Grace's photography business is more than just a passion project. It means financial freedom to the young person.
After falling in love with photography at the age of 13, he spent years documenting Sweet 16 parties in New Jersey for little pay and working at a fast food joint. She wasn't confident that photography could pay the bills after college, despite earning some clients and cash.
She learned that successful photographers invest in high quality equipment. After graduating college in December 2020, she invested in new cameras and started taking pictures full time.
She says she has spent over $50,000 getting her business up and running. According to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It, she made $177,000 in revenue in her first year, and now makes more than $10,000 a month.
Being a young Asian American woman with a six-figure business is a lot of work, but it is worth it.
CNBC made it, with Jonathan Cortizo.
Being able to just have one job that is my own setting and my own hours has been a blessing for me. I am so excited to work with the clients that I work with and to do what I love.
He turned a hobby into a side hustle and then into a six-figure business.
Her first camera was a Canon Rebel T3 and she bought it ahead of a road trip with her family. Along the way, the family stopped at a number of national parks, and Torres fell in love with nature behind the camera.
I saw it as an investment when I was 13 years old. I used the money I had saved for birthdays and Christmas to buy it.
At 13 years old, he fell in love with photography. Her photography business brought in a lot of money last year.
The image is courtesy of Grace.
She wanted to pursue science after college. In high school, she focused her attention on academics, carving out time to photograph portraits and birthday parties for fun, sometimes earning $100 for four hours of work.
At the age of 20, she made $2,000 through her work as a photographer and graphic designer. She began to think about what a full-time photography job would look like.
She already worked two to three other jobs throughout college to help pay for her equipment. She realized that she could make a full-time living if she balanced her equipment costs with more shoots.
She booked gig every other week instead of every other month. She took an internship with a nonprofit to help supplement her finances until she could get a full-time job as a photographer.
Thirty-four weddings are planned for this year. She wants to change it to 27 next year.
CNBC made it, with Jonathan Cortizo.
He says he is not a huge risk taker. I was able to put more time into photography because of the part time job.
He researched sustainable business practices and worked on client acquisition through social media. After graduating college, she took her photography business full time.
Some of her responsibilities have been delegated over the past eighteen months. She hired a CPA to teach her how to file her taxes and invested in legal service to help with contracts.
She feels like she is living a dream most of the time. She is reminded of the challenges of being a youngentrepreneur on some days.
Last year was a banner year for weddings, as a result of the nationwide Covid-19 restrictions of 2020 In a single year, she shot 46 weddings and 10 of them were in a single month.
She has learned to schedule fewer weddings in order to fight burnout. She is committing to 34 this year. She wants to finish the count around 27. She began outsourcing her services from her home office in Lakeland, Florida, so she could pay contractors to do her work.
She can build more of a work life balance.
She wants to build her company and grow it so that she can travel to places she has always wanted to.
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