10 Steps to Becoming a Full Time Photographer

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Could I sound more "sales-y"? More "act now"? 

Yeah, probably.

But this is all free, folks. So, you know, read it if you want to. Pass it on if you feel like it.

 I reflected on 10 years of full time shooting and wanted to write down what I did RIGHT that led me to not only supporting my family with photography funds, but cash flowing things like trips to Disney, investments, and a new house. 

Yes, you CAN be a full-time professional photographer. It can be done. But, it's not as easy as just putting your name out there and hoping you get bookings. These 10 Steps are also not a guarantee of jack squat. It's just what I did. There's definitely more than one way to skin a cat (gross). 

But, I've been full time since Day 1. I've also supported my family and then some as the breadwinner since Year 1, so....you know....I have to be doing SOMETHING right.

Right?

1. Be Serious. Seriously.
This is not a situation where someone sends you a box of goods and BAM, you have a business (I'm looking at you, MLMs). If you want to be a full-time, working photographer it has to start as a real business. This means you should sit down and write out a business plan, figure out your financials, apply for a business license, and register to pay taxes. Yawn, I know, but if you want to be taken seriously....you need to be serious.

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2. Portfolio Build the Correct Way
Portfolio building should really only take a month or two, if you work it right. You shouldn't be a year in and still charging "portfolio building" prices. If you are, you're doing it wrong. Set up a marathon session day with a variety of folks. If you want to do this for free, be my guest. If you want to charge a little for your time, that's cool too. Make it ABUNDANTLY CLEAR that you are portfolio building and that these prices are not your real prices going forward. 

If you are set on being a wedding photographer, portfolio building may take you a bit longer. I was kind of a special case as I never second shot until I was well into my own full-time business. I took on lower-price weddings to start with and worked my way up. You have to be VERY comfortable with your ability to capture a wedding to start this way. Second shooting is preferable. Find someone cool who will let you use your second-shooting shots in your portfolio. I allowed this, but it's not cool with everyone, so make sure you ask first.

3. Shoot What Sells
You may really like shooting pictures of bees or bridges or whatever, but you may have a tough time making a full-time career out of being your area's premiere bee photographer.

Portraits sell. Weddings sell. Headshots and events sell. Everything else should be filler. A hobby. 

And be aware, you may have to take the unsexy job sometimes. I've shot many a college awards banquet. I've photographed power equipment. I used to shoot magazine work for a magazine that catered specifically to a local hospital's waiting room. Yeah. 

But it paid. Those unsexy jobs can fill in the slow time between the sexy wedding work. 

If you don't like shooting portraits, you don't have to. You can also niche down and only shoot a certain TYPE of portrait. If you don't like shooting weddings, you don't have to, but you better be ready to sell the crap out of your portraits.

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Which brings me too......

4. Get Ready to SELL
Being a photographer is a service-based business, but if you're a bad salesperson you're going to have a really tough climb to full-time success. You have to sell yourself (not in THAT way....we are not doing that sort of photography here....), you have to sell your prints and products, you have to sell your TIME. It's up to you to convince the consumer why they should hire you over Joe Schmoe Photography up the street. And believe me....there is ALWAYS someone else up the street.

5. Be AWARE of Your Competition, but Not Too Aware
Being obsessed with your competition only really leads to one thing: unhappiness. Seriously, there is always going to be someone cooler than you. Trust me. And let me put it out there right now, there's about 700 photographer in your general area. They're all fighting over that same photographer nickle and probably 50% of them (AT LEAST) are better than you, cooler than you, have more followers than you, charge less than you, or have an "in" that you don't have.

You cannot let this consume you. It'll take your ship down faster than anything. I know it's hard. BELIEVE ME I know. I've weathered 10 years of this stuff. I've seen photographers come and go. I've seen people who started YEARS after me reach the pinnacle of success. 

You need to roll with it. It'll always be there. Get in good with your local community. They will be your best allies and best source of referral work.

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6. Save, Don't Spend. 
One way we have been able to thrive under my self-employed income (which is way variable, let me tell you) is we don't spend like drunken moms on Black Friday. We save a lot, we are frugal with our money. When it comes to funding my business, I try to buy what I need and really think hard about what I want. I've been using the same lenses for years, the same camera bodies for years, and the same Pelican case for years. They are MEANT to be sturdy and used. I don't need to upgrade my equipment every season. I don't need the BEST and the COOLEST of everything....and believe me, there's a lot of shiny shit out there.

