GO HERE TO HEAR MY CHAT WITH ANN http://bigvaluebigbusiness.com/episode24 Mimika Mimika Cooney is the creator and host of “Mimika TV“, a published author, speaker and small business marketing expert. Mimika’s new passion and focus is teaching solopreneurs, creatives and photographers the fundamentals of business and marketing through her online membership site at www.CaptureSchool.com Have a listen to my chat with Mimika. Podcast Highlights: Mission to Help Creatives Focus and Grow Their Business So really the whole niche is, the one man person or one woman show, even a small business who doesn’t have a lot of resources but needs to know the shortcuts… I’ve always had a passion for teaching and helping others grow. So, for me, I always thought there was something bigger I was made to do with what I’ve done in my life. I’m really excited in order to help other entrepreneurs and creative’s because I’m sure you can tell a lot of us creative’s suffer from a bit of ADD. We can’t focus very well on longer tasks and sometimes I find there’s a lot of things out there that make it hard to, implement into business especially when it comes from a creative side because you want to make it easy to implement, easy to learn. Why the Name: Capture School, It’s about, capturing people’s imaginations, capturing people’s dreams, helping them really take ownership of what it is that they want to achieve in their businesses. I can’t travel a lot. So for me, I kind of felt that it would make more sense to put everything that I know into an online format because a lot of my students that learn from me are also moms and work part time and try to run a household. Travelling is an issue as well as time. So for me I’m always about how can I make things, work smarter and get more done in less time. And the whole structure of the whole school is going to be online learning. So it will be video and audio downloads as well as worksheets. So it’s a system I put together that I’ve developed that I feel, certain So it’s like an online forum for busy entrepreneurs… so it’s kind of like combining, online learning with the coaching model as well. We’re All in the People Business It’s people who click links, not computers. So even if we’re talking about PPC or whether you’re B2B, or B2C, whatever type of business you’re in — At the end of the day, we have to appeal to people and people are emotionally driven and then that’s what I’m finding the more I read and the more I study is that it’s still very — even in a very sort of logical business, people are still driven by the emotions. So it’s like how do you touch on that? How do you get people to listen and it’s all about standing out in a really busy saturated economy. So you have to work much harder to break through the noise…

1. BigValueBigBusiness.com
Mimika Cooney
MimikaCooney.com
Transcript
James: Alright, welcome back my friends to yet another edition of the Big Value, Big Business Podcast. I
am your host James Lynch. I am really big, big, big time super excited about my especial guest today, her
name is Mimika Cooney. Mimika is a South African-born international award-winning photographer. She
is the creator and host of Mamika TV. She’s a published author, speaker and a small business marketing
expert. Mimika enjoys sharing her business marketing and photography knowledge both online and at
workshops to other professional photographers and small business owners.
Mimika’s new passion and focus is teaching solopreneurs, creative's and photographers the
fundamentals of business in marketing through her online membership site that can be found at
CaptureSchool.com. It is a pleasure to welcome Mimika to the Big Value, Big business Podcast today.
Mimika, how are you today?
Mimika: Hi James! Thanks for having me on. I'm super exited!
James: I know, and I am excited to have you. How is everything going?
Mimika: We are good, as I said when we were chatting earlier, I got all dressed up looking all pretty for
you but of course this is for the radio so you can just imagine I have my pretty lipstick on.
James: We’ll do, and that's a visual for all of our listeners. That’s cool, very, very, pretty lady, awesome.
Hey, and I want to thank you for coming on the show today, I'm really excited for you to share with our
listeners that everything that you can in the time allowed about how we can like discover are true brand
and how we can develop and implement a magnetic marketing strategy that will help boost our sales
and take our businesses to new heights. Does that sound like a plan?
Mimika: It does now, definitely, that’s definitely hits right on the money with what we like to aim for,
right?
James: Cool, absolutely. So, if we could maybe just get a little history, I know you -- we all hear the
accent and I did mention you come from South Africa. So, tell us about, Mimika, where she came from, a
little bit about, where, your journey and what brought you here to where you are today?
Mimika: Sure, well as you mentioned I am South African-born, I was born and raised in Johannesburg.
