063: Unlock LinkedIn Magic with Jeff Brown’s Inspiring Success Tips

Are you ready to unlock a world of opportunities and take your creative business to new heights? 

Join us as we explore the power of LinkedIn with the insightful Jeff Brown, a photography business mentor, bestselling author, and former Royal Navy photographer. With four successful businesses under his belt, Jeff now helps photographers worldwide build standout brands. Specializing in mindset, branding, and LinkedIn strategy, Jeff’s mission is to help photographers become the go-to experts in their niche.

The Power of LinkedIn

In today’s digital age, LinkedIn has become an essential tool for professionals across all industries. But it can be so much more than just a platform for job searching. LinkedIn can be a powerful tool for building relationships, establishing thought leadership, and growing your business.

Jeff Brown’s Expertise

Jeff shares his expertise on how to leverage LinkedIn to achieve your business goals. He emphasizes the importance of building a strong personal brand, creating valuable content, and engaging with your network.

Key takeaways from this episode:

• The importance of mindset and goal setting
• How to create a captivating LinkedIn profile
• Strategies for building relationships and generating leads
• The power of LinkedIn newsletters
• Common mistakes to avoid on LinkedIn

Ready to transform your LinkedIn presence and unlock new opportunities? Delve further into Jeff’s insights by listening to the full episode. And don’t forget to check out his latest book, “The Photographer’s Missing LinkedIn.”

 

LinkedIn is a goldmine of opportunities for photographers and other creative professionals. By following Jeff’s advice, you can leverage this platform to build a thriving business and achieve your dreams.

💬 Join the Conversation

Savory Shot Shownote: https://micamccook.com/guests/

Website: https://micamccook.com/podcast

Instagram: www.instragram.com/mica.mccook

Instagram: www.instagram.com/thesavoryshotpodcast

 

📣 Follow Jeff Brown 

Website:https://thephotographersmentor.com/

Facebook: @focusonmarketing LinkedIn: @thephotographersmentor

Would you like to be a guest on the show? Fill out the guest form, and we'll be in touch soon.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to the 63rd episode of TheSavory Shot, a podcast about the

(00:06):
art and soul of food photography.
Y'all know who I be.
I'm your host with the most, Mica McCook.
I'm a food photographerbased out of Austin, Texas.
Before I go any further I want tostart the show by thanking you, the
wonderful and amazing listeners.

(00:29):
Y'all, I've said it once, I'll keepsaying it, this show would not be here,
it would not exist if it were not for you.
Y'all are the bomb diggity.
Y'all are my besties, and Ijust want to say thank you.
So, if this is your 63rd timejoining us, thank you so much for

(00:52):
coming back and supporting the show.
If this is your first timehere, welcome, bestie.
Welcome to the Hot Mess Express.
I hope you enjoy yourself.
I hope you stay.
But y'all, I wanna hop right into it.
I wanna talk about today's episode.
Today's episode, it's special.

(01:14):
It's special because for the firsttime ever, we have a returning guest.
What?
What?
Never thought I'd see the day, buthere we are, and I'm so excited.
So drum roll, please.
What's the sound that youmake with the drum roll?

(01:35):
The brrrr, drama roll, please.
Please welcome to the show, Jeff Brown.
Jeff first joined us in 2023.
For episode 24, I highly recommend yougo back and listen to that episode if

(01:56):
you need a refresher or you just want tohear a bomb ass episode, go listen to it.
But for those of you who don't knowJeff, allow me to introduce him to you.
Jeff is a photography business mentor,best selling author, and former Royal Navy
photographer, who's helped Photographersworldwide build thriving brands.

(02:18):
With experience running foursuccessful photography businesses,
he now mentors photographers in 20plus countries, helping them become
the go to experts in their niche.
Jeff's passion, self belief, goalsetting, branding, and LinkedIn strategy.
Jeff believes that success startswith mindset and a clear game plan.

(02:41):
He's written four best selling books.
and is a partner with top photographybrands like OM System, Studio Ninja,
and the Society of Photographers.
He is the president of the BIPP, the BIPP.
Also known as the British Instituteof Professional Photography and

(03:03):
is the UK and US brand ambassadorfor the Shutter Studio app.
I love having Jeff on the show.
In this episode, y'all, we discussthe changes happening in LinkedIn.
Why using the newsletter featurein LinkedIn is a game changer and
his newest edition of the book, ThePhotographer's Missing LinkedIn, which

(03:28):
I have, I have the third edition,I just bought the fourth edition.
It is well worth your money.
It is an investment worthmaking and implementing.
I believe I've said this plenty oftimes about how much I love LinkedIn.
How I find the decision makers on LinkedInand the reason why I love that platform

(03:50):
so much has a lot to do with Jeff.
So I'm excited for y'allto listen to this episode.
So let's get into it.
Grab your coffee, grab anotebook, grab a cocktail.
If it's five o'clock where you'reat or her when you're listening
and let's start the show.

(04:40):
Jeff, it is so awesome tohave you back on the show.
This is a first in Savory Shot history.
You are the first guest to make areturn appearance, and I could not
think of anyone better than you.
Your episode had so much positivefeedback from my listeners, and there
were more questions and more curiosity.

(05:03):
So welcome back to this show.
I'm really excited to have you back.
Since you were one of my earlier guests,what has been going on for you since then?
What exciting things have you been up to?
So I've been using LinkedIn toleverage what I call opportunities.
So a lot of people think aboutuse LinkedIn to find customers.

(05:24):
Which I do, and I get a lot ofmy work from LinkedIn mentoring
other photographers on how tobuild and grow their business.
But I also want opportunity.
And for me, opportunity is a thinglike speaking events, sponsorships,
affiliates, ambassadorships.
And I've been over the past12 months utilizing LinkedIn
to generate passive income.

(05:44):
Just the week beforeChristmas, I got 2000 pounds.
So what about 2, 200, 2, 400 inaffiliates and sponsorship, passive
income just come through from someof the brands that I work with.
So I've used LinkedIn to reach out tobrands to become a brand ambassador.
And also for speaking events.
Now I've been to a couple ofreally exciting speaking events.

(06:07):
I've got one in London this month,another one in Birmingham this month.
Then I've got one in Johannesburgin March, another one in Cape
Town in March and then one inCalgary and one in Toronto.
And this is all from putting myself out,utilizing, LinkedIn, how can I get more
opportunity into my business and my life?
And the more opportunity you have, themore people see you in different places.

(06:31):
The more authority you have, themore you become more respected,
the more followers you grow.
And then ultimately the snowball is themore opportunity keeps coming your way.
So that is one of the real magic things.
And that's for me as well.
We've just been talking abouttravel and how I love to travel.
Anything that gets me a speaking eventinternationally is a real tick of the box
for me, because obviously I'm giving valueto photographers, I'm doing my speaking,

(06:54):
but I'm also getting paid to go to afantastic place and experience another
country and another culture and eat reallynice food and stay in a lovely hotel.
And for me that's brilliant.
I love experience.
For me, life is all aboutdifferent experiences.
So that is one thing that a lotof people forget about LinkedIn.
It's not just finding customers.
It's finding opportunity as well.

(07:15):
You mentioned how you like to visitdifferent countries every year and you
recently went to Germany and Poland.
What was your favoritememory from that trip?
So I've always been reallyinterested in like the Cold War.
We'd gone to Poznań in Poland.
I had a look on the train time.
So it's only two and a halfhours to go over to Berlin

(07:36):
and I've never been to Berlin.
So we took a train journey over to Berlin,went and did all the touristy things.
And then if we ended up, causeit was so cold, it was like
minus three or four degrees.
And it was, it had a really bitterwind with a minus seven or eight
chill factor that we couldn'twalk much further along the street
without having to go into a pub.

