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What I Wish I Knew When I Started My Photography Business 15 Years Ago
44 Plays10 days ago
In this heartfelt episode, Elena reflects on her 15-year journey as a photographer and the lessons she wishes she had known when starting out. From embracing the slow growth of success to the importance of mentorship, marketing strategies, and honing your craft, this episode is filled with wisdom for photographers at any stage of business. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by comparison or unsure where to put your focus, Elena’s perspective will guide you toward building a grounded, sustainable, and meaningful photography business.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
- Why success takes time and why that’s okay
- The power of ignoring comparison and focusing on your path
- How mentorship can rapidly accelerate your growth
- Why social media isn’t everything (and what to focus on instead)
- The underrated power of email marketing and SEO
- Why school photography can transform your income quickly
- How practice and creativity are foundational to your success
Links & Resources:
Photography Business Roadmap Freebie
Marketing the Right Way
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Transcript
Journey in Photography
00:00:01
Elena Blair
What's up, empowered photographers? i am just going to go down memory lane for you today and just talk to you about some of the things that I wish that I knew before starting my photography business.
00:00:12
Elena Blair
So I am in my 15th year of business, and I walk in gratitude for that every single day that I get to call this a job. And I just wrapped up my family photo shoot for calendar for 2025. And I did about 60 family families this year, which felt really good.
00:00:28
Elena Blair
I'm trying to kind of scale it down a little bit. And I just want to get, bring you back to me 15 years ago when I had no idea what I was doing. I just knew that I love photographing families and I knew that I wanted to create something meaningful.
00:00:40
Elena Blair
And so looking back, there are a few things that I wish that I had known that would have saved me a lot of time, maybe a lot of a lot of tears and a lot of stress.
Starting a Photography Business: Lessons and Challenges
00:00:51
Elena Blair
And starting a photography business can feel really overwhelming.
00:00:55
Elena Blair
And if you're still finding your footing, hopefully these lessons are going to help you build something real and lasting without the overwhelm. So the first thing that I wish that I knew was that success takes time.
00:01:07
Elena Blair
they all They say that the fastest way to an overnight success is 10 to 15 years of really hard work. Now, I hope that here you are in my world that it won't take you 10 to 15 years.
00:01:18
Elena Blair
But it took me three years to be able to quit my job as a NICU nurse and go full time as a photographer. And I used to think that to be fully booked in a few months that that would happen immediately. And it was really stressing me out.
00:01:32
Elena Blair
It takes time. It's normal for reliable bookings and consistent income to take a couple of years. What matters more is that you're consistent and that you're showing up even when it feels slow.
00:01:43
Elena Blair
So do trust the process.
The Role of Mentorship and Personal Growth
00:01:46
Elena Blair
The second thing, don't compare your journey to others. The internet is a beautiful place and a saturated place. And all of the sudden the algorithm is dishing you up all of these really successful photographers.
00:02:00
Elena Blair
And it's easy to look at those photographers and assume that they have it all figured out. But I want you to remember that you're only seeing their highlight reel. The behind the scenes of reality is often messy and uncertain.
00:02:11
Elena Blair
So put your head down, keep your eyes on your own progress and trust that your path will look different. Every single photography business is different. Every single person's journey is different.
00:02:23
Elena Blair
Trust that. The third thing that wish that I knew early on was to find a mentor early. I waited two you two years before hiring my first mentor.
00:02:34
Elena Blair
And when I did that, it completely changed the trajectory of my business within a year. Within a view a year of hiring a mentor, I got to six figures. A mentor who is reliable, who has real real experience to back up what they're teaching,
00:02:49
Elena Blair
It's going to give you clarity, accountability, and direction. It's going to collapse your learning curve. If I were starting a photography business again, i would invest in mentorship from day one.
Marketing Strategies for Photographers
00:03:03
Elena Blair
The fourth thing that I wish that I knew in and the early days, and actually I figured this out pretty early because social media wasn't even what it is now, but is that social media is not everything. Likes and followers on social media do not equal clients.
00:03:18
Elena Blair
Social media is just a part of a much bigger marketing puzzle. So don't let that algorithm define your worth or or dedicate all of your energy to it, okay? Use it as a tool, but not a measure of your success.
00:03:33
Elena Blair
The next thing, number five, is a double whammy that I would focus on. Instead of social media, I would focus on email and search engine optimization from day zero.
00:03:44
Elena Blair
If I could start from scratch, I would put actually 100% of my energy into learning email marketing and search engine optimization. So search engine optimization means that clients find you online when they're searching for photographers on Google.
00:03:59
Elena Blair
These two marketing strategies are the foundation of a long-term reliable photography business because they are not algorithm-based. They're not trend-based. Social media trends come and go, but your email list, you own it.
00:04:12
Elena Blair
And search engine optimization, once it starts working for you, is a marketing machine that you don't have to think about.
Developing Skills and Creativity
00:04:18
Elena Blair
The next thing, number six, is that I would implement school photography immediately.
00:04:23
Elena Blair
School photography, I have seen start people's businesses, skyrocket people's businesses, especially in the family photography sector. I waited two years before implementing school photography, and I wish that I had done it right away. I didn't know about it i didn't even know it existed.
00:04:38
Elena Blair
So if I were starting over, I would implement school photography immediately because it can become a marketing engine for your business and a way to create income fast. The next thing, number seven, that I would do is I would continue to practice, practice, practice.
00:04:55
Elena Blair
In the beginning, i was so focused on the business side that I sort of let my craft kind of go by the wayside. And once I realized that I really needed to up my skills and start working on that more, I started to get better and I started to get more recognition and booked more often.
00:05:11
Elena Blair
So even if you're like, I'm good, the more you can practice, the better. So free sessions, accelerate your growth. Photographing your own children and family will accelerate your growth. Every photo shoot that you do paid or unpaid builds confidence, creativity, and skill.
00:05:27
Elena Blair
Number eight, the eight thing that I would do is I would keep creating. When you invest in your creativity, everything else gets easier. The better you become at photography, the better you become at business. Business is a very creative endeavor.
00:05:41
Elena Blair
Creativity isn't just the heart of your work. It's the foundation of your success. Building a photography business is hard, but it's beautiful. And it is going to be the catalyst that changes your family's life for good. I promise you that. But there's no shortcut to success.
00:05:58
Elena Blair
There is a roadmap, however. So if you're ready to skip some of the guest work and help me to collapse your timelines, I will... link my photography business roadmap um in the show notes so you can get started now.
00:06:09
Elena Blair
You got to believe in yourself. Keep your head down. Focus on you and your own personal growth. Do not focus on other photographers. Start that email list. Start that search engine optimization process.
00:06:21
Elena Blair
And I promise you'll see big change.