PODCAST · arts
Creative Rising
by The Youngrens
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.
Episodes
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407 | Mental Health, Physical Well-Being, and Racial Injustice as a Wedding Photographer in 2020 (with Jennifer Ryals)
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…
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406 | Demystifying Post-Wedding Album Sales with Makayla Jade
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...
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405 | How to Become an Elopement Photographer with Maddie Mae
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...
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404 | How to Use Block Scheduling to Get Things Done
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...
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403 | The Six Critical Email Templates Every Wedding Photographer Should Be Using
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.…
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402 | Tired of Instagram? Check Out this Amazing IG Strategy (that Nobody Teaches) with Devin Robinson
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.…
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401 | Our COVID Story: What 2020 Has *Really* Been Like
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...
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312 (BONUS) | The Two Questions Your Website Needs to Answer to Book More Business with Davey Jones
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…
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311 (BONUS) | 5 Daily Habits You Need to Win at Working from Home
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...
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310 | An Open Letter to Wedding Photographers During COVID-19
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…
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309 | Asset Management: How to Create a Simple Backup System that Works
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…
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308 | Natalie Franke: How a Benign Brain Tumor and Infertility Transformed Her Identity, Community, & Leadership
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...
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307 | Why You Should Always Think About Scaling Your Business (Even If You Never Want To)
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...
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306 | Copywriting: How to Write Your Site to Attract Your Dreamies with Rachel Greiman
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...
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305 | A Week in the Life: Behind the Scenes with Jeff and Erin
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...
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304 | Creating Healthy Social Media Habits in a Distracting Digital World (with Abby Grace)
**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...
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303 | 10 Things We Would Do If We Were Starting Our Business in 2020
**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...
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302 | Our Top 5 Sales Tips on How to Run a Killer Client Meeting That Converts
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...
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301 | Time Management: 3 Simple Rhythms I Use to Eliminate Overwhelm, Stay Focused, and Get It All Done
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…
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209 | How to Define Your Style, Pivot Your Brand & Break Free in Your Market (feat Duke Images & Spencer Lum)
[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...
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208 | Starting Over (feat Mary Marantz & Betsy McCue)
[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…
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207 | Ten Things I'm Afraid to Tell You
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...
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206 | How Do I Get More Inquiries?
[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?...
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205 | Married to Your Business Partner (Feat Katelyn James)
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...
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204 | Are Associates the Right Move for Your Business?
[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...
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203 | Failure
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…
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202 | Our Perfect Wedding Photography Schedule (That We Use for Every Wedding)
[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...
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201 | Parentpreneur
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...
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Season One Wrap Up
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…
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109 | When Should You Leave Your Day Job?
[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...
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108 | The Biggest Risk We've Ever Taken
[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...
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107 | Four Things We Do That Turn Our Inquiries into Bookings
[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...
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106 | How to Stay in a Growth Mindset with Julia Woods
[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…
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105 | Six Tools That Run Everything in Our Business
[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...
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104 | Balance, Boundaries, and Overwork as a Parent and Photographer with Shay Cochrane
[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…
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103 | The Battle of the Creative: Why it Took Me Two Years to Launch a Podcast
[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...
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102 | The Bullseye Method: Five Simple Steps to Build a Social Media System
[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…
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101 | How We Built a Dreamie Business
[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…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
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.
HOSTED BY
The Youngrens
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Creative Rising have?
Creative Rising currently has 38 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Creative Rising about?
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...
How often does Creative Rising release new episodes?
Creative Rising has 38 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Creative Rising?
You can listen to Creative Rising on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Creative Rising?
Creative Rising is created and hosted by The Youngrens.
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