Pivoting Your Business and Finding Your Niche with Maddie Peschong
I am so excited about today's episode. I'm talking with Maddie Peschong about pivoting in your business, and we go through her journey to really build a profitable business that also serves her family and the life that she wants to build. So I am so excited for you guys to listen. And make sure you connect with her if you're interested in learning more about brand photography or just running a life and a business that you love.
Maddie Peschong is a branding photographer and coach who is obsessed with teaching creative entrepreneurs how to build a profitable business by them being themselves. Through coaching digital products and personal branding photos, she helps women discover their magic so they can stand out in a saturated market, confidently scale their income without trading more time for money, and only do work they love.
She is the leader of the Confident Creative Mastermind host of the Take it personally, podcast and founder of the White Space Studio in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. A place where creatives can design, dream, and collaborate while developing their own irresistible brands.
[00:01:18] Hi Maddie. Thanks for joining me today.
[00:01:23] Maddie Peschong: Hello. Thank you for having me.
[00:01:26] Samantha Mabe: So let's get started by having you introduce yourself and share your journey to profitability in your business andhow you serve your clients.
[00:01:37] Maddie Peschong: Yeah, absolutely. So my name is Maddie Peschong. I'm a brand photographer based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Maddie's business journey
[00:01:43] Maddie Peschong: I've been a photographer for about 10 years, and in the last five years I have kind of slowly been pivoting into brand photography. I now only shoot brand photography. It's the only thing I advertise, the only thing I do. But it's taken time to get there.
[00:02:01] Um, I, uh, when I used to shoot, you know, weddings and portraits and just kind of was figuring out what I wanted to do, I was, um, I thought it was really interesting that I had a lot of friends who very much loved different niches of photography.
[00:02:20] Like I had friends who, you know, would say, I could shoot a wedding every weekend and not get sick of it. Or I could work with little kids every single evening and like I would never tire of it.
[00:02:29] And I was always like, Wow, that's, that's not my journey. Like , I really like photography. I love owning a. But this isn't the end game for me. Like there's, like, I, I need to dig a little bit more. Um, my background is in the marketing, specifically social media marketing. And so up until, uh, about five years ago, I always had a day job along with photography and I really liked my day job.
[00:02:57] I loved working in marketing. It was fascinating to me. I loved the industry and it also, I think really helped me grow my business to the point where I could eventually leave my job. But I knew right off the bat like there was gonna be a pivot at some point because that was not my end game.
[00:03:13] And, um, one of my favorite parts about weddings was actually sharing the photos that I took with other vendors, So sharing with the wedding planner or the venue owner, the person who did the stationary, like I, that was more fulfilling to me than sending the wedding photos to the bride. Honestly, I loved that I could send photos to a business owner and like help them with their marketing.
[00:03:37] And around the same time, I also started sharing a bit more of myself online. So handing my camera to my husband. Saying like, Here, take this photo. I'm gonna take a headshot of myself and share it on social media. And other photographers who were friends of mine started to notice and they said, Hey, could you do this kind of photography for me? Like, I wanna start doing this on my brand page as well.
[00:03:58] And at the time I, I didn't know that that was called personal brand photography. Like I had no idea. I just knew I liked it. And then once I realized it was an entire industry, I was like, Okay, this is it. This is the thing. This combines all the things I love. Um, and pro from a profitability standpoint. Um, It also allows me to price based on the value as opposed to based on a time exchange, um, because what you're providing is such an incredible value to business owners.
[00:04:29] So it felt like I, this is a really great way for my business to also be profitable and to not so much be exchanging time for money.
[00:04:37] Samantha Mabe: Yeah. Cause even in the weddings, like there is value there, but people are looking at how many hours can I get for how much money when they're trying to decide who to go with.
[00:04:49] Maddie Peschong: Exactly. And I think in general, photography can absolutely be priced from a place of value as opposed to like how much time, you know? But as photographers we kind of tend to get wrapped up in that.
[00:05:01] Like I, I coach a lot of photographers. And oftentimes when we're first looking at their packaging, it's, Well, this is an hour long session. This is a two hour long session. So then immediately your client starts to equate amount of time with the price of the package. Yeah. And that's kind of, that's tricky, you know, because as you get better, it, you take less time to accomplish what you need to accomplish and then we're penalizing ourselves.
