Gareth says his focus is the monetisation of this autism. One of his obsessions is LinkedIn. And he decided with his knowledge of LinkedIn he should help people get better with Linkedin. Gareth is also a percussionist. Marcus explains we do have a show about what we can learn from the music business.
Gareth has been on LinkedIn just a year after I began. He has been on it 14 or 15 years. LinkedIn has been owned by Microsoft for quite a long time. More recently Microsoft has been getting more involved and they have been pushing users into paying for the use of the platform. Gareth says that up until recently it’s been possible to use LinkedIn as a free user. And if you use Linkedin to find a job then you can still manage free. But if you are trying to grow your tribe and your business it is very hard now without premium. It effects now even how much your posts are seen. LinkedIn give you a score your SSI score which you can find here. Having premium effects that score.

Gareth says that connecting with people is important and he has an connection message he thinks you should use. Gareth says an initial message ensures you get a higher connection rate and you get more of a response after the connection, if you started with a connection message. He thinks now up to 20 touches are needed on LinkedIn before you can get someone to do something you have asked.
Gareth says commenting on other peoples stuff is really important. He also says posting about other peoples work and asking questions is a great way to go. Gareth recommends having a camera in your LinkedIn profile photo. That enables connections to know what you do almost instantly.
Gareth says he works on the principal that he gives away 80% of what he does. He wants people to see him as an authority in this field. So he gives them stuff people can test him on. They use it and then they start to trust him.
Gareth then talks about the SSI. This is based on 4 different scores added together. Those four scores are different aspect of LinkedIn such as interacting and connecting. Posting regularly and commenting and liking other peoples content is another part.

Gareth also recommends resisting using AI to create content. But says it’s great for structure and helping to improve your content.
Top voice is the next topic. For anyone with over 1000 followers you get asked by LinkedIn to comment on some things. You can use this to become a “top voice”. To do this you have to answer and write comments on AI generated content. So Gareth recommends follow the link when you are asked to comment, but then within that topic do not comment and move up to the top level where you can chose topics. You can then see all the topics A-Z. Pick one that is close to you, then in that section pick a sub-section relevant to you. Then comment only on topic in this area. Gareth recommends in these area to be provocative and ruffle some feathers. That will get responses. You only get top voice if your comments get further comments and interaction.

Gareth’s final tip is ensure you have the odd spelling mistake in some things you do to show you are not AI. Also avoid “Z”s in your work, which shows that content has been made by AI using American spelling.

Bel is part of Turpin Accounting Services a business setup by her Mum.
Bel she she fell into accounting. She started in retail management, but when her Mum’s business expanded she needed help. Bel started doing data entry on her days off, and then applied for a role when it became available. So she started on admin, then moved onto bookkeeping, then accounting and did all the training in those areas on the way. Now she works with clients on business development.

Marcus says he doesn’t have an accountant and asks why he should use one as a sole trader. Bel says it’s a lot about having someone to be able to ask the right questions. It’s not that the accounts are often wrong it’s just that as a business owner it’s hard to see the bigger picture from your numbers. So she could help Marcus make more money, make him more tax efficient and things like that.

What is the difference between bookkeeping and accountancy? Bookkeeping is the day to day data entry and organisation. An accountant does more advanced work such as end of year accounts or giving you advice. Sam asks as a photographer is it best to have an accountant or a bookkeeper. Bel says it depends what you want to get out of the business at the end of the day. Look at the time you are spending on accounts, is it worth handing that over to someone else? In terms of accounting it’s a question of whether you want to move the business forward.

Bel thinks there is education needed in terms of what things can be put through business expenses. Things like a home office, internet bills, gas, electricity and a percentage of the mortgage. Equipment can all go through as well as subscriptions like Adobe and CRM packages.
Bel highly recommends using accounting software as it makes life easier. As the government is moving to making tax digital it means that almost all businesses will need to be using the software before too long. It’s likely that will be for all businesses turning over more that £12k a year.

Sam asks if Bel has any thoughts on which accounting software is better for as small business. She thinks Xero gives a bit more analysis than Quick Books. But overall they are all very similar.
Marcus asks the advantages and advantages of being a limited company and being VAT registered. Bel says it’s about what your business wants to achieve. Some large clients will only work limited businesses. As a Limited company you have different ways to get money out of the business which aren’t available as a sole trader.
Being VAT registered is again linked to bigger clients and some may expect you to be VAT registered. It has big effects on buying equipment and claiming VAT back. Sam wonders why more photographers don’t become a limited company. Bel does warn that such a change tends to double your accountants costs.

Bel does free accounting clinics once a month which can be found on Eventbrite
Sam asks what a photographer does if he owns equipment and then starts a business. How you can account for this. Bel says you can, if you are a limited company you can sell the equipment to the business. So the business then owes you that money. Sam talks about equipment depreciating and accounting for that, but Bel says you will probably need an accountant to deal with this.
The discussion also goes onto the fact that accountants need brand photographers and videographers. So make sure you talk to your accountant to see if you can help them with their photography.

