460: Ben Marcum – Adding portraits to a headshot photography business was the best decision

Premium Members, click here to access this interview in the premium area. Ben Marcum of www.benmarcum.com is a portrait photographer based in Louisville, Kentucky. His photography work, inspired by classical art portraiture, is gorgeous, but it's not the reason for my invitation to be interviewed. His business has recently taken a big turn and grown as a result. Initially, Ben focussed on headshots; he's since added classic portraits and boudoir photography to his repertoire and has carved a nice little niche in his location and couldn't be happier. He says… I still shoot headshots, and it is a good chunk of my business. It was more a matter of adding portraits. At first, I thought since the two styles were so vastly different, I needed to have separate websites for them. I ran that way for a little over a year. In the middle of last year, I combined the two sites. Ben's revenue is over USD$100k with a 60/40 split between portraits and headshots. In this interview, Ben shares how he grew the portrait side of his business and has grown the revenue by refining his sales processes.  Here's some more of what we cover in the interview: What’s on Offer for Premium Members If you’re a premium member, you should have received an email with links to your version of this interview – the full length and more revealing version where you hear the absolute best tips and advice from every guest. If you’re on the fence about becoming a premium member, join with the $1 trial today and get access to the FULL interviews each week, get access to an amazing back catalogue of interviews and ALL future interviews delivered automatically to your phone or tablet. Plus special member-only interviews. If I make what I want to look at, and I'm excited about it, and I'm presenting it beautifully, then people will come for that. – Ben Marcum You'll also receive access to the members-only Secret Facebook Group where you can connect with other Premium Members and interview guests to help, support and motivate you to take ideas you hear in each episode and put them into action. There are also FB live video tutorials, role-play interviews and special live interviews happening in the group. You will not find more friendly, more motivated, caring and sharing photographers online. Seriously, that's not all. In addition to everything above, you'll get access and instructions on forming or joining a MasterMind Group with other premium members. These groups are super motivating, make you accountable and build friendships with other pro photographers with similar motives to you – to build a more successful photography business. What is your big takeaway? Following this interview, I’d love to know if you're taking anything away from what Ben shared. Is there something you heard that excited or motivated you to the point where you thought, yeah, I'm going to do that! If so, let me know by leaving your thoughts in the comments below, let me know what your takeaways were, and what you plan to implement in your business as a result of what you heard in today's episode. 70% of my traffic is mobile. In a mobile environment, everybody's conditioned to scroll and swipe. So, the website needs to function seamlessly in scroll-swipe. Desktop is really secondary for me. – Ben Marcum If you have any questions that I missed, a specific question you’d like to ask Ben or if you just want to say thanks for coming on the show, feel free to add them in the comments area below. iTunes Reviews and Shout-outs Each week I check for any new