We were lucky to catch up with Justin Choquette recently and have shared our conversation below.

Justin , appreciate you joining us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? Yes I started out as a electriciton and while I was working that job I built up my photogrpahy and social medai bussiness to the point where I was making more money doing that then working in the trades. For almost 2 yeras now I have been fulltime and I have no plans on every going back to the rat race.

Was it like that from day one? The harest part for me was learning how to make a living from being a photograpger and from social media. When I first started it was extreamly hard to learn how to make this life possible. People who had made it would rarley offern any tips or word of advise to help people such as myself get started. I spent almost 10 yeras teaching myself how to make this life my reality and make a living from social media and photography.

Thats the main reason why I now have a online school and ebooks that teach all of this information to creatives who want to live a similar life. I know how hard it is to learn this info and now that I have the knowldge I make it my goal to help as many up and comeing creators as possible.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

A basic intro: For those of you that I haven’t had the honour of meeting, my name is Justin. I’m writing this while sitting at the top of a mountain watching the sunset, but I wasn’t always able to do this. Let’s start at the beginning. I fell in love with photography when I was about 12 years old. I couldn’t tell you why, but it was something that I absolutely loved. It was an escape from reality; I could be in my own little world, focusing on nothing other than the subject that I was shooting. The first camera I ever bought was the GoPro Hero 3 Black, and I was obsessed with that thing from the moment I laid my hands on it. Every day I was out into the mountains shooting photos and videos of my friends and I shredding down the local mountain bike trails. Back then, I would often dream of buying a van and travelling around the country, shooting photos of mountains I could only dream of. I’d watch GoPro videos on YouTube and imagine myself hiking and biking in some of the far-off places where these videos were filmed. But that was just a dream. I had no idea people made money from shooting photos, let alone enough money actually to live off of. However, when I was 15 years old, I received a DM from GoPro. They wanted to know if I would be interested in selling one of my photos to them. I was in complete shock. A few days later, after sending them the photo, I received a cheque for more money than I could’ve ever hoped for. I couldn’t believe it. This is where everything changed. I knew I wanted to make this my career, but I had no clue how to start. Fast forward a few years, and I graduated early from high school when I was in grade eleven and went straight into trades school to become an electrician. I spent the following four years working in the trades. It was a job that I didn’t hate, but I knew it wasn’t something I wanted to do for the rest of my life. It also started to take its toll on my body, which scared me. Looking around at my coworkers’ physical conditions, I could see what I was destined for, and it was not a pleasant thought. I had job security and made a relatively good wage, but I was scared of becoming too comfortable. I knew that complacency was a trap and that I didn’t want to get stuck in society’s rat race. No one wants to die with regrets, and I knew If I never tried pursuing my dreams of becoming a professional adventure photographer, I would regret it for the rest of my life.
I always used the excuse that I didn’t have any money, or that I had no one to teach me, or even that I wasn’t smart enough. For years I had watched YouTubers talk about building up a multi-source income, becoming financially free and so on. It never really clicked in my brain that I could do this. We fall into the trap of believing that people online are different from us when in reality, they really aren’t. I needed a change in mindset. I needed to stop thinking that I could never afford that and start asking how can I afford that. How can I go on that trip? How can I go climb that mountain? Better yet, how can I do all that and get paid for it?
Fast forward to today, and the years that I spent teaching myself how to turn my passion into a successful business have paid off – I am now living my dream life. I’m being paid to travel, hike, and explore some of the most beautiful places in North America and around the world, using my content to help inspire others to do the same (which still blows my mind).

How you got into your industry?

I first lernt about the industry when I was 15 years old but at that time I had no idea what that industy is really like and I had no clue about how much money you could make to live your dream like. As soon as social media becase a thing. Every day I would see these people traveling around the world and living a crazy life. All I wanted to do was experince something similar. Fast forward a few year I graduated highschool and then went to trade school to become a electrician. With no one to teach me how to make this life my reality I had no choice but to teach myself through lots of trail and error and hunderds of hours listening to podcast while I was working in the trades and wathing hunderds of hours of youtube videos and reading dozens of marketing books. Eventually I figured out the secert sauce and was able to quit my job and become a full time creator and entrepreneur.

What do I do for work?

So do multiple things for work and to make moeny. The first and biggest one is photogrpahy. Brands such as Arcteryx or Adidas for exapmle will reach out and hire me to shoot photos of there products being used in the mountians which they then use for adventisments. The second way I make money is by creating video ads for brands. The third way I make money is threw social media. I have 240k followers and with that I can sell adventismnt on my pages. I am basically a walking billborad and AD production company.

On the non creative side I make a little bit of money from selling my E-books and onlie shcool called The 2 week Notice where I teach up and coming creators how to make a living off of social media and help them quit there jobs and go full time as a creator.

What are you most proud of and what are the main things you want potential clients/followers/fans to know about you/your brand/your work/ etc.

I most proud of seeing how soemthing as simple as a video that i create will change someones life. I have recived DMs from followers and students who have used the resources that give away to change there lives and go from working a 9-5 job that they hate to living there dream life and travelling around the world.

what problems you solve for your clients and/or what you think sets you apart from others.
With social media there are so many fake people out there. People who like to make there lives seem a lot better then they actually are and thats one thing I have always hated. I don’t really like saying this about my self becasue I feel cocky haha but, I have always made it my goal to be as real as possible with my followers. I dont sugar coat things. So what I am getting at is what sets me apart is I know what its like to live a life when your stuck doing a job that you hate and with my content I always try to provide tips and tricks that I used so other people can one day achive a silialr thing.

How did you build your audience on social media?

How I built my social media accounts was through creating reels that were extreamly realitable to the audience. My adive I would give you is create highly engaging videos that have a clear hook point in the begining, that tell a good story and have a resulation. You also must post every single day no matter what. These platforms will reward you for creating content on there apps and this will result in a boost in enagament! And one of the most common peopbles I see with creatos is that they post maybe for a week strainght and then they give up. You most be prepared to post constantly for months or your even years before you see results

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

SO does it cost money to start on social media the answer is no all you need is your phone and a good attitude. you can easily build a large following on Instagram or tiktok by just creating and editing content on an iPhone. I will let you in on a little secret. 90% of my content is shot on my iPhone 14 pro max and I have made tens of thousands of dollars from shooting ADs on that phone. So that’s all you need

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.justinchoquette.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CuMrgsxgK5e/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-choquette-1212b4209
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@justin.choquette
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@justin.choquette

Image Credits
Scott Bakken shot the first photo( Dark one of justin in a black jacket). The rest were shot by Justin