And I met and married my childhood sweetheart and together we, actually started delving into the
internet marketing industry when it first hit South Africa in ’95 and I remember designing websites in

2. front page that would look good on Netscape. So that is like, that ages me right there. But, the fun thing
is, both my husband and I, we’re just fascinated with this whole internet and how, online marketing and,
how you actually reach businesses.
So, both him and I worked together for about six, seven years developing our online business and we did
everything from web design, we did a lot of PR, dealt with client's even cold-call setting. And, then from
there we did that business and my husband we had the opportunity to move to England. So when we
had one and a half kids, I was pregnant at the time, we moved to England, and my mom and my sister
lived there. So I have a Greek dad, English mom, born in South Africa, we are complete fruit salads.
James: Cool.
Mimika: So, yeah. So we set up shop again in England and got into, I mean, I'm doing business there and
then that's why I fell in love with photography as a hobby and then eventually wanted to make it my
career. So, I've always sort of had been delving in internet marketing and I've always loved marketing ,
telling stories, finding out what fascinates people, what makes people take, how do you reach people?
And of course with photography, it became a visual medium and I’ve been a professional photographer
going on 11 years now.
And now at this moment I am living in Charlotte, North Carolina in the US. So, we've kind of gone like a
good round trip to cover the continents in the last sort of 15 years and here we are today.
James: Awesome, awesome and your still raising a family, your family is still growing?
Mimika: Yes, I have a 15, a 13 and a three-year-old. So, I keep myself busy.
James: God bless you, that awesome. So, you've done internet marketing and then you branched off
into photography. It looks like you kind of made your living in the photography world there for a while,
always keeping your hand in the internet marketing space and kind of just using that to drive your
business. So, you've got a new project and we’re really anxious to hear about, Earn More By Working
Smarter, your school for creative's, the Capture School. Could you tell us what’s going on with that?
Mimika: Yes. Well, I've always loved learning. I have like a ton of books. I have six of them on my
bedside table I'm reading at different times and for me I always love to look at other industries, in order
help what I am doing. So for instance, when I was in internet marketing and I wanted to become a
professional photographer, I took all those skills in order to promote myself and to, get brand awareness
in the new areas we were moving into. And so over the years I’ve sort of honed my skills of course
having my husband who is an internet marketer, I always get some advice for free, just need to bat my
eyelids and he helps.
So that’s always been fun but I’ve always had a passion for teaching and helping others grow. So, for me,
I always thought like there was something bigger I was made to do with what I’ve done in my life. And
I’m really excited in order to help other entrepreneurs and creative’s because I'm sure you can tell a lot
of us creative’s suffer from a bit of ADD. We can’t focus very well on longer tasks and sometimes I find
there’s a lot of things out there that make it hard to, implement into business especially when it comes
from a creative side because you want to make it easy to implement, easy to learn.
So I’ve taken all my years of experience in photography, in visual marketing, online marketing and I’ve
now created the school particular for creatives. So really the whole niche is, the one man person or one

3. woman show who even a small business who doesn’t have a lot of resources but needs to know the
shortcuts because believe me, I’ve made so many mistakes that cost me, thousands and thousands of
dollars. And I paid for like close to $30,000 worth of coaching and training over the years that I feel, if I
could help someone else leapfrog my mistakes, all the better getting someone ahead in their business.
James: Absolutely. So that’s what the Capture School. So explain to me just what that means Capture
School, how did you come with that name?
Mimika: Well, that is a funny question because I actually started, I always wanted to do something
online and I felt, I do a lot of workshops in person but being a mom with three kids and my younger
sister in preschool, I can’t travel a lot. So for me, I kind of felt that it would make more sense to put
everything that I know into an online format because a lot of my students that learn from me are also
moms and work part time and try to run a household. Travelling is an issue as well as time. So for me I'm
always about how can I make things, work smarter and get more done in less time.
