From Cheap Digitals to Profitable Artwork: Mindset Shifts with Michelle Crandallv

Ina (: 00:00

Welcome back to the Pet Photographers' Journal. Today on the podcast, I'm joined by Michelle Crandall of Pets in Focus. Michelle is a pet photographer based in Tecumseh, Michigan, and we first connected through the Elevate community, where she was also one of the Lifeline coaches focusing on mindset. Her journey started in the world of dog sports photography, but like many of us, she had to pivot. What followed was a complete reinvention of her business.

one that centres around pet portraits, in-person sales and helping clients invest in meaningful artwork. In this chat, we talk about the shift from selling cheap digital to high-value products, how mindset and our money story show up in business, and the reality of running a book project that's both personal and profitable. Michelle's honesty, humour and insight make this such a valuable listen, especially if you've ever questioned yourself about your pricing, worried about sales,

or felt like you were the only ones struggling. So let's dive in.

So Michelle, welcome to the Pet Photographers' Journal.

Michelle Crandall (: 01:17

Yes, thank you for having me. I'm really excited. I'm so excited to see how your podcast is growing. It's very exciting to watch.

Ina (: 01:25

Thank you and thanks for coming on. was so excited when you said yes. Tell us a bit more about you and your business and what got you started in pet photography.

Michelle Crandall (: 01:34

Well, I started pet photography. It sounds like I've been doing it so much longer than in actuality. It does. Yeah, like I started in 2019 with a goal of not speaking to any human beings and just doing dog sports.

Ina (: 01:50

I love that goal

Michelle Crandall (: 01:53

My whole business goal was to sit in the corner of agility rings all weekend long, take a bunch of photos and then sell them during the week and not talk to any people. That was the goal. It worked pretty well at the end of 2019. And then of course, everyone knows the global pandemic in 2020. my schedule was completely full. I mean, I had like 25 weekends of events.

In: 2020

everyone else thinks I'm a people person, but I don't think I'm a people person. And so it was really hard to have the confidence to go into that space now that I'm going to be working one-on-one with people in a portrait type setting.

Ina (: 02:58

Yeah, that would be a mindset change as well.

Michelle Crandall (: 03:01

For

. And I say that I started in: 2019

Ina (: 03:16

Well, your journey is probably the same as mine because I also started around the end of 2019, early 2020, but then I actually only quit my full time job in 2022. So I think we've been around the same time. yeah. And obviously the pandemic affected everyone. I want to go dive into about your whole mindset change from doing the dog agility to doing dog portraits. But before we get into that, I'd love to know like currently all

Michelle Crandall (: 03:33

Yes.

Ina (: 03:44

Who's your ideal client and how are you attracting them?

Michelle Crandall (: 03:48

Yeah, that's a really good question. And I think it changes a lot. It fluctuates. Which I never, I didn't really think and probably, you know, some business coaches may say that's not right. But when I started in 2022, I always thought that my ideal client was two income family, probably don't have kids, definitely have dogs and they just love dogs. That was the main thing that I kept thinking. My clients love dogs. They're dog people on and on and on.

But the truth of the matter is not only do they have to love their dogs, but they also have to love artwork, which is I want to sell. They have to love what I'm selling because especially in the very beginning when I wasn't charging profitable prices, they just, they all wanted digital, $25 digital, $15 digital. And that wasn't a profitable business plan. Like it was fun and I learned a lot, but you can't sustain that. so, so as my, as my business continued, I.

my ideal client kind of morphed from who I thought it was to who I'm noticing is actually purchasing things. And most of them are actually people who are 45 to 50 years old plus many of them are retired and they're empty nesters and their dog is their life. And they appreciate artwork. Appreciate having an album that they can take with them when they're visiting their kids show, you know, this beautiful portraits of their dog. And so I didn't really

Ina (: 05:02

or that.

Michelle Crandall (: 05:12

that's not I didn't think that like when I go through you know the ideal client worksheets and all that that's not who I it's it's not who I thought it was

Ina (: 05:19

So

you thought originally, yeah, for sure. Definitely happened to me. And that's the thing I think I know a lot of coaches saying, you've got one ideal client and you you try to speak to them. But I do have a few ideal client avatars. I guess there's a lot of crossover as well in terms of how you talk to them. But the ultimate thing is that yes, they love their pets, but they also want artwork. They want something tangible to display. And I love how you've said that.

Michelle Crandall (: 05:22

I don't know if that happened to you or not, but

Ina (: 05:48

Tell me more about how that mindset from, you know, especially going into dog photography where you've said that you just want to photograph dogs, don't want to interact with clients and having to morph your business into pet portraits, one-on-one clients. And obviously I think you're doing in-person sales, is that right? Or online in-person sales? Yes. And having interaction with clients.

But how did you go from having to deal with not wanting to deal with people and now having to deal with people one-on-one? Because obviously as a pet photographer, people think that being a pet photographer, we don't have to deal with people, but we do because how can we then get the dog to come and we have to talk to people.

