Produced By - Shutter Success: Mastering Photography & Empowering Others Through ADHD | #55: Wendy (wo0) Gannon

Episode Date: May 27, 2024

Step into the vibrant world of Wendy (wo0) Gannon, a seasoned photographer with 18 years of captivating imagery under her belt. Specializing in events, DJs, musicians and street photography, she's also a visionary in capturing the essence of "Bad B!tch Businesses" and personal branding. But Wendy is more than just a photographer; she's an angel specialist, devoted dog parent and a creative force fueled by ADHD. With Wendy, it's not just about snapping photos – it's about coaching, nurturing and building confidence. Whether you're a solo star or part of a corporate ensemble, Wendy's lens is your ultimate ally in capturing your essence and making you feel truly incredible to bring your personality out and help grow your business. Join us as we delve into Wendy's world of imagery, empowerment and artistic flair. Elevate your online presence with the help of Trailblazed, your (and our) favourite digital marketing agency. ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://trailblazed.digital/⁠⁠⁠⁠ If you enjoy the show, please, consider supporting it on Patreon or by buying a virtual coffee (or chocolate). ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/ProducedByPodcast⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/producedby⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠ Boost your creative career by joining our new Skillshare course and feel free to let us know how you liked it. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://skl.sh/3Rh7ZtY⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date, get the latest news and much more. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7092551882589528065⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Connect with Wendy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wo0photography/ https://www.wo0.co.uk/  https://linktr.ee/wo0photography  Connect with the host: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomasloucky/⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/thisistommen/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow the podcast: Links: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/produced_by⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠ Web: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://produced-by-podcast.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://instagram.com/produced_by_podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠ YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT5LHnM6YCaeVzIr0WatOsw⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/41BiG5YvGIgITz1N14hF2E ⁠⁠⁠ Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/produced-by/id1684669642⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ If you enjoy listening to the podcast, please, leave a review on your podcast app, subscribe and share it with your friends. You can also send us a message and share any feedback, advice and tips for guests. About Produced By: Produced By unveils captivating stories of courageous people who set out to pursue careers in highly competitive fields, despite often challenging circumstances. Enter the spotlight with our guests and get inspired, whether your interests are in the creative industries, personal growth or you simply want to have fun. Listen to individuals who represent a wide range of professional backgrounds, geographic locations and career stages. So come along to follow their adventures and learn from life's experiences as we kick off on this epic journey. Thanks for listening and see you soon! Connect with Tomas:X: https://x.com/TomasLoucky⁠⁠⁠Stan: https://stan.store/TommenLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomasloucky/⁠⁠Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisistommen/⁠⁠Unproduced:Newsletter: https://unproduced.substack.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unproducednotesSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033Ddo8ibDlLYoaP7FFLIWMore:Links: https://linktr.ee/produced_by⁠⁠⁠Newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://producednewsletter.substack.com/⁠The Podcast Club: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/25420030/Tools & gear that support the show:Metricool: https://f.mtr.cool/HRJBZKRiverside: https://riverside.sjv.io/vDnDodFavikon: https://www.favikon.com?fpr=tommenRa Optics: https://ra-optics.myshopify.com/discount/TOMMEN?rfsn=8803777.591d19JamX: https://jamx.ai/podcasters-offer?ref_id=e02d48af-ef66-4e76-b804-c2e8d282a8bfSome links are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. If you find them useful, using these links helps keep the podcast running. Thank you!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to Produced Buy. Just quickly before we begin, if we enjoy the show, please consider supporting it by joining our Patreon. You can choose from a list of memberships and we'll receive some exciting rewards. Thank you and back to the episode. So hello Wendy, thank you for Janeath today and welcome to the show. Hello, thanks for having me. I'm excited.

So Wendy, can you please introduce yourself? I am Wendy Gannon. most people call me Wu I haven't actually told anyone why yet maybe I'll do a podcast on it That was my next question Okay well I'll tell you the minute So I own Woo Photography

and I do personal brand photos I did start in music And I still do do some events So I was working in events all over the weekend It just makes me happy Yeah so I was really curious Why, Wu, do you want to tell us?

Why, we? Yeah, okay. So, when I was little, so like three or four years old, my friend, I used to live at number 32, and my friend's mom used to say, here comes Wendy Wu from 32. That's literally it.

Literally. Everyone says this massive story behind it. Nope, that's what it is. Okay. I was, I mean, I don't know, I wasn't probably, expecting anything but I would be curious anyway so I'm glad that I know I did a post on LinkedIn the other day about it and everyone was guessing and some of the things they were coming up with

was really bizarre when they hear they're going to be really disbanded okay so Wendy can we I always like to start with the background so can you tell us where do we come from and maybe something about your childhood so My childhood, I felt like I was like the lonely outsider when actually I was completely the opposite. But because recently I've discovered that I've got ADHD. Had I known that back then, life would have been a lot different. But yeah, I thought that I was, I didn't have any friends or nobody liked me when actually I did and they did. So if you're thinking that anybody out there, stop it, you're great.

but yeah so I I've been doing photography for about 20 years I'm self-taught there was a website called don't stay in dot com when I was in my early 20s that you'd go out and take photos of people at nightclubs and raves and stuff like that and then you put them on the website and then those people who were there would spot themselves it wasn't tagging it was spotting themselves in a photo and it grew from there really I wanted to get a professional camera

well a DSLR and my family bought me one all clubbed in together for Christmas and birthday and Christmas so that I could have one and there was a status on the website called ProSpotter and I managed to get that

badge within three months which was the fastest so I was like oh I'm gonna keep doing it yeah I'm one of those jack of all trades right and yeah so I did that as just a side hustle really for 18 years 18 and a half years and while I was doing recruitment as my main job and I started my own recruitment company during COVID in 2020 and that's when I went on to LinkedIn and started growing my personal brand and meeting all of the amazing people on there. One day, so what year are we in? So it was 22, December 22.

