around us. And just giving not only ourselves grace, but also our clients. I think that’s beautiful.

Well, one thing I noticed while I was getting ready and preparing for this conversation, on your website, Christine, you have a buttload of like, the most gorgeous, like photos of yourself like headshots, content photos, and so I would love for you to please share why it’s so important for us as photographers and business owners in general to actually get in front of the camera. Yeah,

totally. It’s so important for so many reasons. First of all, I never want to tell my clients to do something I haven’t done myself. So if I might be comfortable, be confident, like, relax, trust me, if I haven’t done that myself with another avatar for like, what, what am I doing? Like, I need to know what it feels like on the other side. And as soon as you step on the other side of that lens, you immediately are like, oh, yeah, this is like nerve wracking a little bit.

But it’s also really helpful to know, the things that helped me let go on the other side of the lens, and then I can share that with my clients too. So for sure, like kind of being in their shoes is super helpful. And when you’re a creative business owner, when you’re a small business owner, like we said earlier, there are 1000s of photographers like in my own city that are competing with me.

So what makes me different than the photographer down the street, why is someone gonna pick me and book with me, it’s because they want me and they know me. And the only reason they’re gonna know me is when I put myself out there, they need to see my face and photos, they need to see me in videos, they need to hear my voice, they want to know what it’s like to be around me.

Then they’re gonna want to do that. So you are your brand now, like, that’s just kind of how it works. Photography can be such an intimate thing. And I mean, in all stages, I think about like maternity sessions, if we go like, very nude, or in a newborn session when you have a brand new baby, and you’re like trusting someone else to hold them and position them and do things with them.

Again, when you’re with your growing family, and you just want that like perfect shot that encapsulates that season of life, you’re really trusting someone and so they want to get to know you. So having brand images that really convey your personality, having behind the scenes, the videos that really convey the experience they get when they’re with you. I mean, those things are so critical to just like building your brand and building trust with potential clients and the clients that exist like they love getting to know you.

Yes, yes. And if no one’s listening and thinking, oh, like I don’t want to either invest in myself or I don’t want to get in front of the camera. Like I feel like you totally hit the nail on the head with this one because people ultimately need to see you they need to trust you and when that only happens really when they see your face and they hear your voice and I think sometimes as photographers we can easily hide behind our beautiful pretty images and kind of use that like Oh pick me because of this beautiful photo and said typically I don’t even get a lot of likes and engagement on those like gorgeous photos.

I get more engagement when I’m cooking in the kitchen with faith my dog right like it’s just so silly to me that like that’s what people want to see. So people are nosy they want to see and I even know this for example too. When I’m looking for either businesses to work with collaborate with or other photographers to hire if I have to scroll on their Instagram for like, you know a couple scrolls 1520 30 photos down to even see one photo I don’t know. It’s like, don’t make me dig to see what you look like. Like I want to see a quick Oh, there she is, or there he is and feel that connection right away? Absolutely.

I felt the same way. I can’t. I can’t even there are so many times I’m scrolling on Instagram and I free with someone’s bit trying to find them in their feed. And I can’t tell who like them. Or if it’s a client, I’m like, Come on, show me who you are. Yes, yeah, every photographer needs to have a picture in their top nine that’s like them with a camera like this? Is it like I’m the photographer. This

is what I do. This is who I am. And oh, my gosh, I love that so much. Well, thank you so much, Christine. Before we close out, I love asking all of my favorite friends and all of my guests. I love asking them what key tip Do you have to share today? What’s one thing that you wish you knew sooner?

We kind of touched on it already. But I would say investing in yourself and in your business. I mean, again, for me, it was such a huge like, turning point in my craft, and in my bookings. And in my ideal clients, all of those things started coming to me as soon as I started investing in myself, and it’s exactly when I started making industry friends.

It can be really lonely, you know, working on your own, and there’s so much self doubt. And in a creative business. It’s, I mean, it’s priceless, honestly. And, again, as soon as I invested is when I started seeing growth and change in my business. And it’s funny because we both said like, in the beginning, when you first invest, you’re like, oh, gosh, can I afford this.

I would tell myself, okay, if I buy this course, I can get my money back in three sessions, like that used to be my mentality, like, Okay, three sessions, what I charged for three sessions will pay for this course, I’d be like, Okay, I’m gonna work really hard to get three sessions to pay for this course. And then I would book so much after that. And then I was able to, like, raise my prices, and all these things change. And so now, when I go to invest in something, I’m like, oh, that’s only like a half a session, that’s not even a full session, I can buy that course.

Whatever it is working that mentorship, or it’s kind of a no brainer. And even this last year, when I invested in my education mentor, to help me get my course launched, it was huge. It was a five figure investment. And I was scared because it was like another level up. And I was like, Hey, that’s a couple of sessions. That’s just one session now. So it was scary.

But again, I knew like I was going to learn, I was going to grow, and it was going to come back to me, I just needed to have faith and put in the work. So definitely investing in yourself and your business. The sooner you do that, the sooner you’re going to grow. I wish I knew that earlier, because I spent a lot of time wasted time, kind of trying to begin, like I said, through the weeds to figure it out on my own, which you can do. But like there is a cost to it. You are exchanging that financial investment for your time. And there’s no way to get your time back. I can make more money, but I can’t get my time back. So for me, the no brainer. Now.

