How Kelly Heck Quit Her Day Job To Follow Her Photography Dream
Hey! My name is Kelly Heck, like “what the heck!?”, and I am a solo entrepreneur working out of my home (home office life is not for everyone, but I LOVE it). Photography makes up the bulk of my career, and most of my clients are business owners, entrepreneurs, and influencers seeking photographs to illustrate their stories or highlight their teams.
Because I am B2B focused, most of my photo bookings center around Staff Headshots, Commercial Portraiture, Personal Branding Photography, and Product Photography. But I also love working with small families and graduating seniors! And even though I am not the lead, I often accompany my husband on Video Shoots, so I also market that avenue through my website.
As a resident in Central Maryland, most of my customers are within a 2-hour drive. But every once in a while I get to jump on a plane. The furthest I have traveled for work in Florida and California!
Ever since I left my full-time salaried day job, I’ve always earned more working for myself (even during my first year). While my incoming earnings are completely sporadic throughout the year, my average income remains fairly consistent. What I have changed over the years, however, is my pricing. I love seeing two things in my bookkeeping reports. First, my conversion rates, increase from year to year. When I see that my success rate (booking new leads) jumps from 74% to 82% in just a couple of years, I get pretty excited! It means my approach is getting stronger from year to year, and to me, that speaks to a better-served end client. Second, seeing how price increases affect bookings and ultimately income. The year I decided to cut out the little jobs and stop doing the “shoot and burn” method, I secured half as many bookings but made the same annual income. That means I succeeded in doubling my price or halving my workload. Whichever way you want to look at it, I find that quite exciting! (I can generate reports like this through my beloved CRM tool, HoneyBook)
What's your backstory and how did you get into entrepreneurship?
Before photography became my career focus, before I had even made it out of grade school, I experienced a cliché lightbulb moment. Chasing a butterfly with a 35mm film camera, I stopped in my tracks at about age 13 or 14 and decided photography was MY THING and that was going to be my focus and goal from this day forward. Knowing early on what I wanted to do was helpful. I took classes in photography. I pursued my first few jobs at local photo studios. I started taking little jobs that cost almost nothing. I submitted photos to a local section of the newspaper and got in! I started shooting for a local magazine. Finally, I went to art school to earn my bachelor's in Photography.
Learn as much as you can in all areas of your trade, business, customer service, and finances. All are equally important and can make or break your business.
Time, practice, mistakes, comparison, in the photography world there are so many avenues to validate your skills/ideas/approach to improve your business. Mistakes are a big one though, when you make a mistake you figure out what you have to do to NEVER make that mistake again and your process improves leaps and bounds. Opportunities to learn and grow are the most valuable to your career.
Financially through this process, obviously as a kid, I didn’t have access to much-earned income. I saved everything from birthdays, holidays, a small allowance, and what little I did earn at my first couple of kid jobs. That money went towards my first big camera purchase at age 16! I think financial savvy and financial control are a huge deal if you are working for yourself. I was really lucky to have parents who instilled wise financial principles into me so that I had opportunities like this to not only test my interest in the photography field but to launch my career!
Take us through your entrepreneurial journey. How did you go from day 1 to today?
Knowing what I wanted for a career, I secured a 5+ year position as an assistant/photographer at a youth sports company from about age 16 to 21 (and they are still great friends!). After completing my college degree out of state at SCAD, I secured a full-time office job in graphic/web design and marketing. I held on to that job for 8 years until I left to work for myself full time. I had already self-funded my photo and office equipment, so financially I wasn’t worried. But what made the difference was my deep connection with the local business community. My fellow business owners supported me like you wouldn’t believe!
Behind the scenes
As an introvert, networking is hard. I’m sure many of you feel it too. The business community here in Central Maryland was my saving grace. They welcomed me with open arms and allowed me to get so comfortable that I became the epitome of an extrovert! Who you know, good communication, and being likable are equally important characteristics as developing your actual skills and product. I can't tell you how many times clients rave about how nice I am, which makes me wonder what a-holes they’ve had to endure in the past. Haha!
Solo entrepreneurs also have to put their noses to the grindstone. For years, I came home from an 8-hour workday and spent 4 more hours working on my website, organic SEO, and honing my portfolio. The value of learning these skills is priceless. Every business owner should understand the basics of organic SEO. Even learning how to build and maintain your website isn’t that bad. But it does take commitment. I’m lucky to have these skills, as it saves me so much in my operating/marketing budget.
And I’m going to hit on relationships again. I will admit I don’t have a ton of these, but I have a few individuals and companies that regularly send me referrals. They know that I will treat their referrals with the utmost respect and a wonderful end product. It’s never a “what do I get out of this relationship” sort of transaction. My referrers send me clients because they know that their referral will be happy, period.
How are you doing today and what does the future look like?
Things are going pretty well, even though these last two years with COVID. But I will admit, I know I’m not a money-making leader in this industry. I’ve decided to take things a bit easier the last few years. I see my fellow photogs posting about shooting 40+ weddings this year, plus mini sessions and families and engagements and babies. I fret sometimes about not being busy like them (the comparison down spiral is real for ALL of us). But I keep a light schedule and make a modest income. I have shifted from my life is about work, to having a life that is supported by just the right amount of work. Just because you are an entrepreneur doesn’t mean you have to work your life away. And I remind myself that I prefer my freedom and flexibility more than being overbooked and overworked.