I put one of my photos on LinkedIn post that I did. And everyone was like, why are you not doing this for a living? And I didn't think I was good enough, didn't have the confidence, you know, still get that a little bit sometimes. But it's thanks to LinkedIn, but I've gone full time as a professional photographer. I was going to say that, as you said,

that you've been doing it for 18 years as a hobby. It sounds like a long time to become a professional. Right. Yeah, I do things back to funk quite often in life. Yes, you are just underestimating yourself. I know, I'm brilliant. I've definitely got a style that nobody else. Nobody else has not.

And I think the way that my chaotic brain works, it helps with coming up with ideas, you know. And before we move on, can I just come back to, you mentioned that you discovered fairly recently about HDAD. So how come you didn't know before or did you do like some kind of diagnosis lately or? No, I'm still waiting for my diagnosis. It's been a year and a half waiting so far. No, so when I was younger, ADHD was just for boys So they didn't think it was for girls Oh, really?

Yeah I don't know much about this topic, but it surprises Yeah, yeah, I didn't think it was only recently actually That they realised that women and girls can get ADHD as well So It makes you very forgetful Forget what you're going to say, so bear with me yeah so it was actually just watching

TikToks and things and people would send me things going oh my god this is you and I'd be like oh yeah it actually is and I'm so that was about well two years ago and I know I tell people but I've got ADHD and they're like yeah didn't you know

but no it's so yeah it's it's It's frustrating. You've got like a grief period, right? So I've done the excited bit. Well, kind of excited. Like the, oh my God, this is happening.

And then there's the sad bit. I'm kind of getting over the angry bit now. Where I understand, like, I was angry because why did nobody tell me? Why did nobody know you? Why am I still waiting for a diagnosis? some medication because it would really help me. And also, sorry to interrupt, but I want to ask you, are you comfortable discussing this? Because if not, I am literally comfortable discussing anything.

Yeah, okay. Another ADA is too great. Literally anything. I don't care. Yeah, I am an open book. Because I'm really curious. I don't know much about this topic. So if you don't mind, you can tell us more about it.

So apologies for interruption, but you can continue about the negative part. Yeah, so it's, it explains a lot about my life. And it explains decisions I've made, mistakes that I've made. It explains so many things. Also, had I known that I had it, I wouldn't have done certain things and I wouldn't have been put in certain situations. there's like my brain is just always on it's just so chaotic and I'm very loud and I talk a lot and I'm like the life and soul of the party and had loads of trauma but I'm hilarious because

trauma makes us funny and so thank you for the trauma yeah it's really difficult with work like my recruitment business I struggled to find motivation and mental health was up and down quite a lot but with my photography like I love it so much it makes me so happy and because my work is more than just

taking voters of people which I'll talk about in a bit it just like it makes my heart happy honestly I just I get so much from it And I think it's the only thing that I've stuck at. With ADHD, you'll get a hobby and then never do it again. Jump to something else, right? Yeah, exactly that. Yeah, exactly.

And it might sound like a silly question, but what about your parents when you were younger? They didn't think that you may have it or did they notice? No, as I said, it was only recently that they even thought that girls could have it. Even when my daughter was younger, she's definitely got it and autism. It was not looked at. Nobody thought it was a thing. So, yeah, my poor parents. No, that's not what I were.

Sorry, mum and dad. And also with the diagnosis that you said that you are still waited for it, why does it take so long? Because they've only just found out that women can get it and more women are realising that they do have it, then there's not like super long waiting lists. And it depends where you are in the country. You can either go private or through the NHS.

If you go private, it's a lot quicker. But then you can't get your medication on the NHS. You have to take private for your medication. It's called Right to Choose. I don't really understand it. Anyway, if you wait for the NHS, a psychiatrist, I think. You have to go through. It depends where you live.

So I've been on the waiting this for 18 months. Oh, that's a long time. Yeah, somebody on LinkedIn the other day had theirs within like three months, which is brilliant for them. But it pissed me off. Like, yeah. So do you know if you're still going to continue waiting for an letter? I don't know how many months or if it's coming soon?

I will wait. They say around here it's about two years, so I'm hoping it's really soon. Yeah, I hope so. so but then I spoke to somebody the other day who's been waiting eight years now they need to go and have a chat with their GP I think what eight years eight years I mean there's always extremes of some things right but yeah that's a lot and now as you it's been a while since you own it since you know that you have it did you like I don't know learn how to cope with it how to and so over the years I've learned I learned I learned I learned to mask it, right, so that I'd fit in with people in society and work and life. As soon as I realised that I had it, like, the masks start to fall away and there's nothing

that they can do to stop it. So it feels like, I said to somebody before, you know, on Raiders of the Lost Ark, right at the end when they open the ark, and then you see a little bit of, a little bit of, like, glistening out, and then it opens a little bit more, and then all of the spirits just fly out. That is what my brain. feels like. I like the comparison. I can think of that it's like, yeah. I mean, I wouldn't be any other way and I'm actually grateful that there is like a reason.

