Last week I articulated some of the reasons why I love photography. You’re probably thinking that it’s a pretty big step from liking something or spending your free time doing something you love, to actually starting a business doing it. I agree with you. It is! What possessed me?

Over the years I’ve been a bit envious of people who had their own businesses but I never, ever entertained the thought of going down that route. I loved my job. It was meaningful. It was purposeful. It gave me a steady income. Don’t get me wrong - my job is still meaningful and purposeful and I work alongside some amazing people. But I’ve also developed this love and passion for creativity and I guess I wanted to formalise it a bit.

I enrolled in Mamamia’s six week Lady Startup Course. It’s an online course that fast tracks you to actually launch your own small business or lady startup - the right way - the first time. Yep, the marketing campaign that Mia Freedman (co-founder of the Mamamia Media Company, and the woman behind Lady Startup) was very clever and targeted me to a tee.  It gave me the impetus I needed to get off my butt and actually do something.

She even articulated some of the things that had been stopping me from starting my own business:

• you lack confidence or self-belief

• you’re completely overwhelmed with information and advice

• you’re scared – scared to fail, or scared of what other people think

• but most of all… you have no idea how, or where the hell to start.

So I took the leap and ignored all the other things I was reading on the internet:

• your business will probably fail

  • 50% of businesses will fail by year five

  • the photographic industry is one of the most challenging, difficult, and competitive for start up businesses. On average, 60% of photographers give up their business after the first year. Of that remaining 40%, another 25% will fail within the 2nd year. The ones that make it are the remaining 15% who endure through the 3rd year. That’s a staggering 85% turnover rate.

• you will have competition

  • well, “duh!”

• you will need to spend money

  • you’ve got to spend money to make money but when do you actually make money?

• you will probably not become rich

  • really?

• your customers won’t come flocking

  • no matter how great your product, how innovative your idea or how groundbreaking your technology, customers won’t automatically find you and flock to you

  • in the real world of business, you must do marketing. Through online and content marketing, blah, blah, blah, your business will grow. There is no other way.

  • you’ve got a solid website, your photography skills are on point, you’ve been around for awhile, but you still aren’t getting any clients.

• you will lose your passion and you’ll want to quit

  • you love the idea of being a photographer — the romantic side of it all. But you hate the work part, the hustle, the grind, the guts of what it takes to run any successful small business. You just want to do the fun part of taking pictures - shooting only things that you are interested in.

Scary stuff, right? But I’m here. I’m a little more confident. I’m not as overwhelmed as I once was. I’m less scared. I’ve started.

Are you interested in starting a side hustle? Have you been procrastinating? Do you have a great idea ready to bestow on the world? What are you waiting for? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Until next week…have a good one!