73: I Don't Care What Sarah Jane Is Up to Anymore

This week's solo episode goes behind the scenes of the fourth launch of Print Over Pixels, my signature course helping family photographers lead with print in the digital age. Launches are full on at the best of times, and this one has arrived just as the kids went back to school and the pace of life picked up dramatically. But before diving into the launch itself, I wanted to take you back to where this all began. To the podcasts that kept me company through a lonely maternity leave, the moment I first heard the word launch used in the context of online business and the years I spent running my photography business exactly like everyone else in the industry, chasing the going rate, comparing myself to the photographer up the road and wondering why I was so busy and yet so broke. This episode is about the pivot that changed everything. Moving from selling digital files to leading with print, discovering in-person sales and finally feeling like my seventeen years of experience actually mattered. In this episode, I reflect on: ✨ Discovering the world of online business through podcasts during a lonely, isolating maternity leave, and the moment Jenna Kutcher's story of a $35,000 course launch first introduced me to the word launch ✨ How the online course boom of the pandemic years created a bubble of both genuine transformation and low quality courses, and why the honeymoon period ending did not mean the industry itself was going anywhere ✨ Why so many self-taught photographers, myself included, flooded into wedding and family photography during the digital revolution with huge creativity but very little business experience, and the race to the bottom that followed ✨ The reality of running a shoot and burn business model for most of my seventeen year career, delivering hundreds of digital files for a few hundred pounds and constantly having to find new clients because there was no lasting loyalty built into the model ✨ The moment everything changed when I discovered in-person sales, inviting clients to experience their photographs together rather than sending a gallery link into the void ✨ Why leading a reveal appointment became my favourite part of the process and how it transformed my relationship with my own work, my pricing and my confidence ✨ The neuroscience behind why printed photographs matter, how looking at a meaningful photograph reactivates the same neural pathways as living the moment itself, and why that memory deepens every time we look at it ✨ Why I no longer want to hand my clients more digital files to add to the trillions already sitting unloved in storage, and why print became the more meaningful, more valuable thing to offer instead ✨ What it has taken to build the confidence to launch Print Over Pixels four times, and why I am still very much a beginner at this online business world even as I teach others how to transform their own Takeaway for Mums in Business: "*I feel more fulfilled by my business than I have in seventeen years. I feel confident in my ability and secure in my pricing. Once you stop comparing yourself to the person up the road and start delivering something that genuinely matters, everything changes.*" About The Host: I’m Victoria Phipps – a Mum of two, analogue family photographer, personal brand photographer, educator, charity co-founder, marketer and now podcaster! 🎙️ I was raised by a nurturing Mother and an entrepreneurial Father and have inherited traits from both, so the tension between ambition and motherhood is one I grapple with on a daily basis! I’m fascinated to hear the stories of other women on a similar path, who are striving to build thriving businesses whilst being present for their children. It's a tough juggle, but I hope the conversations shared on this podcast help Mums in business feel less alone and inspired to keep going in pursuit of their dreams. Head to the Mum Means Business Podcast website for full show notes. I would love to hear your thoughts on the topics discussed in this conversation, so please do let me know on Instagram where I'm @victoriaphippsmbe or @mummeansbusinesspodcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5* rating and review!