Make $100k a Year as a Wedding Photographer

Make $100k a Year as a Wedding Photographer

in 2013 I was a young middle-school
teacher who made videos like this raagh
skin slimy and slick or the chocolate
I took my photography hobby and
channeled it into what started to become
the business by shooting weddings on the
side while I taught full-time now a lot
of you might be in the same situation
you either have a full-time or part-time
job and you have a photography hustle on
the side that you hope to be your
full-time gig someday now I don’t claim
to have all the answers on how to create
a successful wedding photography
business but what I do know is I have
experienced in the past 7 years and
growing a healthy and sustainable one
and I want to share it with you
[Music]
Who am I kidding I’ve never worthless
all right let’s be real this is I this
is what I actually wear don’t worry
you know you probably clicked on this
video to see kind of my tips and tricks
of how I make a hundred thousand dollars
a year as a wedding photographer it’s a
little bit more nuanced than that but
I’d love to dive into it today with you
so so jump on board in the photography
world a lot of times wedding photography
gets a lot of crap a lot of people say
it’s like the bottom of the totem pole
it’s not really necessarily what anyone
strives to want to do but I’m here to
give a different perspective today and
it’s not one that’s heard very often
online I think it’s that wedding
photography can be a really lucrative
career and one that is really creatively
fulfilling now I know a lot of people
are gonna look at this video and be like
oh that dudes just social flexing he’s
like yo a mega 100 grand a year what do
you do it’s not true really in all
sincerity I love being able to share
what I’ve learned in my career and I
like being as open and transparent as
possible so I can help other people find
the same kind of success that I have
seen in my seven years of doing this you
know I didn’t write a four-page script
for this video and block out the whole
day just to brag to you about how I make
a millionth of the amount Jake Paul
makes in a single day
now the first full year that I jumped
ship and went full-time as a wedding
photographer I made a hundred and five
thousand dollars on the year and I want
to give you a little insight as to how I
got to that place now before you go
analyzing all the numbers just recognize
that each year is comprised of couples
paying their last 50% on their wedding
as well as retainers for the next year
that makes what the portrait sessions
that I did on the side as well as some
side hustles numbers can get kind of
fuzzy and some weddings were photo and
video nonetheless let’s start with 2013
the first year I felt comfortable
calling myself for professional wedding
photographer in 2013 I shot eight
weddings in my price range was from
1,000 to 1,800 dollars and I told him
15,000 for the year in 2014 I shot 18
weddings my price range was too
hundred to two thousand seven hundred
and fifty dollars and I totaled forty
thousand for the year in 2015 I shot
twenty two weddings my price range was
fifteen hundred to four thousand and I
totaled 80 thousand for the year in 2016
I decided to leave teaching go full-time
with my photography career shot thirty
two weddings my price range from two
thousand to four thousand dollars and I
told him two hundred and five thousand
that year 2017 I shot a little bit less
thirty weddings $2,500 to $5,000 and I
told one hundred and seventeen thousand
on the year so without further ado let’s
hit some of the practical tips of how to
hit that hundred K landmark in a year
number one number one is know yourself
and know your market I’m gonna go all
garyvee on this one and I’m gonna say
you need self-awareness if you want to
be in this industry you have to see
where you want to be and know that you
can get there someday so my
recommendation is following other
wedding photographers follow them on
Instagram follow them on Facebook check
out their blog check out their myspace
take bits and pieces of what they do
send them DMS see if they’ll answer take
their classes go to their workshops pick
their brains and start formulating your
own style based on the Preferences that
you have from other people not saying
plagiarize don’t plagiarize exactly what
they do but be influenced and inspired
by what they do to create your own voice
something that people don’t consider
often what city are you in I’m in
Chicago it’s one of the biggest wedding
markets in the country maybe you need to
move to a metropolitan area or
advertising market for a metropolitan
area and market for wedding photography
and then you can book weddings at higher
prices bigger budgets
number two is strategize how to sell
your services decide how you’re going to
structure your pricing or structure your
packages all of my packages include
hourly coverage from start to finish and
all edited images on an online gallery
that I send to them
it gives them all printing rights
basically to download and do really
whatever they want with the photos other
photographers like to group tangible
items together in packages so photo
books prints other gifts thumb drives
you could literally sell anything in
packages and that could be used to
increase your margins on each package
it’s just a different strategy either
way pick a system that you think will
work and test it out see if it does work
if it doesn’t the beauty is you can
always change things because it’s your
business
you get to do whatever you want with it
number three is systems I would highly
recommend a CRM it’s a clock the CRM
client relationship management is what a
short for some I would recommend art ave