Don't take on a studio if you don't need the overhead....and don't intend on shooting studio work. Even if you think it makes you look more legit.
Save at LEAST 25% of everything you earn for taxes. 
Save another 25% for "slow months". Because they're comin'. 

7. Decide What You Want
And this will probably change. Especially if you're a person who gets bored easily. But, a lot of successful "photographers" people see out there aren't really shooting anymore. They're teaching. They're influencing. They're workshopping. They don't need to shoot, so they don't. 

 Trust me, the absolute obsessive LOVE you have for photography right now is going to wane. It just will. It's like any other job. I still REALLY REALLY like my job, I do. But, I have other passions as well....and I have days where shooting is the absolute last thing I want to do. 

 Decide if you are in it for the long haul. My schedule is set sometimes a year or even two in advance, being a wedding photographer. I start booking high school seniors for the next graduation year the winter of their junior year. So, you need to take a long, hard look at your demeanor and decide if you want to be a shooter or you have dreams of being a popular workshopper. Not that there's anything WRONG with that, but there's some dues-paying that needs to happen on both ends.

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8. Make Sure You Don't Suck
Seriously. Get a mentor. Someone who is going to be 100% honest with you about your skill set. I've seen some folks out there who shoot for years and gather lots of low-paying gigs and seem happy being that insanely busy, but their work never improves. They never move up.  Trust me, there are plenty of folks out there more than happy to pay $50-$100 a pop for absolute garbage work. It can pull the wool over your eyes and make you think that you're doing okay. This is a sure-fire way to burn out and burn out fast.

Maybe the photographer is fine with that. Maybe that makes them happy and whatever, you do you. But, we are talking about making a healthy, full-time income here. 

You're not going to see too many full-time, consistent working photographers who bring home 6-figures (which is completely within' the realm of do-ability, trust me) who suck. Some may be BORING. Some may be trendy and some folks may not like their "style"....but they don't suck. 

If you can't get your head around things like exposure or sharpness, light or proper editing.....slow your roll. Take a workshop or two. GET A MENTOR.

9. Service-based Means SERVICE-based.
Like I said, photography is a service-based business. People are paying you to provide them with a service. If your level-of-service leaves a bit to be desired, you need to check yourself. People TALK, yo. Especially with social media being so prevalent. 
So....
- Don't fight with clients online or spill dirty client laundry online. I can't TELL YOU how often I see this and I just want to smack that person around like Batman does to Robin. It's trashy. Stop it.
- LISTEN to your clients. They may not always be right, but they want to be heard. You will get crappy clients...they happen in every business. It's how you handle those clients that are the true test of your professional acumen.
- Stop going online and saying how "you're only one person" and that is why you're not turning around work fast enough or people need to stop bugging you about sessions because you're "only one person". Seriously? Charge more and take less work. There. Fixed. 
- Don't let one crap client kill your buzz for the business. If I did that I would have been done in 2009. I'll say it again, you are GOING to have rough days, tough clients, and you're GOING to screw up. Everyone does. You are human. Just focus on not screwing up so badly that it's not fixable. (See #8)

10. Don't Get Too Big For Your Britches
This is a bit of old-lady advice from your kindly Grandma Type A.....don't get a big head. At least not before you're entitled to it (I mean, hell, if you get hired to photograph the president or something, you go ahead and gloat). 
- Use social media wisely....convey your personality, get to know people....don't use it to talk non-freaking-stop about how amazing you are. Let your work and service speak for itself. 
- NEVER STOP LEARNING. You may think you know it all and at some point it all becomes second nature....but you can ALWAYS learn more. 
- Realize, sometimes, you're not too good for the free shoot. It can feel REALLY good to volunteer your services for someone who needs it or will benefit from it. It can also feel REALLY good to do a fun personal project. Don't lose your love of the craft. 
 

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So, there it is. And trust me, I could keep going. 20 things. 30 things. Just know, behind it all, is that you can't allow old-timers to tell you that being a full-time photographer isn't a viable option anymore. It is. It's just a hell of a lot more work than it used to be. There's a whole new world out there with social media and it separates the wanna-be's from the already-are's in many ways. 

So share this. Spread it around. Give someone you know a little hope. Or, read it over when you need a little reassurance that if full-time photography is what you REALLY want to do, there are plenty of us out here doing it, year after year, proving it can be done.

Under the Influence: The New Wave of Photographer

Ample warning, you might be scratching your head mid-blog here.

What does a topic on social media, peer pressure, influence, and mental health have to do with photography?

