Now I’m not saying that to scare you, or to put you off; quite the opposite, I’m saying it to prepare you for those bad days. Those accounting days, those ‘client from hell’ days, those ‘I just want to take photos without any pressure!’ days! I will say that Photography has given me a job and lifestyle unlike any other, and I simply can’t imagine doing much else for a career!

Pick a job, any job. Musician? Actor? Professional Athletes? They have it easy right? Maybe from an outsiders point of view they do. But with every job there are negatives, aspects of the profession that just aren’t what attracted us to it. Whether that’s hours of press interviews to advertise a new film or the day to day complaints that you and I might share.
If you want earn money as a photographer I’m here to wholeheartedly encourage that. But I’m also here to tell you it’s not all easy, there will be days (Possibly weeks, months, or years!) when you second guess your decision to pursue professional photography. It’s still the best career in the world to me!

[Photo by my wife @Vtravels and copyright Sansom Photography]

You’re on Steemit! You’re part of a unique movement where we are ALL earning money from our hobbies and passions. If you really don’t have any way of jump starting your progress with a small equipment purchase then don’t worry! Produce good content on here and the Steem Dollars quickly add up. If you’re in the early stages like me you may not see a huge return, but you don’t need to! Remember, you only need fairly inexpensive equipment to get yourself started!

I’m certainly no expert, and am totally used to seeing $0 next to my posts, so I don’t want to profess to know more than I do. But what I have seen on Steemit is that, despite the occasional crappy post that rakes in 100’s, most of the content that does well on Steemit is well thought through and genuine content. If you believe in your content, then the community will too!

Try some of the photo contests, they are a great way to build a following. I'd suggest ones by @Photocontests and @czechglobalhosts as two that I have found to be great contests (Thanks @schmidthappens for sharing the latter with me!) Essentially just get yourself out there, don't give one word comments and try to add more value to the community than you take!

Build yourself a website. This one’s pretty obvious, yet so many photographers don’t just get out there and build a website. There are plenty of low cost options out there, Wordpress being the most popular, but any site builder will do! Remember, it DOESN’T HAVE TO LOOK GREAT. That might sound counter intuitive as a visually based website, but just having something – even a site you don’t particularly love – is better than having nothing but a plan for a world class website. Over time your site will improve, you’ll learn how to make it look great or you’ll earn the money to pay someone to do that for you. In these early stages your selling point definitely isn’t going to be your website, or even your images. It’s your price point. So make that the easiest page to access, and your low cost clear. Don’t worry about putting off people with bigger budgets – you don’t want them right now anyway!

How to find work. 2 – Adwords