There’s a version of mentoring that’s aimed at people right at the beginning – people who need help with the basics, who don’t know where to start, who’ve never taken a paid booking.
This post isn’t about that.
This is about the photographers who are further along. The ones who have clients, who are getting enquiries, who by all external measures are doing fine – and yet something still isn’t working the way they want it to.
The gap nobody talks about
Most photography business content is aimed at either absolute beginners or very established photographers. There isn’t a lot of support for the middle ground – the photographers who’ve got past the start but haven’t yet hit the level they’re capable of.
This is actually where the most useful mentoring work happens.
Because at this stage, the problems are specific. You’re not asking ‘how do I get my first client.’ You’re asking things like:
• Why am I attracting enquiries but they keep ghosting when I send the price?
• I’ve been at the same rate for two years and I don’t know how to move it without losing everyone
• I’m fully booked but I’m exhausted and I’m not earning enough for this to be worth it
• I know I need to sort out my website but every time I sit down to do it, I don’t know what to say
• I want to niche down but I’m scared of turning away work
These aren’t beginner problems. A photography business mentor who has built and run their own business has usually been through versions of all of them.
What a photography business mentor can see that you can’t
When you’re inside your own business, it’s hard to see clearly. You’re too close to it. You know too much about why things are the way they are – all the context, all the history, all the reasons you haven’t changed something yet.
A mentor doesn’t have any of that baggage. They can look at your website, your pricing, your content, your client process – and see what’s actually going on without the layers of justification you’ve built up around it.
That outside perspective is often the most valuable thing mentoring provides. Not a script. Not a template. Just someone who can see what you can’t.
The confidence problem
A lot of photographers at this stage have a confidence problem they haven’t named yet.
They’ve been doing the work for long enough to know they’re good at it. But they still feel like they’re not quite there. Like they need a bit more experience before they can put their prices up. Like they should wait until they have more testimonials before they position themselves differently.
This is a pattern a good photography business mentor will recognise immediately. Because it doesn’t go away on its own. There’s always another reason to wait.
The photographers who move past it are usually the ones who’ve been made to see it clearly by someone outside their own head.
What mentoring at this stage actually involves
When you already have a business, mentoring tends to focus on:
• Positioning – who you’re actually for, how you talk about it, and whether your content and website reflect that
• Pricing – how to move your rates without losing your existing client base
• Content and visibility – what’s worth posting, what isn’t, and how to stop wasting time on things that aren’t working
• Business structure – whether your packages, process, and client experience are set up in a way that’s sustainable
• Confidence and decision-making – which is less fluffy than it sounds, and more about how you actually handle situations
It’s practical. It’s specific. And it doesn’t require you to start from scratch.
How to find the right photography business mentor
The most important thing is that they’ve built a photography business themselves. Not a business that coaches photographers. An actual photography business, with real clients, real pricing decisions, real content challenges.
Look at what they’ve built and ask yourself whether you respect it. Look at the clients they photograph and whether that’s the direction you want to move. Look at how they talk about business and whether it sounds like someone who actually understands the industry.
If you want to find out whether working with me would be useful for you, you can read more at MaryanneScott.co.uk. I work with photographers who are already running a business and want to get clearer on what’s holding them back.
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