I mean, not why I'm like this because I'm actually great. But do you know what I mean? There's an explanation for things. I'm not just fucked up. Sorry. I'm not just screwed. I'm not just weird. I'm not just, you know, yeah. And for some people who are perhaps struggling with this or they may think that they may have it as well, can you share some kind of advice or, you know, tips on how to deal with it? Yeah, there's, there's, right, I've got a few

tips for people who know they have it and people that think they might have it. Like, there's so many things on social media that can help you, but just go to your GP. There is a test that you can download or that they will give you where you can, like, are you like this? Give it a one to five. Do you know what I mean? Does this happen? Give it a one to five.

That you can do that and then you calculate, like, if your brain works that way. But that doesn't always work if you are masked. So for example, I've masked so well at going into groups of people and crowds of people because of my photography, like my camera to hide behind. I don't have panic attacks or anything like that. But if I didn't have my camera, then I probably would. So you have to think about what you've put in place to help you cope and get through these challenges that you've got. Yeah.

So have a chat with your GP. Have a chat with me. Like if you're listening to this and you don't know where to go, like message me. I'm more than happy to talk to you about it. The other thing I want to say on the topic is if you have ADHD, the government have got a scheme called Access to Work. Now, it's really easy to apply for. Go onto the government website, put in Access to Work.

and there's a short questionnaire, which is really easy to do. And then it helps you with your work. So if you're working for yourself, I'll tell you what it did for me. So I worked out, me and someone else worked out that I was doing 85 hours a week. Oh, my God. It was a lot. I was burnt out at the end of last year. It was a lot.

and that 25 and a half hours of that could be taken away from being done by somebody else. Like my socials, my marketing, my account, like loads of different things that I didn't have specifically have to do. Like, I've got to go and take the photos and I'm like edit a certain way, so I've got to do that. So access to work gave me a pot of money to get somebody to do those 25 and a half hours. for me and they gave me software to help me they've given me CRM like if you've got any disability or long-term illness or limiting illness or something like that then you can get stuff to help you to work yeah whether you work for yourself or whether you're in a company so it's definitely worth applying for you can get like standing desks you can get chairs get lots of

things if it's physical or mental or neuro or whatever yeah so take advantage of this is yeah and then from your perspective are there like any things that people do and especially make you upset or angry for example something that you know just annoys you and wouldn't annoy you otherwise if you know what I mean just just to know to kind of avoid it or not to do that? Not much annoys me. I'm pretty laid back, but when someone says they're going to do something and they don't do it, that's really annoying. Like, I haven't got a partner at the moment, but if somebody, if you got a partner and they say they're going out and they say they're going to be back at a certain time, I'd rather you just didn't say a time. Just don't tell me when you're going to be

back. I don't care when you come home. But if you say you're going to be home, but if you say you're going to be home at 10 o'clock. Be home at 10 o'clock. Because otherwise I'm going to be like stressing out. Or if you book a call with somebody, go to that call. Don't leave me waiting. It's really annoying. No, of course it makes sense.

Yeah, I can only agree. Yeah, I think that's all. Because I do a lot of things that I'm sure will annoy people and I don't get on so I think I've got to be pretty lenient with other people. Yeah, it's right. So before we move on from this topic, is there something else that you would like to share about this or some kind of message related to this?

I will say that it does seem that people who are neuro-spicy, as a lot of people call it, do tend to flock together. So you find your own kind of weird. Like the weird attracts the weird, right? I have got your best, funniest, weirdest, most beautiful friends. And if you are yourself, which you really do need to be yourself, because you're brilliant, don't pretend to be anybody else and don't hide behind anything, you will find people just like you that love you and support you.

Yeah, I think it's great advice. And I think it can be applied to everyone just not to pretend to be someone else. Yeah, it's a good one. So coming back to your career or your background, were you then kind of creative child when you were young? Yeah, so we're a creative family actually. So my mom has got, she's always done like art. She did she did like garden design. She did loads of things and we were always cross-stitching and doing art as kids.

My mum's now got like a mixed media shop, a gallery. She teaches workshops and does loads of crafty and arty stuff. My daughter has just graduated from London College of Fashion. She's a knitware designer. She's obsessed with knitting. So yeah, and I did always want to do photography. It's then surprising that you haven't started earlier. I know, it's weird.

I got a boyfriend, that's what it was. And why in the first place you started with recruiting? Was that something that you enjoyed before? I actually fell into it. Like most people fall into recruitment. I was out of work. I was working for a charity and they lost some funding so I lost my job. And I was looking for a job for like three months.

And I went into a recruiters to see if they could give me some work. and they hide me as their administrator. And then I worked my way up from administrator to recruiter to senior recruiter to billing manager. And I was managing the area. So I, yeah, I loved it. And then I moved from that one to another one. And I had a really toxic boss. Be nice to people.

