A few months back I wrote a post called 5 Reasons Why You Should Become a Professional Photographer. (As if anyone needs more convincing to jump on that career ship!) Today we look at 3 more reasons why working for yourself rules. While they’re not all specifically geared towards freelance photography, I’m sure that you can relate to some or all of them.
If for some reason the gloss has worn off of your career, or if you’re not yet a working full or part time photographer, here’s a little reminder as to why you do this, or what you have to look forward to.
1. You Can’t Wait To Go To Work
4:30 AM comes pretty early, especially after a long night of star gazing and beers around the campfire, not to mention after the ten-mile hike in just so that you could catch the sunrise in some particularly gorgeous mountain valley. Sure, the sleeping bag is warm, but the thought of capturing brilliant light on that peak reflecting in the lake yanks you right out into the chilly darkness. Don’t forget your gloves, the tripod legs will be cold after sitting out next to your tent all night.
Or, maybe it’s 3:30 AM, you’re at home and you just can’t sleep. Your brain won’t turn off; it’s humming with ideas and all you want to do is get up and start working. You just don’t want to get going that early unless its yours. That was me this morning, when the idea for this post came to mind. Believe me, I’ve usually got magical sleeping powers. Just ask anybody who has camped with me. However, even sometimes I can’t activate them when I’ve got work on my brain.
2. You Get To Work Half Time
One of the wonderful things about being self employed is that it allows you the flexibility to work half time. Yep, that’s right, half time, and the best part is that you get to choose which 12 hours each day you’re going to put into your business. Oh, and actually, sometimes it ends up being 14 hours, but you get to choose which 14 they are. Don’t worry, you can break them up with an afternoon bike ride and go back to work after dinner.
3. You’d Do It For Free
This is an important one, because when you start out, you may very well be working for free. Not that you’ll shoot jobs for free, but if you add up all the time that you put into your business between photography, office work, marketing, social media, creative brainstorming, and divided up your income by how may hours you actually put into your business, it might not come to much. Especially when you’re starting out.
And you know what? Who cares. You love what you do and you wouldn’t trade it for anything. Not even for a million dollars. Hmmm… well, maybe a million, but only if I get to keep the camera gear.
Amen, Dan. Self-employment is the hardest, yet most rewarding life style that exists. It’s a 24/7 job that often doesn’t feel like work. My favorite part is being able to structure my days the way I want…usually.