[00:05:25] So, um, with brand photography, it was really, Again, I think this can be done with a lot of different niches, but for me it was much easier with brand photography specifically to think through, like, look at the incredible value. I am creating photos that are going to make someone money. Like there's, there's a value there, you know?
[00:05:44] Samantha Mabe: Yeah. And I think for so many business owners, that is the key is like, does your work. Even if it doesn't feel like it takes you a lot of time, help somebody else in their business. You know, I was listening to somebody talk about that and I was like, Oh, you know, I can charge more for what I do because they are going to see the return on investment from that.
[00:06:08] It's not just, Oh, they have something pretty to put up on social media or to put up on their website. There's actually money that's going to come into their pocket because they've invested in.
[00:06:20] Maddie Peschong: Exactly, and I want to be very clear, like there is incredible value in any type of photography. Um, there, the value being like, these are pretty photos to put on my wall. That's still incredible value, you know?
[00:06:34] But the thing that I love about brand photography is that it's pretty with a purpose. Like it really does impact a business. And, um, for me, I think that's why this industry has felt so fulfilling as opposed to other things that again, are really great for other people.
[00:06:50] But I just never felt that fulfillment, you know? And so this to me is really where I'm supposed to be. Yeah.
How to know if it's the right time to pivot
[00:06:56] Samantha Mabe: So I'd love to know as we kind of dive into the topic of pivoting in your business. You know, you said you knew that weddings was not what you wanted to do forever. How did you know when it was the right time to pivot into something else?
[00:07:11] Maddie Peschong: Yeah, I think I was always really open to the idea of pivoting because really early on I realized that like my business was absolutely growing with me. I started it when I was still in college, and so when I first started shooting, I was working, I was, you know, working with like friends and family and shooting portrait sessions and then pretty quickly pivoted into senior photography.
[00:07:37] Um, and honestly what I do now, like it's, it's easy to look back and be like, Oh, everything like really happened the way it was supposed to.
[00:07:44] At the time, uh, I really liked senior photos because I wasn't that much older than the seniors that I was working with. So I could relate to them really easily.
[00:07:54] But then as I got older and further away from that milestone, it was a lot more difficult for me to relate. And that was when I started moving into like engagement and weddings.
[00:08:04] I realized pretty quickly even though it made me uncomfortable to be like, Well, I said that I was a senior photographer and now I'm not a senior, like now I don't want to be . Is it, is it okay to change my mind?
[00:08:15] I still had those thoughts. It was definitely uncomfortable, but I think I realized pretty quickly that like, this business is going to evolve. And if I'm like, you know, holding on and like not letting it evolve, I'm probably just like throttling potential growth.
[00:08:30] Samantha Mabe: Yeah, that makes so much sense. You know, I don't think seniors are going to want the 50 year old taking their pictures like they could go to Target or JC Penney's studio. I don't even know if those studios existed anymore. But like that's what we did.
[00:08:43] And it didn't matter who your photographer was cuz you were just sitting in front of a background. But now the personality's so important and building that connection.
[00:08:53] Maddie Peschong: Yeah, absolutely. And so that, that was a big piece of it for me. It was like the people that I can relate to, and I mean, I feel like I will be doing brand photography for the foreseeable future, but who knows?
[00:09:07] You know, it's easy for me to relate to people who are, who are building brands and who are building businesses, because I'm doing the same thing and I have done that.
[00:09:16] But there may be a time when that's, that's not something that I relate to as much, and so I might pivot again. I don't really see that happening, but I mean, who knows? I didn't see a lot of this happening.
[00:09:25] Samantha Mabe: All a journey.
[00:09:27] Maddie Peschong: Exactly. I think another thing that made me realize that pivoting was going to need to be something that I would consider is that, um, as my business and I were kind of growing together, like my life was changing.
[00:09:42] When I started doing photography, I was in college in a serious relationship, still single. And then I was engaged and then I was married, and then I had kids.
[00:09:52] I think back to the first few years of my photography business, and it was working eight to five in an office, coming home, having dinner, and then working on my business.
[00:10:01] And I loved it. But I could not do that now. My kids would be like, Mom, you're super lame. Like, we wanna play, You know? So I think understanding that like there was a time in my life when working nights and weekends was totally fine and I really enjoyed it. Now my priority is to be done working by like four o'clock . And so I need something that works with that.