(07:57):
So my girlfriend was like, Oh,Jeff, we'll go into this pub.
And I was absolutely disgustedbecause we ended up in an Irish
bar eating Mexican food in Berlin.
And I was like, we should be ina German bar having big sausages
and drinking steins of beer.
And we're in an Irishbar eating Mexican food.
And I was like, this
You're in an Irish bareating Mexican food.

(08:18):
A Mexican.
They're not a Mexican menu.
I was like, what thehell is going on here?
What?
That is.
It's absolutely.
But I did get my pint, a pint of Germanbeer a little bit later in the day.
And I did manage to getmyself one of those big German
sausages before with Tom's.

(08:38):
Oh my gosh, that.
I'm going to definitely tell my husbandthat I was like, okay, we definitely
got to, we got to go find this Irishpub so we can have some Mexican food.
So going back to what you saidabout LinkedIn about how it's
not just about finding clients,it's about finding opportunities.

(08:59):
In the last two years, let's say, howhas your approach to LinkedIn evolved?
So it's funny enough, causeI've just written my fourth
edition of my LinkedIn book.
I wrote my third edition of myLinkedIn book two years ago.
In January, 2022, Ihad 30, 000 followers.

(09:19):
Two years later, I have 65, 000 followers.
I've done no advertising whatsoever.
My advertising budgetfor LinkedIn is zero.
I've never spent a penny.
But I reach out for opportunityand I connect with photographers
and post regular content.
So the thing with LinkedIn, you dohave that potential to grow much
bigger than on Instagram Facebook.

(09:39):
Say you comment on one of my posts,or I comment on one of your posts.
You put a post up about some brilliantfood photography that you've done.
And I comment "That's absolutelyfantastic. I love that picture."
I have 65, 000 followers.
So in quite a few of my followers newsfeeds, they will see Jeff Brown commented

(10:00):
on Mica post about such and such.
What happens is you cansee that knock on effect.
They're like, Oh, what'sJeff been commenting about?
And you don't have to beconnected with those people.
You need to be connecting with peoplewho serve your ideal customers as well.
That is the phenomenalgrowth aspect of LinkedIn.
So you don't need a huge followingto get a lot of engagement.

(10:21):
LinkedIn is a storytelling platform.
Many photographers I workwith who have Instagram.
They're fed up with it.
Might be getting likes or thumbsup, but it's not monetized and
not really getting anything.
It's not building relationships.
LinkedIn is a comment andcontent driven platform.
The ideal word count or charactercount is about 12 to 1500 characters.

(10:44):
On your personal post on LinkedIn,you have a maximum of 3000 characters.
Sometimes I'll write 3000 characters,but what I do is tell stories.
So I do who, what, where, when, why.
I always create a captivating headline.
Then start telling my story.
At the very end of that story,whether it's a top tip, whether
it's a personal story, inspirationalstory, or something funny, I'll always

(11:07):
ask a question because the LinkedInalgorithm is driven by comments.
So what you want to do isyou want people to comment.
Commenting is the best way tostart building relationships.
Because if somebody just likes yourpost, you don't really see that person.
You might say, I mightlook at one of my posts.
Oh, it'll have Mica and 200other people like this particular.

(11:30):
So I don't see all those peopleunless I click it and open it up
and look, but I do see the commentssomebody might comment and that's it.
Oh yeah.
I totally agree with you there.
And then they comment back.
So you start building relationships.
I actually know a lot of peoplewho have never met in person.
But I know them for the comments.
And this is where a lot of theopportunity rises and you can
start commenting on big brands.

(11:52):
Even if it's a big brand, if you wantto get in with Nikon or Canon, or a
particular food company you want towork with, all those people posting on
LinkedIn are just normal people likeyou or me, when I got my ambassadorship
for OM system, Olympus cameras, Thatcame through just commenting the guy who
I was in Zoom with, who was in chargeof the ambassador liaison, I ended up

(12:15):
doing paid work while creating videos.
I ended up doing a Zoom with him.
He was in his bedroom, cause hewas working from home and I was
in the office just chatting away.
How are you doing Jeff?
Oh, you live in Northumberland.
That's a beautiful place.
I go up there sometimes onholiday and walk the dog.
We spent 10 minutes just chatting becausethat relationship's been built up.
And that's the key.
You don't try and sell, tryand get to know each other.

(12:38):
One of the best ways to createcontent and build relationships
is not to try and sell.
So I sell more by not selling.
That is the key to success.
I would say on LinkedIn, becauseyou don't have to tell people that
you're a food photographer becausethey can look at your profile and
see that and they can see content.
It's the way that you tell yourstories, as opposed to book me, I'll

(13:00):
come and do a food shoot, start tellingstories because that really works.
You've hit on some real deep pointsthere because social media at the root of
everything is about relationship buildingand making friends, thus the term social.
I remember when Friendster came out.
Was the first social mediaaccount I ever joined.

(13:24):
I loved it because I madeinternational friends.
LinkedIn is dubbed as thissuper businessy place.
Where you're not supposed to put yourpersonal business out there or talk about
things you might be struggling with.
You only address it whenyou're interviewing for a job.
What would you say to photographers todayif they're uncomfortable with posting

(13:48):
not just their professional work, butgetting personal and showing who they are?
How can they show who they areand still appear professional?
I think one of the things is you've gotto remember that all these people that
you're going to be connecting with, ifyou saw every person as, you know, very
straight list, very self, this roboticsort of figure that it has no personality.

(14:10):
It's going to be hard to stand out,but if you want to put a bit of
personality, put a bit of humor,I constantly make fun of myself.
I will put up some LinkedIn that, likethe LinkedIn police type people would
go, Oh my God, keep that on Facebook.
Hardly anybody ever says that.
A few people roll their eyes and mightshake their heads because I put a
picture of a cake that I've got or Iput a picture of me and my dog or I

(14:33):
put a picture of me out for a ride onmy motorbike, but I'll tell a story.
I'll also share a lot of my failuresand be totally open with it.
I've talked massively on LinkedIn aboutmy big failure 10 years ago, where I
tried to take my own life and I lost overwith about 160, 000 pounds in total when
the pub venture that I had collapsed.
So I talk about that.
I talk about how I overcame depressionand I talked about positivity.

(14:58):
I also share lots of pictures from mylocal area and I'm currently writing
a travel book for Northumberland.
Hopefully we're going to publish thatby the end of this month, and I've got a
series of about four or five travel booksthat I want to write for my local area
because I love my local area so much.
It's steeped in history.
It's a beautiful partof the United Kingdom.
Say for instance, you're afood photographer in Houston.

(15:21):
Say for example, if you wereconnecting with other food businesses
in Houston and you were putting outpictures of food, there's nothing
to stop you putting out pictures ofstatues, bridges, iconic landmarks,
and telling a bit of a story becausethose people who you're connected with
will instantly recognize that picture.

(15:41):
They'll go, Oh, there's that bridgeover the river, such and such.
Did you know this bridge was builtin 1852 at the time it was started?
And tell a bit of a story becausethat local connection will
resonate with a lot of people.
So don't be afraid to post contentthat isn't directly within your niche.
So if you're a food photographer, don'tjust talk about your food photography,

(16:03):
talk about cookery tips, talk about inseason foods and give advice on home
baking and healthy eating options.
So you become a bit of anambassador for food and the food
industry and stuff like that.
So I've got a travel photographer,Steve Campbell, who's just launched
his own travel book for Scotland.
He published three books lastyear with me working with him.

