At some point in your business, you’ll find yourself having to go in front of a camera. This can be extremely terrifying if you’re not used to it.
 
Especially if you struggle with insecurities about either the way you talk or some part of your body. That’s exactly why the next two episodes are conversations in two parts with a photographer, and a visibility specialist.
 
Welcome to part one of this series where I talk to a professional boudoir photography about how she builds trust and helps her clients overcome their insecurities about their bodies.
 
For those of you who are unfamiliar with boudoir photography, it is a type of photography which traditionally captures its subjects in private, intimate settings such as a hotel or bedroom. The intimate nature of the settings where these photos are taken creates a classy, romantic look.
 
In this episode, you’ll learn exactly how Katherine Henry prepares her clients for a boudoir photo shoot.
 
What this episode covers:

• The goal of the photos that Katherine takes, and also her business
• What is Boudoir photography
• What Katherine loves the most about her niche
• Why her client’s comfort is more important than the tradition of Boudoir
• How she helps her clients overcome their nervousness about being on camera, and how getting to know each other really helps.
• How being vulnerable and goofy all at the same time helps make her clients feel comfortable
•  The one thing she wishes more people knew about photoshoots: there is never a perfect time to do it. Being “you” makes the photos far better!
• How Katherine’s questionnaire makes a huge difference for preparing her clients for a photoshoot
• What the questionnaire covers: common client concerns and what questions she asks to spark answers…
• How focusing more on what her clients consider to be the most flattering helps Katherine figure out what she should focus on.
• Katherine’s theory on where client insecurities come from: social media and magazines with models with “perfect” abs and etc. And why she thinks that’s the case.
• How putting photos in her studio of people of all shapes and sizes helps keep peoples’ insecurities at bay.
• How things are changing with various brands showing more diverse body types in their ads.
• When her clients are at their best selves: ten minutes into the session, and why she thinks that’s the case.
• Why Katherine finds that talking a lot during sessions helps people get a really natural smile, and why she thinks that’s so important.
• How Katherine’s photo shoot process is consistent but adapts to suit different preferences.
• How Katherine’s makeup artists contribute to the overall process.
• The importance of doing a little bit of research online, before doing a boudoir shoot, according to Katherine.
• How encouraging clients to send her examples of what styles they like helps her determine what will be the most natural.
• Why she recommends telling the makeup artist what you consider to be natural makeup.
• The most important takeaway of this episode about body image. “Everybody’s beautiful” and why it’s always more about the actual moment the photo was taken rather than the person’s appearance.
• Why one of Katherine’s goals is to get more maternity clients.

 
About Katherine Henry:
 
Katherine has always had an interest in photography and during college she studied both photography and graphic design. She received her degree in Visual Arts. She loves using her design background throughout her photography business.
 
After college, she worked full-time as an in-house designer for 8 years. She was still taking photos and started picking up weddings on the weekends! Her brides were starting to ask about Boudoir photos and that was when it all started to happen.
 
Over the next few years, she shifted from weddings and boudoir to completely focusing on boudoir. She loves everything about a boudoir session from the hair and makeup to all the fashion, and the best part is watching her clients feel empowered, confident and strong. Each client has their own story and reasons for coming to the studio. Some women come to celebrate an upcoming wedding, some are celebrating a milestone and others are treating themselves after a life change.
 
She opened her studio location in Reading, MA in 2012, and business has continued to grow year over year, as more women learn about boudoir and hear about the experience from their friends who have also done sessions.
 
Where you can find Katherine online:
 
Instagram: @kahenry
 
Website: www.khboudoir.com
 
How you can follow this podcast (and learn more about its host)
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FYI:
 
My E-book, Blog On: A Blogging Starter Kit for Entrepreneurs is launching September 15th at 4 PM EST.
 
If you’re an entrepreneur that wants to include blogging in your business, but it’s not something you’ve done before. It will be available for purchase right here.

If you’ve ever wanted to train creative professionals, and aspiring creative professionals then this episode is for you. It is also an opportunity to dive into what having your own YouTube channel is really like.
 
