I have decided to begin a series consisting of 10 tips to building a successful business that I will be sharing in three parts over the next few days! A few months ago I was asked to write some tips for building a successful business for the wonderful PhotoSpring Design’s Blog (a resource site for photographers) and I thought it would be very beneficial to share those tips over on my blog as well! The first 4 for today are the importance of being teachable, shooting with quality, choosing a specialty, and being consistent!
“Hey everybody, KayLynne here, with PhotoSpring Design! Today, we have a special article for you written by Natalie Kunkel Photography! I met Natalie 6 months ago at a photography workshop and I was shocked when she told me she had only been in business less than a year! Not only do her images rock, but she has built up an incredibly successful business and a large following in a very short amount of time. Today, she shares her secrets…”
1. Be Teachable
Having a teachable spirit and heart is SO important. Being teachable by definition means that you are a person who is able to be taught. In other words, you are a person of humble character that is always ready to be taught something because you are receptive to correction and knowledge. In your humility you never have the mentality that you have “arrived” in your ability as a photographer but instead are always aiming to be better. The biggest aspect of being teachable to me is staying humble. Your photography business may blow up right away and you may be given a lot of opportunities really fast but the biggest thing is to be stay humble. Pride will destroy your business and your ability to care for people and learn the most that you can. Photographers that look at their work with a constructive eye will always have more things they can be learning and never believe they’ve “made it.” Because let’s be real, there is no such things as ‘making it’! You have no doubt heard this said before, I will just swap some words around to make it photography related. “Show me a photographer who thinks they have nothing left to learn, and I’ll show you a photographer whose business is dying.” Ekk! Hard words, but so true. So stay humble and always maintain your teachable heart!
2. Shoot with Quality
Early on in photography, even before I solely shot weddings, I was obsessed with quality. I was so fed up with every other person out there that said they were a photographer but didn’t value doing high quality work or at least value learning more about it. I was constantly seeing out of focus images, poor lighting, composition, editing, and worst of all, no unique or creative new ideas. This truly drove me to great length to research and learn learn LEARN!! I wanted to be different and I wanted to mix both an artistic, creative eye with high quality. To me it is only ignorance speaking when people say that quality isn’t of high value when in fact it is of equal value as the art behind photography. If your artwork does not have quality how will people appreciate the art and how will it be preserved for generations to come? I laugh now when I look back at my beginning images because when I compare them side-by-side with what I shoot now I cringe at how bad they look. This is because I have learned and grown so much but in a few months I will compare again and see a huge difference because I will always be pushing to learn more and I will always be striving for the highest quality images. I’ve heard it said that if you aren’t continually embarrassed by things you shot a month ago you are not growing enough! Woah! Heavy statement, but so true. So photographers, go devote yourself to learning how to work your camera and how to boost your quality with your creativity. Always be growing, crave more knowledge.
3. Choose a Speciality
It is important that you figure out what you are good at and stick to it. Someone who is good at everything is an expert at nothing. This goes right along with photography as well. If you say on your website that you shoot everything, i.e. family, newborn, maternity, children, event, weddings… you are saying that you do not have a specialty in any one thing. There is danger in this because if you do everything you are not an expert solely in what people are hiring you for. Types of photography can be much different from the one another and chances are there is an area you are not good at. I will be the first to say that I am not an expert at family, newborn, or maternity photos. It is not my specialty. So why would I offer it if I know out there, there is someone who could be doing a better job and I could be doing weddings! Why would someone want to pay you a ton of money to have you shoot their wedding if you aren’t someone who specializes in that specific thing? Shoot what you are best at and share what you want to shoot. If you want to start doing weddings stop filling your website with pictures from all your family shoots. I promise your inquiries for other things will start to fade and if you still get them you can find other photographers you respect to refer them to!
4. Be Consistent
Figure out your style and stick with it! This was another thing along with quality that I focused on very early. I knew I needed to be high quality but I also needed a style, my style, and I need to stick with it. People who hire you should know exactly what kind-of work they will receive from you. Along with editing, be consistent in posting on social media. If you stop posting you won’t show up on people’s newsfeed and people will “forget” about your business. Do this through a blog, Facebook albums and posts, Instagram, Twitter, use your avenues and be consistent in your use of them. Maybe you don’t have any photoshoot coming up, that doesn’t mean you still can’t write a blog or be active on social media! “Out of sight, out of mind” or better yet, “If you’re out of sight, then you’re out of mind.” That can’t be more true for photography! Be strong and stick with it!
Can’t wait to find out all my tips?!
Read my full article over on Photospring Design’s blog here!