Lessons for Surviving Your First Year of Full-Time Photography with Taylor Isselhard

Episode Transcript
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Taylor Isselhard (00:03):
I would say you definitely want a solid CRM,
something like HoneyBook.
I think that having a solid CRMreally just helps elevate, first
of all, your persona as anexpert in this industry.
because then it's like, oh wow,like all of our information is
in this project.
This is really cool, like ourquestionnaires and our invoices
and the contract.
So I think having that, andunderstanding how it works and

(00:24):
investing time into it is reallyhelpful, before you go in full
time.
Hey, welcome to the BeginnerPhotography Podcast.
I'm your host, Raymond Hatfield,and today we are chatting with
wedding photographer Tyler Isle.
Hard about lessons that helearned from his first year
going full time.
But first, did you know that 70%of people abandoned their online

(00:46):
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(01:08):
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I really think that you're gonnalike today's interview with
Taylor Isle Hard.
Taylor recently celebrated hisfirst year as a full time

(01:29):
wedding photographer, sonaturally I asked all the
questions about the transition,such as how he booked.
20 weddings while still workinga full-time job.
How he prepared himself to knowthat he was ready to go
full-time, and what are thesystems that he put in place to
ensure that he could not onlyhandle the workload, but so that

(01:49):
his business could support hislife.
Taylor also hosted the WeddingLounge podcast where he sits
down with other weddingphotographers to chat and learn
and grow together.
So if you like this format thatwe have here on the Beginner
Photography Podcast, but youwanna hear from more wedding
photographers, then check outthe Wedding Lens Lounge podcast.
Now, just as a reminder, the onething that I have learned from

(02:11):
interviewing hundreds of worldclass photographers here on the
Beginner Photography Podcast isthat these successful ones take
action.
They don't just like sit aroundand watch everyone else achieve
their dreams.
They take action.
So listen carefully, and Iencourage you to find something
in this interview to implementinto your own photography.

(02:32):
Don't let the lessons thatTaylor shares today go to waste.
Alright, with that, let's goahead and get on into today's
interview.

Raymond Hatfield (02:40):
Taylor and I really want to know, when did
you first know that photographywas gonna play an important role
in your life?

yeah, dude, that's a really good question.
So I guess, just personally,just to the fact that I think
photography has value would justgo back to when I was a kid.
'cause my mom was one of thosepeople that always loved taking
a moment to document a momentwhether we were on vacation at
the park.
Holidays, birthday parties, shealways had her camera out and as

(03:06):
kids you're like, oh, this is soannoying, you know?
But what was really cool isthat, now we get to look at
these bins full of photos of ourchildhood.
I.
being able to do that, eventhough it was frustrating and
annoying at times for her toalways be taking those photos,
we can see the value that shereally ingrained into us,

(03:27):
because of that.
So, truthfully, I would say thevalue of photography was really
more ingrained in me probablywhen I was in high school, when
I started to really look atthese photos with my siblings
and my mom and everything likethat.
But I guess for my business, itreally started to take off a
couple years ago.
I was doing it part-time sinceabout, 8 years ago, and then

(03:51):
officially took the leap fulltime in October of 2023.

That's huge.
but I wanna stick with theearliest days first, because
when I think about my time inhigh school, I was focused on
friends, I was focused on, abunch of stuff that maybe I
shouldn't have.
you know, I wasn't sittingaround looking at a lot of
photos like with my family.
Like what was it about lookingat those photos where you
thought.

(04:15):
There's something here did youturn into the photographer
yourself of the family or whatis it that that stood out most
about the power of these photos?

Yeah, I would say it's, you know,'cause
there's so many core memoriesthat you hold in, into your
brain and that you can reallylook back on visually, in that
regard.
but when it comes to thesephotos, they bring back other
core memories that didn't storeinside of you, which I think is,
is really, really cool.
and, I had a Miles Boyer, who isan incredible photographer outta

(04:44):
Wisconsin.
He explained it in such a uniqueway, and he said certain photos
even, you know, more referringto weddings.
But in just in general, certainphotos have a different type of
long-term effect than you reallyrealize.
And were looking at thosephotos, that's what, kind of hit
me hard and thinking about thatis that, Being able to look back

(05:05):
at those photos at that momentin time just was just insanely
special because you could belike, oh yeah, I remember that.
Or you get to like, look andlaugh and then share it with
your brother or sister next toyou and be like, do you remember
this?
or like, oh, I can't believe wedid that.
Or like, oh, look at your face.
it's those little, little piecesthat are not stored in, into
your memory, but you get to beable to reflect and see the joy

(05:29):
in those memories, as you getolder and older, because that's,
that's all you have.

Man, that's so funny.
I try to think about growing upin the nineties, it's like some
of the adventures that you hadthat, you know, wasn't
documented on a cell phone.
But I remember the disposablecamera photo of the moment, and
even though like, it didn'tcapture the moment, I remember
what was happening at that time.
I remember that day.
I remember that event.
and yeah, it definitely doesthat, that's one of the things

(05:54):
that I love most aboutphotography too.
So, what did you do with thatinformation?
Did you decide, I'm going tocollege for photography?
how did it develop into abusiness today?

