[00:00:00] Real quick. Do you remember how you first found this podcast? Maybe it was a story on Instagram. Maybe a friend sent it to you, whatever it was. If you can pay it forward, it would mean a lot to me and it would mean a lot to another creative entrepreneur out there. I don't run ads on this podcast. I just make these to help other creative entrepreneurs in the world.
If you could pay it forward, that would mean the world to me. Thank you.
Okay. I'm going to be real with you guys in this episode. I don't have it all figured out. I don't know everything about creative business. I don't know everything about photography. But I do know a decent amount, I know enough to run a successful business and earn a pretty good living from it. I don't know how to change the world with photography.
I don't know how to teach you to land a gig with Coca Cola or Apple. But I do know how to get most brands to pay you enough money to live a really good life on. This episode was going to teach you that you don't really need to know everything to earn money from your creative business. We're walking through the three principles that you need to make it as an entrepreneur.
Let's get into it.[00:01:00]
Welcome to the creative biz launch podcast, where we talk about how to grow your creative business and scale it to six figures. Whether you're a photographer, filmmaker, or designer, you'll find something of value here. My name is Chris Piazza. And at this point I've been running my product photography company for four years.
Before that I was trying to make it work outside my corporate job for a full year. And back in 2016, I got my first camera and knew nothing about photography or filmmaking. The point of this episode is that you don't need years and years and years and decades of experience to make it as an entrepreneur.
You need a willingness to learn, you need a willingness to try new things and take risks, and you need to be able to sacrifice for the things that you want. If you want to make it as an entrepreneur, you need to be open to learn. There is so much amazing information out there this day and age. When I was starting out, I had no idea how to make money with a camera.
All I knew is that I didn't want to shoot weddings. It was time for me to learn how to actually make money with photography. I [00:02:00] started researching. I used Google. I watched YouTube videos I read blogs of successful photographers and even reached out to people I looked up to on Instagram and asked them how they made it work.
There was so much knowledge at my fingertips I just had to be open to actually learn from it I spent months and months trying to figure out the ways others make money in the creative industry and and apply that into my own business. I used YouTube to learn how to build a proper portfolio. I watched videos on how to build an engaging website.
I even bought this expensive online course that taught me everything I needed to know about photography, sales, and marketing. And that was probably the best ROI of any investment I've made in my entire life. I was learning each and every day during these early stages of my business, and I tried to be a sponge and absorb as much knowledge as possible.
Even as I'm recording this podcast, I'm still learning a lot. Each and every single day, I'm currently reading a hundred million dollar leads by Alex Hermosi and learning a lot more about lead generation, how to get more customers and how to serve [00:03:00] them better. An openness to learn is critical in becoming a successful creative business owner.
And once you're eager to learn, it's never been easier to find info online. YouTube is a fantastic place to learn. You're listening to this podcast, and podcasts are a great way to learn as well. If you want to shortcut the process and not make mistakes yourself, you can just pay someone for their knowledge.
That is such a powerful hack, and I'm really glad I did that when I was starting out.
Knowing how to run a business. Isn't enough though. You need to be willing to take risks. You need to make decisions and try new things. Starting a business is a scary thing that most people wouldn't think of doing. You're listening to this podcast, so you're different. When starting a business, you'll be taking a lot of risks.
You'll take financial risks, you'll take risks in your personal life, and you'll take risks in your career. Every entrepreneur takes these risks when they start out. Risks are good to take. You're risking something for a greater return in the long run. What's not okay is recklessness risks are calculated decisions.
[00:04:00] You make that you think will pan out in the end. If you're reckless, you're going to need a lot of luck in order for that recklessness to actually pay off. Quitting my corporate job to pursue photography full time was a risk. I took, I took that risk because I knew I had people that were willing to pay for my work, both in the past and in the future, I knew I could get more clients.
If I needed to. I had the systems in place, I just needed more time. Quitting my job and focusing on photography full time was the biggest risk I've taken, and it's been one of the greatest decisions of my entire life. The joy I feel working at my business every day is just incredible. Then there's the smaller risks.
Raising my rates, knowing that a client may stop working with me, is a risk I needed to take. That risk led me to more income down the road, and it allowed me to produce better content for the clients. Decision making and taking risks is something that you need to get used to as an entrepreneur. The more you do it, the wiser you become, and it does get easier.
It's still way harder than living in the comfort zone. But who [00:05:00] wants to be in the comfort zone anyways, take risks, make decisions and try new things. Okay, so you've learned all there is to know about running a business. You've taken risks. Now you need to be willing to sacrifice to have those risks pay off.
This is a period all entrepreneurs go through. We need to sacrifice what we have now for what we and our businesses will become in the future. And this part is really hard. You need to put in those hours. When I was still working my nine to five. I was putting in time before work, at lunch, after work, each and every day.
It was hard, especially when it looked like I was getting nowhere with it. It's going to be a grind, and you're going to have to sacrifice. If you have a supportive partner and friends and family that support you, then it's going to be easier. But I know there are some of you out there whose parents or friends don't have the same vision as you.
If you believe in your dream, then you're going to have to ignore the naysayers and keep working hard. Your strongest supporters are going to be the strangers you meet along the way.[00:06:00] Entrepreneurship can be a lonely path, but know that there are people out there sacrificing just like you. Put in the work every single day, and success will come.
It may take six months, it may take three years, but know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. And there you have it, be willing to learn, take risks and sacrifice to make your vision become a reality. Thank you so much for listening to the end. I'll see you in the next episode, by the way, if you have an extra five seconds, please give the show a rating.
It really helps me out and helps another entrepreneur find this podcast. Talk to you later.