[00:10:24] Samantha Mabe: Yeah, my story's very similar. I started my business before my son was born, so now it's like I can't imagine being on, you know, social media in front of the TV all night long trying to engage with people cause I've got other stuff to do and I think so many business owners are in that space of I want my life priorities to come before just making money in the business.
[00:10:49] Maddie Peschong: And they should. That's why so many of us, you know, leave our day jobs so we can pursue business full time. Like we want that flexibility, but it's really easy to just hustle, hustle, hustle, and then kind of realize like, Oh crap, I'm building something that actually does not align with my values and boundaries at all.
The importance of finding a niche
[00:11:07] Samantha Mabe: How has finding a niche been really important in your business and why is that important for others as well? Cause I know some photographers who will do anything that comes along. Any industry, you could do everything or you can really niche down. So why has that been important?
[00:11:25] Maddie Peschong: That was me for a long time. I fought the niche thing and there are still parts of my business where I fight the niche. Like now, now on the coaching side of my business, I'm, I'm having that discussion and my business coach has had to remind me every time that you have niche, you have grown. And I'm like, Yeah, you're right.
[00:11:42] But it's hard, right? Like, it, it feels like we're saying no to, to money, to opportunity. Um, for me it's been, it has given me so much clarity and I think that that's what nicheing does. Like we think that it's saying no and setting boundaries and that's some of it. But in a lot of ways nicheing is more for clarity of your own marketing and messaging than it is for your people.
[00:12:08] Um, I think what has been really interesting about my journey with finding a niche nation business is. I still, I got two inquiries last week of of from people who like I know quite well who asked about family photos and I was like, I haven't done family photos in like five years. . I don't post family photos, but people who are not in this industry, they just see photographer, like they don't see brand photographer. They don't see any of that.
[00:12:38] And so for me it's just been a lot more clarity on like when I'm creating content, When I am marketing my business, I have so much more clarity on who I'm speaking to, who that ideal audience is. Um, But for those who are curious about nicheing, but it makes them uncomfortable or nervous, you could do, I mean, essentially what I did was like a really slow burn.
[00:13:03] Um, and you know, when you're taking things like weddings, you've got some serious lead time before you're like done, you know? So the last wedding that I shot was actually 13 months ago. It wasn't that long ago, and I've been niche in brand photography for, like I said, you know, coming up on about five years or so.
[00:13:23] But I was still shooting other stuff. I just wasn't advertising it. I slowly took it off of my website. I took it out of my messaging, but. I continued to get those inquiries and if I was in kind of a dry spell with brand photography, I'd take 'em, you know, I'll do your family photos to pay my bills for a while as I kind of figure this out.
[00:13:41] Um, and I think that that's something no one talks about. It's like it needs to be this clear break of like, okay, now you're, now you're in a niche and you can't do anything else. No. It's just more about your messaging. You can still continue to do whatever you wanna do.
[00:13:54] Samantha Mabe: Yeah. That's so helpful. I think, you know, when I learned about Nicheing down, instead of offering everything, Cause when I started it was like, I'll do your branding, your wedding invitations, like your website, anything you can possibly send my way.
[00:14:09] And I was a, I felt like Nicheing was, I only serve wedding photographers who need a website on this specific platform. And it doesn't have to be like, Specific, it's more around like, what do you wanna offer? What are their values? Cause you can have. I'm sure you have people in lots of different industries that need brand photography, so it's not just I serve photographers who need photography.
A niche doesn't mean all your clients are the same
[00:14:42] Maddie Peschong: Yeah, I, I think that that's a really good point. And you there. Once you're kind of comfortable in that niche, I think certainly what I have found is that it's still a much wider net than I thought it was.
[00:14:56] I am a brand photographer that actually encompasses a lot. I do marketing photography for commercial businesses, so like a law firm, a dentist office. I do headshot photography. I do, um, personal brand photography, which is my favorite. I do product photography.
[00:15:12] So there's actually quite a few different things within brand photography, and I've even considered like, what would it look like to just do personal brand photography? Um, and so it, and again, it can be a slow burn. You can kind of figure it out as you go,
[00:15:26] For people who are looking at nicheing and thinking like, Oh, I want the variety. I still feel like I have a lot of variety, but again, I'm so clear on who I'm speaking to and when marketing is such a big part of bringing in leads for a, for a small business, like that's really important. And so I'm, I'm thankful to have that.