Yeah, that's a great question.
So, never thought photographywould be a full-time career.
I just enjoyed taking photos.
when I got to college, And evenjust like during the college
years, I always took photosduring the holidays when family
came over and, just enjoyed it.
my first ever camera I had was aCannon T three I, with the
little base lens that comes withit, you know, so you're, you're

(06:22):
talking real basic.
but happened over time, it's, Igot more intrigued with cameras
and technology.
And just thinking about what mymom did over the years, and it
just started to continue to growon me and I never expected it to
happen.
So what happened is my firstever, I guess, considered paid

(06:43):
session was my wife's, sisterand her husband, they had their
first baby.
And so my first ever session wasactually like a newborn session,
in their home, which I'm like,wow, this is like such a wild
session to be starting off with,you know?
But, from there I was like, thisis pretty cool.
Like, I really enjoyed being apart of my own family's, story

(07:04):
here.
and then ever since then Islowly just started to do more
for other families, familiesthat we knew and it just
continued to grow intosomething.
I still at that point, neverexpected to do a full-time at
any point.
'cause I'm like, eh,inconsistent income.
I don't really know about this.
Like, I wanna have a family.
I just wanna have a simple nineto five, just like most people

(07:24):
at that time.
but what was really cool is itjust continued to grow and grow
and it's like I kept getting putinto these jobs that I never
fully enjoyed.
And it's like, something wastelling me like, this is what
I'm supposed to do, even thoughI kept, pushing it away.
'cause I was, fearful like a lotof people are when it comes to
making that leap.

What did you go to school for?

Business

Business.

that helped.

Okay.
Yeah, that is, that is helpful.
Okay.
So, your thought when you'regonna college is like, I'm gonna
work for this big company.
I'm gonna make these bigdecisions.
I'm gonna help, guide the, thedirection of a probably already
established company.
And at some point you decide,you know what?
I'm gonna take pictures for aliving.
Like I'm gonna get into thiscreative field.

(08:10):
Was there any sort of likenervousness.
As far as like, you went toschool for this degree and now
you've kind of abandoned it, ifthat makes sense.
even though you're not in the,business sense, but like, making
that decision.
Was there any nervousness?

When I made the jump full time, honestly,
no, because I set myself up forsuccess first.

how so?
What do you mean?
by going to school for business.

so like when I took the leap to photography
full time.
Yeah.
So happened is I was having somegood years building my wedding
photography business in thatniche specifically.
well, the phony part was Iworked at a nonprofit for about
five years, and then my wife'slike, you always talked about
wanting to be a teacher.
So I went back to school again,so to get my third degree
because why not?

(08:53):
And so I went back to school tobe a teacher.
Did that for two years.
And during that two yeartimeframe, I was about booking
about anywhere from like 15 to20 weddings a year.
'cause that was my max that Icould really take on while also
working full-time.
so I was getting the inquiries.
I was getting the bookings.
I.
And at one point looked at mywife and I was like, I think I

(09:15):
can, I can just run with this.
I think if I can invest intothis business full time because
it's already showing success,I've already got these great
relationships with these venuesand other people in this
industry.
That like, I can just hit theground running if I can invest
into this full time.
And that was the mindset Ineeded to go into.
It was thinking about what can Imake this, how can I make this

(09:38):
special for not just thebusiness itself, but also great
for my family?
I.
And thinking about what it couldlook like long term and so on.
So, because I was already havinga lot of bookings, I had a solid
savings account, emergencysavings account.
So I was able to use like thatfirst six months to really build
it, in a full-time capacity.

(09:59):
And I was also just continuingjust to think about what type of
goals and what type of areas doI need to invest in, into this
first year to be able tocontinue doing this long term.

Okay.
I got so many questions aboutthat, like.
What were those goals?
You know how, but I wanna pumpthe brakes a little bit.
talk to me about How did youmake the decision to go from
photographing, families tophotographing weddings and going
all in on that?

Yeah.
So, the only reason that Iactually did my first wedding
was I was doing a lot of familysessions and so on.
but one of my friends from highschool, he was getting married
and he's like, Hey dude, mysister, I.
Saw that you're doingphotography, like just for some
families and stuff, we're tryingto just save as much money as
possible.
They're like, we have$800 tospend on a, a photographer.

(10:45):
Like, would you be down?
Like, we trust you.
We know you, we love you.
And I was like, sure.
Like, well, you know, I gotnothing to lose here.
know this guy.
I know his soon to be wife atthat point.
So I met with my weddingphotographer who photographed my
wedding, I was like, Hey, can wejust meet up?
I need all the tips, I need allthe insight into going into my
first wedding, you know?

(11:06):
because like, I didn't wannawalk in blind because that's
not, good strategic thing to do.
Thinking like you have theconfidence because you take,
photos of families and newborns.
so I utilized my relationshipwith who was our wedding
photographer and who's now oneof my really good friends to
help me prepare and just knowhow to successfully walk into
this wedding day.

(11:27):
And because I set up that thatrelationship and that meeting, I
was able to have a lot moreconfidence.
And there was still a lot offear because it was my first
time, but I knew what I waswalking into and that helped a
lot.
So from there, people juststarted seeing my work and
seeing like, oh, he's very lowprice, just like most people,

(11:48):
and they start wedding for dogfees.
So, my first like 15 weddings Iwas charging are from 800 to a
thousand bucks for full daycoverage.
But from there I was just ableto build a portfolio and
continue to invest in my craftand grow it over time.

Yeah, I was, the same as, well.
The first wedding I shot was$700and it was that way for like.
An entire year.
and it's tough.
But, I wanna know more aboutthis meeting.
Like what were the sort ofthings that they shared with
you?
How did you personally prepareto shoot your first wedding?
I.

