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Hello, I am Jamie from jamiedelainewatson.com, thank you so much for tuning in again this
week.
Today, I'm bringing you an amazing collaboration with my friend and fellow YouTuber Nadia.
We're both gonna be talking about the things that we wish we knew when we started our photography
businesses.
So, watch through this video and then make sure you click on over to Nadia's channel,
and subscribe, and watch her video as well.
Let's get started.
So, the first thing I wish I knew when I started my photography business is how important it
is to differentiate yourselves.
I know this is something that we may hear a lot in the industry, "Oh, be different,
be unique, stand out, offer something different."
That can be quite vague and difficult to understand what that actually means.
To me, what that's meant in my business is really doing the hard work to understand,
who am I?
What kind of unique things do I bring to the client?
What kind of images do I love to create?
And what kind of things do I not want to create?
What kind of things don't make me excited?
I love Lara Casey from cultivatewhatmatters.com says, "Write a list of things that fire you
up.
So, what makes you truly excited?"
Sometimes that can be a little bit easier than just brainstorming adjectives, or all
these other prompts.
What makes you excited, whether in business or life?
Just make a huge list of those things, and then figure out how you can bring more of
those things to your business, and to your client experience.
The second thing I wish I knew running a photography business is 80 to 90% business, and 10 to
20% actually taking photos.
So, if you're a photographer running your own business, congratulation, you're an entrepreneur.
Absolutely, when you're starting out you need to learn your gear and your equipment well,
and technical skills are absolutely important.
We cannot be making mistakes when it comes to delivering beautiful images for our clients.
But, after you have a good grasp on the technical skills in the first few years of your business,
you need to be investing twice if not thrice ... That's a kind of a cool word ... Thrice
as much time into your marketing, your systems, your pricing, and truly making sure that this
business you've started can go the distance.
The third thing I wish I knew, self promotion is not a bad word.
There is a way to promote yourself, and to promote your own business without it coming
across as icky ... What's the word I'm looking for?
Cocky and like it's all about you.
But, the reality is if you don't share your business, if you're so terrified of telling
other people what you do and coming across this way, you're really not gonna succeed.
Because if you don't tell anyone about your business, how are they suppose to know about
your business?
You are the face of your brand, and you need to be comfortable with sharing your face online.
So, if this feels overwhelming to you start in a small way this week, post on Instagram
of your face, not just your work, and share why it is that you love what you do and a
few unique things about you.
This will be a great way for clients to connect with you, and for you to get your name and
face out there as the brand of your business.
I have two more quick lessons coming your way, but this is your quick reminder to click
on over to Nadia's video.
At the end of this, I'll have the link in the description so you can watch her lessons
as well.
The fourth thing I wish I knew was how important backup systems are.
When you start photographing images for people and they're paying you to take these images,
we need to make sure that we have an amazing backup system in place.
So, if you have never gotten your backup system in order, I have a video that I'll put on
this screen, and you can click on over and watch that one from my whole backup system
process.
The last thing I wish I knew when I started my business is how lonely working for myself
could be.
I feel like every few years or seasons in my business I need to reevaluate, is how I
am working, working?
Am I happy just working from home?
Am I happy not seeing anyone for days on end besides my husband?
And the answer is no, so, each year I found a different system that works for me.
Maybe that's meeting a few other creatives, and consistently committing to meet at a coffee
shop three mornings a week for four hours.
Whatever it is you need to do to make sure that this business doesn't get you down, especially
in off season do that.
So, I have found an amazing rhythm, I work from a coworking space couple days a week,
and it's absolutely amazing to go there for six hours and to really focus on the work
I love, but without being totally alone especially in the non-shooting season.
So, thank you so much for watching today.
If you enjoyed what you saw can you give me a thumbs up, subscribe and comment below,
and be sure to check out my collaboration with Nadia as well.
She has the same video on her channel today.