And the whole structure of the whole school is going to be online learning. So it will be video and audio
downloads as well as worksheets. So it’s a system I put together that I’ve developed that I feel, certain
points that need to be met in order to create almost like your own business model because you
mentioned, creative business pen and most creative’s get hives, it’s like, oh gosh, don’t make to think
like that. So it’s a really -- it’s an intuitive process and of course it’s very community driven. I love to have
other people’s inputs and there’s a private Facebook group as well where -- and creating that sense of
community and accountability. So it’s like an online forum for busy entrepreneurs.
James: Yeah, to exchange and help each other out and you are there as well, coaching along the way,
correct?
Mimika: Yes.
James: Yeah.
Mimika: Yes, so it’s kind of like combining, online learning with the coaching model as well as -- I mean,
you also mentioned earlier, every week, I put out a web show and I called Mimika TV. And how that
developed is, I’ve always been interested in how other people have made their success because it takes
years to become an overnight success, right?
James: Absolutely.
Mimika: So for me, I just wanted to know, I am really, being South African, I’m straight down the line. I
don’t sugar-coat anything. I get straight to, cut to the chase. So with my interviews, I love to interview
other creative’s who have either been in a while who have created something of value and who’ve,
developed something that can help other people. And what I’ve discovered along the way is this whole
thread of people really need to get the business down. And you can be a great photographer, you can be
a great craftsman unless you know the elements and the fundamentals of business, it doesn’t matter
what industry you’re in, you would struggle because classic example is starving artist syndrome.
James: Sure.
Mimika: And, part of my mission is to eradicate that and to help the artists really lift their game in terms
of the business side.

4. James: I love that, I love that. And speaking of artist and creative, you’ve written a book and you have a
second one in the queue?
Mimika: Yes. So what I’ve done, my first book was called Boutique Baby Photography and really what I
did is I took the whole structure of how I’ve run my business over the last sort of six, seven years. And in
photography, I’ve run the gamete, I’ve done weddings and families and babies and children. And I find I
really love, the creativity that was involved with doing newborns and babies. So, and the system that I
developed in running my studio, I put into this book. And coming up this fall is the second edition which
is more specific just to newborn photographers and that takes them right through, the branding
business, pricing, lighting, it’s really like would be like my business system in a box.
James: That’s fantastic.
Mimika: Yeah, thank you.
James: Awesome, awesome. Well, I wish you the best of luck and you’ll have to let us know when that
title Newborn Photography comes out so we can help you push that too.
Mimika: Yes. That will be September 4th
, it’s actually available on Amazon right now for preorders. But
yeah, our official publish date is September 4th
, so that will be fun.
James: Awesome and I’ll make sure to include that in the show notes as well people --
Mimika: Perfect!
James: -- can click through and so is there preorder?
Mimika: Yes, you can actually place the preorder. So yeah, if you are interested, you can have a look
and you can also just search for the other book. And it’s a lot of information. And even though it’s about
photographers, sometimes I think a lot of it can be taken from a business perspective that even people
who aren’t photographers, who find the business side that I talk about very useful which is why I’ve
branched out into making this new, the Capture School and, going back to what you asked me earlier
was, why the word capture.
And for me it was all about, it’s not just about the photography but it’s about, capturing people’s
imaginations, capturing people’s dreams, helping them really take ownership of what it is that they want
to achieve in their businesses. So yeah, that’s pretty much where that came from.
James: Awesome. Yeah and you touched on and actually we talked before we actually get on the
podcast about, there is -- you could pick up something from especially when you’re giving, you’re doing
interviews with different types of businesses and business models and it’s interesting how they market
and a lot of it is the same there are some components that are different or just haven’t been discovered
by the mainstream marketing world. I learned so much talking to people like you. The photographers,
the creative’s, I mean, so much talking to musicians, just how to think out of the box and come at your
marketing from a different perspective.
So there is a lot to be said about branching out and studying and listening to and looking into other
forms of business and how they do market online.

5. Mimika: Definitely. I mean and that’s what I get so passionate about is, I love reading books and
studying other industries in order to bring those parts that we feel like, that I feel is missing from my
industry and bringing it because I’d really do think that it is, as you said there’s a lot of common
denominators when it comes to marketing but at the end of the day, I mean, we now all live in the
connection economies. People don’t click.
