Are you afraid to show up online? Today’s episode is for the photographer or creative who knows that they have BIG value… but they keep hiding. We’re talking all about visibility, identity shifts, and main-character energy so that you can get booked and PAID. 

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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Today’s episode is brought to you by The Green House, my resource garden for photographers! Let me help you AMPLIFY your heart online and in real life to turn bridesmaids into future brides through templates, workshops, and freebies!

Review The Show Notes:

If You’re Afraid To Be Seen, You’re Afraid To Be Paid (2:11)

Identity Shifts And Confidence Reminders (2:55)

Main Character Energy And The Importance Of Visibility (9:05)

Who Suffers If You Hide? (10:54)

Easy Ways To Start Showing Up (12:43)

Mentioned In This Episode:

Easy B-Roll Ideas For Business Owners: quiannamarie.com/broll

The Green House Resource Garden: quiannamarie.com/shop

The Monthly Content Membership: quiannamarie.com/crush-your-content

Book Your VIP Day: quiannamarie.com/vip

Episode 220 Stop ONLY Marketing To Your Dream Clients: quiannamarieblog.com/2025/12/08/220-stop-only-marketing-to-your-dream-clients

Episode 199 90 Days Of Content In ONE Day: quiannamarieblog.com/2025/07/14/199-90-days-of-content-in-one-day

Episode 196 Why Your Content Isn’t Working (Let’s Fix It!): quiannamarieblog.com/2025/06/23/196-why-your-content-isnt-working-lets-fix-it

Connect with Quianna:

Website: quiannamarie.com

Instagram: instagram.com/quiannamarie

Review the Transcript:

Be honest… How many times have you looked at someone else’s portfolio or offers and thought, how are they fully booked? My work is so much better than his, or I’m way more qualified than she is. What’s going on here? Most photographers, coaches and business owners get stuck in the trap of thinking they’re way over a budget for inquiries or maybe their dream clients are finding them and then comparing them to other local photographers and feeling defeated that they were ghosted when in reality that’s not true at all.

I would bet that most of the time those dream clients don’t even know they exist yet. You’re not losing to your competition. Your dream clients never even saw you in the first place. When I first started my business, I was cracking into weddings and I vividly remember a friend from Trade Joe’s asking me if I had any recommendations for local wedding photographers.

She knew I was a photographer, photographing families and portraits here and there. But my jaw was still on the floor as I was stalking the cheese right next to her. In shock that she didn’t even ask me like, why didn’t she even think of me? I explained how I would love to be considered, and at that point I’ve already photographed over a dozen weddings, even some other crew members that she knows.

She quickly apologized and told me she didn’t even know I photographed weddings, and now that I think about it, looking back, I was shocked that she didn’t even think of me. But she had never even heard me talk about weddings. She had never seen any photos that I have taken. I mean, like how would she know?

Right now I’m dating myself here. This was circa 2009 a year before Instagram was even released. So we weren’t really posting any of those behind the scenes or stories or any type of posts for that. Right. But she was a friend. She was someone I saw every day at work I would hang out with after work and.

Sometimes shared tons of stories and experiences at the same college. Like we literally went to the same junior college together. Oh, hey, welcome back to you, Quianna Murray weekly. Today’s episode is for the photographer, the coach, the creative behind the scenes, who knows they have big value, but keeps hiding.

We’re going there today because if you’re afraid to be seen, you’re afraid to be paid. We need to talk about visibility, identity shifts, main character energy and releasing perfection so you can get booked, stay booked, and truly build brand loyalty. Your dream clients can’t find you if you’re hiding, and they will hire someone with half of your talent simply because they showed up confidently.

Visibility is not vanity, it’s accessibility. If your future clients can’t see you, they can’t choose you. When you document your client experience, you’re not shouting, look at me. Look at me. Look how flashy. Look how fancy. No, you are whispering. Trust me. And you can’t build that trust silently working on your galleries at your kitchen table or being invisible online.

Let’s chat about some identity shifts and confidence reminders to help you remember why you started in the first place. I find that a lot of content creation is confusing and frustrating because we feel like Instagram is our new boss to kiss butt to, and the goal post keeps changing. I mean, even the buttons to post and navigate the app are changing daily.

Every time I open it up, I’m like, how do I post a story? I don’t even know where that plus sign is, right? It keeps changing. We started our business for freedom, for our free will and flexibility. Anytime you’re feeling overwhelmed with visibility, just go back to your roots. Take some time to reflect on what you’re offering and why you started in the first place.

Stop spinning your wheels to feel behind when you really just need to direct your attention and messaging to your dream clients. Answer the questions they have. You already knowed every answer to every question you get from your clients. I bet if you don’t know an answer, I know you know someone that can help.

Right? And I’m not even talking about chat, GBT, I’m literally talking about real humans that you can reach out to because of your experiences and because of all the education you’ve done. You know, people let your knowledge and experience do the talking. Without, depending on silly lip-syncing trends, right?