And then I started my own company. So yeah, it was, everything happens for a reason, definitely. So I loved working in recruitment. All of that recruitment stuff gave me the opportunity to start my business in recruitment, which taught me how to run a business for my photography. Yeah, that's very smart skills and experience that you can use later on. And when you started your own business, how did you feel like? Because sometimes it can be quite scared to start in your own business.

So did you feel scared or excited? So I had just got out of burnout. So just before COVID, I was not in a good way. I went up to like 20 stone. I was in bed for three months. Couldn't move, really. I couldn't stand up for more than five minutes without hurting. And I got myself out of that with some help.

And then I was like, I can do this. It was a little bit scary, but it was mostly exciting. And I started using LinkedIn by that point. And everybody was really, really bloody lovely and supportive and helped me. The LinkedIn community is like, no other, honestly. And yeah, so there's loads of support and loads of help. And actually, because it was COVID and loads of people were furloughed, I got loads of work. I'm like that registered in six months.

It's like a perfect timing. Perfect timing. But then when furlough stopped, everybody came back and I had no work. So when I was there like, the roller coach. Yeah, no, it wasn't too scary. like I said back then that we never ask for help and I had been making friends for 40 years for that moment in my life when I could just ask everybody that I has made friends with and I make friends like every day.

It helped me. So I've got a friend in IT, a friend who's an accountant, a friend who does marketing, you know, like everybody rallied around and helped me because you need to ask for help if you actually want help. don't be afraid to ask yeah so I'm really lucky I'm really grateful for like the people that I've got around me I was going to say

Mazefat's a great network yeah after those years I'm working in a recruiting yeah and I tend to have like loads of different little friend groups should I mean everyone like I've lived in different places so I've got like a friend group in base and stuff

we've got a friend group in Basel I got a friend group here. I started a dog walking group accidentally over the park. What is it? Walking. A dog walking group. Oh, dog walking. Okay. Every time I met somebody with a joke, I'm like, I'll be here at 8 o'clock every weekday. Now there's like 10 of us every morning.

There's loads of dogs on them. Oh. So yeah. I mean, you never know when you might need though. Exactly. And they're my friends now. And before you mentioned, you started with LinkedIn. Why actually?

And why this specific platform? So, I don't know. I mean, you could have been on, I don't know, I don't know, Instagram or Twitter or Facebook or something else. Because of the recruitment link, LinkedIn have got really good recruitment software. So it was easier for me to grow my audience there. And then that's when personal branding buzzword came in. where people said you need to be yourself and attract people like you, which is what I say now. And it's true.

And there's, yeah, so like really amazing audience, if you like, community. That's the word. I've got an amazing community on there. And, like, I will happily help anybody if I can. And if I can do anything to make someone's day better, then I'll do it. So I've attracted people like that, which is great because they'll all make your day better. Yeah, of course. That's a good idea.

And LinkedIn's really, it still is probably the easiest platform to grow and get business on. But back then it was a lot easier. So I think I missed the beginning where it was like, zoom up. Either that, or I just wasn't doing it right. And then, yeah, I, I just like to post authentic, genuine stuff. Whereas I know, you know that on Instagram, you get those accounts that are like, this is how I grew my Instagram, I found 500,000. Yeah.

You grew it by saying that's how you grew your accounts of 500,000. So, yeah, I do, and I do like to make people. laugh. I do like to push the boundaries and you like to be inappropriate and I've been banned like 10 times now on LinkedIn. Really? On LinkedIn?

Oh my God. Can you tell more? What did you do specifically? Right. So they... Get ready. Get ready. This is a stuff. So I'm a little bit peed off

with them, to be honest with you. They've banned me for things that I don't think should have been banned for. They banned me for things and then unbanded me when I set, when I, like, what's the word? Defended myself when I argued the point and they unbanned me. They were like, yeah, all right then. And then, so that's happened quite a few times. So, sorry, so in the end, do you feel like that you still had a point or maybe you went a bit too much?

I mean, there's been times when I've gone too far. 100%. And I'm not going to say that. I haven't. Because that's just what I do, right? You've got Chris Banger. I put a photo up of one of my friends in her underwear eating over my dining table with a mannequin behind her

reading a book that's called I Love Dick. But so I got banned for a month for that, right? But they said that was my final ban, permanently banned that I'm not allowed back on there.

So I was arguing the point that this is a, I'm empowering women to do whatever they want. She's, she's a photograph of a woman being empowered, reading a cult feminist classic book about a man called Richard, which is literally what that photo is. If they're filthy and they want to take it a different way. Anyway, so I, so I messaged them saying, You've banned me for this.

Yet when I complain about men harassing women, when some guy on a post has literally admitted that he's harassing this woman, you do nothing about that. And people are saying dickmicks on LinkedIn. And when I report that, you say there's nothing wrong with it. Yet you're banning me for empowering women. What's your problem? And they went, congratulations.

You've got your account back. Oh, wow. Yeah. And so after that, they banned me again. And I'm like, well, why have you banned me? What at this time? What even was it? I said something really nice to somebody, but my wording, they said was harassment.

