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Episode 4

Jess Collins is The Feral Writer. Known for her straight-talking grit not gloss approach, she tells tales with texture and leads with truth. Personal, powerful and impactful, she creates courageous content and authentic marketing for brands worldwide.
Jess originally ran a content marketing agency and was a specialist content marketing writer for The Guardian. These days things are much simpler, working part time from the sand, notebook in hand, she has embraced a slower pace and a more intentional way of working.

Her signature offering is her membership community Empress – the membership community for soulful creatives.

You can also find her on her podcast M Path –Meaningful Marketing for Soulful Creatives.

Show notes

Being authentic to yourself is about being rooted in who you are and what you believe in. It’s standing true in that even when the wind is blowing against you.

It’s hard to stand in who you are and in your truth, whilst not being affected by the people around you. I truly believe it’s when we are authentic like that when we’re truly us, that we can connect with others because you can only connect from a place of truth, not from a place of projection. 

Reevaluating success & our priorities 

For me, success is living a life I love every single day. A life where every day feels like the weekend and you just can’t wait to wake up the next morning to experience what life has in store for you. I am my main priority. I know giving myself a break and a chance to be creative is the best way I can serve my clients long term. It’s not about being busy busy busy all the time, there’s a lot to be said for a slow paced life that you find fulfilling and gives you joy. 

Taking on clients that fill my soul is another big priority. Clients who excite me and spark my creativity. If I have 4-5 clients like this, I count that as a massive success over dozens of clients that make me unhappy. 

Your priorities and values can be anything, you can value money and profit over everything and that’s completely ok. You should just own it. When you own it, you’ll start to attract the right people and you’ll attract the right clients that align with your values.

Embracing authenticity to your photography business

The most important thing is to tell the truth. You don’t need to be a copywriter to write incredible copy, in fact, you can do a better job than any copywriter can. It’s just about knowing your own story and not trying to sound pretty. Nowadays, people want more than just pretty. They want personality and vulnerability. 

The first thing would be to write down your goal for what you are writing. Let’s say you’re writing your homepage, what’s the goal for that page? It’s not normal to book people, it’s to build a relationship. It’s important to know the goal of each piece of copy you are writing. 

Secondly, I would recommend writing your five key messages, which are things you want people to know about you. Examples are: why would they book with you? What’s your approach? Are you the first photographer to do something? Have a think and remember, tell the truth! 

Inspiration VS copying

You can be a concentrated version of yourself or a watered down version of someone else. I know who I’d rather be. 

When you are in the creation phase, I would avoid looking at other photographers altogether. This will influence you so much even if you don’t mean it to. If you are constantly looking at ‘the photographer next door’ to see what they are doing, suddenly nothing’s authentic and nothing’s genuine and it turns into a cycle of everyone copying each other. 

Get out and walk in nature, try journaling, and listen to music or poetry. Seek inspiration from other sources that YOU love and that have a place in your life. This will help you develop your own story, your own message that you want to share with the world. Isn’t that much better than just recycling someone else’s?

Final Thoughts: 

If you are constantly looking to other people for inspiration, you will constantly be questioning yourself. You will always think ‘am I good enough?’ ‘Are my images ok?’ ‘What should I do next?’ Instead, go out and actually CREATE the life and art you want. It might be a bit scary at first, but all you have to do is begin. By being 100% you, the right people will be drawn to you like a magnet and the wrong people, will just fall away.

Sponsor Link: 

Policy Bee

Where to find Jess:

Website: www.jesscollins.co.uk

Empress Membership: www.empress.jesscollins.co.uk (opens in mid-June)

M Path Podcast: HERE

Instagram: www.instagram.com/theferalwriter

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