[00:15:44] Samantha Mabe: So what are some, or can you give us some examples of niches that you've seen work, whether they're a little bit broader, just like brand photography or if they're really specific into something, especially as you've been coaching photographers.
Ways to niche and stay profitable
[00:15:58] Maddie Peschong: Yeah, that is a really good question.
[00:16:01] I, so I think that, um, so brand photography, certainly, um, I ha I really think that if you are feeling pulled to a certain niche, even if it feels really specific, there's probably a reason for that. Maybe it was a niche that like has helped you in the past or that you're really passionate about. And so I, I think that if it's done well and if it's done with integrity, just about any niche can be successful.
[00:16:29] Um, I've seen, you know, people who specialize spec I'll, I'll speak specifically about photography, but I've seen people who specialize specifically in family photography, and they've built this incredible brand where they can charge like a thousand, $1,500 for a family photography session. All they offer, um, and they make, you know, a full-time income from from that.
[00:16:52] I've seen the same with bir photography, with brand photography. So I think especially in the realm of photography, we really like to think like weddings are the best way to make the most money, and that's just not true. Um, there, there's things that have to be in place to make sure that you can charge like those high end prices, but you can absolutely do it.
[00:17:12] Um, my business coach does nicheing a little bit differently. She does not serve a certain industry. Um, she serves. Uh, a certain type of person, I guess. So her, um, business is specifically for like women who consider themselves spiritual entrepreneurs who want to build a business like based in intuition.
[00:17:35] But she works with me as a photographer. She works with people who do, um, who are like very woo and into like, uh, crystals and reiki and that sort of thing. She works with nutritionist, so she's not in one particular industry. Her common thread is spirituality. And so I think that, um, nicheing can be done a lot of different ways.
[00:17:55] Samantha Mabe: Yeah, that makes so much sense. And you know, like you said, it helps clarify your marketing and I know. That that can be, it can be really scary to feel like you're nicheing down and you're gonna say no to people. So I'd love to know like, how can we get past that fear so that we really dive into it before we've actually seen the results on the other side?
[00:18:19] Maddie Peschong: Yeah. Um. I, I highly recommend the slow burn, and I'll tell you exactly what that looks like for me. So I felt a lot of feelings about like, taking things off of my website. Um, I've always really prided myself on having great seo and so I was like, I have worked for years to make sure when people Google Sioux Falls weddings, like my page comes up.
[00:18:44] I don't wanna, you know, like just delete it. And so, um, I just kind of slowly tweaked my website. So when you would go to MaddiePeschong.com, instead of having weddings as a tab at the top, as a part of the navigation, I just took it off the navigation so people could still find it via Google. I could still send that page out.
[00:19:05] It would still come up in search results. I was still getting inquiries and taking weddings, but when you came to my website, it was slowly transitioning to look more like this person is a brand photographer. That's the thing that she specializes in. Before I was really specializing it in it, to be honest with you.
[00:19:24] Um, and I, weddings was like the last thing that I did. But like I said, I was the photographer who literally shot everything. So I, and, and again, SEO was a, was a priority. So I had a page, I think at one point I had a page for newborns, which is laughable . Like I should not have done that. Um, but I had different pages on my website for every different thing that I was shooting, so I just kind of slowly took those out of my navigation so they weren't confusing people.
[00:19:54] Um, so they, so people weren't necessarily seeing them right when they landed, but they could still find them and I could still send them out. Um, and I kind of did the same thing with social media. I realized early on that I would book what I was showing. Um, and I think we, we all, as we, you know, get more comfortable with social media and marketing ourselves online, that's a pattern that a lot of us see.
[00:20:19] And once I realized that, I was like, Well, hey, I'm in the driver's seat here then of like the type of, the type of sessions that I'm looking. So what do I want to be booking? And a lot of the time, you know, for a while that was wedding. So I was showing a lot of weddings and then as that shifted and I realized, you know, that means I'm working nights and weekends, should I kind of start to make this move to, to brands.
[00:20:40] I started showing more brand photography and then, um, by default booking more brand photography.