Yeah.
so some of the questions I askedwas like, how should I mentally
prepare for this, going into it.
And so, what we basically justtalked about was that you have
to give yourself grace that eventhough you plan everything out,
not everything may go to plan.
So you have to be flexible andadapt to those changes, which
help me just give a little bitof peace of mind knowing like,

(12:36):
if things are falling behind andit's not right on time with a
timeline.
Like it's okay.
Like you just have to adapt andadjust and then another thing
was like, with certain, know,setting, I mean, it was in a
very tricky lighting situation,so she's like, just do you know
with your flash ETTL, you know,like just find anything white or

(12:57):
she's like, use my diffuser.
so she's like, just point it upjust, just go with the manual
or, the automatic, flash and inthose dark situations.
So she's like, it's not gonna belike perfect, but for your first
wedding it's gonna be okay.
and she was just giving me someinsight into like how to, to
photograph like certain lightingsituations as well, which helped

(13:19):
out a lot, you know?
'cause I was like, theceremony's gonna be outside at
this time.
She's like, all right.
We'll look at what the angle ofthe sun's gonna look like.
how are you gonna prepare forthat for, your certain manual
settings and so on.
So it was just about thinkingabout the strategy of mindset
and, strategically going into itemotionally in a way, and also
strategically going into ittechnically.

(13:41):
but also of course, like gettingthe timeline information, family
photo that's like, the usualstuff.
But I, I think it was importantto go beyond that.
So that way then I can preparemyself, to handle situations as
they arise'cause as you know,with family sessions, you have a
lot more control.

Yeah, and it's not as high stakes because if
you mess it up, worst case youcan just reschedule next weekend
or whatever whereas a weddingit's a little bit more
difficult.

You

Um,

that.

no, no.
That's typically frowned upon.
But, um, it's funny'cause I kindof had a lot of the same
reservations as well, and Ithink that a lot of listeners
feel the same way, that it'slike there's so much weight on
the importance of a wedding dayand how you can't repeat it,
that they have to do everythingperfectly.
They have to get every shot.

(14:30):
They can't miss a single moment.
The light has to be perfectevery time.
Like they just have to hit,grand Slam after Grand Slam,
after grand Slam with every shotthat they take.
So I would imagine hearing froma seasoned professional that
hey, you're gonna miss somemoments, and the timeline is
gonna be off.
And even though you may be theonly professional there.
That's not your problem.

(14:50):
I would imagine that that helpedconsiderably.
So when you showed up to thiswedding, what was your goal to
ensure that when you left, atthe end of the day, you could
tell yourself, I did a good job.

Yeah.
So, what I did was, just toprepare myself before the
wedding day itself.
Just having all the informationthat I need, and communicating
that with the couple, just likewhat we do now, which helped
just kind of make sure that wewere all on the same page with
everything.
but just going in and justhaving that, that mentality that

(15:22):
like, each moment is importantto document that they care about
and the other, everything elsewas a bonus.
So like, the ceremony, themoment of her dad seeing her the
first time, the bride, hisreaction as she walks on the
aisle, like the formal dancesand so on, like those were the
ones that I was more in tunewith to focus on.

(15:43):
And as long as I.
We got several photos of each ofthose moments.
I felt like that was greatsuccess because those were the
pieces that were reallyimportant to them and everything
else, all the other canonmoments and details and stuff,
that was just an added bonuswhen I was focusing on that for
my first wedding.

So you talked it over with the bride and groom
for the couple first to saylike, Hey, what are the most
important moments that you wantphotographed?

Yeah.

So what if they would've come to you and
essentially just listed out likeevery possible moment that could
have happened that day?

back then.
I would've been like, I don'tknow.
I don't know what to do

Oh, really?
You think you would've been thatthat upfront with, with the
couple?

I would've probably said, okay, because
it's my first

Yeah.

I don't know, maybe this is just exactly what
every couple

Yeah.

know?

You're like, this must be expected, I guess.
Yeah.

Yeah, exactly.
Because it's one of those thingsyou don't know what you don't
know, so you kind of walk intosomething that you might not be
fully prepared for because it'syour first time.
It's like when you start anyfirst job, there's.
Like that, like leniency in away that you have to like, give
yourself a little bit of graceand understanding that you're
not gonna know everything thefirst time.
and I think that's what happenswith this wedding is, there are

(16:53):
gonna be things that I'm gonnalearn a lot about because it was
my first one.
So, if they truthfully did comeup and be like, we have this
entire shot list, I'm like, I'mgonna do the best, I can to get
everything that I can.
because that was.
what I was walking into is myfirst time doing a wedding.
So,

Yeah.

but, 10, 15, 20 weddings in, you would answer
that differently.

Yeah, I know for sure.
In fact, that's exactly whathappened to me.
I had added into my contractbecause I had an experience
where I was expected, quoteunquote, to capture.
I mean, just like anunreasonable amount of moments.
even like physically where youcan't be in two places at once.
You know where the bride'sgetting ready in the groom and
like it, I had let it be knownthat like, hmm, I gotta pick

(17:35):
one.
Anyway, I had then put it intomy contract that like if there
is some sort of shot list orrequest for a photo, I will do
my best to make that happen.
But I can't guarantee that thosephotos will be captured or
delivered.
And that's like you said,something that you learn after
20 weddings and you gain someexperience.

(17:56):
So then after that wedding, youleave, you're on your way home.
Did you tell yourself like, man,I did a good job today.
Like, what was that experiencelike?

Yeah, I felt great, to be honest.
Like, I mean, it was funny, backthen, like the lens flare, you
know, was a big thing.
so I told my like, friend that,was kind of coaching me on my
first wedding.
I was like, I got a lens flarephoto.
You know, it was like thoselittle wins that I really wanted
to get out of that weddingexperience.
But overall, I felt reallycontent, like the bride and
groom seemed really happy.
They had a great wedding day.

(18:25):
and, The wild part was that thepost part, I didn't really know
much about Lightroom.
I was editing everything inPhotoshop, so I, I edited that
entire wedding in Photoshop.

Oh my goodness.

I was like, there has to be a faster way.
So yeah, I was editing all likethese sessions prior in
Photoshop.
'cause I didn't know anythingabout Lightroom,

Really?

Yeah.
And then

Wow.

like, why is this taking you so long?
I

Yeah.

