How to stay broke as a photographer | #59

Do you want to learn how to not make any money from photography?

Of course not.

But let’s do a little experiment. If we learn how to stay broke, all we need to do is the opposite so that we can make serious cash.

How do we stay broke as a photographer?

Only say yes to projects you can handle

Let me walk you through a scenario I went through this past summer.

You are a product photographer.

You’ve had a few projects with this client, and they ask you if you can do lifestyle photos with models.

Now you’ve never done anything like this. You’ve done some headshots for your friends, but you have no experience posing models.

This is way outside your skill range.

Are you going to tell this client no and tell them to find someone else for this project?

Or are you going to say yes and try and figure this out along the way?

At the end of the day, you can take on this project, mess it up completely, and the worse thing that happens is that you’ll have to refund this client.

That’s it.

Even if you mess up, you’ll have learned a lot of new skills and lessons along the way.

On the upside, you can watch some youtube videos on how to pose models and practice on your friends. Then you can execute the project to the best of your ability, and you will have unlocked a whole new skill set.

All because you bit off more than you could chew.

In the face of challenges, do you accept them, or do you run away from them?

If you run away from every challenge that comes your way, you’ll stay broke.

But if you accept them. If you challenge yourself to become a better photographer by taking on these new projects, you’ll grow.

And so will your business.

This applies to so many things in photography. When you are presented with a new challenge, accept it. You’ll find a way to make it all work in the end.

If you fail, you might have to refund the client. And in the end, that’s still a small price to pay for this entire new skillset you unlocked.

As much as this platitude is overused, it rings true here.

Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.