Nothing? Everything? A whole lot in-between?

I wondered if this topic was relevant....well, I knew it was relevant, but I wondered if it was appropriate, perhaps, for my business blog. 

A blog where I have shared all the lovely families, seniors, and wedding couples that I capture as my job....along with a handful of rants, when the fancy strikes me, or informational pieces. 

But this is a bit different. See, we ALL know what's happening on social media but we are not really supposed to SAY we know. We are all supposed to just be playing the game. 

 We are supposed to pretend that everything is authentic OR we are supposed to acknowledge that "Everything is NOT authentic....except for me, I'm always real" as a crafty PR move. A sort of "Celebrities, they're just like us" for the common folk.

 "It's the highlight reel, so don't feel bad.....but I'm going to continue to show you the highlight reel, because it sells REALLY well". 

In the photography world, we go through phases. We have ALWAYS had "rockstars", as far as I'm concerned. At one time those rock stars shot fashion. They shot celebrities. They certainly weren't wedding photographers. Wedding photographers were the bottom of the photographer heap, teetering just above paparazzi and Sears portrait photographers. 

Then, came social media....and with it, the creation of a new beast: the celebrity wedding and/or portrait photographer. These were folks who harnessed social media and conquered it SO well that they built a rabid following not of their work....but of THEM. Their persona, their story, their kids, their home, their car, their dog, THEM. Hell, Dane Sanders even wrote a book about becoming a "Fast Track Photographer" not by being an amazing artist, but by selling YOU. (And I'm not going to link to it because I'm assuming most folks have read it and then sent it to Goodwill-bin-land like I did). 

And there are folks who did this very very well. Natural marketers. 

With the advent of photo-based platforms like Instagram, we have a new crop of influential people (mostly women....mostly white women....mostly pretty white women) who may not have the best handle on the technicalities of photography...but people see them and want to be them. Or, at least want to be in their vicinity. So who gives a shit what their photos look like? It's not important.

That, folks, is how you sell. 

It's as old as the concept of advertising itself: envy creates dollars. You wanna "Be Like Mike".....you want to pretend you have a Dream House like Barbie. You want the perfect hair, perfect wardrobe, and the perfectly designed house to go with it. 

Remember in school when there was that one girl in class who seemed to have her own lighting crew following her? She had somehow skipped over those awkward years and graduated right to perfect skin, perfect hair, great makeup territory?

Remember how that girl made you FEEL?

HOW does she do it?
What is it like to be her?
How in God's name is she tan in the middle of a Wisconsin December? (No....seriously, how does that happen?)

She made you feel ENVY and she probably prompted at least one expensive item purchase. 

Advertisers have harnessed this power of persuasion. The popular girl dynamic. They've created social media influencers who get paid an insane amount of money to simply say "When I drink soda, I drink THIS soda" or "When I wear a shirt, it's THIS brand"....and the companies sit back and watch the fans fawn over how real these people are and how they want to be JUST like them....down to the soda they drink. 

This has seeped into the photography industry fully. Workshops, webinars, and masterminds (which, as far as I can tell, is the NEW workshop....only more involved and more expensive) have replaced actual photography jobs for a lot of people. Folks are making a living (a damn good living) out of not taking photos, but what has essentially become life coaching with a camera in your hand.

Wear this, travel here, repeat this mantra, follow these people, and you too can be a wild success. 

Except, you probably can't. The statistical probability that you're going to be a million-dollar photographer without eventually giving up shooting full time in favor of life-coaching or some form of mentoring or teaching is pretty slim. And that's what they don't tell you. At least not at first.

It's the same life-rule that says the majority of folks aren't going to sit at the trendy table in the cafeteria. 

The REASON these chosen few are so popular is because they are "chosen" and "few".

Can you still do VERY well with full-time photography? Absolutely! But, even I'm venturing into a workshop here or there or an e-book in the works (I swear....eventually!) to fill in space between shooting.  

I have no dreams of becoming a bajillionaire with a camera in my hand and a list of sponsored products....I just like having a variety of income streams....which is smart business. I get bored easily. 

But when does it go from "multiple income streams" to manipulative marketing tactics? 

Recently I went down the "professional blogger" rabbit hole. These are not necessarily photographers....most of them are lifestyle bloggers (that's a thing), beauty bloggers, mommy bloggers....but all of the ones I clicked over to were full time "bloggers" who made the majority of their money shilling their lifestyle on their blog or Instagram. 

