From One Day to Day 1
After 30 years of coaching football, my best friend and husband went public with his retirement from being a head football coach. I thought it would be fitting to do a behind the scenes of how I went from wife with a camera to business owner aka solopreneur, as his passion for coaching was a major role in my career.
I'll spare the details and jump to the highlights. I went to all of my husband's football games. It was our Friday night plan for decades. At some point in my spouse's time as a head coach, I grew to be uncomfortable sitting in the stands. To put it lightly, around 20 years ago, a group of parents were not that nice and would yell to the coaches about the play calling. Still wanting to be at the games, I picked up my camera and went to the sidelines. Other than his last home game this year, that one was of the last times I sat in the bleachers watching his teams.
Thanks to my dad I grew up around photography. Between my dad and brother, they supplied me with most of my original equipment. They were really into nature photography. But that wasn't my jam. But when I started taking pictures at football games, I immediately loved sports photography. I couldn't wait to get the reactions of players or the crowd after the big play. I started joining sports photography groups on Facebook and watched a ton of YouTube videos on how to capture the emotions of the players. I started finding myself watching college football games just to see the photographers on the sidelines and then I was always trying to find pictures of the games we watched.
I just wanted to be on the sidelines taking pictures.
I have a business degree from Concordia College, St. Paul and a MBA from St. Scholastica. Having worked in a corporate setting for two decades, I knew "business" just never ran one. I started daydreaming about doing photography full-time. But when you have kids at home, making that leap is financially hard. In the summer of 2022, with all kids out of the house, and signs everywhere to make a change, I went from ONE DAY TO DAY 1 as a solopreneur and have never looked back. I can truly attest that I do use my degrees, they got me to where I am today.
Wife to owner
My path to photography was not a straight one. It is deeply rooted in football. It is still one of my favorite sports to cover. This is my favorite shot of me with my gear. It's a cell phone shot. It's a picture of me at USBank Stadium. My husband's football team was playing in the state play-offs.
Left it all on the trail
Somewhere on the Inca Trail, my husband and I had some serious talks about me starting a business. He has always been my #1 fan but he is also a realist. Of the two of us, he is more apt to make financially sound decisions. Hearing his thoughts and encouragement was vital for me to make the step from one day to day 1.
On-site trainings
With help of a state grant, I enrolled in trainings. My favorite was out in Coloarado where I was learning from top photographers. Another training I attended was through the photo lab I signed on with. The head photographer of the Kansas City Chiefs was with us for a day and picked two of my photos as the top pictures from the session he instructed. To this day, this training was pivotal in the advancement of my career.
Behind the scenes
This is the most common shot of myself that I have. I used to cringe of the feared Behind-The-Scene shots. Now I love getting these from parents. It is also my reminder, I need to invest in apparel for my business.
The Business Side
There is so much that goes into starting a business that I can't do it justice in a paragraph in a blog. I will simply state that I had a small budget, if I recall correctly under $5,000. I drafted up a detailed business plan and I went to the only business coach that I know and said let's do this. Turns out she is the best business coach/marketing/personal branding entreprenuer that there is out there. Shelly Peterson of Promoting Me, LLC works with clients nationwide. I am fortunate to have her local and see her weekly at the BNI group she introduced me to. BNI is a worldwide networking group that meets weekly. This has been the best marketing investment in my company. I have made a profit each year. It's not always easy but it is always worth it. My only regret; that I didn't make the leap sooner.
There is a great deal that goes into starting a business and the financial needs are on-going. When you work for yourself, there is no employer to put money into retirement, there is no company insurance, no disability or life insurance that is offered to you at a great rate. All of this you need to do on your own and it all costs money.
When people first started to ask me about my rates, I used to sound apologetic, almost embarrassed to tell them the amount. I then felt the need to explain why I charge what I charge. It took me a bit of time to work that out. So, as I am sipping on instant hot chocolate typing this blog, I can tell you that I don't price my services on a whim. Behind all of my rates is the weight of my costs. The true cost of doing business is now knowing my worth and being able to charge for it.
Cost of Doing Business aka What Goes into My Rates
Liability Insurance
I am fortunate to have an business insurance company as part of the BNI group I have joined. I have worked with this company to ensure I am fully covered for my business, which includes my gear and drone. I have a $1M policy coverage.
Life Insurance
Once I left the corporate world, I no longer had life insurance or the extra coverage my employer provided for my husband. I have found Thrivent has been the best customer service and bang for the buck for this need.
Software Subscriptions
As a photographer I subscribe to a few different software programs that have monthly fees. On average, I spend around $150 a month on software subscriptions.
Marketing Expenses/Investments
BNI has a yearly fee of $800, I also use Facebook ads a few times a year to promote senior grad pictures. I am currently running radio ads that run around $300 a month.
Website/Scheduling Program
I pay a small monthly fee for my website and for people to schedule appointments. I use Pixieset as it also allows me to house and deliver the client galleries.
Car/Maintenance and Preventative
My car is my lifeline. Unlike a brick and mortar storefront, I travel to my clients. I build in car expenses into my CODB.
Equipment
As I type this blog, I am actively saving for a new camera. It is roughly $5k. I currently have 3 camera bodies.
