Career Change + How to Make Money with Photography in 2023

If you saw my latest YouTube video you’ll know about my drastic career change. How will I make money in 2023? Luckily I wrote a new eBook to explain!

Quitting my corporate job

Spoiler alert. So until 2022 I worked in corporate roles doing finance and audit. I finally gave my notice this year and have been a full time YouTuber since 1st April 2022, after working my 3 month notice period. See full details in the video –

How to make money with photography in 2023

So now that I gave up my regular (and safe) monthly salary (day job wages) I need to make enough money to cover all my costs purely from photography. I don’t want to live on credit card debit or take money from my saved up “emergency fund”. Luckily with a finance qualification (ACCA) mindset I’m in a perhaps unusual yet fortunate place as a photographer. An artist that also understands money is less likely to fall into the usual “starving artist” category.

When growing up everyone always said “there is no money in art” so I studied science (and then finance) instead. 26 years later I’m back to art (with photography). (Again, see the video).

Writing an eBook to help others

One thing i’ve loved about documenting my photography journey via blogging since 2013 is people often write to me and say thanks for your article on “XYZ”. “It really helped me.. and now I enjoy..”. With that in mind, I wrote an eBook to explain how exactly I could afford to quit a “pretty good” office job career to take photos instead. How am I paying the bills? Can you do the same? What do you need to do? All those types of questions are answered in the book.

25 ways to make money with photography in 2023

The eBook lists 25 ways to make money from photography but covers perhaps 30 options as some are grouped together as just “photoshoots”. In the digital age almost everyone needs good photos – corporate headshots, weddings, food photography, product photos, the list goes on. The book breaks down both some common and also the less obvious ways to make money with your camera.

How to save some of the money you earn

It sounds really basic I know but if you spend more than you earn each month you’ll be living on debt. If you spend less money than what you make you can save a little. There are 2 approaches. Option 1, try to find easy ways to spend a bit less money each month. Option 2, start earning additional money, such as from photography, and still only spend the same amount. Option 1 is a saves mindset. Option 2 is perhaps an entrepreneur mindset. If you then combine spending less AND earning more you can already see the potential upside!

How to quit your day job

It’s easy to just say “I quit” but how do you then afford to live afterwards? This is the interesting part. If you can live for say £1K per month you only need to earn £1K per month from your side hustle job, (photography or otherwise) to break even (i.e. not go into the red/ debt). If however you have a big mortgage, expensive car repayments, credit card debt and you spend say $3K a month, you need to find a way to earn almost 3x more (ignore £ vs $*) from your side gig job before you can quit the day job.

The easiest way to start moving towards quitting your day job is to first look to reduce your monthly costs. (*You can always increase them again later once you are making piles of cash from photography!)

Start today!

So I got my first camera in 2009 and quit my job in 2022. Will it take you 13 years to make money with photography? Not at all. I had no guidance and no plan so I didn’t really get focused until around 3 years ago. Most of what I achieved happened within the last 36 months, perhaps less (but I was practising the craft for years before that*). I can’t promise overnight success but even if you just start earning enough money to pay for your expensive hobby/ next camera it’s still win win! 🙂 That’s how I started!

New eBook – How to make money with your photography

Here is a summary slide of what to expect from the book –

Early bird offer! Only £9.99 (Usually £19.99)

When (and if) you signed up to become a Blog Insider I promised you discounts on future products. Take advantage of my early bird introducory offer and pick up the book for only £9.99. 50% off the usual £19.99 price.

Thanks Patreons!

A special thanks to some of my VIP Patreons that proof read the eBook for me and gave valuable feedback and ideas. Equally a big thanks Patreon Asif who helped me design the book cover. Thank you!

*Video 2: YouTube photographer vs traditional photographer

Some of you kind viewers/ readers were concerned about me going full time with photography as it may kill my passion for the craft. I made a follow up video to explain the big differences between traditional professional photographers and these “modern” YouTube photographers (like me).

Matt

See all MrLeica eBooks – HERE