Are you showing up on Instagram and taking your audience along on a journey? In today’s episode, Angie McPherson joins us to discuss the power of personal branding in your instagram marketing strategy! Listen in as she walks us through how she approaches content, how she converts clients from Instagram, and how you can reframe your mindset around Instagram by sharing your personality.
The Business-First Creatives Podcast is brought to you by CRM and Dubsado expert Colie James. Join Colie each week as she discuss how to build a business that brings you joy and a paycheck! From business advice with fellow entrepreneurs to sharing automation tips and tricks, Colie and her guests are sharing industry trends and resources, along with a little bit of sarcasm.
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Guest Bio:
Angie McPherson is a branding photographer, marketing strategist, and hype woman helping entrepreneurs to elevate their personal brand. Angie photographs entrepreneurs and influencers throughout the country, providing custom imagery to uplevel their businesses. She also helps branding photographers build an impactful and profitable business through courses, digital products, workshops, and coaching.
Here are the highlights…
[:26] Get to Know Angie
[1:49] How Angie Got Into Brand Photography
[5:19] Angie’s Marketing Background
[8:00] Instagram Strategy, Content, & Results
[11:53] Share the Journey
[13:10] Entertaining Content on Instagram
[15:20] TikTok as Google
[18:05] Creating an Ecosystem on Instagram – Jereshia Hawk
[19:27] Closing Clients From Instagram
[22:00] Authenticity on Instagram
[23:48] What Angie Outsources
[28:21] Biggest Fuck Up
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MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Personal Branding Photography Checklist – https://angiemcpherson.com/checklist
CONNECT WITH ANGIE
http://angiemcpherson.com/
https://www.instagram.com/angiejanine/
https://www.youtube.com/c/angiemcpherson
Review the Transcript:
Colie: Hello, hello, and welcome back to the Business First Creatives Podcast. On today’s episode is Angie McPherson. I actually met her in person and got to hug her in Dallas in January. And actually, Angie, I just realized you were at Spark too!
Angie: I was,
Colie: Okay. So no, I saw Angie twice four months. It’s like, Ooh, Angie, what am I gonna see you again?
But I am gonna let her introduce herself and tell you guys what she.
Angie: Hi, friends. Well, thank you so much for having me. So honored to be here. I’m a branding photographer, a marketing strategist, and a self-proclaimed hype woman for creative entrepreneurs. I just love cheering people on, like, let’s do this . And so I, on the photography side, I of course photograph entrepreneurs, small business owners, influencers around the country, really helping them to elevate their personal brand with very intentional, compelling imagery and.
on the educational side, I helped photographers either pivot into branding photography because that’s what I did. I started out as a wedding photographer, got super successful as a wedding photographer, and I was like, okay, I’ve got kids. I don’t wanna do eight to 10 hour wedding days on the weekends. I wanna truncate my work week into the Monday through Friday and scale my business.
So I pivoted. So, on the educational side. I help other photographers in other industry or other niches pivot into branding, photography and grow and book more branding clients. So I have courses, memberships, shop items to really help people kind of go on the fast track and not go as slow as I did
So that’s what I do.
Colie: So Angie, tell me about your transition into branding photography, because I know that you’re a mother and I know that like branding photography right now is like a buzzword. I feel like there are so
many family photographers and wedding photographers that are pivoting into branding photography, and so
tell me
Angie: So I love wedding photography. I love my brides, I love wedding days, but that was in the younger Angie days. And you know, the, no, not having kids and having all the time in the world to go out and shoot engagement sessions at golden hour. At all times during the week and to shoot an eight to 10 hour wedding day and getting home after midnight.
And I got to a point where I was like, I’m ready to still do photography, of course, but to work a more scalable model and really work with people that I’m already walking side by side with, which at the time were people in the wedding industry. So hair stylists, makeup artists, venues and stationers and all those people.
I was like, I, I was really good friends with, and I’m. posting my own photos of myself because I’m trying to differentiate myself between me and other wedding photographers around. And those people that I’m walking side by side with, I’m in Facebook groups with, we’re seeing each other on wedding days.
They’re like, Angie, I love your headshots. You know, branding photography was not the buzzword back in the day. It was just headshots or lifestyle head shots. And they’re like, I love those lifestyle headshots that you’re posting. Can we do some type of session so that you can take those of me and I’m just like light bulb, like yes, like this.