I was like, read that comment. It actually says, you're wonderful. And they were like, well, we've been here before, haven't we, Wendy? And I was like, they said, you've had so many parents. I'm like, can you tell me why I have been banned each of those times? and they're like, no. I'm like, I need to know why I've been banned so I can't, so I don't do it again.

They're like, we're not going to tell you. Why? Because you've got no idea. I'm really annoyed about it. Sorry. But I feel like that what you said, it's kind of a good way to promote yourself. That if people want to have fun,

I think they should definitely get in touch with you and connect. It works. It works. So now I can't swear on there. If I say a swear word on there, I get banned. Whereas there's people effing and seeing all over the place, which is brilliant for them. I love swearing. So I have to make up some really, really funny ways of saying things, which actually is a lot more fun and gets a lot more engagement than just swearing.

But it does seem like... They're telling you to be yourself and connect and stuff, but don't be yourself too much. Don't be too much fun. I guess they can see the history of the bands. So I guess you should be careful so that it doesn't happen again. One of them was because I had the camera emoji in my name. And now they allow that. So that shouldn't be included.

Sorry, you have it now or you don't? It's allowed now. It's allowed now. So that shouldn't be included. one was for having my name is Sorry, and what's the problem? I don't know. I don't know.

One of them was for having W00 in my nickname. I didn't have it as my name. It's my nickname, which is my nickname. And I was like, this is my business name. It's my nickname. You can see here, here, here. And they were like, all right, that's fine. So that should have been included.

So like, if you take out all the times when they've gone, actually, you're right. I think I've only been banned twice. you know it's a little side note but it reminds me if you know Elon Musk and his child that is called that has name with I think number three yeah what's the child going to be called on the platform if the child cannot use numbers exactly imagine being called an algorithm though but I was about to say that I actually like it when there are people on the platform that they they don't take themselves that seriously.

Because although LinkedIn is professional platform and like mainly for recruiters and try to show yourself in a formal and professional way, I still like when people, for example, use memes or make fun of it and just, you know, don't take themselves seriously. 100%. How boring would life be if everybody was like

in a suit all the time? Oh, God. Like you buy from product, Like, like, Innocence movies. You buy from adverts that are funny and, like, oh. Yeah, just need to stand out. Yeah, it really annoys me. Like, there's nothing wrong with me.

Why are you, like, saying that I shouldn't be like this? This is just too well. I'm not trying to be trouble. Yeah, of course. Most of the time. If you want to boost your online presents, check out our digital marketing agency called Trailblaze. You can also enroll in a Skillshare course called the 10 tips on how to succeed in your creative career, which was inspired by the podcast.

Lastly, make sure to subscribe to our weekly newsletter called Creative Spotlight to stay up to date with the show and more. Links are in the show notes. Thanks. Also, I wanted to talk a bit more about you working in recruitment because you probably have, I mean, you definitely have a lot of knowledge. when it comes to people applying, looking for jobs and interviews and stuff like this. So can you share some advice, tips, what people do, what maybe they do frequently? I mean, things have definitely changed. It's been like 18 months since I was in recruitment. I'm not like I still am friends with recruiters.

Like Thomas Woodham's going to go and look at him. He's fun. so I think the thing that you just need to do I think it's got a lot worse these days so it's harder it's even harder and I used to do career coaching and LinkedIn coaching don't give up and if somebody doesn't reply to you it's not your fault

it's just because they're a dick right people just ghost all the time now it's a thing you could apply for 100 jobs and hear back from one and that one says no thank you. That's not on you. That's on them. It's just really horrible out there at the moment. But one thing you can do is make sure your LinkedIn is superb

and start using LinkedIn with your personal brand to get like your audience and get seen and then have conversations with the people that you want to work with. So yeah, that's what I do. I make sure where LinkedIn was the tagline was spot on. A photograph. Come to me. I'll take your photograph. Your banner, because your banner is the first thing that people look at,

your tagline's important because the first, however, many characters on your tagline also show when you comment. So make sure that that stands out and says exactly what you do. Not many people read the about section, but I suppose if you are looking for a job a recruiter would do. Make sure you've got lots of keywords in there. So as a recruiter, you've got something called LinkedIn Recruiter is a platform and you can use keywords to search for people. So you need to make sure that those keywords are in your About section.

They are in your job section all over because the more those keywords come up, the higher you're going to be up the list. And the more chance you're going to get of getting a call from a recruiter. That is new to me. I didn't know this. Oh, yeah. I'm a font of knowledge. also you put yourself as open to opportunities on there you don't have to show everybody you can just be open to recruiters

and would you recommend to use the green line in your profile photo open to work I mean it depends it never stopped me from messaging anybody I think if somebody doesn't message you because you've got a green thing on your photo then they're not the kind of people that you want to work with anyway if you are out of work or you'll be made redundant or something like that

I think yeah why not obviously don't you do that if you're in a job it's six to one half a dozen of the other I've seen some people say that I'm not going to recruit you if you've got a green thing and I just don't understand why wouldn't you recruit somebody just recruit the right person for the job

Yeah, exactly. They've got the skills and don't ever tell anyone your job, your salary. Don't ever tell anyone what you were on before, especially women. It should be illegal. Joan Phillips has started a petition about it. In America, it's now illegal in most states to ask what the previous salary was. It's got no regard. It's got nothing to do with what you're applying for.

