Last week I went back to school, and I graduated!

I enrolled on the 4 day Julia Boggio High Business Entrepreneur Business course, and I’m really glad I did.

I have been following Julia’s work and articles for a few years now, so the chance to get to meet her face to face, and learn from her directly was exciting and nerve wracking. Julia’s work is amazing, and she is getting featured in magazines all over the world. Julia is friendly and down to earth but straight talking with the business of photography, and has a great business head as well.

James Derbyshire her husband has a friendly and easy going nature, and gives a Hugh Grant air to the proceedings. His ability to put people at ease and be a genius at selling was a sight to behold. Seriously his sales day was a thing to behold.

Each day covered a different subject of running your own business, such as Marketing and Sales. Both of which I want to improve on. The fact that it was run by a photography business for photographers made the difference as that was what the emphasis was on, and not generalised in terms of any business.

I will be honest, there were times during the course that it was tough, because you love your business and you want it to do well; and even though you are there to improve, and you want to get expert opinion, it is still hard to distance yourself emotionally from it and when you are given advice and critiques about where you are and where you need to be it can be hard to hear initially. 

You get a one to one critique session with Julia herself during the course and it can be tough to hear what she has to say about your business, and what you need to do.  You take what she has told you away and think over it, and work out how to make any changes that have been suggested, and look back at your business without the emotion, and you understand better how to move it forward.

An additional bonus of the course was that I found myself in the middle of a friendly and encouraging support group, who knew where I was coming from.

Anyone out there that is running a small business on their own knows how lonely and sometimes very demoralising it can be, It is hard to keep yourself motivated, and sometimes harder to believe in yourself and what you are doing.  On the course you spend 4 days submerging yourself in the thing you love most, with other people who feel the same way, who give you encouragement, and ideas and suggestions. It also makes you realise that a lot of other photographers feel the same way, and everyone seems to have good days and bad days, and days when you think you are just not good enough and should throw in the towel, but you love it too much to walk away, so you just keep on pushing and trying!

The course itself is not run by Julia or James but by trainer Anne, who has been working with Julia Boggio studios since day one, and has helped get it to where it is now,  so you are in good hands.

Both James and Julia pop in and out over the 4 days, to offer their expertise and share their knowledge and stories of how they got where they are. They are surprisingly open about their business and willing to share the information (to a point!) which helps you see where it all started from.

My course finished on Thursday, and after the pub, when we all went our separate ways, I felt a little tinge of sadness.

It is not until it is done and dusted you realised quite how much you gained. Not only do you come away with a clearer idea of where you want to take your business, and what genius ways you are going to use to market yourself, and the secret tips and ways to sell yourself and your work, without becoming a ‘sales person’, but you leave with the words of encouragement from your classmates, who also become your friends.

We have already agreed to have a mini reunion at the SWPP in January, and I await to join our Facebook group that we are making. I look forward to seeing how everyone is progressing with their ideas and plans and ready to shout my encouragement from the sidelines.

I want to thank Julia Boggio and James Derbyshire for opening up their doors and being willing to share so much of their knowledge and business acumen with so many other photographers.

I can’t wait to see how their own story continues, as they have some great plans for the future, and I look forward to seeing them unfold. Thanks guys!

I had the pleasure of sharing 4 days with:

Dottie Photography

Captured Spirit

Ruth Hunt Photography

Shutter Leaf Photography

Mike Gratiss Photography

Julia Boggio Studios