We were lucky to catch up with Kimberly Cauble recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kimberly, appreciate you joining us today. Are you 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?

I have been a middle school teacher for 28 years and a part-time wedding and portrait photographer for the last 14 of those years. Before photography, I had all kinds of other side hustles: painting Christmas ornaments, making holiday cards, and even selling makeup for a time, but none of those really stuck. I started to seriously think about becoming a photographer when I had a friend ask me to photograph her wedding and absolutely loved the experience. I have grown my business slowly. I considered taking a break from teaching before my first son was born so that I could stay home with my children when they were little, but my husband and I decided that probably wasn’t a wise idea, especially the way educational technology was advancing. We decided that I would stick with my teaching job, and when my kids were close to being teenagers, I could retire (with full benefits) and then be home with them when they were in middle and high school. This May, I will wrap up my teaching career, and my photography career will become my full-time job! I could not be more excited. As my photography business has grown, I have had to work hard to find a healthy work-life balance between my family, teaching, and my business. But now, I will be able to do all of my planning, editing, client communication, and content creation while my kids are at school so that I can be more present for them in the afternoons/evenings. I have had people ask, “Are you going to take on more weddings now?” Since most weekends are on the weekends, probably not, but I will be able to do more branding sessions and other projects during the weekdays, now that I will have that time. I am also looking forward to having more time to meet with other creatives and those in the wedding industry, as well as time to continue developing photography education content and mentoring other photographers. I am excited about growing my business from a part-time hustle into a full-time second career!

Kimberly, 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 am a wedding and portrait photographer in York County, SC. I absolutely love people and serving my clients well! It has been hard for me to specialize in one niche, because my clients are my niche–whether they are getting married, having their first child, graduating, or starting a business, I want to capture all the important milestones of their lives. I pride myself on making things as comfortable and easy as possible, from planning portrait sessions to helping create keepsakes from photos. Because of my experience as a schoolteacher, I have a knack for working with children and teenagers, as well as wrangling large wedding parties and families!

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When I was starting out, I reached out to multiple photographers to see if I could shadow or learn from them. I found most of the photographers I spoke with to be very protective of their skills and craft, many unwilling to share any information. If I hadn’t been persistent in searching for classes, workshops, and people who would mentor me, I probably would have given up completely. This is why I am an open book with other new photographers! Maybe it’s because I am a teacher, or maybe it’s because I embrace the “community over competition” mentality, but it brings me such joy to see someone learn a new skill. I have mentored several other photographers who have gone on to build their own successful photography businesses, and I could not be more proud of them!

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Because I have been a part-time photographer and haven’t always been able to take on a ton of work, my main source of marketing has been happy clients! Most of my clients come from word-of-mouth and vendor referrals. I have been working hard to learn SEO and blogging consistently, and those are also boosting my website presence on the internet. Staying present and relevant through occasional emails to a mailing list, as well as consistent posts on Facebook and Instagram, have also helped bring in work!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kimberlycaublephotography.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kimberly.cauble
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KimberlyCaublePhotography
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@kimberly.cauble

Image Credits

All photos taken by Kimberly Cauble
BTS photo taken by Blakely Clayton Photography