I'm.
I'm like, I have to edit onephoto at a time.
She's like, why?
And then she's like, you usePhotoshop, you dummy

Lightroom.
Yeah.

or Lightroom.
Yeah.
so that was a game changer.
So I like was halfway throughthe wedding and then she's like,
you gotta download Lightroom.
And I was like, okay.
Okay.

I've shared this on the podcast before.
It took me a month to edit myfirst wedding, and I was using
Lightroom, so like I can'timagine how long it would take
in Photoshop, just ungodly.

I, was like, how do people do this so fast?

Yeah.
No kidding.
No kidding.
Oh man, that's so funny.
it's those small, yeah, thosesmall lessons that you learn and
that's your version of the, Ihad to walk uphill both ways
type of story, you know what Imean?
Like grandpa's tell.

Yeah.

Oh man.
okay, let me ask,'cause you hadsaid earlier that, you had been
shooting weddings for likeseven, eight years before you
decided to go full time doesthat sound right?
Was it weddings for seven, eightyears or just photography in
general?

I would say weddings for six years before
taking a leap.
Going full

Okay.
So in that six years before youwent full-time, you said that
you were, still booking like 15,20 weddings, per year still,
essentially just as a weekendwarrior at this point.
Tell me how you did that,because a lot of people are
thinking like that's the hardestpart is finding clients, booking
clients.
And to be able to do thatwithout going, full-time at that
point is a huge accomplishment.
So one, congratulations and two,please share all your secrets.

yeah, truthfully, I think what was a
huge advantage was, the way thatI would treat my clients and the
relationships that I built withthem.
because in the end, word ofmouth referrals is the most
powerful referral source thatyou can have because you already
are adding credibility and trustwhen somebody is reaching out to
you.
Like a wall of barrier isalready broken down when

(20:39):
somebody's reaching out to youbecause somebody told them about
you.
So

Right.

was a huge piece of my marketing.
Was the word of mouth piece ofit, because I was posting on
Instagram once in a while.
I didn't have a lot of time tofocus on these different aspects
of my business.
I mean, even just finding like agood contract or, trying to
figure out how to like balanceand do everything, in the
evenings.
I mean, a lot of the time wasjust focused on editing and

(21:04):
client communication truthfully.
So that's what really helped mepropel myself forward while I
was working a full-time job anddoing this on the side is, is
based on the fact that I wasjust treating my clients well
and making sure that I wastaking care of them well, that
was really the only thing Icouldn't have time to focus on.

So follow up question here, you have to have
clients to treat them well.
How did you get those firstclients that either didn't know
you, so that you could start totreat them well so that they
could become sneezes and tellall their friends?
I.

Yeah, no, good question.
So, the first few weddings thatI got, like I said, the first
one that I ever got was a friendfrom high school, and that was,
because his sister saw that Iwas doing photography and he
knew, he trusted me.
He knew me already.
He knew, he said I was, youknow, I'm a really nice person.
So that was helpful.

Humble brag, but All right.
That's cool.
Yeah.

I'm like, how do I say this nicely without
having a large head here?
but what was really, thecomponent that helped me was
that I just tagged any part ofthe wedding, like the vendors
and anything that was involvedin engagement sessions or
weddings on Instagram.
so that way then I can buildrelationships with, with people
in that regard as well.

(22:17):
So one of the weddings that Iactually got, that was my first,
I would say, big, bigger,high-end wedding in our area was
because I tagged Man's Jewelers,which is a jewelry company
around here, in a engagementsession post.
And the couple saw that becausethey were looking at Man's
jewelers for their rings, andthey saw my photo featured and

(22:39):
like little things like that.
thing was that I, truthfullyit's, it sounds weird, but
truthfully it was a lot of justword of mouth referrals that
made this happen in thebeginning.
I wanna say like I have allthese like other secrets and
stuff, but it was,

It's just human connection.

It was human connection that really helped
continue just to build this overtime and really just utilizing
Instagram as much as I could.
and that's where like, I thinkit's important if you are in
that transition of you areworking a full-time job and you
are trying to build a business,is to focus on a couple areas
that can really propel you forforward and continue to propel

(23:19):
you forward if you don't have alot of time, is really just
investing in areas that aregoing to continue to build your
business.
So for me it was a great clientexperience.
Like how am I gonna do that withthe 10 to 15 hours I have a week
on this?
also just utilizing Instagram atthat time because that was, a
huge social media factor in thesuccess of my business was, just

(23:42):
tagging everybody that wasinvolved in these weddings
engagement sessions, like thesuit where the, they got the
suit, where they got theclothes, where they got the
rings, like all the vendors andso on.
I was like, I just have to like,try to get my name out to as
many people as possible.
And like with the time that Ihad, that was the best way that
I could do it.

And I imagine that you got all of that
information from like a weddingquestionnaire.
Is that right?

Yeah.
Yeah.
So

Perfect.

just ask, ask them when I saw the final
information that they would fillout, I'd be like, who are your
vendors?
do they have Instagram?
And same with even theengagement session.
I was like, where did you getyour rings?
where are the outfits from?
Like, you know,'cause it couldbe like, maybe they have a tux
from a place that's local and Itag them, then they share my
photo.
And like someone that is, newlyengaged or like already looking

(24:28):
at, where they want to get theirsuits and dressed and everything
like that.
And they see my photo tag, like,or I'm in the tag section.
So it's like anything that canreally just propel your name out
to more and more and morepeople, in a way with the time
that you have.
that's really what I focused on.

That makes a lot of sense.
Yeah.
You want to get the most donewith the least amount of effort
For sure.
So, let me ask with that likejewelry example or if you have
any other examples, let me know.
But when you were to tag thephoto on Instagram.
Did you then message thebusiness owner and say like,
Hey, just FYI just did thisengagement session.
Really great couple, they gottheir rings there.