The job you're applying for should have a, minimum, a maximum salary banding, and you should be somewhere in there with the skills that you've got. Yep. The end. It doesn't matter how much you were on before. So yeah, don't tell anybody what your previous salary or current salary is. Yeah, yeah.

And when it comes to job applications and someone sends CV and cover letter, how often does a recruiter actually go to LinkedIn? Or does it depend or someone doesn't check it at all or people do check it a lot? So I would check mine every day. And it's more

so applications, I didn't really put job ads up. I would more headhunt people and applications are really not inclusive. A kind of

if you've Like you shouldn't put bullet points on a job on a job ad because that stops women from applying because women will statistically apply for a job that they can like do nine out of ten of the bullet points whereas a man will apply if he can do two of them or something something like that so right right don't put bullet points at all at all and just explain things then you're more likely to get women to apply. Also, like, don't use certain words, like, rock as masculine and feminine wording. And there's a website where you can check whether your word is masculine or feminine. And also, where you're putting your stuff, right? If you're, if you're just getting middle-aged,

white people applying for your job, then you need to apply, like, put your job out into different places and go to different communities and find people who are actually really good at what they do don't look like the same as everybody is the people in that company yeah no I just thought because it's always challenging when you are looking for a new job yeah stressful period of time and hard to face the rejections so I thought with your experience it would be good good at least briefly to discuss this. Yeah, it's really hard. And actually, I've still got a CV template from when I had quirk.

So if anybody wants my CV template, then I'll send that over to you. Just come and find me on LinkedIn, drop me a message or whatever, and I'll send it to you. Yeah, I will share the link so that people can reach out. Lovely. Yeah. Now I think we can discuss actually your creative kind of career. So how did you find the kind of the beginnings when you were. made a switch from recruiting to working as photographer.

For example, looking for the clients. Right. So it blew my mind. Honestly, I thought I was going to struggle. I, it's been so wonderful. So I was like, right, I'm going to try this. I am going to do 10 photo shoots because I used to charge 200 pounds for a photo shoot for a day, right? I'm ridiculous.

10 photo shoots for like 350 pounds and once they're gone they're gone. They went in like a day. Right? And then, but it was great because I wasn't as good back then. So I'm happy I chose that. And then I had, I did some skill swaps, which I love doing. So I did some photos for somebody who gave me some training. I did some photos for somebody

you gave me some marketing and advice and I mean, I like doing things like that because I didn't know what I was doing and they get something out of it. Yeah, that's smart. Yeah. So we did that and then I learned how to do things like I was putting five photos on a post

so people could look through the different photos that I've done. No, no, no. Just one. Just one. You only need one, Wendy. And then how to post and when to post and what to post. And then, like, I started my actual offers.

I had some coaching. And then my prices went up. And I was doing a full day last year for 1,500 pounds. And a half day for 800 pounds. And I was so busy. So busy. You had to start a day. refusing

working with people because you have too much yeah basically I was like as I said earlier I was like I was knackered at the end of last year because I was going up and down the country

because I'll go anywhere I like meeting people and I like going to different places so I was like Manchester Barnsley Leeds like Norwich like all over the place and so I was

really knackered I took and I was ill so I took two weeks off before Christmas and two weeks off over Christmas. I was like, I can't keep going like this. I'm going to double my prices so that less people bet. So I told everybody that I was doubling my prices and went mad. And then I double my prices and it's not calmed down.

So you should have tripled. So you get a lot of it. that money. It's not just a photo shoot. So I do a lot of confidence coaching. We do a lot pre-shoot. So we worked out that one four-day shoot where you get 50 photos, it's 35 and a half hours work for me.

Yeah, yeah. People don't see all the stuff in the background. Yeah, exactly. And the transformations that my clients are getting is ridiculous. Like, so somebody bought a 50%. £1,500 photo shoot, and within three months, they've made $25,000. The RRRWI, 25 grand. Not just from the photos, it's from the confidence work that we do as well,

because so many people don't like having their photo taken. I'm scared to be in front of the camera. Don't like how they look. Like, don't know what to wear, how to stand, where to go, anything like that. Like, it's daunting. It's a scary thing. And I think a lot of people, a lot of photographers, miss a trick

by not getting to know the people that they're going to work with really well so you can have as many video calls with me as you want in the lead up. There's been some people that we've had weekly video calls with to get their confidence up, work out exactly what they're going to do and also build that relationship.

They are slaying LinkedIn now. We went to an extra together and they were like, are you that woman on LinkedIn in with those photos and they were like, yeah. And this is like, yeah. Yeah, it really works. Because I don't shoot like, I bring your personality out. It's not just brand photo, personal brand photos.

They're photos of you, your personality and, yeah, it's just different to everyone else, which is why I guess I could double my prices. Yeah, yeah. And I think if they enjoy working with you and also, as you said, provide such a high ROI, it's likely that they will want to work with you later or even recommend you to someone else. Yeah, I've got people rebooking this year from last year. And is there like a specific target customer that you work with or is it pretty much anyone who wants to take photos? So it is people who are either, well, it's people that are kind of at 5K months wanting to go to 10K months and beyond.

so have got already fairly established business or at least know they know who their ideal client is and what direction they want to go. I don't have a particular demographic, but it does seem to be more women are, more white women are booking me. Now, I noticed this the other day I was having a chat with Joe Major who works in recruitment and does DEI. and I was like my god my website is so white it's actually it's actually really bad like I'm actually myself and so I'm gonna have we're going to be having a conversation soon on LinkedIn about taking photos of people of colour because there are specific ways to do it to not make the skin look orange or blown out and I can do that so I need to I need to let people know that I'm like a safe place and I've got the skills and the talent to do that.

