In photography circles, influencer marketing sometimes gets a bad rap. From getting ghosted after photographing a session or having filters applied to your hard work, it can feel intimidating to step into this realm.
But in this episode, Cydnee Jex is here to walk through her whole process of working with influencers. She shares how she finds influencers to work with, how she sets expectations and boundaries, how she approaches the whole process from a very practical angle, and why, at the end of the day, she loves working with influencers!
Plus, she’s giving us a sneak peek at her upcoming Maternity and Newborn Summit, including why she loves making in-person connections and how potential educators can apply to teach. Let’s dive in!
What’s in this episode:
- [02:12] All about the upcoming Maternity and Newborn Summit
- [10:51] Why in-person connection is so important
- [16:24] How Cydnee started working with influencers
- [20:23] Common mistakes when photographers try out influencer marketing for the first time
- [22:44] How to approach the dreaded “filters” conversation with influencers
- [30:18] How to talk about payment in collaboration with influencers
- [31:39] Cydnee’s lightning round
If you’re ready to start adding influencers into the marketing plan for your photography business, this episode with Cydnee is one you can’t miss!
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Resources Mentioned
Meet Cydnee Jex
Cydnee Jex is the force behind the Maternity and Newborn Photographers Summit, an in-person once a year event dedicated to educating, inspiring, and. Elevating photographers in the maternity and newborn niche. Cydnee’s deeply passionate about in-person learning experiences and believes in the power of community and connection when it comes to professional growth. In addition to producing the summit, she’s a marketing expert who teaches photographers how to work with influencers to grow their brand visibility.
Connect with Cydnee
Save your spot at the Maternity and Newborn Summit
Did this episode with Cydnee inspire you? Check out this episode Take your shot : How to Find Your Unique Photography Voice with Valerie Eidson that shares how another photographer started their career!
Transcript
[00:00:00] Cydnee: I will see a thread on Facebook and everyone’s like, don’t work with influencers. Don’t do it. And I’m always the one that’s like, yes, you should. It’s been a long journey, but I actually believe that the journey is part of it because I don’t know what influencer I’m gonna work with. That brings me to that next connection or bring me to the next client.
[00:00:23] And it might be five years down the road, I’m still getting inquiries. From influencers that I photographed pre Covid, that like I saved this person’s pictures and I just loved it and they knew one day I was gonna book you.
[00:00:43] Lisa: Hey, friend. Welcome to the Art and Soul Show. I’m your host, Lisa DiGeso, a mom, a photographer and entrepreneur. Tune in here for Pep Talks, conversations and advice on photography, creativity, mindset, business, life, and that messy in between. This is the place where you can [00:01:00] go when you need a boost of encouragement, a kick in the pants, and inspiration to pick up your camera.
[00:01:05] This is the Art and Soul show. Hello, my beautiful friends. Welcome back to the show. Today I am hanging out with Cydnee Jex, the force behind the Maternity and Newborn Photographers Summit, an in-person once a year event dedicated to educating, inspiring, and. Elevating photographers in the maternity and newborn niche.
[00:01:26] Now, the next event will be held in person in July 21st and 22nd in Grapevine, Texas. Cydnee’s deeply passionate about in-person learning experiences and believes in the power of community and connection when it comes to professional growth. In addition to producing the summit, she’s a marketing expert who teaches photographers how to work with influencers to grow their brand visibility.
[00:01:49] I am so excited to dive into what’s in store for this year’s summit and to learn from her experience both behind the scenes and in the field. So welcome Sydnee.
[00:01:58] Cydnee: Thank you so much. Thank you [00:02:00] for having me. I
[00:02:00] Lisa: am so excited to be here. So for those that have not heard about the maternity and newborn photography summit yet, can you give us a little bit of a peek what it’s all about?
[00:02:12] Cydnee: Yes, absolutely. And honestly, a lot of photographers have not learned about us yet. This is our second year. Yeah. So we’re still kind of growing our community and expanding and that’s fun. It’s fun to watch. But our event is an in-person learning experience conference. Specifically for maternity and newborn photographers because it was so lacking in the industry.
[00:02:38] Lisa: Yes.
[00:02:39] Cydnee: I just, you know, I was never interested in other conferences and. Our genre is so unique and specialized, we really have to have our own thing. So that’s why. Yeah,
[00:02:51] Lisa: I love that. Because traditionally, you know, there’s the big ones, there’s the WPBI, the imaging, and it’s funny because you watch it year after year and it’s typically the same [00:03:00] speakers.