Michelle Crandall (: 06:28

Most of the dogs don't have credit cards. I have heard one instance where an influencer dog had a credit card from a friend of mine, but the rest of them don't.

Ina (: 06:37

Exactly, exactly.

Michelle Crandall (: 06:39

Yeah. It was a very big change and it took a lot of coaching through Heather Latsaman and her program. I'm an active member of the Elevate community as well as a coach there now. It took a lot of mindset work. my background for people that don't know, am a registered nurse. I did nursing for two decades and so I didn't have any business knowledge at all.

I had no idea how to run a business. I knew how people in the US insurances run businesses ineffectively. But I had no idea how to run my own business. the reason that I didn't want to interact with clients is because I didn't know what to say to them. And I didn't know how to ask them to buy things without

feeling slimy. And so that was a really big, when you talk about mindset changes, that was a huge mindset change to go from just hiding, literally hiding in the corner and just putting stuff online and please buy my stuff to actively being a participant in that sales process in sales. What are you interested in purchasing? Why are you doing this session? Is it just because you want cute photos to put on your Instagram? Like that's not what I'm selling here.

So to change my mindset, to be able to then have those conversations with people fluidly and sound professional. Most of that work came from learning about my own money stories, how I feel about people that make more money than I do, or what some people would describe as rich people. Would I be my own ideal client? That was another big thing that I had to get over. Would I spend $3,000 on an album?

I'm not sure. But does it matter? No.

Ina (: 08:26

Yes. I actually, that, that was a big mindset shift that I had to do too. I was like, I think I was putting my money beliefs and what I believe about me to be purchasing photography to my clients, but my money belief, I can't project my money belief onto them because I might not be my ideal client and that's okay. Yeah.

Michelle Crandall (: 08:47

Yeah, that's okay.

We can also work with people who make more money than us. Yes. And what I've noticed too about some of my very best clients are not super rich. What people would describe of as super rich, they're just average people who love their dogs and love artwork, love the products that I'm selling. They love the experience.

They love the memory that they have. We did this photo shoot and it was amazing. It was so much fun. Look at all these memories in this album that we have from this photo shoot. That's what we're selling.

Ina (: 09:20

Yes, that's amazing. That's amazing. And when you try to shift from dog photography to one-on-one portrait client, obviously that's also involved, not just the mindset of working with people and selling artworks, but also the pricing. How did you go about changing that pricing and changing your process to help clients now saying yes to artwork and investing in high value packages rather than dog photography? It's just really cheap digital because it's dog sports photography.

They just want digital and it's just a completely different client market.

Michelle Crandall (: 09:51

Yeah, it really is a completely different client market. And I had to remember to myself during my dog sports sales, this was just an afterthought. They were there to compete with their dogs and they, most of them had already invested about 200 to $250 just to be there. And then for me to ask them to pay $25 for a digital or maybe 50 for three, they were like appalled. And I'm like, are you joking? Like.

You know, I spent 18 hours doing this and calling the, know, just on site alone. So I want you to know, you know, this was the mindset that I had going into learning how to do portrait pricing. $25 was absurd to them. Like, now, now you want me to charge a hundred dollars for an eight by 10. Are you joking? Nobody's going to pay that. That's everything that was going through my mind.

Ina (: 10:34

Yeah.

Michelle Crandall (: 10:51

And so I had to, be honest with you, when it actually clicked, and I think this was just recently, I would say within the last 12 to 14 months, when it really clicked in my mind was that to run a profitable business, this is what you have to sell things for. Yes. Period. And I had to separate that out from, Michelle's photography worth that much? Am I good enough to charge this?

Ina (: 11:00

Really?

Yes.

Michelle Crandall (: 11:19

I had to throw all that out the window and say, if I want Pets & Focus to be profitable, an album needs to cost this.

Ina (: 11:26

Yes, I totally agree because I think what I hear is like, ⁓ you have to charge your worth, charge your worth. And I'm like, how do I know how much I'm worth?

Michelle Crandall (: 11:35

Because if you say something, you say, Michelle, your, photos are beautiful. You're worth $5,000. But I think I'm worth 50 bucks because I don't have enough confidence. Then what are you going to do when you're trying to.

Ina (: 11:40

Yeah, that's right.

And

that's not going to, exactly. And it's not going to transfer through as well. And then people say you're too expensive and that's going to then go, my gosh, I'm not worth it. And it's going to break your confidence even more. ⁓ Yeah. So, and that's, and that's really, I guess, important to actually go, this is how much you charge. You've got to charge on how much you're to cover your cost of doing business, but also how much you want to earn in your business. I need to earn this much so I can sustain a good lifestyle for my dogs because they're...

Michelle Crandall (: 11:59

It's a huge spiral.

Ina (: 12:17

I I have to take take Rosie to hydrotherapy every fortnight and I've got three dogs and they live a bougie life. I'm going to have make sure I sustain a good lifestyle for them otherwise they'll be disappointed.

Michelle Crandall (: 12:26

I know.

