This 35-year-old mom built a side hustle that brings in $240,000 a month: ‘I work just 4 hours a day’

In 2008, I started a photography broadside hustle from my dorm room. My extremity was to go a nonrecreational photographer. It wasn't easy, particularly astatine the tallness of the recession, but I'm gladsome I ne'er gave up.

Today, astatine 35, I'm a self-made millionaire and tally a wedding photography and acquisition business, Katelyn James Photography. With my hubby Michael, who joined arsenic Chief Financial Officer successful 2013, we've helped much than 100,000 radical larn astir photography.

In 2022, we brought successful $240,000 a period successful gross — 80% of which I enactment backmost into the business. Roughly $230,000 of our monthly gross was passive income from online courses and grooming materials.

I present enactment conscionable 4 hours a time and sprout astir 4 weddings a year.

In the archetypal twelvemonth of my broadside hustle, I was a full-time assemblage student, but I inactive worked 40 oregon much hours a week.

My rates started low: $750 for six hours of photographing and editing. As my skills improved, I started charging more. And by 2013, I was earning six figures.

I was fortunate to person a large mentor, Jasmine Star, who photographed my ain wedding. I besides took immoderate online courses, attended workshops, and took connected projects for escaped to physique my portfolio.

But determination wasn't a batch of affordable photography grooming retired there, truthful I started sharing tips connected my blog. About 8 years in, I realized online photography acquisition could beryllium a scalable business.

Through connection of rima and a accordant societal media presence, I grew an email database of 7,600 photographers who wanted to larn from me. All the while, I developed outlines, designed a workbook via Adobe InDesign, and recorded and edited people contented with assistance from a videographer friend.

In November 2015, Michael and I launched our archetypal online grooming program to thatch photographers however to edit and streamline their workflow. The people outgo $397, a terms constituent that was acold much accessible than a semester's worthy of assemblage photography classes.

Our extremity was $15,000 successful full sales. But the archetypal day, due to the fact that of the spot we built with our customers implicit time, we made implicit $160,000.

The occurrence of my archetypal people showed maine that it was much invaluable to marque photography acquisition accessible, alternatively than conscionable shooting weddings and continuously expanding prices.

We've created implicit a twelve downloadable courses, e-books and templates for assorted photography skills. Our resources are inspired by questions asked by our online assemblage of implicit 70,000 people, and screen topics similar posing couples and earthy airy photography.

We besides person a rank product, KJ All Access. For $29 per month, photographers of each acquisition levels get to travel maine arsenic I sprout events and grip each sorts of unpredictable situations — similar wedding dresses getting covered successful mud oregon upwind delays.

New videos are changeable by my videographer, edited by me, and released each month. Members besides person entree to a room of past videos.