So fun for me. I love taking those types of photos. I love working with these people. Like I’m just such an entrepreneurial spirit at heart. And so to have a service that helps other entrepreneurs build their personal brand deck out their website, deck out their social media, I’m like, this is what I’m, I was looking for like still in my creative, you know, spirit, my photography, my love of photography.
And I also have a very extensive marketing background, and I’m like, this is like the dream business. Like why didn’t I think. Sooner, and I didn’t because nobody was really caring. Back the day, everyone used their logo for their profile photo, and you never saw who was in front, you know, of the business.
And so things have shifted. And so branding photography has shifted into, like you said, this big buzzword. Everyone needs new branding photos for their website, for their sales pages, for their opt-ins, for their email marketing. everything. And so I started to offer this and more and more people started booking me.
People started to fly me out because there were no brand photographers in their market, and I just built this really awesome business. And not only that, but just pivoting into this niche has just expanded my network. I mean, I’m talking to all different types of people. I’m working with different types of people.
I have different services that have, you know, branched off from my brand photography, like now I’m doing product photography. I’m not in this bubble of, you know, not that wedding photography was a bubble, but for me it was a bubble. There was no way to kind of get out and do something a little bit more creative.
And so now I just feel like the opportunities for my business are truly limit, like just not unlimited like I can do, you know, whatever I want and go in any direction.
Colie: I mean, and you’ve, you’ve truncated your work schedule. You are no longer working on the weekends. You are working Monday through Friday. I mean, that’s similar to what I started doing. Dubsado setups is, I mean, I’ve only got one kid and she’s 12, and. You know, I didn’t wanna be gone every single weekend. And so I was like, Ooh, what can I do when she’s gone during the day?
And I was like, these stuff
Angie: Yeah. .
Colie: are like
Angie: And people need that.
Colie: to
Angie: Uhhuh. . Uhhuh.
Colie: Um, you kind of glossed over it. So we’re gonna go back. What is your extensive marketing
Angie: so I, I graduated from college with a degree in communication and my dream at the time, I had a couple dreams. I wanted to work in marketing, PR. My dream was to be Drake’s publicist . Like I just wanted to be his publicist.
Colie: real specific, Angie.
Angie: it’s still like a, well now it’s more like I wanna be as a photographer, like, With every iteration of my business, I’m like, how can I work Drake, like as a wedding photographer?
I was like, is he ever gonna get married? Now I’m like, I can be his, you know, brand photographer, his concert photographer, but that’s neither here or there. I wanted to be in the marketing PR sector, so my background, I worked. At radio stations in the marketing department, I worked in newspapers, I worked at TV stations and before I quit my job, I was the marketing director of a local concert venue.
So we had, you know, Beyonce and the Circus and Monster Jam and all these different events, and I was the marketing. Director, which basically means my job was to get butts and seats. It was to get people there. And it really helped with this business because I was working on a such larger scale at, you know, we had 10,000 seats in the building, and so every time a new.
event would come, I had to create an actual marketing plan. I had to create a budget. I had to share with, you know, the, the president of the venue, like where exactly we need to market, what radio stations, what social media platforms? How much were you spending in Facebook ads? So to go from that big of a scale of marketing to I’m the product and I have a handful of services and.
One, maybe two target audiences. I mean, try to market in April a Beyonce concert to the beehive and then in the fall I’m marketing Monster Jam to moms with kids. And so I had an extensive experience of re really figuring out who am I talking to. What is, you know, what is their desire? How can we market to them?
What platforms are they on? You know, the Beyonce fans are on one platform, but the moms that are taking their kids to the circus, they’re, they might be in Facebook groups, they might be reading blogs. You know, they might be passing by a billboard down the street. And so I’ve had to take that into my business, which has really helped me with my photography.
It’s helped me with my education, just really thinking about who am I targeting, where are they showing up? How am I speaking to them? and it, I, I love having that background. I, I wish, you know, I had gone to my dream and, and been his publicist and that’s another lifetime, but this is just as amazing
Colie: It is, it is Angie. And I think that that’s like the best segue into our next topic, which I was like, well, damn, maybe Angie should be doing this podcast. So let’s talk about Instagram because one of the things that like really caught my eye at the Creative Educators Conference where you were a speaker was I was like, damn, her Instagram is on point.
