Rewind to a few weeks ago; I was in Garden City, New York, photographing a branding session for Rachel Perry when this motorcycle roared past us…powerful exhaust rumbling that I could feel vibrating up my legs into my gut. And in that moment, instead of being annoyed or irritated or startled by the interruption, I felt something shift. That sound sounded & felt like power and now, after being a few weeks away from it, I actually feel like it was the universe & God saying pay attention.

I didn’t know it then, but that motorcycle driving by was the beginning of one of the most transformative weeks for my business!!

The Art of Noticing: How Small Moments Lead to Big Business Breakthroughs

Here’s what I’ve learned about running a successful photography business: it’s not always about the big strategic pivots or the massive marketing campaigns. Sometimes, the most profound shifts happen when you’re simply paying attention. When you’re in tune enough to notice the little things and welcome them into your world instead of brushing them aside.

That week in New York was powerful and transformative in ways I’m still unpacking. But it all started with being present enough to feel the significance of a motorcycle driving by. Being open enough to let that moment mean something.

If you’re trying to figure out how to be a successful photography business owner, this might be the most important thing I can tell you: tune in. Not just to your camera settings or your editing workflow, but to the signals all around you; the conversations that light you up, the moments that feel significant, and to your own inner knowing about what’s working and what’s not.

The Realization That Changed Everything: Your Methods Matter

During that week in New York, I found myself in the room with the right people. Not random networking… the honest, no-pretense conversations where someone actually hears you and responds with “yes, and…” instead of a glazed-over smile. Those were the moments that made me realize just how small I’d been keeping myself without even noticing it.

Somewhere in those conversations with other business owners and the early morning coffee walks with Caleb and Lake, something finally clicked… I wasn’t playing small because I lacked skill. I was playing small because I kept shrinking out of humility.

I’ve been running my studio 29 photography business for over a decade now, building systems and processes and methods that actually hold up. But until New York, I kept telling myself I’d simply patched together a bunch of things that happened to work for me… like I’d stitched a little Frankenstein system and lucked into success. But that isn’t the truth at all!! What I’ve built are real methods… teachable, repeatable, shockingly effective systems that other photographers can use to grow their own profitable, freedom-filled businesses.

My success isn’t some mystical one-off. It’s a set of practices that can be learned and used by anyone who’s ready to build something solid and sustainable.

How to Build a Successful Photography Business: It Starts With Owning What You Know

One of the biggest barriers to building a successful photography business isn’t what you think it is. It’s not about having the best camera gear, or  living in the perfect location or having some innate artistic gift that others don’t possess. The real barrier is often this: not recognizing the value of what you’ve already figured out.

I spent years undervaluing my own knowledge. When other photographers would ask me how I book clients consistently, how I price profitably, how I create a business with actual freedom instead of just trading hours for dollars, I’d share what I do, but in the back of my mind, I’d think “well, this is just what works for me.”

As if that somehow made it less legitimate. As if systems that feel natural to you can’t possibly be valuable to someone else. But, my most recent trip to New York being in the room with my business strategist + coach Nicole Culver and her team, taught me something crucial: learning to fully be comfortable with speaking up and out loud about what you know is not optional if you want to build a thriving business. It’s essential!!! My methods matter and the way I’ve solved problems that other photographers are still struggling with? That matters immensely!!!!!

From Unboxing to Business Owner

A photography business doesn’t grow just because you’re good with a camera… it grows because you build it on real systems that support your income, your sanity, and the life you actually want to live. That’s exactly why I created The Momtographer Method. I’ve spent 15 years building workflows, testing what works, fixing what doesn’t, and turning all of those “well…I won’t do that again” moments into a repeatable path for women who want to go from unboxing their camera to getting paid. Not the only path, just one that’s been proven over and over again to create profit without the overwhelm. It’s the roadmap I wish someone handed me on day one.

And recently, I started offering 1:1 packages for established photographers who need help finding the gaps in their businesses. Because here’s what I’ve learned: sometimes you can take beautiful photos and still struggle to make money. Sometimes you’re booked solid but burning out. Sometimes you’re making revenue but not profit, busy but not free. Apply for a Photography Business Audit Session and let’s find out exactly what’s standing between where you are now and the thriving, sustainable business you’re working so hard to build.

What Makes a Photography Business Actually Successful?

Let’s talk about what “successful photography business” really means, because I think the industry sometimes gets this wrong.