[00:03:00] Typically the old school photographers who’ve been there for a long time and. Our industry is so different because we have such a range of photographers when it comes to not only experience, but how they’re running their businesses. There’s so many that are home-based or ones that are on location or lifestyle or they have like big studios.
[00:03:20] And what I love is that you make sure when you’re curating your roster is that you’re covering all sorts of different genres. So there’s something for everybody there. I think that’s so important. Yeah.
[00:03:32] Cydnee: And you know, there are a lot of people that learn in person and kind of seeing the surrounding and kind of that 3D space and being able to ask questions.
[00:03:42] So it’s a little bit more kind of an immersive situation and a, a little bit more, I would say, intense. You know, you kind of walk away just like, I need to take a breath for a day or two before I really dive in it. It’s definitely, you know, an experience. To be in [00:04:00] person and be with everybody and feel that energy, and it’s really incredible.
[00:04:04] Lisa: I love that. Now, the summit is coming up again this July, so what can attendees expect this year?
[00:04:11] Cydnee: Okay, so goodness, we expanded since last year. Last year, again, our first year, and we wanted to just. Make sure we could do it. You know, we wanted to be very real about it and just make sure that it was something that even though I really wanted, you know, other people wanted as well.
[00:04:32] Yeah. And overall it was a success. We had vendors, we had teachers, we had over a hundred attendees, and we just walked away, like, how could we not do this again? Yeah. And so this year we were in a hotel and we have that trade show floor. We have classes, we have shootouts. We’re going to be having, uh, q and a panels this year [00:05:00] and like VIP social lunches.
[00:05:03] And so it’s gonna be more of like an experience. And I’m, I’m really excited for this year where we’ve added just a lot more kind of interacting with students and interacting with instructors. And so yeah, you come, you’re going to be meeting and mingling with a lot of people.
[00:05:20] Lisa: I love that. Now I love, ’cause you do this conference differently than most conferences.
[00:05:24] A lot of the conferences it is, you buy the ticket and then you kind of just pick and choose where you wanna go with the immersive experience, you’re actually booking an additional sort of in-person workshop. Right there, but at a price that like, like normally it would cost so much to be able to go see these because it’s a smaller
[00:05:44] Cydnee: class too.
[00:05:45] Lisa: So can you explain a little bit about that?
[00:05:47] Cydnee: Yeah, yeah. So it’s kind of, we wanted to be able to fit as many people’s needs as possible, and of course that’s impossible, but we wanted to try, yes. [00:06:00] So we have longer workshop esque hands-on, come and shoot alongside your instructor type classes. We have classes that are only an hour long and are just focusing on one pose that we’re just perfecting that pose.
[00:06:18] Hmm. And you know, that kind of, uh, class would work really well for someone who’s. They have like that nemesis pose that they can just never get. Right. And then we have business classes and we have longer workflow classes, so it kind of breaks down, you know, what type of experience, what type of class you think will really fit Yeah.
[00:06:41] What you need. And we’ve tried to kind of hit that. We, we wanted to make sure there was a large focus on business and marketing, advertising, social media, you know, because. Photographers we’re so visual, we don’t, you know, we’re drawn to the posing and the lighting, [00:07:00] but I really feel like we need to ground ourselves more and focus on that business and focus on foundations and branding and all that kind of stuff.
[00:07:10] And so we’ve tried to really put a focus on that too, as far as classes go. Which is something you don’t really get Yeah. At like a regular in-person workshop. Mm-hmm. Yeah, no, I love it. ’cause it’s just like this
[00:07:23] Lisa: hybrid of like, I get so excited when I see something new come on the scene. So I’m really, I’m really excited.
[00:07:28] Thank you. Thank you. I know, I’m excited. I know so many of our listeners are in that level where they’re starting to think about becoming educators too. So what are you looking for when it comes to your educators? Be on just a skill level.
[00:07:42] Cydnee: Yeah. Yeah. So I really find that. Well, I should back up. Okay. So last year and this year I have personally selected our instructors and it’s been people in the industry that I really admire, [00:08:00] I have followed for so long, and they’re so consistent and they’re so, um, you know, they just.
[00:08:07] It. It’s almost like they have a magic Yeah. About what they do. And so a little bit has been kind of fan girl moment. Mm-hmm. But really I’ve tried to pick people who have really narrowed down, so the thing that they’re teaching and they’re doing it very well. Yeah. And so, you know, if I have somebody who I really love, but you know.