Like you made me excited to go make reels
Angie: Oh, yay.
Colie: It. It’s a hard thing to do because Instagram is not where my love is, girl. I actually take so many things from this podcast and just repurpose it because I
Angie: for sure.
Colie: do all of
but So tell me about, tell me about your specific focus on Instagram and what kind of results you have seen from like Instagram being your main marketing.
Angie: I love Instagram. I mean, I, I’ve had it since its inception, you know, over a decade ago when it was just all about showing what you were eating, you know, for dinner that night and, and where you were going. And it’s just evolved so much. And I just try to take the pressure off. I just try to look at it as a way to connect.
with my audience. That’s my number one goal. If I’m making a connection in some way, then I’ve done my job. So that connection can be me sharing some insight into my personal life, like me and the kids and my husband going to the farmer’s market on the weekends. Or that could be me just really helping photographers figure out their plan to book their next client.
That could be me showing potential photography clients, how they can be using their photos to van out, you know, revamp their website. So it’s all about connection for me, and, and that takes away the pressure of. how I wanna show up because I just know I’m genuinely, authentically trying to connect with people and help them in some way or fashion.
And it’s, it’s done so well for me. You know, I share my opt-ins there, I share my services there. I share education there. And I don’t feel like I’m selling, I just feel like I’m just really trying to help people. it blows my mind how many actual, like photography clients truly just convert through Instagram.
You know, a lot of people say, oh, I wanna book more clients, but my Instagram is dead. Or, you know, I’m, I’m trying to focus on this platform or that platform. Nobody’s inquiring through Instagram. And I’m like, man, most of my clients. Will start following me. They’ll see what I’m doing. They’ll start to comment on my post.
A couple weeks later, we’re in the DMS chatting, and then I see the inquiry come in through email and I know that they’ve gone through journey of seeing who I am, seeing, you know, the experience and the expertise that I provide, seeing what my client experience looks like, what my offers are, and then they’re ready.
to inquire.. So when people tell me that they don’t get any inquiries or that their Instagram is like ghosted, I’m like, well, what? What are you doing? What are you putting out? There are , are you sharing, you know, the journey? Like l everyone’s like, what’s your marketing strategy? What’s your marketing strategy?
And if I could just simplify it, it is , right? share, to share the journey. That’s all you have to do. And you can of course, make a bunch of different strategies, but align it with that. Share the journey. What you do in your business, who you serve in your business, what your experience looks like for your clients, how your clients have, you know, been transformed with your experience.
People are watching. You might think that, oh, I don’t have a lot of engagement on my post, or this or that, and I read some meme or some gif or something that said, look at the number of people who actually engage in. on maybe a social media post, and then look at your views and your stories. Your stories are gonna be way higher because people might not engage, but they aren’t watching you.
Okay? They’re looking at your stuff, they’re swiping through being nosy. They might not comment, they might not support you on the, on the public facing side, but they’re watching and they will eventually, you know, if they’re interested. Land in your inbox.
Colie: Oh my God, Angie, that is like perfect. Like I think that people just, they wanna show up very polished and very professional, and they don’t understand that that is not what gets people to engage with you.
You being relatable is what gets people to engage with your content. And so share the journey. Like I always tell everybody that’s on my show, like, what would I put on a t-shirt for you? And I think for you, Angie, it would
Angie: Oh, I love that
Colie: I think great
Angie: I love that.
Colie: So tell me about, you know, I, this could be two different ones.
Like, tell me about your favorite reel, or tell me about the one that got the most engagement, because I’m just always curious because people don’t understand that it’s not like the, it’s not like the ones that are really flashy that get you the most engagement. I mean, I did one where I was showing people my new espresso.
Angie: Ooh.
Colie: which my husband makes me a brand new latte every morning. That got so much engagement. People asking me where it
Angie: you better get
that affiliate Ready? . You better get that Amazon affiliate link. . Okay, good. My highest reels are either entertaining or they’re like saveable, shareable content.