Success isn’t just about:

• Having a full calendar (you can be booked and broke)
• Charging high prices (if you can’t book at those prices, it doesn’t matter)
• Having lots of Instagram followers (engagement and bookings are what count)
• Winning awards (they’re great, but they don’t pay your bills)

Real success in a photography business means:

1. Having a business that’s profitable—where you’re actually making money, not just generating revenue. Where you understand your numbers and you price with confidence because you know what you need to earn.
2. Having a business that gives you freedom—where you’re not chained to your inbox, not shooting seven days a week, not sacrificing your family time or your mental health to keep the machine running.
3. Having systems and processes that work even when you’re not working. Frameworks for client experience, for workflow, for marketing, for sales. Things you can teach someone else to do if needed.
4. Having clarity about what you offer and who you serve. Not trying to be everything to everyone, but being the exact right photographer for your ideal clients.
5. Having confidence in your value. Knowing what you bring to the table and being able to articulate it without shrinking or apologizing.

The Gap Between Where You Are and Where You Want to Be

Here’s what I see all the time: photographers who are talented, hardworking, and genuinely passionate about their craft, but something’s not clicking in the business side of things.

• Maybe you’re attracting the wrong clients (people who don’t value your work or who haggle over every dollar)
• Maybe you’re working constantly but not seeing the profit you deserve.
• Maybe you have systems that are held together with duct tape and hope, and you know they’re not sustainable.
• Maybe you’re comparing yourself to other photographers and feeling like everyone else has it figured out except you.
• Maybe you’ve built a business that looks successful from the outside but feels exhausting on the inside.

The gap between where you are and where you want to be? That’s not about your photography skills. It’s about your business infrastructure!!!

Being in Tune With Your Business: The Real Secret to Success

That motorcycle moment in Garden City still sits with me because it reminded me how much business mirrors real life. You have to stay tuned in… actually paying attention to what’s working, what’s drifting, and what’s asking you to grow a little. You have to be open to the unexpected stuff that shows up on the edges… the conversations that stretch you, the opportunities that feel a little too big, the moments that make you realize you’ve been thinking way smaller than you meant to.

And honestly, you have to stay grateful. Grateful for the exact spot you’re standing in, even while you’re building the next version of your life. Grateful for the lessons that didn’t feel great at the time. Grateful for the clarity that finally clicks when you stop minimizing your own value and start actually believing it.

Finding Your Value: You Already Know More Than You Think

If you’re reading this and thinking, “I wish I had real methods like that,” I want you to consider that you probably already do… you just haven’t taken a moment to recognize them for what they are. When you look at the things you repeat in your business because they genuinely work—the way you guide a client through a consult, the editing rhythm your body knows by heart, the way you navigate pricing conversations, the systems you’ve pieced together that somehow keep everything moving, the problems you’ve solved simply by living through them—you’ll start to see that none of it is random or accidental.

Those habits and approaches are patterns, and patterns become frameworks the second you decide they’re worth noticing. Your experience holds more value than you give it credit for, and the way you’ve learned to solve things might be exactly the perspective another photographer is looking for. The real shift happens when you stop minimizing the things that feel easy or natural!! 

What’s Next for Your Photography Business?

I’m not going to tell you that one week in New York solved all my business challenges or that everything is perfect now. (That’s not how growth works.) But what did change is:

• I stopped questioning whether what I know is valuable enough to share.
• I stopped second-guessing my methods and I stopped playing small because I was worried about what people might think.
• I started speaking up and I started owning my expertise.
• I started confidently offering what I have to teach because I know it works, not just for me, but for the photographers I coach.

And I started getting really clear on the gaps I see in other photographers’ businesses and how to fill them.

Are YOU Ready to Find the Gaps in Your Photography Business?

If something in this post resonated with you—if you’re tired of working hard without seeing the results you want, if you know something’s not quite right in your business but you can’t pinpoint what, if you’re ready to stop undervaluing what you know and start building real infrastructure—I want to invite you to take the next step.

I’m offering Photography Business Audit Sessions where we’ll dig into your specific business, identify exactly where the gaps are, and create a clear roadmap for filling them.

This isn’t about me telling you to work harder or shoot more. It’s about finding the specific spots where your business is leaking time, energy, or money and fixing them with real frameworks and systems. Building a successful photography business is absolutely possible. A business that’s both profitable and freedom-filled!!! You don’t have to figure it all out alone. Sometimes you just need someone who’s been there, who’s built the systems, who can see the gaps you’re too close to notice.

Apply for a Photography Business Audit Session and let’s find out exactly what’s standing between where you are now and the thriving, sustainable business you’re working so hard to build.

Because that motorcycle moment taught me something important: sometimes transformation starts with paying attention. With being in tune. With welcoming the right things into your world at the right time…maybe this is your moment. Maybe this is your motorcycle moment!!!!

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