I always hate the start or writing blogs – I find it so difficult to actually start writing but then when I do get going, I won’t stop blabbing on…
SO – WHAT IS THE PLAN.
To start off I need to go back a month to my last days at my previous job.
As some of you who follow me on social media will know, as of 22nd of Dec 2017, I became no longer employed by Creative Technology. It was a company that looking back – I have a lot to thank for but when I was there I felt it was holding me back from achieving my goals.
Now I want to start off by saying that CT never physically stopped me moving forward with my life – it’s just my life has changed in a different direction since I started working for them 9 years ago.
For a long time, I have wanted to see if/how I could manage to be my own boss and see if I can be successful. By being successful I mean, living a positive lifestyle and being financially able to do the things I want with my life.
I meet and see so many people living out there own GOALS that I thought WHY CAN’T I live working towards mine.
After leaving the company, I have really taken on board just how much the company has given me opportunity wise and also confidence-wise. I was allowed to do some major things at a young age and it really helped me grow as a person. Most people leave a job frustrated or annoyed, I can happily say I can walk away knowing I gave it my all and I wouldn’t be who I am now if it wasn’t for certain people in that company.
I would like to thank anyone from CT who does read this and has helped me or given me work over the best part of a decade (8 months shy of a whole 10 years, that’s 8 years longer than any other job I ever held).
OMG, it’s now 2018: Shit just got real!!!
From the 2nd of January, I am now totally in charge of making my own income and making sure I keep a roof over mine and Jade (My Fiancè)’s head.
What’s my plan?
I see it in 3 places, here goes…
1: Photography/Video
So, the sole reason for going self-employed was to allow me the time and opportunity to actually grow my photography brand. Many people have said that they would love to do their passion or even do at least more of it… Well, what I have really learnt whilst travelling around Europe for the past 9 years is that you really do only live once – so you might as well enjoy it and do what you want to do. Due to growing my fitness photography following as a source of income, I will now be able to give myself more time to plan & push my way into high-end shoots. I have planned to invest a lot of time to improve my current style and provide existing clients with an even better end product.
What I mean by that is I want to work on being even more consistent with my images, producing even better quality and also being a specialist in what I do. The next few months are really going to be based on better advertising my brand and building a better system to work from.
I’m going to invest as much as possible into improving ME… How??
Read
Learn
Try
Fail
Repeat above…
Until I Win
Why do I want to do it that way???
One thing I have always been very good at is getting a job done, which has been a great skill to learn but I truly believe that if I can concentrate more time on reducing my own perceived errors – I can be an even better photographer.
I have tried multiple things with photography, some have in my opinion failed but landed me more work, others I thought were incredible and got me nothing… so far!
But every time I try and do something new, its mostly been a positive response and if it’s not been positive, I have learnt a lot about why and how to make it better, thus improving me as a photographer and me as a brand.
Left image: My first ever fitness shoot | Right Image: Favourite fitness shot of 2017
I would love to build a community around my work with an aim to help others with making more contacts and opportunities happen within my social reach.
I’ve spoken to many people within multiple different industries and the one common thing was that everyone wished they had spent more time working on building their knowledge/brand, practise more and not rushing into every offer for money that was put in front of them.
Most of those people openly admitted to me that they didn’t feel like they were where they wanted to be in their career. Not so much in a financial way but in a type of work they wanted to be doing. So instead of going out to photograph everything I get requested for – I am going to stick to my initial plan and do the best work I can do in the areas I want to work in.
I shot this Caterham after an opportunity arose after a previous headshot that I couldn't turn down.
2: Lencarta
I can proudly announce that I will be working with Lencarta more directly to help advertise and grow the brand. I have spent a lot of time in my previous employment working in sales, it will allow me to use my knowledge with the use of the products and advising new customers on what equipment will be right for them.
It’s a brand that I can help grow and be rewarded according to my input. Which for me means the harder I work – the more I will get in return the more we and I can grow a community around our passions.
I like that kind of deal where it’s on me to produce, which will keep me motivated and hopefully structured too!
3: Creative Tech
Even though I left the company to follow my own dreams/goals, I genuinely enjoyed going out and doing the jobs. I’m very fortunate to have had the opportunity to have built some great relationships with the people on tour and mainly the people at CT that, they would like me to come back and work on some of the jobs over the year.
That’s it…
There is a hell of a lot of unknowns and hopes placed on what could happen and what might be possible is X and Y come off but I am fully prepared to do what I need to do within what I can do to make a success of my time self-employed.
What can you look forward to?
-More interesting content.
-Better images.
-Regular updates.
-Behind the Scenes.
-More adventures.
Thank you very much for reading this post, I will be doing more of these blogs/vlogs over the year and hope you enjoy watching my story unfold.
Would love to hear from you if you’re interested in working with me or learning from me.
Drop me an email ben@benmarkphotography.com
