We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Aedan Petty a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Aedan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. The first dollar your business earns is always special and we’d love to hear how your brand made its first dollar of revenue.

I met my very first paid automotive photography client at San Antonio Cars and Coffee. I spotted his rare Widebody Shelby Super Snake 50th Anniversary pulling in, and I immediately knew what it was. I had seen the car on Shelby American’s website. It was a molded widebody S550 mustang with tons of upgrades, both cosmetically and performance wise. A six-figure ford mustang!

I walked over to his car parked among the other mustangs at the meet, and just began talking with him about the car. I didn’t even have my camera in hand with me, and at no point in the conversation did I even mention that I was a beginner automotive photographer. Up until this point, I had only taken photos of my own car, as well as photos at car events. He showed me around the car and all of the details on it. He also showed me pictures of his other vehicles, which included a Shelby F150 truck and a Restomod 1967 Mustang.

We ran into each other at the next San Antonio cars and coffee the next month, and this time I had my camera. I sent him some photos from the show, and he really liked them. He asked if I was going to the next Austin Cars and Coffee at COTA, and I told him I was. He asked me if I would grab some photos of his 1967 Mustang that he was going to take out there. So I did.

After this, he texted me asking if I would like to shoot his trio of ford vehicles, and how much I would charge. We set up the shoot, and the rest is history. Frankly, without this shoot I would not be where I am today. The photos went absolutely viral on social media and I still get people on Instagram that recognize them.

Aedan, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’ve been obsessed with cars since I was a kid, and that obsession has never left. My love for automobiles is what really drove a lot of the business decisions I made to get to this point. I started off with a basic DSLR camera, went to car shows, and eventually started booking some private car shoots here and there. Over time I covered some automotive events, worked for automotive companies capturing photos for their businesses, applied for media credentials at racetracks to shoot there, and found friendships with tons of automotive enthusiasts here in the San Antonio area.

While I started off in the automotive industry as a photographer, I have since grown my business and brand to do much, much more. I now offer professional photography, videography, social media management, website design, SEO/SEM, and marketing consultation to various clients in San Antonio and nationwide. I specialize in the automotive industry for all of these offerings.

What sets me apart from other marketing and creative professionals is my understanding of the automotive industry and my network of connections within this niche. I have years of experience on social media running my own photography account (and now other automotive social media accounts), and also have years of experience working for a marketing company, and then a private university doing website design, content writing, SEO/SEM, Google and Facebook ads, and so on. I have a full spectrum understanding of marketing on digital platforms, as well as knowing how to create the content that gets posted to these platforms. Having professional experience in all the roles helps me help my clients with their specific needs in our rapidly growing automotive niche.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I started on social media with an account that was dedicated to photos and content of my own personal car, a 2013 Hyundai Genesis Coupe 3.8. I built up a decent sized following through consistent posts and also engaging with other Genesis Coupe owners on Instagram. Eventually, I evolved the page into a photography page, where I still posted pictures of my car, but also pictures of the other cars I shot. Now, I post both photos and videos to my page.

My advice to building a social media presence is to find your niche audience, and maintain a core engagement with them. Post things they like, message back and forth with people, and post consistently.

Have a mix of video and photo content. Post at ideal times of the day for engagement. Stay on top of trends and post relevant content that follows said trends. Collaborate with other accounts. Post stories consistently to keep your core engagement going.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

While I thought I would be working for other companies a little longer than I did, I could not have anticipated the change that occurred at my last salaried position I held. Our marketing team lost three people over the course of a year, and we were spread very thin. There were technically only two of us running the marketing department. When we got a new marketing director, I knew right away that I did not want to remain at that company.

So, I spent about three months saving up capital from this salaried position and planning to dive full time into my own company. After this time, I felt confident enough to leave the company and rely on the money I have saved to put it all into the business. Failure was not an option. If I failed, I was back to zero.

Everyone wants to start their own business, but many of them do not realize how much money it truly takes to be committed to the business and fund it properly.

I spent majority of the capital that I budgeted for the business on camera equipment and travel costs to go to events. I was counting on meeting as many people as possible at these automotive events so that I could build a network and find paying clients. Thankfully, this bet paid off, and as of right now, I am working with several automotive clients.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://aedanpettyphotography.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aedanpetty/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aedanpettyphotography
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aedan-petty-08630a195/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/aedanpetty