James: Yeah.
Mimika: It’s people who click links, not computers. So even if we’re talking about PPC or whether you’re
B to B, or B to C, whatever type of business you’re in --
James: Yeah.
Mimika: At the end of the day, we have to appeal to people and people are emotionally driven and then
that’s what I'm finding the more I read and the more I study is that it’s still very -- even in a very sort of
logical business, people are still driven by the emotions. So it’s like how do you touch on that? How do
you get people to listen and it’s all about standing out in a really busy saturated economy.
James: Yeah and I'm laughing because my last guest, that just came out last Wednesday, Bryan Kramer
who wrote H 2 H or Human to Human, there is no more B2C, there is no more B2B. And he says this
saying, it’s a phrase that he uses is, delightfully disruptive and that’s what we have to learn to be
because there are people behind those clicks and those impressions and all of those ads and it is, we are
dealing with another human being when we boil it right down.
Mimika: Definitely. So it’s about how you appeal and also I'm sure you’d find that people now, we’re so
bombarded by things out there that you’re not going to just believe the first thing you hear, hook line
and sinker, you’re going to -- people tend to be more skeptical. So you have to work much harder to
break through the noise and it’s almost like, remember a couple of years ago, we sort of just see product
placements in TV shows, sitcoms and things like you see the Apple computer pop-up and you see the
Coca-Cola or the American Idol, the cups.
And it’s kind of like subtle marketing and I think it’s almost like, and when I teach my students, I call it
the wooing. You got to think of marketing like you’re dating. You wouldn’t just go up to some girl in the
bar and go, hey honey, you want to get married? No, weirdo, get away from me, that’s freaky. And
that’s how a lot of us approach our marketing with our businesses. Here I am, here is my business card,
here is price sheet, book me and it’s like first of all I don’t know you, you’re standing way too close, can
you give me some space please. Let me figure out who you are first and then when I’m ready, I’ll
approach you.
So I like to take you through almost like a dating process. First, we’ve got to get a little flirting, get them
to like what they see and then you start to do the wooing and then you start the conversation and then
you start to ask them on a date and then eventually you can ask them to marry you and then they’ll give
you the keys to the house. But, it’s all part of the process of getting them to know like and trust you, so
yeah.
James: Yeah, you took the word know like and trust, I knew you were alluding to that and that is so true
more so even today. There is so much noise and, yeah, we just have to take out time. And that’s kind of
what prompted me. I worked in agencies most of my internet marketing career to pay the bills and it’s

6. push, push, push, push marketing even though it is kind of direct response because I do use Adwords
and people are looking for you but it’s how you position yourself as to what is going to ingratiate you to
the searcher or to your perspective client. Absolutely, love it.
Mimika: Definitely.
James: So tell me about just a little bit about present day, maybe a day in the life, is the new website, is
the Capture School ready to go or you’re still putting the finishing touches on that and where are you
putting most of your time today?
Mimika: Yeah. Well, basically, this week my three-year-old is now no longer in preschool. So I have to
kind of like -- I said, I do 40 hours of work in 20 hours. I work at a lightning pace. I went out, it’s like
ready-set-go. If I can grab bits of time, trying to be a mommy in between and getting ready for the
podcast this morning, my son forgot his lunch. I had to dash to the school and come back and get, you
know. So for me, it’s kind of a little crazy, always trying to do things in little bit pieces. And, but I find you
know, I’ve been able to give myself the life balance that I want by learning to say no.
And it was really hard in the beginning because before I had my third child, I had obviously the big gap
between first, second and then third one. And at that stage, my business was really going well. I had
people employed that were working in my studio. And eventually found that, as things grew and my life
situation changed. I had to adjust the way that I do things. And I just found that as business owners as
well, we evolve with time and we can’t feel like, okay, one thing work now and doesn’t work anymore
that it’s a failure.
And this is something I find a lot but especially with creative’s as we kind of take it personally like if our,
like we almost, like we don’t know what success looks like because we look at someone else’s business
and we think, well, look at that person, they’ve got like six employees and they’ve got like, 2000,
turnover a year but that’s great for them if it works for them.
