On April 12, 2017, STP Images Photography Studio will celebrate its 10th anniversary. I’ve been so focused on keeping the photography business pipeline full that I’ve ignored publicizing the anniversary. This weekend offered me a rare Saturday with no shoots or retouching – so, I sat at the pool in this beautiful weather and pondered the past ten years in business as an entrepreneur. Here are some of my observations.
- Working for yourself gives you the opportunity to work for the BEST boss you’ll ever have in your life.
- Working for yourself gives you nowhere to hide when things don’t go right.
- Being your own boss is incredibly liberating.
- Being your own boss can be (at times) paralyzingly frightening.
- After 10 years of being a full time, professional photographer, I am still learning. The topics of my learning have migrated from mostly perfecting photography techniques to mostly perfecting building a solid business.
- I have some of the best (and most beautiful) clients in the world – just look at the sample headshots to see for yourself!
- Ten years is a long time.
- Ten years flies by.
- I have been helped by several generous professional photographers and multi-media artists who taught me things early in my career that are benefitting me today. Their unselfishness has led me to paying it forward by participating in the Photography Guild of Houston where I will be teaching classes later this year to help embryonic photography businesses with practical information.
- I love the business I am in – I truly say “I can’t believe this is my job!” out loud multiple times a month. And I mean it.
- You don’t have to be the top 1% to succeed, but you DO need to be dogged, unrelenting and totally focused on your goals.
- It takes a support system of family, friends and great clients to find true success.
- Photography is art. Art is a business. A serious business.
I realized that my 10 years as a photographer has been the longest employment tenure in my life – a milestone that exemplifies how great it is to be an entrepreneur.
I wish to thank my wife, Cindy, for her support during this circuitous 10 year journey. It hasn’t been easy and there were some scary financial times along the way. Her support is the foundation that I cling to when the business weather gets rough and batters me about.
My clients are the jet fuel that keeps this business running. I am grateful for all who have referred people to me, I am grateful for everyone who has booked me after finding me on Google or Facebook and I am grateful for the literal thousands of faces that have graced my studio and passed though my computer screen for PhotoShop retouching.
I look forward to the next 10 years and hope they are as exciting and inspiring as the last 10 years have been. Now, please call me to book YOUR headshots!