[00:08:33] Even though maybe their work is beautiful, what they’re focusing, what they’re passionate about is maybe business or branding or, you know, different avenues of advertising. That’s kind of where we put them. So, you know, once I find an instructor that I really love, I look for what they’re passionate about.
[00:08:51] Mm-hmm. You know what they’re really excited to tell people about and generally, if I can. Find [00:09:00] that thing that does inspire them, it’s gonna inspire everyone else because they wanna talk about it and they wanna share it, and they want everybody to know about it. I love that. Now, if someone wanted to apply, how would they go about that?
[00:09:14] Yeah, so we have our website, it’s just maternity and newborn summit.com. We’re actually trying to revamp it to make it a little bit more kind of user friendly, a little more intuitive. Of course, it’s always a work in progress, you know? Yeah. But they can go on our website, there’s all the class descriptions, there’s the schedule, there’s all of our instructors, all of our vendors.
[00:09:36] Yeah. And then of course, a link where they can go on and register and then purchase classes or reviews or whatever they would like to do. We do have kind of a general admission ticket. So if you are not doing classes, you actually can totally still attend because we are gonna have so much like going on outside of classes.
[00:09:58] The general admission fee is [00:10:00] 1 75 and it includes the trade show floor. It includes parties, swag, bags. We’re gonna have keynotes on a main stage. We’re gonna have giveaways, we’re going to have nightly shootouts. Food is included beverages. It’s gonna be kind of a full experience, just even in that general admission ticket.
[00:10:23] And it’s kind of like the budget friendly way to kind of like still come to the conference and then once they pay for that general admission fee, they can kind of, you know, from there figure out what schedule they want and add on classes and everything as well. That’s
[00:10:38] Lisa: so awesome. Now who are some of the instructors that you would, you’re very excited to bring back or you’re having for the first time?
[00:10:47] So
[00:10:48] Cydnee: didn’t ask. Great shit.
[00:10:49] Lisa: That’s a tough one, isn’t it? It
[00:10:51] Cydnee: it really kind of is. Well, last year, you know, it was the first time a lot of those instructors had met me. Yeah. And [00:11:00] it was the first time I’d met some of those, those instructors. And you know, I found that so many of them, and it’s so silly to say, but they’re just like.
[00:11:09] Real people. Yeah. You know, like we see them online and on Instagram and we kind of look up to them like they’re this, I don’t know, untouchable. And then in real life they’re just like you. They’re just like me. And you talk about like, how did you get started and how I got started. And we have like the same story.
[00:11:29] And it’s interesting who I’ve connected with and, and honestly my Australian instructors. I would say are the ones that I actually message. Yeah. On Facebook maybe a little bit more. Yep.
[00:11:47] Lisa: It’s funny. I know exactly who you’re talking about too,
[00:11:49] Cydnee: because I do too. They’re so fun. You’re so lovely. Oh, but you know, honestly, like, goodness, Denise Jackson, actually [00:12:00] last year she was like this.
[00:12:04] Ray of sunshine at our summit. ’cause you know, honestly those two days last year it was crazy and we were running here ’cause lighting wasn’t working and we were heading here ’cause so and so doesn’t have, you know, something and, and we were all over the place and every time Denise stopped me, she was like, you guys are doing awesome.
[00:12:28] Like. We love what you’re doing. This has been fantastic. And it was just like the sweetest, kindest words during the summit and you know, it’s, it’s things like that, you know, where you have people that give you that little extra encouragement and extra bit of love and you know, you find yourself just being endeared to them.
[00:12:55] Yeah. They took that minute to like stop and.
[00:12:58] Lisa: Say that, you know? Yeah. Yeah. It’s [00:13:00] really special. I know. And Denise has been using, yeah, she’s taught multiple times with us too, and I can’t say enough good things about her, so Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
[00:13:08] Cydnee: If you guys, well, and you know Denise, she’s from
[00:13:09] Lisa: Appleseed Photography.
[00:13:11] Check her out. She’s incredible. Yes,
[00:13:12] Cydnee: yes. Definitely. Definitely check her out. I would say my longest friend that is also an instructor is also Lindsay Baldin. Yes. Oh, she’s lovely. Yeah. I love Lindsay. I met Lindsay. Back in 2016 at Kelly Brown’s Baby Summit in Atlanta, and we’ve just been really good friends ever since.
