About this episode
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Ben Potter of www.bpportraitart.com.au is someone I’ve known for a long time… and known of for even longer.
We’ve messaged and emailed back and forth plenty of times over the years — there’s still a lot I didn’t know about him until this conversation.
Here’s what I do know.
Ben loves photography — the craft, the art, the whole process — but it’s the business side that really lights him up.
He’s quick to jump on new marketing ideas, test them properly, and see what actually happens. And just as importantly, when something stops working, he’s not emotionally attached — he moves on.
He works with coaches. He studies what others are doing. He listens, experiments, tracks the numbers… and then ruthlessly doubles down on what works — whether that’s after a few weeks or a few years.
He’s also not afraid to invest in his business — and I mean properly invest. One of my favourite examples: he once reached out to a past PhotoBizX guest and bought their entire marketing email sequence — years after it had been sent — purely so he could study it, understand the thinking behind it, and adapt it for his own studio.
Ben is part of a tight-knit group of photographers who openly share what’s working, what’s not, and what they’re testing next. He’s constantly refining systems, improving margins, and building a business that actually makes financial sense — not just one that looks good from the outside.
When I first thought about inviting Ben on the podcast, my gut said he’d be an incredible guest… but I wasn’t sure how much he’d be willing to share.
I asked anyway — and to my surprise (and delight), he said yes.
And I’m genuinely glad he did.
In this interview, Ben shares how he rebuilt his portrait business from the ground up, why he walked away from Facebook ads, how community fundraising became his most reliable growth lever — and the mindset shifts that allowed him to stop guessing, start trusting the numbers, and build a studio that’s both highly profitable and surprisingly calm to run.
Here's some more of what we covered in the interview:
