← Book More Photography Clients Podcast | Photography Business, Photography Leads, Marketing
Book More Photography Clients Podcast | Photography Business, Photography Leads, Marketing
How I Left My 9-5 Job To Work My Photography Business Full Time (again!)
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I don't care if every educator quits in our industry and I'm the only one left. I'm not leaving you guys. I don't care if there are thousands of photographers that are quitting their businesses and thinking like this is too hard, I can't do this anymore, or this is too saturated. I don't have a place here. Please don't be one of those photographers. You have a place here. Welcome to the Book More Clients Photography podcast. You can stop spending hours on Google and YouTube because you just found your number one resource for growing a profitable and sustainable photography business. Hi, I'm Brooke Jefferson. I'm a believer wife, mama to two and Oklahoma family photographer. I left the classroom in 2018 to pursue my photography career full time. Now I'm here to help you do the same. In this podcast we're covering the most asked about topics including pricing, marketing, client experience, and all things systems and workflows. You won't find any fluff or BS here. Just tried and true strategy. Are you ready? Grab your kids some snacks and charge those camera batteries. It's time to jump in. I'm taking you behind the scenes for a life and business update. Because so much has been happening in my life over the last few weeks and I wanted to. I wanted to share it with you. Those of you listening to the podcast, I know that you are my ride or die. You are my number ones. I am just so thankful that you listen to this podcast. Whether you found the podcast and you started all the way back at the beginning and you are binging your way through forward or maybe you found the podcast recently and so this is one of the handful of episodes you've listened to. I'm just so incredibly grateful that you're here. Your listen, your listenership, whatever you want to call it, it does. It means so much to me. It tells me that I need to keep going. I read your reviews and all I ever want this podcast to be is a source of encouragement and and a place where you can learn true business strategy. So with all of that being said, there's no one I would rather share all of this with than you. So let's get into it. A couple weeks ago I ended up getting to leave my 9 to 5 job and this is the second time that I have been able to do this. I'm going to go backwards and just tell you a little bit of how I got started and how it's brought me to where I am today. Because it's been a really long time since I Have had an episode talking about my story. I started my photography business after my daughter was born. She was probably four or five months old. It was around Valentine's Day. I remember putting on lipstick and then kissing her like all over her face, on her cheeks and her forehead. And I had some Valentine buckets and some pink stuff. And so I just set some stuff up. I borrowed my. My mother in law. She's my mother in law now, but at the time she was my boyfriend's mom. So I borrowed my boyfriend's mom's camera and just started playing around with it. I really wanted to take cute pictures of my daughter Braylee, and she was my first real client, if you will. And then from there I started taking pictures for a couple of my friends, some of my family members. And then the word of mouth just started to spread. Mind you, I have no experience whatsoever. Zero. I picked up a camera, had no idea what I was doing. I bet you I was still doing automatic on the settings for the first six months to a year before I learned manual mode and so on and so forth. But guys, I knew nothing. Picked up a camera. I had a vision in mind and I just had so much fun with it. I remember just this feeling it like this fire in my belly, if you will. And I was like, I love this. I want to do more of this. I'm obsessed with taking pictures, especially of other people. Within six months, I had a full clientele, but I was only charging anywhere from 50 bucks to a hundred dollars. Okay, Very, very cheap. Did not know anything about the value or the time or the effort or any of it. I was just really obsessed with this. And I thought it was amazing that I could pay for baby stuff and start saving for my wedding with this money. So photography has been with me since I was 20 years old. And I've always had photography and something else. I did photography and I worked at a car dealership. I did photography and I went back to college. I did photography and I was a teacher, right? So I've always had photography and something else. It's become almost a part of my identity, which really now I see it as. It's my calling. It's one of the ways that God has put me on this earth to be a blessing to others is through my photography business. So I've loved it. I eventually figured out probably a year and a half to two years after that I started really learning the business side of photography again. Some of it I was teaching myself, but I would listen to. There weren't very Many podcasts back then. The only podcast that I can think of, there were two podcasts, two podcasts that I listened to about business specifically. And that was Jenna Kutcher's podcast and Amy Porterfield's podcast. And so that was where I did a lot of my learning. I remember being on YouTube and learning the editing and all the things. So two years after I had started my business, it was 2016, I really started treating that business like a business. That's when I started to experience being fully booked. Even though I was a teacher, even though I had a newborn, even though I had a toddler, all the things, right? I always had photography. So I taught in the classroom from 2016 to 2018. And something just, just like a light bulb came on in the year of 2017 where I was like, whoa, wait a second, people can make real money with photography and this could be a full time job. What? And I, I just got hungry. I