[00:00:00] We all see the photographers on Instagram flexing their lifestyles and can't help but feel a little jealous. They have huge clients. They're making bank and they're traveling the world. Social media is a highlight reel though, and there's a very real dark side to freelance photography. In this episode, we're talking about what no one tells you about the dark side of photography.
Welcome to the Creative Biz Launch Podcast, where we talk about how to grow your creative business and scale to six figures. Whether you're a photographer, filmmaker, or designer, you'll find something of value here, depending on who you ask. Everyone has a different answer on how much you should work, especially as a freelancer.
There are some people that say you have to wake up and grind all day every day. Then there are others that say, self-care is the most important thing, and if you work too much, you'll burn out. Personally, I land somewhere in the middle here. No matter what your opinion is on the subject, there is a simple truth.
If you wanna be a successful freelancer, you're going to be overworked at some point. There's just too much stuff that you need to get done, [00:01:00] especially when you're starting out and trying to compete with others who are miles ahead of you. If you wanna make it as a freelancer, but you're worried about working too much, chances are that you're not gonna make it.
There are people out there who are willing to work, and if you're not, you're going to get eaten up. Those people will take your clients, they'll master sales, they'll master marketing, they'll master photography while you're unwinding on the couch watching toss for the fifth time today, these people will be out there getting results.
Now, I don't wanna scare you or paint this really bleak picture of everything here, but freelance photography comes with a price. Success comes with a cost of being overworked. Every successful entrepreneur I've met has gone through this period of time and their journey. It's the cost of admission, it's the price you have to pay if you want it.
So now that you know. What's gonna happen? How do you navigate it? For me, keeping the big picture in mind really helps for my previous experiences in life, I know that if I put in work every single day for a few years, [00:02:00] success will follow. I've experienced this time and time again, consistency. Always yields dividends down the road.
I've experienced this when I was first getting into running. I've experienced this when I was trying to become better at photography, and most recently I've experienced it when I was trying to get clients and learn the photography business over the last few years. You're going to experience this time and time again, and if you can be consistent, you will make it through this.
Remember, keep that big picture in mind and you'll get through these stages. You can also ask yourself, what's more painful, the process that you're going through right now or failing. For me, losing hurts more. Knowing that I was so close to my end goal by gave up scares me. And lastly, even though I'm working a lot, I'm still having an amazing time doing this.
I'm enjoying the work. I'm enjoying building the new skills up. I feel ecstatic when I get a new client to sign on. I love when a photo shoot comes together exactly how I imagined in my head. Even the [00:03:00] difficult times, I could really admire and appreciate looking back now and all the times I was grinding away.
I look fondly upon these moments. I know that those days were required to build the business that I have today. As a freelancer, you'll be overworked at some point. Do you push through it or do you give up? Okay. Number two on the list is financial hardship. There's always going to be things outside of your control when getting clients, depending on what your niche is and depending on the industry.
Companies will have budgets that may be seasonal. Some months you'll close more deals than others. Some months you may not close any deals. Maybe you're so focused on fulfilling your current clients that you don't have any time to have any new sales coming in. If you go down this path, chances are you'll face some sort of financial hardship early on.
This is completely normal. Just know that this will probably come when I quit my nine to five to pursue photography. I knew that the first months were going to be rough financially, and I prepared for this. I saved [00:04:00] up six months of living expenses in case I didn't close any clients during this time, and at first I wasn't closing many, but at the end of that six month period, I really had a client acquisition system down.
That would give me a predictable number of clients each month. I knew that if I put in the work, I would get clients. I built out this system and it worked. Well, that was my theory at least after a month of actually trying, uh, I proved the theory correct and my system worked. My client acquisition system worked.
By the way, this is exactly why I teach Inside Creative Biz Launch Wait list for that is down below.
Even though I had this system in place, there were a lot of things I couldn't control. In the client acquisition process, sometimes companies slash their marketing budgets to focus on other areas of their business. Sometimes the people that you were talking to at company leave their job and you can end up losing that relationship.
There are a lot of these different factors that can happen, but if you reach out to enough companies, chances are that you're gonna have the numbers [00:05:00] in your favor with enough numbers and with enough people that you reach out to. Even though some companies might slash their budget, you're gonna have another company to fall back on because you're reaching out to so many businesses here.
