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

Kate, looking forward to hearing all of your stories 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?

Yes! I earn a full time living from my photography business. But, it took years to get to that point.

When I first started out I still had two part time jobs (one nannying and one managing a larger wedding photography studio) that I slowly phased out as my business grew. For the first few years, I was taking any job at almost any price point to build the portfolio I used to market my business later on. I did weddings for $500 to $1,500, and it took me two years before I set prices I was comfortable with and started charging them consistently.

But, charging more dried up my income at first, because my market is really competitive and I wasn’t setting my business apart from others. I had only been competing on price before, so it was a rude awakening to discover I needed to do a lot more.

That led me down the road of really dialing in my branding, and figuring out why I was even running a creative service route to begin with. Once I learned how to really niche down my website so speak to exactly who I wanted to work with, I was able to increase my prices to support the income I needed in order to go full time.

Kate, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I photograph weddings, almost exclusively! I’ve been into photography since I was old enough to hold and use a camera. When I was about 7, I told my mom I wanted to be a National Geographic photographer, and I dreamed of photographing as a career from that point forward. I did my first degree in Psychology, but hated it and transitioned to a BFA program before I left college. When I graduated and had to start paying rent and my student loans, I scrolled Craigslist for any job that let me get paid for using my camera, and found a company looking for wedding photography interns. I applied and the rest is history!!

I really fell in love with weddings from the first one I went to. The pressure was exciting, the emotions were so magical to photograph, and I loved portraiture. It was the perfect genre of photography for me to get into. I worked at a studio for years to gain experience, and learned a lot about how I wanted to run my own business while I was there. When I left, I had a good start on what my style and priorities were going to be in my work.

When I started my own business, I knew I wanted a truly caring relationship with my clients. I wanted them to know I was reliable, was there to advocate for them, and would make sure they were comfortable and had a great experience from start to finish. That was my initial foundation, and that grew later on into making sure that my business was as inclusive as possible. As a queer person myself who doesn’t look like the people shown on wedding magazine covers, I knew how important it was for people to see themselves in my work in order to trust me as a part of their wedding. That’s now a core philosophy that I stand by, and I work hard to make sure everything I do tries to make the wedding industry a more inclusive and welcoming space.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Google!! Investing time and energy into learning SEO for myself was the most helpful thing I ever did for marketing. Don’t rely on sites owned by other businesses (i.e. social media) to promote you, because they’re always going to change something about the way they work without thinking about how it effects you. Bring people to your own site as fast as you can, and nurture that as your best resource for your clients.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Not so much unlearn, but when I started marketing myself I thought I needed to do what everyone else was doing. In fact, trying to make my site look like everyone else’s was the worst thing I could have done because it wasn’t genuine, and it showed. Once I followed my true self and did what I wanted to do, things went much better.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.katemerrillphoto.com
• Instagram: @katemerrillphoto

Image Credits
Lyndsey Leach Photography (Headshot) All other images by Kate Merrill Photo