got so hungry and I wanted it so bad. And I just made, I just made a decision. My goal was I wanted to leave teaching by the end of my contracted year, which was from 2017 to 2018. And I did, I did it. I ended up putting my resignation letter to make it that much more real for me. I ended up turning in the resignation letter in October saying that after May, I wasn't coming back. And I just, I just hustled. It was not a healthy hustle. So this is why when I teach you guys, hey, you can build a business with all my business strategy, but I want you to be very mindful of your time. And here's how to do it faster or here's how to batch things. It's because I did it in the most unhealthy way possible for that one year. Because I had just, I had just made a decision that I was leaving, that I was going home. I didn't want my babies to have to go to daycare. My daughter, thankfully was in prek. So the year that I taught in her school district, I would drop her off at the elementary for preschool and then I would go teach. And then it was my baby boy that I had to drop off at daycare. And you guys, it just killed me about every single time I had to do it. I never had a desire to be a stay at home mom or have a bunch of kids. I want to be really honest about that. I grew up when I would. In my childhood, my younger childhood years. It was just my dad, my mom and me and my sister. I have a little sister I have a lot of siblings now because that's a whole other story. But until I was in fifth grade, we were just like the perfect four. That's what I always told myself. And I just always believed my parents would never get divorced. This is how it was always going to be. And I had such a happy life. And then of course, six months into my fifth grade school year, my parents ended up deciding to get divorced and blah blah, blah, the rest is history. So all of that to say I came from such a small family that I just kind of envisioned no more than two or three kids for myself. And I just always thought that the way you did life was you went to school, you graduated high school, you go to college, you get a degree, you go to a 9 to 5 and you just do this, this 9 to 5 thing. And that's just how it is. So with that being said, I just always thought that I would have a full time job. I never in a million years thought I would ever be a stay at home mom. I never thought I'd be a work from home mom. None of those things. And I just got hungry. I just saw this different vision for my life and I went after it and I made it happen. And I came home and I went full time. In 2018, in April of 2019, I started this podcast, had a different name back then. I was trying to be cutesy, frame your way podcast or something like that. And then in 2020, that's when I got really, really serious about the podcast. And in 2019 I did coach a few photographers. And that's when I just saw, saw this, I don't know what to call it. I saw this connection from me getting a teaching degree and me coaching photographers and it all made sense. Oh, I couldn't understand, like why did I go to college? Why am I paying on student debt that I'm not even using anymore? Why did I bust my butt with a newborn and a three year old to get myself through college? And then I, I thought, wait a second, I am teaching. I am called to be a teacher. I've always felt like that was one of the callings on my life from the Lord, is to teach. And I love it. I don't know if you can tell, but I love to teach you on this podcast. I love to teach you in my master classes and I love to teach you inside of my fully booked blueprint program. There's nothing that lights me up more than been teaching photographers business. I like, I just, I'm just so giddy. Even talking about it. And so it was just so cool to see how God like worked and weaved my path and how it turned into what it did. So 2019 started the podcast and I started coaching a handful of photographers. 2020 is when I got really serious about the podcast. We renamed it to the Book More Photography Clients Podcast. That's when I created my signature program the first time around. That's when I got really serious with just the whole education side of my business. All of that was born and that is literally what I have done since like all the way to July of 2024. And then 2024 was just, man, it was just a rough year. I think I talk about this in one of my older episodes around like October ish of 2024. So if you want to scroll back, it's the one about me going and working a 9 to 5 job. Long story short, I got wrapped up in, well in prayer and I feel like God, if anything, over the last year of my life, I can literally see how God had to take me out of just out of everything, Just separate me from it, find my own identity and really show me, hey, here's where you're supposed to be. Here's what I've created you for. Now go back with the boldness and go back and just serve to the best of your ability. And that's how I am talking to you today. So I had a little hiccup. We're going to call it a hiccup. I had a little hiccup in my six and a half year journey of not working for a nine to five and working for myself full time from home. And then we had the hiccup. So from July 2024 to January 2025, I went back to a full time job to supplement some of my education income because I took my foot completely off the gas. Because I prayed about it. I felt so lost, I didn't know what to do. So when I took my foot off the gas, that's when obviously my income started dwindling down to zero again. I still think it was very much God led. I really do. I don't. I would be here if I didn't take my foot off the gas. And In October of 2024 I went to a retreat, like a business and faith retreat. And that is where God started to really rewire me and really help me see myself in a new light and not in this negative, limiting belief mindset. And I just felt, I like, I just. Man, it's like the light bulb Turned back on the fire started again. And from there I just started working really hard from October to December behind the scenes, getting myself back on