I brought someone on the show who is juggling both. Shaw Bernard is a model with over sixteen years of experience in the fashion and beauty industry. She also has her own pop culture focused YouTube channel.
 
And she’s here to answer any questions you might have about juggling both a business, and a side project, like a podcast or YouTube channel, and training the next generation of creative talent.  
 
What this episode covers:
 

• What Shaw’s agency covers
• The story behind the name, “Strut” …because I had to ask, due to its catchiness
• The importance of getting the input of those that love and care about you when first starting a new creative venture
• Shaw’s secret to successful collaboration with coaches and etc.
• How sites for artists and teaching artists have helped Shaw find people to collaborate with, outside of her professional contacts.
• How a company she has wanted to work with for a while, no longer being in existence has opened up the opportunity to work together.
• The vetting/ putting to the test process that all coaches/ instructors at Strut go through.
• How she finds doing things like getting instructors to create a curriculum of their own helps her figure out if they’re willing to do the groundwork required to teach students
• How observing instructors’ classes helps Shaw figure out if they’re willing to take direction as well, and what their teaching style is.
• How choosing people with diverse backgrounds in the industry, who work in the field right now can make a huge difference.
• How being on social media a lot helps Shaw keep up to date with all trends and etc. in her industry.
• How she finds that her past experiences working in the industry helps her be constantly reminded of what it is really like, and motivated to keep up with progress that’s being made.
• Why representing diverse age groups, races, cultures, etc. is so important to Strut as an organization.
• Why she also finds that it’s important represent both high fashion and promotional fashion worlds.
• Something that’s really important to Shaw: not limiting people, by telling them they’re too young, old, etc. And why that’s so important to her
• How she includes “real talk” about her industry’s competitiveness in the training she gives her students.
• Why talent is not enough to survive, and how for her, it’s about giving students and their families the tools to not only have the talent to succeed, but the skills to navigate the industry as a whole.
• How confidence and self-esteem, in contexts like her Self-Esteem program for young women is super important.
• What this program does for the inner-city school students they work with, not only an exposure to the arts, but preparation for the real world and how to speak and dress appropriately to truly thrive.
• How she tackles difficult subjects like self-esteem with adolescents, and how things like her age, looking a bit younger than she actually is, and how personal she gets about her own experiences with that.
• How her awareness of social media and all the ads’ impact on the younger generation is a huge influence really helps her relate with the young women she works with on a personal level
• The story behind Shaw’s YouTube channel
• How taking videography and video editing classes helped her
• Why there’s never a good time to start something like a YouTube channel
• How Shaw juggles her business and her YouTube channel, while having a kid to take care of as well
• Shaw’s advice for people that want to start a YouTube channel: “just start!” and why she is a huge believer in that.
• The most important part of fitting a YouTube channel into your busy schedule: figuring out the right days and times to suit your busy schedule and life, and how to figure that out.
• The sacrifices you have to make as a one person show to make it happen, but the pay off as well: making sacrifices to not have regrets.
• Why having goals and ambitions for your channel are great, but you also need to not let that stop you from just starting.
• Why it will never be perfect, and you shouldn’t let your desire for perfection stop you from putting your channel together.
• The typical process for turning her ideas into videos...? Figuring out topics that relate to her.
• The filming and editing process she uses.
• Why there’s rarely a crossover between her YouTube channel and Strut.
• The only context where Shaw actually finds the two worlds overlap: when there’s a story that impacts the modelling community in some way, for example
• How the practice Shaw has had with her YouTube Channel have helped her create videos for Strut
• Her favourite part of her YouTube channel, and why it’s all about working towards her dream.
• Shaw looks back to her first video and admits that the takes she did were the one thing she would change. Take two on the video wasn’t great, and the one on the phone she wasn’t looking directly into the camera.
• I add the more positive side to that: the audience feeling invested and like they are part of your growth.
• Something Shaw is actively trying to improve due to how it increases engagement for her channel: adapting her videos for channels like Instagram.

