551: Josh Beaton – How to use your photography to finance a passion project and get paid

PhotoBizX The Ultimate Wedding and Portrait Photography Business Podcast

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Josh Beaton of www.joshbeaton.com and www.thetweenesteemproject.org creates and photographs luxury portraits with an edge. If you check out his clean but attention-grabbing website, you'll see he is one of Chicago’s Premier Portrait Photographers.

His portraiture has a distinctive, dark, romantic look, and it's easy to see why clients would be drawn to him and his photography.

What's interesting about his journey is this is all relatively new! He only recently left his full-time job and has gone all in with his photography business, including taking on a lease for a new and large studio.

Josh popped up on my radar when Premium Member Kerry Struble emailed me to say…

Hi Andrew!

Have you heard about photographer Josh Beaton? He runs a teen-empowering non-profit called The Tween Esteem Project and just had a beautiful gallery show.

It's not just a portrait promotion, but rather, an entire program for underprivileged teens and teens that have self-esteem issues, struggle with bullying, addiction, etc.

There's a whole self-help component that includes connecting with a mentor, social media training, and more. He's actually started a legit non-profit organisation!

That was enough to have me reach out to Josh for this interview, where he shares how he was able to use his photography to finance a project that helps underprivileged children in his community and, hopefully, the country. At the same time, being paid for his photographic skills and mastery.

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

• From Employee to Creative Boss: Discover how Josh transitioned to full-time photography, defying the “starving artist” myth.
• Beyond the Benjamins: Learn their fulfilling approach to business, prioritizing artistic expression over fixating on specific revenue.
• Scaling Up Your Studio: Overcome pricing, marketing hurdles, and explore expanding your space to cater to a specific niche.
• Finding Your Signature Style: Unleash your creative vision! See how Josh draws inspiration from iconic photographers to attract clients who crave modern aesthetics.
• Boudoir Bonanza: Step into the world of boudoir-inspired photography! See how Josh empowers women aged 30-45 to celebrate life's milestones.
• Six-Figure Vision and Beyond: Learn about Josh's business goals, from expanding art sales to breaking the six-figure barrier, and discover their insider networking tips.
• The Power of Connection: Leverage groups like the Chamber of Commerce and BNI to open doors and explore new photography avenues.
• Giving Back with “The Tween Esteem Project”: Be touched by their non-profit offering free photoshoots to underprivileged children, and hear about their ambitious plans for nationwide expansion.
• Sustainable Giving: Learn how Josh seeks grants for long-term support while prioritizing community involvement over corporate sponsorships.
• Free Confidence Boost for Teens: Witness the impact they make by offering complimentary photoshoots to struggling teens with a streamlined application process.
• Turning Snaps into Support: See how Josh organises charity events featuring donated prints, leveraging community engagement for impactful fundraising.
• The Lens of Self-Esteem: Get inspired by their ded ication to using photography to boost self-esteem on a national scale.
• Empowering Youth with Passion: Be moved by their unwavering commitment to helping struggling teens and tweens, and prepare to be inspired by their openness to growth opportunities for even greater impact.

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My business wasn't ready when I took the jump. I just, you know, jump and the net will appear. We kind of really leaned on that. — Josh Beaton

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What is your big takeaway?

Following this interview, I’d love to know if you're taking anything from what Josh 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, leave your thoughts in the comments below; let me know your takeaways and what you plan to implement in your business due to what you heard in today's episode.

I don't want to lower my price, because I don't want to devalue the work. It's a lot harder to go from $100 shoots to $10,000 shoots versus, you know, kind of just going a little bit in the middle there. — Josh Beaton

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

iTunes Reviews and Shout-outs

I check for any new iTunes or Google reviews each week, and it's always a buzz to receive these… for several reasons.

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

Moving into my new studio was a little overwhelming when I first moved in. — Josh Beaton

Secondly, iTunes and Google are the most significant podcast search engines, and your reviews and ratings help other photographers find PhotoBizX. More listeners mean more interviews and, ultimately, a better show.

If you have left a review in the past, thank you! If you haven't and you'd like to, head to https://photobizx.com/itunes or https://photobizx.com/google, and you can leave some honest feedback and a rating which will help both me and the show, and I'll be sure to thank you on the show and add a link to your website or blog if you let me know the URL of your website and your name.

I haven't done boudoir, but my guess is that I would look for a boudoir client that really doesn't want to take their clothes off. Right? And then like that's okay, great. — Josh Beaton

Alternatively, if you've left a review for PhotoBizX and are looking for more backlinks to help your SEO, leave a review for the new Photography Xperiment Podcast. Email me your keywords or phrases and where you'd like me to link them.