Other
So many things fall into this category. Taxes, office expenses, fees (credit cards- when clients use their own and I pay the fee)
What I Miss...
I still get asked if I miss my old job. No, I don't. But I do miss the colleagues I was close to. I miss the interactions and having someone in the field to bounce ideas off of. When you work for yourself and by yourself, it can be a tad lonely. I am thankful for my networking group. I am an extrovert, so I enjoy getting out of the house and talking to people. I do wish there were other photographers that I was closer to, I miss the shop talk and strategizing with a team. I find I listen to several podcasts that motivate me. One is particular to senior photography, while another is on female entrepreneurship.
The Only Picture I'll Never Have is the One I am too Afraid to Take
I know for certain the only picture I'll never have is the one I was too afraid to take. Proof that sometimes the biggest risk is staying still. My business plan revolves around sports photography, whether freelance for the newspaper or being hired by family's, senior sports portraits, to national sports contract work. When I look at different photography gigs, I am constantly saying this quote in my head: "I can't get the picture if I don't try." I apply to several traditional and non-traditional sports photography opportunities; I sometimes suffer from imposter syndrome and doubt that I won't even be considered. This was true when I tossed my name into the mix to cover a boat race in Alaska. Why would they want a photographer from the Midwest to cover an ocean boat race? This is also true when I tried out to be a photographer for a national cheer competition at ESPN World of Sports in Orlando. I have never cheered a day in my life. But what I did have was a small portfolio. It was mainly football, but everyone liked the emotions. Below are some of my initial images that got me considered. Seeing faces and emotions is the name of the game in sports photography. The middle picture below of the dog sled racer won me 1st place for feature photo in the MN Best Newspaper Association yearly competition.
My Business Model Today
Seniors/Families
Roughly 30% of my income comes from seniors and families. I have plans to open an at home studio in summer of 2025. This will increase my family photography. I am planning in the 2026 that this section of my income will increase while the contract work will decrease.
(Nikon z6ii, 80 1.8mm)
Sports
Sports, action, team and individual photos is roughly 30% of my income. Sports action remains my favorite thing to photograph. Nothing beats the adrenalin rush of being on the sidelines or courtside of a game.
(Nikon D5, 70-200 2.8, shot at 2.8 70mm)
Freelance/Contract
This is roughly 25% of my income. I enjoy working freelance for a few of the local newspapers. I also work contract for national events.
(Nikon d5, 70-200 2.8, 120mm at f5)
Real Estate/Drone
This is on average around 15% of my income. Duluth has a small but competitive market for real estate photography. There are limited players in the field, but they are top notch. It will take time to slowly work my way in. I am fortunate to have commercial clients that I have on-going work for them.
(Nikon z6ii, 14-24 lens, f7,)
Final Thoughts
When you work for yourself, you are the CEO, social media manager and the customer support hotline and this is all before noon. Social media is supposed to connect us but for a solopreneur, it's another full-time job and like all jobs, sometimes you love it and sometimes not. Some days it feels like a juggling act, getting invoices out, making sure my social media posts match my branding and this is all stuff that does not even involve photography. Toss in the photography aspect; taking photos, culling, processing, and uploading and it is easy to see why there is not enough hours in the day.
Social media is not something to gloss over. There is so much effort that goes into social media. As a photographer, I need to be seen. People need to see my work before they book. I had a very active Instagram and Facebook account going into this past summer. This summer and fall were extremely busy, so busy that I neglected to keep posting on social media. I am slowly working my way back into posting daily on IG and getting back out there on Facebook. I know I need to be more visible on LinkedIn, maybe someday I will find the hours in the day for it all!
Work/life balance is critical. As my business continues to grow, I have found how important it is to continue to carve out time for my family, especially my hubby, Scott. He has a busy schedule of his own and the one thing that keeps us grounded is the planned nights. Whether if it is to hear a local band or already planning to see musicals/productions months out. Setting aside that time is vital. This summer we will be celebrating 30 years. We are blessed to have three adult children and one grandbaby. We've recently learned that grandbaby #2 is coming this summer with our middle son Devan and his wife. Work/life balance will be even more important.
Tough lessons learned:
1) Solopreneur's need a fool proof back-up plan in case they are ill/can't work. I've had 2 times where this has caused me issues.
2) Can't make everyone happy, no matter how hard you try. There will always be that one customer. Some people just prefer to find the cloud in every silver lining. If something happened and it's on me, I'll admit it. If I know they are the "cloud seeker", I continue to do my best and be at peace. Took me awhile to be ok with that one customer.
3) Under charging does not pay bills. Knowing CODB does.
Lessons learned is a hard one. Not everyone likes to talk about what went wrong. Stay tuned, I'll likely devote a blog post to those items at some point!
What an interesting ride this been. Who would have thought that having a husband that coached + parents that yelled at the coaching staff = me starting my own business?
There is so much more I could have talked about. At the end of the day, it comes down to inner drive to do what I am passionate about and being with people who lift me up. So, thank you to the few parents that got me out of the stands, I have now opted to see the silver lining. It got me to where I am today.