About Shaw:
Fashion model, TV Host and entrepreneur Shaw Bernard has sixteen years of experience in the fashion and beauty industry.  During her over a decade long modeling career, Shaw has worked with numerous fashion and cosmetic brands, both internationally and nationally including Jovani Fashions, Ellery and Tommy Hilfiger to name a few.  She has also hosted fashion events and pageants. In 2013, Shaw opened Strut Model & Talent Agency in New York City, her talent development and management company for kids, teens and adults.  Shaw also created the Strut-Esteem program to help NYC public school students develop self-confidence through the arts. 
 
Where you can find Shaw online
Facebook: www.facebook.com/shawbernardtv
Instagram: www.instagram.com/shawbernardtv
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8LmIbGLegEo68TavtkQyXw
Website: http://strutmodeling.com/
 
How you can follow this podcast (and learn more about its host)
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Did you know that 54% of the U.S workforce is not very confident that the work they do today will exist in 20 years? This has led to influx of people either freelancing or considering freelancing.
 
And this often triggers a very important question: “when is the best time to start freelancing?” The truth is, there is no perfect time. Like most important life decisions, you can either dive in head first and do it, or you don’t.
 
This week’s guest is proof of just how true that is. She left a 9-to-5 job she wasn’t too keen on to start Confetti Social, a social media marketing company for creative entrepreneurs.
 
What this week’s episode covers:

• What Jenny does at Confetti Social
• Jenny’s job pre-freelancing of doing freelance social media management at a mall, and why she made the switch
• What motivated her to make the switch to full-time freelancing.
• The hardest thing for Jenny when she decided to make the switch: picking a schedule that works for her, and what she did to make that work.
• How getting a project management system down really helped her, and why she recommends that to other freelancers who are struggling with the same thing.
• How projects like her podcast and her Facebook Group happened.
• When Jenny started hiring a team, and the purpose her team served.
• How Jenny approached hiring her team, and how a form she created, and Facebook groups helped.
• How things have changed since she first started hiring a team.
• How posting detailed instructions helped her filter out people who can’t follow instructions.
• The only challenge…? An instance where she narrowed it down to six candidates for one job and they were all really good.
• How using Slack and Asana helps Jenny manage an 100% remote team
• I add on my own personal recommendation, Trello, and share how it has helped make client communication easier.
• How being authentic and real with her audience helps Jenny create an environment in her Facebook Groups where people feel comfortable talking about both what is and isn’t working in their business.
• How Jenny maintains that authenticity: through sharing both the bad and the good parts of her business.
• Why Jenny chooses to not advertise and publicly celebrate how much she’s making, and why a lot of that relates to reminding people that there’s nothing wrong with making the income they’re making…” because everybody’s got to start somewhere”!
• The problem with the illusion that a six-figure income is the way to go for everyone, and the negative impact this can sometimes have on other people.
• How Jenny deals with the temptation to compare oneself to others and the success they appear to be having.
• How getting off of social media for a while or avoiding the person she’s comparing herself to for a while helps her.
• How Jenny has learned to accept the fact that she’s doing good for someone who has been in business for the amount of time she has.
• How being active in Facebook groups helped Jenny get her first clients in the door
• The Facebook group marketing tactics Jenny used in the beginning. And how having a 30-minutes in the morning and 30 minutes at night system helped her.
• The biggest chance in terms of Jenny’s Facebook marketing schedule in the beginning vs. when she hired her team. Her team takes care of her online visibility so that she can have more time for client work.
• How having really good systems in place have been helpful for Jenny when it comes to juggling all the different aspects of her business and life.
• Why Jenny recommends outsourcing (if you’re at the point where you can do it)
• Jenny’s workflow process in Asana, and how she uses it manage her team. A useful walk-through if you want to try that yourself!
• How getting a team was a big turning point for Jenny in terms of her productivity and a majority of her business.
• A special announcement: listeners can now donate via Patreon and here’s how
• How surveying has helped Jenny out, when she’s in doubt about what to do next. And why she recommends surveying your audience as well.
• How she typically constructs a survey, and the similarities between that and how she surveys Facebook group members
• The importance of surveying even for introducing a new product or service, along with market research
• What success means to Jenny: it’s all about reaching and helping people rather than making millions of dollars…
• The importance of having a system and knowing what you’re doing everyday
• Why Jenny is a firm believer in trying lots of different tactics to promote your business before you pick just one.
• How referrals help once you have some testimonials, are good at what you do, and other people know that.
• Something I added: raising your rates, and focusing in on one just a few good projects, and how that can help.

