I’ve always wanted to do photography full time and now that my chance is here I’m having doubts. I do pretty well on the side of my 9-5 but just can’t seem to figure what it will be like if I can’t pull in enough to match my 9-5. my wife does well at her job and said it wouldn’t matter but that’s right now. I also want to retire someday. any advice from people who shoot full time?
GL! Hope you enjoy cold calling and sitting on teams calls with a bunch of people that have no idea why they are on it.
Oh and shooting like 2-3 times a month
You have Teams calls for photography? What are you doing in these calls?
Creative concepting, pre production planning, etc
Talking to clients. Just had one yesterday that had 4 people on it.
An account rep, a contract specialist, an AAD and the AD.
All so they could say “yeah your insurance is good, we will reach out with a SOW sometime next month and propose a schedule.”
Just because you leave the corporate world doesn’t mean your clients do
I have thankfully never worked in the corporate world. All my clients are architects who are generally pretty informal and easy work with, but they tend to move at a glacial pace. That’s a side effect of all your projects taking years to complete I guess.
IMHO, if you don’t get enough jobs to get 50-80% of your needed wage already, you’ll struggle for a long time. Are you having to turn a lot of people down at the moment? Also, are you charging enough?
One of your other posts (1) year old was asking how to start a business. Did you ever get around to it?
I do around 60 percent…but then there are months I do way over and months not even close.
That’s part of the game depending on your genres.
This is a freelancer thing always. Every next month I feel like going unemployed.
Look, it might ruin your life if you quit your 9-5. Stability is a much more valuable asset. Through stability, your dream can be achieved, nothing will prevent you of doing photography on the side. Will you be able to achieve stability through your dream?
When I was a freelancer I made more money – and I also was jumping through my ass every day and had zero work/life balance.
Then I think you could stand in good stead to go for it. That’s life as a freelancer, as said. Get a few months saved up as a ‘bad month’ fund, and go for it. But you need to really go for it. You need to be making 110% most months, to make up for the 70% months.
I’m not with a full time photography related job. I had the chance to, but they didn’t hire me.
I was searching for a job in a different area - I was used to printing, graphics and vinyl applications. When I had bit of experience with cameras and shooting, I sent my resume to a modeling agency as a photographer. They required some experience shooting and editing, and I had all that. I sent them my website at the time so they could see my style and photography works. I went to an interview and while there, they asked me to shoot one of their staff, a nice-looking woman who would be the model for my trial.
My problem: I was used to my Sony camera, and they were lending me one of their Canons. Today, I would have shot her, but at the time, I didn’t felt comfortable enough to use a completely new camera and expect to have the same results. They could have known better and asked me to take my camera with me, but they didn’t.
I didn’t shoot the lady, nor I haven’t got any news from them after, obsiously.
But I eventually got a job again as a printer in the graphics business, and I’m glad it is like that. I can enjoy photography as a side-job, on my own terms and do some large format prints if my clients need, at a great price. I can print the photos myself and my bosses are cool enough to not to charge me if the prints are relatively small.
It makes me think I’m glad I do NOT work full time with photography. But I do shoot weddings and aniversary parties, which usually are made in the weekends, so I’m good with it. I have the best of both worlds.
If you can, seriously think about a business and marketing course. The months spent doing this will really pay out later.
On average a new company loses money the first year, can break even year two, three and starts to profit year four.
You should be comfortable that you can run for at least three years without turning a profit.
The fact your wife has said she is happy and supports the idea is wonderful. I suggest you sit down and work out the costs involved in running your business for at least three years.
Going full time pro involves, registering the business, doing accounts, marketing, website management, personal liability insurance, gear insurance, different vehicle insurance for professional use and occasionally a little bit of photography.
Be prepared to work twice as many hours than your previous day job plus weekends. In my experience, there is nothing more rewarding than working for yourself. If you both go in to this with your eyes open you’ll be able to make a living from your photography.
All the best to you. Good luck in your venture.
Can you reduce your 9-5 hours? I was able to reduce my day job to 80% - it gave me an extra day per week to focus on my photography business while still keeping enough money coming in to pay the bills.
Make it your side hustle until you’re busy enough that it’s obvious you need to pick either that or your 9-5.