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The puzzle of creating a photography empire
I have set out to create a Photography Empire. What does that mean? Most of you know I’m a photographer, but there are a lot of photographers out in this world. What I had set out is to be able to use my skills, knowledge, and love of photography, to create a sustainable and constant stream of income on different fronts.

In other words, I want to live comfortably following my passion.
It seems simple enough, but it actually takes a lot more planning than you would think. Following your passion is something I tell everyone to do, because if you follow your passion into making a living, you will feel fulfilled in life, knowing that everything you do is a labor of love for your craft.

So, what did the “Professional Amateur” / “SNG Design Co Digital” empire look like? I’ll list some pieces to this puzzle and give you links to see the avenues it all has gone.
- Photography! – At the core of my or any photography empire is photography. That seems like a no-brainer, but some people do forget all about it.
- Creating tools for other photographers – This one was a no-brainer for me, because I had amassed tools such as presets, overlays, and more in over 20 years of photo editing, predating my time as a professional photographer to when just an image manipulator who was in the graphic design space.
- Teaching Photography – The old adage is “Those who can’t, teach”, which is complete bullshit. Some of the best teachers that I had in the design world, also were in the design world. So, why not take all the knowledge, short cuts, and tips I have gained over the past decade and share them in easy to swallow videos and slides? This one takes a little more to create, but by August 15th my first free course will be available on Thinkific, and more paid courses to follow.
- Social Media – I love social media, sometimes. However, what is important is to have your craft and passion available to be seen on all platforms. You don’t have to pigeon hole into one platform, through apps and scheduling you can share your content on all platforms with barely any work beyond setting up the applications.
- Selling Digital and Print copies of Photos – While this seemed simple, it really wasn’t. I had dove into NFTs and that was fine, but that is not the only place I want to be as a Fine Art Photographer, I want to diversify a little more, so I started offering ways to buy digital copies of my work and be able to get prints made as well.
- Blogging – You’re reading it right now! But, I also get to give my opinion or take on certain topics. Post reviews of new gear I get. Share insights into the paths of photography I walk… or complain that my Webhost is garbage and keeps crashing. This is also a place where, due to traffic, I get advertisement revenue, and I’ll tell you if any links I put up are affiliate links (not all are believe it or not), and you see ads on the site, they help pay the bills.
- Networking – I do this through social media, like most people, but I also have an email list that are subscribed to my work here on the site that goes out to a little over 1,200 people. I also have an email list that is more geared toward big announcements, sales, and specials from all of my other pieces of the puzzle.
- Stock Photography – While it might seem like getting paid $0.30 for one of your photos through shutterstock might seem like nothing, I have 10s of thousands of shots that are meant for that world. Even though they aren’t all top tier work for stock photography, most are. Even if I sold 1 copy of all the photos I am going to be adding (so far only have added about 100) shutterstock, I would make about 6 grand. Some images get pulled a lot, and before you say that is a pipe dream, I already have made about 3 dollars since yesterday.
- The Podcast – While The Professional Amateur Podcast may not be a podcast based on Photography, it IS a podcast based on following your passion and the stories of those who have. It’s a great way to learn that everyone out there answered the calling to their passion and went ahead and followed through on them to great success.
So, those are the major pieces to the puzzle to my Photography Empire. THere will always be more, but it’s part of the fun in building an empire, finding more pieces to fit in the puzzle to get your to your goal.

Here is to the future, and the future of my empire, which I thank you all for being a part of!
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