5 tips on How to break into photography and be successful

I often get requests from budding photographers wanting to assist in various ways. I love helping others follow their dream and like many other photographers, really enjoy the mentoring process.

My experience with assistants, however, has had its fair share of ups and downs. It’s good to understand why being good at your craft is only half the equation. With my corporate background and highly discerning clients, I learned to cultivate a high level of service and communication — often learning the hard way. If you can follow the advice below, you’ll save yourself a few bumps and bruises along the way.

Invest in Education

First, make a plan to become a master at your craft. If you like photography, take classes at a local community college or online. If you like editing, tap into KelbyOne for Lightroom or LinkedIn Learning for Photoshop tutorials. There are also plenty of free photography tutorials on YouTube to jumpstart your hobby and improve quickly with practice.

When you reach out to photographers to assist, a little bit of experience will go a long way.

be tenacious

There’s a high risk for business owners who train and empower assistants who could leave on a whim. We love mentoring, but training new assistants pulls us away from business-critical tasks and can cut into serious personal time until the kinks are worked out.

As business owners, we want to pay-it-forward because of how we’ve been helped by others.

An assistant who’s willing to embrace physical labor to set up a backdrop stand or learn to take healthy critique in their quest to be a better photo retoucher earns the prize. As a business owner, that mentality and eagerness to grow will make me loyal to you for life.

Don’t give up when you hit a hard point in your growth or get feedback that isn’t all positive. Mistakes make the master.

Invest in the Tools

There are real costs involved in running a photography business, and if you’re serious about getting into this industry, you need to understand that some tools are non-negotiable.

Programs like Dropbox, Lightroom, and Photoshop are integral to doing our work. You can get away with free programs and low-cost options for a while. But paying a nominal $9.99/month for a tool as a trade-off of hundreds or even thousands $ of work is a fair cost to play the game. Plus, you get the perks of a mentor willing to teach you their trade. A college class would require many of these tools, anyway, and cost thousands of dollars.

Ultimately, these expenses teach you how to calculate the cost of doing business and understand how to price yourself in the future.

Do Everything in Your Power to Meet Deadlines

Life happens. My mom had a heart bypass surgery in the middle of my busiest photography season to date. My dad was diagnosed with cancer just weeks after my mom was scheduled for her surgery. And I was also recovering from a chronic illness.

But that doesn’t excuse me from delivering photos intended for Christmas cards longer after Easter has passed. As business owners, we’re constantly facing challenges that force us to pivot, get creative and get the job done, even if it means outsourcing and — for a very temporary period of time — cutting into profits a bit.

I have had a few not-so-great experiences with contractors who couldn’t deliver what they promised. Ultimately, with projects that flailed, I lost more than time. I lost confidence and trust with a person I’d hand-picked and had envisioned in my quest for a long-term partnership and mentorship. As business owners, we can help or figure out an alternate solution to keep a project moving and set up our contractors for success.

Believe it or not, it’s not always the on-time delivery that bothers us as much as the lack of proactive communication. Which brings us to the next piece of advice.

Proactive communication and Problem-solving

Communicating consistently on updates during a project and identifying problems early on is just as important a skill as your craft — maybe even more so. If you’re running into challenges, don’t wait until the deadline. Propose alternate solutions sooner.

As business owners don’t know what you have or don’t have access to (did I accidentally give you the wrong login?) or where you might need extra training or support. We also face especially high seasonal workloads while wearing many business hats — from accounting and marketing to shooting and editing photos.

Not communicating is not an excuse to push past a surmountable obstacle. As busy business owners, we don’t like unpleasant surprises and you’ll quickly never get hired again — or get referred to anyone else for that matter — if you can’t communicate well.

Alternatively, as our photography businesses grow and you want to assist, keep reaching out, and clearly communicate what you’re looking for. A show of interest helps us know you’re serious.

PARTING THOUGHTS

I make many of these mistakes, even after all these years, so I’m writing this article from a posture of a self-reminder. I realize how I can serve my own clients better with each project. With a combination of tenacity, communication, grit, and investment in the right things, we can activate our dreams while serving others well and delivering excellent work with a high level of integrity.

If you’re interested in assisting, please contact me to learn about opportunities.