James: Sure.
Mimika: And that’s what I found as well when I'm passionate about helping people work through that,
it’s finding what’s best for them in that situation and that time. And yeah, so I'm all about efficiency and
if it doesn’t fit into the three my little acronym where I called the sad to glad approach which is
systemized, automate and delegate, if it doesn’t fit in any of those, I don’t do it.
James: I love that and I was going to say my next question was your mindset and this is a personal note
on rituals for productivity. So would you repeat that acronym again? It’s sad and it’s systemized,
automate and or delegate?
Mimika: Yes. So you want to go from a sad to a glad approach, you have to systemize, automate and
delegate. So the only way that I could keep myself sane and on target is to make sure that I have
systems for everything that’s repeatable, automate things that I would do more than once like for
instance autoresponders via email and delegate like if I can't do things myself and can’t fit it in the time
that I have available, I will delegate. So it’s like an example would be systemizing the way when I
interview guest like I have my online system that sends automatic email at certain times, helps them
prepare.

7. So I don’t have to be rushing around, trying to find information about guests before an interview or
before a client comes to see me for a photo session. Automating, yeah as I mentioned is that the email
responders are sending out things, birthday cards, and then delegating like years ago, about four years
ago, I gave up my photo retouching to a girl who I still work with today. And, it’s something that I feel
that I don’t need to do if it’s not making me money or bringing me closer to finding new business it’s not
something I can afford to do myself.
James: I love that.
Mimika: So, yeah.
James: I love that quote.
Mimika: Yes, I mean that’s the thing that it’s like for instance like, especially us working moms, we have
this constant working mother guilt. Now, it’s like when you’re working, you feel guilty you’re not with
your kids and then when you think that you feel guilty about the work and the never ending to-do list
that never ends and especially with clients or businesses that are service based or time for trade which
are like photographers, consultants, maybe you’re selling your time for money, your time is money. So
things like cleaning my house is not a good use of my time.
I’d rather pay someone 20 bucks an hour to clean my house while I can make potentially 200 bucks an
hour in revenue than me spending my hourly rate doing that. And that like retouching was another
thing, or just simple things that you would think, oh I can’t afford to pay someone to do this. When you
break it down and you work on how much you worth and what your value is in terms of clients, you
can't afford not to delegate.
James: Touche, Touche.
Mimika: So yeah, that’s kind of my approach, get rid of it, either say no or clean out and just streamline.
And so, you can have your sanity back because, I'm sure you can agree when times get busy and you feel
like you’re just overwhelmed, you can't be creative and you can't be effective.
James: Absolutely, absolutely, I totally agree. Fantastic. So mindset, let’s talk about the bed stand and
the six books. Who you’re reading right now or who do you like to read. Do you have any favorite author
or?
Mimika: Well, I could tell you I have a few. Of course I finished reading Simon Sinek’s Start With Why
which is great. I love the War of Art. I have studied Hogs Heads, fascinate book that I'm actually listening
on audio. What was the other one, I had a lot of them. It’s funny as I’ll buy them on audio and if I like
them I’ll go and buy the hard copy then I’ll go through it again and then make highlighted notes. So,
yeah, and some things I’ll find good, some things I’ll find, you know, I’ll get lots of tips from them and I’ll
go back do them again like two other books I recently read, Make Your Idea Matter by Bernadette Jiwa.
And what was the other one? Drunk Tank Pink was also quite interesting I think it’s Adam Alter. I have a
whole like slew of books I am always reading it on in bits and pieces and of course things, even things
like Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In was pretty interesting to me too. So yeah, if I go on vacation, I cannot read
a novel. I have to read a business book. I feel like it’s a waste of my time, unless I'm learning something.

8. James: I feel the same way and every person I bring on the podcast is the same. Every successful
entrepreneur, creative, they, yeah, and a lot of the same authors come up especially Simon Sinek and
Steven Pressfield who is --
Mimika: Yes, and I always feel like it’s like a cliché now when you speak to people but it’s so relevant.