I challenge you to speak from the heart, share your value, and I promise the right clients will see you. They’ll love you, they’ll trust you, and they’ll invest in you. I can’t tell you how many awesome business owners I’ve met in real life that completely blew me away with their accomplishments, real estate portfolios, their education, speaking opportunities, the stages they’ve been on, oh my gosh, their travels and fricking awesome personalities.

And then when I follow up with them on social media, there’s a huge disconnect. Who they are in real life looks nothing like the person they’re posting. And if I’m being honest, I know Instagram gets called a highlight reel, but for many business owners, it’s the lowlight reel. Well, okay, I don’t know. I just made that up.

You know what I mean? Those business owners are way prettier, way better, and even way cooler in real life than what they’re sharing online. Right? Can you get the difference here between the highlight reel and the lowlight reel, right? The highlight reel being something that is just always the best of the best moments, right?

Like those. Shining star accomplishments and just those highlight reels. We were very familiar with that. But the lowlight reels are the reels that aren’t getting their recognition, the visibility that they deserve, right? We need to get those moments up so you don’t look like this awesome person in real life to the people that know you, but you also are a little bit shiny and a little bit magnetic to the people who have no idea who you are.

So I wanna ask you this. How can we bottle up that confidence that you have during photo shoots on wedding days, while showing houses, working your magic behind the chair, or helping your clients get the breakthroughs they’ve been needing for decades? It’s on you. It’s all in you. You already have that magic.

The confidence is there. We just need more people, the right people to get to know you. I hope you’re in the fields and remember who you are and honor who you’re becoming. When in doubt, write it out and create that list. I mentioned in episode two 20. We chatted all about making a list for every little detail of your dream client, as well as flipping that wishlist for your dream client and writing out every little detail and reason why you are the best photographer, coach, or business owner.

For them, it’s sort of like dating. You know, we all had our wants and non-negotiables when it came to finding our dream man or dream partner. We’d write out the details of where we would live in the country or in the city, right? It kind of felt like a mash game once again, dating myself, that was the best game ever.

We scripted everything from good morals and values to music, taste, hobbies, and future, big future life goals. Then it wasn’t until we flipped that and became the best version of ourselves when we actually collided and met our person. Right? We had to become that list. That’s kind of how the magic works when we write these lists for our businesses too.

If you miss that recent episode, make sure to circle back to episode number two 20. It’s a good one. You don’t wanna miss that. Okay, so now that we’re back on track, feeling confident with the mindset shifts we need to move forward, let’s chat about some practical action items to really be seen and open our arms to receive.

You’ll quickly build trust and develop your personal brand when you talk to the camera, when you educate your clients, and when you show the behind the scenes of the work you’re already doing, you don’t need to spend hours and hours editing and turning content into a full-time job. Your clients need to see you speaking to the camera and holding up your phone to record like you’re FaceTiming is the easiest way to build trust.

If you need more B-roll ideas, this is exactly why I created this quick freebie for you. Literally, I made it just for you. A hundred easy B-roll ideas for business owners. Make sure to head to keana marie.com/ b-roll. That’s Q-U-I-A-N-N-A, murray.com/b ROLL. There’s no dash in B roll or make it easy. Head over to the show notes to grab it.

So now back to these tangible tips. You know how they say when you work towards your goals and follow your heart, the money will follow. Maybe that’s an old money myth or money story that I was raised with, but it’s true. Money flows just like currency and will abundantly flow when you’re following your dreams.

So stop trying to complicate social media and content creation. Simply getting your zone of genius. Rock your client experiences and document short video clips along the way. Now, you may be thinking at this point, but key, I’m not an influencer and putting myself out there is scary. Yeah, I totally get that.

Do you wanna get paid? Do you want your impact to grow deeper and wider? Do you have a solution or a client experience that you know more moms families and generations need? Do you want your calendar fully booked? Not just fully booked with clients that pay full price, but with clients that joke, take my money.

Take my money. Now they ask where the link to sign up is and they happily swipe their credit cards to work with you. That’s priceless. I think we all want some of that energy in 2026, right? Let’s chat about some main character energy. Okay? Main character. Energy is not about ego. It’s about clarity. It’s about owning your role as the guide to your client’s transformation.

Visibility is the love language of your future clients. Like I said before, it’s not about showy or being flashy or like a know-it-all. If we’re bringing it back to seventh grade, it’s about being a thought leader and sharing your value. If we’re all gonna focus on marketing our main character energy, we do have to let one very important thing go.

We have to release the need for perfection. Nobody trusts perfect. Perfect is intimidating, perfect is robotic. And if I’m being honest, perfect is kind of annoying. Right? Perfect. Doesn’t convert, but you know what converts. It’s you. It’s the twinkle in your eye when you’re in your element. It’s your voice of wisdom and voice of reason, and the voice that people look to when they’re looking for the answers they need.

It’s your passion and love for what you do. You see, waiting to feel confident on camera is a big mistake because confidence doesn’t show up until after you put the reps in, until after you hit record. We just have to keep doing it right. The more your current past and future clients see you, the easier you’ll be top of mind.

