Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
If you’re an aspiring professional photographer or even an existing pro who wants to get better-paying, bigger clients, then it makes sense to start small and work your way up the ladder, right?
Well, according to Scott Chouciño from Tin House Studio, that advice is completely wrong. Not only that but following that popular advice could actually cause you more problems in the long run and prevent you from realizing your goals.
Last year I read a book that alarmingly told me that if I lived to an average age of around 80 years, I probably only had around 2000 weeks left. Cue panic: 2000 weeks doesn’t sound like a lot to achieve my goals and live my best life. One of those goals, of course, is to have a thriving photography business and let’s say that it is anything but thriving at the moment.
Still, not all heroes wear capes, as they say. I was presented with a great opportunity to have my underachieving photography business audited by Scott Chouciño from Tin House Studio. Scott is a working commercial photographer based in the UK. He is fairly well known for his no-nonsense, somewhat blunt approach, but I was keen to see what he had to say. Have a watch of the video because it is full of gems that will be helpful for anybody struggling with their photography business.
The average overnight success takes around 10 years. Yes, you read that correctly, and I’m not joking. That’s in most creative fields, not just photography. So how long does it take to become a professional photographer? By professional, I mean able to derive the majority of your income from photography or photography-related activities. My gut response is that again, it takes most people around 10 years to really make any kind of headway. Quicker than that can happen of course, but it’s usually an anomaly.
Scott from Tin House Studio gives us his thoughts in this honest and candid video. Amazingly he’s dropped around 300 videos now on YouTube. Impressive if that’s part of your strategy and it goes to show that showing up and being consistent will always win. Here are his thoughts on how long it takes to become a successful pro photographer.
The visual identity of a photographer is no different than that of any other company. Although you may have spent years creating a photographic style that is uniquely your own, your images are only part of the elements that compose your photographer branding.[Read More…]
It’s not a secret that business owners use psychologic tricks to boost their sales. Whether you’re selling a product, a service, or just an idea, it’s good to have a few of these tricks up your sleeve for a better success. In this video, Nick Kolenda teaches you five sales techniques that will help you sell your service and raise your photography business to a new level.
How do you make $100,000 as a photographer? Start with $200,000! Sorry, jokes aside, it is technically possible. I mean, there are photographers out there earning 6 figures. And I’m sure that even if I was making that sort of money from photography I’m sure I’d still be writing for DIYP! But that aside, how do you even get close to making that sort of money from your passion? It’s something that most of us just dream about. But in this video, Evan Ranft explains not only how he did it, but lays out some very sensible advice that can at least get you on the right path to profiting from your photography, even if you’re not quite getting to 6 figures yet.
Running a photography business isn’t the same as just being a photographer. Once you start your own business, you may notice that you’re struggling even though you’re seemingly doing everything right. But there’s a small, yet important change you should make to turn the things around, and Ryan of Signature Edits tells you more about it in the video below.
The nightmare client. They are everywhere it seems, and if you’re working in any kind of creative business you’ve probably come across at least one or two. They always want more for less, they want extra or last-minute changes, they aren’t happy with the final result. One such client I had (let’s call her ‘Plate Lady’) even tried to negotiate the fee after I’d delivered the work and sent the invoice.
We might put it down to the fact that some people are just harder to deal with than others, and while that may be true, if it’s a commonly occurring issue for you then you need to look at the common factor, and that’s usually you. Scott from Tin House Studio has an interesting thought on why you aren’t getting your ideal client and has some suggestions in this video on how you can change that.
There’s a reason that 64% of small businesses use email marketing to reach customers. Email marketing is a valuable tool for photographers to promote their work to potential and existing clients. Virtually every person on the internet has an email address, and email marketing is an effective way to send messages directly to customers and gain prospective clients by reaching an already engaged audience.
Unlike social media, your message is delivered to your audience by you “personally” through your own channel via email marketing. There’s no fickle algorithm standing in your way, and you don’t have to worry about the website crashing. Another reason to invest your time in email marketing? A recent study by Campaign Monitor found that email marketing provides the highest ROI for small businesses.
As a photographer, you’ll hear tons of advice on how to do your craft. They all come from a good place, but to be honest – not all of them are useful. In this video, Andrew Boey of Beyond Photography gives you five pieces of advice that he thinks are the worst. Would you agree with him?
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