Building a business I don’t want to escape from: This Photographer’s Values.
This year, I celebrated a few different occasions:
The start of my third decade on Planet Earth… or shall I say, my 30th birthday, pretty big one.
The anniversary of throwing my marketing career up in the air because I was traumatised by the “bing” of Microsoft Teams. (I never did like Bill Gates.)
The anniversary of of starting the business of my dreams with no real plan, back-up or savings.
Then, as this year has swiftly progressed into June, it got me thinkin’… I really, really love my job.
I am my own boss, my job is creative, technical and personable (all rolled into one!), and most importantly, I work with lovely clients who value and appreciate me for who I am. I am paid to do something that actually lights me up and energises me - a surprisingly sad rarity in today’s ‘hustle-culture’.
As I reflected on how I had built my business over the past year, I realised something that feels quite simple, but also quite big: my business is basically just my morals and values, turned into creative action.
How I spend my time, who I work with, how I make decisions, what I prioritise… it all reflects the kind of life I want to live long-term. Not just in a career that I’m building, but a way of ‘being’ that I want to grow into. Creative work can blend beautifully with your real-life. There’s no real separation between “you” and “the work”. It all blends together.
I have boiled it down to just five things that aren’t really goals in the traditional sense, but more a guidebook that creates a genuinely sustainable career for myself. They’re more like quiet commitments; small decisions I keep coming back to when I’m unsure of what the “right” next step is.
1. the business must always ‘feel like me’
When I first started this business, I bought a few courses about making multi-figure months as a photographer. We all need money, right - so how was I to make mine? Well, none of which felt as though they resonated with my nature. It was hard, commercial, and rigid - far from the personal relationship I wanted to create with my clients. There’s an awful lot of pressure in creative industries to grow quickly, stay visible, post constantly, and shape yourself into whatever seems to be working for other people. “Be the next big thing!!!”
Nah, I’ve stopped trying to do that. Instead, I’m focusing on building something that feels aligned with how I naturally work; slower, more thoughtful, more relational. Something that feels sustainable not just for now, but for years to come, with whichever path this journey takes me.
I don’t want a business that only works when I’m constantly pushing it… I want one that feels steady and grounded in who I am.
2. i only Work with people I genuinely like
Would we go for a cuppa together for fun? If yes, let’s party!
This one has become non-negotiable.
I’ve learned that the best results always happen when there’s a genuine sense of ease between me and the person I’m working with. It doesn’t mean everything has to be easy from the start, or that every client is exactly the same, but it does mean I pay attention to how the working relationship feels for both of our sake.
If something feels off, I can’t ignore it anymore. There’s too much energy that goes into this work to spend it in the wrong places, and clients invest in my work, not only for the imagery, but also for the experience. They enjoy working with me because I feel like a familiar friend… and so, they relax, enjoy being in front of the camera and eventually, get the best images of their career.
Win-win.
3. Prioritising real-life over constant media Output
This has been a big shift for me.
When you run a creative business, there’s always more you could be doing - more to post, more to share, more to build, more to optimise. In today’s age of social contagion, every business owner feels the pressure of being a content creator as well as their actual role. More engagement, more metrics, more following! Isn’t that the only way to grow a business?
What if "more" isn't the goal in marketing?
My audience grows because I share what’s relevant to our relationship. Some of the most important parts of my life and work will never make it online, and I’m learning to be okay with that. Not everything needs to be content. Some things are just meant to be lived.
4. Choosing depth over scale
I don’t need to turn this business into a lean-mean-content-machine - I will only scale it as far as is genuine. Sure, being a millionaire might be fun to some, but it’s not my marker of success.
I don’t need a gazillion followers, a huge team of employees or to be shooting for Vogue in order to consider my business viable. I’d rather build something that feels meaningful to me, even if it stays small by traditional standards.
That looks like:
handling the admin myself to nurture client relationships
working closely with people on a 1:1 level
taking extra time on each project and not expecting a kidney in return
creating work that feels considered, not commercial
and building relationships that last beyond a single shoot
There’s something really grounding about that way of working for me. Some may call it small, I’ll call it human.
5. Trusting my own pace
This is probably the hardest one for me - I’ve always found it very easy to feel like I’m behind in some way. When you spend a lot of time online and see how fast other people seem to be moving, comparison can become an infectious notion. But I’ve started to notice that when I rush, I lose clarity, get flustered or simply become ill. And when I steady to my natural pace, I work well, feel better and am genuinely happy.
Many things have changed for me in the past year, one of which is my journey with God. While this is something deeply personal to me that I don’t feel necessary to bring into my work-life, it has shaped the way in which I navigate my career. Coming from a very black-and-white atheist background, then later transitioning into the flamboyance of new-age spirituality, and finally settling into myself now; this belief has taught me that I am exactly where I need to be right now, and no one can argue otherwise. No matter your beliefs, this happens to be a universal truth - this is just how it sunk in for me.
I’m trying to trust that more, and so far, I’m kinda liking it! Not everything needs to happen quickly, glamorously or with a cherry on-top - don’t let the online world tell you otherwise.
My final thought
If I step back from all of this, I think what I’m really trying to do is build a business that doesn’t feel separate from who I am. My work is something that reflects my values, not just my skills. It will evolve alongside me, as I move through life, and I cannot wait to see how it does so!
At 80, I don’t think I’ll care how fast I grew, or how “successful” it looked from the outside… I think I’ll care whether it felt honest, whether I liked the way I showed up truthfully and whether I stayed close to the things that mattered to me.
And this is just me trying to make sure I do.
Love, Soph x