(25:03):
Just wanted to say, I tagged youin the photo.
Feel free to use it.
did you do any sort of likepersonal outreach or was it just
simply a tag and move on?

it was truthfully a tag and move on,
but looking back, I wish I didmore of that because I

Hmm.

of that now.
I share all like my colors withall the vendors I.
So that way then they canutilize my photos.
And that's just another way toget your name out there more and
more, because they're gonnashare your photos, they're gonna
show them couples, they're gonnashare'em on social media, their
website, and they're gonna tagyou.
They're gonna share that's yourphotos.
but back then I wish I would'veutilized that strategy knowing
it could have even expedited theability to go full-time.

Oh man, so much.
So much so for sure.
Like,

Yeah.

like it's a people business.
it's people who want to dealwith people and the more that
you can deal with people, thebetter it's gonna turn out.
Let me ask though, becausetalking about the, limited
amount of time that you hadwhile still working a full-time
job, was there anything that youmaybe spent too much time on
that you realized, oh, thisactually isn't moving the needle

(26:00):
forward in my business.

Yeah.
I think if I had more time, I'dsay that more, in a detailed
format, but I would saysomething that I probably did
invest too much time were a lotof like the nitpicky things when
I would be editing photos.
because in the beginning I'mlike, I need to like, really
make these photos so great forthese clients.

(26:24):
So a lot of like the stray hairsthat are like, you know,

Oh man.
Yeah.
Yeah.

like, you know, it's new that you can
remove exit signs and firehydrants and, fire alarms, all
that with so much ease.
But like.
back then, it would takeforever.
So like, I would do it formaybe, as many photos as I
could, but I would get to thepoint where I'm like, I'm
spending hours and hours andhours on just one section of a
wedding day trying to remove allthese scenes.

(26:50):
And, what I should have done isjust tried to crop more, but to
get them out.
But like, back then was like alot of the nitpicky things that
were in the photos, andrealizing that.
want to try to keep these moreorganic, especially when it
comes to the people, like ofcourse when it comes to family
photos and, couples portraits,you wanna try to clean those up

(27:11):
a little bit as much aspossible.
But I was doing that with like,all sections of a wedding day
and,

Wow.

it was unnecessary, I guess is the best
way to say it.

Yep.
Yep.
That's exactly why it took me amonth to, to edit my first
wedding is I would like stressover, and it wasn't even like
trying to remove obvious,blemishes or anything.
It was like, stressing over likea 10th of a stop of exposure, on
this photo versus the next one.
And I'm like, what am I doing?
Like they're just gonna apply afilter to this photo, post it on
Instagram anyway, like, what amI doing with this?

Instagram filters back then.
Oh my

Oh man, they were so strong.
So strong.
I love that.
So when the time came whereyou're like, maybe I could make
a go of this.
Maybe I could go full time here.
Let me ask, how did you preparefor that?
Did you have a certain set ofnumber of bookings that you knew
that you needed to have?
Was it a revenue goal?
How did you determine now is thetime to go full-time?

Yeah.
Yeah.
So, what I did first is Iforecasted, okay, how many
weddings do I have booked forthe following year and even for
the rest of this year?
And then I looked at, okay, whatis my income now with my current
job and what do I need to make?
I.
At minimum after taxes andexpenses month to month in order
to make this work.

(28:24):
And so I utilized, the netincome goal, to help understand
what I needed to do on a monthlybasis and bring in, after all
those expenses and taxes thatyou have to prepare for in order
to make that jump.
Because it is good to make thatleap.
When you feel ready, but you'vegotta be financially prepared

(28:45):
to, you have to understand howit all works.
And that really helped meunderstand more of the business
side of being an entrepreneurahead of time instead of just
going in knowing that I'm a goodphotographer, so help me set
myself up for success when Itook the leap.
So, for example, say like, yourexpenses that you need to cover
is like$3,000 a month, Becausethat was, what I was bringing

(29:07):
in, like maybe at a previous jobafter taxes.
I'm like, so after taxes,$3,000a month.
Okay, so that's$36,000 a yearnet.
I'm like, so what does that looklike?
Gross.

A lot more.

exactly.
You're like, all right, so whatdoes that like after, taking, a
third of all the income that youmake to set aside for taxes,
like what are my annual expensesgoing to look like based on all
the softwares that I have andpotential, like, a camera
breaking, or I have to updateequipment, education to invest
in all of that.
Like, what's that going to looklike for the year?

(29:41):
And then just like, I lovespreadsheets, so I made this
little spreadsheet to, to helpunderstand, what do I need to be
making annually gross then atthat point in order to make the
jump and then also having aconversation with my wife.
Yeah.
just to make sure, she was ofcourse on board too.
but I think that if you're ableto.

(30:04):
Set yourself up with thatunderstanding.
have an emergency fund that cancover six months of expenses if
something happened and you'renot getting your bookings and so
on, that you can prepare forthings.
And then knowing you're going toinvest in this business
full-time, whole heart into itover your first year, like hard

(30:24):
into it, then I think you'reable To really take that leap.
And that's what I did is Ineeded to understand what do I
need to do for my business overthis first year to be able to go
and take that jump full time.