(16:25):
And he's basically now branding himselfon LinkedIn as an ambassador for
Scotland, showcasing the history, whatheritage and the beauty of Scotland.
But he's also connecting with a lotof outdoor brands, like Land Rover
Defender, North Face, Berghaus,Patagonia camping brands, VW
camper vans, that sort of stuff.

(16:46):
Those are also brands that would be veryappealed to his photographer, having
their products and services showcasedin the Scottish Highlands, up a mountain
or in the great Glen with Highlandcows and deer and stuff like that.
So that is how he's turned his profileand it's becoming, a lot of people
are really engaging it with it.
But he's also getting a lotof photographers going, Steve,

(17:09):
would you be able to teach meto take pictures like that?
So the next stage meanshe's launching a workshop.
He's now selling his presets aswell for all these landscapes.
So he's creating a passive income throughLinkedIn, as well as selling some of
his stock image during his prints.
So he's an ambassador for Scotland.
He's writing travel books.

(17:30):
He's working with outdoor adventure andtravel related brands that work well in
the countryside and the great outdoors.
And then he's selling his presets.
He's teaching people howto take amazing landscapes.
He's also selling his images.
And then this year he's goingto be running some in person
workshops in the Scottish Highlands.
And this is coming from hisbig presence on LinkedIn.

(17:52):
And he started with, I think itwas, I started working with Steve.
October, 2023 at 75 followers.
And I think he's now gottwo and a half thousand.
And he hasn't spent a penny on that.
That is incredible.
That is incredible.
It's incredible that one sitehas created multiple different

(18:14):
forms of, or streams of income.
And it's all centered aroundthings that excite him.
For me personally, I just get socaught up in the perfection of building
relationships that I've forgotten howto organically build a relationship and
to comment on things and not hold thispressure of is this engaging enough?

(18:37):
Will this catch their attention enough?
Will I stand out enough instead ofjust like posting from the heart?
I don't know if that's something that yourclients have struggled with or if you've
heard other photographers talk about that.
Yet.
I think it's interesting, isn't it?
And when it comes to LinkedIn, funnyenough, what I do with LinkedIn
now is I've got a Facebook businesspage with 37, 000 followers.

(19:01):
And it gets nothing.
I put a post out there.
It gets two or three likes.
It's horrendous.
Facebook just want meto, pay for Facebook ads.
But then last year I switched on Facebookprofessional mode on my personal profile.
So my personal profile, me,Jeff Brown, you can switch on
what's called professional mode.
And that is for people whoare while their own business.
So likes of musicians,authors, photographers, makeup

(19:25):
artists, stuff like that.
So if you look at your Facebook page,you've got your banner on your Facebook
page, just below your banner on theright hand side, if you're looking
on a desktop or a laptop, you'll seethree little dots, three horizontal
dots, click on those little dots and itwill say switch on professional mode.
So when you switch on professionalmode, Facebook will take you through

(19:45):
a few stages on how to becomea content creator on Facebook.
So what I do, my process is as Iwrite for LinkedIn first, because
LinkedIn is a storytelling platform,then sometimes I trim it down.
I will put that same contenton Facebook and I'll build
relationships through Facebook.
And now I've currently got anad running on my Facebook page.

(20:06):
Me, Jeff Brown, where for 5 dollarsper day, I'm attracting followers
who are interested in photography.
So the way I use that is I get themto come over and follow my page.
And then every now and then I'llboost a post for maybe 10, which
talks about say goal setting.
But then at the end of that post, therewill be a link to my book on goal setting.

(20:30):
At Amazon, I sold 44 books on a weekend.
So even though it cost me twodollars to boost that post I had 44
times eight pounds profit becauseit's eight pound per book, so more
than paid for the advert, you know.
So what I do is i'm not trying to sellto people I don't know, I'm trying
to sell to people who are alreadyin my network through my Facebook.

(20:52):
So I write for LinkedIn and I utilize iton Facebook professional mode as well.
And for me that's been a great wayof doing it, but being more personal,
I've seen so much, I had a guy joinmy program beginning of December.
And he messaged me, he says, Jeff, I'min, I've been following you for a while,
really interested in joining your program.
I know exactly what you do.

(21:13):
I know that you getresults from photographers.
I've been on your website.
I know how much it costs.
I'd love to jump on a call with you.
So we jumped on a calla couple of days later.
The first thing he said tome, he says, I've been looking
for a mentor for a while.
But one of the things that stood outto me is you're such a genuine guy.
You seem like a really good dad.
He was a single dad as well.

(21:33):
And I do put posts and I sharethem on LinkedIn about what
I've done with my daughter.
What I've done.
She loves heavy metal.
So I take her to heavy metalconcerts, the bands that I used to
go and see when I was 16 years old.
Or she comes on the back of my motorbikeand we go on little adventures together.
And it's all about, it's partof how you want people to see
yourself and perceive yourself.
So I don't try and puta false version of me.

(21:55):
I just put a genuine version of me andwhether that's talking about cakes, my
daughter, sharing top tips and advice asa mentor for photographers, it all rolls
in and adds to that overall likeabilitybecause you've got to be known and to
be known, you've got to be visible.
So you've got to be out there.
You've got to be putting contentout at least three or four
times a week to be visible.

(22:16):
You got to be liked by not trying tobe selling, but by to create content
that people enjoy and people startto respect you and go, ah yeah.
Yeah, Mica is really cool.
Are you like.
So when they need somebody, when theyneed a food photographer, you'll be
the first photographer to think of.
Would you go and get business or aservice from somebody who was constantly
trying to sell to you all the time?

(22:36):
We all want to buy from peopleor do business with people
who we like and who we trust.
And that trust element comes across inyour content and the person you are.
So if your services are alittle bit more expensive.
It's that element of trustbecause it's, yeah, a bit more
expensive, but she's great.
She's a lovely person.
She's genuine.
She's authentic.
I'm really drawn towards her.
I love her style of photography.

(22:58):
This is the person I want to work with.
Oh, and you said something realimportant about people hire people
they like, but in order to likesomeone, they have to know them.
We talked about this a littleearlier before we started recording.
About how I talk to my fellow foodphotographers that I'm spending
a lot of time on LinkedIn.

(23:19):
Last year, I actually paid forthe premium sales navigator.
And that has been chef's kissfor me, because I have access
to a lot of art directors, artproducers, like different positions.
I have notifications for any timethey post, so I can go to their post.

(23:40):
This is someone I reallywant to connect with.
I've noticed that a lot of foodphotographers are flocking to LinkedIn.
Have you seen that too?
And why are photographersflocking to LinkedIn right now?
As a food photographer, you're slightlydifferent if you're like a wedding
photographer or you're a familyportrait photographer, but as a food

(24:00):
photographer, if you want to workwith brands, photographing products or
photographing for restaurants and thehospitality trade, hotels and stuff
like that then ultimately it's harderto identify these people on Facebook.
You could do a search for peoplewho are interested in food, but
with LinkedIn, you can do a search.
So you can go in and type in like chefor you could type in restaurant owner.

(24:23):
Or hotel manager or generalmanager for a particular hotel.
Then you can narrow that downto a geographical location.
So you can say put in New York or Dallas,somewhere like narrow that down, and
then you can narrow down even further.
You could just put a hospitality.
Then you narrow it down to the area.
So we put New York and then when yougo into all filters, so there's a

(24:45):
tab on LinkedIn called all filters.
You search, you scroll right downto the very bottom of that tab.
And the final tab is keywords.
And then it's got title.
You don't put people think putting Mr.or Mrs. in that title, you don't put
that, you would then put a job title.
So you would put then manager orgeneral manager, then press search.
And what that does is itfilters everybody down to who

(25:08):
is in the hospitality industry.
In New York was the position ofwas the word manager in that title.
So it might be HR manager, social mediamanager, your general manager, because
what you want to do is you want to removeall the people who aren't decision makers.
If you get 20, 000 results back, someof those people might be who work

(25:28):
on a reception desk in the hotel.
Another one might be a cleaner.
They're not going to be thepeople who are making the
decisions to hire a photographer.
That allows you to really narrow down onthe type of people, the exact people, and
also the good thing about LinkedIn You canlook at people, you can see their profile
picture, you can read their profile, youcan see, where they've worked in the past.