And I noticed one big, glaring fact:  they were ALL the same. There was little to no difference from one to the next. Maybe one had brown hair where one was blonde. Maybe one had 3 kids where another only had 2. But, their blogs all looked pretty identical....the products they were posting and raving about were all the same....their outfits were the same.....the way they wrote was the same.....it became like a zombie Twilight Zone situation. 

I started to become familiar with WHICH companies seek out bloggers and Instagram Famous folks to sell their wares: Popsicle, Nordstrom, Pantene, Pampers.....these ALL started showing up over and over and over on different blogs/feeds. Some bloggers and Instagram famous people were even "sponsored posting" about things like toilet paper or Metamucil. 

Now, I'm an affiliate marketer for Amazon...and every once in a GREAT while I'll link to some books I read or movies I like on Amazon so if you feel so inclined you can check it out.

I've made about $4.00.

Ka. Ching.

On my personal finance blog I'll link to items I've tried and used and liked or things that have saved me money.

I don't have the attention span to attempt becoming any sort of influencer. 

And that's okay....because how freaking exhausting. That's all I can think.  And with all of these influencers being pretty much one in the same, what are the chances they ALL love the SAME products at the SAME time in the SAME way?

We need to be smart about who we follow, why we follow, what we follow, and what we spend our hard-earned dollars on.

The fact that this new way of social media marketing has fully infiltrated my beloved photography industry both amuses and frightens me. Where once it was important that you were cool for clients....(which, yeah....let's say I've struggled with that)....now it's important that you're cool for other photographers and wanna-be photographers, too. It's important to show up with your best face forward at all times or don't bother showing up at all. It's important to have a life other people want or risk being left in the dust by those who are just better at eliciting envy than you are.

And at the center of it all, the work still doesn't seem to matter much at all.  

Maybe it's time to stop fighting it? 

The misanthropes among us (sheepishly raising my hand) can all roll our eyes and wax nostalgic about a time when "photographers were photographers"....or we can accept that this is just a new facet of the industry and roll with it....maybe learn a little from it....and keep on keepin' on.

I can try to remind myself that there are those who have been in the industry for 30 or more years and how must THEY feel if I'm sitting here at 38 feeling....well....OLD? Not influential. UNCOOL.

This is the new world order, and we should probably either accept it and learn to play the game or find a new industry that isn't so hell-bent on making the intricacies of our trade.....the real nitty gritty.....obsolete in favor of glossy....shiny....pretty and packaged well.

 I guess, when I sit down and get real with myself....I'm still that girl in high school sitting in the lunch room scribbling in my notebook of bad poetry, my ripped jeans, and a mix tape for the boy I like in my pocket. I'm still that girl who when The Most Popular girl walks by with the ever-present halo of light and her dazzling smile and perpetual tan....I scoff but inside I'm wondering

"How does she do it?"

Those chosen few. What's their secret?

Yeah, I'm still that girl. Probably always will be.

And that's the truth. 

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Fractured Thoughts

(Affiliate links may be included in this post)

Currently Spinning: I've been all about the podcasts lately while I'm gallivanting around the midwest for work. I've been listening primarily to things like the How I Built This from NPR and recently got hooked on Practice of the Practice. 

Currently Reading: I just got Shelved by Sue Petrovski, which is a memoir by an 85 year old woman on aging in America. I've been wanting to read it for a really long time, so when I snagged an Amazon gift card for my birthday that's what I decided to spend it on. 

Currently Watching: I recently found a documentary from a few years back called Time of Death that was absolutely FASCINATING. I really really wish there had been more episodes and seasons. It was right up my alley. 
Also, the husband is making me sit through a Riff Trax of Chuck Norris' movie Silent Rage. I say "making me" because the movie is THAT bad.

 

-  It's been a MONTH, I tell you. Chock full of change and weirdness and opportunity and thoughts. Let's dive in, shall we? (I've been listening to a lot of podcasts lately. Ever notice how all the hosts ALWAYS say "let's dive in" and "without further adieu?"......Weird....anywhoo....we are diving....

- I was on the NEWS. All to support the Drag Queen Storytime at the Beloit Public Library. I ended up taking all three girls and Molly and Betty had a blast with Cass Marie, the drag queen. It was a great change to talk to them about differences being okay and embracing what makes you YOU. Yay all around for acceptance during Pride Month.

- Anthony Bourdain died. I was never a HUGE watcher of his shows. I read his book The Nasty Bits. I always really liked his vibe. His sort of "punk rock" ethos. I think it's heartbreaking that he killed himself, especially given that he had a daughter. But, we never really is going on inside someone's head....someone's heart. It was a loss that didn't have to happen, and it sucked.

