This episode is sponsored by Member Kitchens and Raptive.

Welcome to episode 521 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Joanie Simon from The Bite Shot.

In this week’s episode, Joanie gets real about the not-so-glamorous side of turning a creative passion into a full-on business. She shares how her love for food photography grew into something much bigger (and messier!) than she expected, from hiring a team to navigating the financial and emotional rollercoaster that comes with scaling. Spoiler: it wasn’t always smooth sailing, but it was 100% worth the ride!

We also explore the tricky balance between staying creative and keeping up with the structure a business demands. Joanie opens up about burnout, the pressure to please everyone, and how she lost touch with her audience along the way. Through mentoring, self-care, and redefining what success actually looks like, she’s found her way back to her “why” — and she’s sharing what that process really looked like.

​Check out the show notes to find relevant links or leave a comment.

Three episode takeaways:

• Growth can be messy, but so worth the effort!: Joanie shares how her food photography side hustle grew into a full-blown business, including the ups and downs of hiring a team, dealing with new responsibilities, and learning from the messy parts of scaling.
• The tug of war between creativity and structure: From chasing inspiration to juggling deadlines, Joanie talks about how building a business can sometimes smother the creative spark and how she’s working to find a balance that actually fuels both.
• How Joanie reconnected with her why: Joanie opens up about people-pleasing, burnout, and losing touch with her audience — and how mentoring, self-care, and redefining success helped her get back to what really matters.

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Thank you to our sponsors!

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