Exactly. I totally agree. We got to working as an RN. That's a pretty good career. I was doing very well. And so then to switch that and now have to supplement that with pet photography, you have to get out of that mindset of, how much am I worth? How much is Michelle worth? How much is Ina worth? It's completely separate. It is. How much does Ina J photography have to make for the bougie lifestyle that you want for your dogs?

Ina (: 12:45

Yeah.

Exactly, right? Exactly. That's what I had to think about. I was like, how much do I need to make so that I can make sure that my dog has a good lifestyle? And that I can cover my costs of doing business. I can take time off, you know, in winter, because obviously we're doing this, I got out of a corporate life so I can do what I love. But also I can have more time and freedom, not having even more time to just keep working in the business 24 seven, which is what you end up doing.

When you start your own business, like the start, my goal was I want to be able to take extra time off and Canberra in winter, it's frigging cold. It's so cold. We've had, know, it's, I don't know what it is in Fahrenheit, but it's below zero degrees. So it's like less than 32 Fahrenheit. And it's just too cold. So for me, my goal is I don't want to photograph outdoors in winter. I just want to relax at home with my dogs or.

do some travel, which I've been doing around the country and running workshops all over the country where it's not as cold as Canberra actually understanding the cost of doing this is what your goals are as well. And then working those figures out rather than, what, what, what am I worth? That's really great. And that mindset is a big shift for me as well. I've slowly had to increase my pricing, obviously because know, lab pricing comes up and the cost of living comes up because you know, yes, cost of living comes up. I have to also.

Michelle Crandall (: 14:21

Yes.

Ina (: 14:24

increase my prices so that I can sustain to make sure that I can pay my bills. And it's always challenging and I was like, my gosh, I'm too expensive. But then I to think about, well, this is what I need to charge to run a sustainable and profitable business so that I can do this full time. think that's what a lot of people struggle with, especially when they're not doing it full time and then transitioning to full time. That's the big struggle that when I was working a 95 job, I had that income to sustain.

my living and it was scary to jump into this full time and it's been what, 3.5 years now to doing this full time. thought, ⁓ my gosh, what happens? It doesn't work out. I'm going to be homeless and die in a ditch. Cause you know, my mind, that was where my mind went.

Michelle Crandall (: 15:11

Yeah, I get it.

Ina (: 15:13

Our mind, as you know, trying to protect, our brain's trying to protect ourselves, so we just go in the most terrible place.

Michelle Crandall (: 15:20

favorite things to do in coaching is to ask people to answer the question, right? I learned this from Heather Lahtinen What if it doesn't work out, Ina? Then what? You're not going to die in a ditch with three dogs that go to hydrotherapy.

Ina (: 15:35

I gotta work on it out. Figure it out. Exactly.

Michelle Crandall (: 15:38

figure it out. If you have to go back to your corporate job, you will. If you have to do a different type of photography, you will. But these, when we start to think, what if it doesn't work out? What if it doesn't work out? If we don't put that answer there, like to bed right then, it'll just continue to spiral. Ask me how I know this, you know.

Ina (: 15:59

How do you know this, Michelle?

Michelle Crandall (: 16:01

I do it all the time. Yeah. It's, ⁓ I recognize it. People love to do lifelines with me and, you know, work in the elevate program with me because I, like you said, I'm very honest. I'm upfront about everything that's going on and like, I recognize it in you because I've already seen it in me and then had to re correct it, you know.

Yes. We all think that we're out there like being these little islands of dog photographers and we're the only ones struggling with this stuff and we're not.

Ina (: 16:34

No, that's what I love about having this community because sometimes I feel like, my gosh, am I the only one thinking this? But we're not, everyone's going through the same thing. that's, yeah. And it's totally normal. I think that's the thing. It's because you see a lot of, I think with social media as well, you see a lot of unfiltered view of things and everyone's going, my gosh, I think this is Facebook. I got $10,000 sale and I was like, my gosh.

I get my imposter syndrome coming in and I'm just like, am I, how can I coach or mentor other people when I'm not making consistent $10,000 sales? But really I don't need to be because I've lived the experience that someone maybe a level or two below me is going through and where they might need help for that. And actually I ⁓ went through like a photography festival thing on the weekend and I was listening.

Michelle Crandall (: 17:10

get it.

Ina (: 17:26

to one of the main speaker and his name is Vinh Giang and he said you just need to be one or two level above. You're teaching the people that are 10 whatever levels below you, you're not trying to target to teach the people who are at level 99,000. Way, way, way above you.

Michelle Crandall (: 17:41

Yeah. And that's exactly true. You're just working with, you're just a few steps ahead. Even if you just help one person, I used to do this in nursing all the time. I would cry on the way home because it was like, yes, I was very burnout. And then every once in a while it would happen where one patient would come to me and they would be like, you made a difference in my life. Or like, can remember this one lady brought me, it doesn't matter. It was like a dollar or something like that. It was a little bitty flower pot.

Ina (: 17:46

Exactly.