You can get in touch with Bel here
https://www.turpinaccounting.co.uk

bel@turpinaccounting.co.uk

Pete is a New York headshot and portrait Photographer and musician.

Peter started photography and music at the same time as a teenager. As a musician Pete is a Jazz musician. And he spent lots of time learning the music of the Jazz masters. He spent time working out bass lines of great jazz music. As you do this over time you start to absorb their work into your style and then develop your own style. And Pete then took this approach to photography. First he started working with New York headshot and portrait Photographer and musicians

Peter started photography and music at the same time as a teenager. As a musician Pete is a Jazz musician. And he spent lots of time learning the music of the Jazz masters. He spent time working out bass lines of great jazz music. As you do this over time you start to absorb their work into your style and then develop your own style. And Pete then took this approach to photography. First he started working with Peter Hurley doing what Peter told him and absorbing his style. He then moved on to working with Ivan Weiss. Over time he has worked with others and used these to develop his own style.
Sam asks how you can learn from a photographer at a distance if you can’t speak to them. Pete says he did this with Dan Winters and he did work on replicating one of his photographs, from the composition to the lighting to every other element. He says you will learn so much more from this than looking at it in a book.

Marcus thinks that photographers don’t look at their history in the same way that musicians do. Pete says to be really good you need to go back and study the past masters before you can move forward with new style. He also says you can’t bypass this process. You can go back before photography and study art as well.

Pete says he came into photography through mentorship, no training. This has become easier with digital technology so you can work with photographers in different parts of the world. Pete now coaches photographers himself and he has a Facebook group associated with this.
They discuss the similarities between Spotify in music and stock libraries in photography. Pete thinks it’s best to avoid both as they are a very hard way to make money. Pete says professionalism is important both in music and photography. He has been at gigs where people turn up late, don’t dress appropriately and more. It’s important that you realise in both cases this is a business and you need to carefully think about that. He says some photographers don’t return peoples phone calls. That is bad practice, gives a bad impression and loses you work.
Marcus suggests that like musicians concerts are an experience, a photoshoot should be an experience. Sam takes us back to the discussion about Spotify and Shutter Stock and says whenever you use a platform go in with your eyes wide open as that will always be making money for the platform rather than you. Sometimes the platform is useful enough to make it worthwhile but be aware of that the platform are getting from that.
Marcus has a selection of Photographers who are musicians
Milt Hinton is one that Pete comes up with. He documented his life in images.

Marcus's are: Ansel Adams was a concert pianist as well as a photographer

Graham Nash from Crosby Stills and Nash is a photographer
Brian Adams also became a photographer.doing what Peter told him and absorbing his style. He then moved on to working with

Marcus used film for fifteen years. He thinks using film will develop your technique. He says it is magical seeing your own photo being developed on a dark room. Film slows you down and makes you think. Also black and white film will make you appreciate black and white photography and help you with your digital black and white images.

If you want to buy a film camera they have got more expensive than they used to be as they are becoming popular with collectors. A film camera may be around £250. Marcus says films start at around £6 a roll. Marcus doesn’t see the point of using colour film for this. He thinks the key is using black and white and developing it yourself.
Marcus says that Nikon F-Mounts mean that you can use modern lenses on an old body. That isn’t the same with all manufacturers. To develop film you also need some equipment and you can get this quite cheaply on ebay.
To develop an image the film needs to go into a light tight tank and have some chemicals added. After a few minutes the film will be developed. Marcus says this needs to be done in a light tight room or a bag. The rooms doesn’t have to be 100% dark. Marcus used to use his cupboard under the stairs at night. After it’s developed the film is washed and then needs to be dried out. At this point the work can be done in light. Most of creativity is done when printing images, but there is some creative things you can do at this development stage.
The rest of the work needs a dark room, but you can have a red light bulb so you can see what you are doing. You can use a room in your house or clubs and local colleges may have dark rooms you can use. You do need an enlarger which is a more expensive piece of kit. But you can rent them and get them second hand on ebay.
Printing the image involves 3 trays, each with different chemicals in. Marcus used to do this on an ironing board. Once you start this process there is lots of things you can control, for example the contrast. There is then dodging and burning which is about making different parts of the image darker or lighter. You can actually add colour tints as well such as sepia. And then finally the paper choice itself makes a difference the end result. Marcus says the development process is an experience in itself which is worth doing. He says having to pay for every shot on the film makes you slow down and think carefully.

This week the guest is Christine Saunders. Christine is an art buyer, producer and business coach for professional photographers. She helps photographers curate their websites to show their best works and ultimately get more work.