So yeah, it's, and I don't want to be like that. I don't want to be like, oh, that white hero. Do you know what I mean? I don't want to be like, I don't want to be that person. Oh, I understand. Yeah. Oh, I just, I just want to take good photos of people. Do you know what I mean, no.

I don't want to be like that. Yeah, I understand. I understand. Yeah. Before you also mentioned that you, do shoots on parties. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I love it.

So this weekend, so I do ravertox. Have you heard of ravertox? I mean, I know what is the rave, but probably I don't know what it is. Okay. So, so it's based on 44, nearly 45, blind me. So, like, this guy Mike Pickett is a legend. And he used to DJ and I used to go raving, but had kids. So he couldn't really go raven anymore.

So it's like, I still want to go out and dance to music that I love. Let's take the kids. So they've got, so Ravertox is adults and children and babies and fun and balloons and streamers and sick DJs. And it's so good. And it's so much fun. And it's really well run. And it's really professional. and honestly we were at Ministry of Sound on Saturday

I was in Prism in Kingston on Sunday it's just so much fun I wasn't expecting this go and look on my post from yesterday go and look at yesterday's post I put a video up yeah and so do you go there go there with

to enjoy it with others or do you go there to take pictures or both I go there to take photos so they hire me to take their photos to make the party look good so that then people will buy the tickets for the next one. So it's not like a regular party on Friday evening, Friday night. No, it's honestly, it's amazing. Okay, okay, yeah. Sounds cool, yeah. I will have a look.

Yeah, it's really cool. Can you tell us, I'm curious if you can tell us more about the actual process, how we work, because as we discussed, it's more than just taking pictures. So what is it in the background that is there, but maybe regular people like us don't know or don't relapse? So there's so much, right. So, I mean, it doesn't even, it starts with your marketing and your social media and everything like that. So the business is a lot. There's a lot.

So there's like, there's probably a hundred hours a week goes into my business. And there's still loads to do. There's always more to do. Yeah, always more to do. So, but when you book a shoot with me, so we'll have a call, a free consultation call, and then we'll work out if we're the right people for each other. Because I don't work with everybody.

If we're not vibing, it's not going to work. So we work. And obviously, I'm not everyone's vibe. I am Marmite. If you don't like me, we're definitely not going to work with you. So we'll have that first consultation call, work out kind of what you want the photos for, if you've got any ideas, and then book in as many video calls as you want. So we need to work out what poses we're going to do. We get a mood board made, obviously, what location we're going to be at, what ideas we have, how are we going to do that, what concepts, are we going to tell a story?

Is it going to be a journey? Do you want each picture to sell a story on its own? Are they going to be for website? There's so much stuff that we need to go in going on. Like wardrobe branding. Is it going to clash with each other? How are you going to? Yeah, there's loads.

So that's a lot of work to go in on that. Then we've got the confidence piece. So, as I say, it could be, I could spend 10 hours with somebody just working on that, right? And if the day comes and you're not feeling it, postpone it. I don't want you to do anything you're not comfortable with. And when it comes to this confidence piece, is it basically you being a mentor or like a teacher to trying to increase their confidence? Or what is it? Yeah, it's been one of my clients said it's like going to therapy. I'm not, I'm not a therapist. I am not a therapist, but yeah. I think I used to work for a charity.

and I had lots and lots of training on listening and talking and just helping people and I did the coaching stuff and I'm a great empath because that's the ADHD as well and I am everybody's greatest cheerleader like if it makes me happy watching people succeed and if I've played a little part in that

like that is the blight makes my heart happy is the best feeling in the world. So yeah, if you're not feeling confident on the day or the day before or you're having a bit of a crap time, then we'll postpone it. I don't want anybody doing anything they're not comfortable with. Like, I'm here for my client to make them happy, to make them their business grow and to make them feel wonderful about themselves. And then when we're on the shoot, we can go anywhere.

I've flown to Edinburgh, I've got Berlin, like, all over the plane. Even international. Yeah, I'm an international jet-setting business woman. Yeah, so on the shoot as well, I will guarantee that you don't just like your photos, but you will love the photos I take of you. Like, when I take a photo, the first, like, a few photos I'll show the back of the camera, and they will be like gobsmacked and I don't like I don't know how I do it I could just do it. Experience.

Experience. There you go. I'm just a magician. Yeah. And then so we'll put the photos on my laptop as we're going through the day so you can see how great you look and that gives you more confidence and it gets more and more throughout the day and it's just wonderful. And then then there's the selection process. process and then there's the editing process and then there's the re-editing process and the re-editing process.

Never ended. Never ended. I give three rounds of edits and people get their edits within two weeks of sending me their selection. So it's quite quick turnaround. And then you've got the social media after that as well. And they're like, they're my friends now. We're friends.

