Welcome to minis Made Easy, the podcast that's all about making your mini sessions simple, profitable and stress free. I'm Rebecca Rice, and I've helped 1000s of family photographers, just like you, build thriving businesses through mini sessions. Somewhere along the way, my students started calling me the queen of minis, and I'll gladly own it, because I love showing photographers how to maximize their time and profits while working smarter, not harder. Whether you're brand new to the world of minis or you've been running them for years and are ready to level up if you're in the right place, from pricing and marketing to posing and workflows, this is your one stop shop for everything minis. So grab your favorite drink, get cozy, and let's dive in. You're just one episode away from transforming your
business. You
music, Hello friends and welcome officially to the minis Made Easy podcast. Wow. It sounds really weird saying that after saying the business Journey podcast for three years, well, I'm super excited to officially announce to you guys number one surprise, the podcast is back after a year and a half break and two it has undergone a huge rebrand. It is now no longer the business Journey podcast, but now the minis Made Easy podcast, and we're gonna talk all about why and what this is gonna look like, and everything in today's episode. But I'm just so excited to be back to podcasting. Just to give kind of a little bit of backstory here, the last episode that I recorded was summer of 2023 so a year and a half ago, in that season, we were about to have our third baby. I mean, about to he was born in December, but we were headed into that season of just preparing for the birth of our third baby, and I knew that I wanted to kind of wrap things up a little bit put a pause on the podcast at the time, I wasn't sure how long that pause was gonna be, you know, we just kind of took it as it went. And so all of 2024
looked very different for me, personally, in the business, and I worked less than I ever have in my whole entire life on the business. My huge goal was for one to take a real, true maternity leave for the first time in my life. So I did that, and I was really proud. I took 12 full weeks completely away from the business for a real maternity leave, which is very, very hard to do, as like a small business owner, I feel like it's so easy to just step back in whenever we want to, because we have the freedom to do that. And I wanted to, like, really, for myself. I had made a promise to myself that, no, I want to take a real 12 week maternity leave, because I didn't really get that before. I was working a full time job in the past, and just the season of life that we are in, we were not we didn't have, like that full maternity leave. And so for this one, I said, Okay, I for sure want to give myself the gift of that maternity leave. And so I did. So that was the first three months of 2024, and then beyond that, I was kind of in like maintenance mode of, okay, what do I need to do in the business to keep it running and to keep it afloat, and that's what I'll do. It was kind of like bare minimum. I wasn't launching anything new. We, you know, we had amazing things that were working, and my team was just making sure that you guys were being served well and all the things. But we didn't have new weekly content. We didn't have new courses or new offerings, or really anything like that, going live. The only bit of new was every month. I still kept up with my behind the lens membership, so we had new sessions going live in there. But aside from that, we didn't really have anything new. And we were not like producing new YouTube videos or new podcast episodes. And so towards the end of last year, I really felt led that it was time. We had an amazing year. I really, really enjoyed every single minute with my son, our third baby, just enjoying his first year and getting to really savor it and be super present and all in in that. And then I started feeling like, Okay, I'm ready to jump back into some stuff, one of those being the podcast. And that was really unexpected. My team was, I think, pleasantly surprised when I said, Okay, guys, like, we're jumping back into podcast world, because it had been so long. I mean, we hadn't put out a new episode in a year and a half. And what's so cool is, in that whole time, I still consistently get messages from you guys telling me that you know you binge my podcast and you love the podcast episodes, even though I hadn't put out anything new in a year and a half, we still had so many listeners, which is amazing. I like, went back and looked at our analytics and stuff, and I'm like, okay, like people still do love this podcast, even though.
There was nothing new. So for those of you that have been in podcast world, even though we put a pause on episodes, Hi, this is for you. I'm so excited to really be back and to kind of give a fresh spin on all things the podcast. So wow, that was a little bit longer winded than I expected to be for the brief introduction, but I just, gosh, it's been so long, I feel like we're like old friends catching up. And so that's the basics. We're switching from the business Journey podcast to the minis Made Easy podcast, super briefly, kind of what to expect in the minis Made Easy podcast. We're still gonna have short and sweet episodes. Just my feedback from you guys is, y'all love that my episodes are short and sweet, 1015, 20 minutes long, and, like, really bite sized actionable steps. Like, I want you to be able to listen to a podcast episode and then apply whatever it is that we talked about that week in your business. And then, of course, the short and sweet, because I don't know about you guys, but I don't get a whole lot of time to listen to podcasts. And so when I do, it's like, on the way to co op drop off or whatnot, because we homeschool our kids, but they're in a homeschool Co Op. And so it's like, I have very short bursts of times that I can listen to podcasts. And so for me personally, I like the short and sweet. And you guys have told me that you do too, so we will stick with that, at least for now. So I want to get into a little bit of like, why the rebrand? What are we doing here? Why are we called the minis Made Easy podcast now? So as I was reflecting on my year, like I said, we had a very like, chill year, and it really gave me the unexpected space to really start dreaming again and really think through what's working, what's not working, all the things. So as we were processing how the year went, what we want for 2025 and all of that, one thing that was just abundantly clear is that we want to kind of go all in on mini session education. For those of you that have been along my journey since the beginning, you know that I started out as the Queen of mini sessions. So I didn't start like broad in my business, and then kind of narrow. We started really narrow, and then sort of added on offerings to broaden what we have available for you guys. And so my mini sessions course was my very first signature course. And then from there, I started offering posing course and a business course and a shooting