About Jenny:
 
Jenny is a social media strategist + coach that helps female entrepreneurs uplevel their biz one social media post at a time. She also hosts the Savvy Social Hour podcast, which strives to help passionate women uplevel their businesses and become rock star entrepreneurs in no time. When she's not working on her business or recording podcast episodes, she's hanging out with her hubby and Golden-doodle pup. 
 
Where you find Jenny online:
 
Website
Podcast (the episode I was featured on is available right here, if you haven’t listened to it yet)
Twitter
The Savvy Social Hour Facebook Group
The Uplevel Your Biz Summit (no longer live but you can still listen to all the interviews when you purchase the all access pass)
 
How you can follow this podcast (and learn more about its host)
Twitter
Get podcast news and updates in your inbox
Check out my website
​

What this episode covers:

• What Paula does and who she works with
• The motivation behind Paula’s interest in travel and also web design as a medium
• What she did once she started running out of cash.
• The money goals she worked towards in order to survive off paying with cash and credit cards.
• How she found places where the cost of living is cheap really helpful when she was working towards her money goals.
• How reaching out to people she knows and asking if they needed her help made a difference and allowed her to end up with a lot of work.
• What she wishes she could have done differently back then, and how meeting a cute boy, misjudging the timing of when a contract starts, play into some of the things she wishes she could have done differently.
• The importance of doing what you have to do to make your business work, even if that means taking a part-time job.
• What happened when Paula tried to take on a part-time job to get out of debt. Why that didn’t work for her (a lot had to do with her lack of energy and mental health)
• How realizing that she needed to ask for help, and not do everything herself made a huge difference.
• Why she has found stuff like business coaching and group sessions really helpful, along with hiring out various tasks
• The story behind how Paula met her accountability buddy,and how similar their struggles were.
• What Paula and her accountability buddy do to keep each other on task and focused every week.
• The impact of having an accountability partner on Paula
• Her most important realization? Manifesting an important goal takes time, and how having someone to motivate her has helped her push forwards despite her depression.
• Paula’s approach on reaching out to a potential accountability buddy, and also how not to feel too down on yourself if certain goals aren’t being 100% met.
• Some of the mindset goals Paula has set for herself and how they helped.
• What you can and can’t learn from the “six-figure freelancer” oriented groups if that’s not realistic for you right now and you’re just trying to survive
• Why Paula believes that the most important thing you can do as a business owner is just to push through
• How mentally damaging comparing yourself to another freelancer making six figures can be, and why the best way to fight against it is to keep your head in the game.
• How patience and open mindedness can be the biggest pay off.
• The importance of asking for help and opening up to people, and this is where building your tribe can pay off
• Why Paula recommends journaling for being a more vulnerable person and how it can help your mindset within your business
• Another recommendation: meditation and here’s why…
• Advice for people searching for accountability buddies and the right support groups.
• How being able to turn to other people has helped.
• How building a relationship is such an important part of small business survival

About Paula:

Paula is one of those people who is profoundly inspired by other women who are building their own empires. Her mission is to help businesswomen achieve their business dream (so that they can live their greater purpose). She does precisely that by using her design, business, and human psychology skills to help those women create stunning brands that attract their ideal customers in order to grow and skyrocket their businesses to their next level.

Where you can find Paula online:

Paula’s course: http://paulaborowska.com/get-unstuck-bootcamp/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_paula_borowska_/
Paula’s blog: http://paulaborowska.com/articles/

How you can follow this podcast (and learn more about its host)
Twitter
Get podcast news and updates in your inbox
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Podcasting is now mainstream. And suddenly, everyone wants to start a podcast. But not everyone starts a podcast with realistic expectations.
 
Unless you’re already as popular as Gary Vaynerchuck, you’re likely not going to make it to the iTunes New and Noteworthy List overnight. 
 