We've got such great relationships with everybody. someone said to me another day. And when do you do a touch point after the shoot? So they could see if they maybe wanted to book in another one. I'm like, what do you mean? I talk to them every day. I think it's the best if you develop relationships like this and they are more than just the clients for the money,

but something kind of deeper and like a friendship. Yeah. Yeah. And I also liked when you mentioned before that you never know when the skills that you got before might be useful later on because now as you said with the coaching that you studied before you found it useful now so yeah and i i think i think i've got a really good little niche going on yeah and it sounds like uh you found great way how everything works and it sounds like you've got a great process so yeah it's good oh i love everybody thank you i'm so

And are you actually still looking for clients or are you too busy with everything? I'm always looking for clients. I actually started a new offer for keynote speakers recently. It's called personal paparazzi. So I'll go to your talk with you. I'll take photos of you before your talk, like getting ready, getting mic up, etc. And take photos of you during your entire talk. they're fantastic photos

and you don't get any like weird mouth like they're weird expressions and yeah and then I'll follow you around afterwards while you're networking take your photos of you talking to people and it's really great for content and you get 50 photos for that for a grand

one place left for a grand before it goes up then it will be two grants for grand. Oh no, I don't know yet. No, yeah. $1,500. Yeah. What kind of

advice would you share to people who want to be photographers like you? I just go out and take photos. I don't know why I sounded northern then. It's like practice makes perfect. Practity like not even that. Like you've got your own style.

Don't try and be like somebody else. Don't try and take photos. like X, Y and Z, don't compare yourself to anybody because art is subjective and I don't think people would like my stuff and they do and it's completely different to somebody else's. Like there's people whose style is to over contrast and it doesn't look like it should work, but that's their style. So it's brilliant, you know, be consistent, be a good, person, go and have fun. Yeah, and I think maybe when you mentioned have your own style, that is actually something

to try to benefit from, to stand out, to be just different than the others. Exactly, same as being yourself, stand out against everybody trying to be the same. And still, have you got someone as your source of inspiration? Maybe someone's style that you like? David Le Chappelle style I love He's a He's a famous photographer He's

I don't know I'll Google Yeah have a look David La Chappelle He's done some amazing photos My friend Mark DeGro He was amazing inspiration When I was learning

He helped me loads And then like Just the people in my life Like everybody's like gives me different little bits of just greatness and it's just makes me wonderful

no it sounds great yeah I like it lucky and with your rich carer and plenty of projects that you've done is there some kind of project specific I don't know let's say location or specific type of people

or whatever that you still want to do or kind of a dream project loads of things that I want to do. I'm actually doing a shoot this Thursday. For me, I hadn't done, I haven't done a concept shoot just for me for years and years and years. So I've got a load of women off LinkedIn. We're all going to meet over a London Bridge.

And do a neon photo shoot. Like, just going to be super cool. So I've got just a vision in my head. And what is it going to be for? Just for fun. Okay, why not? Why not? I'm doing all of these photos, which are fantastic,

but it's for somebody else and it's their inspiration. I've got so many concepts in my head that I need to do that I've got a little book of ideas that I'm just not doing. So this was just a lighthearted one to get me started back on the road to do photos that I want to do. Yeah. And I guess will be a great way how to promote your work as well. Yeah, and they'll get photos from it and it's fun.

Yeah, it's good. Sounds good. And I need to start taking off the to-do list or bucket list. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Yes. And so when they just been aware of the time, do you want to say where people can follow you, see your work or book your services?

So I show up most on LinkedIn. So find me on there, Wendy Gannon. But my website is www. Whiskey Oscar0.com.uk. So that's woo with a zero. And all of my socials are woo photography. So W-O-Zero photography, all one word. It's all the same everywhere.

Easy to find. Come and find me and talk to me. and like talk to me if you need any help with photography, your ADHD, if you want that, if you want that CV template, I've got, I've got your back, I've got you. Yeah, it's really nice. The kind of way you give back to the community, your positive spirit and mental attitude. Pass it on, pass it forward and I think what you put out comes back anyway, right? Yeah.

And before we finish, is there something that, I don't know, you want to share, some kind of wisdom or anything I forgot to ask you? Don't be a dick. Yeah, that's a good one. That's it. I was going to say the C word by before. I'd be good. Don't be a dick. Yeah.

Then the main takeaway from our episodes. And if you are having a struggle. because God knows I've been there. It will work out in the end. Like, don't give up. Talk to somebody. And I like, despite what you said, that you've been through the struggle,

how positive you are. So there's definitely something that will should inspire others. Yeah. Yeah, and I've been through some shit. Yeah, definitely. You've got to laugh. You've got to laugh or you'll cry.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. I hope. your following will increase after it's because I'm pretty sure that you deserve. Oh, thank you. That's really kind. Yeah, so one day I think we can finish it for today. It was a lovely chat and I will be happy to catch up any time in the future again

because I really enjoyed it. You're a legend. Thanks for having me. Thank you. It was my pleasure and I will stay in touch with you. Thank you for listening. If we enjoy the show, please leave us a five-star review on your favorite podcast app, get in touch to provide your feedback or share any ideas for future guests.

Thank you and see you soon.