You are going to love Cameron and Tia, a Minnesota photographer husband and wife team. Seriously, we couldn’t stop laughing while having some insanely impactful conversations around AI. We wanted to have them on the podcast to talk about how they’re using AI for their own small business. And then of course what learnings can we take away for you, our listeners.
We’ve talked about this a little on episode 57, where we dug into all things ChatGPT, but we really wanted to share some more real-life implications. We know AI can feel a tad bit scary and unknown. The more you hear about examples and ways to apply it to your own business, the simpler and more excited you are going to be. And just wait until you hear about a little phrase they coined called “curiosity hour”!
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT TO HEAR IN THIS EPISODE
- How have systems played a role in growing your business?
- What are the overall pressures, expectations, or experimentation to leverage AI specifically in your industry?
- Were either of you hesitant to start adopting this new tool?
- What AI tools are you using, and how exactly are you using them in your business today?
- How has this curiosity manifested in your business?
- What are some lessons we can learn from the past on reasons why we need to jump on this train now before it’s too late?
Why should you start using AI for your business?
Business owners have so many roles, and it’s tricky to navigate. It can be so time-consuming to try to be an expert in everything. Enter: AI. It’s not something that can replace you or anyone on your team, but it’s a collaborative tool that can help you get somewhere a lot faster than you doing it yourself.
As photographers, Cameron and Tia use two AI tools to improve their productivity in their own photography industry:
- FilterPixel: This AI tool goes through all your photos and picks the best ones— also known as culling.
- Imagen AI: With this tool you can upload your edited photos first, so it learns your editing style, then the tool will actually edit your remaining selected photos applying your editing style.
ManyChat is another AI tool that’s super helpful for not just the photography industry, but anyone who has a focus on marketing and sales (ahem… all of us entrepreneurs!). It acts as a DM auto-responder to lead followers through funnels via DMs. It can connect with Instagram and Facebook Messenger, and helps keep your funnel moving, even when you’re not working! Think email subscriber funnels, but for social media.
AI tools are by no means perfect yet, but you can learn to efficiently work around the shortcomings of the tool. You’re essentially maximizing your use cases of the tool and saving you a ton of time, even if it’s not perfect. It’s giving you a starting point and likely hours back in your life! Just imagine what it could look like down the road as you get more efficient with these tools!?
Cam and Tia are huge advocates of being early adopters— seriously, listen to the episode to hear all about their curiosity hour. You may feel hesitant to try it out, but like we always preach: AI IS A TOOL! Not a human. It is meant to help you be more productive in your own expert work. You already have a ton on your plate, and there’s no shame in using AI to help you get more done. Or let’s be real, help you stop working so much and start using that extra time for self care.
Don’t forget to grab a list of all the AI tools here, curated by Cameron & Tia and mentioned throughout this episode! You’re going to want to bookmark this one!
About Cameron and Tia
Cameron & Tia are wedding photographers and photography business coaches based in Minneapolis, MN. They met in second grade at Jonathan Elementary School. Sixteen years later, Cameron proposed to Tia at that same elementary school. Cameron is an ex-attorney and Tia is a past dance teacher who transformed their passions into a career that allows them to have a life together filled with independence and tons of travel. Now, they teach others to others to create the same flexibility and freedom in their own businesses.
Curious how Many Chat works in their business? DM them “CHAT” in Instagram to check out a funnel in action.
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Abbey Oslin and Courtney Petersen are Minnesota-based marketing experts, educators, and co-founders of boutique marketing agency Duo Collective, which specializes in SEO, social media strategy, and branding for small business owners and creative entrepreneurs. To learn more about Duo Collective, or to inquire about working with our team, head over to www.duocollective.com.
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I’m actually using Jasper AI to help me write my blog posts (that I haven’t posted yet. BWAHAHA). Mostly, I use it for intros. I suck at those.