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HOW TO MAKE MONEY WITH PHOTOGRAPHY - Things I wish I knew - YouTube
Channel: Peter McKinnon
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we're getting a little carried away with
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these this this is like completely
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modded with like a hardcore spring in
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here and it's just it's it's getting out
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of hand yeah I don't need this
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I've got enough energy what's up
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everybody Peter MacKinnon here and
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welcome back to another tutorial this is
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part three in mistakes that you want to
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avoid as a photographer or filmmaker the
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first part we're talking about shooting
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actual applications with the camera the
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second part we talked about editing
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mistakes that you make when editing when
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you're a beginner and the third section
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today's video we are covering the
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business aspect of mistakes to avoid as
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a young entrepreneur photographer or
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filmmaker setting out into the world to
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try and make this a career or trying to
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make some money from this maybe it's
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just some extra cash on the weekend or a
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full-blown like paycheck these are a
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couple things I've compiled that I wish
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I had when I started or wish that I did
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better and we're gonna start with those
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number one contracts contracts are so
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important they are no fun at all to make
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they're no fun to read and they're no
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fun to sign but they are there to
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protect you no matter who you are
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shooting for listen to me no matter who
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you're shooting for it's a friend if
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it's family it doesn't matter you get a
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contract lay out everything that you
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hope to do for that person both of you
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sign it date it whatever if there's
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compensation both of those things are
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agreed you've both signed it's done that
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way if anything comes up if extra work
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is piled on if you didn't do enough work
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both parties have a signed document
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clearly outlining what the expectations
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are because I find that's the biggest
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loophole that's the biggest mistake is
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expectations are always different from
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one person to the other and of those
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expectations are set clear at the very
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beginning and they're followed through
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to the end because you have a contract
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business is better so if you don't have
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a contract download a sample template
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check it out read it maybe fill in your
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own stuff instead of the sample do
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whatever you got to do take it to a
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lawyer get a friend to look at it get
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your parents to look at it your older
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siblings to look at it whatever start
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with something okay signed agreements
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that is point number one
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number two is not charging enough now
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I'm an advocate for working for free at
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the beginning to get your foot in the
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door a lot of people are like no you
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should never undersell yourself your
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time is worth yes your time is valuable
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and your time is worth money but
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hustling and doing work pro bono
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it's going to get you into more doors it
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gonna open up more doors for it's gonna
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get you into more places meet new people
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it helped build my career it helped
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build careers like my friend D Rock who
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just put a great post online about how
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he worked for free right up to hustling
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to be Gary V's personal videographer
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that is awesome but not charging enough
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is something I could have done better as
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a growing entrepreneur and a
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photographer trying to make it in the
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field I was always just so excited to
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get a gig that I completely forgot what
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I should be charging what my time is
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worth not only are you supplying the
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equipment for this job you're taking
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your gear that you bought to a photo
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shoot you're driving your vehicle using
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your gas taking the time out of your day
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then you're coming back and you're
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editing all those photos that's also
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skill with software that you're paying
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for so the list goes on and on and on
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and on those things are valuable so once
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you start charging for your work make
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sure you're charging enough I mean you
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think about it like some of these
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cameras are thousands and thousands of
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dollars if you're gonna go do some
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portrait shots and you're only gonna
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charge a hundred bucks or 200 bucks for
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a quick portrait session one what does
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that say about you as a photographer and
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the quality of work that you put out and
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to how is that ever actually gonna make
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you money or pay back your gear or
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actually get you ahead in this game so
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make sure you're charging enough
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sometimes you can throw numbers out
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there that might even see a little crazy
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to you and that client comes back and
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goes yeah all right no problem and you
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think yourself oh it can be very
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exciting but it's something that you got
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to take seriously so really sit down and
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factor in all of those things I listed
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to know what your time is worth in
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charge accordingly
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point number three coming up
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boy number three is checklists I can't
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stress this enough so if you're going on
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a shoot let's just say you're shooting a
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wedding you've got the contract in place
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you've charged what you wanted to now
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comes to the actual shoot day I always
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recommend getting a checklist from the
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client of everything they want done that
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way you can reference that throughout
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the day throughout the shoot and you
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know you've got everything if that
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client fails to provide you something on
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that checklist it is not your fault
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example let's just say you're shooting a
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wedding you've got that checklist and
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get the dress get the drinks in the
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morning get the gifts the first look
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blah blah you're knocking off all those