Slow burn into your niche
[00:20:47] Samantha Mabe: So when you did, like, especially the social media, did you go and remove the old stuff or did you just leave it on and it just like a slow transition as people s scroll through?
[00:20:59] Maddie Peschong: I left it on. I considered deleting, um, because I, you know, I, I'm a brand photographer. I love a good brand. Like, I love, uh, where you can just look at something and be like, Oh dang. Like they know what they're doing, you know.
[00:21:13] I have found that a personal brand fits me better, and I think that's true for a lot of creatives. Um, and for me, a personal brand means it's very closely connected to who I am as a human and humans change. And so I wanted to show, once I kind of got over the uncomfortableness of it, I wanted to show that transition. Um, I, for me, it's important that people understand like, I am a person, not just a brand. Um, so I wanted to show that imperfection and I wanted to show that journey.
[00:21:45] And also realizing that probably people were not as obsessed with what I looked like online as I was, you know, giving myself the freedom to just like, chill out a little bit and have this space to play and know that, you know, the majority of people are not going through my content with the fine tooth comb being like, She posted a wedding six months ago. What's going on here?
[00:22:07] Samantha Mabe: Yeah, that's great advice. And it's so much easier to pivot whether it's nicheing down or like trying something new, adding a new service when it's a personal brand as opposed to like a bigger company. Cuz you people know like, this is just what I'm trying out. It always makes me think of Taylor Swift and like how much her music has changed, but we still love her and we still listen.
[00:22:33] Maddie Peschong: Did we just become best friends? ? I have said that so many times and like you wanna see like the evolution of an incredible personal brand. It is our Queen Taylor Swift. Like truly like I, I completely agree with you as she changes. And as she kind of like goes through different stages of her life, you know, from like a 16 year old to now a 32 year old, her brand has changed and we're obsessed with it.
[00:22:58] But you're spot on. And I think having a personal brand has allowed me, um, in the past couple of years, like I've opened a photography studio that I rent out to other photographers. I've started a podcast, I've started coaching. I think a lot of. Has been able to happen because I haven't, I haven't tried to hide behind my work.
[00:23:18] I have tried to be a person first and a business owner second. Um, and so I have a lot more flexibility to pivot to niche, to do what I need to do, you know?
Pivoting when adding new services
[00:23:28] Samantha Mabe: So I would love to know, like for you when you pivoted into adding coaching or adding your photography studio, or for somebody who's looking to kind of pivot outside of just nicheing down. What does that look like? Do you have advice for that? Cause I think that can be even scarier. Like I'm doing something that's totally different or outside of what people are used to from me.
[00:23:53] Maddie Peschong: Yeah. Yeah, it is scary. Totally. When we opened the studio, that was nervewracking because it was, it was a business model that existed in other markets, but not really in ours. Um, but for me, and I think this is, um, the, the advice that I would give, I saw a need. And so I think it's just being aware of the needs that you're seeing specifically in your community.
[00:24:18] The area that I live in, there are so many photographers here. It is cold nine months of the year. But like , we don't have a lot of options in South Dakota. Like , it's a really good three months and then it's like, you know, Blizzarding. So, um, that the space to be able to do your work and to be creative and to meet with clients and to have a level of professionalism like those spaces didn't exist and I found myself needing that in my business. And I think anytime that I find myself needing something. It has become kind of automatic to say like, I wonder if other people need this too. And that's how the studio came about.
[00:25:00] And coaching was similar. I had kind of by happenstance found a business coach who I still work with today. And working with her and being in her group program was, it changed my life. It changed my business. Like it was so impactful and same thing there. I started thinking like, well, are there things that I know and things that I could teach that could help people, um, and that that could make an impact? What could that look like?
[00:25:28] I think it's just being really aware of like the people that you serve, really knowing them quite intimately and understanding what their struggles are and figuring out, you know, if there are ways that you can help solve those problems. And if you can do that in a way that feels connected to your brand, to me that's like the, the Venn diagram where the fireworks go off.
[00:25:51] You know what I mean? Like if you can figure out a way to help people and it also is like a passion of yours in some capacity that like, that's magic.
[00:25:59] Samantha Mabe: Yeah. And do you still keep all of that, like on your same brand or does the studio and the coaching have kind of separate Instagram, separate website?
