05/06/2026
If I were starting my photography business over again, here’s what I’d do, as a photographer of 7+ years:
🤍 DON’T COMPARE. It’s easy to look at how other photographers are editing, shooting, rebranding, or serving their clients. Stay in your lane. You are your own photographer with your own strengths, skills, talents, and personality. Let that shine.
🤍 PRICING YOUR SERVICES. Running a business is hard, and expensive. Learn your numbers early on, including what you spend on gear, subscriptions, branding, client experience, insurance, taxes, etc., compared to what you want to profit. This is what should guide your pricing.
🤍 SERVING CLIENTS. Create a client experience that feels true to YOU. Don’t be influenced by how others do it or how they say you should. What feels natural? Consider your love languages, and the love languages of your ideal clients.
🤍 CREATE WORKFLOWS & AUTOMATIONS. It can be easy to put this off when you don’t fully see the value yet. However, having a workflow that works FOR you is one of the best steps you can take to build your business. This helps create consistency for both you and your clients.
🤍 LEARN FROM OTHERS. Invest in your education and learn from those who have been in the industry longer than you. Whether it’s a mentor session, workshop, course, podcast, or free videos on YouTube, find an outlet to continue growing. This allows you to learn from others’ mistakes and successes, which will save you time and energy as you grow.
🤍 SHOOT FOR FREE. Do it to learn, get creative, refine your skills, understand your camera, and grow. The intention isn’t to shoot for free forever, but to do it with purpose.
🤍 POST THE DANG PHOTO. Stop overthinking and waiting for the perfect IG grid. Your photos and the insight you have to share don’t need to be perfect to be valuable.
These are just a few that have stood out to me. If you were starting over, what would you do differently?
