What if I told you that there is an easier way to make more money from photography?
That your bank account could still be steadily increasing while you take time off, while you play, while you relax… that you could be making money while you sleep?
We photographers work hard, right. Really hard. There is always something to be done, whether you’re out shooting or spending countless hours doing your editing, admin, packaging, website design, blogging… not to mention social media updates.
Who has time to update all of the social media sites, all of the time, with everything you are ‘supposed’ to be sharing? There just never seems to be enough minutes in the day!
That’s without even taking time for one minute to actually refuel our creative tanks – you know, reading things you love, visiting galleries + exhibitions, travelling, sketchbooking, or even just relaxing and -gasp- turning off our phones to spend time with our loved ones.
We love it though, this life of photographer. It’s a beautiful life. It’s the one we want + the one we chose.
But sometimes… we get tired – don’t we? Suddenly we don’t want to look at Pinterest boards or overly styled desktop snaps or update our blogs or wonder what the competition / our friends are doing.
We don’t want to be doing all-night editing marathons, or be glued to our phone screens. Suddenly working with tiny babies who won’t co-operate / demanding brides / model divas / ‘the industry’ feels like a lot of hard work.
Do you ever feel like this? Like you would rather just bury yourself back into your bed rather than get up and work? Even though you know that you’re lucky and you love your business and it’s all that really you ever want to do.
So… what if I told you that there is another way?
What if I told you that there is an easier way to make more money from photography? From your photography business?
That your bank account could still be steadily increasing while you take time off, while you play, while you relax… that you could be making money while your sleep?
It works like this.
There is only one of you. Your photography business can only make a finite amount of money, because there are only a certain amount of shoots you can do – unless you clone yourself.
You can of course work every single minute that God sends, but what is the point in that? No matter how much we love photography + our work, it is still work! And even then, there are only a certain amount of minutes in a day.
So if you think about it this way… there is only a certain amount of money you can earn, right?
Unless you stop trading time for money.
And you create something that you can sell every minute of the day.
A digital product.
Creating a digital product is perfect for you if you want an easy way to make more money from your photography business. It’s for you if you would like to free up a little more time – for whatever purpose you wish.
There is minimal cost and often, low competition. It can provide your business with a huge financial boost – and even completely change the direction of your business entirely, if you want it to.
You just need to believe that you can create something that people will want. And if you’re passionate enough, people will most likely want it, because your passion will help to sell whatever you’ve created.
Thinking about using social media to grow your business? Facebook Ads Academy for Photographers gives you all of the fundamentals you need to leverage the most powerful social network in the world to make much, much more money than you’re making now. We’ll teach you the tricks & secrets to create a successful Facebook campaign on your very first try.
How I Made More Money From My Photography Business
Do you think that all sounds great, but a bit impossible + unrealistic? Like a floaty day-dream somewhere in the distance?
So did I. Earlier this year I wrote a book. Well, it’s actually a guide. A downloadable guide. It’s about film photography – I love film and shoot film for the majority of my paid and commercial assignments.
If someone had said to me a year earlier that I was going to write a book about film photography, I would have laughed. I am definitely not the world’s best film photographer, and I don’t know every single thing there is to know about film photography.
But I am passionate about it. I knew enough. I researched the rest. And I added in my own personal experience to my the subject that I love.
Think about it! What areas and aspects of photography do you absolutely love?
Are you brilliant with newborns, at keeping them calm, at posing them?
Perhaps you are amazing at creating your own presets.
Perhaps you have a specialist niche like equine or pet photography, or ballet photography.
Perhaps you have worked out how to SEO your site to make it on to page one, every single day of the year despite any Google zoo updates.
Maybe you are brilliant at styling product shoots, or creating your own fashion sets, or making your own newborn props with your awesome knitting skills.
Whatever it is that got you into photography in the first place, whatever aspect of photography that keeps your heart burning and alive every time you do it – you can use it to transform your photography business.
My book has sold – over and over and over again. It paid for the deposit on our home. + lots more. It got reviewed on some amazing websites. It completely revolutionised my business.
And all I had to do was sit and write it. A process which was completely enjoyable + engrossing + satisfying.
How long do you think it would take you to write a book?
It took me just under 3 weeks.
I do love to write, but more than that, I was passionate about what I was writing about.
ANYONE can do this. I’m not anybody special. I don’t have an English degree. I don’t have super-powers. I just decided that one day, I was tired and there must be an easier way.
You can do it too.
Not a writer? There are so many other digital products that you could create, that will help you to earn money while you sleep, free up your time, and transform your photography business.
It just needs to be something that you can create and then distribute online.
What about actions/ presets? websites? courses? what about a series of podcasts? What about a video course? Downloadable guides and courses? Even meditations + visualisations for photographers would sell to the right audience, the right group of photographers!
A lot of photographers think that the next logical step after mastering their craft that the next logical step is to run a workshop. But although workshops are fun and beautiful and help to raise your profile – again, you are still trading time for money. There are only so many workshops you can run, only so many hours you can squeeze into one workshop, only so many tickets you can sell.
This model of making more money is SO much easier.
A little bit more about how easy it is to create a digital guide –
I didn’t even need to find a publisher. You won’t need any special equipment – I wrote mine on google docs because I don’t have Word on my laptop. I used a free trial version of Acrobat to edit it when it was finished. I pay $5 a month to host my book online, used a wordpress template that I already had to set up a website for it.
How does this sound to you so far? Does it get you feeling excited about the potential and possibilities? It should do – because if you do it right it can be such a great way to make more money from your business.
Why My Book Is A Success
These are the reasons my book has sold – and continues to sell – so successfully. You can use these tips to help create your own digital products.
– I was truly passionate about my subject
– I wrote conversationally- the way that I talk- meaning the book is easy to read and digest
– I explained almost everything on the sales page – why I wrote the book, and more importantly what you can expect to gain from reading it (check it out here to view it as an example)
– I could demonstrate that I knew what I was talking about through my past experience. So if you can provide evidence to your readers or buyers that you truly know what you are talking about, they will be more likely to trust you – and buy from you.
My (film) photography has been published in leading online + print publications – (Style Me Pretty + Magnolia Rouge amongst many others) so my readers trust that I know what I am talking about.
My other credentials include that I am a writer for the film photography blog 35to220.com, I was selected as a Beta tester for the wonderful UK Film Lab when it opened its doors, and the four years I spent studying fine art photography at University.
But you don’t have to have all of this – don’t be put off if you feel your credentials don’t look similar. Testimonials are equally as powerful – I gave away a few copies when the book was first launched in the hope that I would gain some positive feedback if they enjoyed the read, which I could then use on the page.
– I give away a free sample. On my sales page I have a link where anyone can download a free sample of the book – and it’s quite a big section, not one piddly page or anything like that. If people like what they read, they buy the book. Sometimes buying online can be a bit scary for customers if they don’t know what they are going to get, so I take this fear away by showing them via the free sample.
Want to know more? Don’t miss these recent posts:
- 12 Ways to Make More Money From Your Photography Business in 2017
- The Ultimate Guide to Growing Your Photography Business With Instagram
- My Best Advice for New Photographers
If this post has been useful, please leave us a comment! We would love to know if you’re planning a digital book, course, guide or other product!
