Getting Creative | Five Tips for Starting a Creative Business
It’s hard to believe it’s been FOUR years since I started Heather Etheridge Photography and even harder to believe that I’m writing a blog about starting a business, like I have any sort of authority in that arena. The first time someone came to me with a business question or asked to hop on the phone to talk about how I got my start I thought…”who ME?”. I truly feel like I’m just doing what I love and it happens to be profitable. BUT looking back over the past four years, I’ve worked really hard, learned a ton (still am!) and grown this business to be something I’m so proud of. Let me start at the beginning…
The Story of Heather Etheridge Photography
Photography has always been something I’ve appreciated. Starting around middle school, I always had a disposable camera or my little pink digital camera with me, snapping pics of absolutely nothing that would resemble “art” and mostly just my friends and I doing ridiculous things. (I wish I didn’t have quite so many pictures from those days, to be honest.) But I appreciated capturing the memories and being able to look back on the photos years later and remember exactly where we were and what we were doing. I’ve always known there’s something special about truly capturing a moment in time.
Nathan and I got married in October of 2016 and photography was one of the (if not the) most important things to me on our wedding day. Katie from Dash Photography was a dream to work with throughout the year of planning and captured our engagement + wedding so perfectly. You can check it out here! After getting a glimpse into the photography industry, I was intrigued.
Fast forward to after our wedding and I had become accustomed to always being busy and having something to do (brides, you know!), yet there was no wedding to plan anymore. I needed something to dive into and while I’d wanted to buy a nice camera for a while, I decided it was the perfect time. I do my research and make decisions quickly and easily and once I know what I want, it’s game on. (Just ask Nathan who thinks and thinks and thinks….and then thinks some more before making a decision.) I landed on a Nikon D3400 — it was a perfect beginners camera (similar to a Canon Rebel) and I have no idea why I chose Nikon over Canon — my decision was likely based on some sort of article I read comparing the two (but I’ve never looked back! Team Nikon!) and I was able to pick it up days later.
I immediately vowed that I wasn't ever going to shoot on “automatic” and that I’d learn to shoot “manual” right from the start and I kept that vow. I delved into reading and watching YouTube videos and shooting anything and everything like crazy for the next weeks before enrolling in an Emory Continuing Education course — “Photography 101”. Although I’m very much of the “learn by doing” mindset, I still credit this course for giving me a great foundation of the basics of cameras and of photography. In the meantime, I was asking everyone I knew to model for me and also started shadowing and “third shooting” with a wedding photographer I loved — not only did this help me learn and troubleshoot in real time, but also helped me build a little portfolio of photos I was really proud of. It was around this time I began to think that maybe this could eventually be something people would pay me to do.
With lots of images in my portfolio, I really needed somewhere to house them all, so to me, the most sensible place would be a website. I decided on Squarespace, hired someone on Etsy to design a logo for me and added some photos and an “inquiry” page just for the fun of it. I asked my friends to share an image I had taken of them to help promote the official “launch” of my website and new hobby (thank you, friends!!) and I really wasn’t expecting anything (in fact, I was fully planning to take all of 2017 to practice and learn and shadow!), but to my surprise one little inquiry came into my inbox. It was from a blogger who was interested in headshots. She wanted to PAY me to take her photos! So that weekend I met her at Ponce City Market and we walked around shooting and had so much fun. I think I charged her $50 but it was the first official money I made from my little “side hustle” and I was so, so proud.
Over the next weeks, more and more inquiries came rolling in — newborn sessions, some couples, more headshots. I couldn’t believe it! At that point (and for years following) I wasn’t picky about the type of work (I wasn’t branding myself as just THIS type of photographer or just THAT type of photographer) but I knew that wedding photography was the ultimate goal. At the time I was volunteering in the preschool department at Buckhead Church and I mentioned to a friend that I had started this photography gig — he told me that he had just proposed to his girlfriend and that he would love for me to take their engagement photos. A few weeks later I was sending off their gallery (SO nervous!) and they loved the photos so much, they asked if I would photograph their wedding that fall. I was floored. (Me?!) I was very clear in sharing with them that this would be my first wedding and they didn’t care — they said they believed in me. How powerful is that?
