We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kat Thatcher. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kat below.

Hi Kat, thanks for joining us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

This adventure has been morphing for the last several years. It has gone from fun with a travel blog and Lew taking photographs to… how are we going to make a living while traveling and taking photos of the places we visit. Combining my writing skills and enjoyment with his talents and passion for photography, we jumped in head first nearly without direction. I would not advise this path.
It began when we realized that retirement would shortly become a reality and we wanted to have not only passive income but have the ability to actually do the things we wanted to do. Lew started getting really serious about his art of taking photos, while I was noticing how much writing was enjoyable to me. Smashing these two things together along with our joy of travel just seemed natural.
The journey has been challenging. Beginning with building a website without this skill, choosing how to market our craft and learning every step of the way. In this last year after marketing directly to the consumer via social media which is in itself interesting, it became clear that it wasn’t the right way for us to go. The blog is fun to share our travels, but the photographs deserve a larger and more commercial market. So this year we are scheduling meetings with boutique hotels, bed & breakfasts as well as other local businesses not only to display the work, but selling the work to them as part of their decor. Many of our photographs work well with the feel of the areas that we travel. This gives the hotels the opportunity to design their spaces using photography from their area, then giving their guests the ability to purchase cards, prints, note cards etc of the photographs they see on the walls throughout the property.
Making it happen, is not as easy as any get rich quick idea. This we knew. It has been discovering our brand, our purpose, and our customer. The customer piece has really shifted quite a bit from inception. What we do know is that when we are on the right path things go very smoothly. Now that we have a different focus, things are moving steadily. What has been helpful is the plethora of free classes that guide the beginner.
Now we are starting this next phase and are expecting this second act to give us the ability to travel full time and work where ever we are.

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.

After a time off from Lew’s day job due to a mountain bike adventure gone wrong, he picked up his camera again and found how much he truly loved photography. This sparked the idea to showcase his photos which gave us the opportunity to travel more and then have a travel blog. It began just as a place for us to tell about our travels and do this with photos. As we shared the our travels and photographs people became interested. From this point we started thinking about how we could expand. Selling to consumers for home decor as well as having corresponding note cards was the focus.

Now in the new year we are shifting our focus and marketing towards offices, short term rentals and boutique hotels. By connecting with the areas that are local to the images within the photos, it caters directly to the decor of the individual space. When guests connect to the photo from the place they are visiting they also have an option to purchase whether a framed photo or a post card or note card. Changing our format from a business to consumer to B2B has broadened our reach and keeps us searching for the next place to visit.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

This isn’t the most glamorous or even the most inventive, but it has been true leg work. Some connecting with interior designers in an area, taking framed photos to an office and also connecting on the short term rental sites. It may not be the most efficient way to gain clients, but it is the beginning of this new phase of the business.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Being able to choose the places to go to photograph and being able to find things we haven’t seen before. For me, Kat, to be able to express our travels in writing about all the adventures.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.theviewfinderz.com/
• Instagram: @the.viewfinderz
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556701148227

Image Credits

Lew Thatcher – the Viewfinderz