Another great way to get a backlink to your site is to send a video testimonial. It doesn't need to be fancy, and your phone will be perfect. Click record and tell me how PhotoBizX has impacted you and your photography business.​

Here is the latest review…

★★★★★ Mind Blowing!

Via the PhotobizX Members Group by Luxurious St. Louis Boudoir Photographer, Matthew Kauffmann, on February 1st, 2024.

Regarding the recent AI for photographers training delivered by Brianna Shrader.

This was absolutely mind-blowing. Completely worth 12x the cost of admission!

Registrations are open to anyone looking to up their sales game!

For any photographer to succeed in business, you need to be able to confidently consult with your clients on what works best for them.

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Sell with integrity.

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Sell with the ‘helping’ mentality.

How do you get better at selling?

Instead of stumbling through to see what a solid process may be for you, learn from someone who owns a company that has sold more than 5 million dollars (US) in digitals and products for clients internationally.

If you've always wanted to be better at sales, OR YOU HAVE A STAFF MEMBER who needs to be better, don't miss this training.

Our GUARANTEE to you: Take this training, and if you don't get enough value to increase your csales, let me know I'll happily refund you.

For more details and to register, click here: https://learn.photobizx.com/sales-masterclass/

If you'd like to hear more from Audra before registering, check out her recent PhotoBizX interview here.

Links to people, places and things mentioned in this episode:

Josh Beaton Website

Josh Beaton on Facebook

Josh Beaton on Instagram

The Tween Esteem Project

The Tween Esteem Project on Instagram

The Tween Esteem Project on Facebook

Thank you!

Thanks again for listening, and thanks to Josh for sharing his thoughts, ideas, and experience on launching and building a non-profit based on photography to help underprivileged teens.

These kids walked in to pictures they've already seen with their drawers on the floor. And their mums were crying and I couldn't understand it at first. — Josh Beaton

That’s it for me this week; I hope everything is going well for you in life and business!

Thanks, and speak soon
Andrew

Episode Transcript

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Andrew Hellmich:
Today's guest shoots luxury portraits with an edge. And if you check out his clean but attention grabbing website you'll see he is one of Chicago's premier portrait photographers. His portraiture has a distinctive dark romantic look and it's easy to see why his clients would be drawn to him and his photography. Now what's interesting about his journey is this is all relatively new he only recently left his full time job has gone all in with his photography business, including taking on a lease for brand new and large studio. Now he first popped up on my radar when Premium Member Carrie Struble emailed me to say, Hey Andrew, have you heard about the photographer Josh Beaton: . He has a teen empowering nonprofit called the tween esteem project. He just had a beautiful gallery show. And it's not just a portrait promotion, but rather an entire program for underprivileged teens and tweens that have self esteem issues, struggle with bullying and addiction, etc. There's a whole self help component that includes connecting with a mentor social media training and more. He's actually started a legit nonprofit organization. So that's when I went and had a deeper look, I fell in love with everything that I saw, reached out to Josh, and asked him to come on for this interview. So I am rapt to say that Josh is here with us now, Josh, welcome, mate.

Josh Beaton:
How you doing? Thanks so much for having me.

Andrew Hellmich:
Does it feel all brand new still Are you like deep in the trenches now and just like head down, bum up?

Josh Beaton:
Well, with the between the Tween Esteem Project in particular, we just finished, like you said, we just had our gallery show at this point, I think it was about three weeks ago. So we're in this little like calming part before we gear up again next year for that. And then for my business in itself, it's all marketing, right? It's all glad handing everyone and trying to trying to fill some spots.

Andrew Hellmich:
Unreal. Was I right in saying that this is all relatively new?

Josh Beaton:
The Tween Esteem Project itself is definitely new. We've had it for one year. My photography business is new as my full time gig here. Like I just it was in February that I took the leap to give it a go, you know.

Andrew Hellmich:
And how you feeling about that decision now?

Josh Beaton:
There are mornings that I hate myself for doing that. And then there are mornings that I love it. So just like any other solo business, right, there's a sense of uneasiness, especially with your first year, first couple of years, you know, just getting kind of a foundation built under you, versus when you have a full time job. And it's just kind of like, oh, whatever, I didn't book anyone for the last two weeks, it's no big deal. I have a paycheck. Now it's like, you know, I have bills to pay. So I'm out there begging.

Andrew Hellmich:
And so were you part time, you know, working as a photographer, you know, while you had the full time job? And then did you get to a point where you thought, Okay, I'm ready to make the leap? Or did you just take a gamble?

