Niche pickin'
"Identify your niche and dominate it. And when I say dominate, I just mean work harder than anyone else could possibly work at it." - Nate Parker
The single most vital piece of advice I give to struggling PTPs is to tighten your niche.
But if you haven't even launched yet, how are you supposed to know what target market you want to serve?
Make it up.
Like so much in the startup phase of your business, you're just going to have to make the best educated guess you can. You pays your money, you takes your chances.
To make your life and business easier, err on the side of fun.
What do you love?
Who do you identify with?
What market best aligns with your energy, personality, and experience in life?
Every niche - children, babies, couples, families, seniors, events, weddings and so on - can be broken into ever more refined subsets.
For example, I'm a high school senior photographer. But my ideal clients are performance seniors - theater, choir, cheer, dance. I was in choir back in high school, which puts me in a unique position to serve this clientele. Some of my first clients were my classmates.
My wife is a newborn photographer. Her ideal clients are home-birthing, breastfeeding, all-natural "crunchy" moms - people just like her; folks she can relate to based on her life experience as a mother to our three kids. For her ideal clients, she's "the" photographer for them.
The more we embrace a tight niche, the easier it is for our ideal clients to know we are "the" photographer for them.
This is powerful voodoo.
Everything from artistic growth to marketing becomes easier and expedited with a well-defined path.
Choosing a tight niche pre-launch is not about making the perfect permanent decision. It's about putting a stake in the ground, choosing the best path you can, then allowing yourself the grace and flexibility to take imperfect action. What's important is that you move forward boldly - otherwise you'll get stuck at the starting line. You'll be fantasizing about the perfect photos, location, web site, lens, or marketing piece while your competition is scooping up your ideal clients.
Procrastination is a disservice to you, your talent, your passion, and your clients. Your people are out there thirsty for the blessing of your art and personality, being under-served by other photographers who aren't the perfect fit for them.
The more you play and have fun, the more you shoot, the more you practice, the more you Do The Work instead of sitting in front of your computer waiting on "the right time," the more clearly you'll see the unique, right path for you.
You'll never see past that hill until you've taken all the steps that get you to the top.
Every crest gives a new perspective, new knowledge, new experience, a fresh look at the best path to carve up the mountain of success.
Keep moving forward.
Follow your heart, and follow your fun.
Never forget: you're a part time professional photographer because you want to be; because you choose to be. Even the hard stuff - overcoming limiting beliefs and stepping out of your comfort zone and moving forward even when you feel completely unready - should be fun. Not easy, not simple, not without fear or Resistance... But fun. Purposeful. Fulfilling.
Be persistent.
Be tenacious.
You'll score your first paying client.
You'll win your first photography contest.
You'll earn your way to your first four figures - then five figures - of income as a part time professional photographer.
You'll refine your art, marketing, and business until you're booked solid shooting clients you love for the pay you're worth.
That's the sweet spot for the PTP. That's the promised land.
It exists. It is real - there is no debate. And it's waiting for you.
If everybody is doing it one way, there's a good chance you can find your niche by going exactly in the opposite direction. - Sam Walton
Next Steps
- List: Make a list of every niche of photography you could imagine doing: babies, families, commercial, headshots, events, weddings, quinceaneras, children, seniors, couples, engagement, fashion, corporate, whatever you can dream up.
- Cull: Put a big, bold strike through every niche that you're sure you would not enjoy.
- Prioritize: From what remains, strike out everything except your top three niches. Really dig deep here, introspect, and ask yourself, "What three niches would I have the most fun shooting?"
- Experiment: For the next three months, you're going to shoot four different clients in each of these three niches. Free or paid, doesn't matter. The goal is to cut loose, be yourself, have fun, and see which niche you enjoy shooting the most. We need to do four shoots each niche to rule out dud clients or bad days on your part.
- Book: Get on the phone or social and start reaching out to your circle to get booked solid for the next three months shooting within these three niches, four shoots each. Try your best to make these shoots with people two degrees of separation from you - at most, acquaintances. If you just shoot within your circle of friends and family, you won't get a real feel for working with typically unknown clients coming in cold to a shoot.
- After Action Report: After every shoot, do an AAR. Journal your emotions and energy, how much you enjoyed (or didn't) the shoot, and explore why. These notes will prove vital to getting clear on where you want to take your business, and what niche you're most excited to serve.
- Get Clarity: Three months may feel like a long test period, but what are you doing otherwise? If you're already steamrolling along, keep up the good work - but if you're reading this, you're probably struggling to get where you want to be. Try this, see what clarity it brings you, benefit from the practice and contacts and testimonials and referrals, and see which direction you want to grow your business... For now. As always, it's your business: you can change anything and everything anytime you want.
- Brainstorm Session: get out your pen and paper. Guess: what's going to be your absolute favorite niche? Let's pretend this is fact, that you know it to be true in your heart of hearts. What will your business look like now that you're going to focus your efforts exclusively on reaching your ideal clients in this niche? What will your marketing copy say? What will you feature on your web site? How will you practice and grow your artistic skills to serve this niche? Who will you co-op market with? Where are your clients - where do they shop, hang out, visit the doctor, work, play? What are your ideal clients' interests and hobbies? What non-profits does your ideal client support? Play with these ideas, flesh out a clear picture of what your business and marketing will look like now that you have a tight niche in mind. And enjoy how much more easily all these questions are to answer, knowing who it is you want to serve, and why.
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