So for example, entertaining. I think my highest reel, I was literally in the kitchen and there was a trend that was basically talking about what was, it was like the ludicrous song. I can’t even think of the song. What was it? It was like the ludicrous song. Yeah but I was yeah I was playing like two different people like me putting my kid down for nap time.
And then the other person was an Amazon driver coming up and beating the crap outta my door, putting the Amazon boxes down and like, oh my gosh, I just put the kid down for nap. And for some reason that just like took. I think it was also the season I posted it like right before Christmas when people are expecting a lot of packages and you know, my audience, a lot of my audience are moms with young children and so it was just super relatable.
Like you said, it was super relatable, like, oh my gosh, you know, I hate when I just put my kid down for a nap and then, you know, the delivery driver rings the doorbell, kicks the door down and throws the locks at the door. That was definitely a big one. Another one I did a couple weeks ago, I did it at the conference, at the Creative Educator Conference with two other photographer.
And it
Colie: Ah, I saw that one.
Angie: Yes. And the audio was basically, I think it was like the Super Smash Brothers like video game where it’s like, choose your character. And I was like, let’s all be a different type of photographer. And so I was like the hype girl, you know, overshoot. And then there was someone who needs a step stool to take pictures and someone who always leaves the lens cap on.
And so once again, very relatable. Entertaining. And I just feel like that’s what people are craving now on social media. They just, they wanna be entertained, they wanna take something away from it. I know I’m obsessed with TikTok and, and that’s what I want. I want to be entertained. It’s like a little, uh, moment of peace where I can either be super entertained or I can walk away and be like, oh, I just learned something super helpful, or I just found this easy recipe, or I found this hack for creating something in Canva.
Like people want to take something. from what you’re sharing.
Colie: which I, because I’m old, Angie, I don’t know if you know this, but like I’m not really on TikTok. TikTok is not my thing, but I didn’t realize until someone said it recently. That all the young kids are using TikTok, like I use Google, and I was just like, what? They’re like, yeah. Anything that they wanna know, they’re not Googling it.
They’re going to TikTok to see if someone has made a video. And I was just
Angie: A hundred percent. And do the
Colie: I get it
Angie: same
I do the thing. I, I was not on TikTok for a while, and then I made the mistake of downloading the app. And swiping a few things and then I have not looked back since. I’m obsessed as a consumer. I don’t create much, but I will consume some TikTok and whenever I’m thinking about making a purchase or just seeing, you know, um, some insight into something, before I even, I used to go to Google and I used to go to.
Those are my two big things. Who’s talking about this? Who has a blog about this? Who has a video about this? Now I just go to TikTok. That’s the first thing I do. It’s the fir I was looking at upgrading my camera back in the day I would’ve typed Cannon R six into Google, into YouTube, into something. I went straight to TikTok.
It’s, it is crazy.
Colie: TikTok
I don’t think about
Angie: Oh, it is, it
Colie: to me that’s just weird. Yeah.
Angie: you. It, it is. And I, I like it because you’re getting so many different perspectives of what you’re looking for. When I, I feel like when you’re on Google. kind of like comb through, you know, the first two pages when you’re, you’re on YouTube, you know, people don’t have time anymore.
Like, I don’t wanna see a 27 minute about the Canon R six. I want somebody to tell me in 60 seconds if I need to upgrade my camera. Like I want it to be quick. I want it to be digestible. And so when I’m creating content from my audience, I’m thinking of the same thing. What can I create in less than 30 seconds?
in an Instagram reel or in less than three paragraphs on a blog post, or just, um, you know, something quick on an Instagram story. Like, how can I just help take somebody to the next level or have a mindset shift or help them make a decision in a small amount of time, because, Times have changed. Back in the day, I used to just sit and read blogs, long blogs, watch whole YouTube videos, and, and I loved it.
But now as we’ve talked about, things have changed. We have more responsibilities. We have businesses to build. We don’t have time for all that. So I wanna know what I wanna know in a very small amount of content.
Colie: Immediately. Like tell me now, give me the bottom line. Now. I feel like there’s one other thing that I wanna go back to, because it wasn’t until like, do you know who Jerishia Hawk is?
Angie: I don’t, no.
Colie: Oh my gosh. I’m
Angie: Okay.
Colie: her. But one of the things that she said recently, she stopped doing her podcast for like a full year and a half, and then when she came back, she did like an explanation of why she stopped the podcast and like what she talked about was something completely that, that I didn’t understand.