[00:26:10] Maddie Peschong: So where I have landed, um, is I have my Maddie Peschong Instagram website and it's pretty all encompassing of the majority of things that I do. Um, it definitely houses all the photography and all of the coaching.
[00:26:25] It's pretty closely related to the podcast, but the podcast, which is called Take It personally.
[00:26:30] I do have a separate account for that white space. Um, for me, a big differentiator is, If the brand that you're um, building has like a storefront, a physical location to me, again, for me that is, um, kind of a indicator that it might, it will probably lead its own profile.
[00:26:55] And so that was, that was essentially what I did with White Space and I still talk about it on my page. I'm still connected to it. I. Probably people know that white space is mine. Um, but it does have its own account. And on the white space account, just from a like content strategy perspective, it's a lot of user generated content. So I'm not doing a whole lot of creating, I, I'm really wanting to create a community and share other people's work.
[00:27:23] Samantha Mabe: And because the, you know, the studio is not somebody working directly with you, it makes sense that that's like a separate thing. It can grow outside of you. You don't have to be involved. Whereas if somebody's hiring you for photography or coaching, they're gonna be seeing your face. They're gonna be working with you and interacting directly with you.
[00:27:43] Maddie Peschong: Exactly. Yeah. And it's been really interesting to grow something like White Space that is connected to my personal brand, but also stands on its own.
[00:27:53] Um, because I think at this point I, I've worked really hard to have a, a personal brand, like a successful personal brand. And um, I should say I attribute a lot of my success to that.
[00:28:04] But White Space,, it's connected to me, but it does kind of stand on its own. And so it hasn't, um, Whereas other things that I have launched, I think have been successful quicker because it's very clearly connected to my brand. White space has been slow, like it's been slower to grow . I think honestly because like people don't really care who I am, they just are curious about the space.
Tools that impact profitability
[00:28:28] Samantha Mabe: Can you share some of your processes that you use to really, especially if you've done all of this and you've become more profitable, like what are the main processes you have in, in place to help you with your business?
[00:28:44] Maddie Peschong: I live and die by my CRM. I use Dubsado,, but I'm a big believer in just having a CRM that works for you.
[00:28:52] Like people love to get caught up in Honey Book versus ddo versus whatever. Pick the one that works best for you and go all in. Um, because they're, they're quite similar. Um, and no matter what CRM you use, it's gonna take some work to get it up and running. Um, but don't try and breeze past that, like that, that foundational stuff is really important.
[00:29:16] So Dubsado is what I use to send all of my contracts, my invoices, I have workflows set up. Um, I am often booking clients weeks and months in advance since I had been doing weddings, it was always really important to me that clients didn't feel like they were giving me this big check and then like, not hearing from me for six months. Yeah. Like as a client, that would make me very uncomfortable.
[00:29:42] And so I wanted to make sure that I was still, you know, popping in and talking to them and sending them information, but also, If you, if you have multiple clients at a time, like that's really unrealistic. And so workflows have been a godsend, um, because I don't have to remember to send emails. Like they just go automatically. My client gets educated, um, and they also get the same user experience from client to client. So I think it's easier for me to get like referrals and reviews that way cause it's just consistent.
[00:30:12] I have a virtual assistant who's just like my right hand gal. And she, um, does a lot in Asana when it comes to podcast production. And then I also use it for session planning, um, cuz the, the brand, the way that I do brand photography, there's a lot of steps involved. It's quite a bit of planning and it's really nice to have a checklist.
[00:30:33] And then Google Calendar. If it's not on Google Calendar, it doesn't exist. I have one that I share with my husband and his coworker texted me the other day because I had an event on his calendar that said like, Jeff, home for kid, drop off, Maddie gone, whatever. Basically you need to be home cuz I'm not gonna be home. And our kids are getting home from school. And his coworker texted me and was like, That is brilliant. I'm like, That is the only way things get remembered in this house.
[00:31:05] Samantha Mabe: We started preschool for my son and his drop off time is like five minutes later than I had initially thought. And I was like, I have to change this or we're gonna, everything's gonna be off. We're gonna be at the wrong time. You're right, If it's not written down, it's not happening. .
[00:31:19] Maddie Peschong: And I, I had a really bad habit of like overscheduling myself and then not asking for help until the last minute. So we'd be like laying in bed the night before something and I'd be having like a nervous breakdown.