So that fall, I photographed their wedding. It was beautiful. And now that I had wedding images in my portfolio, I was able to share them and market myself as a wedding photographer. And honestly…..things really just snowballed from there. By the end of 2017, I had booked TEN weddings for 2018 and had officially made Heather Etheridge Photography a business due to the income I was receiving.
It was mind-blowing how quickly things took off and they haven’t slowed down since. In the couple of years that followed, I still continued to shoot a little bit of everything, but with a heavy focus on engagements and wedding photography before deciding in 2019 that I would not be booking weddings for the 2020 season and would be following my heart to maternity, newborn and young family photography. And finally in September of 2020 (after four years of working full time in marketing at IHG and running my business on nights and weekends!), I resigned from IHG to fully focus on photography and being a mama.
All of the hard work and exhaustion and tears leading up to that moment were worth it. I am so, so happy and fulfilled and just can’t believe that I get to stay home with my baby boy AND have a career and business that I love. And while I’m definitely no expert, here are five tips that helped me to get where I am now:
FIVE TIPS:
If you can, work for free (or cheap!) to build your portfolio.
I know this isn’t an option for everyone, but when I began I more so considered photography a glorified hobby than a legitimate side-hustle. I wasn’t expecting to be pulling in the big bucks (or even the small bucks) and I think that mindset actually helped me. I was so focused on learning and growing and having pretty images in my portfolio, that I didn’t care about being paid at that point. I took pictures of pretty much everyone in my group of friends (and their boyfriends!) and was able to use alll of those images to then market myself online as a photographer.
What’s the first thing you do when you’re looking to hire someone in the creative industry? You look at their portfolio and all of their past work and projects. I think having a robust portfolio was a big contributing factor in how quickly HEP took off.
When I actually had clients hiring me, I started out charging next to nothing because again, them choosing to work with me and me getting that experience was more important at that point than how much they would pay me. As I got better and had more experience, I had no problem (and still don’t!) raising my prices to reflect that.
(Side Note: For pricing, I’ve always used market comparisons and a rule of 70/30 to determine my sweet spot — I want about 70% of inquiries I receive to book me and about 30% to pass after I send pricing. If more than 70% are booking me, my prices are likely too low for my audience/market. If more than 30% are passing, my prices are likely too high for my audience/ market. But most importantly, you should calculate your Cost of Doing Business (or CODB) and make sure you’re charging enough to cover those costs + pay yourself. You can find a CODB calculator here. )
2. Use social media to your advantage.
Social media (Instagram in particular) is a FREE PORTFOLIO that millions of people have direct and easy access to. For creatives this is a no brainer. HALF of my clients find me via Instagram. Half! (The other half is referrals / word of mouth — thanks, guys!) Use your hashtags, post regularly and showcase your brand. (If someone was to scroll your feed for ten seconds, they should have a pretty good idea of what their images (or insert your business deliverable here) would look like.
Whether you choose to have a separate account for your business or intermingle business and personal (my preference — I think this helps my clients to connect with me and to see me as a person rather than just a photographer they’re hiring, but both options have their advantages) a cohesive, consistent feed is key.
As for hashtags, they may be annoying but they work. If you’re looking for local work, include local hashtags — #AtlantaWeddingPhotographer, if you’re looking for destination work, use destination hashtags — #SeaIslandWeddingPhotographer. Use hashtags that people are actually searching for otherwise, what’s the point. I found my wedding photographer via Instagram hashtags and that was five years ago so I’m a believer!
Finally, post to attract the audience you WANT. When I wanted clients to book me for weddings, I posted wedding content nonstop. When I stopped booking weddings and started taking only maternity/newborn/family clients, even though I was still shooting weddings I no longer posted them and fully focused on attracting mamas and mamas to be.
3. Network like crazy.
Especially when you’re getting started. When I knew I wanted to go the wedding photography route, I reached out to 15 wedding photographers to see if they were open to getting coffee and chatting with me. And while most either didn’t respond or directed me to sign up for their mentorship program, one did! We got coffee and she graciously answered my questions and then sent me her wedding schedule for the year and told me I was more than welcome to tag along and “third shoot” (i.e. bring my camera and take photos that wouldn’t actually be delivered to the client) at any wedding I could make it to. It probably wasn’t a huge deal to her, but it set me up for success and I don't think I’d be where I am today without that opportunity. I got to learn the wedding photography biz first hand and it made me feel so much more confident going into my first HEP wedding later that year. Thank you, Allison Pedigo!