[00:13:35] And we’ll go out to lunch together and hang out, and she mentored me. Got my studio to where my studio is today. Definitely
[00:13:43] Lisa: a very good friend. I love that. And that’s the great thing about in-person workshops is like I, I remember I went to click away way back in 2014 and I’m still getting messages from people I read into or friends that I made there.
[00:13:55] So there’s, there is definitely like I love online learning, like I am online girl through and through. [00:14:00] And, but there is such a magic when it comes to in-person workshops that I think that they really go hand in hand. And I think like just having that experience and having those, being able to meet friends and have those conversations that, you know, you may not be able to have.
[00:14:13] Mm-hmm. And because our industry can be quite solitary and isolating. So I love that you’ve created this container for friendships to be made too. I think that’s so wonderful.
[00:14:24] Cydnee: Yes, absolutely. And it’s, it works so well with what you do too. Because you know, I’m the kind of person where I’m in person and I’m trying to take it all in and I’m trying to remember everything.
[00:14:38] And you walk home and you’ve written notes and there’s a part of you that’s like, shoot. What did that one person say? Like the instructor said something and I can’t remember like the angle of the light that they, I was supposed to do and having that kind of recall ability. I mean, it’s like a perfect match.
[00:14:58] You know, you can go back and you can [00:15:00] just rewatch something and Okay. You know, I got it. And I, I mean, and really, you know, continuing education overall.
[00:15:08] Lisa: It’s so important. It’s so important. Important. Like I think that every time we produce a new retreat and I audit all the videos, I learn something new from every single instructor.
[00:15:18] And I think that’s so important. And actually that was another question because if someone has attended your conference before, these are brand new presentations. These are not the ones that they would’ve seen last year. So I think that’s really important to note is that it’s changing up every year too, you guys.
[00:15:32] So just your annual thing, I think that’s so cool.
[00:15:36] Cydnee: Yes, yes. Thank you. Yes. We’re changing up the subject matter, you know, and especially as we move into new eras of marketing and new eras of photography, and we see, you know, the people in your community that are just on that cusp of wanting to be an instructor, that we’re going to see new ideas [00:16:00] and new concepts constantly.
[00:16:02] And that’s one thing that I think. The summit and the Milky Way really kind of hit on is once you know what you’re doing, that’s great, but continue to push yourself and excel and move
[00:16:15] Lisa: forward. Yeah, keep polishing, keep refining. I love it. So I wanna switch gears a little bit and I wanna talk a little bit about, yeah, you and marketing and influencers.
[00:16:24] So you mentioned you’re really passionate about marketing and working with influencers. So can you share how that really became an area of expertise for you? Yes.
[00:16:33] Cydnee: Yes, absolutely. And I know in the industry this is such a sore spot. It’s funny, isn’t it? For so many. Oh my goodness. I’ll see a thread on Facebook and everyone’s like, don’t work with influencers, don’t do it.
[00:16:49] And I’m always the one that’s like, yes, you should. I love it. Goodness. It’s been a long journey. But I actually believe that the journey is part of [00:17:00] it, because I don’t know what influencer I’m gonna work with. That brings me to that next connection, you know? Or bring me to the next client. And it might be five years down the road, you know, I’m still getting inquiries from influencers that I photographed, you know, pre covid.
[00:17:19] Wow. Like, I saved this person’s, you know, pictures and I just loved it. And I knew one day I was gonna book you, but I connected with, uh, editor of a magazine back at one of Anna Britt’s summits and I started working with her. And, you know, as like, you know, a magazine wanting to kind of hit interesting things in the community and trying to move into it was, um, marketing to mothers and things like that.
[00:17:50] Part of that kind of meant finding, you know, many celebrities, influencers that we’re expecting to highlight that. Photo shoot [00:18:00] for them. And so through that magazine I started working with some Dallas cheerleaders and some, you know, former like Super Bowl. Yeah. You know, player and some influencers. And the relationship with the magazine kind of drifted away.
[00:18:19] But I really wanted to still kind of work with influencers because I could see that. Not only was I really excited to show this, you know, photo shoot, but that person was so excited to share my, that photo shoot with me and it just, it would spread my work farther basically. And, you know, some influencers, I, I don’t see much of a benefit and I’ll tell them upfront, I wanna see if this collaboration works for me.
[00:18:55] Mm-hmm. Works for you. And you know, maybe it’ll be six months to a year [00:19:00] before I even really fully understand. But you know, through kind of working with smaller influencers and minor celebrities, I started hitting larger influencers and people that had a little bit more fame. And so. I grew at the level of influencer that I was really working with until eventually influencers started coming to me.
