Creative Rising artwork

Creative Rising

39 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 3 years ago - ★★★★★ - 78 ratings

A behind the scenes show about what it's *really* like to run a wedding photography business, by Jeff & Erin Youngren of The Youngrens. Being a wedding photographer in today's world is tough when all you see are highlight reels of everyone else's perfect business. Jeff & Erin get honest about all of the battles we face as creative entrepreneurs as they pull back the curtain on their 14 years of photographing weddings and running a large commercial photography studio. Episodes are a mix of practical trainings on how to run a photography business, conversations with brilliant creativepreneurs, and behind the scenes narrative episodes that tell the truth of what it's really like to be a creative business owner.

Arts Business wedding photography portrait photography creative entrepreneur wedding business photography entrepreneur business marketing branding ideal client
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Episodes

407 | Mental Health, Physical Well-Being, and Racial Injustice as a Wedding Photographer in 2020 (with Jennifer Ryals)

December 09, 2020 15:00 - 54 minutes - 37.6 MB

Jennifer Ryals began her wedding photography business just a few years ago and it took off a lot faster than she hoped or expected. So like many photographers, she came into 2020 with big goals for her rapidly growing business. However, so much has happened in the years leading up to 2020, that the COVID pandemic has caused Jennifer to truly pause and reflect on what her future as a photographer looks like. In this episode, Jennifer opens up about her experiences with her mental and physic...

406 | Demystifying Post-Wedding Album Sales with Makayla Jade

December 02, 2020 02:00 - 1 hour - 49.5 MB

As a wedding or portrait photographer, its indisputable that selling physical products such as albums, wall art, and prints will not only serve your clients better but dramatically increase your revenue. But selling physical products can feel complicated, sleazy and just plain overwhelming. In fact, you might be thinking: What if I'm not good at sales? Can my clients afford beautiful albums & prints? I don't have a beautiful studio for sales sessions... My business is new - how do I eve...

405 | How to Become an Elopement Photographer with Maddie Mae

November 18, 2020 02:00 - 1 hour - 42.1 MB

With the majority of big weddings either postponing to 2021 or pivoting to smaller celebrations, wedding photographers have had to learn how to pivot their businesses to offer coverage for elopements and small intimate weddings - many for the first time ever. However, the number of couples that have been ditching the idea of a big wedding and choosing an intimate elopement has been on the rise for years - and Maddie Mae noticed this in 2015. After 5 years photographing big wedding days, M...

404 | How to Use Block Scheduling to Get Things Done

November 05, 2020 14:00 - 38 minutes - 26.3 MB

If you've hung around us Youngrens in 2020, then you've heard us talking about time management, specifically the block scheduling system that we've created and teach to all of our students in our Thrive Business Intensive. On today's show, I'm expanding on the block scheduling that we use to stay focused, eliminate distractions, and achieve our goals... even in a crazy year like 2020. As we near the end of this year and round the corner into a fresh new one, it's time to start the convers...

403 | The Six Critical Email Templates Every Wedding Photographer Should Be Using

October 20, 2020 18:00 - 34 minutes - 23.5 MB

For many many years in our business, controlling my email inbox was a battle that I fought nonstop.   A full inbox would cause so much stress in my life, that it’s the #1 thing that pulled me away from important work - things like updating my website, getting new clients, and building my brand. Work that truly affects the bottom line of my business. So if email is such a powerful force in your business, how do you keep it under control? In my fourteen years of business, the thing that has...

402 | Tired of Instagram? Check Out this Amazing IG Strategy (that Nobody Teaches) with Devin Robinson

October 15, 2020 01:00 - 1 hour - 45.3 MB

If you've spent hours curating your Instagram feed and gotten little to no results for your business, you're not alone. Instagram easily sucks hours of valuable time from your days and bring very little in return, and Devin Robinson argues it's probably because you're doing it all backwards. Devin spends half the time on Instagram than most creatives, posts very little to his own feed, and yet generates hundreds of thousands of dollars in wedding bookings from Instagram alone. Want to kn...