Michelle Crandall (: 18:10

And she was so grateful for the care that I had given her mother that she just, she went to the gift shop and came back up after she was discharged and gave me this little flower in this little pot. That meant more to me than like anybody saying anything. You know what I mean? And that's the sort of thing. I had just a little bit more knowledge about her mother's ailments and how she could better care for it. And I took the time to talk to her about it. And it's the same thing in coaching. I've been there.

I've done some crazy stuff. like, let's learn from my mistakes so you don't have to make them. You can sprint forward.

Ina (: 18:44

Awesome. That's yeah. And I think, and that's why I love talking to you, Michelle, because there's times where I remember when I was in Elevate and I was like, my gosh, my brain. Yeah. I'm like getting bookings and I start getting in a spiral and just talking to you going, okay, like you're okay. You've done this before.

So now shift to, and then we talk about your journey to switching to portraits. Tell me about your business now. So I guess you said that you've got your clients who are spending, investing in artwork and you're charging a sustainable and profitable amount. What does that look like? How many clients do you do a month and where are you getting your clients from?

Michelle Crandall (: 19:19

Yeah, that's a great question. And it again, continues to ebb and flow and change. I wouldn't say I'm exactly yet where I envision my business when it's done in quotations. I don't know if there's ever a done when you're a business.

Ina (: 19:35

don't think it's ever a done stage when you're...

Michelle Crandall (: 19:38

I

don't think so either. This year, I was really pushed by some photography friends and mentors to get out of my comfort zone and do a book project. Never considered myself the type of person who could do a book project. No, that's too much. I don't think so. And as usual, I decided, well, I'm not doing anything else. So why, why the heck not? Let's just try it and see what happens. That sort of confidence comes from failing a lot.

And it also comes from learning that I will figure this out. Like whatever happens, I will figure it out. And I haven't always had that confidence in myself, but I've found that making myself get on my comfort zone and doing these things every year, it has helped me gain that confidence.

Ina (: 20:27

Amazing.

That's so good. I feel the same as you. ⁓

Michelle Crandall (: 20:31

Yeah.

Well, so to answer your question, like, how am I getting clients right now? How I'm getting clients is I'm giving them a reason to book. And that's what I've learned most of this year. And that's kind of one of the main things that I want people to hear is that you start a business and you open your doors and you have a website, you start social media and you just expect them to like book with you. And there's no reason to.

No, because you and I know like all the technical, beautiful photos that are out there. Clients just see a pretty dog picture. I mean, they care. Probably some of them care. Some of my clients have cared and they've asked me about my education, but most of them don't care. And so you have to give them a reason to schedule a session with you.

Ina (: 21:05

Okay.

Totally.

Michelle Crandall (: 21:18

That's yeah. And that's what this book project has done for me. Now it's been an extremely emotional project for me. It's very close to home because I've decided I was going to say for better or worse, but really I made the decision to only include dachshunds in my book project. It's a breed specific project. And it's dogs. Yes. I am a huge weenie dog fan and like, please don't edit out the word dog because that can be really weird.

Ina (: 21:48

Definitely not.

Michelle Crandall (: 21:51

That

of the three of them died in: 2023

And I had talked to some friends and mentors who have coined the phrase dog joy and like, how, where are you finding, where are you finding the fun in this? Because photography used to be wonderfully fun for me. And then it wasn't. Then it, then it became a job. And so I was trying to figure out how can I make this work to make an extremely long story short, how can I make this work and still love my job and what I came up with being pushed by other people.

Ina (: 22:34

Okay.

Michelle Crandall (: 22:48

was to do this book project. And so I made the decision to do only Dachshunds. And I'm not sure that I would recommend that or not. I think it's a very personal person. But I will say in the decision making process to only do Dachshunds, I excluded every single client I've ever had.

Ina (: 23:08

Yeah, that must have been scary.

Michelle Crandall (: 23:10

I didn't think about it until I already did it, Ina, and then I was like, no, what have I done?

So I had one Dachshunds client in my whole business and it was like a mini session for a Santa session. And so that was it. And I was like, my gosh. So I sent out this email to my, my email list and I was, I know none of you have Daxons, but if you know somebody that does please forward them this message.

It was just one of those things that I was just going full and I just really wanted to do it. And it was super close to my heart. And I'm like, this is what I'm going to do. And then I launch it I'm like, Oh no, I forgot about the clients. I, thankfully I connected with a really great Dachshund club here in my area. They are super engaged and they really are.

the reason that I was able to complete the project so quickly.

Ina (: 24:08

Amazing. How long has it been or how long has it taken you to complete the project?

Michelle Crandall (: 24:13

Again, I don't think I would recommend this to anybody listening to your podcast. However, I did it in five and a half months. had about 27 sessions with a total of 49 Dachshunds in five and a half months. I found where my business needs to get streamlined. I'll sure tell you that because I'm...

Ina (: 24:30

That's all.

Michelle Crandall (: 24:39

I still consider myself pretty early in business, right? So I would advocate if you don't need a CRM and you don't need this and you don't need all these bells and whistles, don't waste your money on them. Like you still need to build your business up to that. Well, what I did in this book project was I went from zero to a thousand in January, 2025. And like, my gosh, you know,

Ina (: 25:03

That would have been a big learning curve.

