Finding Clients
Where do you find product photography clients?
I get this question all the time. It’s intimidating to find clients if you have no idea where to look.
This is the framework I’ve used to reach out to thousands of companies and land deals.
We all know the big brands like...
Nightmare Clients
In any creative business, you’re going to run into clients that are difficult to work with.
You’ve got handfuls of clients and most of them are awesome! But there are a few that give you headaches and make your life difficult.
They don’t value your work, they...
Why People Hire You
The biggest mistake creatives make when pitching their services, is pitching the actual photos and videos instead of pitching the dream outcome.
Clients don’t care how pretty your pictures are, or how awesome your video is, or how sick the lighting was in a scene. They...
How To Quit Your 9-5
You’re getting to the point where you’re strongly considering quitting that 9-5 grind and going all-in on your passion. Congrats. This is an exciting time but also can be really scary. This is how I did it.
In July 2020 I came to a point where I was I was on the...
What Are You Selling?
As a photographer, are you selling hourly headshot sessions? Packages with a set number of photos? Licenses? Is editing included in the price?
There are a lot of variables in what your service will look like. Make sure you know exactly what it is you are selling.
Do not...
No one likes revisions. The client doesn’t want to have to go back and forth with you and you don’t want to reshoot. These 5 steps lower the chances of having to do revisions significantly.
Charge A Lot
By charging a lot you establish yourself as a professional. Pricing is a weird...
Social Media and YouTube are filled with product photography tutorials that require expensive gear, multi-light setups, and a lot of photoshop. You don’t need any of that. In fact, it will hinder your progress when starting your business. The truth is your photos don’t need to be the...
Everyone preaches about value.
“Sell a high-value service and you can charge thousands!”
“Provide value to the client and they’ll keep coming back.”
This may be a little controversial, but value isn’t as important as perceived value. If your client...
At this point, I’ve been teaching how to start a creative business and grow it through this newsletter for 6 months. I haven’t touched upon how to actually get work done. These 3 habits/principles allow me to output 5x the work as a creative entrepreneur vs me at my 9-5.
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Willingness To Learn
You need to have an eagerness to learn. Being open-minded and knowing that there is a lot to learn will take you farther than anything else when you’re starting out in product photography.
I knew nothing about lighting, composition, technical requirements, or photoshop...
Without a contract, there’s no project. There’s no deal. A proposal takes what you’ve been talking about with a client and slaps a signature on it. Talk is cheap. But when there’s a signature on that project you pitched, you know you’ve got a new client.
There have...
A few short years ago when I was starting my business, I was sitting around waiting for clients to come to me. I’ve been doing photography for a few years and I thought I was pretty good. I built out a website, shared my best work there, and couldn’t wait for clients to start...