A lot of industries are also seasonal. Some companies really like to spend money around the holidays and don't really spend any money for the first half of the year. Whatever the reason. I want you to know that you will have slow months. Having slow months is normal in this type of business. Remember, as long as you're doing the necessary work on your end, the slow months will eventually
come to an end and you'll be back on your feet. Just last year, I had a couple slow months where I was making very little sales. I had just doubled my prices and I switched to selling high ticket packages. Rather than selling small amounts of photos, I assigned a two grand minimum to any new client. I had a hard time selling this at first.
It took some experimentation to land on an offer that was really compelling, but after going through a slow period, I had really great success, so I doubled my prices in [00:06:00] 2021. Now, in Q1 of 2022, I made almost as much money as I did in. All of 2021 just in one quarter. The slow months, were all part of the process, and I recognize that as a freelancer, this is all part of the game.
When business is good, don't go and spend all your money on new gear or new investments. Save some money for the inevitable, slow months. Okay. Number three. Most of the time it isn't creative. Most of the work that you'll be doing isn't creative work. As someone who runs a production company, I'd say only a third of my time with that company is actually spent behind the camera.
The rest of that time is spent growing the business, gaining new clients, random admin, work, marketing, and managing my team. Not to mention my other company, creative Biz Launch, where I educate creatives on how to start and scale their businesses instead of shying away from this other work and dreading it.
I took it on as a challenge, just like I want to be the best photographer I could be. I also want to be the best at sales, the best at marketing, the best at managing. I read [00:07:00] books on these topics to learn how others did it. I watched YouTube video after a YouTube video. I enrolled in online courses. I was excited to do the non-creative work.
I recognize that if I want to earn a successful business, I needed to adapt. It's either adapt or die. I was not about to back down and go back to working for someone else. So I found a way. My why was bigger than why I had to overcome. Even though most of my time isn't spent behind the camera. I still do a lot of creative work.
It's great coming up with mood boards for clients and thinking of video ideas. I'm still able to get better at photography Through this, I'm able to utilize the skills I have and create the best images possible for clients. Just because I'm not behind a camera all day doesn't mean I can't enjoy the work a lot.
Freelancers are going to be surprised at how little creative work there actually is. When you're running your own business, you're going to need to manage your expectations. When going down this path. Know that you'll need to wear dozens of different hats. You're going to have to learn a lot of new skills here.
If this scares you, then my advice is honestly, to get [00:08:00] a job as a photographer working for someone else, because then you can do photography 100% of the time. But if you actually want to build up a business, be aware that a lot of the time it won't be created. From someone that teaches creative business.
It may seem weird that I advise you to get a job as a photographer rather than starting your own business, but you have to be aware of what you actually want. If you wanna be behind the camera 100% of the time, it's way better to actually just get a job working for someone else because then you'll be happier doing the creative work.
But if you want to build up a business, If you want the freedom of entrepreneurship, then you have to learn these other skills in order to actually succeed. Because if you don't genuinely have a desire to learn how run actual business, you're not gonna get very far. All right. To wrap this up, how am I still around?
This podcast episode can be pretty discouraging to some of you. To others. It could be motivating to see what you have to persevere to make it through. How was I able to stick [00:09:00] around and continuously grow my business and even pivot to a new education company? When I was starting out, I saw a few other people on Instagram that I knew that also decided to take the plunge.
It was really fun to see that I wasn't alone at trying my handout photography full-time. There was a lot of us that quit our nine to fives at the same time, but a few months later, they were back at their old jobs, or they just got hired to be a photographer at a different company. I know other photographers that have been telling me for years that they won't pursue this thing full-time, but they're still just shooting photos on the weekends.
I thought to myself, why is this the case? Well, there's no single reason why. Maybe they are not ready for the amount of work they'll actually take, and they're worried about being overworked. Maybe they haven't taken any risks in their life and they're just unsure of this new thing. Maybe this seems like too big of a risk.
Maybe they spent all their money on lavish trips or at the bar on the weekend and they can't save up enough cash for a few months of living expenses. I don't know the exact reasons why, but I can tell you this, [00:10:00] if you can persevere through everything I've outlined in this episode today. There's a solid chance you'll last if you have the work ethic, the resilience, the willingness to learn.
You'll be able to endure through the tough times. You'll come out on the other side, a changed person, a better entrepreneur, and have an actual business. There's no other journey, quite like entrepreneurship. If you're hesitant at all, take this as you're signed to start. Thanks for listening. Really appreciate your time.
I hope you found this valuable. If you have an extra 10 seconds, please, please rate this episode and whatever streaming service you're listening to it on, it really helps show grow and it really helps me help more people. My mission here is to enable creative entrepreneurs with the tools and mindset to really grow their businesses.
And without your help, I'm not able to do that, so thank you.
