Email 2 of a six-email nurture sequence sent to photographers after they took KT Merry’s Creative Superpower Quiz. Written in KT’s voice, it takes on the belief that business work will cost an artist her creativity, and turns it around.
Subject: THIS is the key to finding artistic freedom (and world-changing impact) 👉
From: KT Merry
[First name], now that you’re certain of your Masterful Artist Superpower, how do you harness it?
If you’re like me, you love nothing more than stealing away from the day-to-day, just you and your camera, to explore an exciting new location. I can get lost for hours, wandering and wondering, letting my instincts guide me and shooting the sights of a newly discovered view.
For me, that’s heaven. Just creating.
It was all those hours of wandering and photographing early in my career that fine-tuned my eye and my execution behind the lens. Every new and unknown challenge called me to be a more masterful artist—to learn and execute my craft at a higher level with each and every click of the shutter, each and every job.
I loved the work that I was doing, and I was proud of it. But—it didn’t seem to be moving the needle in my business the way I’d hoped or expected.
The truth was, I had zero knowledge of what was involved in growing and maintaining a business.
I continued to spend years (too many to confess!) focused solely on being the most skilled photographer I could be—and avoiding business, marketing and anything to do with math.
I could capture a gorgeous sunset on the beach, but I had no strategy for marketing it.
I was booking jobs at a rapid pace, but I wasn’t being intentional about which ones I actually wanted more of.
I knew I needed to get a handle on my business, but my inner artist had a strong resistance to ‘the business side of things.’
I feared that…
If I consume my time with business tasks and marketing strategies, I’ll lose touch with my authentic creativity.
I argued that…
Building a business requires too much time and energy. I’ll have nothing left to create my art.
I wanted my work to speak for itself, and I didn’t want to be tied up and weighed down by draining to-dos and soul-crushing systems. After all, I’m an artist! I didn’t get into photography to sit at a desk and make spreadsheets!
But eventually—my accountant came calling.
I’d been successful enough to warrant a serious look at my profit and loss and my margins. I could no longer afford to avoid them.
For all I knew, my margins were somewhere between going out to dinner twice a week and spending a few extra days in Paris at the end of a job.
When I finally faced the music of my business, the processes that were (or weren’t!) in place, where I was going and where I wanted to be going… I discovered something pretty magical:
Building a business can be just as creative as building a portfolio.
Why hadn’t anyone told me this before?!?
When I started creating a real vision for my business, strategies to get there and processes to ease the workflow, I felt as if I’d uncovered a golden ticket.
As a struggling photographer, I thought that embracing the business would mean abandoning my true calling as an artist. But what I now know is this:
Mastering your business is the key to finding freedom in your art.
Did you catch that?? 👆
I’ll tell you again.
What successful photographers know is that:
Mastering your business is the key to finding freedom in your art.
You can have both.
You don’t have to starve to be an artist.
And you don’t have to sell out to run a successful business.
You can play big in your art and in your business. In fact, that’s where the real magic happens. ✨
Friend, the world needs your art. And your art needs the structures and systems of a solid business foundation to find its greatest potential for impact.
Because you can’t change the world—or your community, or your family—if you’re playing too small.
If you’re having some of the same fears and doubts that I was all those years ago, and you find yourself avoiding your business, I invite you to rethink them.
Your beliefs determine your destiny, and I believe you’re destined for great things.
Throughout my journey, I’ve learned some critical lessons that will help you to discover the freedom in building proven processes and embrace the creative side of business to make room for the world-changer you were born to be.
I’ll be sharing them with you here soon… So stay tuned!
xx,
KT
P.S. If you resonate with my early journey as an artist and business owner 👆—stay tuned! I’ll be sharing my #1 tool for freeing up more of your time and embracing repeatable processes that support your creativity. You’re going to want to put this to use right away, so keep your eyes peeled for my next email. 💌