401 | Our COVID Story: What 2020 Has *Really* Been Like

October 07, 2020 00:00 - 52 minutes - 36 MB

As a wedding photographer in 2020, how often do you get asked, "So how has COVID affected your business this year?" So often, there's the surface answer to that question (ie "everything's fine," "we'll get through it") and then there's the REAL answer (ie "my business has been devastated"). Since the COVID pandemic hit the US in March of 2020, Jeff and I have lost over 70% of our revenue across our three brands and we've only shot four weddings, two of which have been last minute elopement...

312 (BONUS) | The Two Questions Your Website Needs to Answer to Book More Business with Davey Jones

May 19, 2020 23:00 - 1 hour - 50.5 MB

During this time of quarantine, one of the best things for you to focus on as a wedding photographer is to make sure your website is looking amazing. But what exactly makes a website 'amazing'? How do you know if what you're showing is really converting? Knowing what you should put on your website (and where) can be extremely confusing, which is why I brought in the expert. Davey Jones and his wife, Krista, are incredible website designers that help brands create websites that book. In th...

311 (BONUS) | 5 Daily Habits You Need to Win at Working from Home

May 13, 2020 01:00 - 44 minutes - 30.3 MB

As this episode goes live, we're deep into quarantine life because of COVID-19 and while most of the world has had to figure out how to work from home, wedding photographers are no strangers to it. However, as client work has come to a stop, this pandemic has dramatically highlighted our true working habits. And it's become painfully clear for a lot of you that there are loads of habits from your pre-COVID life that you brought into your current reality that are seriously holding you back ...

310 | An Open Letter to Wedding Photographers During COVID-19

March 25, 2020 01:00 - 46 minutes - 32.2 MB

Two weeks ago, Jeff and I were completely checked out on a two week vacation on Kauai. No phones, no media, no news. But when we landed back in San Diego, Coronavirus hit the U.S. And within a week, our revenue stopped, our state ordered shelter-in-place, and our business shut down. In a very short amount of time, the world has turned upside down for all of us. But for photographers, this time is not just scary, it's absolutely terrifying as we've watched our cash flows dry up and jobs ...

309 | Asset Management: How to Create a Simple Backup System that Works

March 18, 2020 01:00 - 50 minutes - 34.8 MB

Asset management is something that can get very confusing very quickly, which is why most of us put this part of our business on the back burner for far too long. But every time we photograph a wedding or session, we need to know exactly how we're downloading and naming our files, how we're backing them up so they're secure, and where we're storing them long term once the job is finished. This part of our business isn't sexy or fun, which is why I'm taking the guesswork out of this workfl...

308 | Natalie Franke: How a Benign Brain Tumor and Infertility Transformed Her Identity, Community, & Leadership

March 11, 2020 01:00 - 50 minutes - 34.4 MB

Natalie Franke co-founded the Rising Tide Society in 2015 out of a deep personal need for community with other creative entrepreneurs. She felt desperately alone and knew that others must feel the same way, too. Since then, the Rising Tide Society has become a cornerstone for the creative community, but Natalie's journey transformed when she required surgery to remove a benign brain tumor and subsequently walked through a journey of infertility to have her son, Huey. In this intimate inte...

307 | Why You Should Always Think About Scaling Your Business (Even If You Never Want To)

March 04, 2020 02:00 - 37 minutes - 25.7 MB

Want to know the best advice we ever received in our business? It was to FIRE OURSELVES.  As wedding photographers, we wear a lot of hats. We're bookkeepers, salespeople, accountants, and marketers just to name a few. But if you want to run a business that's efficient and sustainable, you need to fire yourself from being a photographer, and promote yourself to the most important role - that of CEO.  In this episode, I walk you through exactly how to clearly organize the roles in your bus...

306 | Copywriting: How to Write Your Site to Attract Your Dreamies with Rachel Greiman

February 26, 2020 02:00 - 58 minutes - 40.2 MB

You take amazing photos, but when the words on your website don't match up to your gorgeous photographs, it will cost you. Big time. The copy on your website can either set you apart or blend you in with the crowd, so it's critical that you not only know what makes you different, but that you communicate it clearly on your site. Rachel Greiman of Green Chair Stories writes websites for photographers, and she'll walk you through the most important action steps for understanding your Unique ...

305 | A Week in the Life: Behind the Scenes with Jeff and Erin

February 19, 2020 02:00 - 1 hour - 44.3 MB

This week, we're taking you behind the scenes to experience what a typical work week looks like here at The Youngrens. In true entrepreneur fashion though, this week was anything by typical. We have a lot happening behind the scenes here at the studio, including hiring new team members, reworking our entire production workflow, and implementing a brand new childcare schedule to balance it all. At times, it got a little crazy and our to-do lists felt never ending. But we're so thankful that...