track, but doing it very healthy, doing it on minimal hours and doing it really, really well. And, and it's just been, it's just been incredible. So January 2025, I'm recording this now at the tail end of January 2025. And I'm so blessed to be able to say that I left a second 9 to 5 job to come back home and run my photography business and educate you guys full time from home. And I am so fired up. I'm so excited because I know that, I know that, I know that this is where I'm supposed to be. This is what I'm called to. I don't care if every educator quits in our industry and I'm the only one left. I'm not leaving you guys. I'm not leaving you guys because there is purpose. I don't care if there are thousands of photographers that are quitting their businesses and thinking like, this is too hard, I can't do this anymore, or this is too saturated, I don't have a place here. Please don't be one of those photographers. You have a place here. Okay? You are called to your business for a reason. And if you have that burning desire that you know that you know that you know, and it doesn't matter what anybody says, you know that this path is for you, don't give it up because I'm here for you. I will be your mentor. If you choose to let me be your mentor, whether it's through this podcast, through my free events, or through some type of a paid coaching or in my program, I am going to take you by the hands and we are going to do this and we are going to rock your photography business. I'm so excited to be back. I can't even explain it to you. And I just want to say that it's okay if you had to go back to a 9 to 5 job or pick up a part time job or do something to supplement your income. It's okay. Not every year is going to be your best year ever. However, I refuse to believe any less for 2025. 2024 was what it was. If you did not enjoy that year, if it was the worst year you've had, if it was your first year and you're ready to put it behind you, then let's just, we're done. We're leaving it behind. 2025, it's a new day. If you set goals for yourself at the end of 2024 or at the very beginning of 2025 and you're already feeling discouraged or you haven't taken action on it, today's your day one. Today is your day one. It is not too late. Whether you want to run full force and you want to make this your full time job and full time income where you don't have to do anything else, I can help you do that and I want you to do that. Or if you love where you're at, you love being that stay at home mom, or you love your 9 to 5 job and you never want to leave it, but photography just fulfills you. Outside of that, I am here for you too. It doesn't matter whether you're trying to make $20,000 a year or over 100,000, we can do this. We can do this. But it takes you committing. You've got to commit. So I'm committed to showing up here for you. I want to know, are you committed to showing up for yourself and showing up here for me? The podcast is only going to get better. The coaching is only going to get better. Everything's only going to get better from here on out. So this is just a little, I guess it's encouragement, it's motivation, but it's also like, listen, I had a little hiccup in my journey and I'm back and I'm better than I ever was. And that can be your story, too. It doesn't make me less of a photographer. It doesn't make me less of an educator. It doesn't make me less of a person that we all deal with, you know, the mental battles we all deal with, the negativity we all deal with financial circumstances. But we're back. And here's the other thing that I want to say. My photography business did incredible in 2024. Where I needed to supplement my income was through the education side because like I said earlier, I had taken my foot off the gas. And when you do that, and here's what you're going to notice about your own business, maybe you had an incredible busy fall season, but then you notice, oh, I took my foot off the gas for December and January and now we're in February. And I don't like the way my booking calendar looks for the next four to six months. Right? That's okay. You don't have to feel bad about it. But you got to put your foot back on the gas. Right? Pedal to the metal. I think that's the saying anyway, all of that to say you're okay, okay, we're okay, we're gonna be fine. It is upward and onward from here. So enough of that. I could rant all day and I'm not going to. There is my update. I am back home. I am full time invested in you and your photography business and I am so excited. And also I'm gonna pitch myself here because this is my podcast. If you love this podcast and it truly gives you value and I know that it's given so many of you value and real results because you have literally shared that with me through email, DMs, reviews, etc. And I sometimes I have no idea who you are listening to this because I can't tell. Right? You know who I am and you feel like you know me because I get to, you know, you listen to me in the car and you listen to me when you're cleaning your house and all the things, but I can't see you and I want to know who you are. All of this to say if you are loving this podcast and it has given you value or you really resonate with me or you love my teaching style, imagine what it's like on the inside of my paid program. I'm telling you, it's the same me, but it's just going in five times deeper and giving you all the strategy, right? All the strategy, all the templates, all the resources, all the coaching you could ever need. And so if you're like, man, I am fired up. This is my year. Please come be a student for the next 12 months in the fully booked blueprint program. I'll let you go read about all the details and you can see how other photographers lives and businesses have been changed. Brookejefferson.com/blueprint and if you have any other questions, please, please, please come ask me. I'm only a DM or an email away and I am here for you. So thank you again for being a loyal listener of the book More Photography Clients podcast and I will see you on the next one.