And what were those things

So it was the setting myself up financially.
it was also thinking about whattype of education do I want to
invest in in the off season,

as far as business goes or like
technicals?

everything, so like, it was, what am I okay at
and what I wanted to be betterat.
So like, maybe it was like, Iwanna learn how to do off-camera
flash, so I'm gonna look atcourses to help the off-camera
flash.
maybe it's areas of, settingmyself up better in CRM systems.
Like, what type of coaches ormentors can help me with that.
thinking about, year after year,what type of investment in, in

(31:11):
coaching and mentorship willhelp you propel yourself as an
entrepreneur, and being okaywith people helping you because
there is only so much that youcan do on your own.
And if you try to succeedwithout investment in any type
of coaching or mentorship, youare only gonna get so far it is.
I truly think it's, it's almostimpossible to have a successful

(31:33):
business, thinking that you cando it without any investment in
others

You know, even, even at like the, at the
short end of that, even if youthink to yourself, I can figure
out this whole photographything, I can figure out this
business thing.
I mean, clearly you went toschool for business.
the technicals are pretty easyto figure out.
It's like even at the least.
Wedding photography could be apretty lonely job and to work
with somebody, It makes it awhole lot less lonely, and

It does help.

it does help.
it means that there's lessdecision fatigue that you have
when trying to decide betweenthis or that.
You can have somebody to like,talk through those ideas and
it's a, it's a huge help andcompletely agree and it's weird.
I feel like we live in thesociety where it's like we know
that we need education and weneed help and we need mentors
and stuff, but also.
We, I don't know, wanna pullourselves up by our bootstraps

(32:23):
and just want to figure it outby ourselves.
like there's this weird splitbetween that.
But, yeah, we need help.
I mean, even if it just helps usget us there faster than a plus.

Yeah.
'cause you

Yeah.

making more an hour at a faster rate.
and you're not gonna be able todo that if you try to figure out
my own'cause that's just time atthat point.
And you're losing out on money.

Exactly.
So speaking of money, let's talkabout this real quick because
you had said, you're shooting15, 20 weddings a year before
going full-time, but I want toknow about making the decision
to go full-time becauseobviously you weren't making
enough to replace a full-timeincome at that point.
So did that mean that you thenneeded to simply shoot more

(33:03):
weddings?
Did you just raise your pricesso that you could shoot the same
amount of weddings?
How did you navigate thatquestion?

Yeah.
so, it was going back to seeing,how many more weddings do I need
to book to reach my certaingross income goal annually?
And then also I did increase myprices because I knew I was
gonna be able to bring morevalue because I was going
full-time.

Hmm.

so I, made a jump on my prices.
I was able to book, double theamount of weddings or more,

Really?

I,

How many weddings are you shooting a
year?

like anywhere around like 45 a year.

What

Yeah.
Yeah.
That's what my friends say too.

You must really like this thing that's.

I do, I do.
I'm telling you, like, I have alot of energy.
I'm a huge extrovert, so like,weddings don't drain me

Are you serious?

yeah.
I'm like, yeah, I'm tired at theend of the day and like, I'm a
little sore.
But, do a lot of like self care,like, solid eating exercise and
all that to help, get throughwedding day well.
But yeah, like I, I get to theend of the wedding day.
I was like, that was fun.
And like, and truthfully, 80% ofthe time I will call, the full
wedding that night.

What you'll shoot an entire wedding day.
You'll come home, you'll importthe cards into your computer and
you'll call through the entirewedding that night.

Yeah,

Dude, you're another species like that is
insane.

my, few of my friends that I have a, like a, a
group text with, they hate me somuch for it

Yeah.
Yeah, I would imagine.
I don't even wanna look at mywedding photos until a week
after the wedding.
That is,

what they usually say.

geez.
Wow.

yeah, I'm not saying I do it every, that's why
I say like around 80% of thetime.
'cause it depends on, is it a,like, do I have multiple
weddings that weekend?
was it a 10 hour day?
Did I have multiplephotographers?

Sure.
Sure.

I at least bare minimum, have them imported
and then organized into folders.
so that way then I'm just readyto move forward with it, going
forward.
But yeah, it's just setting upsystems to help me prepare and
to be able to,'cause myturnaround time is three weeks

Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.

and it's, enticing for people.
'cause I want it to be fresh ontheir minds when they get to
look at their photos.

Yeah.
Yeah.
I would write it into mycontract that I would guarantee
their photos within four weeks.
'cause we had, here in indie, aseries of stories of wedding
photographers just like leavingtown.
I mean, it was like, I don'twanna say that it was an
epidemic, but like those storiesstand out to people, you know,
and like, nobody wants to getstuck.
Yeah.
It's scary.
Nobody wants to be in thatsituation.

(35:38):
So simply having something todifferentiate yourself to say,
Hey, I'm a professional, isimportant, but.

Yeah.

When you don't even want to look at the photos
till a week after you shoot thewedding, like that does put
yourself into a bit of a timecrunch.
So having these workflows andthese systems in place is, is
super important.
Yeah, I'm trying to think, like,I'm still blown away by the
cooling weddings, like 80% ofthe time.
I think I only did that once andit was for like an early morning
like lunch type wedding, and Ithink it was only like, yeah,
no, exactly.
It was like.

(36:06):
I think it was like four and ahalf hours that I was there, and
I was supposed to be there forsix, but like, it just ended
early.
Like it was just one of thoseweddings and, like super young
couple.
and I was like, great, I'm justgonna go ahead and get this
done.
but definitely not 80% of thetime.
My goodness.
So, um,

Yeah.
It helps.

yeah.
Yeah.
so then let's talk more aboutthese systems then that, that
you have, that you try to putinto place.
What are the most importantsystems that you need to have in
place, to prepare yourself to gofull-time as a wedding
photographer?

Yeah, I would say you definitely want a solid
CRM, something like HoneyBook,to be able to have all of your.
Like relational communicationset up beforehand.
I think that, having a solid CRMreally just helps elevate, first
of all, your, your, persona asan expert in this industry.