304 | Creating Healthy Social Media Habits in a Distracting Digital World (with Abby Grace)

February 12, 2020 02:00 - 1 hour - 44.3 MB

**Next Creative Rising Gathering --> Feb 12th in San Diego. RSVP HERE!** It's no secret that our businesses rely on social media to get in front of the brides and grooms we most want to photograph. But it's also no secret that many of us struggle with distraction, comparison, and insecurity when scrolling our feeds. Social media is becoming more addicting than ever, but also more effective than ever for our marketing. So as creative entrepreneurs, it's critical that we learn to untangle ...

303 | 10 Things We Would Do If We Were Starting Our Business in 2020

February 05, 2020 02:00 - 50 minutes - 34.5 MB

**Next Creative Rising Gathering --> Feb 12th in San Diego. RSVP HERE!*** Launching a wedding photography business is daunting, no matter when you do it. But in today's world, it can be overwhelming to know what exactly you should do to get your business off the ground. There's a lot of you out there just starting out, so Jeff and I sat down to talk about the ten things we would do if we were starting our wedding photography business right now in 2020. In this episode we share: The big...

CR302: Our Top 5 Sales Tips on How to Run a Killer Client Meeting That Converts

January 29, 2020 02:00 - 39 minutes - 27.1 MB

**Next Creative Rising Gathering --> Feb 12th in San Diego. RSVP HERE!*** We all know that booking weddings is vital to running our business. But for most of us, sales is our least favorite part of the job. I get it. Client meetings with our couples were always so much fun for me... until we had to start talking pricing and contracts. Things would suddenly go from amazing to wanting to crawl under a table and hide! While booking clients is necessary to make money, I've learned sales does...

302 | Our Top 5 Sales Tips on How to Run a Killer Client Meeting That Converts

January 29, 2020 02:00 - 39 minutes - 27.1 MB

We all know that booking weddings is vital to running our business. But for most of us, sales is our least favorite part of the job. I get it. Client meetings were always a lot of fun for me... until pricing came up. Things would go from amazing to wanting to crawl under a table and hide! I've since learned that sales doesn't have to be a cringe-worthy experience. The first step is to stop seeing yourself as a salesperson and start acting as a GUIDE. In this episode, I'm sharing my five...

301 | Time Management: 3 Simple Rhythms I Use to Eliminate Overwhelm, Stay Focused, and Get It All Done

January 22, 2020 02:00 - 51 minutes - 35.6 MB

Let's be real. Time management is hard. I have a lot I want to accomplish in the next twelve months, and I bet you do, too. But let's be honest. New Year's goals can fizzle out quickly. There's so many things that demand your attention - client needs, overflowing inboxes, social media posts - that it's easier than ever to feel overwhelmed, forget your goals, and leave important work undone. So it's more critical than ever to prioritize your time and be intentional about how you work. Th...

209 | How to Define Your Style, Pivot Your Brand & Break Free in Your Market (feat Duke Images & Spencer Lum)

November 06, 2019 01:00 - 1 hour - 56.1 MB

[NARRATIVE] Are you shooting weddings you don't love but still booking them only because they pay the bills? Do you want to completely change your style, but you're afraid that no one will book you if you do? For years, Duke Khodaverdian (of Duke Images) and Spencer Lum were both shooting traditional weddings in a style they didn't love - until they pivoted their brands and started shooting weddings in completely different styles, setting entirely new trends in the photography world and do...

208 | Starting Over (feat Mary Marantz & Betsy McCue)

October 29, 2019 23:00 - 1 hour - 50.9 MB

[NARRATIVE] Mary Marantz has run a highly successful photography business for over a decade. In fact, it's the kind of thriving business that most wedding photographers dream of having. But she's decided to leave photography success behind and follow a calling she's had since she was five years old - write a book that will bring honor to where she's from. Betsy McCue ran a husband and wife wedding photography business for years, but when her husband suddenly passed away, she not only lost ...

