We recently connected with Kelly Mason and have shared our conversation below.
Kelly, looking forward to hearing all of your stories 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?
I have, indeed! I’ve been a photographer for almost 20 years and didn’t think I would ever want to do it full time. Instead, I got a business degree, ran a music blog and worked with local bands in Seattle, worked in skateboarding marketing in my early 20s, and assisted another music photographer for five years–networking as much as possible along the way. This foundation absolutely helped me turn my real passions and natural abilities into a full-time career.
It’s only been the past few years that I’ve fully embraced photography and marketing being two skills I have that should be used in conjunction. There are a bunch of quotes about creativity that constantly float around my brain, and the gist of one of them is that you should take the two things you are best at and use them together. Once I accepted this and built myself a website selling that I can specifically help people achieve their personal/business goals, my entire career changed. From my website and SEO via Google alone, I’ve built relationships with Eventbrite, the San Francisco Theatre Group, countless bands, and many other entities that have changed my life.
Being a full-time creative is an exercise in going with the flow and constantly adjusting your expectations. I love to joke that I accepted eating shit for 10 years and seeing no payoff with a hope that someday I would piece together a career that works for me. Now I work with bands and companies I love doing a variety of work from photography to marketing consulting, and I couldn’t be happier. So much of my success comes from a general interest in running a business, networking with people because I’m genuinely interested in their stories and helping them succeed, and saying yes to things that scare and challenge me.
A lot of creatives underestimate the power of being a good human over everything else. Most people would rather hire someone they get along well with over the best-of-the-best at their craft. Also, seriously, my website and knowing how SEO works. That was ultimately the missing piece that helped propel me to the next level.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I am a multi-passionate creative with a heavy emphasis on music and what I call “life” photography, which basically encompasses anything people-related that doesn’t fall under the music umbrella. I like to constantly switch up my subjects to keep things fresh. My other focus is consulting because I love telling people how to run their business without having to do all of the work myself. I am one of a handful of music photographers who shares business tidbits on social media, and someday I want to lean more into helping creatives with entrepreneurship on a broader scale.
When I was 16, I started website to support and photograph local bands around the Seattle area and built the foundation of my career because I just wanted to go to concerts and promote local bands that weren’t getting press attention. From there, I slowly entered real life and got a business degree from the University of Washington, working in marketing for a skateboarding retailer after graduating. Through that job met two of my future employers who were just adjacent to me at events. Did I mention I like to talk to strangers? It’s one of my “gifts.”
I genuinely love to help others and expect nothing in return, sometimes to my own demise. I believe one of my superpowers is identifying what people are good at and knowing how to articulate this and inspire them to embrace who they are and reach their goals.
What’s been the best source of new clients for you?
My website is absolutely number one. Then word-of-mouth and hoping everyone becomes a repeat client.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
Self-help books are my guilty pleasure. A couple of my favorites are You Are A Badass At Making Money by Jen Sincero and Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss. Tools of Titans is full of infinite wisdom from dozens of high-achieving humans.
I would be nothing without a project management system to manage my clients and keep track of contracts and invoices. 17hats is the one I’ve used forever. Then Pixieset for all aspects of photo gallery management. Never underestimate the power of making your clients’ lives easier–while sometimes accidentally impressing them–through robust web tools.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://kellymason.me
- Instagram: kellymason
- Twitter: kellehhh
Image Credits
Photo of me taken by Courtney Boyer