From employee to full-time photographer! Today on the Book More Clients Photography Podcast, I’m talking with a Blueprint Program alumna, Marina Anaya; we’re diving into her journey from Starbucks employee to full-time photographer through the Blueprint Program.

From Employee to Full-Time Photographer

Marina was one of my very first Blueprint students and is one of my favorite humans! Today she is taking you on a journey from how she got started in her business, why she made the decision to join the Blueprint, and where she is today.

From working at Starbucks, but minimal hours because I told myself I had a photography business to having a full-time photography business…the turning point came right before getting married…

Right before getting married, my husband said, “you don’t have a business, you have a hobby”… I was working at Starbucks, I wasn’t taking on a lot of hours or anything because I told myself, “I’m a photographer”, but it was far from a business…

My (now) husband was still in college, studying accounting, he’s definitely the numbers brain in the relationship and he said to me, “look, if we’re gonna get married, and I’m still wrapping up college, you’re going to have to get a job. I love that you want to have a photography business & I support you, but it’s either you go full-force and make this work as a business so that we can pay our bills OR you have to find a job”.

That was my wake-up call; I needed to go all in and actually make this work, because at that point, it was more of a hobby, an expensive hobby than a real business.

From there, I decided, “I’m actually going to do this, and this is actually going to be my full-time career”.

From Starbucks employee to full-time photographer

Brooke: You decided to run with it and committed to it. What did that look like? What does it look like to commit to your business and go all in?

Marina: The biggest part of it was not wanting to fail and knowing there was nothing else to fall back on. I had been working at Starbucks, it wasn’t the greatest money or anything, but it was kind of the plan; we would get married, I would keep working at Starbucks until my photography business took off…

I had talked to my manager, and he said that my job would still be there after taking time off for our honeymoon. It wasn’t. I came back and I wasn’t on the schedule, and I was never put back on it. There was nothing to fall back on; there was no option, there was no plan now. I actually had to make it work.

Brooke: So, in 2016 you said, “I gotta make this happen”. What are some of the practical things that you did to get the bookings that you needed? Were you successful? Or did you have a hard time getting it up and going to get to bring in the money that you needed that you were used to from Starbucks?

The first step in going full-time for Marina

Marina: The first thing I did was pray and dedicate my business to the Lord. When you honor the Lord, He honors that decision back and he provides for you.

Practically, I learned things like, social media, SEO, and of course, I spent time talking about it with other people. I reached the crossroads of Googling & going to YouTube to learn & build my full-time photography business to burnout. I knew I needed to invest in something that would teach me everything I needed to know & do it strategically. That’s when I found the Blueprint Program.

Joining the Blueprint Program

Brooke: What has happened since joining the Blueprint? We’re talking two years now that you have gone through it; how has life changed? How has photography changed for you?

Marina: I’m a lot happier now, in my business, and just in general; knowing my limits and knowing what I am actually good at. Being able to get permission from someone to say, “you can just focus on that” was mind blowing to me, just finding that niche, which I know is controversial right now with the photography community. But it actually made a difference for me; knowing that I could actually make a living off of this to the point where I can get my husband to retire if he wants to.

That was huge! My business is actually a business now. I’m a lot happier, I’m a lot more confident in the way that I run my business, and in what I offer, and I definitely feel like my clients can tell and they are happier as well. There’s been a lot of change in my business. It’s at a point where it takes up less of my time. I can do the sessions that I want to do and still making money. It’s also freeing in that I have all this extra time and that was even within a pandemic, within becoming a first-time mom. The fact that I was able to actually scale my business and grow my business, while becoming a first-time mom, during 2020 and the pandemic is HUGE!

Free resource: Ready to go full-time in photography checklist

I have created this amazing free resource for you! It helps you answer the question of, “are you ready to go full-time in your photography business?”. Grab the Are You Ready to Go Full-Time Checklist today!

Save your seat in the upcoming Masterclass! 5 Steps to take your photography business full time in 2023 happening November 17th, 2022.