[00:19:26] And I don’t mind influencers asking for a shoot. Hang on. Okay. I will have influencers reach out to me. I have parameters, I have restrictions. I have things that I tell them upfront that I expect from them. I don’t just do a shoot and send them out pictures and hope it all works out. ’cause that’s just doing a free shoot.
[00:19:49] Um, yeah, which I don’t do, but I look at it as an investment. It’s my Google ad, but it’s gonna be organic. Yeah. And so I put in [00:20:00] time and effort and you know, you kind of have, if, if anyone were to do a Google ad, it’s not necessarily immediate return. You have to wait. You have to see how it comes back to you.
[00:20:13] And that’s really what I do with influencers, but I’ve found that it’s so. So beneficial to continually work with influencers.
[00:20:23] Lisa: Interesting. Now, what are some common mistakes that you see when people are trying to start work with working with influencers?
[00:20:29] Cydnee: Yeah. Well, I mean, I kind of hit on that just a minute ago where like, I.
[00:20:34] You take the pictures and you, you know, send them pictures and then you just hope for the best. I dunno. Hope and pray. Hopefully don’t put a filter on it. Hope they tag you right. Exactly. And that’s no good. And I certainly don’t give them the entire shoot. I give them a set number of images and if you want more we can talk about it.
[00:20:59] [00:21:00] If you want products, we can talk about it, but you have this set number of images and here’s what I expect for them. And it’s not necessarily like a written contract, it’s more of an understanding that I would love to work with you again if I feel like you marketed my business and my images, and that’s really what it is.
[00:21:23] You are marketing my business and my images for me. And, you know, I don’t necessarily tell them what to say because I want what they say to be from them. Yeah. It, I want it to feel organic. I want it to feel genuine, but sometimes I will say like, Hey, what we’re doing is. You know, for a regular client cost this amount of money.
[00:21:48] You know, I would love it if you maybe mentioned, I don’t know, mention an album, mention the Walmart. It just little kind of things that I want them to hit on. [00:22:00] Sometimes I’ll kind of, you know. Hey, if you can mention this, you know, I will, but not necessarily. It kind of just depends on if I feel like I wanna push something in my own advertising.
[00:22:12] Lisa: Do you ever find that, like you’ve set everything out and these are the expections, but they don’t follow them, and so you’re just like, ah.
[00:22:20] Cydnee: Yeah. There are definitely influencers that I’m not gonna work with again. Yeah. One and done. Yep. And you know, they’re lovely people to, to, to talk to and in person and they might be gorgeous and have tons of followers, but if, if it’s not reciprocal, then we’re not gonna work with you again.
[00:22:43] Yeah, totally.
[00:22:44] Lisa: What about editing? Like throwing another filter that they, you know, like a lot of the time they have their very curated feed. So are you having to edit in their style or like what do you do if they decide they wanna just throw a filter on something?
[00:22:57] Cydnee: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, [00:23:00] I’ve always seen it, I would say maybe once or twice, and I tend to just look the other way, which is frustrating.
[00:23:11] It’s a dig. But you know, I have to step back and I have to analyze the relationship that we have. And sometimes I’ve mentioned out to people like, Hey, if you wanna edit it a little differently, like just tell me instead of throwing on a filter. If the, if the collaboration doesn’t seem to really benefit me, then I just let it go and we don’t work together again.
[00:23:38] Yeah, it’s, it’s happened so rare. But I would say if somebody were to do that and I wanted to work with them again, I’d probably just kind of mention it. Yeah. I
[00:23:48] Lisa: love that. I think, you know, it’s, it’s like that with really any client, because sometimes, you know, unfortunately we do have to fire our clients sometime.
[00:23:55] We don’t talk about it very often, and it’s uncomfortable. It feels icky, but it, you know, [00:24:00] it’s the same way. It’s like I just maybe don’t have availability for you anymore. Sorry. Yeah, yeah.
[00:24:06] Cydnee: Well, and you. I find that that’s for clients and for influencers, just the best way to go overall. You know, here’s my expectation, and if it doesn’t work for you, that’s okay.
[00:24:21] You know, if someone were like a larger influencer, were to put like a filter over my imagery, probably just say like, Hey, you know, heads up. It’s fine. Just so you know, I don’t really want filters on my work and maybe not even know. I mean. You know, they’re just making, they’re just
[00:24:41] Lisa: trying to make content for their feed.