(25:48):
You might have some similarities.
And then when you look at that profileon the right hand side of their
profile, underneath that banner isa little bell, like a bell shape.
If you click that bell, you will get anotification every time that person posts.
I have what's called LinkedIn weeklyworkflow, which is actually inside my.
The latest copy of my LinkedIn book.

(26:09):
So the LinkedIn weekly workflow, Iwould say post four times a week,
but maybe do Monday and Tuesday.
So you might say Monday, I'm going todo a motivational, inspirational post.
So might be talking about goalsetting, talk about some motivational
quote that you like, tell a storyabout how you've overcome a failure.
Tuesday, you might doa top tip about food.

(26:31):
Wednesday, give yourself a day off.
Wednesday is a day for what Icall catching up on engagement.
So on that Wednesday, what I do is Idon't post, I go into all my posts that
I've made for the past couple of daysand the previous week, and when I look
at the comments are filtered in two ways,relevant or most recent, that by default,

(26:51):
they click the filter by relevant.
I turn those to most recent, so whatI do is I go through all my posts for
the past seven posts that I've made.
And I click them all to recent, justto make sure that I've responded to
every single comment because somebodymight have commented on a post from
last week that I didn't respond to.
If somebody's been good enough toput a comment on my post, I will

(27:14):
always make sure I respond to it.
And I do that on my Facebook as well.
On a Wednesday, I go and doa catch up on everything.
Wednesdays are for responding to comments,but Wednesdays are also those for
going and having a look at the peoplethat you're stalking in a nice way.
It's like,
the people that you're stalking fromthese particular brands, you might

(27:36):
want to get in with Le Troce casseroledishes, or you might even want to get
in with a local Hilton hotel and sendphotographs for their restaurant.
So you go in and you look at theircomments and then you go in, you
don't put nice post or great picture.
You comment on something.
You put a comment in there with,which will let that person go.
Oh, yep.
And you're building that relationship.

(27:56):
I have a friend, Ella, who's a oneclients who's based in Cardiff.
She works all over the world nowwith really high end thought leaders,
influencers, sort of people who havelots of money and she gains most of her
clients through the comment section.
So she looks, she thinks about thebrands that she'd love to work with.

(28:19):
She finds the key people.
She starts commenting on their content.
Now, one woman that she did somework for last year, and she's
done a lot of work for now.
This woman bought herselfa castle in Wales.
Because it was the castle thatshe used to play at when she was
a little girl and that castlecost like 10 and a half million.
That's the sort of moneythat this woman has.
When ella's commenting on thatstuff, she ultimately sent out a

(28:42):
message going, I love all your posts.
I love the relationshipwe're built on LinkedIn.
I need some photographs done of thecastle that I've just bought and
I want some storytelling pictures.
Send me a quote.
So Ella sent over a quote and it wasa, it's a high quote and the woman
just went yeah, when can you do it?
Because the money wasn't an object, itwas whether it was the right person and

(29:03):
Ella would build that relationship andshe was never trying to sell, she would
always just build in relationships.
Ella picks people whoare very similar to us.
Ella's very much into, she's a vegetarian.
She's very much into issues to do withthe planet and sustainability and stuff.
And this woman runs a companythat is all about sustainability.
Ella can comment on some of ourstuff and people buy from people

(29:24):
who are very similar to themselvesand people who share the same
values and the same ideas as well.
So that really helpsbuild that relationship.
So Wednesday is your day from going backon your comments, commenting on your
ideal clients, and also Wednesday is yourday to start thinking about opportunity.
Where would you like to do businessin the next two or three years?
Would you like to be a brandambassador for this particular company?

(29:47):
Would you like to be a speaker doingspeaking events and workshops and stuff.
Think big because everything that I'vewritten down on my goals, I've achieved.
One of mine was to get involvedwith all the professional
photography associations in the UK.
I'm president of the oldestphotography association in

(30:07):
the world, which is the BIPP.
I was speaking with Peter early last year.
I was in America last year.
I've got Canada and South Africabooked for this year already.
And potentially going over todo some work in India as well.
But this is all because I've had the idea.
I've been passionate about the idea.
I've thought about it.
And then I felt like, how am I goingto, how am I going to get to that?
Who can help me on this journey?

(30:29):
And what value can I give those people?
That they will go, yeah, we'd like Jeffon board, so I never try and sell myself.
I just put out value, align myselfwith the right sort of people.
So got to remember that we havemore opportunity available to
us now than ever in the historyof the photography industry.
We can get in contact with anybodythrough connections of connections,

(30:53):
that sort of stuff through social media.
A lot of people say, Oh, I'd neverbe able to connect with that person.
Or why would they connect with me?
Or I'm never going to be ableto get in front of that person.
It depends on your approach, right?
Because these people probablyget bombarded by freebie hunters,
people wanting anything for nothing,or people wanting opportunity.
But if you approach from a different angleand you're authentic and you're building

(31:14):
relationships and you're thinking.
This is what I can do for you.
This is how I can help you.
See, you approach from a givingas opposed to a taking mentality.
Then the opportunity starts to comeyour way and these people want to
work with you because they see youas somebody of value, not somebody
who's just trying to click onto them.
I love the changing theperspective of what can you do

(31:37):
for me to what can I do for you?
And having that in mind, wheneveryou reach out to someone or
whenever you comment on someone.
I love that you said that.
That's definitely the way to go onLinkedIn is how can I serve this person?
When you fill out your LinkedIn profile.
I think you probably touched onthis before, you don't sell the
photography because people can seethat you're a photographer, and

(32:00):
to them, your photos look betterthan what they can do themselves.
And remember that if you just tryand sell the photographs, they
might come back with I can take thepictures on my iPhone and you can take
really good pictures on an iPhone.
The difference between, professionallycreated and a constructive, designed
image as opposed to an iPhone pictureis what that will do to your followers.

(32:22):
So you saying, yeah, you can takepictures on your phone, but you
can't take pictures like this.
Pictures that you can virtuallytaste and smell through the newsfeed.
They look that good.
Pictures that get people drooling.
Pictures that get people taggingtheir friends in and going, Oh my
God, we've got to go here for a steak.
This looks totally amazing.
That is what you're selling.
Not selling the images.
You're selling what theimages do to people.

(32:45):
Images that get people hungry.
Images that get people excited.
Images that get your followerspressing the thumbs up button
and sharing them in your posts.
That's the difference between their image,half decent images taken on an iPhone from
a poor angle to your image that reallysells the dish and makes it stand out.
Ultimately what you're doing,you're getting them more engagement.