Josh Beaton:
Well, so I went to school for graphic design. So for the last 10 years or so, I've been a creative director. And so there's a lot of photography that goes along with that job. I did a lot of video, I did a lot of photo. But I've always loved portrait photography. And so I've been kind of doing it on the side, you know, a lot of it was free stuff. But you know, earlier than then I realized, you know that you can actually make a living doing this. So I started charging more, I got a smaller studio a few years back. And yeah, I just kind of slowly turn the faucet more and more and more and more until you know, the water was warm enough that I felt like I could I could jump in now.

Andrew Hellmich:
So what got you to the point? What was the point where you thought I can jump in? And I'm curious to know if it was your photography was referrals? Was it what people were saying about your work? Or was it your marketing?

Josh Beaton:
Well, to be completely frank, I just wasn't happy at my job. And it got to the point where I started, you know, obviously I talked to my wife about this, but I didn't just come home and say, Hey, by the way, I'm done. But I started really talking to myself and talking to my wife and just trying to decide how long am I going to work at a job that I don't enjoy. And let what I love just be kind of an afterthought in my life, right? You get older, and pretty soon you find out that you spent all those years doing something you hated. So my business wasn't ready. When I took the jump. I just, you know jump in the net will appear we kind of really leaned on that. And then that's only kind of there.

Andrew Hellmich:
You're still stitching it together.

Josh Beaton:
Absolutely. Absolutely.

Andrew Hellmich:
Well, like I said, Did you go into this or did you sit down with your wife? It's Danielle, isn't it? Your wife?

Josh Beaton:
Yes. Yep.

Andrew Hellmich:
So did you sit down with Danielle and and say, Okay, this is our target. We want to reach $100,000 in revenue for the first year or 50,000 revenue.

Josh Beaton:
Well, we didn't know like we knew. So Danielle has a full time job as well, so it wasn't like, if I didn't make any money, we would be out on the streets. But obviously, I can't just not make money, right, like, as a one income household, it wouldn't really work. So we just talked about, we had goals, more of we want clients, right, we want to get so many clients, and obviously those clients need to pay. But when I first started, my pricing was kind of, I wanted to come in at a nice full, like, good high price, right, I considered it a very luxury item, and wanted to come in at a high price. Well, I found that I didn't really get any clients doing that. And then it was that internal struggle of, well, I don't want to lower my price, because I don't want to devalue the work, it's a lot harder to go from $100 shoots to $10,000 shoots versus, you know, kind of just going a little bit in the middle there. But I also had to pay bills. So I kind of played around with some things I tried every deal under the sun, right? I've tried campaigns I tried, I'm even doing Christmas sessions this year that I never do. And I probably won't do again, they weren't that weren't a great hit. But I'm just trying everything and kind of seeing what sticks. I've had mentors, I've, you know, joined groups, like, you know, the mentorship type groups and stuff like that. And I'm just kind of looking for that magic bullet that I know probably doesn't exist, and that it's more of just a bunch of little things than one big thing. And so I'm still kind of, you know, finding what is going to be the best, not so much niche for me, I kind of have my niche, but what is going to be the best way to fill that niche,

Andrew Hellmich:
Right. You must have some positive signs because you quit your job. You went for a small studio, now you're into a lot like the listener can't see you bet you have a big space around you right now. And you said before you've got room to run around.

Josh Beaton:
Yeah, yeah, frankly, it got a little overwhelming when I first moved in, like I was telling you earlier, I moved from 185 square foot studio, where a lot of the work that people have seen on my Instagram and everything was shot in that 185 square foot studio. And then the problem was when you start offering makeup and things like that, we can't all fit in that studio. So we found out that we'd have to like rent another studio in the building for two hours to do makeup. And it just didn't make any sense. So now in this studio, we can kind of have a say we because I consider my wife sort of part of the business. But really, it's just me. We could have you know, the makeup is just right to my left here. And we have a bunch of backdrops and scenes kind of set up behind me versus I had two backdrops nailed to either wall in the other studio. And I would just turn around. And that would be my two, my two sets. So that's a lot more that can breathe easier in here.

Andrew Hellmich:
Right, so, the signs must have been good to have you make that new leap.