207 | Ten Things I'm Afraid to Tell You

October 22, 2019 23:00 - 49 minutes - 34 MB

Jeff and I are incredibly open and honest on this show about the behind scenes struggles and challenges of running a photography business, but there are still a lot of things you don't know about me, Erin, as a person. In order for you to get to know the heart behind the mic, I'm opening up about ten things in my life that you probably don't know about me... but that make me nervous to share with you! Some of the things I share in this episode are all about mindset - the fears I struggle w...

206 | How Do I Get More Inquiries?

October 16, 2019 00:00 - 42 minutes - 29.1 MB

[TRAINING] This is the big question on every photographer's mind... How do I get MORE INQUIRIES?? If it's booking season, and you're looking at an empty contact form with no leads coming in, it can make you feel anxious at best and downright terrified at worst. What if you don't book enough jobs? What if things get desperate? In this episode, I walk you through the action steps you need to take to build a marketing system that will bring in quality leads year after year. But be warned - ...

205 | Married to Your Business Partner (Feat Katelyn James)

October 09, 2019 00:00 - 1 hour - 50 MB

Are you a married photography team? Anyone that is married will tell you that marriage itself is already challenging enough, but then add on top of that running a photography business together and it feels like you're out in the wilderness. You're not alone. Jeff and I have been married for 13 years and we've been running our business together the entire time, and it's a whole different dynamic when you run a business with your spouse. Trust, resentment, and judgement are just a few of ...

204 | Are Associates the Right Move for Your Business?

October 02, 2019 00:00 - 50 minutes - 35 MB

[TRAINING] Are you thinking about hiring an associate photographer to shoot under your brand? Or wondering if it's really the right move for your business... or a big mistake? We see photographers get caught up in this question all the time, and we want to make sure you know exactly what you're getting into when you add an associate to your business. We've been through the tumultuous process, and we've learned all of the critical dos and don'ts the hard way that we can help you avoid. In t...

203 | Failure

September 25, 2019 03:00 - 48 minutes - 33.2 MB

Do you have a hard time with failure? Does the thought of failing hold you back from the things you most want to do? Jeff and I would say 'yes' to both of those questions. And we're tired of it. In this episode, we talk about the big area in our business that we feel is an utter failure right now - and we wrestle with giving it up or not. We want to reclaim our relationship with failing and stop it from holding us back, so we call our good friend and mentor, Dane Sanders, to help us reframe...

202 | Our Perfect Wedding Photography Schedule (That We Use for Every Wedding)

September 18, 2019 03:00 - 37 minutes - 25.6 MB

[TRAINING] If you're frustrated with your wedding days always running late, which means you're not getting enough time for photos and your couple feels rushed all day long, then it's time to take control of the wedding day schedule. In this episode, I'm walking you through the exact wedding photography timeline that we use for all of our weddings that helped us turn late wedding days into blissful ones. We've built and perfected this schedule over the 13 years that we've been shooting, and...

201 | Parentpreneur

September 11, 2019 01:00 - 1 hour - 48.5 MB

Running a photography business is HARD. Running a photography business while raising little kids as a new parent is even HARDER. There's so many questions about how to handle it all: How do you carve out time to work? How do you handle childcare? How do you balance it all? Our world changed dramatically in April of 2018 with the birth of our son, James, so we've been in the tension of loving our family and loving our work ever since. So I called my best parentpreneur friends with littl...

Season One Wrap Up

August 07, 2019 01:00 - 3 minutes - 2.33 MB

We've just wrapped up Season One of Creative Rising and we're taking a short break to get ahead on production for Season Two! We'll be launching new episodes soon! In the meantime, subscribe to Creative Rising in your podcast player so you don't miss out on new episodes and please leave a review!! If you haven't caught up on Season One check out these episodes: 103 - The Creative's Battle: Why it Took Me Two Years to Launch This Podcast 108 - What It's *Really* Like to Take a Big Risk T...

109 | When Should You Leave Your Day Job?

July 24, 2019 01:00 - 32 minutes - 22.6 MB

[TRAINING] You're working a full time job, but you're also running a creative business on the side that's growing rapidly. In fact, you're spending just as much time on your "side hustle" as your day job, and you're starting to make some good money, too.  You're starting to wonder if you should leave your day job to run your business full time, but when is leaving a steady job to work a dream job a good idea? Is running your own business really all it's cracked up to be?  In this episode, ...