What she was saying was that, in her business. She decided to go all in on Instagram. She’s, she talked about it like an ecosystem, like a complete, a complete booking ecosystem, and I was like, no, because from my perspective, like a dodo specialist, I’m like, no, you nurture ’em on Instagram, but then you get them into your C R M as quickly as possible so that you can go through your sales process.
But listening to this episode with Jerishia, she was basically saying the same thing that you are, like you can do the entire sales process. Except take the money inside of Instagram. You know, they’re seeing your content, they’re chatting with you in the dms, they’re commenting on your posts. And so like on an on a monthly basis, let’s say like how, what percentage of your clients are you actually closing like completely in the Instagram ecosystem?
Cuz of course for someone like you who’s very engaging and talking to all of your clients on Instagram constantly, I’m sure the algorithm loves. Because you’re not trying to get
Angie: Right.
Colie: of Instagram
care if you’re there talking to them every day for a month, and then you know, you get the inquiry and you, you close the sale.
But so like what’s the percentage of people that are actually finding you and that you are perhaps closing within the Instagram
Angie: That’s a good question. So when, when someone says they’re ready for more information, I immediately do move them into email. I don’t wanna be talking about money through dms because I get so many dms. I will, I will lose it. Like I will lose the contact info. It’ll go down and with email. , you know, you can file things away, you can add attachments, you can send links, things like that.
So like, I, I do what you said. I’m nurturing, nurturing, nurturing in the social media world. And then as soon as they’re ready to book, I’m like, okay, what’s your email address? I’ll follow up via email. So as far as the closing percentage, gosh, I can’t even begin to think, it’s pretty high. Once I get someone into my email, it’s a really, it’s, it’s a high, it’s a high chance that they’ll.
They’ll move forward. But, you know, it, it takes the time to get them there because like you said, not a lot of people wanna leave the platform. I, I don’t, you know, pitch like as soon as they DM me, like, hey, let’s email. It’s only when they say, right Only if say, Hey, I’m interested in booking a branding shoot or a branding mini session, or, I’m interested in, you know, do you have a strategy call?
is there a course you can teach me X, Y, Z? Then we move into email and I can include, you know, different links like that. But as far as social media, I’m definitely mostly nurturing there.
Colie: nurturing. Okay. Yeah, I mean, and it’s just so interesting to hear a people, people’s perspective though, cuz a lot of times when people are like, oh, you know, I don’t get that many inquiries, or, you know, I can’t close them. I’m like, okay, but. , what was your process? And they’re always talking about how they’re talking about the sale from the get-go.
Yeah, no, that person did not come to you to like buy something from you immediately. They came to you because your content was relatable and they just wanna have a conversation. Now, I mean, don’t get me wrong guys. For a majority of people, we do want to push them along
Angie: Right
Colie: to eventually make a buying decision.
But like, that’s not what you should lead with. Like there are other ways that you can nurture people. Keep them in your atmosphere. Keep them commenting on your reels cuz hey guys, if you like meet someone on Instagram and you are chatting in the dms, chances are Instagram is going to show them your, your content more often and then they’re going to comment on your content more often, which again brings more people and more eyeballs onto your content.
So it’s, you know, it’s an ecosystem. Guys, be friendly,
Angie: be
friendly, nurture, and just be authentic. You know, don’t just poach people to have them work with you. , I’ve, I have people that show up in my, like my other folder and Instagram and I’m like, oh, I already know this is gonna be someone. Pitching me something and they’re just like, Hey, I followed you for a long time and I’ve, I love what you’re doing, and would you be interested in this?
And I’m like, okay, first of all, I can see that you don’t follow me. Not that that matters, but don’t lie, . And then second of all you’re me on something I had no interest in asking about. I never asked you. Web design or you know, I never asked you. Some people would be like, Hey, are you looking for like weight loss pills?
And I’m like, that’s offensive. Why are you even sending me that And so don’t just, you know, randomly have no connection before. Now, if this was a situation where I would posting stories on my Instagram and I’m like, oh, I’m working on my website. Gosh, this takes so much time. I wish I had a better system and da da da da.