4. Don’t overthink it.
I think that “starting a business” can feel really big and scary and official if you let it. In my case, I worked with a lawyer to make HEP a business because it felt like a natural next step since I was bringing in actual income. It was never “I’M STARTING A BUSINESS!!” it was more “Ok, I guess we should make this legal.” and I honestly didn’t feel the gravity of it all until Nathan repeatedly pointed out that first year that I has started a business (that I was a business owner!) and how awesome that was and how proud he was of me. I remember him saying that owning your own business and working for yourself is the American dream and that I had just kind of done it without any hesitation. The point is, don’t overthink it. “Perfection is the enemy of progress.”
5. Be prepared to work really hard.
And if you’re starting a business while you’re working full time, add a few exclamation points to that. Even today, I have to stop myself from calling the position I’m in “lucky”. I definitely didn’t wind up in this position by chance. Like I mentioned before, I worked full time in marketing at IHG for four years while also running my business. Days were spent in an office and nights and weekends were spent editing and shooting. I missed out on multiple weddings I was invited to (because I was shooting a wedding on the same day), lots of weekends away with friends and definitely some travel opportunities and that was HARD. I definitely hit a wall a few times and had to learn balance, but the goal was always for me to have a well enough established business that by the time we had a baby, I could say farewell to corporate life. I kept chugging along and it was WORTH IT!
If you’re reading this, you’re probably considering taking the leap and I hope you feel excited and inspired to go for it. I have some Q&A below, but if you have any specific questions, please let me know. I’m still learning and growing everyday but I’m here to help and to share whatever knowledge I have. GOOD LUCK!
xo- Heather
General Q&A
Q: How did you juggle a 9-5, a baby and a business?
A: Thankfully I never had to juggle all three! I don’t think I would have been able to and if I wasn’t in a position to leave my corporate job, I think photography would have been put on the back burner once I had my son. I’m so glad that wasn’t the case! BUT the struggle of juggling a 9-5 and a business was tough enough — I discuss it a little above but it was a lot of boundaries. IHG was a fantastic place to work while owning a business because every team I was on prioritized work/life balance. If I was in a super stressful corporate job, I don’t think I would have had the mental capacity to do anything else. I made it a priority to be present at IHG while I was there, but I also made it a priority to leave everyday by 4 or 5 p.m. and unless it was an emergency, any emails I received would be answered the next day during my IHG work hours. Those boundaries enabled me to to be able to go home and focus on my business for a few hours before Nathan got home. I never hid the fact that I had a business from anyone at IHG (in fact many of my coworkers were clients) but when I was at IHG, IHG was the priority and when I wasn’t HEP was the priority. I never faced any issues with that.
Q: Have you ever dealt with imposter syndrome?
A: Absolutely, all the time. As a creative, the comparison game is tough. What’s helped me the most has been unfollowing creatives (& people in general, honestly) on Instagram that don’t serve me well or make me feel less than. Instagram should be inspiring! When I first started photography, I knew I liked light and airy editing, but dark and moody was really trendy and cool so I felt like that was the direction I should be going — I tried it and it didn’t feel like me, so I went back to a light style. That’s just one silly example, but I think that your business and work will be different from everyone else’s because you’re a different person and that’s what makes the creative industry FUN. There are so many different perspectives and so many ways to make something beautiful — people will hire you because of that difference.
Q: Any tips on starting a blog?
A: I’m probably the wrong person to ask. I start every year saying “This is the year I blog consistently!” and yet….here we are. First blog post since July. I try but there are just so many priorities for me and my business before blogging unfortunately and I’m ok with that at this point. When I have time, or think something is important enough to write about, I’ll do it! Am I going to blog every single photography session, no. BUT to answer the question, I only have experience with Squarespace and I love it. It’s super simple to use and figure out!
Q: How do you file business taxes?
A: Use an accountant. Seriously. It’s a lot. If you want to make things easier at tax time, get a business credit card and put all business expenses on it.
Q: Was it always your plan to quit your 9-5 when you had a baby? Or were you waiting for a specific business milestone?
A: That was always the GOAL. I knew when I started photography that we likely wouldn’t have children for a few years and my hope was that by the time we did, my business would be established enough for me to leave corporate life. The potential of a flexible schedule and ability to be home with my babies was the reason I started HEP.
