Financial wellbeing is important when relaxing. When I was 18, I worked as a concierge in hotels New York City. I was tired of dealing with annoying tourists and wanted to actually enjoy hospitality rather than work for it. At 20 while studying advertising and marketing, I was lucky to find a client who needed photography and production services. The client was a water brand, they wanted content around wellness. I made 16K that first month producing and photographing for them. Obviously, with the money, I started to travel non-stop. While abroad I took the time to relax and enjoy but at a certain point I still needed to find a way where I could continue to travel but also work.
It’s risky when you aren’t in one set place and I was always afraid that if leaving New York, I would loose work opportunities but was lucky that photography gave me the ability to travel and I even found clients that loved the idea that I would be visiting exotic beaches so I could shoot content for them in these places without them having to produce a big shoot.
Here’s some steps on how you can take vacations and work too.
Step 1: Find Your Niche
- Discovering a niche: I decided to choose beauty brands as my niche, specifically natural beauty so that natural locations like beaches and jungles would be desirable.
Step 2: Networking and Finding Clients
- Leveraging past connections: I was lucky that I was born overly social. I talk to everyone. I’ll be sitting at a cafe and talk to the person next to me. That is how I found the marketing director of my water client.
- Finding new clients: Outreach on Instagram to brands is super helpful because the brand can see your account and feel your essence. DM clients and ask for the emails to send them a proposal. Normally it’s great to ask if they are in need of any upcoming content and to mention where you will be traveling.
Step 3: Utilize Online Platforms
- Showcasing work: Showcase your work and find gigs (like Instagram, Creatively, Upwork).
Step 4: Managing Finances
- Setting rates: Creating rates depends on your experience and ranges from client to client, sometimes clients will present to you a budget or they will ask you to create a budget with a breakdown of costs.
Step 5: Building a Portfolio
- Documenting your journey: Update your portfolio as you shoot. This is essential for finding new clients. Post on your instagram shoots with behind the scenes.
Enjoy!