(33:05):
You're putting more bumson seats in the restaurant.
You're selling more products.
You're getting them more followersand more fans on their social media.
So your whole message should be about,this is what I can do for your business.
Not to, I'm a great photographerand I use this particular camera.
They don't care.
What they care aboutis what's in it for me.
What can I get from it?
So your profile is always customerfacing and you always talk about

(33:29):
the benefits of what you're doing.
Because they don't want pictures becausethey can create pictures themselves.
What they want is more customers,more engagement, more bums on the
seats, more money in the till.
And your photographs can do thata lot more powerfully than the
photographs that they create themselves.
Because you then sellthem something they need.
They don't need pictures.
They need more money and they'retelling them they need more

(33:49):
engagement on their social media.
And that's the key thing.
I wonder if it's not even just whatyou just said about needing more of an
experience because you will remembera negative experience if you go to
a restaurant and you just had theworst experience with the staff, it

(34:13):
doesn't matter how good the food is.
You will always rememberthat negative experience.
When you have a wonderful experience,maybe the food isn't that great,
but you love the staff they knowyou on a first name basis and you
always go there on a Friday whenyou have a hankering for something.
I'm learning as I go further in mycareer as a photographer, I'm finding

(34:37):
that building relationships, creatingthis really fun environment when we
shoot together, making it a fun dayso that the next project that comes
to mind, they're like, we want towork with Mica because she's fun.
We laughed the entire time.
We got these wonderful photosand she had this wonderful team
and it was a great experience.
And we're going to hire her over andover versus, we got these amazing photos.

(35:01):
They look fantastic, but the photographerwas just so unpleasant to work with.
We're never going to hire them again.
That, that is so important becauseon my own program, a lot of
photographers come to work with meand they'll be like, Jeff, I want
to jump on and start on my LinkedIn.
I want you to go over my websiteand I'm like, Oh no, hang on.
What we got to do first, we gotto get the brand right, because
brand is the most important thing.

(35:22):
Your brand and your brand messageand your brand is everything people
think, believe, and feel about you.
So if you want to charge apremium price, you've got to
have a premium looking brand.
So the first thing we do is the colors,the fonts, the message, everything, right?
If they're wedding clients, then wedon't look at wedding photographers.
We look at high end wedding venues,really posh wedding hotels, and
wedding magazines and really fancywedding dress shops because they've

(35:45):
spent a lot of money creating abrand to attract their ideal clients.
Their ideal clients are the same clientsthat the photographer wants to attract,
so don't look at other photographersbecause they're probably doing it wrong.
Look at the businesses that have the bigbudget and you'll start to see similar
fonts, colors and a message coming across.
You always create your brandbased around your ideal client.

(36:05):
And then the next thing we do,we need to create desire because
people they're attracted to a brand.
It's the desire that makes them purchase.
So all brands createdesire, get people excited.
We create what's called a desire brochure.
It's a brochure that talks aboutall the benefits your services.
The reason we have a really fancy,beautifully designed brochure, which

(36:28):
you can do on Canva, is becauseit's about creating that impact.
A lot of people get an inquiryand then get nothing back.
They get excited about the inquiry,blast off a reply with a quote.
They haven't done their groundwork.
So the first thing is when youget an inquiry in, you want to
go and check out the company.
Then when you apply, you getreally excited about them.

(36:50):
About their business.
I've just been checking out yourFacebook and the type of posts.
I love your brand.
I love the feel of this.
You really pick them up and then say,however, I feel that this could improve
if we do this style of photography.
And we do this and we do somesmall, short reels and we do
some of these attractive bannets.
Then you say, I've sent youover a brochure that tells you a
little bit more about my services.

(37:10):
So you excite them.
You show interest in what they do, thenyou hit them with a fancy brochure.
All the other photographers won'tbe including a fancy brochure.
What that's done is that that'slifted their perceived value of you.
These people have taken time toreally look at my business and
they sent me this fancy brochure.
Even if your prices are moreexpensive than the competitors, their

(37:33):
perceived value of you is a lot morebecause people don't buy on price.
People buy on perceived value.
It's got nothing to do with price.
If people just bought on price,Tiffany's, Ralph Lauren, Mercedes,
BMW, they'd all be bankrupt.
I've never seen customerservice like Tiffany's before.
Every year I buy my girlfriendsomething from Tiffany's in Manchester.

(37:56):
The minute you order, 10 minuteslater, you've got an email
saying, thanks for your order.
Then your order's gettingshipped your order's here.
Even after you've received it, there'sstill another three or four emails in
the to make sure you're happy with it.
In June, I was in New York doing somework with Peter Hurley and took my
girlfriend's Tiffany necklace to Tiffany'sbecause you can get it clean for free.

(38:17):
So I took it into their flagshipstore on Fifth Avenue, went in and
they just asked for my email address.
And I'm like, Oh, Mr. Brown, come in.
So you want to get this cleaned?
Yes, of course.
They put the white gloves on andcleaned my girlfriend's necklace.
From that email address, the guy knewmy girlfriend's name because I've had
stuff personalized with her name on.
He could see the bracelets and otherstuff that I bought over the years.

(38:39):
He just, through this conversation, endsup telling me about a bracelet that he
thinks would go well with the necklace.
So not only did I go in to getthis necklace screen that came
out with another bracelet.
But I didn't think like I'd been sold to.
I feel like this guy totally got me,understood me, knew my girlfriend, even
though we'd been buying from a store,thousands of miles away in Manchester.

(39:01):
It's all part of their service.
It's that impeccable.
If you're truly honest about Tiffany's,it is very expensive for what it is.
You probably can get the same value ofsilver for a third of the price at a
decent high street jewelers, but peopleare buying into the whole experience.
Like how can you make the wholeprocess of working with you

(39:23):
more desirable to the clients?
I'd start with, you'll givethem a social media and website
review to give them suggestions.
And then when they book aparticular package with you, they're
there for the whole creation.
So you, you shoot in tethered, theycan get to see the images on the
laptop as they're being created.
So they, is this thedirection you were looking at?
Oh yeah.

(39:44):
You're involved in them inevery step of the journey.
And then if your competitors are takingseven days or 10 days to deliver images.
You say I'm going to deliver themin 72 hours, but you tell them 72
hours, but you deliver them in 36.
It's all about overdelivering of every step.
You tell them that particularpackage includes 30 images.

(40:04):
Then you give them 35.
So you impress them again.
You already knew that you were goingto give them 35 in the first place.
It's about giving those littlebit more over delivering.
And it's not just about the images.
It's about the whole service.
Even having a guarantee as a 100percent satisfaction guarantee.
We guarantee you'll totally lovethe images or want to re shoot,

(40:26):
but if the person is involved rightat the very beginning and through
the creation, there's probably nochance that they're not going to
love the images because they've beenthere, part of it all the way along.
You've gone through the socialmedia and website review, you've
talked about their business.
You haven't just turned up andstarted taking pictures blindly.
You know what they want.
You know what their mission is,what their business is about,
what their whole brand's about.

(40:48):
And the more involved you become in theirbusiness, the more easier it is for you
to be able to create images, totallysum up their brand to the point where it
becomes they would never think about usinganother photographer because you are an
asset to their brand and their business.
And you totally get themand understand them.
They don't want to go through the hassleof finding another photographer and
having to go through this whole process.

(41:10):
And I have clients who, who said that tome before, they might have contacted a
customer and says, look, this year, I'vegot to put my prices up by 10 percent
and their clients have turned around andsays you could put it up by 20 percent
and we'll still go with you because wethink you're an asset to the business.
You're exactly what we need.
You get us totally.
So it works.
It works perfectly for both parties.

(41:32):
I want to take it toLinkedIn's newsletters because
this is so foreign to me.
I didn't even know that you couldsend out a newsletter on LinkedIn.
You mentioned thatyou're a big fan of that.
Why are they such a secretweapon for photographers?
Not many people use them.

(41:53):
So basically the newsletter functionon LinkedIn, you can create from your
personal profile and create a newsletter.
What I would do is have that newsletter,give it a name and give it a purpose.
What I've done with my newsletter,I've got two newsletters.
I've got one on my company pagewhich is all top tips and advice
for photographers about buildinga successful, profitable business.