(36:56):
because then it's like, oh wow,like all of our information is
in this project.
This is really cool, like ourquestionnaires and our invoices
and the contract and all ofthat.
so I think having that, andunderstanding how it works and
investing time into it, isreally helpful, before you go in
full time.
And it's going back to the ideaof setting yourself up for
success.
another thing too is, what doesmy work week look like, and what

(37:17):
are other.
in my life that I wanna makesure aren't gonna be interfered
with in order to be able to makethis, this job work well.
So for me, I'm married, I havekids, so like, I want to make
sure that.
I'm scheduling things out, likeI'm also making sure that I'm
blocking out time to be withthem.
And so what does my work weeklook like then, based on that,

(37:40):
and for me personally, I'll getup in the morning, I'll do a
lot, all my email communicationbefore I have to bring my kids
to where they need to go, so allof the client communication
piece is done for the day.
So that way then when I drop'emoff, I personally, I go to the
gym after that to get my workoutin, and then when I get home, I
hit the ground running with allmy tasks.
And what I do is on Fridays, Iwill out the entire next week

(38:06):
with what I need to do, andreally to figure out, okay, what
sessions do I have?
What calls do I have next week?
What do I need to do to preparefor those calls?
I.
What type of tasks am I going todo in the other hours of the day
and when are those tasks goingto be completed?
Prioritizing this tasks,everything.
So in order to be able to have agood, successful week and not be
able to think about like, whatdo I need to do when I hit, get

(38:26):
to Monday morning or Tuesdaymorning.
I want to make sure that I knowI, my tasks aligned, ready to
go.
So it's also about settingyourself up for what your life
looks like in order to completethe tasks week after week two.
So those truthfully for me arelike more on the important,
facets to making sure you're notgonna overwhelm yourself and you

(38:47):
are going to really prepareyourself to be able to
understand what needs to be doneand when.

That was so helpful.
Like I, I think, no, like, Ifeel like that is just gonna get
over, listened to like, okay,yeah, we get it, plan out your
week, whatever.
But like, there's this idea withlike photographers that like
going full-time is the goal.
If I could just make enoughmoney to go full time, like
everything will be magical andfairies and balloons and like
all these things,

Yeah,

it takes.
You still have a life, you stillhave to live a life.
there's people in your life.
there's kids who are on summervacation.
There's, all these otherresponsibilities that you have
to have and like your businessis here to support that.
Like, it shouldn't be the thingthat takes over your life.
And I think what you just sharedthere, perfectly speaks to that
and says like, Hey.

(39:34):
You need to focus on your life.
don't neglect the people who areimportant to you, the things
that are important to you.
But you do still need to getyour tasks done and like, and do
your job.
and I hope that people listen tothat and think and really
imagine what that looks like forthem.
And whether it's just take aFriday afternoon or a Sunday
morning, that's when I do myplanning to plan out the week
ahead.
Just how beneficial that can be.

(39:55):
'cause it also gives you kindalike a goalpost to reach for,
because for me personally, Idon't know if you, have this
problem, but like if I don'thave a clear set of what needs
done that day, I am gonna likejust stare at my computer until
my brain is fried trying to doall the things nonstop.

Yeah.
it gets scrambled and you getscrambled

Yeah.
I.

kind of like clustered in your head and
you're like, what the heck do Ido?
I do what's important to getdone.

Right, right.
And then you end up likewatching YouTube tutorials.
'cause it feels, it feels likeyou're making progress.
You're like, oh, I'm learningsomething.
But then you realize, you'relike, oh, I haven't done
anything in an hour and a half.
And then you hate yourself.
'cause now you have to likeactually get work done and then
you try to, so anyway, I totallyget that.
Just having a plan is incrediblyimportant.
So, then let me ask you this,because, being a full-time

(40:41):
wedding photographer for a year,like huge accomplishment,
fantastic.
But what are you doing to ensurelongevity?
What are you doing to ensurethat you stay fully booked, for
the next year?

Yeah.
Yeah.
And that's a good question.
So, I love this book and Iactually, when I was, a teacher,
I was a business teacher, for ayear.
And one of my favorite booksthat I had for my students in
their career class was the SevenHabits of Highly Effective
People.
and my favorite habit is tobegin with the end in mind.
So for me, what I want to do islike, begin with, the end in

(41:13):
mind can look very differentdepending on, how long you wanna
look ahead.
For me, I can look 30 years downthe road when maybe I want to be
fully done working.
maybe it's five years down theroad.
but use like one to two yearsdown the road as an example.
so what I wanna do is, thinkabout.
Okay.
my end goal is in the year is Iwanna be able to book 30

(41:38):
weddings for the next year, likemaybe by September.
and so I'm like, okay, so that'smy big goal, like that's your
30,000 foot FU goal, right?
All right, so now to get to thatgoal, like what are the steps I
need to take?
So I love to work backwards.
All right, so like I have 30weddings booked, so what do I
need to do to get there?
So I got my 30,000 foot view, ofmy goal, and now I need to, to

(42:03):
narrow it down.
so some of the best ways to get.
Bookings is first to buildrelationships with vendors.
looking at the different ways toget bookings.
So you've got like threedifferent, maybe three different
ways that you're gonna focus ongetting bookings is
relationships with vendors.
you are investing in yourmarketing and social media and
maybe, you are, meeting withdifferent people in the

(42:23):
industry.
now you've got your 10,000 footviews in each of those, your
three 10,000 foot views Then youhave to look at how am I going
to make that all happen?
then you gotta break it downeven more.
So being able to, almost likeyou can just get a big piece of
paper, put it on your wall,write your big goal, then write
your three goals under that,that you need to reach in order

(42:45):
to reach that goal.
And then strategize and writedown like everything that you
need to do be able to meet thosegoals.
So creating good relationshipswith vendors to maybe eventually
get on preferred vendor list.
I would write down, send thosevenues the full gallery a week
after the couple gets their,their wedding gallery.
Find a time to, meet up with thevendor and say, if I ever work

(43:09):
here, I wanna know what youreally value out of your wedding
photographers, build thatrelationship.
and other ways they just, evenconnecting with other
photographers so you can getreferrals.
So it's about finding ways to bestrategic and intentional with
those goals.
So that way then, you canultimately reach that 30,000
foot view.

