The Pet Photographers' Journal

The Pet Photographers' Journal Pet photographer, mentor & coach, and the host of The Pet Photographers’ Journal.

Through 1:1 coaching, group support, and practical resources, I help pet photographers to build a sustainable business.

04/09/2026

Build a repeatable way to bring leads in before you decide you’re not cut out for this.

I’ve thought about walking away from this and going back to a stable pay cheque. More than once.

Every photographer who is thriving now has had that exact moment. What changed for them was creating a repeatable system to bring leads in that they could run again the next time they need bookings.

77 photographers have done my Consistent Booking Audit since March. 72 of them said their marketing stops, slows, or goes inconsistent.

So the bookings dry up, and the quiet is what makes you question whether you’re any good at this.

When you have a lead generation system you can actually repeat, that changes. You know how to turn the tap on when you need bookings.

I know the exhaustion is real. Because I’ve been there. It’s also fixable, and you’re closer than you think. Save this for the next time you have these thoughts.

Comment AUDIT and I’ll send you the link it takes 3 minutes and shows you exactly which gap is costing you bookings.

This is one of the biggest changes I'd make if I was rebuilding a pet photography business from scratch.Stop trying to a...
03/09/2026

This is one of the biggest changes I'd make if I was rebuilding a pet photography business from scratch.

Stop trying to appeal to everyone who owns a dog. That's not an audience. I'd want to know the person behind the dog.

What does that dog mean to them?
What do they spend money on?
What are they worried about?
What would they regret not having?
What would make them look at your work and think: “Oh. I need this.”

Because that's what good positioning does. It makes the right person feel like you're talking directly to them, and once you know exactly who you're talking to, everything else gets easier.

If your current marketing is trying to speak to every dog owner on the planet, that's probably one of the first things I'd look at.

03/09/2026

SEO without conversion is just traffic with nowhere to go.If your site brings people in but doesn’t make it easy to buy, book, or click then you’re leaving money on the table.

If your writing is amazing but nobody can find it, you’ve same problem.

Drop a 🔥 if you’ve ever seen this happen.

SEO and conversion goes together because they need each other. In this episode I interview Erin Olilla, a conversion copywriter where we discuss that your photos aren’t enough to get people to book. In a crowded market, the words are what help people feel confident enough to enquire. I talk about this a lot because so many photographers rely on beautiful images alone.

What do your website words say about you right now?

Listen to the full conversation with Erin Ollila on The Pet Photographers’ Journal podcast on your preferred podcast platform.

I used to charge around $250 and hand over every digital file. Most years I made around $5K. Now my average sale sits be...
02/09/2026

I used to charge around $250 and hand over every digital file. Most years I made around $5K. Now my average sale sits between $2,600 and $2,800.

And no, I didn't just raise my prices.

I tried that, but the enquiries went quiet. I got clearer about who I was for, changed how I positioned the experience, stopped selling “a photoshoot and some files.” and instead built an ordering process around the artwork. I started marketing specifically to people who actually valued what I was offering.

That's the bit I think gets missed when photographers are told:

“Just charge more.”

Price doesn't exist in isolation, your marketing has to make the price make sense.

If you're trying to raise your prices and wondering why people keep telling you you're too expensive, there's probably something upstream that needs fixing first.

Comment AUDIT and I'll send you my free Consistent Booking Audit.

I didn't go from $5K to $305K because I discovered some secret photography trick.My photography didn't suddenly become 6...
01/09/2026

I didn't go from $5K to $305K because I discovered some secret photography trick.

My photography didn't suddenly become 60x better. I just got much more specific about who I wanted to work with, and I stopped waiting for Instagram to send me clients and started running campaigns.

I changed how I sold, by introducing consultations and proper ordering appointments, and probably most importantly, I started building systems I could actually repeat.

The result wasn't just more money.

It was fewer sessions, better clients, higher sales and a business I could actually control, and if your bookings feel random right now, I wouldn't start by telling you to “post more.” I'd start by finding the leak.

Comment AUDIT and I'll send you my Consistent Booking Audit.

01/09/2026

What a week of running two businesses actually looked like.