(42:13):
And then one of my personal pageis all about travel photography.
Because what I'm actually doing is asI write newsletters, I'm going to use
those newsletters to become materialfor a series of books on Eastern Europe,
because I'm going to be trying to getthrough all 26 Eastern European countries
and write a little blog about it.
And then once that's all done, I'lljust compile it all together and I'll

(42:35):
self publish those books on Amazon.
So
Woohoo!
. You'll have people whowill have a newsletter.
It's a bit like people who have a blogand they'll go, I've got a blog or I've
got a newsletter and the newsletter is allabout this photography shoot I've done.
Is that of interest to your ideal clients?
Probably not.
Might be of interest to you andthe person in the shoot, but

(42:56):
not interested to anybody else.
So I'll give you a fewexamples of newsletters.
So I've got an architectural photographerin Edinburgh, and she does a lot of
work for psych hotels, hospitalitysort of trade, but she also does
some for like conferences and events.
So she's created a LinkedIn newsletter,Ben and Mild, all her clients are from

(43:20):
Edinburgh and her LinkedIn newsletteris Haunted and Historic Edinburgh.
So it's tales about haunted andhistoric Edinburgh with black and
white photographs, Edinburgh castle.
So she might do all blog just on Edinburghcastle, but we get all newsletter
with lots of interesting pictures.
Now that is really going to appealto those businesses in Edinburgh

(43:41):
because it's about their local area.
It's interesting.
It's quirky.
And it doesn't move away fromher niche, which is architectural
photography because all these picturesinside that blog are about buildings.
You could be a food photographer andthen share some seasonal recipes for
a more happier, fitter, active life.

(44:02):
Using food as a fuel to fuel yourbody and become more happier.
So that becomes the purpose, whichstill ties in with your exact niche.
You could be a headshot photographer.
And talk about how to do and use thatone, how to improve your visibility
online, because it wouldn't beof any interest to anybody else
about somebody else's headshot.
They're not going to be interestedin reading a newsletter about how

(44:24):
somebody else can make a headshot.
So many photographers do that.
Wedding photographers creatingwedding blogs, but the wedding blog
is about Dave and Sarah's weddingor Debbie and Jane's wedding.
It's only of interest to Debbieand Jane and all their guests.
It's not of interest to anybody else.
But if you create a wedding blog,which was all about how to have the

(44:44):
perfect country style wedding in Dallas.
So it's all about how to plan and executethe perfect country style wedding.
You talk about latest fashion trends.
You review venues.
So every couple of weeks, you might talkabout a particular venue and highlight
some of the great photographic points andtalk about the food and stuff like that.
You're connecting with otherpeople within that community.

(45:06):
So you're connecting with the dressshops and reviewing dress shops.
So your blog becomes somethingthat's really exciting for
somebody who's getting married.
I've got pet photographers who don'tdo LinkedIn newsletters about their
pet photography, they're doing LinkedInnewsletters on how to have a fun and
happy life with you and your pet.

(45:27):
So you might be a pet photographer inLondon who writes blogs on the top five
dog friendly pubs to go and have a pint.
The best three dog walksto do in your lunch hour.
Top tips on how to get your dog tosit, top tips on how to get your dog
to stop pulling on the lead, reviewson the best leashes and harnesses.
The best non destructive dog toys.

(45:49):
So it becomes really interestingfor your ideal client type.
It's not about you.
It's about the valuethat you can give them.
And that's the real power of a newsletter.
I think my newsletter now hasabout 16, 000 subscribers.
When you create a newsletter, all of yourconnections will get a notification that
your newsletter has gone out and wouldthey like to subscribe to your newsletter?

(46:11):
And then subsequently, the morenewsletters you create, the more
notifications that I'll get.
So it's a great way of getting you intoa habit of creating regular content.
So you could do a fortnightly newsletter,but then think about how could your
newsletters be packaged together.
Susan here is telling you about,is writing these newsletters on
historic and haunted Scotland.

(46:33):
I sat down with Susan and went throughour 12 and next 12 newsletter titles.
So it looks at them all, create thetitles together because when she's
finished writing these 12 newsletters,which will be in 24 weeks time,
because she's doing one every twoweeks, she's going to create a book.
So she's doing that with a purpose.
So every one of those newsletterswill be the next chapter of

(46:54):
her book that she will then.
Have a proofreader check over it.
I will then help out upload itto Amazon, cover design, and
then that can be monetized.
And then she's a publishedauthor and she can start earning
passive income from book sales.
A lot of people say, I'm goingto do one every week and then you
find it hard to keep up with them.
One of the things I find forwriting newsletters, obviously,

(47:15):
I've written quite a few booksis give yourself a small count.
So it becomes, I've got threethings to do every single day.
So that three things, right?
The three minimums, thethree non negotiables.
So your non negotiable might be, I'mgoing to do my post, my social media post.
I'm going to write 250 words ofmy next newsletter, my next blog,

(47:36):
on my next book, and I'm going toconnect with 20 people on LinkedIn.
Those are your threenon negotiables, right?
So even if you only do an hour anda half in your business that day,
you've got to do those three things.
If you says I want to writea thousand words every day,
you fail on the first day.
Cause you don't get a thousanddone because something happens.
The full range, you've got to take thedog for a walk, then you fail again.

(47:59):
The next day it's better todo shorter chunks because it
was 2, 500 words in 10 days.
There'll be two and ahalf thousand in 20 days.
There'll be 5, 000.
In three month you, you mighteven have a book ready to publish.
It's like people who go to the gymand, on the 1st of January and go
and do an hour and a half sessionand kill themselves and get up the
next day and they can barely walk.
They never go back.

(48:20):
yeah.
Yeah.
So just do that with your business.
Don't overload yourself.
You're not superhuman.
You need to be doing stuff that's workingon your business, not just working
in it, not just doing the editing.
You need to be doing stuffthat's going to get you visible.
Going to get you more authority,going to get you more opportunity,
going to grow your network.
You mentioned that you can sendnewsletters from your business

(48:45):
page, but also from your personalLinkedIn profile as well.
To be honest, you're better off doingit from your personal LinkedIn profiles.
The only reason I've got one on mybusiness page is because two years
ago, they brought them out forbusiness pages, but you couldn't
have one on your personal profile.
So the first ever newsletter I createdtwo years ago was on my business page.

(49:05):
And then when they allowed you to bringone out on your personal profile and
they had 60, 000 followers, I thoughtwell, it's, it's worth me doing one on
my personal profile because it's goingto get to more people, but why don't I
do one for the travel photography side,because that would help me monetize
my trips and also allow me to put mytravels through through my accounts.

(49:26):
One of the things I do every time I goon LinkedIn, I go see what is Jeff doing?
What is Jeff posting?
Because I just find value ineverything that you share.
What's the biggest mistake peopleare making on LinkedIn right
now and what tweak can theymake today to turn that around?
I think one of the biggest things ispeople tend to do quantity over quality.

(49:50):
So think about that story.
Create a headline becauseyou'll have a great image.
The image will stop the newsfeed.
People will scroll down.
Oh, that's a nice picture.
But what you want them to dois you want them to click that,
click on that post and open it up.
So that headline is the bit that'sgoing to bring them in there.
Think about headline.
You can have a question andheadline or statement headline.

(50:11):
You can say, I never thought thiswas going to happen when I got up
this morning, question mark, andthe people go, Oh, that's Oh, what
happened to Mica this morning?
So I've got to click offthe post and read it.
Then you tell a story, who, what, where,when, why, and ask a question at the
end, because if you ask a question as thevery last thing at the end, people will
feel compelled to comment, especiallyif they've enjoyed what you've written.