My expenses are relatively low, usually not exceeding 10% of my annual income. I usually get about 1,000 hits on my website monthly when I keep up with my self-propelled marketing. As you read earlier, my booking conversion rate is hovering in the 80%s. I have about 1,500 subscribers, who receive an educational Kelly Heck Photography Email with an educational article 1x per month (3 recent samples are shared below, click any to read the related article). My social media following is weak, in my opinion (I dislike social media and am an inconsistent user). Yet without it, I still manage to maintain it! Social media is a great resource, but it is not necessary to build a successful business and strong following.
Today, as I commuted down 1 flight of stairs to my office, my method of operations makes me happy. I have a lot of freedom because I am not chained to an 8-hour workday. It gives me time to cook lunch from scratch, walk my dogs, and run errands. And when I sit back down to continue working, I feel refreshed and happy. I also love that I do not have to maintain a commercial office. YOUR office is my studio. I come to you. No office space means relatively no overhead. I don’t have huge bills to cover before I start making a profit every month. No rent and no extra electricity/water/internet/insurance bills mean all that savings stays with me. And fewer bookings means I have more time to focus on and communicate with each of my amazing clients. We all WIN!
While I have no actionable steps for expansion in place, I’d love to pull in some larger and more refined commercial photo shoots and video shoots. We are close to several major cities, including Baltimore, Columbia, Frederick, Washington D.C., York, and Pittsburg. But I am not in a rush and will continue to allow these areas of growth to happen slowly over time.
What platform/tools do you use for your business and why?
HoneyBook is the CRM tool for my photography business. Their software helps me streamline my business processes from inquiry to invoice. Through HoneyBook I can manage projects, book clients, sign contracts online, send invoices, accept payments, and set up a semi-automatic workflow with ready-to-use templates. (You can use my HoneyBook referral link to save a little on your subscription!)
Canva is a free online tool I visit often to make quick pretty graphics and collages. You can design everything here, including but not limited to social media graphics, presentations, posters, documents, and way more.
MailChimp is my email campaign platform of choice. Their system is super easy to use, the templates are simple yet attractive, and it is free to use for up to 2,000 contacts.
Google Reviews is the main avenue I push for feedback from clients because it helps your biz listing stand out on Google and gives your rankings a nice little boost. Plus, almost everyone uses Google!
What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?
It has been a long time since I read this textbook, but Best Business Practices for Photographers by John Harrinton was by far the most beneficial resource I’ve found. It is chock full of detail, and real-life examples, and gave me a strong foundation and confidence to get started.
Otherwise, I mostly read and listen to Personal Enrichment-style pieces. Jim Rohn, Dave Ramsey, and Jen Sincero are a few authors and content creators that come to mind.
The other educational resource I have found priceless is Fuel Your Photos - they offer tons of free SEO resources (including a podcast), as well as an SEO & BLOG Online Course.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?
Always be transparent. I am honest with inquiries if it’s an area that I don’t have a lot of experience in, or if I don’t have a certain piece of equipment. That honestly often results in a booking. I admit to my inquiry that we might be learning something together, and clients appreciate that truth.
Be annoyingly clear. Lengthening my contracts and adding more steps to my workflow usually happened because of a misunderstanding or mistake. Clear and repeated communication with clients will help minimize issues.
Learn as much as you can in all areas of your trade, business, customer service, and finances. All are equally important and can make or break your business.
Reach out to others in your field. I have a handful of friends and acquaintances in the photo industry (as well as other entrepreneurs) that I trust and lean on. Having others that you can talk to about tough situations/decisions, venting about P.I.T.A.s, and sharing your wins, is a nice boost to your spirit. Knowing others get it and have been in your position also makes you feel less alone in your struggles, especially if you are a solo entrepreneur.
Don’t be afraid to let a job or client go. Well, it is terrifying! But you will be amazed at how good it feels. And I have three related points here;
Try not to take on every client and every job, even if you are desperate for income. This can lead to accepting “cheap” clients. They always take more time and cost you more money and sanity. Your brainpower is better spent winning higher quality clients.
Don’t get pushed into discounting. Accepting lower pay from a new customer risks you working with someone who you can never charge full price with, who values savings over quality. (Discounts can make sense, however, for loyal returning customers.)
Someone once gave me the advice “FREE or FULL PRICE”, and I see this lesson over and over again! The moment you give a discount (even to a friend or family member), someone gets pissed off. Either one person feels they over gave without the proper appreciation, or one person feels like they didn’t get what they deserved. Decide early on who is in your inner circle.
Lastly, I recommend making a rule book of your company guidelines, even if it’s just you behind the scenes. Make rules about how you charge, what you deliver, who you work with, who you do or do not donate to, how you market, and on and on and on. It’s helpful to have personal and business policies in place so you can be more confident in a YES or NO answer.
Where can we go to learn more?
My website is the best hub to see samples of my work, info about working together, education about photography and marketing, and to learn more about yours truly. Just head over to the website. I also made my version of LinkTree.
And you can reach out any time to [email protected].
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Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