Michelle Crandall (: 25:04

Yes, for sure. So that's kind of like when you say, well, you're doing so well, you've had months. How was your business? And I'm like, it's a disaster.

Ina (: 25:16

I guess that's just your mind saying it's a disaster. think you're definitely doing better than what you think.

Michelle Crandall (: 25:24

I'm

sure I am. No clients have been left out cold. I've not missed any sessions. Everybody's gotten their, their, their wall art and their products in a very timely manner. But the backend of it is kind of like, know, like the old Flintstones comic where like they're going on the top and underneath they're like, that's what I continue to feel.

Ina (: 25:46

They're like running.

That's you felt.

Michelle Crandall (: 25:53

Yeah. it's, the whole, the point of the whole thing is that, I mean, of course I gave people reason to book. Oh, look at this beautiful product that I offer. Please buy it. That's the basis of what my social media has been. And that's what my offerings have been. But now if you book in the first six months of 2025, specifically Dachshunds will get to be in this awesome fundraising project. That spoke to people. They were like,

Ina (: 26:20

That's my...

Michelle Crandall (: 26:21

Yeah, I've got to do this now. I've got to get in with her. I've got to fill out the application. Now, granted, I am very, very fortunate that I was able to partner with this docs and club in my area. That's where most of my clients came from this and a little bit with the rescue themselves promoting it. So I do realize that was really a very big part of my success in this project, but also I had to complete it. So I'm the one that was out there doing 27 sessions.

Ina (: 26:32

That's cool.

Yeah.

Michelle Crandall (: 26:51

Five and a half months. I'm the one who's driving two and a half hours one way to get to these places Wow, I say oh I wouldn't have been able to do it without them, which is true, but also like

Ina (: 26:57

Wow.

You did the whole front. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You did the biggest part of the project. So where is that? What's, what's, What stage are you now with the book? You finished the 27 sessions, you finished the book and we got, have you published the book? ⁓

Michelle Crandall (: 27:16

Not yet, but I do have, working with a graphic designer to finish all of the design work on it. And we are on track for a November release and I am thrilled.

You should be proud yourself. I am.

Ina (: 27:35

That's awesome. I am also doing a book project as well. We just started in February, 2025, Tails of Canberra volume two. Now I had put off doing a book project for a long time. This is not my first one, but this was, this was my second one because the first one I did was also intense that I kind of got traumatized by it.

Michelle Crandall (: 27:40

Yeah.

I I remember talking to you on Lifelines about this.

Ina (: 28:03

Yes,

yeah. So I did it back in: 2021

Michelle Crandall (: 28:18

I'll bubble what I did. Yeah. No way. No way.

Yeah, on top of it.

Ina (: 28:32

I'm not going to pay someone to do it, I'm going to do it all myself. That was a big mistake because I had to learn Adobe InDesign which is totally foreign software to me.

Michelle Crandall (: 28:44

yeah, me too. I don't even know what to do when I open it. Like, I don't even know. Yes.

Ina (: 28:49

And it took a whole year to actually get the book. But I think that was, that's because I was doing this on top of a full-time job and yeah, it was insane looking back at it going, my gosh, I can't believe I did those amount of sessions.

Michelle Crandall (: 29:05

But it should also give you confidence that you can handle basically anything anybody throws at you.

Ina (: 29:11

I guess so. Yeah. I was just very traumatized by it. So I know this time when I'm doing my book project, I was like, I've learned my lessons. I'm not going to cram a whole 49 sessions. also, that book project was obviously it was a way for people to book in a session with me, but I didn't qualify my leads. And so I had the majority of that. And obviously, you know, as a business, our goal is trying to make money because we need to sustain the business. It's not just, I mean, I love it.

I do love it and I love it for passion, but we need to pay the bills and also not just cover the business expenses, but also pay the bills for me. And back then, because I had another job, I guess I was just making it, I was trying to automate it. And so everyone who applied got in. And so I had so many applications, I had to cut it off in three days. A lot of the people, more than half of the people just wanted to be in a book and didnt their purchase artwork. So I think that's where I was like, I was very traumatized. was like, this is a lot of work.

for not much income.

Michelle Crandall (: 30:13

I learned from people that have gone through this before me and have mentored me. You're one of them. Jess Wasik in Pittsburgh, USA is another one of them.

Ina (: 30:23

And,

have her on their podcast.

Michelle Crandall (: 30:25

that's exciting. Yeah. She has been incredibly generous with her knowledge and the mistakes that she made teaching me. wouldn't have known. And to be honest with you, I didn't listen exactly to everything that she said. And I may have had even more of a profitable year if I had, but she talked to me about qualifying the leads and I did that in sort of a hybrid fashion. I did not allow everybody that applied into the book. I did an interview with everyone, but what I did

Again, this is more because of the emotional side of it. I didn't want to say no to any sweet doxy. So what I ended up doing was people that were not interested in making a purchase, I would tack them onto a full session and do like a 15 minute mini before or after the full session. So it was chaos. mean, truly it was chaos because if one person didn't want to do it the whole day, dominoed out of control, you know I mean? Like if they didn't show up or they made or whatever.

