How To Hit 5 Figure Months As A Photographer | $70k Month Profit Report
Does it ever feel like running your photography business just…isn’t working the way you thought it would?
You know you have what it takes: you’re smart, hard-working, and can picture yourself being super successful.
And photography isn’t just a side hustle for you anymore. You’re established…but you’re ready for your photography business to really work — like, pay-the-mortgage, build-your-investment-portfolio, support-your-spouse, go-on-vacations, spend-without-worry kind of work. And I don’t blame you!
You’re not alone — I myself spent years juggling photography with coaching a local cheer team AND booking side gigs in social media management, doing everything I could to make ends meet. I had the ambition — but I couldn’t figure out how to turn it into “real” income.
Us photographers all want the same thing, for the most part — freedom, stability, & excessive income we can count on — right?
In the beginning, like most new photographers, I just wanted people to know that my photography services existed! Then, once I figured out how to keep my calendar booked solid year after year, I began to desire more free time and financial peace of mind. It was at that moment I knew I had to make changes in my photography business so that I could count on consistent 5-figure months as a photographer. That’s when I stopped doing what I thought I was supposed to do… and started building a business that allowed me to shoot less — and earn more.
5-Figure Months Are Possible for Photographers Willing To Do One Thing
I’ll be transparent: I made $73k in one month as a portrait photographer — without weddings, without associate photographers, and without burnout. How? It’s simple: I figured out a way to collect larger invoices in less time.
But let’s rewind for a second, shall we? Because if you're anything like I was, that probably sounds too good to be true (even my husband asked to see the proof when I first told him about that month’s final numbers!)
You’re doing everything you thought you were supposed to:
Responding to DMs and emails as quickly as you can
Sending helpful client guides & emails
Posting your work (and video content) on Instagram & TikTok.
Managing bookings, running to sessions, squeezing in culling between everything else
You ARE showing up — every day, in all the ways.
But the income doesn’t match the effort. What gives?
Then there’s also the pain of watching friends buy houses, travel, or grow families, while you’re seriously considering going back to a 9-5. It’s so valid to feel like, “How am I working this much and still not getting ahead?!”
You don’t want to shoot back-to-back sessions, with clients who haggle you about your prices, just to scrape by.
You want margin. Freedom. Consistency. Respect.
As you should!
And if I had to guess, the only reason you yourself aren’t celebrating a 70k month right now is because of one (or all) of the following:
– Your price timing: you’re getting ghosted after sending your pricing, brochure, or inquiry magazine, or having awkward conversations about upsells after it’s too late
– Your business model: you’re met with silence when you offer artwork, or getting pushback from clients who ‘just want the digital files’
– Your personal brand: You’re spinning your wheels trying to find new leads, instead of being booked out 6-12 months at a time
Here’s the good news, though:
You don’t need to book MORE — you just need to present a simpler offer to your current clients. And that starts with understanding how profitable photographers actually run things behind the scenes.
Right now, you’re so focused on filling up your calendar that you choose pricing that won’t ‘scare people away’ — but sending your multi-package pricing guide out and hoping clients will select the most profitable one is not how $70k months work.
I spent years testing different pricing structures… and only one was both profitable for me and preferable to my clients.
There’s only one number that my clients need to consider when they book with me.
5-figure months as a photographer are very possible in every market
It’s easy to think that the only way to hit 5-figure months as a photographer is to book luxury weddings or accept that burnout is just part of a photographer’s job description
But really, hitting consistent high five-figure months is actually predictable when you do this one thing:
Simplify your pricing.
The more simple my pricing became, the higher my average sale.
I break this down in depth in my challenge, but if you want to start somewhere for free in the meantime, see my 70k month breakdown here.
Years 1–3 I was part-time, making less than $30K/year with photography.
Year 4 was the year everything took off — my first six-figure year.
And now, in Years 5–7, I’ve built a consistent, multiple six-figure business that supports my life, my future family, and my long-term freedom.
Here’s the thing, though — that leap didn’t have to take four years. If my focus hasn’t been so split in those early years, I have no doubt the six-figure growth that happened in Year 4 could’ve happened SO much sooner.
Looking back, I can now clearly see what I was missing:
1) going all in on ONE type of client experience
2) a model that allowed me to charge four-figure prices — and feel confident doing it
3) investing in shortcuts (through coaches, programs, etc.)
Once I had that, everything accelerated. And then things like reps, branding, messaging, and sales skills became fuel to the fire. Now that the business is growing so quickly, it’s more about managing supply and demand — a prosperous problem I wish more photographers got to experience!
But most don’t. Why?
Not because they aren’t talented or hard-working –- but because no one ever taught them how to structure their business to create predictable, profitable, scalable income. A large majority of photography business models are stuck in a system that equates burning out with making a lot of money, as if one can't exist without the other.
That’s what I teach now. And truthfully? You can get there faster than I did!
5-figure months are about more than just money
Consistent 5-figure months (and multi-six-figure years) not only unlocks new options within my business (I call this "cushion" with my students), but options in my personal life as well. And really, what is more "rich" than having options to do as you please in your life and business?
The money is great, of course, but it's really the extra time, the peace of mind, and the ability to re-invest back into the business to help it grow even more that feels the most rewarding.
The first time I hit $70k revenue in one month felt like a mixture of disbelief, but at the same time it felt like confirmation.
I believe fully in the “flywheel effect” — once the right parts of your business are in motion, they just. keep. going. Even when you step away.
This $70k month was a result of the momentum that has been built over the last couple of years.
I stopped worrying so much about presets, gear, going viral, etc. and started thinking like an entrepreneur: buying psychology, profit models, and investing.
That shift from thinking like a photographer to thinking like a business owner was HUGE because I started making decisions about what to include in my business (and frankly, what to cut out as well) differently.
You don’t need to wait YEARS to hit six-figures, like I did. You need a model that allows you to do less — and make more.
If you’re curious about an actual breakdown of how this all comes together, I’m sharing the full behind the scenes analysis in my $70k month profit report.
I dive into what I did to create the momentum that changed my business and can change yours, too.
Your multi-six figure year starts here with a 5-figure month!