Josh Beaton:
Yeah. I think a lot of it what, I didn't have the business at the time, but I had a lot of people telling me that my work was great. And that, you know, I, I was in no shortage of people supporting me verbally write emails about it. Like, the ego was really high for a while. And I what I found out is a lot of that ends up just being taught. And you know, you can tell me, I'm great all you want, but if you're not going to hire me as your photographer, well, you know, thanks. It's like getting a Christmas card. Yeah. All right, thanks for the card. But so it was, we were hopeful, right? My wife and I, when we talked about it, we saw a lot of potential in the business, we still do, we really think we can make a living out of this and you know, comfortable living. And I fully believe in my work. They just, you know, I'm just trying to find that missing piece, which it's funny too, because my wife and I both come from design and marketing. She's more of the marketing, and I'm designing and it should be there. And we shouldn't be able to just run this business like, you know, any other ad agency would run it. And I don't know, we're still kind of trying to find our footing.

Andrew Hellmich:
Well, now I love the fact that you sharing this because this is real life isn't I mean, you've got the images, you could sit there and say, Hey, we're doing we're doing half a million dollars here. And I would believe you or anyone would when they see your work. And exactly like you said, it's nonetheless people actually parting with their cash. That's, you can say, Okay, this is this is really working. So for the listener, I mean, I described your work as dark and romantic, moody even. And I'm going to have some images accompany the audio when this goes live. But for the listener that can't see your work. How would you describe it? And who is your ideal client?

Josh Beaton:
Yeah, so a lot of people like to throw around dark and moody right? But I never say that because it gets really confused with like dark and moody wedding photography, which is very different than this. I love the word romantic. You know, some people have called it like vampy and I say well if it's gonna be vampy then it's more like Interview with a Vampire than blade. Right? There's no like blood and all of that, but it's like yeah, like Victorian romantic is kind of how I think of it right? Which doesn't mean it looks old. You know what I used to have on my website, it was called luxury with an edge. And that's really kind of how I feel like it is it's fine art enough to hang on your wall. But it's not necessarily for your grandma. You know what I mean? It's modern renaissance.

Andrew Hellmich:
Yeah, it is.

Josh Beaton:
I'm just making up words right now. So I don't know.

Andrew Hellmich:
Yeah, but that's right. Yeah, I would go with that. These images that I'm looking at even on your Instagram right now, they would look, you know, totally in place in any gallery, they would look amazing in the right home. But then you've gone towards a darker background, as opposed to a light and airy background. Yes, the opposite of that.

Josh Beaton:
Yeah, yeah. My hero in life is Annie Leibovitz. And I don't care, like we can argue all day, it doesn't matter if you're going against the brick wall here. I don't want to hear it. She's just my hero, you know. And so I took a lot of my initial inspiration from her and I loved like the olive backgrounds and things like that. And then I just kind of just like any anyone else, when you start photography, right, you find your heroes, you kind of emulate them a little bit. And then eventually, it kind of turns into your own style. You take a little from here a little from there, and it becomes something else. So I don't think my work looks like Annie Leibovitz now, but I think if you know that she's my hero, you can see, like, bits in there, right?

Andrew Hellmich:
100%, 100%. Absolutely, yeah. But you've also you've obviously spent a lot of time learning or getting a good understanding of posing, and particularly women, there's mainly women on your feed. There's some men but you know, you look like you know, what to do with their hands, how to pose the face, shape the body, do all those things. Is that something you actually studied?

Josh Beaton:
I did not. But I mean, I guess I studied by looking at magazines and didn't, but I wasn't conscious, right? I wasn't like looking saying, all right. Oh, that poses great, you know, and like cutting it out or anything like that. It's just kind of like you absorb it after a while. But what I find is, when I'm doing a shoot, I don't necessarily say, All right, now, put your right hand like this, and put your left hand like this, and your legs like this. But I'll give little tips, right. So I'll say for instance, put your feet your feet shouldn't be side by side, right, pick a foot and step forward a little bit, then you'll feel yourself kind of drop into that hip, just let that happen right. Now, put your left hand here. And now your right hand is freestyle, do whatever you want with it. And we kind of do that a little bit. So it's not like I'm putting them in this mold. I'm more kind of guiding them and then letting them have a little bit of say in it as well. Even the people who come in here that are like I don't know what to do. You know, they still feel like once they kind of get into a little bit of it, their inner model comes out and they started popping poses. And it's it's really great. Awesome.

Andrew Hellmich:
I love it. So who is your ideal client? Because I mean, you could say it's clamor. You could say I mean, it's got a boudoir feel without any of the raunchiness. I mean, they look like if you spoke to a boudoir photographer, right? interviewed a boudoir photographer, I feel like you and them would be looking for the same kind of person to attract into the studio. Yeah,

Josh Beaton:
I guess for me, I haven't done boudoir, but my guess is that I would look for a boudoir client that really doesn't want to take their clothes off. Right? And then like That's okay, great. We can do that. I guess. Yeah, I mean, that's a good description of it is it sort of boudoir without the nudity, because it is that dark romantic look that a lot of boudoir has. But it's set in a backdrop. It's not like in a in a bed or you know, in a bathtub or you know, the other things that boudoir does. And a lot of it is not necessarily costumed. But I have you know, a lot of wardrobe. And here's a little side topic, like these big poufy dresses that you see a lot of the models wearing. That was a COVID project for me. And I decided to just try and learn how to sew a skirt. And so I made those.