Ina (: 30:59

Yes, yes.

Michelle Crandall (: 31:23

And so again, qualifying your leads for a project like this is so important because I don't know how else to say it besides it was like a hybrid passion project plus a business thing. so if you're looking at it solely as a marketing adventure, absolutely qualify your lead. Absolutely do that. And I probably would do that when I do it again, because I do think that I'm going to do this again, because it has been so much fun this year. It gives people a reason to book.

Ina (: 31:35

Yes.

Michelle Crandall (: 31:53

I have to tell you a funny story about InDesign and making sure that you have the place, the community support to get this done so you're not traumatized like you were. I have a friend who does graphic design and I asked her in the very beginning if she would help me with this project. And she's like, yeah, yeah. And I'm like, what would you charge? And she's like, I do it for free. And I'm like, no, I'm going to pay you. I paid her probably a quarter of what other people would charge, but she was just happy to be part of it. So, Ina, okay. So it's...

mid July. So this has taken me truly from when I started with the idea at two through launch through all the sessions. It's taken me seven and a half months. She designed this book and I am not kidding you basically six hours. What? And I was so offended.

Ina (: 32:40

Six hours. Ow. know? I took a whole year.

Michelle Crandall (: 32:44

I know I was, I said to her, I'm not sure if I'm offended or I'm a static because it took up so much of my life. It's the only thing I've been doing all year. This is it. And I hand all of this stuff to her literally three days later, she works a full-time job. So she's working on this after she gets out of work, after she eats dinner, two and a half days later, she's like, it's pretty much done. You want to come over and look at it. And I was like, what?

Ina (: 32:54

Bye.

⁓ my god.

Michelle Crandall (: 33:15

My advice to anybody out there who's looking at doing a big project like this is to make sure that you have the community in place to do this well. You don't want to end up like Ina. Design for a year. Exactly.

Ina (: 33:23

Yeah.

No, I mean, I did get help from a friend in the end, but again, was, someone actually in the US and someone I met through probably one of the Facebook groups or Hair of the Dog, who knows where I met her, but she helped me kind of check my InDesign, but that was sort of towards the end. And I definitely have learned a lot from my first book project, what not to do, mainly.

And this one has been definitely a more profitable one and a more successful one. I've got 25 sessions in the book. I think that's a good amount. It was a very, very thick book. The first one as well. So that was very, yeah, it was a lot. So I'm really excited to see this book. think I had all this dread at the start of the book project. I was dreading it so much.

Michelle Crandall (: 34:06

I it was. ⁓

Ina (: 34:19

But now I'm in it, looking back, I've actually enjoyed the whole process. Now that I've done it the way I wanted to do it, the way that I probably should have done it, it actually put the joy back in it.

Michelle Crandall (: 34:31

I would even hesitate watching you say should maybe that's how I should have done it because you learned it was a painful lesson.

Ina (: 34:39

I wouldn't was a painful lesson. Yeah, it was a painful lesson, but I wouldn't have learned what I've learned if I didn't have to go through that. For sure. Yeah. And now I can teach and tell other people and advise them not to do the same mistake that I've done. Yep. Totally. So I'm really excited to see this book come to life. I'm in the process of, I still got a few sessions, I think, to photograph. And I've got to find someone to help me put things together. I got some sponsorships so that I can hire.

Michelle Crandall (: 34:44

Exactly.

Exactly.

Ina (: 35:07

publisher and graphic design to put things together because I'm not touching that for sure. Yeah. Good idea. Yeah. So that's amazing. And I think in terms of getting clients in marketing, what you said, yes, we do need to incentivize our clients to book in because we're more of a luxury really. For sure. And if we're just sitting here, if I'm just sitting here waiting for people to book in, I won't be getting any clients. I mean, yes, I think my SEO and Google have had

Michelle Crandall (: 35:13

Yeah.

Ina (: 35:37

improved and I've got a few organic inquiries a month, but the majority I've always had to do some kind of marketing campaign. As you probably know, you've seen my 12 month marketing calendar thing that I do. It's crazy thing that I do, but I need to plan out the ways and different campaigns and incentives for people to book in.

Michelle Crandall (: 35:59

Each time you do it, you're learning exactly what works, what doesn't. Exactly. Build on what works.

Ina (: 36:04

Exactly. That's awesome. Now I want to ask, because you did this book project in such a short amount of time, did you ever feel any burnout during that whole process and how did you manage it if you did? ⁓

Michelle Crandall (: 36:18

question. I didn't feel burned out. I felt overwhelmed. Maybe those, yeah, maybe those are just two sides of the same coin. I wasn't burned out because I loved the sessions. Some people love Greyhounds. Some people love all the different types of cats in the world. I love Dachshunds. So I show up and there's a Dachshund there. Like, I'm your girl. Okay. No questions asked. Let's go.

