#325: If I Started A Photography Business in 2026, I'd Do This

Listen, the biggest advantage that you have today that I didn't have 27 years ago is access to proven systems.

When I started, I had to figure everything out by myself.

There was barely an internet.

So what I thought I needed to do was I went and I spent $3,000 to study with an award-winning photographer.

Turns out when I got to his studio that while he had excellent photography skills, he had a second job because he couldn't make money from his photography.

I wasted years grabbing puzzle pieces from different sources, trying to shove them together, trying this, trying that, copying competitors who were likely broke themselves.

Here's the number one mistake that keeps photographers stuck for years.

And it's thinking that that's what they can do is just piece together a profitable business by watching what other photographers do and assuming that one, they're successful photographers and that two, they have any idea what they're doing.

Think about it.

You're copying someone's Instagram feed without knowing if they're even making money.

So here's what I know now.

The photographers making six figures aren't necessarily more talented.

They're following better systems.

And when it comes to model, if I started my photography business in 2026, I would start with the boutique portrait model.

This is the model that helps you make real money in less time, which allows you to put your family first.

Because here's the brutal math.

Get a pen and a paper right now and write down $100,000 at the top, which you don't even need to do full time to make that.

But you have two different ways you can make that.

You can go out and get 500 clients to pay you $200 each.

That sounds crazy, doesn't it? Or you can get 50 clients to pay you $2,000 each by investing in large wall portraits and books and albums.

You get there so quickly.

One path is like 10 clients a week and the other path is one a week.

Which one sounds like it's gonna give you more time with your family? This one.

Listen, I believe to my core that the boutique model is the only way to leverage your time properly.

And if I were starting fresh, I'm not wasting years reinventing the wheel or getting stuck in some hybrid model in the middle.