389: Paul Gero – From photojournalist staff photographer to self employed and loving it

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Paul Gero of www.paulfgero.com is a proper photojournalist. For the first 19 years of his career, he worked as a staff photographer for the Chicago Tribune and the Arizona Republic. He also shot freelance work for magazines including Sports Illustrated, Time, People, Fortune and others.

He's photographed everything from Presidents, political conventions, civil unrest in Haiti, and professional sports amongst thousands of assignments for publications.

I heard him interviewed by past guest Dan Milnor and was surprised to hear he now photographs weddings and family portraits.

I was more surprised to hear him mention names like Sue Bryce and Tero Sade then go on to talk about book projects and marketing campaigns to attract his ideal clients and generate terrific sales.

Why surprise?

I think it's because it helped me see that what we strive to do and create as wedding and portrait photographers is truly worthy as a photographic pursuit.

And, that someone so skilled, so established in the photojournalistic world can be the same as you and me when it comes down to the business of photography… running ads and marketing campaigns to keep the enquiries coming in and the income ticking over as we do what we love.

In this interview, Paul shares how and why he went from work as a photojournalist staff photographer to self-employed and why he wouldn't change a thing.

Here's some more of what we cover in the interview:

• Looking back at Paul's past career as a journalist photographer
• Paul's past opinions on wedding or family portrait photographers
• Shifting focus to become a full-time wedding photographer
• How to measure performance as a photographer
• Weighing in on being a photographer and being a businessperson
• The difference between news photography and commercial photography
• The real difference to portrait photography against other niches
• The importance of adding value in what you do
• Can we really eliminate marketing while attracting clients
• What is the charity book project and how it works
• Paul's book projects
• The notion of average sales
• Getting comfortable when speaking about price and value
• Why Paul's California based business model didn't work in Wisconsin
• What changes Paul had to implement to run his photography business in Wisconsin
• Using the book projects as a lead generation process
• Paul's reasons for working on his book projects
• Using Mixam to publish Paul's book project
• Paul's photobook pricing
• Why Paul is interested in doing videos for photography clients now
• Paul's photography sources of income today
• How clients are finding Paul
• Is there a pressure to produce content for Sony
• Paul's photography business marketing strategies
• Figuring out the right balance and what works after relocating to a different state
• Where Paul sees his business in the future
• The need to find and create a market for your style of photography
• Why Paul is grateful he is self-employed and not tied to a corporate job

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I just think about myself as not a wedding photographer, not a portrait photographer, just as a photographer because I do everything and I want to do everything and I want to do everything well. – Paul Gero

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What is your big takeaway?

Following this interview, I’d love to know if you're taking anything away from what Paul shared. Is there something you heard that excited or motivated you to the point where you thought, yeah, I'm going to do that! If so, let me know by leaving your thoughts in the comments below, let me know what your takeaways were, what you plan to implement in your business as a result of what you heard in today's episode.

I just want to make photographs that I want to look at. – Paul Gero

If you have any questions that I missed, a specific question you’d like to ask Paul or if you just want to say thanks for coming on the show, feel free to add them in the comments area below.

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Firstly, it's confirmation that I'm on the right track with the interviews and that they really are helping you improve your photography business. That's awesome!

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You always have to be creating something of value that people are going to want and you have to put it out there and share it. – Paul Gero

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