Andrew Hellmich:
Wow,

Josh Beaton:
Yeah, it was I took a sewing class just to learn the basics. And then you can find anything you want on YouTube, let me tell you, and it's just how do I sell a ruffle and you just go and it takes like 20 hours per skirt? Probably not for somebody who's really good at it. So when people get these skirts on and everything, it just kind of it becomes they're almost acting right? They can be somebody else once they step onto the stage. So I'm not somebody who's probably ever going to do like a raw campaign. Right? Come in and just come as you are I'll take a picture there'll be no editing. I think that's amazing. The people that can do that. There's a lot of editing that I do, but it's not I don't change your body. But I'll you know, I obviously do a lot of color correctly. I do like 12 to 15 layers of color correcting, you know, so I make it that style that it is but so to get back to your original question the person that I guess my ideal client ends up being I say I take everybody's photo but it's like you said 95% women, the guys that come in normally come in with somebody and it's a couple shoot or whatever, but it's been And I would say 30 to 45. In that age range, they seem to be celebrating something. So that could be getting married, that could be getting divorced, they could be turning 40. You know, things like that just kind of these milestones seem to be when people come in. I've had a few people come in and say, I'm just getting older. And I want to document myself right now, because this is the best I'm ever gonna look right now. Right? Which, whatever, that's debatable, but so I have AV women coming from that. And then I've lately it's been a lot of couples. I don't know what happened. But all of a sudden, I got in some couples radars. I had a couple of fly in from Sweden. Wow. Yeah, it's wild. I don't know. For a while there, I was getting way more clients from out of state slash country than it was in Chicago. And I don't know what happened. I thought I was your hashtags. Was that hashtags?

Andrew Hellmich:
I mean, if you're pricing where you want it to be now, yeah,

Josh Beaton:
I think, you know, you hear a lot of people talking about like, the $10,000. Sale, that's like the pinnacle. Right, that's where you want. And right now, I don't know that I'm really set up for that, unless somebody bought like a lot of big wall art, they'd have to buy like four pieces of big wall art for me to get into that range. So maybe I'm a little low. But because my clientele isn't there, right now. I'm still sorta I mean, nothing's out of the question. You know, if you were to say, Hey, I looked, and you should raise them all. $10,000. Okay. I mean, it's not, it's not out of the question right now.

Andrew Hellmich:
So what does the average client take home? What do you want to see leaving the studio after a session,

Josh Beaton:
Big WallArt, I think that my work is best large. And on the wall, like 30 by 40? Yeah, I can make the biggest I normally sell, I have a 30 by 40. option. But then like 24 by 36 is like the biggest that people normally would buy. And it's actually kind of rare, I have a lot of smaller thing, I have a folio box. So I've sold that. Otherwise, people seem to be wanting smaller prints, which I can only talk them out of so much. So I'm trying to figure that out. That's kind of one of my, you know, unanswered questions right now is how to get people into this larger art, which I've recently got a whole bunch on my wall. Now, because I moved into this new studio, there was way more wall space. And I had to wait a little bit to be able to put all the art up on the wall. But I have now more 24 by 36 framed canvases on the wall that hopefully people will see and it'll help sell.

Andrew Hellmich:
So what's the target revenue for this? 12 months?

Josh Beaton:
You inflate like it for a yearly revenue? Yeah, yeah. Well, I'd love to break the six figure mark, that would be amazing. Once if I do that. That's kind of a great, now we know what to do. And now we can we have a foundation once I break that six figure, but we have a foundation. And now we can, you know, build from there. Whereas if I don't hit that it's not quite a foundation yet, right? We're still trying to figure out what works until we can build that six figure Foundation, right?

Andrew Hellmich:
So if when you say six figures, so let's say $100,000? That's a gross revenue, isn't it? Because out of that, you got to take out the studio expenses, don't

Josh Beaton:
You? So that's what I'm saying is so if you make 100, what it's 33 for taxes. So that brings it down to like 66 or 67. This is going to be real bad to show my math skills here. But

Andrew Hellmich:
if you say 50%, you take home, you get in close.

