I Made Six Figures as a Solopreneur in Photography Without Being a Photographer
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When I started my digital marketing business, I only built websites. This gave me only one source of income.
I started realizing that it didn’t matter how well my websites were built if no one could find them. I began learning how to incorporate SEO into the content for every website I built.
Because of this, I also learned how to fully optimize my own website through SEO. I was dominating all of my search terms, and I was receiving all kinds of requests from Google searches.
Companies started writing me five-figure checks to complete SEO work for their websites.
Next, the rise of social media for business started to explode. Even though a functional website foundation with SEO was important, without a social media hook, it lacked connection.
I started managing social media platforms for businesses one after another. I set up their branding and built out their daily messaging. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram all became a daily grind of information and knowledge.
With the rise of social media also came the integration of ad spend for businesses to actually reach their audience and beyond. I not only knew social media ad spend for each platform inside and out, but people also started paying me for speaking gigs about how to do it.
Because my photos for Instagram were so public for my clients, people started hiring me as a photographer for their media events, from press conferences to political events and everything in between.
My work in visual photography led to drone work and videography.
Within a decade, I was making six figures from different avenues of my work that I had never even advertised.
All of that money coming in led me into real estate investing, from Airbnb to flipping to long- and short-term investing.
Websites → Six-figure business
SEO → Five-figure business
Social Media Work → Seven-figure business
Photography → Six-figure business
Digital Marketing Campaigns → Six-figure business
Speaking Gigs → Five-figure business
Real Estate → Seven-figure business
When I started building websites, I could have stayed in that lane, but I added new adventures and revenue opportunities. Some of them had big payouts.
I didn’t know that building websites would open these doors, but slowly and surely, new opportunities presented themselves along the way.
Down the road, it created a seven-figure business with a number of tasks that I not only loved doing but was good at.
The payout was a better life with more freedom.
Over time, I turned down most opportunities and only picked the ones that I really loved.
That is how I made six figures in photography without ever telling anyone I was a photographer. I never took a class. I never shadowed anyone. I never took a course and didn’t know technical terms. I have taken hundreds of thousands of photos, and each one helped me get better with my next shot. Point and shoot, then repeat.
When I would be out and about, someone might introduce me as a “photographer” or a “social media guru” or “website designer” or “digital guy” or “motivational speaker.” I never corrected anyone and always found it fascinating that everyone had a different version of who I was.
I have won awards for “best blog writer” to “best website designer” to “best use of Instagram” and everything in between.
By the end of that decade, I had a $5k-a-month retainer. I had a potential client come to my office and tell me, “I will pay you $5k a month just to have you at the table when I make decisions. I don’t even care if you do any other work.”
Don’t pigeonhole your work. Keep stacking your talents.
Listen to what people say you are good at.
Each part of your journey will lead you to your next. Don’t skip the steps. It’s where you learn what you are good at and where the profit is.
If you are paying attention, you will be making money every step of the way.
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