u/Acceptable-Day8395

For those of you who mainly work in a specific industry/niche - what do you think was more important to you - How much you enjoyed what was actually in front of your lens, or the maximum earning potential and viability? Or both?

For example - you might work with, I don’t know, surgeons. It’s a viable income, but you wouldn’t go to a surgeons clinic on Saturday for fun without your camera. You enjoy the filming but not necessarily what’s in front of you.

I guess the obvious “best of both worlds” answer would be to find something where both elements are true at the same time. However, if you only had to go off one of these factors, which would you prioritise?

Or maybe it makes sense when entering a new niche to make sure it’s something you would do for fun, to prepare you for the fact you might have to do it for a while without earning much at all.

For those of you who have successfully completed their PPL, if you had to give one piece of advice to someone just starting that you wish you knew before you began, what would that advice be?

For the last 4 years I've been doing what people would call entrepreneurship. But one email from a client I got tonight was "the final straw" that has made me sit back in my chair and objectively consider if quitting is failure or not.

My experience can be summed up by a specific image: a plane that manages to take off and fly well but, for some reason, never reaches cruise altitude (if we define cruise as a situation where cashflow is scaled and is consistent). Maybe it runs out of fuel, maybe it just gets lost, or maybe an engine fails. but I don't know - the cause is the very thing im grappling with and trying to figure out. I'm very willing to accept the potential fact that this reason might be something wrong with me. I'm not going to sit here and put 100% of the blame on external factors.

If we look at the most recent things I've been doing, I think it'll be better. just about a year and a half ago now I started doing professional video/photo work with my camera. I had always liked doing photo/video as a hobby, but I started doing professional work with clients about 1.5 yrs ago. I started just doing free work in exchange for travel costs, and I still do think this was the best way to start, despite it being controversial. I got better, gained experience, and it actually opened up countless doors to people who eventually became my first real freelance clients.

Then once I had some experience and a portfolio I started freelance work in various areas. From making videos for estate agents of luxury homes to working on a close level with a multi millionaire business man helping him with everything from marketing his brands and businesses to filming content. That was actually the thing that taught me a lot. I won't go into detail, but that guy ended up being a very bad faith partner who i cut ties with. this was the main event that taught me I needed to stop treating what i was doing as a hobby first and a business second. I liked what i was doing with him, but I was treating it more like a fun hobby than a strict business operation. I didn't have a clear contract with him. I didn't have a clear fixed scope of work. It was a mess.

After this I decided to move away from freelance and launch a creative studio providing my creative services to a specific niche of clients. I decided I wouldn't get anywhere being so broad. (well, turns out I wouldn't end up getting anywhere with this too, but anyway)
I closed my first client for a monthly fee. First shoot went great. He was happy. I was happy. I was doing it right this time. Clear contract. Professional communication only (no texting a client unrelated to work like I was doing when i was freelance, for example)

I began outreach. Plenty of interest. Plenty of validation from people praising my work. So clearly my service was of a high standard. Things were looking very positive. But then I hit the classic service based business BS. A prospect gets to the finish line (signing on for a monthly retainer fee). Then they just disappear. Last email I get from him said "we're looking forward to getting started ASAP". I'm not sure, maybe getting started ASAP does mean ghosting my next 3 email replies. And before you say it no this didn't just happen once. Time after time someone edges me with interest. Monday it looks like this is a done deal by the way they're talking and then Tuesday it looks like it's over.

Tonight I get an email from my first client who has been rescheduling shoots for the last 3 months telling me that we won't be continuing. And that's when I sat back and thought - what the hell am i doing wrong. this client specifically - like i said, was happy with my work, multiple times talked about working together long term, etc. I know for a fact i'm not bad at what I do. I have not had a (paying) client who has been unsatisfied with me. So I don't know what i'm doing wrong.

Maybe in service based business it really is true that its all a numbers game. But so what, do I just bang my head against the wall for another 5 months? for some reason, i suspect the results will not suddenly change. Yes the obvious answer would be to pivot and take a different approach - but the point is - it seems like I'm doing things right. I am very good at what I offer. I have received market validation. I have been paid. But nothing ever scales to become something viable.

Since I picked up a camera professionally there have been benefits, significant ones.
Life experience, becoming really good at photo/video, learning a lot about people and business.
But it seems like I haven't quite learnt enough to have a viable business.

I'm young so i've had the luxury to keep failing for the last 4 years. But I wonder if 4 years of failure is enough time to maybe face the possibility that I'm simply not cut out for this life for whatever reason.

If you've read this far, thank you, and i'd love to hear your thoughts if you think you might have something to say