Josh Beaton:
Yeah, right. Right. Kind of like that. Right. 50% you take it on. So then it's $50,000. Right. Now, that's not enough to like that can't just be what it is. But if I'm bringing in $50,000 a year, I know. Okay, great. Like I feel confident that that's a base pay, yes, that I want to wait make way more of, but I want to know that I can make that like without even thinking I want to know that I have that coming in. Sure.

Andrew Hellmich:
That makes total sense. When you say you throwing things out there looking for that one golden nugget that is probably not going to be that it's going to be a whole lot of little things that make up the success and you've tried coaching and mentors and groups. If I said to you, okay, Josh, you got to pull one of those things away. You can't do that anymore, which is the one that would scare you the most to lose. Was it a particular campaign? Is it a group? Is it a coach you've had?

Josh Beaton:
Wow, that's a great question. If I had to lose one, not just keep one if I had to lose one. And you said what would be the scariest to lose?

Andrew Hellmich:
Yeah, which one would make your heart jump and go 'Ohhhh, I don't want to lose that. I'm looking for the one that's working the best.

Josh Beaton:
Yeah, well, I think so far and just networking seems to be working the best. Like I've decided to just start going I joined the Chamber of Commerce here and I just I'm going to go to every single possible thing they have and a member of the PPA here I don't deal with PPA over there.

Andrew Hellmich:
We used to have it all folded. We had an AIP which folded, unfortunately.

Josh Beaton:
Okay. But do you know you know what I'm talking about? And I said so you know that There's a local chapter that's actually like an hour and a half away from me is the closest, which is crazy to me that I live in Chicago, and there's not one in Chicago, but whatever. You can start one. Yeah, well, I'm going to something in three days for them. And I'm like hanging, I'm going to be that guy that raises this at every meeting, whatever. But I go to everything that they do. And I've started to also do workshops and stuff. I never at least right now don't come to a business workshop if I ever made one because I don't know what I'm doing when it comes to business. But when it comes to lighting and making like the head pieces that you see, I make those so I like currently right now I'm doing like a headpiece workshop, right. So I'm trying to get people to come in. And basically you pay a fee. You come in, everything's here, and I teach you how to make a headpiece and you leave with it. And now you know how to make a headpiece, right? So I'm using my other skills to try and fill the holes where photography is lacking right now.

Andrew Hellmich:
So when you go to Chamber of Commerce, are you run a program on making these headpieces? Are you trying to convert those people into clients or you just want them to scream your name from the rooftops?

Josh Beaton:
Well, currently, so I'm trying to think of who would really like to be photographed the way I shoot and would be able to afford it. So right now, I'm exploring more like medical spas, like injectable Botox places and things like that. And just today, I reached out to my chamber of commerce about it. And they sent out a few emails introducing me to Area Medical spas and stuff and I have a call with one tomorrow morning now, so you know, I'm not necessarily looking for them to hire me because like every other photographer, I do headshots, but I don't love headshots, right. So that's not, that's not where my passion lies, there's better headshot photographers in Chicago that just focused on headshots. So I really, you know, every once in a while, I'll get a headshot in but what I want is for you to come in for your headshot, see all this other stuff and say, Oh, I would really actually like to come in for that. I've also been kind of toying around with doing branding photos. In this Vanity Fair style versus the, you know, my argument is always you don't need to be in a white room on a bright couch smiling, like, you know, if it doesn't have to be your branding photo. So we'll see what happens. And that's when the chamber kind of is helping with that is getting me in front of those kinds of businesses,

Andrew Hellmich:
right? So just, I haven't heard that. So you're a member of the Chamber of Commerce, you contact them, you say, can you put me in touch with a botox clinic, for example? And so is the Botox clinic? Did they have someone that's in the Chamber of Commerce, or someone just reaches out to a company says, Hey, this is us. I want to introduce Josh.

Josh Beaton:
Oh, no, it's so they look for other Chamber members. So I can reach out and say, any industry that I want, and I can say, hey, let's say restaurants, hey, can you introduce me to any restaurant that you think would fit this? And then they'll send an email introducing me and saying, Hey, here's his work. I think you guys would really work well together. I'm kind of gonna leave it to you now. And so that that's the Chamber's been great for that.

Andrew Hellmich:
That's amazing. That's so good. Okay. And is that different or similar to the BNI? Group? Do you have that in America, too?

Josh Beaton:
We do. Yeah, I was just invited to two different ones, maybe BNI groups a little different, just because there's at least the BNI groups that I've guested at, there's been, I think, maybe 15 People tops, were at the Chamber, it's hundreds, if not 1000s of businesses, depending on the size of your chamber. And so you can and it's not just one person, it's the whole business has the chamber membership. So you'll get different people coming to different meetings, which maybe if you didn't vibe with one person from that business, but this other person comes in and you find out you're from the same hometown, and you know, you never know. So those meetings have been had been pretty great.