I was in Melbourne to run a workshop, and I took some photos in my friend Abi’s new studio while I was there. She took this photo of me, which almost never happens.

Back home I set up a workflow to follow up my International Dog Day leads. The campaign opens the door. The follow up is what gets them booked.

I also kept building my own ordering software. The one I bought outright in 2021 discontinued my licence and moved to a subscription, so I’m making my own with Claude.

Then I delivered a gallery, and my clients ended up with wall art of their dog in their home.

That last one is why the rest of it exists.

I’m still running sessions and still doing ordering appointments while I teach this. What I teach is what I’m doing in my own studio the same week.

What did your week look like?

I said in the video I might make this software available if there’s enough interest. If you’d use it for your ordering appointments, tell me in the comments.

01/09/2026

Stop using “click the link in my bio” as your call to action.

“Link in bio” asks more of people than it looks like.

Someone is scrolling. To get to your link they have to stop, tap your profile, find the right link in your list, tap that, wait for the page to load, and then read it. That’s a lot of steps for someone who was half paying attention thirty seconds ago.

Ask them to comment one word instead.

If you’re booking spring sessions, say “comment SPRING and I’ll send you the details.”

Then send the link straight to their DMs. And reply to their comment so they know it’s there, something like “just sent it through to you.” You can use automations like ManyChat or LinkDM but to be honest if you don’t have the volumes you can just do it manually.

Two things happen off that one word. You get a conversation with someone who has actually put their hand up, and your post gets the engagement that comes with a comment and a reply.

Which is a much better use of a caption than sending people on a five-tap treasure hunt.

Go and look at your last post. What did you ask people to do?

If you want to work out where your enquiries are falling over, I have a free quiz, the Consistent Booking Audit that walks you through it.

Comment AUDIT and I’ll send it through. 😉 see what I did there???

This is something I talked about recently with a photographer in my workshop.She'd been told over and over again that cl...
31/08/2026

This is something I talked about recently with a photographer in my workshop.

She'd been told over and over again that clients don't care about her story. To be honest, she was right, technically. They're not following you because they want to read your autobiography, but your story can be one of the most powerful parts of your marketing.

Your story is something another photographer cannot copy.

They can copy your pricing, they can shoot in the same location and they even can use the same camera, but they can't copy you "why".

That's where personal content becomes marketing. Your experience becomes their reassurance. Your lesson becomes their reason to trust you. Your story becomes part of the reason they choose you.

If you're not sure whether your messaging is actually helping people understand why they should choose you, comment AUDIT and I'll send you my Consistent Booking Audit.





There's a difference.Being fully booked can mean:→ Working every weekend→ Taking every enquiry because you're scared the...
28/08/2026

There's a difference.

Being fully booked can mean:

→ Working every weekend
→ Taking every enquiry because you're scared the next one won't come
→ Undercharging because you don't want to lose the booking
→ Feeling like you can never take time off
→ Making less money than you thought you would

That's not the kind of business I wanted. Instead, I wanted a photography business that could support my life without consuming it. That's why my focus shifted from "how many sessions can I book?" to "How can I make each booking more valuable?" overall?

Fewer, better-fit clients, higher average sales, a stronger client experience, marketing that I can plan rather than panic about, that's what sustainable growth looks like to me.

If you're currently stuck in the cycle of busy → exhausted → quiet → panic → busy again, there's probably a system missing somewhere.

Comment AUDIT and I'll send you my Consistent Booking Audit so you can start figuring out where.





There's a big difference between being visible and generating bookings.You can post consistently for months and still ha...
27/08/2026

There's a big difference between being visible and generating bookings.

You can post consistently for months and still have no idea where your next enquiry is coming from. I've been there. What changed for me was learning to stop treating Instagram as the entire marketing strategy.

Instead, I started planning campaigns with a specific purpose, a specific audience and a specific reason for people to take action, and that's what creates a business where you can actually turn the lead tap on rather than sitting there refreshing your inbox.

That's a much more useful skill than learning how to make one more Instagram post.

If you're not sure whether your problem is visibility, conversion or the actual booking journey, comment AUDIT and I'll send you my Consistent Booking Audit.






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