I mean, if you’re local to Phoenix, think of that Raffi guy, right? He’s on every single billboard, every bus stop sign, and around town, right? Like I literally will be driving down the 60 or down other freeways here in Arizona, and I’m literally singing his songs. Call Raffi Rothi. Call Rothi Rothi, right?

And I didn’t even get paid for that plug, but it’s just like, it’s just, he’s everywhere Like you. If you live in Phoenix, you know this guy’s face, right? Content without a face is forgettable. Content with a face is unforgettable. Let’s bring this back full circle back to getting paid for being seen. When you show up weekly, your network grows.

Referrals grow. Bookings grow. Your email list grows. The ripple effect is real. It’s not just recognition. The repetition becomes familiar. Who really suffers if you hide? If you think I’m gonna say you, yeah. Your business may be in maintenance mode instead of growth mode if you continue to consume instead of create on social media, but the ones that really suffer are the clients that need you.

Don’t let them invest in anyone else simply because they don’t know you exist. And I wanna make this crystal clear, because I think sometimes as business owners, we take things super personally, right? Like we always serve ourselves last. We always provide, we’re always so quick to help, right? I really want to get this home for you, that you are, you’re helping your clients, you’re helping your dream clients by letting them know you, by letting them see that what you have to offer is the answer to their prayers.

Because I can easily tell you, and I know this because I live this, I am this person. When you are not showing up online, you are suffering. But like for me, whatever, like life is hard, right? Like I kind of can already relate to that and I just know, okay, that’s just one more thing to do. But when you flip that and you make it about your dream clients, that they’re literally suffering, not knowing the answers they’re saying up at night, just confused.

Or maybe they, they wanna get their Christmas cards out on time, right? Like, whatever that looks like for you and your business and your brand, let it reflect on your clients, and I promise it’ll help you show up more. You may feel like you’re hiding from rejection, but you’re also hiding from impact.

You’re literally hiding from dollars in the bank, babe. All right, let’s wrap up with a good challenge for the week. I challenge you to film five seconds of BTS, all the B-roll, and behind the scene moments at every shoot, consultation or client experience moment. If you have to leave the house for work this week, please film five seconds of BTS.

I challenge you to go face to camera twice a week. Tell me what’s on your mind or something that went wrong for the plot twist, right? Everyone loves a little drama series. Let us know what went wrong, obviously, troubleshoot it. Make sure everything’s okay before you put it on blast. But take us behind the scenes.

Share what’s on your mind, or while you do certain things a certain way, I challenge you to introduce yourself every Friday. Share some fun facts and let us get to know the real you outside of your business. This is what makes you human, right? Recently on the podcast I shared about the five different types of contacts to create content for.

So think about the type of people that you would create content for that are just your friends, your family, your daily life, your neighbors, right? Like you’re just an active member of our community. So let’s get to know you. I challenge you to share one client win per week. Make it fun, make it easy, make it tangible.

It doesn’t have to be crazy revenue numbers or it doesn’t have to, um, be some crazy surprise proposal that um, or like I’ve seen lately on TikTok, I’ve been obsessed when they do those blind date photo shoots. Oh my god, I think they’re so cute and I. I could probably guarantee about a handful of those are totally staged, but whatever.

I eat them up, right? So maybe we’re not trying to do a whole bunch of those kind of things, but, uh, share those client wins. We wanna see them, we wanna support them. And once again, you’re building value by putting the limelight on your clients, right? But you have to twist it. And I don’t mean twist in a bad way.

I mean, you have to market and create the messaging that aligns you as the expert, right? So we’re not just highlighting your clients, you’re highlighting your transformation. You’re highlighting the fact that they have this win because of you, right? So we have to really, really perfect that messaging on that.

I just challenge you with the biggest hug to turn your everyday life into your living brand. All right? If you want help building confidence. Getting B-roll and truly becoming visible online, stop hiding and stop being that hidden gem in your community. My digital course Bloom with B-roll will teach you how without being glued to your phone.

And if you’re local, book a brand session or monthly content day, let’s capture content and let’s just have fun creating that bank of photos and videos that feel like you. I wanna help pull out that magnetic energy that I know is in there. So we can really attract, align clients. You my love, you deserve to be seen.

When you choose yourself. Your dream clients finally can too. And yes, courage and main character energy absolutely pays the fricking bills. Okay, if you love this episode and make sure to scroll back to episode number 1 99, 90 days of content in one day. Episode 196, Why Your Content Isn’t Working, Let’s Fix It.

I’m so thankful for you and for hitting play on today’s episode. It’s truly a passion to share all of my experiences, big sister business, love, and all the advice I wish I had when I started my business about 20 years ago. Sending you so much love from Arizona today and every day. Keep on dancing, baby.

Okay. Love you. Bye. Oh, and don’t forget, make sure to tag me in those behind the scenes video clips. I will absolutely celebrate you, reshare them, and just celebrate the fact that you’re posting and you’re no longer hiding. Let’s get paid, baby. Okay? Have a good day. Love you. 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’d be honored if you’d show your support by leaving a review and rating on your favorite podcast app. Until next time, keep on on dancing.