(43:29):
So it's like kind of bringingthe feet down, breaking it
apart.
And that really applies also tomaybe your 20 year goal.
So maybe in 20 years you'relike, I want to be five to 10
high-end weddings all around theworld.
And like have an associate team.
So same idea.
Write the big goal down.

(43:50):
What are the three main areas,that you need to really focus on
to make that happen over time?
So it's really thinking aboutbeginning with the end in mind.
So that way you can havelongevity in your business, so
that way you're strategic,you're intentional, and then you
also have to be disciplined init too, you know?
So that's just how I approach mybusiness is my big goals.

(44:12):
I have my whiteboard with myannual goals.
I have my off season projectsthat I work on for goals in that
regard.
then I have, my big 20 year goalas well, so yeah, strategic,
intentional, and discipline ismy three words from a business.

I think people who are listening, to this
episode well, they won't, theywon't know this, but I saw you
looking off at your board rightthere.
Like,

Yeah,

like, okay, there's this, there's that.
And like you, you're obviouslydoing what it is that you're
talking about, and that's,incredibly important.
So, I love everything aboutthat.
Being intentional makes life,feel a lot easier.
there's that quote oh man, I'mtotally gonna butcher it.
It's something to the effectthat, dang it, I just had it in
my head.
It was like, I would rather, gofull steam ahead on an imperfect

(44:57):
goal than waste all of my timeplanning a perfect goal.
Right?
'cause it's like some, takingsome sort of action just because
you write down a 20 year goal.
Doesn't mean that that's gonnabe your goal 20 years from now,
but it's like, as long as itgets you a year ahead, you can
then adjust and, make thesecorrections.
So that's,

Absolutely.

hugely beneficial.
And I think a lot of people whocome at photography from the
creative side rather than thebusiness side, really struggle
with those things, myselfincluded.
So to hear somebody likeyourself with, uh, this
education and this experience tosay these things is, helpful.
it just gives that insight oflike what we should be thinking
of and developing kind ofA-A-C-E-O type mindset on, on

(45:35):
building the business that wewant to create.
So I appreciate you sharingthat.
That was awesome.

Yeah.
No, I'm happy to do that.

Well, we're coming to the end of our time
here, Taylor.
So, I got one last question foryou before, I let you go.
And it's, there's a lot ofphotographers listening right
now who, maybe they've beendoing it for six months, maybe
they've been doing it for fiveyears, but like their dream is
to go full time shooting.
What is something that you wishthat somebody had told you

(46:05):
earlier in your journey to helpyou get there faster?

I think the most important piece of advice
is to network as much aspossible with the right
intention behind networking.
So it's thinking about who arethe people that are gonna be in
my corner, in my circle that aregoing to bring the most value,
and that are just going to begood people in general to have
in your life.

that can be a hard thing at times.
And it can be, difficult to putin the time to find those
people, especially like ifyou're getting new into an
industry.
But people love working withpeople and,

Yeah,

more that you can do that, the better it's
gonna turn out well.
I.
Taylor man, thank you so muchfor coming on today and sharing
everything that you have.
before I let you go, share withus where we can learn more about
you online and also tell meabout your podcast.

Yeah, so you can find me on Instagram and
TikTok, mainly at TPIphotography.
And my website is tpiphotography.com.
TPI are my initials if you'recurious.
Um, and then I also have my ownpodcast called The Wedding Lens
Lounge, and it's just a placethat you can come and listen to
my conversations with otherguests, and it's more of just a

(47:14):
laid back conversation, whereI've been, bring in people that
are experts in the industry fromlocally in my area and also all
around the country and world.
And, to be able to just bringinsight into what they're good
at and what they love to do.
sharing what, sharing that withme and with the others.
So, it's just a lot of fun tohave these guest experts on.
I always learn a lot.

(47:35):
When I'm bringing them on too,which is really, fun and
insightful.
But, yeah, it's just a greatresource for you guys.
and I would love for you tolisten in.
It's on Apple and Spotify.
All right.
Today's action item being theone thing that if you implement
it today, we'll move the needleforward in your photography is
this, start with the end inmind.
Having a plan to where you wantto take your photography is

(47:57):
paramount to making progress.
That's a no brainer, And that'sespecially true to, those of us
who maybe it doesn't comenaturally to.
So here's how you do it.
You create a long term goal,even if it's just one or two
years out, that's fine.
Think about where you want to bein one or two years and write
that down, and then just simplywork backwards to plan out how

(48:18):
to make that happen.
As in what has to happen in thenext three months to ensure that
you're making progress towardsyour one year goal.
And then from there, what has tobe done this week to ensure that
you're making progress on yourthree month goal that will then
help you achieve your one yeargoal.
Starting with the end in mindmay not be sexy, but it will

(48:38):
help you to get excited and tomake progress on your photo
journey.
So sit down Friday evening,Sunday morning, you know,
whatever it is.
Plan out the week ahead so thatyou know that you're
prioritizing the thing that isgonna be most important to you
and your growth.
Alright, that's it for today.
Until next time, remember, themore that you shoot today, the

(48:59):
better of a photographer you'llbe tomorrow.
Talk soon.

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Episode Transcript

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.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Stuff You Should Know

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Lessons for Surviving Your First Year of Full-Time Photography with Taylor Isselhard

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