I love that. And I love how you mentioned photographer math, because that’s that’s real real for us, right? Where you’re like, oh, that’s only a couple of photo sessions. Or I remember doing wedding math thinking, oh, gosh, it’s expensive. But that’s only for weddings. I think I can swing that this year. Right? Like, it’s just like, you just make it work. And I love that so much. Yeah. Well, thank you so much, Christine, I appreciate you. And I feel like you are once again, just a wealth of knowledge. So how can we connect with you? I’m sure a couple people here today are like, how do I become BFFs? With you? Let’s connect and we may be interested in your course.

Yeah, totally. So I’m like most you can find me on Facebook at Christine Ditton. Creative. My website it is WW dot Christine dt and creative.com. Christine with a ch and my course is just Christina and creative.com backslash course.

So you can learn all about my presets my editing course there. But if you just go to my main website, you’ll be able to find your way navigate to both my education page that talks about my mentoring and talks about the course I have some freebies on there for I have like a free preset on there. I have free and camera settings tutorial that I use, so you can check it all out there.

Then on Instagram, I have been a little bit quiet lately only because it’s our busy season. But when I’m not as busy, I love to throw up little tutorials. I’m in my stories all the time, just talking about business or talking about life. Like we said we all want to just like connect with one another. So I’ll talk about family last times and sharing my latest work. Amazing.

Thank you so much, Christine. I’m just so grateful for you Do I really do feel like you drop me? Do you drop so many good mic drop moments. So thank you.

And I have to say, like, your followers don’t know this, but I’m just gonna share our quick little stories. So you totally saved my butt during COVID. I had a family session scheduled. And I want to say it was like right after Christmas was like before New Year’s right after Christmas. So they didn’t want it for a card. Yeah, why don’t they just like their kids or their grown kids were in town for the holidays.

I ended up getting COVID. And it was like, the winter of 2120 21. I want to say so like COVID was still very much like, you cannot go out like it was yes. So anyways, I was like panicking, like, what am I going to do this clients booked, they’ve already paid all this stuff. And I found out like, I don’t even know, 72 hours before the session that I was positive. And you I called you. And I was like, Would you mind shooting it and I’ll still edit and do all the things and you totally saved my butt and did it.

You drove all the way up here, which I know wasn’t a short drive to the location I had for them and did a beautiful session. And I’m just always I think about that all the time. Like, I’m like, Who is on my shortlist of people I could call and you’re totally there. I like totally trusted you.

You were amazing and so sweet. The family emailed me right away after their session and said how amazing you were so hot. Like, always means so much to me. You’re such a great friend to have. And I’m so grateful for you. And I love having another industry bestie I learned so much from you. I can’t wait to be in front of your camera soon.

So, yeah. Oh my gosh. Thank you. I appreciate that. You guys. I didn’t even ask her to say that. Thank you so much, Christine. And this. Oh, no,

you did it. I just love that story. I’m just like, yes.

Well, and this is the power of connection, right? Like, literally, that was one of the first things that you shared about growing your businesses, finding friends fast and making these connections so we can lean on each other, learn from each other.

When we each grow, we all grow. Like as we get better, we can all raise our prices, right? Like it’s just it’s just how it works. So thank you.

Yeah, and I’ve totally learned like, I don’t care how many people you will, there will be clients who want you, so don’t worry about it.

Yes. Oh my gosh. Well, I appreciate you so much. I hope you have a beautiful day. And cannot wait to see you soon. We’re gonna go line dancing soon.

Yes, let’s do it. Oh my gosh, I love it. Thank you so much for this. You have a great day too.

Thank you. Oh, wow. I love that conversation. And I’m so thankful you join our chat as well. I hope you found this episode inspiring and insightful. This is your sign to evaluate why you got in business in the first place. And truly what you love photographing the beauty of our cameras and laptops allow us to create businesses doing whatever sets our soul on fire. Whatever you decide to pursue, please give it your all your whole heart.

Your biggest efforts and focus time your Christine is out there babe you can find her crouched in your cactus during a beautiful gorgeous Arizona sunset. She is booking maternity and newborn sessions and gorgeous natural light studios. Your Christine loves to travel enjoys line dancing and attending workshops and conferences. She’s your mentor, your friend and the mama you’re gonna want on speed dial as your babies grow. We’re cheering for you babe.

If you like this episode, you’ll love episode number 118 The gift of branding and real estate photography with Megan Williamson. Number 107 creating boundaries for abundance with Jessica Whitaker and episode number 101. pursuing your dreams with celebrity photographer Katie Levine.

These episodes are super super rich in content and strategy in life experiences and really fun stories that will help you truly believe that you are worthy of your dreams because we are literally just one connection. One friendship one phone call one event away from meeting the one person that can literally change your life forever. It’s my passion to bring this podcast to life to share business opportunities, success stories, relatable life experiences, and to introduce you to my real life friends. It’s now my mission to share it.

If you enjoyed this conversation, please rate and review it only takes two minutes and impacts the reach of Quianna Marie Weekly tremendously. I appreciate your listenership and friendship beyond measure. Thank you so much for taking the time to rate and review.

We’re wishing you a beautiful week full of opportunities, connections and productivity. Don’t forget to soak up some sunshine and get your steps in. Everyday we’re one step closer to living our wildest dreams. Can’t wait to catch up next week. Okay, love you. Bye.

That’s a wrap on another episode of Quianna Marie Weekly. Thank you so much for your listenership and support. You can find the resources and show notes for this episode and more at QuiannaMarie.com/podcast.

I’m honored if you show your support by leaving a review and rating on your favorite podcast app, until next time, keep on dancing.