And there’s a web designer and. Commenting on my post, she’s DMing me. She’s giving me free advice right there. Like, Hey, you could save time if you did X, Y, z. I wouldn’t be offended if a couple weeks down the line she’s like, Hey, I’ve noticed you know this, this and that about your website. I’d love to offer you maybe a 20 minute Zoom call, kind of tell you what I can improve.
Like, oh, that’s great. Like I’ve, I’ve hired a VA like that. Like that’s great, but don’t just come
Colie: that’s why I got my va
Angie: yes. Exactly, like don’t come off the bat with a pitch. You gotta warm me up a little bit. Take me out to dinner or something. Come on
Colie: I’m not a fast girl. Okay. Don’t, don’t do that to me. Angie, speaking of virtual assistance, this is perfect. What do you outsource in your business and is any of it Instagram related or is all that all you?
Angie: That
Oh my gosh, I love this question. People are like, do you outsource Instagram? That’s the one thing I cannot let go of, and that’s not me making a blanket statement to everyone. I just say, whatever you are passionate about and whatever you are good at, hold close to you and put everything else, you know, outsource everything else.
So I respond to all my dms, all my comments. I create all my own content cuz I love doing it and I want to know who I’m talking to. I don’t want someone. answering my dms and having these relationships with people. Cause I’m all about building relationships. And then if somebody inquires for a branding shoot, I’m like, Hey, nice to meet you.
She’s gonna be like, we’ve been talking on dms for two weeks. Don’t remember me. I don’t want that type of drama. Okay. I wanna be that person that you talk to on Instagram and that person who’s answering your email. Other things that I, that I will outsource. Market research. So I will, you know, if people are asking me a lot of questions, I’ll have my VA kind of go through and put a lot of the questions in a Google Doc so I can see what are people really struggling with.
You know, I’ve had her go through and just. Swipe through reels and find trending audios that she thinks I could probably come up with a concept to create something for. I have, I’ll make like cornerstone content, so I’ll write like a good blog post. For example, I just did a, a blog post the other day about three ways to get your next branding client, or I’ve done one about, you know, five location ideas for your branding shoot, and I will make the content.
I’ll write the content. And then she will put it into a blog post. She will put it into email marketing. She will truncate it small enough to put into maybe a social media capture that I can revise. I’m an engram three, I’ve gotta have my hands on everything before it goes to to press, so, you know. Yeah.
And it’s,
it’s
uh, an advantage and it’s also a disadvantage because I wish I could just completely relinquish control on a lot of things, but I, I like to see stuff, especially because I am a personal brand. I wanna see everything that’s going out to publish. I don’t want anybody speaking. on behalf of me before I see it.
Um, and you know, she does a lot of stuff with my educational program, so she’ll go and, you know, go into my backend making sure that, you know, um, images are, you know, for example, I use Kajabi for my courses, so she’s making sure that, know, the images are in the right place. She’s building out the, the checkout pages.
So I’m holding mostly to the marketing content because that is what I love to do. And then everything else, she’s doing a lot of admin tasks.
Colie: but Angie, all of this just makes somewhat, first of all, that you’re an enneagram three I, I, I realize now
Angie: What are you?
Colie: one. I’m an eight, but like only by a
Angie: I can see an
Colie: I mean, like, it was like one point. Yeah. I I’m definitely an eight. I don’t, I don’t like people telling me what to do, which I honestly think that like, I’m a challenger and also a
Angie: Uhhuh.
Colie: so that
Angie: I’m a Virgo.
Colie: I, I feel like when. I feel like when we have these kinds of conversations, I’m like, yeah, I can totally see that about you. But no, I do love that you hold onto all of your marketing because the funny thing is that is what a lot of photographers struggle with, and so those are the kinds of things that they want to outsource.
But I’m like you, I don’t like being in my Instagram dms, but I could never trust my VA to do it. I love Sarah. Hey Sarah, you’re listening to this. I love you, but like she doesn’t know who I. and so it would be totally embarrassing if she said something and she doesn’t know that. Like, okay, no, that’s like my bestie and we went to dinner last week.
Like that would be super embarrassing. My bestie would laugh
Angie: I’ve been
Colie: also that would be super embarrassing.