[00:24:43] Totally, totally. And you know what’s funny is a lot of the time we think it’s malicious and it’s really not. It’s really, they’re just trying to get what they want and, and they don’t really realize that, ’cause it’s happened to me with non influencers where, oh my Lord, the filters that have been put on.
[00:24:57] And I thought [00:25:00] about it and I was like, you know what? Yeah. Is what it’s, is what it is. If that’s what you wanted to do with the photos that I made, it is what it is. Right. If you love them, awesome. Right.
[00:25:10] Cydnee: Put it out there and just let it roll out your back. I did actually, I just remembered I had a large influencer once create a reel with my images spliced in with other photographer’s images, and it was kind of like, I really don’t want somebody else thinking that.
[00:25:30] That’s my work. She probably didn’t even think about it, you know, and she had kind of an assistant, so I felt like, okay, I’m just gonna text her assistant and just say like,
[00:25:43] Lisa: Hey. Mm-hmm. There’s so many times that you just do have to let things roll off. I had a session a few years ago and the mom did a reel.
[00:25:52] She was quite well known and. I, I always let my clients, like when I’ve got a baby post, I’m like, bring over your phone. Let me take a picture on your phone [00:26:00] just so you have this, ’cause it’s gonna take me like a week or two. Two, but then you can send it to your family and friends, like and baby post, right?
[00:26:05] But I’ll take a picture on the phone instead of posting the pictures from the sneak peek that I actually did edit. She posted and tagged me just with the iPhone photos and I was like, no.
[00:26:20] Oh, I did that to myself. I did that to myself. I gave her the
[00:26:25] Cydnee: content. Yeah, yeah. Yep. And she, you know, and it’s her baby. Yeah. So it’s all beautiful and it’s all perfect. So what do you
[00:26:35] Lisa: do? What do you do? So if someone wants to start sourcing out and finding local photographer or not local photographers, local influencers, where should they be looking?
[00:26:46] How should they be starting to look for generating those relationships with them? Yeah.
[00:26:51] Cydnee: Yeah. So heavily on Instagram. Yeah. I feel like a lot of new up and coming influencers. They’re not on [00:27:00] Facebook. Yeah. I have yet to make the jump to TikTok. Yeah, I don’t know if it’s, I am 42 and I just can’t Oh gosh.
[00:27:07] Mentally get there. I, I’ve
[00:27:08] Lisa: been there for a few years now and I honestly just spent the entire weekend at Coachella. My entire feed was like, uh, pasta videos, cat videos, and Coachella. Like, I literally just spent the weekend at Coachella. It was amazing. What’ll do on TikTok? Yeah,
[00:27:26] Cydnee: it’s a waste of
[00:27:26] Lisa: time.
[00:27:29] Cydnee: It’s fun.
[00:27:30] I do find myself scroll so. So to kind of answer your question, like I’m in Dallas and luckily I’m in a large city. There’s so many influencers here. So I will literally like, okay, I’m gonna put in Dallas influencer and just start scrolling. Yeah. And sometimes I get so sidetracked. Yeah. And I have to kind of go back to like, I am looking for somebody with a pregnancy announcement.
[00:27:56] I’m looking for a cute couple that doesn’t have kids yet. Mm-hmm. [00:28:00] And I start kind of following influencers early and I will make a point to kind of start commenting mm-hmm. Ing, you know, and things like that. And try to just be a presence on their feed so that way eventually when they’re pregnant or they, you know, want to book a shoe, like I actually, I’m here and we can do a collaboration.
[00:28:26] And so, you know, definitely I scrolled hashtags. I feel like right now with having worked with so many influencers in the Dallas area, most influencers, they know me already because I’ve photographed so and so, and I’ve photographed this person and they all hang out together and they all interact, they all talk.
[00:28:51] So nine times out of 10 they’ve heard of me. I love that. How close is Austin? Like
[00:28:56] Lisa: four
[00:28:57] Cydnee: hours maybe.
[00:28:58] Lisa: Oh, okay. [00:29:00] Because I, I know that like, that’s like the mecca of like entrepreneurs, so I know so many people that have moved to Austin.
[00:29:08] Cydnee: Yeah, and you know, honestly in my early stages of working with influencers, I was not opposed to traveling for some of them.
[00:29:19] There was an influencer out in Amarillo, which is about a four hour drive. I was like, Hey, I’ll come to you. It’s cool. There was another influencer, I wanna say, three hours south of this, drove to her for her newborn shoot, and I, I don’t necessarily drive anymore. And quite honestly, the influencers that I worked with.