[00:31:31] I need to sit down and plan ahead and to have a better idea of what my schedule and our family's schedule looks like so I can ask for help, um, in a way that doesn't like put other people out.
[00:31:44] Cuz that's what I was doing. So, yeah, big Google Calendar fan over here, .
Connect with Maddie
[00:31:50] Samantha Mabe: All right, so as we wrap up today, I always like to ask people, what has been the most impactful decision you've made in your business and why?
[00:31:59] Maddie Peschong: Ooh. Um, okay. Mine is kind of two part, um, I would say, Like just surface level investing in coaching. Um, when I, I mean, to be honest with you, when I started, started investing in coaching and found the coach that I still work with today, I didn't know what I was getting myself into . Like I really didn't. Um, it just felt like kind of a natural next step and I was like, I don't know, hope this works.
[00:32:28] And it did. It did work. , it's been extremely impactful. Um, being able to work with someone who has kind of gone before me and can offer insight and help me get places faster.
[00:32:41] And one of the things that I have learned from her is, and this is the second part, is to listen to myself, like, to trust my intuition, to trust my gut.
[00:32:52] I think that that's really hard to do in business, especially in creative fields where, you know, you log on Instagram and you see all these different businesses doing all these different things and we get distracted.
[00:33:02] And so to be able to come back to that center point of like, But what do I want? What kind of a business am I building? My boundaries and priorities and building something from there. Um, it's an exercise every single day, but that has been, uh, really profound for my business.
[00:33:20] Samantha Mabe: Definitely. I love that. When did you start working with your coach in like how far along in your business?
[00:33:26] Maddie Peschong: Um, it was 2018 or 2019, and I started doing photography in 2012, but very much as a side hustle for quite a few years.
[00:33:38] I've just kind of continued to invest more and more in her at, you know, I started with like a group type program. Then I did more one-on-one with her and um, now I do quite a bit of one-on-one type stuff with her cuz that's just the point that I'm at. That's what, um, works really well for me right now.
[00:33:55] Samantha Mabe: Yeah. And I think it's important for people to hear, like you found a person that really resonated with you and your business and you've stuck with them.
[00:34:03] Maddie Peschong: Definitely. Yeah. I mean, when I. First decided to invest in my business. As we say, I think I set aside a budget of like $3,000 and that was, you know, I was coming from corporate America, and so that was more from a place of like, I bet I could go to a really cool conference, stay at a bougie hotel, you know, like for three grand, Like for sure I can do that.
[00:34:27] And then I decided to do coaching instead. Um, and now like that, that number that I invest every year is substantially more. But also so is my revenue, so is my profitability, you know? So, So it makes sense that your investment changes and is that uncomfortable?
[00:34:44] Samantha Mabe: And you've seen the increase in your profitability in your business to say, This decision makes sense even though if I didn't spend it, maybe I might bring home more money, but like long term I'm looking for growth.
[00:34:58] Maddie Peschong: Exactly. Yep.
[00:35:00] Samantha Mabe: Awesome. Well, where can people find you online and connect with you and you know, learn more about what you do so that they can. Better connect with you ?
[00:35:15] Maddie Peschong: Yes. I, I spend way too much time on Instagram, so that's my go to. Um, you can find me, my handle pretty much everywhere is at Maddie Peschong. Um, that's my website too. Maddie Peschong.com. And yeah, I'm really active on Instagram. I'm, I always, you know, I think sometimes people. And I'm the same way. I get nervous about like sending dms or anything like that if they wanna connect with someone. I love dms, like dms are my favorite, so never feel like you can't chat with me. Um, that's my favorite like way to connect in this virtual world that we live in.
[00:35:47] And then there's lots of resources on my website. If you're interested in pursuing a personal brand or specifically personal brand photography, I would love to chat with you.
[00:35:55] Samantha Mabe: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for joining me today.
[00:35:58] Maddie Peschong: Thank you for having me. This was a wonderful conversation.
[00:36:03] Samantha Mabe: Thanks so much for listening to this episode. Make sure you check out all the links in the show notes to connect with Maddie, and I would love to know what has your processed profitability been like? Have you niche down in your business or perhaps pivoted into something else? Send me a DM on Instagram or TikTok, or you can always shoot me an email.