Angie: been on the receiving end of that. I have contacted people that I’ve met in person and that I adore and we’ve traveled together and they have a new VA and they’re responding to my DM and I’m like, Is that, is that Susie or is that somebody else? Like, I don’t, I don’t, that’s not how you talk and, you know, so I just, I just couldn’t do that.
But, you know, that’s not a blanket statement. That’s just who I am and, and how I wanna connect with people.
Colie: I mean, and since I’m just mentioning people I know you know Jordan Gill because she was a speaker with you at Creative Educators. It’s one of the things that I love about her Instagram is that I know her emails are gatekeeper. her Instagram
Angie: Yeah yeah
Colie: when I chat with her on Instagram, I know that I’m talking to Jordan, and so that is fabulous.
Like I know that I’m never gonna get like a weird response. It’s, it’s great. Angie, we have talked about so many things. I’m gonna bring it around to the question that I ask all of my guests, which is, what was your biggest fuck up in your business? What did you learn from it and how did you.
Angie: Okay. I had to, I had to think about this. there’s so many different directions I could go, but I think it was, I was being asked to provide a service from a couple of different types of people, and that service was product photography. And I would immediately say, no, not interested. , it’s not something that I wanna do, and I would see that brand or business go with other, you know, people like I would eventually follow.
you know, and look at their social media, look at their website to see if they actually got the photos done. And I looked at the photos and I’m like, what a, what a waste. Like I could have done this and I could have made a lot of money. Like I
Colie: So much
Angie: Yeah. And not even just like better, but just like, I dunno why I was so intimidated thinking that I couldn’t do it when, you know, I’m looking at these photos and I’m like, oh my gosh.
Like I have passed over probab, because these were, these weren’t just like small personal brands. These were. Major brands with lots of money. Corporate marketing department, and I’m like, I can’t believe for years I just passed up this opportunity. I passed up these networking opportunities. I passed up this money, I passed up the, the opportunity to make money from home because most of it I can do at home.
And so, Right when the pandemic hit, I got an email from a company who has an Amazon, um, plat. You know, they, they share on Amazon, they have products on Amazon, social media. And they emailed me and said, you know, do you offer product photography? And I literally, I remember my kids were around, they were screaming, they were being silly, and I was just like, Ugh, I don’t have time for this.
And I literally typed. No, I’m not interested. Da da da da. And I, it sat there for a day. I didn’t send it, it sat there for a day and something told me, it was like we were in the pandemic and I’m like, girl, you can’t go out and shoot right now. Like, why don’t you just take
Colie: get that
Angie: Why don’t you
Colie: girl. Click Send
Angie: this one, you know, brand and, and see what happens.
And that was three years ago. And since then, my product photography. Has taken off. They, they, I’m on a monthly retainer with the same brand and I’ve made thousands and thousands of dollars. Just by working with them , over the past three years. And so then other people are like, how did you get into this?
How do you price this? How do you market this? I’m like, okay, I’m gonna make a mini course because people are, once again, are interested. There’s not a out there. And so I made a mini course, which has made me some great revenue, and so I, I would say my mistake was just waiting and, and just immediate.
Feeling like imposter syndrome, feeling intimidation, and just not even considering what the possibilities could be. And so now when things come into my inbox like that, instead of immediately saying, no, I take a day, think about how I can do this. For example, people are now wanting reels. They’re wanting video clips and short form content with their branding shoots with their product.
and I could easily be like, Nope, I don’t have time to figure that out. Like, no, I’m gonna figure it out cuz this is something that people need. I know that I’m good at it. I know that I’m good at it for myself. And so now I’m creating short form reels for clients. And the more that I’m sharing about them, the more that other clients are like, Hey, I didn’t know you offer that.
Can you give it to me as well? So if my, if I could just give it any advice, if you’re feeling imposter syndrome, if you’re feeling. When people ask me what is my advice for battling imposter syndrome, my advice is to just do the work and take action. Because if you’re doing the work, you’re not an imposter anymore.
You’re an imposter. If you are dreaming about it, saying you’ll do it one day, pretending to do it, that is when you’re the imposter because you’re talking a big game, but you’re not doing anything about it if you are taking the action. and showing up in some way to, to move the needle forward with that, you are no longer an imposter.