[00:29:44] They were smaller. Mm-hmm. Anyways, and so, you know, I didn’t quite see a, a benefit, but now I would say I would absolutely travel. Like if there was a, you know, huge influencer [00:30:00] in Nashville or Memphis or Houston or San Antonio or Austin. And you know, I felt like it was a good collaboration, a good place for me to market my photos.
[00:30:13] I would not be opposed to traveling or event compensating them to do it too. I love that.
[00:30:18] Lisa: Now, do you find when you’re like, are, is there an expectation that you should be doing everything for free when, when you’re communicating with them?
[00:30:26] Cydnee: No. No. Not at all. You know, I let them know again, right away, here’s how many images that I’m going to provide you.
[00:30:34] If you want hair and makeup. My clients get hair and makeup, but if you want hair and makeup and you want the experience, then you’re gonna have to book your own hair and makeup artist or pay for your own makeup artist. I will say this, if a collaboration goes really well. I’ve absolutely gifted albums before wall art.
[00:30:57] You know, there are some influencers [00:31:00] that I’ve photographed a couple times, I’ve seen inquiries come back and I definitely wanna make sure that they have wall art. I definitely wanna make sure that they have albums. ’cause not only is it more content for them, it’s content for me too.
[00:31:13] Lisa: Yeah, I love that. I think it’s just a different way of working and it, it’s a way of.
[00:31:18] Instead of like, because I think when we first think of influencers, we think we have to work for exposure and we have to work for free. And it’s not really the case when it comes to your experience with, when working with influencers.
[00:31:30] Cydnee: Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I I, I absolutely look at it like I am paying for an ad.
[00:31:37] I love
[00:31:37] Lisa: that.
[00:31:38] Cydnee: Yeah. Great,
[00:31:39] Lisa: great perspective shift. All right, so are you ready for our lightning round? Yay. Yes. Let’s go on Coffee or tea. Order of choice. I.
[00:31:47] Cydnee: Okay, so I don’t drink either. I know, but I will say Diet Dr. Pepper. ’cause Dr. I don’t know. I love [00:32:00] Diet Dr. Pepper and it’s from Texas. It’s made in Texas and I don’t know if that’s part of it or what, but I’m obsessed with my last baby.
[00:32:08] I literally told my doctor like, but I’m still drinking Diet Dr. Pepper.
[00:32:14] Lisa: That’s hilarious. That’s so funny because that’s my son’s favorite too. He’s like, and we’re like, no, it has too much caffeine buddy. Like, and he’ll like try to chug like five right before bed and we’re like, no, you’re not gonna sleep.
[00:32:27] That’s a bad idea.
[00:32:28] Cydnee: Dream vacation spot. Oh my goodness. You know, I am a travel girl through and through. I am happy in the mountains. I am happy on the beach, you know. I would say I’ve traveled Europe, I’ve traveled all the United States. If I were to go anywhere, like my next place that I dream of going is
[00:32:55] Lisa: Scotland.
[00:32:56] Oh my goodness. Yes. Amazing. Morning [00:33:00] person or night owl? Either permanently exhausted pigeon like I had to
[00:33:08] Cydnee: pick Night owl. Yeah.
[00:33:11] Lisa: I, yeah, I’m not a morning person either. Oh my gosh. And we’re trying to get my son to like, he’s 15 and we’re trying to get him to like, set his alarm and get up and not hit snooze 25 times.
[00:33:21] But I’m the worst. I do the same thing. I’m like, I set it for like six and I’m like, snooze, snooze, snooze, snooze, snooze until seven o’clock. I’m like, why don’t I just set it for seven and let myself sleep for another hour? I don’t, yeah. Go to snack. Oh my goodness.
[00:33:36] Cydnee: I would totally like gravitate to chips.
[00:33:40] Yes. Like, just something kind of salty. And honestly, my husband, he, he, he teases me, but I like, like plain baked lay’s potato chip. Yep. Or just like plain sun chips like. I don’t need all the fancy Yeah. Flavors. [00:34:00] I am good with like tortilla chips. That’s
[00:34:03] Lisa: wild. I love it. Yeah. Have you ever had ketchup chips?
[00:34:05] Because that’s a Canadian thing. No. Yeah. That’s so crazy. No. Yeah. Yeah. We love our ketchup chips up here
[00:34:11] Cydnee: in Reine. There are some places in Texas that will deep fry, um, a potato chip or, yeah, so in Texas. Yeah. Yeah. I love Texas.