and editing course to kind of round out our product suite. Since day one, the bread and butter of what we do here has always been many sessions. And so as we were thinking through 2025 of course, we're still going to have posing and business and shooting and editing tips and things like that, but I realized that I want it to all come through the lens of mini sessions. So everything that we talk about is kind of going to be centered around this idea of mini sessions. Specifically, I really came to sitting in that people in the industry want so badly to be known for something, and as I was thinking through that, I'm like, You know what? I am known for something, I am known as the Queen of mini sessions. People work so long and hard to get a title like that, and it was a title I did not give myself. My students called me the queen of mini sessions, and it's a title I will gladly take, but I didn't name myself that. And I think that's one of the coolest parts, is that other people kind of saw that in me and said, Rebecca is the queen of minis. And so I want to really, like go all in on that and dive in just head first, knowing that everything we do should be about mini sessions, because that's what I'm known for, and that's what I feel like I'm best at. And so don't worry, you're still gonna hear tips on, you know, workflows and posing and business things and shooting and editing and stuff like that, but it's all gonna come through this lens of mini sessions. And so if you're here and you're like, Rebecca, I don't do mini sessions. I have zero desire to do mini sessions to you. I want to say thank you so much for being a part in all the things. And of course, you're so welcome to stick around, but this isn't necessarily going to be for you. Now, those of you that are like, yes, I want to learn more about mini sessions. Or I do mini sessions, and I always want to make them better. They're such a big part of my business. Or you want them to be a big part of your business, then stick around, because this is exactly for you. I am going to be tailoring everything here on the podcast about mini sessions. Hence the new name minis made easy. And it was funny, because when I was sitting down thinking through, like, Am I really going to do this? Am I really going to change from the business Journey podcast down to something so specific, as many as Made Easy, I was asking my team, I'm like, Do I even have that many things to talk about? Mini sessions? And I said, You know what? I'm going to sit down and just.
To make a list. I'm gonna brainstorm as many ideas as I possibly can, and we'll go from there. And I think in my first sitting, I sat down and wrote out, like, I don't know, 150 or 200 ideas of episodes, but I was like, Okay, I definitely have the capacity. I definitely have things to talk about, specific to mini sessions, to cover us, like we're fine and like it was surprising, like, how many things I could think of when you know something like mini sessions seems so specific, but really, there are so many facets to it and stuff that I just want to get into. And so that's what we're going to be doing. We're going to be focusing all in on mini sessions. So to give you just like, a brief overview of some of the topics that we're going to be covering here on the podcast, these will be sprinkled throughout. We're going to talk, obviously, about mini sessions in general, like mini my best minis tips, you know, marketing and pricing and getting yourself out there and actually shooting them, and all the things we're going to talk about workflows so how to streamline things like your booking process or to have effective client communication and smooth gallery delivery, stuff like that. Of course, we're going to talk about posing, because posing is still such a huge piece of mini sessions, and being able to maximize your 10 or 15 minutes with effective family posing that looks natural and is comfortable for your clients, because that, in itself, is truly a skill. We're going to talk about business strategies. So like I said, pricing, marketing, scaling your mini sessions in ways that actually helps this become a big revenue driver for your business. Because at the end of the day, that's what I'm really passionate about is, I want you to grow this thing into something that's actually making a difference for you and for your family financially. And then, you know, of course, we'll talk about themes and inspiration and ideas and prepping for spring minis, fall minis, Christmas minis, things like that. So I have so many fun ideas of things that we're gonna cover. I am just really excited about this next chapter in not only the podcast, but I feel like in Rebecca Rice photography, where I just, I don't know 2025 feels so marking for this business, and I'm really excited to be able to serve even more of you to dive even deeper into all things, mini sessions and stuff that I'm really, truly passionate about and can talk all day about, and I plan to you know through this podcast. So for my listeners, for you guys, a couple things. One, if you're not already, go ahead and subscribe to this podcast so that every week when new episodes go live, you get it like automatically loaded into your favorite podcast listening app. Share this episode with friends. If you have friends that are wanting to get into mini sessions or do many sessions, but want to really, like, maximize the way that they do them to make it the best that it could possibly be. Share this episode for sure and be on the lookout, because I've got some really, really exciting things coming up, not just for this podcast, but in general, I've got some stuff that I've never done before and that I will be letting you know about here very, very soon. Gosh, there's just so much good stuff that I can't wait to, like, really peel back the curtain and tell you all the things. So thank you so much for tuning in, and I truly can't wait to, like, see where this is gonna go. Oh, one more thing, see, I'm a little bit scatterbrained because I haven't done this in so long, but for those of you that are listening, I would love to hear what you want to learn about on this podcast. So if there's something specific, or you have ideas or things that you're like Rebecca, I would love if you talk about this shoot me a TM on Instagram at Rebecca Rice photography, and I would love to kind of like chat through or get ideas of stuff that you are wanting to hear about. Because at the end of the day, this podcast is for you guys. It is tailored just to you. And so the feedback that I get is so immensely helpful in just helping direct where we go with this and what kind of topics that we hit. And so let me know what you want to hear about, and I will, for sure, add it to the list and make sure that it gets prioritized. I'm so excited that you're here, and I can't wait next week for another episode, so tune in. We're gonna be talking all about planning your 2025, mini sessions. Now is the perfect time. So set that alarm, set your notifications, whatever you need to do so that you get notified, and I'll see you back next week with another episode. Bye, guys. You.