Andrew Hellmich:
Well, okay. So if I look at everything you've shared so far, I certainly wouldn't describe you as a struggling artist, because you're past that. But you're still looking for everyone to discover and find you and see your work so they can fall in love with it and book you. So you're on the road up, you're going up the staircase. So what begs the question is why start the Tween Esteem Project.? Like why aren't you putting all your effort into the business instead of doing these giveaways? Well,

Josh Beaton:
So I'll give you the story. So I was doing this in my small studio. And a friend of a friend, a friend of a friend's goddaughter was kind of looking to be an extra right or wanted to experience what it's like to be an extra we have a lot of movies and shows that film in Chicago. And so godmother wanted to bring her to just get headshot like actor headshots done and just kind of experience a little bit what it would be like. She didn't want to pay what I was charging because it was just for fun. So I had a friend come in to take those shots and I was just kind of sitting around the studio talking to the godmother, so she was doing her headshots, and the godmother was telling me how, you know, she's been struggling a lot with her self esteem and you know, school has been hard and you know, She's very shy, things like that. And just on the spur of the moment thing I said, you know, her name was Emmie, the young girl. I said, Why don't you bring Emmie me back in? We'll do a full portrait session on me. We'll just do one. Let's just help kind of see what this does for her. She came in, did the shoe. And it was great. I mean, she walked out of the shoot, a different person, but they all do, right. So like, yeah, like, okay, it's just like any other portrait session, I sent the image to her. I mean, the godmother was crying the images, I sent her many images godmother was crying, me, apparently, I wasn't there for that. But apparently, I mean, when she saw it, she was in a bad mood. And she was showing the photo. And then she got a lump in her throat and was trying not to cry. And eventually what it turned into is, and he's a different person. Now she ran for school office, she just carries herself differently. I get texts from her godmother every once in a while just saying, you know, if you think she's over this, you're wrong. She wrote a little paragraph about me at school of somebody who made a difference in her life. And just, you know, things like that are just like, super emotional. And I didn't realize how much of that would affect me. And when I saw this, and you know, I'm a dad of teenagers as well. So I've seen my teens go through similar things where you know, especially in the age of social media, and we just went through COVID, and like their self esteem, and confidences were all over the place. And I just thought this would be great to do for kids. So I just started offering it as a package, a paid package, I would get people that came in, but they were always the same people, which were, you know, wealthy kids from the suburbs. And I knew, especially in a city like Chicago, there's so many kids here that need this that would never be able to afford me. So how do I do this? And I was talking to a mentor, and she said, you know, what you should do is looking for sponsors, that that's a great idea. And you know, McDonald's is based here, and the YMCA is based here and things like that. And so I'm like, okay, great. This is gonna be awesome. I'll pitch to businesses, but I don't know how to do that. So we reached out to another friend, and he's a fundraiser. And so I met with him just for like a drink. And he said, You're making it way too hard on yourself. Start a nonprofit. And I said, I didn't even know you could just start a nonprofit. And sure enough, you can. And we bought 20 steam.org that night. And then we found out all the other stuff you actually had to do to start a nonprofit, you know, and like, we got our 501 C three in April, I think. But it took about eight or nine months to get that. And we've trademark tween esteem, but it's like in two weeks, we will get like more information about it. It's been a year and a month so far from that, and just everything takes forever. But so we decided to go ahead and start this nonprofit. And I made a commitment to shoot 25 kids this year, and it was all for free. I would donate 25 sessions. And my wife is donating all her time as the executive director. But what we're doing is kind of treating it like the tween esteem project is hiring Josh Beaton: photography, right. I'm just the contractor. Right? And because of that I'm just donating right now. But moving forward, now that we've done 25 kids moving forward. Now we arranged a payment now. So like I said, going forward next year, I'll be getting paid for every photoshoot we do, but it's all grant and donor funded. Right? So anyway, we're being as transparent as possible. This isn't just give me business is we pay the makeup artists we pay the stylists, we like we it's a whole team that comes together to do this. And we also want to make this expand across the country in the next few years. So we'd have a photographer in Houston or a photographer in Baltimore, and they would get paid as well. And it's just, we had one year under our belt, we learned a lot of things. So it's a lot of things are changing in January, but the base of it is helping these kids. And watching these kids come in as a whisper. I mean, one girl in particular came in, she whispered like, Oh, it's so thank you so much. And by the end, she was dancing and talking loud. And I mean, they're different kids. And when we saw them, I'm sorry. This is like a diatribe. I'm going on here. But and like I said, we had our gallery show just a few weeks ago. And at this gallery show all these kids had seen these images already. I sent them the digital images. They got them. They could do whatever they want with them. They've seen them. But at the gallery show they came in and they were 24 by 36 framed canvases donated by pro prints. They're amazing. And these kids walked in to pictures they've already seen with their drawers on the floor. And their moms were crying and I couldn't understand it at first like what you guys have seen these already. But what I realized is these kids have never seen them. themselves imprint, or at least not to the size. I mean, it was such an impact not only on them, but on me just to watch this happen, that it really changed how I thought about people needing these images for their homes.