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things but then maybe two weeks later
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that client comes back and says aunt
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Margaret never had her portrait taken
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with us and were very upset about this
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and she flew all the way here from
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Australia and we're not going to see her
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ever again and you didn't even take
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photos and then you can pull out that
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checklist that you had that client make
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for you and sign off on you can say look
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you didn't tell me to take any pictures
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of this aunt from Australia nowhere on
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this list so how was I supposed to know
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that so it's there to protect you as
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well at the same time it's there to help
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you make sure that you get everything
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that client wants that's a good thing
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checklists moving on to point number
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four number four is my favorite it's
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meeting in person
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so much of today's correspondence is
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done via email text message even or over
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the phone but there's nothing quite like
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sitting across from a prospective client
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and being able to sell yourself you're
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as much of the product as the actual
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images and video that you're shooting so
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sell yourself show them why they want to
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hire you show them that charming
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personality show them that excitement
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and enthusiasm for what it is that you
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do that's gonna get you more bookings
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been hiding behind an email meeting in
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person can go so far for building your
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brand and your rapport I don't know why
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people don't do it enough take a coffee
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shop set up camp meet some clients there
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show them your work build a rapport pay
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for their coffee just have a good time
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kind of get that friendship rolling so
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they feel comfortable trusting you with
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their big day or with their huge project
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or giving you money if you're younger
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than them that is a huge advantage
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instead of just sending off a text
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message or just leaving a voicemail meet
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them in person tip number five
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closing out this video and closing out
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this three-part series and don't worry
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for everyone who is complaining about
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this microphone I don't like that I can
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see the mic it's okay
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I changed things up all the time that's
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the kind of guy I am this backgrounds
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here then it's there then it says tip
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number five is putting yourself out
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there I remember when I started
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photography and I wanted to make this a
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business and I wanted to make a living I
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sort of expected the work to come to me
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I was like okay I'll build a website
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I'll get some business cards I'll send a
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few texts I'll put my stuff on Facebook
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I'll start writing a blog and they'll
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come people will just knock on my door
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they'll just call my phone I'm like hey
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this is Peter McKinnon the photographer
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who just built that brand new website
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and has fresh business cards I'd love to
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hire you doesn't happen that way it
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won't happen that way maybe once in a
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blue moon but for the most part that's
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probably good it's a family related
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you're never gonna get just random cold
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calls knocking on your door offering you
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money you got to go get that work
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yourself you got to put yourself out
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there always have your gear with you
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always let's just say it's a simple
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family barbecue and you got your camera
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with you you're snapping photos of the
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family of the events of people smiling
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and laughing and then you send them out
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to the family maybe a family friend was
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there or the cousin says hey these are
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actually great photos and when their
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friend says they need a photographer my
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cousin did some great work like here's
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some photos you took at our family oh
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yeah we'd love him to shoot our family
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barbeque boom job done secured or maybe
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you're at a restaurant you're taking
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some pictures of food and the owner
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comes up to you and says hey I might
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need some photos like what supported
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what does your work look like
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or better yet finding that manager and
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saying hey I'm a photographer I'd love
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to do food photography and I would be
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interested in possibly working for you
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maybe reshooting your menu or do some
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social work for you for your Instagram
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account putting yourself out there to
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kind of generate those leads generate
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that work it doesn't hurt anybody the
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worst case scenario the worst thing
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that's gonna happen someone's gonna say
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no I don't need it I don't want it you
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can either try to convince them or you
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can move on to the next person but
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sitting at home just because you've got
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a nice Instagram profile or a nice
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website doesn't mean anyone's gonna come
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knocking to hire you you got to go
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knocking to get those jobs when those
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jobs start coming that word of mouth
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starts you know snowballing into more
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and more and more prospects then the
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phone starts ringing but you got to put
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in the legwork to get there all right
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those are my five tips business mistakes
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things to avoid and things to help you
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build a career as a photographer
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or cinematographer thank you so much
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guys I hope you like this series it was
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a really fun three videos to make I had
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a really great time and it all comes
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from personal experience so if you guys
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liked this let me know what you liked
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below let me know which video you liked
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the most I'd love to hear from you get
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the conversation go and hit that like
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button if you liked this video smash it
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if that's something that you're into
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2018 style subscribe if you aren't
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already and and I will see you in the
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next video I'm gonna go find Maddy
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