dub SOT oh honey book shoot cue there
are a bunch to choose from this is
something that’s going to get everything
in one place for you so schedules emails
client lists surveys literally anything
it’s usually your one-stop shop for
everything or if you can’t afford
something like that you can do it I’ve
done in the past seven years which is
hold a Google Drive account with folders
and systems and folders within folders I
you know it’s there’s a reason it’s
really really cheap get a photo delivery
service I recommend either pixie set or
pic time these are two platforms or you
can deliver all of your photos in a
beautiful gallery to your clients they
can download all the images they can
create favorites lists they can order
prints it’s your one stop shop for
literally everything with delivering
photos and it’s amazing and if you set
up your store in those galleries you can
make profit margins on selling prints
what I do every time I send the gallery
is in the first two weeks they have that
gallery they get 25% off of prints and I
give them a special coupon code and
friends and family almost always the
night before it expires order prints and
like I said I’m fully transparent with
these numbers and how I got to these
places and this year alone i grossed
eleven thousand dollars in print sales
so it’s significant and it could really
get you to that point where you’re
reaching that next financial milestone
number five sell your brand and sell
your service
the best compliments I got this past
year were from my clients and their
families and their friends saying that
their experience of having me on their
wedding day
was even better than whatever photos I
took I kept them calm relaxed and
distressed the whole time and let them
just have fun on one of the most
important days of their life
number six scale your business if
possible think of new ways that you can
make profit in your business other than
just shooting on the wedding day you can
hire an associate photographer and take
a cut off of administration they can
shoot and edit the whole thing under
your brand consider learning video I
took on wedding videography as soon as I
started and it’s been an amazing add-on
to my business along with photography
really the possibilities are endless for
growing your business outside of the
core model of just shooting a wedding so
brainstorm about those things think
creatively how you can make that extra
money and go after it finally my last
and seventh point in this is kind of my
mantra and what I’m trying to make my
mantra on YouTube lean into what makes
you different you really have to find
your voice in this industry if you want
to see a lot of success like I said
earlier you’re gonna want to follow
people that really influenced you and
you think are really good at this craft
but allow their skills and what they’re
good at to influence you in a way that
creates your own unique voice and go
pursue those things practically speaking
some of those things for me are night
photography double exposures using my
tilt shift lens and combining all the
different ideas that I literally have a
whole list of online altogether to try
to make my voice unique and blasting
those on lines that people can see that
unique voice and that I stand out from
the crowd
now I know I only just scratched the
surface on what it takes to be a
successful wedding photographer but most
importantly what I want to drive home is
that you need to care about this craft I
see so many people in this industry just
burn out because they’re chasing the
money they’re chasing the travel granted
it’s given me some of the coolest
opportunities I’ve experienced in my
life with traveling to places I never
would have been other
and documenting some of the most
intimate and coolest moments in people’s
lives but I think the driving factor
that continues to allow me to be
successful in this industry is that I
really care about my clients and I
really care about their experience and I
want them to have an amazing experience
on their wedding day they see that they
tell their friends about that their
family sings your praises when you do
that for them and it’s nothing but good
I just think it’s funny that people mock
the industry because I have learned some
of the coolest things in life from my
experiences with other people and
photographing people and seeing the
intimacy that they have between each
other and their family and friends like
when lawn heard her father reassure her
that he was so proud of her in front of
her and Ryan’s family or when Nathan and
Vika celebrated their Korean Christian
and Russian Jewish heritage under the
chuppah that her father made or when
Roma came up to me at her sister’s
funeral and gave me a big hug telling me
that she was so thankful that I took
some of the last portraits of her sister
that her and her family could have for
the rest of their lives this stuff
transcends money and success guys its
life and it’s deeply fulfilling work and
anyone who says it’s unimportant doesn’t
understand its power honestly if you’re
in this business I hope that money
doesn’t even matter to you at the end of
the day more than anything I hope you
care about serving your clients and
their families and giving them the
greatest intangible gifts they could
ever receive photographs

to see

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other comments questions please leave a
comment in the section below love to
chat more with you about anything I
discussed in this video and really
looking forward to see you guys in the
next one thanks friends thanks for
watching and don’t forget to lean into
what makes you different peace

that’s awesome
that is awesome