Leah O'Connell

Charlottesville family photographer

for photographers, podcast

Ep 19: Back to School Reboot | A Family Photography Business Q&A

I'm Leah!

I’m obsessed with stories of family, creativity, and simple joys.  A nostalgia nerd, educator, wife, and mom of 3, I believe life’s most fun when you’re dreaming big and having kitchen dance parties. 

Education and articles for family photographers

TOp categories

FAQ's and guidance for stress-free family and newborn sessions 

Essays, letters, favorites

Highlighted family and newborn photography sessions

I asked my private facebook community what has them stuck in business and what problems they’re mulling through right now. The responses were so wide that I wanted to do a whole episode to address them! This Q&A is like little mini mentoring sessions, tackling specific problems for individuals running or starting a family photography business today.

The beauty of real mentoring is that it’s specific to your business and that there’s follow-up and back-and-forth to really workshop strategies and action-plans. When I’m really coaching 1:1, I try to teach with a lot of questions and allow the space for you to come to ideas and sort out opportunities and solutions with that sense of empowerment, not just telling you this is what you need to do because it’s what I did…

As a podcast (or even a blog post) it’s pretty one sided. But for the sake of rebooting for fall with some quick takeaways, this episode is giving my straight-up thoughts on four big problems facing family photography businesses across the country.

Being an entrepreneur can be lonely and just getting the smallest bit of advice or a different perspective can make all the difference!

In this episode, I’m addressing 4 questions from the group on running a family photography business. We’re talking about issues like:

  • How to develop a newsletter people want to read
  • Addressing a crisis of style (documentary vs lifestyle, how to get people to book a different style, etc.) 
  • How to integrate portfolio building into existing sessions
  • Social media’s role in marketing as a new photographer and how to book and/or grow without it
  • Whether to include pricing on your website or not

… and all kinds of other nuggets along the way.

If you want to be a part of the private FB community for family photographers and have conversations like this along with tons of free video content and training, come join us!  

// Links //

Ep 12: What I learned from 1 year of the Firefly Letters

Ep 5 : 6 shifts that helped me grow my family photography business

Ep: 7: Marketing, Privacy, and Social Media with Morgan Miles 

My newsletter: The Firefly Letters

Newsletter for photographers – leahoconnell.com/posing or leahoconnell.com/walkthrough

Photo Fuel Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/photofuel/

Group Coaching and Retreat Interest List: https://www.leahoconnell.com/group  

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Hi, I'm Leah.
Family photographer, writer, educator.

I’m  one of the first to meet your newborn baby, the one who won't judge your clothes baskets and unmade beds, and the one who can capture the way your husband looks at you with a twinkle in his eye after 12 years of marriage. I believe in honoring people and telling stories.

I believe art has the power to light up the world in dark places, starting at home.