- The band Ghost decided to come BACK to Wisconsin (if you remember we went to their Milwaukee show and it was cut short because of a death in the pit). So, of course we secured two tickets for Madison in November.

- We reached over 5 million views on our blasphemous Disney video. 

- I effed up my shoulder. Then, I entered the annoying labyrinth of American healthcare. And we have excellent insurance. Probably some of the best you could hope to have.....yet I'm still getting ignored, passed around like a hot potato, not being heard and....worst of all....the injury continues to get worse as they continue to ignore my requests for assistance. 
So, that's frustrating. I'm usually pretty good with navigating medical stuff. I worked with insurance and providers long enough to know their tricks.

But, in this current climate of opiate abuse (which is SUPER BAD, let me tell you...and I know. I agree, it's way out of control and overprescribed), does anyone else feel like an instant criminal when you go to the ER or Urgent Care in legitimate pain asking for some relief? 

I mean, they suggested Advil.

AD.VIL.
And they charged me $425 to do that. 

So, I'll keep you posted. My hope is it's just a bad pulled muscle that won't heal or something. 

- Molly and I ventured out onto the Grand Videre trails (they surround the new house). We ended up KINDA getting lost. I blamed it on Molly's navigating. Ended up being a 2 mile walk. With a whiny 7 year old in flip flops and a panting dog. Not my finest planning.

- My Uncle Jon died. It was so surreal. He's the first of my dad's 5 brothers to pass away. He was one of my favorite relatives: just kind and funny and always made time to say hello to me and ask me how I was. My dad took it pretty hard. They were very close in age.  

The funeral was on my 38th birthday, which didn't bother me too much. I'm not big on birthday celebrations for myself as it is (it's just a reminder that I'm not 21 anymore!). It was, if there is to be any silver lining, really nice to see my extended family. Some people just really feel like "home".  It's a good feeling in the midst of incredible sadness.

- I snagged a graphic novel copy of Anne of Green Gables for Molly. They will love what I love if it's the last thing I do. :) 

- We are greatly enjoying our new home and new neighborhood. There are daily sightings of deer and baby deer in our yards, bunnies and bluebirds. We were able to try out the clubhouse pool, which was wonderful. 

The only downside is Mickey got himself a nice bug bite/sting on one of our exploring walks. That took a vet visit and $322 later he's got himself some antibiotics and a cone of shame. 

- All week, in between funerals and bug bites and swimming and trail hopping with my ouch-y arm, I've been researching my 5 year plan. I love having a 5 year plan. Even if it goes awry. I like having a map. This 5 year plan includes Graduate School, which is SCARY. For one thing, it's mad expensive. For another, that's some major routine upheaval, which tends to not work out well for our family sometimes (see the Tin Dog Records saga). 

But, the school closest to me offers classes while my girls are in school, daycare on-site for Bridgie, and is the cheapest option out of all the options I considered for my major. 

What does this mean for Type A? Not a damn thing. I'm still committed to bringing the best in Wedding and Senior (and Portrait!) coverage to the area. I'm not going anywhere.

But, 5 year plan.

And, it wouldn't be me if I wasn't chasing down a bajillion dreams at a time. Life is so freakin' short. Do your thing. Use your gifts. Chase what you love. Do all the things.

- On the Type A front, the Christmas in July Sale is running RIGHT NOW. AS WE SPEAK. I've run this sale for years and it is super popular. Snag a 50% off portrait voucher and use it at ANY time. They don't expire. Use it for Seniors too! So, instead of $500 for a full digital session, you can get it for $250. WOOT. 

Follow this link and grab it: 

GET MY CHRISTMAS IN JULY VOUCHER

- I have a few dates in July open for Seniors, but I am booking into Fall for Senior Portraits (you know they all want that fall color!). So now is a great time to get those seniors books and on the schedule! 

- WEDDINGS! I've had a few emails lately asking if I cover Chicago weddings. AB-SO-FREAKING-LUTELY. I love Chicago. I will come and shoot your Chicago wedding and do so with bells on. The kicker? There is no extra travel fee for Chicago. Doesn't get better than that.

I have a few random dates open for 2018, I'm booking weddings into 2019 and even 2020, so if you just put a ring on it, let's talk! 

Now, some pics. We love our new home and it's really brought some peace and enjoyment of nature into our lives.

Arrow to the right to enjoy.....