Sam asks what is Christine helping these photographers with and why are they coming to her? Suzanne says she helps photographers help them see themselves more as CEO of a business. Think about all of the departments the CEO of coca cola might have. Generally photographers are great at the creativity and often get help with the accounting side, but there is much more to business than this. Especially marketing. How to create a business plan a marketing plan where you are consistently reaching out to promote yourself. Christine says a marketing plan is a hugely important part of being seen and getting work. But she also works in all sorts of others areas of the business helping to develop this. So she isn’t an agent she is more like a business partner.

Sam asks about target audience and how to decide who your target audience is. Christine says she does a lot of brain storming this with clients starting from the sort of photography they do and the sort of clients they want to work with.

Christine doesn’t work with any particular genre of photographer, she more works with photographers filling gaps in their business. Christine says by the nature of being a creative photographers have sensitivities. Christine is asking them to reach out and be more visible, but many don’t feel happy doing that andso she supports them.

Marcus asks how the market has changed for photographer since the start of the century. Back then there was no digital photography, no smart phones and no global campaigns. before different areas would run different campaigns from different photographers now it's more global. Getty has come in which has been good and bad for photographers. Some have thrived from this while others felt it has done a lot of damage. Marcus thinks a third one is the amount of people who are commercial photographers. Christine agrees that the number who are coming into the industry is very large.

Sam asks if she helps photographers with pricing. She says that is something she helps with and she has stopped photographers not going in too low and to value themselves. Sometimes this means charging for extra things on top of the standard shoot fee. She says a lot of photographers do go in too low with price, but there is a balance here. She says it is also worth asking the client what budget they have. They won’t always tell you this and it can be challenging, but usually someone has a budget, but they won’t always share it with you.

Marcus brings up licensing, being paid for the use of your images. He says in the US licensing is standard while this isn’t the case except in the very top of the market in the UK. Christine seems less sure about this. She says that in much of the work she does then these recurring fees are collected. She also says if people want usage of the images included then that should be done under restrictions, such as a five year limit.

Sam asks how photographers who do hide behind the camera a little could start to come out of their shell. Christine says go to any industry events you can. Photo London has just been on. These are great places to get inspired. You can also often get a portfolio review at these events. Another thing they could do is send some emails to people they already know.

Marcus asks what photographers can do to aim for the top of their industry. She says she sees a lot of talent and it feels like she is the only one who sees it. She says step out there. Showing your work to the world even if it imperfect is a lot better than only you and your Mum seeing it. Also remember this is a business. It always needs to be looked at as a business, you need to step into those other roles.

Sarah J Naylor is a lifestyle success coach and mentor. She helps people at crossroads in their life. Often a midlife point where you suddenly start asking questions about where you are and what you are doing. She works to help people understand what fires them up, how they want their life to looks and helps them work towards that. It is also about how you see your life and having the gratitude for what you have already.

Marcus asks Sarah to define mid-life. Sarah says it’s around 40 to 60, but age is just a number. Sam says that kids leaving home could prompt that mid life re-assessment of who you are and what you do. Sam refers back to a recent podcast with Allie Crewe and she at that mid life, stopped teaching and became a photographer.

Sarah has had quite a journey coming through a divorce and becoming a single parent to setting up her own business during a recession. Sarah says when she was married she now feels her life was on hold.

Sam says there are people that are amateur photographers who would like to go pro, but aren’t sure about it and are worried about it. He asks what Sarah would say to people like that. Sarah has a client in a similar situation with a photography degree, but has lost her confidence in taking photographs. Sarah says the key is just do it. Do what you enjoy. Find the thing that fires you up and do it. Don’t worry about trying to get business from it, just do the type of photography you enjoy ad it fires you up. Sarah says you will then start to get work based on that work. Marcus totally agrees with this approach.

Sarah then talks about lifestyle, income and what you want. The key is work out what you want and aim towards that. It might be you want to travel the world, so in that case you could work on how can earn money while travelling, rather than working hard to be able to afford it. Don’t focus on the money, but equally do value yourself.

Sam points out that this is linked to business planning, working out where you want to be and getting there. You can listen to this show here. Sarah says also that small shifts in your life can make the biggest differences in your life. Leading on from this Marcus asks how you get from A to B. Sarah says the first thing is working out in detail what B looks like. Until you have this in place you can’t go anywhere. You then need to be mindful of your words, thoughts and actions. Step into the shoes of the person you want to be. Be positive. Be aware of the opportunities coming your way and take the ones that help you get to B. She says there is a balance here. Don’t fake it until you make it, but you do have to step into the shoes of the person you want to be. So say “I am a photographer” make it positive.

Marcus summarises Sarah’s approach into three steps

1.Be clear where you want to go

2. Step into those shoes and own it

3. Be the best version of yourself
Sarah loves this summary and says that covers it well. Be yourself and step into your own future. Don’t let others pull you down. Surround yourself with great people who support you.