Hate to break it to you, but that’s really hard to do within a short period of time unless you have a large team helping you pump out multiple episodes a week.  This week, I spoke to an expert on all things podcast related. The goal of our conversation? Addressing all the damaging myths and fears about starting a podcast.
 
If, after listening to this episode, you still want to start your own podcast, you’re likely not doing it for all the wrong reasons.
 
What this episode covers:

• The story behind Megan’s business, One Stone Creative
• What Megan loves about working with a former colleague and friend of hers
• The software that Megan and her team uses despite the fact they’re not all based in the same locations
• What Megan wishes she could have changed in the beginning: focusing exclusively on revenue generating activities, rather than creating a ton of content before she had a ton of clients.
• Megan’s advice on what makes a professional podcast “good”: making the best of the content you already created and the network you already have. And why that’s so important…
• Why…if your goal isn’t to make podcasting a hobby, you need to figure out how it integrates with every other element of your business.
• The reality of podcasting: “it’s a long-term game, not a short-term game.” And what that means in terms of how you should measure results.
• The only exception to that rule? If you already have a huge community, then yeah sure…the misleading articles online about “becoming a podcasting superstar in your first week” aren’t entirely incorrect.
• What’s required if you don’t have a big community already. Yes, you can get results from it, but there’s a bit more work required.
• Why Megan’s clients aren’t necessarily shocked when they find that building an audience is a lot of work, when you create content.
• One of the most important parts of podcasting: the content promotion stage, and ways to get results out of that.
• How to deal with one of the hardest truths about podcasting: “it’s more work than is actually fair,” if you are dealing with the reality of having a small team or no team.
• The importance of setting your expectations as a podcaster, in terms of the promotion plan, organizing and recording episodes, etc.
• Megan’s recommendation for independent small business owners with podcasts: plan to spend an hour promoting it once it’s live.
• Megan and I both admit we’re lucky: I took a course on Audacity when I was in university, and she knows someone with a radio broadcasting background. But what do you do if that’s not something you have access to?
• The importance of working through the technology aspects that are confusing you, one bit at a time.
• Why it’s so important to give yourself time for audio editing, especially if there’s only you doing it, and you don’t know how. Megan and I agree that YouTube is jam-packed with helpful resources.
• The importance of good mic positioning.
• Why you can’t get away with bad audio anymore.
• Although it sounds harsh, it is also true. If you don’t know who your audience is, don’t start a podcast!
• The importance of participating in podcasting-focused communities and checking things out.
• Our favourite podcasting online communities. Megan recommends the She Podcasts group and the Podcast Movement Group, along with the Podcast Editor’s Club. I recommended Podcast Bay.
• One Stone’s Podcast resources: the story behind it and the process that went into making it.
• The importance of investing in a good mic and the brands Megan recommends.
• Why listening to podcasts and analyzing them as you listen can really help inform the structure you choose for your show.
• Megan’s belief in the intimacy of audio.
• The most important question to ask yourself if you feel any form of anxiety about it: is podcasting where you want to be spending your time?
• Why, despite the fact that the quality of your audio can increase with time, it’s important to keep in mind that the audio will reflect on you and your business.
• Other important considerations: your confidence, before inviting your first guest.
• The products that the One Stone team is working on, such as how to pitch yourself as a podcast guest.
• The most important words that describe One Stone: empathetic, concierge, and innovative and why that’s the case.
• Why the most important quality of One Stone is caring about the success of clients. They do the interviews; One Stone takes care of everything else.

 
About Megan Dougherty:
 
Megan Dougherty is the co-founder and CEO of One Stone Creative, a multi-media content agency specializing in podcast production for businesses. She lives just outside of Ottawa, Canada with her partner, a lazy cat and hordes of belligerent houseplants. When she's not planning podcast strategies she likes to read, watch period dramas and painstakingly create from scratch items that are easily and inexpensively available in any store. 
 
Where you can find Megan Online:
 
Twitter: @MeganTwoCents
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/doughertymegan/ 
Website: OneStoneCreative.net
 
Megan also wanted me to mention a new service that she just started offering. You can learn about it via Podacsttobook.com.
 
How you can follow this podcast (and learn more about its host)
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