Ina (: 36:24

Okay. Tell me more.

Michelle Crandall (: 36:48

And so in that sense, I wasn't burnt out because I loved every session. Even the short ones that were only 15 minutes long. This is my lane. Okay. Like if I could only photograph Dachshunds the whole rest of my life, done, sign me up. But once I left the session and I'm.

Ina (: 36:56

Amazing.

I it.

Michelle Crandall (: 37:09

driving home at 830 at night, trying to figure out when I'm going to have time to edit all this stuff. Because like I said, some people wanted to purchase and some people didn't. So I was having to prioritize the people that did want to purchase, fully editing their full sessions and doing my whole process. And then there were these other people that just wanted to be part of the book. And so of course I still have to figure out which photo from the session, which portraits I like best and edit those. And then all of the behind the scenes stuff that nobody talks about.

Editing everything, making sure it all looks cohesive. then writing the stories for me, I know some people just, take the application story that the client has written and they put that in the book. Again, this is a very, very heartfelt project for me. It's super emotional. I actually wrote every story of the And I would add in stuff that happened during the session if something crazy or funny or cute happened.

And so, and then I would add in what the people said in their application to why they wanted to be part of the book. And so it was super intense. Yeah. And it was, it was emotional. Like I said, it was really emotional. And so I think all of that, like I can remember there were, I can specifically remember two instances right off the bat, three actually right off the bat where I am behind the camera and I'm photographing these dogs. And one of them looked so.

Ina (: 38:14

Yeah, I can imagine.

Michelle Crandall (: 38:35

so much like my Max and the other looked almost exactly like Oscar. And I remember taking a photo of Max running right at me. And this dog looked just like Max and the photo he's running right at me. And I am, I have tears streaming down my face as I'm at the session. And so I don't mean to get emotional now, but like, means so much to me. And like, and these are photos, you know, like that specific one of Max, I got to take a picture of him running at me at the camera, but like,

It was so emotional and that's where the personal project aspect of it came through because I know I'll never be able to take that photo of that Oscar, that photo of Oscar again, but I can do it for Abu and for Oliver. I can do it for them. And so it became this whole, I don't know, you know, like I probably would have been through my grief. I've just been working through my grief through this project, through the book project.

Ina (: 39:11

Max again.

I love that. And I think I love how this book is not only for your business, but it's a passion project. And I can see the love you have for it and the passion that you have and how much emotion and passion you've put into it. So I can't wait to see the final book and I'm, want to order one. It's going to beautiful. That is amazing.

Michelle Crandall (: 39:50

⁓ that's going to be amazing. I'll send you the link.

Anyways, to go back to your original question, did I feel burnout? No. Did I feel overwhelmed? Yes. ⁓

Ina (: 40:05

How did you overcome that overwhelm? Cause I think overwhelm, it's just a thought really, isn't it? It's a feeling that comes from a thought.

Michelle Crandall (: 40:13

Yes, absolutely. What I did with the strategy that worked best for me was performing a brain dump. And I would go through on the back of my calendar, sheets that I print out every week. I would go through and just list every single thing that I had to do that week and just start prioritizing. So I still have like checklists of, okay, I've got to do Hopper's edits. I've got to do Rocco's.

olives, vinnies, Otto you know, I've got to do all these edits. Okay. Now that it's all written down, okay, let's start with the priority. I know olive and Otto they're interested in purchasing. So I'm going to get them done first. And then just in my brain on a Monday morning, I'd sit down and be like, I'm never going to be able to get all this done. my gosh, what have I done? And additionally, I put the pressure on myself to have this book ready for people to purchase as Christmas gifts. ⁓

Ina (: 41:07

Yeah.

Michelle Crandall (: 41:08

in, it has to be done by November. We're a launch party with, we're having a launch party with the Dachshund club, November 15th. Like, ⁓ we've set a date. We're, I said, I have to have these ordered by I think September 15th, I think is the last day that I can put the order in. So I had put all this pressure on my shoulders to get this done. And I also didn't know it was going to take my graphic designer two and a half days to do it. However.

Ina (: 41:17

Wow, you've raised it to date. That's exciting.

Michelle Crandall (: 41:37

That cleared up a lot of things really quickly. That was how I got over the overwhelm was I'm going through these things. This is what I have to do. Okay, let's prioritize what needs to come first. And then I really had to have the discipline to sit down and do it. And that I think is the key that a lot of people struggle with. As they say, okay, so I've got 15 sessions to edit. I really need my coffee first. I think I'd like to watch the news. You know, no.

You have 13 sessions to edit in three days. You got to do it. And so that's something I think I might call myself a little hardheaded, but also it's really determined. Most of the time I'm just really determined. Yeah, it's a good thing. It's a good aspect of my personality in this sense. don't know if you asked my husband if he would agree, but in this case it really was.

Ina (: 42:09

Yeah.

