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Billie did not set out to become a photographer. She got a telescope for Christmas, fell in love with space, and ended up with a camera hidden in the back of her grandfather's wardrobe instead. A few years later she packed up her life in Auckland, moved to Christchurch, and photography quietly became one of the most significant parts of her work.

She also, it turns out, can tell whether something was written by AI in about ten seconds.

In this episode Liz sits down with Billie, who works across C i Marketing and Cirrus International, for a conversation that covers both of those things honestly and in full. The first half is about photography: how Billie built a career without formal training, why the job is ninety percent people skills and ten percent technical, how to help someone who is genuinely nervous in front of a lens, and why pricing your work properly matters not just for you but for every creative in the industry.

The second half is a live test. Liz prepared four pieces of real social media copy, some written by their copywriter Emily and some generated entirely by AI, and hands them to Billie on air without telling her which is which. What Billie does next is genuinely useful for anyone who writes, posts, or commissions content. She breaks down exactly what she looks for: the M dash that exploded after ChatGPT launched, writing things in groups of three, the sentence structure ChatGPT uses almost every time ("it isn't this, it's this"), and the word simply appearing where no human writer would naturally put it.

There is also a twist. One of the four pieces fools her, and the reason why says something important about where AI writing is heading and what that means for trust in content.

Whether you are a photographer wondering where the industry is going, a small business owner trying to work out if your content sounds like you, or a marketer thinking honestly about how to use AI without losing your audience, this episode covers ground that matters.

In this episode: building a photography career without formal training, people skills over technical skill, pricing creative work honestly, AI image editing and where it helps and where it does not, the four tells that give away AI written content, spotting AI copy in ten seconds, why well trained AI now sounds human, and what that means for authenticity in marketing.

The Visual Marketing Podcast is brought to you by C i Marketing. New episodes every second Wednesday.

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What do you do when the business you have built disappears overnight? In this solo episode, Liz shares what she has learned from rebuilding not once, but twice.

In 2011, Liz launched C i Marketing in the aftermath of the Canterbury earthquakes, finding a niche where others saw only devastation. Then COVID hit in 2020 and stripped away almost every client overnight. With staff, an office, and a tourism-only client base, the situation looked impossible. But walking away was never on the table.

This episode is part personal story, part practical playbook. Liz talks honestly about what it takes to keep going when the ground disappears beneath you, and shares three actionable tips you can use right now to stay visible when it feels like the hardest thing to do.

You will hear why visibility is not a luxury you earn when things are going well, why going quiet is one of the most damaging things a business can do in a crisis, and how one unpolished selfie became one of Liz's most successful social media posts ever.

Whether you are navigating a difficult season right now, thinking about a change in direction, or just want to build a business that can weather the unexpected, this one is for you.

Find all of Liz's details and connect at www.cimarketing.co.nz/podcast

Connect with C i Marketing:
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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cimarketing
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/c-i-marketing/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CIMKTG
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@c.i.marketing.nz

Connect with Liz:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-pitcorn-60333840/

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What does it take to walk away from a steady job at 23 with no real plan, two customers, and a vision that most people would have talked you out of? For Jamie Johannes, founder of Inspired Martial Arts in the UK, it took belief, consistency, and a willingness to do every single job in the business, including cleaning the toilets.

In this episode, Liz sits down with Jamie for a conversation that goes far beyond martial arts. Jamie's story is one that will resonate with any business owner who has ever had to build something from the ground up, make tough calls with limited resources, and figure out on the fly what kind of leader they actually want to be.

They talk about the extraordinary origin of the Inspired Martial Arts brand, including a logo born from a red t-shirt brought back from Vietnam and a family story involving his brother's recovery from a life changing spinal injury. They dig into how Jamie has built a team by nurturing people from the inside, with some of his best instructors having trained under him since they were eight years old. And they get honest about the tension between moving fast, trusting your gut, and knowing when to slow down and bring the right people in.

Jamie also shares how he built complementary income streams into his business, why he brought his sister on as Finance Director, and what it has meant to have a full time comic book artist on staff bringing the brand's values to life every single month.

This is a conversation about culture, confidence, leadership, and what it really looks like to build something with longevity in mind.

If you are growing a business and wondering whether you are doing it right, this one is for you.

Guest: Jamie Johannes, Founder of Inspired Martial Arts, UK
Find Jamie: LinkedIn