So, there wasn’t a specific business milestone — it was just the right time. You would think it was an easy decision, but it was actually something I struggled with a bit throughout my pregnancy — it was going to be a lot of change at once — a new baby and a new day-to-day. But me staying home with our children was a big priority for Nathan and I so I took the leap and I couldn’t imagine life any other way now. (And I wouldn’t have done it without the full support and encouragement of my partner.)
I think the answer to “when” may be different for everyone — maybe it’s when you’re making $X/month or when you have X amount of clients, but that wasn’t really the case for me. I just know that my business has grown immensely every single year and that barring I really screw up, I have faith that’s not going to change!
Q: How do you set up an LLC?
I worked with a lawyer who handled a lot of it and walked me through the whole process. That’s what I’d recommend!
Photography-Specific Q&A:
Q: What must-buy camera items do you recommend?
A: So, I think this is an important question, especially when it comes to the photography industry. There is so much photography STUFF you will be told you need. I’m here to tell you that isn’t true. There will always be new and shiny things and I can see it being very easy to get caught up in that, but I don’t buy it (literally and figuratively). You need:
a camera body
a backup camera body (for weddings, this is a MUST — for portraits, it’s just ideal)
at least one lens (my go-to is my 50mm 1.4 — I use it 90% of the time)
SD cards
and external hard drive to store images on
a computer — I recommend a mac
That’s it. There are other items that are nice to have, or items that I’d recommend based on what kind of photography you do (like a speedlight flash! — I use mine at almost every indoor session.) but these items are not MUST HAVES, especially not when you’re first getting started. I used a crop-sensor “beginners” camera and a kit lens + my 50mm for the first year I was in business because I wanted to be positive about the business investments I was choosing to make.
Q: What programs and software do you use?
A: Not the question, but I definitely recommend a Mac for anything creative. As for programs and software:
Lightroom: editing
Dubsado: client relationship manager, contracting, invoicing
PixieSet: gallery delivery, print shop
Planoly: Instagram grid planner / post scheduler
Squarespace: domain + website
Gmail: business email account
Q: Can you share a time in business that was especially challenging for you personally?
A: I won’t get into the details but when I was shooting weddings I would meet all of my potential brides in-person to ensure we were a good fit before moving forward (you spend a LOT of time with your wedding photographer — they’re basically your third wheel for the day). I met a bride for coffee and we decided to move forward with signing contracts. Over the next few months, a few things happened that made me think that perhaps we were not a good fit at all. It was not a fun conversation but I think she agreed and we dissolved the contract and parted ways. I knew that if I stayed in that situation, I wouldn’t be doing my best work and that the client likely wouldn’t be happy regardless of what was delivered.
The moral of the story is that as business owners, we are able to choose our clients as much as they are able to choose us. If you don’t mesh well with a potential client, that’s ok. You (or your work) are not going to be everyone’s cup of tea (I tell myself this all the time because I struggle with really wanting to be!).
Q: What is the most valuable investment you’ve made in your business?
A: When I upgraded my camera body from my crop sensor (Nikon D3400) to a full frame (Nikon D750), I immediately saw a difference in my images. That being said if a full frame camera isn’t in your budget right now, I wouldn’t purchase until your have some experience under your belt. It’s going to make a difference, but it’s not going to make THAT big of a difference. If you aren’t creating the images you desire on a crop sensor, I’d invest in education first and then invest in a new camera body.
Additionally, when I was shooting weddings, I outsourced editing which was huge for creating some balance (and sanity) in my life. I would cull through all of the hundreds and thousands of images I took and choose all of my favorites (which would become the gallery) and edit a few from every part of the day and every lighting scenario then pass then off to my editor to finish the rest. Sometimes you can’t do it all, and that’s ok. I don’t work with her anymore now that my gallery sizes are more manageable, but I wouldn’t rule it out in the future if things get crazy again.
Finally, education. I think the initial Photography 101 class I took through Emory Continuing Education was the best foundation for my business. Throughout the years I’ve also purchased online courses that have been helpful and when I wanted to learn something really specific I reached out to a photographer I love and asked if I could pay her to spend a couple of hours with me.
Q: What’s next for HEP?
A: Stay tuned! Lots of exciting things coming this year.