You’re actually doing the work. And so that’s what I, that’s what comes across for me. When someone asks me for a new type of service or a new type of product, I’m like, oh my gosh, you know, can I do this? I’m like, well, let me just see what it looks like. Let me price this right. Let me practice. You know, let me pull my camera out and see if I can, and do reels and, and product things and, and things like that.
And I’m like, okay, I’m doing the work. I’m not an imposter anymore. I’m. Doing the work and I’m gonna charge for it. And charge well.
Colie: Yes
I mean, Angie, I have my own story. Whenever someone says, but Coley, do you do commercial work? I’m like, yeah, but I
Angie: Uhhuh Uhhuh.
Colie: and they’re like, explain that. I’m like, no, it’s a dentist. Which doesn’t really sound very C I know, but listen. It’s a, it’s a dental, I call them a conglomerate.
I mean, they’re huge. They, they run out of Dallas, but they have all of these different locations where inside of their dental practice, they have a movie
Angie: Who, what?
Colie: They have Xboxes, they have iPads. Yeah. They try to make it a really fun experience for the kids. But so they’re marketing person, their project manager, rather, he left me a voice message and I thought it was a joke, so I ignored him, and then he followed up with
Angie: Uhhuh. . Uhhuh.
Colie: was like, okay. So it wasn’t a mistake. I mean, I had a conversation with him. I did one shoot, uh,
Angie: Oh, right. We’ve been there. We’ve all been
Colie: wanted to dip
and then they had me do their second brand. and then they came back and they hired me to follow their, a couple of their dentists for a humanitarian trip to go to Mexico for a week.
And then I also did another corporate shoot for them. Like, I mean, I’ve made tens of thousands of dollars at this point, but like when people are like, I just, I think to myself, if I hadn’t actually responded when he followed up, I would’ve missed out on like all of this opportunity. And it was only then, I mean I don’t have any other commercial clients, but now I know that doing commercial work for brands that are focused on families actually does bring me joy.
And I mean like I’ll be flipping through Instagram and I’ll see several of my photos cuz they have like three different businesses. Like I see my photos everywhere and I’m like, I.
Angie: I love that. I can’t believe they sent you to Mexico. That is awesome.
That’s awesome
Colie: it was, uh, so we, we went and we did, they were doing a humanitarian trip. We did dental work, in Marita, and then we went to like, out in the middle of nowhere and we did a day at a very small, clinic there. And then the last day that they had me following the dentist was like the tourist day cuz they wanted me to do these things because these were going
Angie: Oh yeah Oh
Colie: So I mean like very different things that I have done for them. But I mean, it’s all been great. I mean, but they’re like my one client that I’ve gotten all of these jobs and all of this money for, and it’s funny because somebody asked me recently, well, have you worked for them again recently? And I’m like, well, no.
I mean, I gave them so much
Angie: Oh yeah
Colie: They’re still using the stuff I gave ’em from the first one.
Angie: You set
them
Colie: when they need me they’ll
Angie: Yeah. And now when a similar type of
business reaches out, you’ve got all that you know, set up
already. That’s great.
Colie: Angie, this has been amazing. I feel like you and I should just chat all the time, but why don’t you
Angie: right?
Colie: my listening audience where they can find you, and also I want you to talk about that amazing checklist because the
moment that we get off, I’m gonna go download it.
Angie: Yes, so I’m, you know, on my website angie mcpherson.com and of course you can connect with me on the gram at Angie Janine. So a n g i e j a n i n e. That’s my first and middle name. Angie McPherson was taken unfortunately . and yeah, so connect with me there. I do have a personal branding photography checklist.
A really good checklist for when you’re planning out your next branding shoot to see what type of photos that you should be using in your business. So headshots, lifestyle photos behind the scenes. It’ll give you a nice little checklist so that you can just really beef up your inventory for, you know, your brand imagery,
Colie: and guys, listen, I know that she just gave you all of her socials and stuff, but like, really
no bullshit. Please go follow her on Instagram because you will instantly feel like you can do anything on Instagram. I mean, when I was watching her at the conference, I was like, oh my God, I’m gonna sit here and make a list of all the reels that I’m gonna create because.
It was just so inspiring. And so Angie, Thank you so much for coming on my podcast and sharing all
Angie: for having
Colie: with the listeners. Everyone. That’s it for today. See you next time. Bye.
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