THE LATEST
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT RUNNING A PHOTO BIZ
Your Client Experience: Creating the Delightfully Unexpected
When it comes to the off-season in your photography business, it’s the perfect time to take a long look at your client experience and get it caught up to speed. In fact, when we asked a list of incredibly successful photographers what they are prioritizing in their...
How to Use Wedding Photography Email Templates to Educate Your Clients
We asked a list of incredibly successful photographers what they are prioritizing in their business right now during the COVID-19 crisis (and during any typical off-season), and this was their top response: They're auditing their client experience. Why?...
Here’s How to Update Your Wedding Photography Website
When the COVID-19 crisis hit, you probably asked yourself this question: "What am I supposed to work on during this sudden off-season?" This sudden change of pace is dizzying, and I think we all need a little help getting back on track. So, I asked some experts. I...
An Open Letter to Wedding Photographers During COVID-19
Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify Creative Rising Episode 310 [NARRATIVE] 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...
How to Respond to a Wedding Cancellation or Postponement During COVID-19
I'll be honest with you, friends - this is not easy. This season of COVID-19 has undoubtedly been a stressful, scary time for creative entrepreneurs like ourselves. But it’s also been a heartbreaking season for our clients. They’ve been planning their weddings or...
Freebie – Our COVID-19 Response Templates
our email response templates forCOVID-19It's critical to communicate well during this time of uncertainty. Get the exact emails we're using right now to reassure our clients, take care of our vendors, and respond to postponements and cancellations for weddings,...
Asset Management: How to Create a Simple Backup System That Works
Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify Creative Rising Episode 309 [TRAINING] 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...
How a Benign Brain Tumor and Infertility Transformed Identity, Community, & Leadership for Natalie Franke
Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify Creative Rising Episode 308 [INTERVIEW] 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...
Why You Should Always Think About Scaling Your Business (Even If You Never Want To)
Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify Creative Rising Episode 307 [TRAINING] 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,...
Copywriting: How to Write Your Site to Attract Your Dreamies with Rachel Greiman
Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify Creative Rising Episode 306 [TRAINING] 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...
Freebie – Organizational Chart for Photographers
map out your biz with ourORGANIZATIONAL CHARTAs boring as it sounds, creating an org chart of the roles in your business will be the key to scaling into an exciting (and profitable) brand.what other people ARE SAYING These templates were so very helpful for me...
A Week in the Life: Behind the Scenes with Jeff and Erin
Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify Creative Rising Episode 305 [NARRATIVE] 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...
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HOW DO I GET MORE (AND BETTER) WEDDING INQUIRIES?
Every wedding photographer desperately wants to know the quick answer to this one question: “How in the world do I get more wedding inquiries???" So in this mega-post, I’m sharing how to build a solid marketing STRATEGY – the same one that has continually brought high quality wedding inquiries to our business for the past ten years.
SIX EMAIL TEMPLATES YOU SHOULDN'T LIVE WITHOUT
A full inbox causes so much stress in my life that it’s the #1 thing that pulls me away from important work. So what's my single most effective weapon against ‘email overwhelm’? EMAIL TEMPLATES. Here’s my pick for the six email templates that every wedding photographer should have in their business and why.
HOW TO SHOOT BEAUTIFUL PORTRAITS IN HARSH SUNLIGHT
When it comes to lighting, wedding days are totally against us as wedding photographers. Most of the time, we’re shooting the First Look, wedding party and family portraits ALL in the harsh afternoon sun. So how do Jeff and I handle the tough light to shoot soft, natural skin tones in super harsh sun? Check out my six technical tips…
CREATIVE RISING
the podcastA show about what it’s really like to run a PHOTOGRAPHY business
We teach photographers to build life-giving businesses that they absolutely love.
About Us
We're Jeff & Erin
We’re Jeff and Erin Youngren – and it’s our mission to help you thrive not just as a wedding photographer, but as a business owner. It’s time to set aside the stress and comparison of a hustle mindset, and build a life-giving business instead.
We met in college, got married, and started corporate jobs before we discovered (and fell in love with) wedding photography. But like many creative entrepreneurs, we were booking anything we could, strapped to our laptops and living dangerously close to burnout.
So we dug in and learned how to build a thriving business that supports our dream life – instead of a joyless business that runs a stressed-out life.
Today, we photograph only 10 Dreamie weddings per year, but we also run two other wedding brands plus a commercial studio in San Diego, CA. And we do it by only working the hours that fit into our life. The other hours? We spend those living a joyful life raising our two beautiful sons, James and Samuel.
hugs,
Jeff and Erin