Welcome photographers, to your very own business roadmap. 
Regardless of where you are in your business, there will always be ways to improve and scale. I want this blog to serve as a guide, and show you where you can invest, based on where you are now, in order to create the business of your dreams.

Before we dive in, I want to remind you of this: being a creative entrepreneur is a journey. Each of us have different backgrounds, different stories, and began at different times. Don’t let what you see others accomplishing ahead of you discourage you. You’ll get there in time, all it takes is that next step!

1. Mastering Shooting & Camera Settings

It's no secret one of the first steps to being a photographer is learning how to use your camera - but sometimes in our eagerness to start shooting, we gloss over that part and switch the dial to auto, or find the right settings through a lot of trial and error. In The Complete Guide to Camera Settings, I'll walk you through the basic components of your camera, cover aperture, shutter speed, ISO, white balance, and flash in depth, when to use flash v. high ISO, share my exact settings for different scenarios, and give tips for shooting in a variety of tricky lighting situations. This course is created to provide something for all experience levels. Whether you just have a nice camera and have never figured out how to use it properly, or you're a pro, but would love to feel more confident with the perfect settings when under pressure, it’s full of valuable information for everyone.

2. Nailing Your Edits

Once you’ve had a chance to play with your camera and capture some amazing images, it’s time to conquer editing. The secret is, you don't have to be a Lightroom expert to have consistent beautiful edits that your clients love. By using DC Presets, you can edit quicker than before while having edits that are known to be swoon-worthy and timeless. If you're looking to dive even deeper into editing, check out The Editing Course, our 11 part in-depth course to help you learn about all you can do in Lightroom, and master a beautiful and consistent editing style.

3. Directing Clients

Now that you're feeling confident about using your camera and editing your photos, it's time to elevate your shoots with The Posing Decks. It's one thing to know what poses to use, but it's an entirely new thing to have prompts on hand that can be used to capture genuine and authentic connection. Even after shooting portraits for 15 years, I still have moments where my mind goes blank during a session and I need some fresh posing inspiration. The Posing Decks come in four different editions (Couple, Wedding, Portrait & Family) plus an educational video from me, sharing posing philosophies, how to make your clients comfortable, and how to best use the decks. The Posing Decks have been known to make showing up at sessions easier than ever! 

4. Protecting Your Business

It is so important to be covered legally in the service industry, and I can’t stress enough how crucial having solid contracts in place is. The legal side of business was definitely the most intimidating part for me starting out (back when contract templates were few and far between, and the best option was spending thousands to hire a lawyer). I don't want you to deal with the same stress I did, and I don't want you to experience the detriments of something happening and wishing you had a contract in place. So I worked with my contract lawyer to create these thorough, affordable, easy to use Contract Templates. Simply copy and paste, fill in a couple blanks, and send to your client!

5. Creating an Amazing Client Experience