And of course like Seth Godin of course is a good one and even like one, one you might like as well is
Business Brilliant by Lewis Schiff, that was a really cool one and Contagious by Jonah Berger, that was a
really nice way of thinking of why people react the way they do, how to make ideas stick, things like
that.
James: Cool, I am writing this stuff down. Thank you very much.
Mimika: No problem, I’ll send you a link to my list.
James: Yes, yes, yeah, I would love to have it. Alright, so cool, tell us now, let’s just jump back into the
nuts and bolts, I guess our listeners are creative’s, they are consultants, they are small business owners,
what would be -- I find sometimes when a lot of our folks are having trouble, getting traffic, finding
traffic, finding the right audience. What is the best advice if you could succinctly tell us, defining our best
targeted audience and how to approach them?
Mimika: Yeah, I mean definitely. This is something I’ve learned in the businesses that I have ran that’s
evolved over time. I mean, of course a few years ago was all about keyword research. I've got to have
the right keywords, got to have the right meta tags and then it was all about links. How can you get
people to link to you and then of course every time Google does update like the Panda update,
everyone has a freakout because it’s like, oh, got go change everything. At the end of the day, what I
find is that if you try to be all things to all people, you’ll drive yourself batty.
And something that I like to and it’s something I’ve learned by my own mistakes, in my business, just
because I could, it doesn’t mean I should. And I have learned that’s part of the whole saying no is also
really honing down your niche market. And getting really specific about your client avatar, I think a lot of
think, oh, you know, I want to be an online marketer. So I'm just going to go blast everything wherever I
can get my name out there. And sometimes it’s less effective that way. So what I feel, you have to be
very specific about your client avatar because if you are very broad ranged, you’ll appeal to no one.
So really being specific about even whether it’s a male or female and age group, it’s almost like the old
demographics but you got think even further than that like if you put yourself in the shoes of someone
looking at your website or your business, it’s all got to be about user interaction, how does this make it
easier for the user. I always take the example if I'm going to shop at the mall and I'm looking for a pair of
black Pumps for instance, black high heel shoes. I'm not even going to go into the store that’s like for
Nike tennis shoes or the baby store that sells children’s clothing.
If I am looking for black Pumps, I'm going to block out any other store that doesn’t service my needs and
I'm going to start to drill down exactly the type of style, whether it’s Nordstrom or a Target or whatever
kind of brand or price range I'm looking at. And I think if we think of it like our audience or our potential
clients are walking down the hallway of a store, how would we appeal to them? And of course it’s okay
not to be everybody’s cup of tea. It’s fine to say okay, maybe I'm not a good fit for you and maybe
you’re I better service somewhere else.

9. I mean, even in my husband’s online business, he has learned that certain clientele that don’t have a
certain budget to work with don’t enable him to do a really good job. So it’s a matter of coming to piece
about the fact that you can appeal to everybody but looking at it from like a Red Velvet robe, who
you’re going to let in to your business? Who are, do you know that as clients can you thrill and really
make happy because who really wants to have a bad experience with the client who goes away
unhappy, right? It’s not good for business.
James: No, it’s not good for your reputation either or future business.
Mimika: Exactly. So that’s what I find, yeah and a lot of people are, why are we spending so much time
trying to figure out our target market. I kind of know, let’s say for photographers, I know I want to be
wedding photographer like why do we have to be so specific? Well, there are certain styles of wedding
photography. You can have more a photo journalistic approach or you can have more of a traditional
approach. Do you use a lot of external flashes, do you like more natural light, even down to the type of
lenses they use gives the work a different feel.
And everybody has a different story they want to tell. And it’s a matter of the thing, that specific in order
to find. So even from an online perspective, I mean and I’ve done this myself, I’ve wasted so much
money on click ads, trying to spend money on trying to find drive traffic to a website but unless I know
what those target market is and what this keyword search terms are, I'm kind of like wasting my money
or like Facebook ads is another one. I’ve also wasted so much money on that trying to just get anybody
within the radius of say 100 miles to try to click on an ad for photography, special, I just don’t think
that’s effective anymore. It’s almost like it’s got to be you talking straight to them.
James: Yes.