Wow. ⁓ I love having chatting to you about this because this is amazing. Cause I think everyone has all of these mindset issues and all these thoughts in their head. And I love how you can just work through it and that you experience it. And it's, it's normal to have, because before I joined Elevate, I'm thinking all these things and I'm like, my God, I'm struggling, but I don't know what to do with it. But there's other people there with the same experience.

Michelle Crandall (: 43:03

The struggle is what makes us human.

Ina (: 43:05

Exactly. And you know, I, when I see you in your business, like, oh my gosh, you're very successful. I, know, you're doing amazing things and you don't see that the whole, the whole behind the scenes. You don't see that same, same Michelle that I see. And that's probably the same with me. You probably see it different Ina than I do. And I feel like, oh my gosh, I feel like an imposter sometimes. Why am I doing even this podcast? Who am I to mentor and coach other people? But.

Michelle Crandall (: 43:33

doing it because you know that there's one person out there, even if it's only one, there's one person that you can help and make a difference. That's why we do this.

Ina (: 43:41

Exactly. So

exactly. that's why we do this I'm like, love pet photography. I also got into pet photography because of my dog, similar Mac and Max. He passed away because of a heart failure at very young age. So that was the reason that I got into here. now I've been doing it for nearly five years, full-time three and a half years. I enjoy working to other pet photographers and helping them. And I'd realized.

Business has morphed into not just taking photos, but also helping other photographers. And I love it. And I'm now also then trying to balance two businesses too now. I'm back to doing that whole work, two jobs. Which is another thing where, know, I was like, I'm getting overwhelmed but I love it. And it's just a balancing matter and it's just balancing also the thoughts in my head. I to remember to catch those thoughts, which is hard sometimes.

Michelle Crandall (: 44:26

You

Catching them is the first step. Acknowledging them, you don't have to fix it right away. But when you just see, that's probably not a helpful thought. That's the first step.

Ina (: 44:51

that's yeah, definitely. To finish off, I'd love to ask you what advice would you give to someone that's just starting out in pet photography or they are, they've been doing pet photography for a while, but they may be struggling with getting bookings or getting overwhelmed or bits and pieces in their business. I would love to, I guess, know what sort of advice would you give someone?

Michelle Crandall (: 45:13

The advice that I would give is that you are not alone. One of the things that I thought early on, going through all the education with all the different types of education out there through hair of the dog and through elevate through unleashed education, I thought everybody else was so far ahead of me. I was just like running as hard as I could and I couldn't even catch up. And the truth is I was right where I was supposed to be. Right where you're supposed to be.

Ina (: 45:40

Yep. ⁓

Michelle Crandall (: 45:42

You are right where you're supposed to be. And I know that that doesn't make everybody super happy. But for example, if I had done this book project last year, I am certain that I would have collapsed because I didn't have the confidence to do it. And so whereas we're doing these little projects, oh, I did a calendar project and I only made $500 from 13 clients. We've all had that experience. We've all done those things. They are prepping you for what's to come.

I love it. And so please don't get so frustrated with where you are now thinking you're supposed to be where somebody else is who's been in business for a decade. You have to go through this. You have to go through this to get there.

Ina (: 46:12

that.

exit.

Yes, I love that. And I guess I think, yeah, you have to go through what you're going through right now to experience that. And for me, even though I was so traumatized by that book project, I needed that. I needed that to know that I need to learn my capacity. I need to also learn to set boundaries because I think that was one of the biggest things that I struggled with was setting boundaries back then, which is probably why it caused that whole delays and everything.

I can't please everyone as well. That was a big lesson, but you're right. You're right. You're not alone and you, you are where you need to be. really love that. That's really great. Thank you so much, Michelle. It's been great talking to you today and I always love chatting to you and I wish I could do it more. I would love to meet you in person. That's, that's good. Well, I'm going to do a road trip one day, maybe overseas and everyone, cause that would be amazing.

Michelle Crandall (: 47:18

Gosh, that would be.

Ina (: 47:22

And I can't wait to see your finished book and hear all about it. Now, before we go, where can people find you if they want to follow your work or connect with you?

Michelle Crandall (: 47:32

Yes, they can find me. on social media, Facebook and Instagram at pets in focus photo. And that's also my website pets in focus photo.com.

Ina (: 47:42

Amazing, amazing. I'll put all the links to your website and Instagram and socials in the show notes and I will let you know when this comes out. I'm so glad to have you on. Thank you again, Michelle.

Michelle Crandall (: 47:54

Yeah, thank you so much for having me.

Ina (: 47:57

I love this chat with Michelle. From hiding in the corner at dog sports events to photographing 49 Dachshunds in five months. She's done some serious mindset and business growth and she's been so open about all of it. Now, if you've been thinking about raising your prices, doing in-person sales or starting a book project of your own, I hope this episode gave you some encouragement and some real world perspectives. You can connect with Michelle.

at petsinfocusphoto.com or on Instagram and Facebook at petsinfocusphoto. I'll drop all the links in the show notes. And as always, if this episode resonated I would love for you to share it with a friend or leave a review. Thanks for listening and I'll catch you in the next episode.