So I used my Dad's account to do this so that it's not biased towards me, and also because I'm curious to hear what Chat would say.. This showed me that my SEO and GEO (AI SEO) is working. And yes, i did cut Chat off lol... I didn't want him to go through my other competitors... Have you tried to see what comes up for you when you search for pet photographers in your area in Chat GPT?

Since a lot of you are working on visibility this month, I’d love to check in. What’s ONE thing you’re struggling with in your marketing right now? Finding clients? What to post? Being consistent? Standing out in your area? Share it below, I’ll jump in and help where I can 💛 And you never know, someone else here might have the exact solution you need.

In August I had a client inquiry for our US holiday weekend, Thanksgiving. We had a great discussion, I went through pricing and products and he was on board. He never paid the invoice. But there was a lot of time before the November holiday. Another client popped up in September for the holiday weekend. I informed him via email and text that there was another client interested and he didn’t respond. So I booked the second client. He finally responded 3 weeks later and said that he got the messages, understood the date was gone and requested Dec 5. Same story. I sent the invoice, he never paid, Simone else inquired, I informed him, no response, I booked the new client, and he responded a month later that he understood and is now asking for January. In his email he states that work is busy, “but you know how that is”. Here’s my gut reaction: I shall ghost him! It is Halloween over here so, there is that 🤣🤣🤣. Or to respond from my adult side and instruct him that while many of my clients are busy, and I do understand busy work schedules, I also prefer to work with people that respect me as a professional, do not take me for granted, and communicate in a timely fashion. Seriously, this is very rude and I feel it is disrespectful behavior to another professional. My professional side says to inform him I am not available to be his photographer and leave it at that. If I hear anything back, especially if it he is asking, “why not”, “when can you do it?” Is to ignore him at this point. The location is more than an hour from my home. The invoice reflected a travel fee. But at this point, he’s sending signals that he is an unreliable, rude, and a disrespectful client and will be a problem. I would like to hear your opinions on this toad.

So I mentioned I attended a Bootcamp recently, and one of the speakers, Anthony Vizzari, absolutely blew me away. To give you context, Anthony is the Senior Vice President at Seventh Level, working alongside Jeremy Miner (the founder of the NEPQ method). He’s trained over 100,000 people around the world on how to sell using emotional intelligence and human behaviour, not pressure. He’s also spoken on major stages with names like Russell Brunson, helping businesses grow through connection-based selling. But what stood out to me most was how human his approach felt. Here are some of the key takeaways that really stuck with me: 1. Sales is simply change. Selling isn’t about convincing or closing. It’s about helping someone move from where they are now to where they want to be. For us as photographers, that means we’re not selling photos, we’re helping clients move from wanting memories to having them on their walls. 2. Sales is something you do for people, not to them. If you believe your service genuinely improves lives, then not selling it is actually doing people a disservice. 3. People buy with emotion, not logic.When people hesitate, it’s usually fear or overwhelm, not price.They’re deciding based on how they feel, then justifying it later with logic. 4. The tone of your voice matters more than your words.Your energy sets the emotional tone for the conversation. Soft, curious questions build trust faster than perfectly-worded scripts ever will. 5. Use a ‘familiar tone’ to lower defences. People dislike cold calls because they trigger a stress response. Instead, speak as if you already know them: “Hey Sarah, it’s Ina here. We chatted at the event about your dog, remember?” That instantly relaxes their brain. Even if they might not remember, this will then get their brain thinking about, of did I have that conversation and bring their guard down. 6. Ask better questions that dig deeper. Instead of “What made you want photos?”, try: “When you say you want memories, what does that mean to you?”or“Is there a reason this feels important to do now?” These questions create emotion and connection.

Here's an odd one: an out of state artist is asking me to photograph a person & their mini-horse in my region to provide images that he can paint. I think the artist is my client 🤷🏼‍♀️ - but is he? Do I contract with him and charge the session fees (there will be a travel fee)? What do I charge him to use an image from the session? Is it ethical to do IPS with the client afterwards? Or, do I contract with the client, do the IPS and let them share the images?