[00:34:24] Lisa: Favorite way to decompress after a long day.
[00:34:26] Cydnee: Yeah, so why We actually, my husband and I, we have our nightly routine where I get to cuddle up next to him on the couch, and it sounds so funny, but he downloads memes for me and we scroll through the memes together and we just laugh and we just kind of hang out.
[00:34:46] That’s really nice. I love
[00:34:47] Lisa: that. That’s really nice. What’s something that’s inspiring you right now?
[00:34:52] Cydnee: On Facebook, I’m sure you’ve seen as well, there are so many photographers that are just struggling right now. Prop vendors, you [00:35:00] know, so trendy. Went out earlier or last year actually. But what inspires me right now, I’ll get on Facebook and I will see people that are cush.
[00:35:12] Mm-hmm. They want to succeed, and that’s something that. I feel in me and I just, I’m inspired when I see other people doing the same and, and they’re still pushing through what that means, I can still push through and it’s just that, like, I may be in a sinking ship, but I will like, I will push it until we’re done, you know?
[00:35:37] And I find when I see people doing that. Gosh, that, that,
[00:35:42] Lisa: that’s inspiring. It is. It’s so funny ’cause I was reading something recently and it’s about jealousy and envy and stuff and it was about when you see someone and you start to have those feelings of like. Envy or jealousy, it’s because they have something that you want [00:36:00] and something you desire.
[00:36:01] And so turning that into, instead of like having it as a bad feeling, use it as like your fuel, right? You, it’s possible. You can see like what they’ve done. And I was like, that is such a beautiful way to put it. ’cause I love that. And those feelings do creep in. You know, you see a brand new photographer coming on the scene and they’re, it seems like they’re booking everybody and you maybe haven’t had inquiries for two weeks and.
[00:36:24] It’s, it’s so nice to be able to just reframe things and like, what can I control? What can I do?
[00:36:29] Cydnee: Yes.
[00:36:30] Lisa: So I love that.
[00:36:31] Cydnee: Or what are they doing that people are gravitating towards? And how can I, I would never suggest copy anyone’s work. Mm-hmm. But what can I do that might be new and unique too? Yeah. Like what do people see in that?
[00:36:47] Maybe I can take my own style, my own spin and create something new. Yeah. For my clients to gravitate towards.
[00:36:57] Lisa: Yeah, totally. I love that. [00:37:00] So I want you to drop where people can sign up for the summit. Where can they find all the information?
[00:37:07] Cydnee: Yes, yes. So our website is just www. Maternity and newborn summit.com.
[00:37:15] Love it.
[00:37:16] Lisa: And I love to end my interviews just with this last question, and it is, yeah. What are you currently curious about or artistically curious about? I would say
[00:37:27] Cydnee: when I look at my own photography studio, the thing that drives me the most to improve, it’s generally business and strategy. Marketing advertising and definitely more recently using ai.
[00:37:46] Mm-hmm. To really capture that. Where is the market going? What are the advances that are happening? How can I get at the front of that? And that’s definitely like, it’s been a, [00:38:00] I would say, a strong curiosity to, you know, I had this idea of like, what if I was on like. Forbes 500. You know, like why can’t a photographer do that?
[00:38:15] Yeah. You know, um, why can’t, um, you know, my studio be in a museum or artwork show, you know, it’s kind of like, what are the possibilities that we have boxed ourselves into? And I would say. Probably since I’ve started the summit. That’s really been kind of a massive curiosity and drive to like learn and educate myself on that.
[00:38:49] Lisa: I love
[00:38:49] Cydnee: that.
[00:38:50] Lisa: That’s Well, Cydnee, thank you so much for joining me today. I’m so excited about this summit and I know it’s gonna be amazing this year.
[00:38:57] Cydnee: Thank you. We will miss you. I know [00:39:00] you’re definitely invited to come any year you I know. Well, you never know. I might show
[00:39:03] Lisa: up.
[00:39:05] Cydnee: That would be so fabulous. Oh my goodness.
[00:39:09] Prize entrance by Lisa. That would be wild. Oh, that would be so much fun. We to do that. It would be so fun. It’s been so wonderful talking to you. Thank
[00:39:21] Lisa: you. You too. Oh my. Beautiful friends. I hope you have loved this conversation just as much as I have. I am sending you so much of my light and my love today and every single day.
[00:39:35] We’ll see you next time.