Mimika: Like, so like the dog whistle so when they hear it immediately pokes up the ears and I know,
okay, this is for me. This is who I need to speak to.
James: Yeah, yeah and I think you need to and once you start with small wins, then you need to reverse
engineer that and see what those people find out what those people are all about.
Mimika: Exactly yeah. And it’s really getting deep into the mindset like I even notice like I'm trying to be
more aware to like I react to things online like, even if you’re going down the Instagram feed, I mean
you know how quickly you can scroll down even Facebook on your mobile phone.
James: Sure, where do you stop?
Mimika: I mean, yeah, I'm just like, just go, and unless something really stands out. You’re not even
going to give it a -- not even a quarter second consideration. So it’s almost like you’ve got to make sure
that everything from your brand, your brand colors, the way you speak, the way your website is laid out,
and so really, the message comes across and it resonates with the right people.
James: Yeah. And you know what, just listening to this, I'm just going to flip this on its head for a minute
because what we just said, it just requires an enormous amount of time and research and attention to
detail but you have to start somewhere. So without painting too broad strokes, where do we start even
with someone that doesn’t even have an audience, do you research the competition, do you send out
surveys, like how do you start to start to build this dossier of --?

10. Mimika: That’s the thing is, the sad truth is, we have to work 10 times harder than we used to before.
We really do, before we take maybe four, five times to people, for people to hear your message for
them to react; now they say it’s 10 or 12 times. I mean for me in developing the content for my Capture
School and of course me being a perfectionist, I did a soft launch and I'm still tweaking it because I really
feel like I really want this to work for people. And I did everything from, did a test launch, I did a surveys,
I called people and asked them what their struggles where.
Everything from doing my Mimika TV interviews, trying to hear what people are saying and what their
reaction is, everything from the comments or like post something on Facebook and try get reactions
from that and see what people would say. Gone, forms of groups and hear what the conversation is
doing, reading books, it does take a lot of work and I might say if I look back, probably it’s close to two
years since I’ve been trying to hone in my right market of who I'm going to deliver this content to.
And it took me twice as long as I thought it would. And the frustrating thing is, it’s still not 100% there
but what I have realized is it’s always evolving; it’s always work in progress because you have to keep
your ear to the ground. We can't afford to do the old school of put a shingle out on the front of the
business and hope everyone driving by is going to like, love to come in and see you.
James: Absolutely. If you look at my -- if you listen to my introductory podcast, the episode one I did, we
can no longer hang a shingle out there. If you build it, they will come. I see.
Mimika: Exactly, that doesn’t work anymore.
James: Not anymore.
Mimika: That’s all British coming out.
James: Yeah.
Mimika: And it just, I mean even from when I started in photography, I went back to night school and
we lived in the City of York which is a really old Roman town which has history dating back to like 600
BC. And what I find is that even though it was a smaller town, and when I first started to get into
photography, there are maybe six or 10 of us wedding photographers. About the time I left, when we
moved from York to America, there would probably like at least 25 wedding photographers there. But
then when I moved from the UK to the USA, it was like 2000 people within the state and I was like, oh
my gosh, this is like competition on steroids.
And I realized I had to up my game that, the industry is different, the pace is different but no matter
what country you’re in or what culture you’re in, at the end of the day we still have to appeal to what
people want and need in life. So, for a bride getting married, she’s going to have a certain style. I mean,
you just need to watch some of these reality shows, it’s what -- the bridezillas, and even the dress, “say
yes to the dress” kind of things. They are very specific about what they like. And I know that what kind
of client fits especially if you are consultant of client.
You need to know what their pain points are and again that’s another part that I always press on and
teaching people as understanding what really pains your clients. So whether you are a service or a
product, watch the likes of Shark tank. Why develop these products, do you think. Surely someone has
thought of this before, but they have thought of another pain point that this product perhaps, you
alleviates. So its’ the same thing.

11. James: And different applications and differing application and different application.?
Mimika: Yes, exactly.
James: Yeah, yeah.
Mimika: So, you know, that kind of idea.
James: I love it. So tell me, all of this that you’ve just discussed with us, finding your target market, fine
tuning of the long tail keyword phrase type of capturing, niching down. Do you teach all of this within
the Capture School?
