Magical Unicorns Will Not Create Your Sustainable Photography Business: These 8 Ideas Might

I mean, unicorns are cute and all, but really expensive to feed… and that hair!

Photo by the author.

Magical unicorn thinking.

I see it all over the net these days.

“Write a book during lunch and sell 5000 copies a day.”.

You know that no one sells 5000 copies a day… of anything.

Especially some AI-written drivel that has no story behind it, no pre-sale marketing, no well-known author, no history or context.

But the folks that sell that crap make a lot of money from those who think it is all that easy. Just make something and sell it.

A photographer, at least he says he is, sells a course on how to fill your weeks with endless maternity, rugrat, and wedding gigs.

Yep… all you need is a $49 course, and you can be busy every stinking day.

And if you had bought it yesterday, you wouldn’t even know that I wrote about it today because you would be so busy shooting some snot-slinger crawling over a big plastic “2” in the studio.

In the course you will learn to put up Instagram photos of your work, make business cards with photos on them, and offer deep discounts for first-time brides.

Cause, like, that’s worth the money right there.

And when you do all of that, and nothing happens, well… not everyone will get the same results we are told.

Yep, no kidding… The only thing that is guaranteed is that you spent the money, he got the money, and you get insight into stuff you can easily find on your own on about eleventymillion blogs.

There are no secrets. Do you hear me?

THERE. ARE. NO. SECRETS.

I shouted for that guy snoring in the back.

All the magical unicorns that are being sold are very expensive to purchase. Something of no value is expensive, no matter what the price tag actually says.

Free can be expensive if it costs you time that you don’t have to waste.

To be very clear, I don’t even dabble in the consumer side of photography.

I am not interested in toddler photos, senior photos, maternity photos, or weddings.

In fact, I think weddings themselves are a huge scam perpetrated on young people by an industry that doesn’t give a damn.

So I wouldn’t be the best mentor for that stuff.

Make a business card with a photo on it… there ya go.

I have spent my life on the commercial side of things.

Photographer, agency owner, creative director, designer, and educator.

Business-to-business is what I understand. It’s where I live.

But there is no shortage of get-rich-quick schemes in this arena.

And I am here to tell you that you, umm, can’t.

Get rich.

Quick.

You have to work at it to get there, and be prepared for ‘there’ to be not at all what you expected ‘there’ to be.

So many of us think that when we get ‘there’ everything will be roses and rainbows.

And that is simply bullshit.

“There” — wherever there is for you — is going to look a lot like here you are gonna find. Hard work, marketing constantly and consistently, and fighting the same damn demons as you fight here.

They just drive better cars, and wear designer shoes.

So here are a few ideas that I think you should take a deep dive into and find what ideas work for you.

Think of these as basic recipes. You put the final dashes of spice on top based on what you love.

1. Stop looking for easy buttons, fast launches, quick money, no-effort sales techniques, and any other crap that tells you that work is bogus and all you need is this thing (which usually costs about $97.)
   Instead, look for experienced coaches and mentors, read a ton of books, take notes, build your system, and get help where you need it. Being an artist in these times takes a lot of courage, a lot of perseverance, and a great support system.
2. Prepare for the long haul. Commercial art takes time to become known, and those of us who do win, do it later rather than earlier. Be in it for at least a six-year commitment. Of course, you need to have income, and you will, but the breakout point where you can take a breath is about 5 to six years out.
   Become familiar with the hustle. Be best friends with the work ethic that allows you to build a system and work that system. The system IS your launchpad. Build a strong one, and take care of business by working it every day.
3. Be sure of what you want. A full-time photographer does not mean a 40-hour work week with weekends off. It is probably a 60-hour work week, with time off when you can get it. If you aren’t shooting for a client, you are preparing for one. And if you aren’t doing either of those, you are working on getting your name out there… and making your photographs.
   This does NOT mean you have to work all hours of the day. It means your schedule is not as neat as a 9–5er. Be sure to build portfolio shooting into your schedule and do it with deliberate passion. You must embrace the other things that bring you joy as well, and that takes some planning. There is no place for joylessness in an artist’s life.
4. Execution trumps planning. Do, do do. Plan and execute. Measure, replan, and execute. You cannot know if something works without doing it yourself. Even a couple of times may be needed. If we give up when something doesn’t work the first time, we will never — EVER — have success in anything. We may have to run for Congress to make a living.
   Execution without measurement can be frustrating. If you cannot quantify what you wanted, how will you know what you ended up with worked or not? Have metrics and apply them. Send out 100 emails with a subject line you think works. How many opened them? Send another 100 to a different list and compare. Test, adjust, test.
   (Remember when I told you there is no easy button… well, this is what I am talking about. This takes work, patience, and a strong desire to win.)
5. Take stock of who you spend the most time with. Are you one of the “pity-party” groups sitting around complaining about how hard everything is, how everyone is stupid, and how the system is screwed? If you are, then everything IS hard, everyone IS stupid, and the system IS screwed… for you. There’s an idea that you are the sum of the five people you spend the most time with. Choose wisely.
   Elevate and curate your support team. Spend time with excited and happy artists who understand the challenges, but find solutions for them instead of being constantly defeated by them. I mean, seriously. Choose your friends as you would choose your future in five years. Because they are a big part of it.
6. Learn to play. Play is the new work, some say. Play is the fastest way to find out what works, and what doesn’t. Play leads to exploration, and exploration leads to discovery. Discovery leads to more play. And all of that is introduced into our art, our business, and our lives.
   Use play to personalize your work. Play is deeply personal, it is the way we do what we do, and that can be funneled into a system that can transform our relationships with our work, other artists, clients, and even personal relationships. Play is liberating.
7. Challenge every idea. Yes, even mine. No one has all the answers, and I just try to help from my perspective. But ideas must be challenged, ripped apart, examined piece by piece, and reassembled into something that makes sense for you. Even if you come to the opposite conclusion for your own system, that’s cool. As long as it works for you, it is a fantastic win.
   Be involved in ideas. Join groups that want to explore, invent, and innovate. Stay far from those who seem to have a death grip on “the rules”. The rules are never going to help you innovate — that is why the rules are there. Rules dampen the exploration of the new.
8. Share your experiences. Experiences are the flavor of life, and your experiences, especially the ones where something is gleaned or discovered, can help others on their journey.
   Don’t hold back. If you screwed up, found a way to deal with it, fixed it, and moved on, that is great stuff for all of us. Too much information is held deep in the chest out of some fear that someone else will use our precious ideas and dull our luster. Nothing is farther from the truth. When you help someone succeed, you shine even brighter.

As the relationship between people, technology, and artists changes and swirls, we can stay grounded with these eight simple ideas.

Grounded in life, grounded in art, and grounded in business.

Forget the magical unicorns and ground yourself with ideas that work because they are not based on fads or subscriptions but on consistency and trust.

This photo of me is by Carol Rioux, taken on a camera: light-painted in Calgary, BC.

Hi, I’m Don Giannatti, a photographer and mentor for up-and-coming photographers. You can find me on my website, Don Giannatti, and at my Substack site, where I also publish for creative people. All subscribers to my Substack have access to a free, long-form workshop on the business of commercial and professional photography.