108 | The Biggest Risk We've Ever Taken

July 17, 2019 01:00 - 36 minutes - 25.1 MB

[NARRATIVE] In early 2019, we signed a lease on a brand new studio - an empty 4,000 square foot warehouse with industrial offices and a massive garage. The next six months were spent moving, renovating, and building out this new space - while running our businesses in the middle of the construction. We've documented this journey on social media, but even that doesn't tell the full story - the exhaustion, the all-nighters, the setbacks, and the anxiety. Was this a good decision? Or were we i...

107 | Four Things We Do That Turn Our Inquiries into Bookings

July 10, 2019 01:00 - 47 minutes - 32.8 MB

[TRAINING] Responding to inquiries is frustrating. Especially when most of your leads don't ever write back. How can you get people to respond? How should you follow up? How often should you follow up? I mean, you don't want to be that "annoying vendor" right? Our studio handles hundreds of inquiries every year, so we're sharing all of the lessons we've learned about the best ways to respond to a lead. If you've ever felt like you're bugging your clients, we talk about how you should follow...

106 | How to Stay in a Growth Mindset with Julia Woods

July 02, 2019 20:00 - 47 minutes - 32.5 MB

[INTERVIEW] What are you believing to be true that is keeping you out of your vision? What could be just as true, if not MORE true, than that? These are questions that transformational life coach, Julia Woods, asks all the time. And the answers she produces are powerful. I should know, because her coaching (and these questions) have transformed my own life. Which is why I brought Julia onto the podcast. Julia’s insight into why we experience doubt, procrastination, and fear, and her proc...

105 | Six Tools That Run Everything in Our Business

June 26, 2019 01:00 - 35 minutes - 24.1 MB

[TRAINING] I'm sharing the six essential tools that we can't live without in our photography business. These are the apps and software that help us save time, educate our clients, make more money, and deliver an amazing product. You'll learn what these tools are, why we love them, and how we use them in a unique way. In fact, I reveal all kinds of insider tips and tricks that you can use in your own business, too. You'll love the hacks I have to share! Not only would our business come to a ...

104 | Balance, Boundaries, and Overwork as a Parent and Photographer with Shay Cochrane

June 19, 2019 01:00 - 41 minutes - 28.6 MB

[INTERVIEW] Do you overwork? Shay Cochrane would say it's harder to admit than we think. In a world where fear, distraction, and social validation drive us to spend more time at our laptops, it's more important than ever for creativepreneurs to prioritize what truly matters. How are we spending our time? Is balance even possible?  Even though she's a serial entrepreneur, Shay runs her two businesses in only 16 hours a week so that she can do what she truly loves - being a wife of 14 years...

103 | The Battle of the Creative: Why it Took Me Two Years to Launch a Podcast

June 12, 2019 01:00 - 41 minutes - 18.9 MB

[NARRATIVE] I shouted from the rooftops that I was launching a podcast… but then I didn’t… for two years. It was embarrassing, defeating, and discouraging. This is the raw story of what really happened in those two years - the life, the lies, the self-sabotage - and why it took me so long to finally put this podcast out in the world. If you’ve ever struggled with perfectionism, doubt, failure, grief, or you’re simply a creative entrepreneur fighting the creative’s battle, then my hope is th...

102 | The Bullseye Method: Five Simple Steps to Build a Social Media System

June 05, 2019 01:00 - 48 minutes - 22.3 MB

[TRAINING] Does your social media look less like a strategy and more like throwing a wet paper towel against a wall and seeing what sticks? Do you feel like no matter what you do, you never seem to get the right followers on Instagram? Or have no idea WHAT to post and WHEN? In this episode, I break down what every wedding photographer needs to know about social media (and what you can ignore). I'll unpack our step-by-step marketing system that we use across all three of our photography bran...

101 | How We Built a Dreamie Business

May 15, 2019 00:00 - 52 minutes - 24.2 MB

[TRAINING] Are you a wedding photographer that’s ready to start shooting the clients you want? But you're frustrated with how to find and book them? Most photographers *think* they know who their ideal clients are, but I would argue that 9 out of 10 photographers actually have no idea. Don't worry, we were there, too. Before the world travels, the dream weddings, and the commercial studio that brings in over half a million dollars every year, we were exhausted newlyweds working out of our...