Mimika: Yes, we do. I mean, as an example like say for instance if someone wants to find out what their
target market is especially someone who are starting a business. It’s it really hard to know straight off at
the bat and here is what I'm going to do.
James: Yes.
Mimika: And it takes a lot of trial and error and that’s why I sometimes think, are you going to embrace
failure? That doesn’t matter if you make a mistake like before Capture School, I had it branded under a
different name like it was Called Photography Profit Zoom and just to me just didn’t feel right the whole
brand awareness and the structure of it was more like a six-week- boot camp style but for what I feel
and what I want to help people with is I want to be more involved in helping them really dig a bit
deeper. So and that’s why I’ve taken what I did the first time and for me it didn’t feel very successful but
there people who learned from that.
And I have developed such along the way. So it’s being a whole journey of adding things, tweaking
things, trying things and you won't really know until you take that first step and believe me, the first
time, I mean, even when I launched my first Mimika TV, I look back and I got, oh my gosh, that was so
ugly. The lighting was bad, the connection was bad and it was like, way too long, people must been
yawning about halfway through. So and even then it’s like, sometimes you just got to put it out there
and don’t wait for perfection. 90% is better than 100% of nothing right. So, yeah.
James: That’s, in a words of Seth Gordon, “You have to ship”.
Mimika: Exactly, you got to ship and sometimes you think, oh maybe, let me just quickly weakly tweak
this. It’s like the blog post, I don’t know how many blog posts I have like written in draft mode that I’ve
actually never published and to me I look back at those, oh there would be really good but now it’s kind
of late it’s sort of like yesterday’s news that sometimes I feel, just getting it out there, putting it out
there and this is another thing from creative’s, we don’t like the criticism because our art is almost like --
it’s part of us and it almost feels like a personal attack when someone doesn’t like something.
James: Sure.
Mimika: And I think that’s the differences I found with creative’s and sort of more business minded
people is they can separate the two, the business from the personal. But it is, I could for a photographer
and an artist. It’s something that you are creating out of your own heart. It’s something your mind’s eye
that you have developed from nothing that it is your baby and no one wants to be told their babies ugly,
right?

12. James: Spot on. Absolutely and I love it. I love it, alright.
Mimika: So exactly yeah. I'm awful of analogies but we keep talking it all day.
James: We definitely could but I'm respectful of your time and I want to just wrap by asking you and we
know you have going on, so tell us specifically what we should do to find you, how we can find you, and
the best way to do so?
Mimika: Sure yes. Well as I said, you can find me on my website which is MimikaCooney.com and
Mimika is M-I-M-I-K-A and Cooney, I always say you remember like George Clooney without the L that
the girls love it. And I have some great resources on there. I'm always adding new ones and updating
them at the moment I have an eBook called Modern Marketing which helps you think outside of the
box. Clicks and all the ideas that I have picked up from things I’ve learned and just to help people start to
think a little differently. And definitely, every week on it, on my website, we go live, it’s a New Mimika
TV interview which is usually a 30-minute interview with the creative minded successful business owner.
And I’ve had everything from photographers to branding strategists, internet marketing specialists and a
whole lot more coming up in the new season. And of course I'm everywhere on social media. Mimika
Cooney fans is on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Plus, Pinterest, you could just search for my name, you
definitely can find me there and I’d love to, you know, people can connect with me and say hi. I’d love to
connect with them online.
James: Alright then we will do so and I'm going to keep in touch with you because I want to get back
with you when your new book comes out and --
Mimika: Sure, thank you.
James: Yeah, and you know we’ll remain friends now.
Mimika: Of course yes, I have to send you my list of books, I’d be like, did you see this one, this one? Oh
yes.
James: I cannot wait, I cannot wait. Awesome, well Mimika, it’s been great talking to you today. Thank
you so much for your time and we will look for you and we look forward to wish you best of luck with
the Capture School, we’re looking forward to being there.
Mimika: Great, thank you for listening.
James: All right.
Mimika: Thanks, take care.
James: Take care, bye-bye.