Over the past few years, Lydia and I have worked together in 1:1 mentoring and voxer coaching to support her family photography. I wanted to bring her back to talk about what that journey has actually looked like. We talk about the numbers, the mindset shifts, the decisions she’s made, and what it means to grow a business thoughtfully when you’re also showing up fully for the rest of your life.
Lydia is a purposely part-time photographer. She has a full-time job in marketing, two kids, and a very clear set of priorities — and she has built something genuinely impressive within those constraints. This conversation is for anyone wondering whether mentoring is worth it, when to seek it out, and what it really looks like over time.
Where Lydia started
When we first worked together in 2022, Lydia was earning about $15,000 a year and charging $300-400 a session. She felt sick with nerves before every shoot. Even though she knew she needed to raise her prices, she was terrified to do it because she didn’t want upset or lose her current clients. At a certain point in her journey, she’d tried courses, posing guides, workshops, and Facebook groups, but none of it was cutting anymore.
“I just felt really lonely. I had nobody to bounce things off of. And the Facebook groups just were not cutting it — it’s like the wild west out there.”
The Investment Doubt
Her biggest hesitation was whether spending $250 was worth it when she was only earning $15k a year. She almost talked herself out of it.
She said that what changed her mind was watching me work first. She had seen me give a lot of free coaching, gallery walkthroughs and audits, whole talks about the industry and photographing in homes and workflow … enough to earn her trust. Trust always has to come before the investment, in both photography and in education.
The breakthrough: you don’t have to compete on photos alone
The moment Lydia points to as the first real turning point was a 2024 call when we were talking about differentiation. She’d been operating under the assumption that she couldn’t stand out unless her photos were extraordinary. I asked her what clients said about her in reviews & what stood out to them. She had an immediate answer: that she’s a great communicator.
“My brain just exploded. It completely changed everything about how I marketed my business, how I spoke to potential clients on my website, all of it. And then things just really skyrocketed from there.”
Voxer Coaching: The Audio-Only Mentoring Option for Family Photography
After we’d worked through the big turning-point stuff, Lydia came to me with a different kind of ask. She didn’t have a giant list of crises. She had micro decisions — the kind that come up every day and in between all the things. How to respond to this email. Whether to adjust her booking flow. How to handle a client who was pushing back.
She pitched the idea of Voxer-only mentoring between our bigger mentoring calls, and it became one of the formats I started offering after our trial because it was so valuable. This is how she describes it:
“It actually feels very much like a therapist for my business. I don’t only go see my therapist when I have some big, huge problem. I see her every two weeks, no matter what, because we always have something small to talk about. By talking about them when they’re small, they don’t become big problems.”
The voice format matters too. Lydia works a full-time job. She can reply in the car, on a walk to the office, between pick-ups. It fits into the life she actually has, and works for both of us to keep communication going, even though we’re in two different time zones.
The numbers
From 2023 to 2024, Lydia’s revenue roughly doubled. From 2024 to 2025, it grew another 50% — including $16,000 in incremental revenue from an associate photographer she onboarded.
When we first started working together, she was charging $300-400 per session. This year, her family package is now $1,025. Her senior package is $1,850. The week we recorded this, she’d just booked a session at $2,250 — the first time she’d ever had a two at the front of a booking.
“I wouldn’t have believed you. I really wouldn’t have believed that I would ever have a price with four digits before the decimal point — or that I’d be okay with it.”
When are you ready for mentoring to support your family photography?
Lydia’s answer: when you realize that posting a question in a Facebook group is going to get you 17 different answers from 17 people you can’t fully trust, and you understand that doesn’t serve you anymore.
When you’ve tried the asynchronous watch-a-video courses and know that your life, your market, your situation is specific enough to need something more tailored.
She’s spent $22,500 on professional development since launching in 2021 — about 10% of everything she’s earned. She doesn’t flinch at that number because of what she’s built with it. It seems like a lot at first, but when you invest in quality education, it is really one of those things that follows the spend money to make money principal.
How to choose the right family photography mentor
Trust and personality compatibility come first. Beyond that, Lydia’s says it’s crucial to find someone who is an open book – a true teacher, not just constantly steering you toward their next highest-priced offer or affiliates. Someone who will hold their ground when you push back, because a mentor who folds under pressure teaches you that their recommendations aren’t that strong.
You also have to show up ready. That means being willing to act on what you learn, even when it’s uncomfortable. You can skip the hard parts of a course. It’s harder to do in a real mentoring relationship.
Intentional growth with intentional rest
Lydia books her family vacation in October, at the peak of fall busy season, for Q1 the next year, specifically because that’s when she most needs something to look forward to. She sends her camera to for a cleaning in mid-November and leaves it in the shipping box until she’s ready to pick it back up. She’s built rest into the plan, not as an afterthought.
She said the biggest win in all of this is that the last two fall seasons were the first in years where her kids didn’t tell her they never see her.
“All these things have kind of led to just quality of life outside of my business. And knowing that my kids don’t think I’m an absent parent from July through November is really nice.”
Find It Quickly:
2:30 – Where Lydia started: lack of confidence, scared to raise prices, feeling alone in decision-making
7:00 – The first doubt: was mentoring worth the cost if she was just making $15k a year?
9:00 – The 2024 breakthrough: you don’t have to compete on photos alone
15:00 – How she helped me form my Voxer coaching package around making micro decisions and the in-between moments
21:00 – “Like a therapist for my business”
26:00 – The numbers: revenue doubled, then grew another 50%
30:00 – From $300 sessions to $1,025 to $1,850 (and her first $2k+ booking)
33:00 – When is someone ready for mentoring?
38:00 – How to choose the right mentor — and what to avoid
43:00 – Intentional rest, boundaries, and how support has helped her be a more present parent
Mentioned in this Episode:
PhotoFuel Retreat & Mastermind: www.leahoconnell.com/retreat
1:1 Mentoring: leahoconnell.com/education
Illuminate Courses: illuminateclasses.com
Connect with Lydia:
Photography Instagram: @lydia_apolloandivy
Education Instagram: lydiafine_forphotographers
Mentoring with Lydia: https://www.apolloandivy.com/for-photographers/photography-business-mentor/
