I was looking back over the last three years of doing this work full time and saw that this year I’ll be making 50k more a year than that first full-time year three years ago (was part-time before that).
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I don’t say that to brag, I share to encourage you to treat your creative endeavor like a business and to show you what is possible. It’s exciting for me because I doubt I could have received a 50k a year increase in pay at a 9-5 job in that timeframe.
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Here are the things I think led to the increase:
1. Luck- the economy has been humming along at a nice clip, which makes it easier for families to spend money on extras. I want to mention this first but I think even in a worse economy, the following things would have kept my business busier than ever before.
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2. Created a specific niche. When you have low prices, you can be the photographer of one and all. Once you want to raise prices, it really helps to have a clear niche. It makes it so much easier for others to refer you and for new clients to trust you.
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3. Raise your prices. Mine have gone up by hundreds of dollars in those three years.
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4. I made it really easy to book me. I look at a lot of photographer websites and man a lot of you make it hard to book you! Look through your process and simplfy!
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5. Focused on becoming as productive as I could be in the hours I had to work. Scrolling Instagram
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6. Stop Comparing! It’s a bad road that never ends anywhere good. Feel yourself comparing? Put down your phone.
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7. Finally, I learned this: my emotions are the direct result of my thoughts. If I am facing something new, I can either think it’s scary and be scared or think it’s exciting and try.
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Next year, I am hoping to put out some really helpful resources for photographers for one reason: nothing excites me more than women killing it financially. 💪🏻
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Here’s to 2020 💫