(50:33):
So try to relax on LinkedIn, speakon LinkedIn the same as you were
speaking to your friends on Facebook.
Don't be afraid to putpersonal content in out there.
In fact, I would say if you're goingto post four times per week, you
should be doing at least one, ifnot two personal posts per week.
Let people see the real person, theperson behind the camera, because

(50:53):
that will build relationships.
Do not use outbound links in your postsbecause LinkedIn doesn't want you to
send people to somewhere outbound.
So there's a thing on LinkedIncalled your featured section.
Your featured section isbelow your about section.
So what you can do in yourfeatured section is you can upload
media, you can upload documents.

(51:15):
So on my featured section, I havea link to my online booking diary,
my Acuity online booking diary.
And I also have a link to my my brochure,my full six steps to success brochure.
Now, by having those in my featuredsection, what it means is I can do a
post and I can do a post about a top tip.
And then I would say, if you'reinterested in taking your photography

(51:37):
business to the next level in 2025,why not book a free call with me
using the link in my featured sectionand download a copy of my brochure.
So in that post, I haven'tused any outbound links.
I'm just directing people to wherethey'll find that information.
But if I'd said book a call with my onlinediary and he's relinked to my acuity

(51:59):
because it's now bound linked, LinkedInwill produce the organic reach on that
post and hardly anybody would see it.
If you've been featured in a magazineand you've just had some of your images
featured, and that's a digital magazine,put a link to that in your featured
section, then make a post about it andsay, check out my featured section where
you can look through my gallery or youcan download a copy of the magazine.

(52:19):
Because you're not going toget any organic reach on that.
And then the other thing is hashtags.
It's not like Instagram.
If you're going to use hashtags, usemaybe two or three hashtags on LinkedIn.
They're not thatimportant on LinkedIn now.
It doesn't want to see lots of hashtags.
And then the other thing is beaware of when you're going to post.
For me, it's not as bad because I workwith clients all over the world, clients

(52:40):
about 25 different countries now.
But if you are posting to a businesscommunity in your particular area.
You don't want to be posting ateight o'clock at night because
they're not going to be there.
The key posting times on LinkedInis so eight o'clock in the morning,
first thing in the morning, lunchtime,because people are finishing for

(53:00):
a bit of lunch and like log ontosocial media on their lunch break.
And then just beforethe finish of the day.
So think about posting at half sevenin the morning, half seven to eight
o'clock in the morning, 12 o'clock toone o'clock or five to 6 PM, because
LinkedIn works on what's called velocity.
So when you post the bot will read yourposts, assess how good your post is.

(53:23):
We'll give it like a contentscore and put it out there.
But then it will adjust that content stuffif it starts getting a lot of engagement.
So if a post goes out and lots of peoplestart commenting on it, the bot comes
back about an hour after your post iscreated between an hour and 90 minutes.
Very similar to where Facebook worksis if you get a lot of comments and

(53:45):
engagement right at the very beginning,you'll see that start a snow ball.
Same on Facebook, you put a postout on Facebook, you get a lot
of comments in the beginning, andyou respond to those comments.
You see a lot more likes, the bot goes,oh, hang on, people are enjoying this.
We'll let more people see it,because ultimately social media
is only looking out for itself.
It wants to only promote content thatis engaging and people are enjoying.

(54:09):
Because it keeps people ontheir platform for longer.
So you've gotta think I'm gonnacreate content that the bot's going to
love, my followers are going to love.
And it's going to keep people on thatplatform for longer and get you seen more.
I always have that saying,visibility is credibility.
The more visible you become,the more credible you are.
Credibility leads to authority.

(54:30):
So more credibility you have, the moreauthority you get, the more authority you
have, the more opportunity comes your way.
So credibility is done by puttingyourself out there and being visible.
Being credible is just beingyourself and building relationships.
And then the opportunity and theauthority will start to come your way.
And the authority and opportunitycome through numbers and

(54:51):
come through consistency.
I have clients who join LinkedIn withzero followers, and then two years time,
they've got 10000, 12000, 15000 followers.
They've earned those followersby being good with their content,
connecting with the right people,but also creating enjoyable content
that people want to engage with.
See this is why I love LinkedIn.

(55:11):
It really is my new favorite place.
I want to close out today's interviewabout your book that just came out.
My copy just arrived in themail, so excited to get into it.
I still have the third edition.
So what sparked this new edition?
Was there like a specific momentor realization that made you go,

(55:31):
okay, it's time for an update?
Yeah, one of the big things is inthe third edition talked a lot about
creator mode and LinkedIn broughton creator mode in 2021, but then
they moved away from creator mode.
So everybody now is bydefault a content creator.
So what I wanted to do with this bookis you talk about the changes to the

(55:52):
platform, but also give people moreideas about how to create content.
Because that is one of the biggestthings people sit down at LinkedIn
and think, what am I going to write?
Edition four has a hundred and oddmore pages and has lots more pictures
in because I'm showing content ideasand saying, this is a personal post,
look how much engagement it's got.
There was one was an example ofme and my daughter seeing Slash

(56:14):
in concert, but it's got nothingto do with photography mentoring.
But I told a story behind it andI told a story about, how I take
my role as a dad really seriously.
So that was the big thing with meabout educating photographers on how
to utilize content and create content.
And ultimately to cross onto Facebookas well on Facebook professional mode.
I'm going to have to learn moreabout this Facebook professional mode

(56:36):
because that's that's exciting to hear.
What's one thing you're mostexcited for photographers to
discover in this newest edition?
Getting people to getinto that weekly workflow.
It's not just about creating posts,it's about creating a variety
of different types of posts.
Also creating a newsletter and thinkingabout a bigger picture for a newsletter.

(56:59):
Have you always wanted to write a book?
A book is the best business cardin the world, and I'm dyslexic.
I'd never got kicked out of schoolwith zero qualifications, but I've
written four bestselling books.
Then I launched my first travel bookand I've been co writing a book with
a guy in Pittsburgh as well, so it'sif I can do it, anybody can do it.
There's so much softwareout there that can help.

(57:20):
I use Word Read Aloud.
So I don't use any ChatGPT.
I write everything from the heart and thenI just use Grammarly to spell check it.
And I'll listen to itback on Word Read Aloud.
Then ultimately go to a proofreaderbefore it becomes a book.
Can you create a newsletter thatultimately might become that book
that you've always wanted to publish?
It could be about your local area.

(57:41):
It could be about historicand haunted areas.
It could be about food recipes.
It could be about your passion for cookingand your passion for food or local dishes.
Or it could be review of restaurantsand places to eat in your local area.
A book really stands you outdifferently as an authority.
Have a look at the workflow and thinkabout, can I be creating a newsletter
that can ultimately become a book?

(58:03):
Ultimately become a passive income
I like the idea of a weeklyworkflow because it's easy to
get lost on a social media site.
Let's say on Instagram reels, you'rethere to check your messages, but you
end up watching 20 reels and forgetwhy you're there to begin with.
A weekly workflow feels like a compass.

(58:24):
This is how I can best utilizethe time that I'm on here and
get the most bang for my buck.
I love the idea of a weekly workflow.
Well as having that, my other book, theAmbitious Photographers Journal, I talk
about like the goal set inside of things.
And so many people create to do lists.
And I say, what do you do is you haveyour to do list, but then you have

(58:46):
a must do list, which goes back tomy three things you must do every
single day, the non negotiables.
Then you can say I'lldo them three things.
Then I'll look at my to do list.
It's not about working 16 hours a day.
It's working for the right lengthof time on the right stuff.
I can be incredibly lazy, but I canstill get a lot of results because I

(59:09):
put my time in doing the thing that'sgoing to ultimately get me results.
We can all spend time scrolling throughsocial media or spend ages editing
photographs and over editing them again.
When.
if we put more, it's about thatvisibility, about that opportunity.
Where do I want to be with my business?
Where do I want to get to?
Am I doing the little things everysingle day that's ultimately going

(59:31):
to get me to that bigger goal?
Yeah, if I do a hundred press upsevery day, it's not like going to
a gym for an hour, but a hundredpress ups every day for 60, 90 days.
That's impressive.
Funny enough, you talk about it, justtalking about the press ups, I've got
a press up app and every day I'm doingthe press up apps, doing my press ups
and I don't do a hundred in a one, itwould be in like maybe four or five sets.

(59:51):
But you can get these little apps thatyou can set into the app what it is you
want to achieve, you three non negotiable,and it will give you a right line
reminder at eight o'clock in the morning.
Have you done your social media posts?
Have you written your 250 words?
So you have that accountability andit's like ticking that little box.
Keeps you accountable becauseyou're accountable to yourself.
And that's one of the biggest things,when I work with photographers, who

(01:00:15):
join my program, they're like, Ilike being accountable to you because
like most of us, photographers.
We'll work on our own.
So when you don't have thataccountability, it's so easy to
just, Oh, I'll do it tomorrow.
I'll do it, out forming that habit.
And if you've got like a littleapp or a journal or something that
keeps that consistency going, youdon't have to do it all in one day.
You just do it in alittle bite size chunks.

(01:00:36):
Every step is a stepin the right direction.
I have two more questions.
Did you have any aha moments whileyou were writing this new edition?
Anything that surprised you or changedyour own perspective on LinkedIn?
Probably one of the biggest things isthe reaching of opportunity because I
did a lot of that work and realizing howeasy it is to get a lot of the stuff that

(01:01:01):
we really desire if, we come from theright mindset, just approaching the right
people and, things happening and coming.
Like the South Africa one it's a guyin Sweden Norway who's getting me to go
over to speak at this conference, but theamount of stuff they're putting into it.
We're going on three days for safari.
We're going cage divingwith great white sharks.
And this is all reclusive in the package.

(01:01:23):
To go on and speak.
And then when I looked at it, I lookedat the, looks at the schedule and he
says, yeah, Jackie speaking on theTuesday from two, two o'clock to two 45.
And then the next week in Johannesburg.
And then the next week he's speaking inCape Town from two o'clock to two 45.
And I went 45 minutes each time.
And he's taking his kids diving andon safari and this magnificent hotel.

(01:01:47):
He was like, yeah, wedon't want to burn you out.
We want you to have fun, but it's thereis that much opportunity out there
if you approach stuff with the rightmindset, really visualize, think of what
you can do and start looking for it.
Cause it's not going to come to youuntil you start making, you might have
to connect with a few people or a fewparticular brands, and then people start

(01:02:07):
speaking and then you make people awareof your intentions of what you'd like
or somebody, Oh, speak to my friend.
He might be able to help you with this.
I know food photographers, one of mygood food photographers, Emma, she's
now running workshops around the world.
She's got workshops bookedinternationally for this year.
She's done speaking events.
She's been in magazines and it'sall because we've written down the

(01:02:28):
deep goals for our business thatmaybe two years ago, three years
ago, sounded ridiculous, but now.
It wouldn't speak at an event onnormal threats to sell out a workshop.
What would you say to a listener rightnow who is still feeling hesitant
about investing their time in LinkedIn?

(01:02:50):
I would say look at some of the stats.
So LinkedIn now is pastthe 1 billion user mark.
So it's a big platform.
It is the only professional networkingplatform, the biggest professional
networking platform in the world.
Now look at some of the stats.
41 percent of millionaires use LinkedIn.
The average wage earner on LinkedIntakes home around 86,000 dollars.

(01:03:12):
So these aren't your Facebookmarketplace freebie hunters,
Groupon, tie pickers, cherubs.
These are the peoplewho are decision makers.
I think it's 68 percent of decision makersuse LinkedIn to decide on hiring somebody
for a particular service, because it'seasier to hire somebody who you know

(01:03:34):
then go and do a blind Google search.
And also remember that yourLinkedIn profile is probably a lot
more valuable than your website.
If I go to your website now, I'll beable to see a static fixed thing in
time of when you last did your website,which might be a year and a half ago.
If I go to your LinkedIn profile,I'll see all the posts you've done.
I'll see a bit about your about section.

(01:03:55):
I'll see all the information thatyou've got in your featured section.
I'll be able to download brochures,links to your websites, but I'll
also be able to see your posts.
I'll see how you respond to other people'scomments, how you engage with people.
Your profile is much more personaland a true representation, and has
a hell of a lot more informationthan a website ever would.
So many people come to me andjoin my program or work with me

(01:04:16):
and never been to my website.
There's a lot of neverbeen on your website, Jeff.
All they need to know to workwith me or have opportunities
together is on my profile.
Jeff I enjoyed this conversation so much.
I am such a huge fan of LinkedInand it's always thrilling when I
meet another person you're the onewho got me excited about LinkedIn.

(01:04:38):
I just remember, looking for,I wanted to get on LinkedIn.
I just didn't know anything about it.
And I found your book and bought it andgained so much knowledge from it and
revamped my entire profile and love it.
And so I know you're, LinkedInbecause you're the reason why
I'm excited about LinkedIn.

(01:04:59):
So thank you so muchfor coming on the show.
Where can the new listeners find youand follow you and learn from you?
First of all, LinkedIn, obviously.
So just go to LinkedIn, type in JeffBrown, the photographer's mentor.
You'll see me on LinkedIn.
Our website is the photographer's mentor.
com.

(01:05:19):
And you can also find me on Facebook.
So just go onto Facebook and type inJeff Brown, the photographer's mentor
and connect with me on Facebook as well.
And if you do have any questions,just drop me a message, whether that
be LinkedIn or whether they're byFacebook messenger, and I always
come back with either a writtenreply or I'll do a little voice chat.
So if you're struggling withsomething, you want somebody to give

(01:05:40):
you a an answer to your question,then I'm more than happy to do that.
And your book, ThePhotographer's Missing LinkedIn.
It's on Amazon and they can get itas a Kindle or paperback or hardback.
It is the most up todate book on LinkedIn.
It's only been out three monthsand it's the most up to date

(01:06:01):
book on LinkedIn on the planetwritten purely for photographers.
So it, all the examples, everythingthrough there, 250 odd pages is all
about photographers and photography.
There's stuff in there for foodphotographers, headshot photographers,
branding, but it's written by somebody whois a photographer, who's very successful
on LinkedIn, has done very well.

(01:06:22):
And.
I've never spent a penny on it.
I haven't used LinkedIn ad yet, andI've had so much business from LinkedIn
and opportunity from LinkedIn for free.
And that's one of the best things.
Oh my gosh.
Thank you again so much for coming back.
Absolute pleasure.
Really enjoyed it.
Thank you.
And it's been lovely to see you again.

(01:06:44):
And also, fantastic weight loss journey.
66 pounds is.
That's incredible, and that, andthat is consistency, isn't it?
That's motivation, transistency, settingyour goals, thinking about it, visualizing
it, and my God, you've got it done.
That's absolutely brilliant.
Yes.
It's been a journey.
It's changed my perspective on everything.

(01:07:05):
I know that as a freelancer, Ioften find myself feeling frustrated
that things aren't happening.
This journey taught me that the reasonwhy some things weren't happening is
because I just wasn't showing up inthe way that I needed to consistently.
So now I'm just looking at different areasof my life, where can I be consistent
for changes that I wanna see in my life.

(01:07:28):
And not just personally,but professionally.
So it's just been a real eyeopening experience so far.
I'm not close to my target weight, but I'mvery excited about where I'm at right now.
Thank you so much againfor being on the show.
Absolute pleasure weekend.
And and thanks to everybody for listening.