Andrew Hellmich:
Plus, they're out in public, they these are big, massive prints. It's not just in someone's home in an album, right.

Josh Beaton:
And we didn't do this just in like my studio or whatever. We rented an art gallery, a legit Art Gallery, and it was an event. We had people there, we had a bar, like we had a whole like event with it. And it was just amazing. We had a churro cart for the kids. That's great.

Andrew Hellmich:
All right, I've got 1000 questions, I'll try and limit it. But it's a nonprofit. Yes, that's still it's registered business. It has money coming in that it can distribute towards contractors, but it can't show profit. Is that right?

Andrew Hellmich
We're gonna finish up in just a second, I guess. Before I ask you my last question, what where's the best place for the listener to see more of your work and The Tween Esteem Project?

Josh Beaton:
Sure, well, for me, my website is joshbeaton.com. Nice and easy. And or Instagram which is @joshbeatonphoto. And then with tween esteem, it's thetweenesteemproject.org is the website and @tweenesteem is the Instagram and those are the best places to find us both.

Andrew Hellmich:
I'll add links to all those in the show notes so listeners can easily find you also has an images to accompany the audio which are incredible. Final question, which might be a tough one for you.

Josh Beaton:
Oh, good.

Andrew Hellmich:
Just what you love, ey? Which side of the I want to call it businesses which which business are you more passionate about? Is it Josh Beaton: Photography or is it Tween Esteem?

Josh Beaton:
Wow. That's what you're gonna hit me with at the end here, huh? Well, so. Hmm. Okay, let's see, how...

Andrew Hellmich:
Let's pretend your wife is not listening.

Josh Beaton:
She's always listening. Now, so, right now I have to be more passionate about Josh Beaton: Photography, just as a business. But and let me tell you like doing that gallery show, you get kind of caught up. It's like planning a wedding, right? You just get caught up and it's like overwhelming. And then you finally have the event. And you're like, God, I just want this to be over with. And then you see these kids come in, and you're just like, oh, yeah, that's that's what this was all about. So the nice thing is seeing these kids react that way. That's how my clients react to Josh Beaton: Photography too like the adult clients. So that whole passion kind of plays into each other. Right? So I'm passionate about The Tween Esteem Project, because what it does for the kids, but I'm also passionate about Josh Beaton: Photography, because it does that same thing for adults, and especially that you don't know how many adults have come up to me and said, God, I wish I had Tween Esteem as a kid. Like that, that is what I've always needed, and I can see it happening even when they're 40 years old. You can see them come in one way and leave a different person. So I guess if I had to give one specific answer, it would be Josh Beaton: Photography.

Andrew Hellmich:
Nice. I wasn't gonna push you that hard but that is a great answer. And I look listening to you and the way you describe both separate businesses. I can see how easy it would be to get caught up with The Tween Esteem Project because you've got the gallery show you're seeing the kids tears the families are praising you I'm in. It must feel incredibly satisfying and rewarding. But yeah,

Josh Beaton:
It really does.

Andrew Hellmich:
And I forgot that you get the same though at Josh Beaton: photography, the older women. So, yeah.

Josh Beaton:
And you really you don't realize it, I didn't realize it until I did Tween Esteem . And when I saw myself reacting to how the kids reacted, and then realizing, well, that's exactly the same way that everybody reacts when they get their portrait taken. And not just by me, right when they get their portrait taken by anybody. It's so important. Portrait photography as a whole. I know we're getting into the AI age and, you know, whatever. There's 100 arguments to be had there. But when somebody comes in, no matter how confident they are about themselves, no matter how many selfies they've taken, and they think they look great, and all this stuff, when they walk in, when they leave, or when they actually are presented with their work. They've never seen themselves like that. People don't have this done every year or anything. You know, this isn't your average Christmas holiday shoot, or you know, what a Mother's Day shoot, it is something that everyone really needs to have done at some point, just to remind themselves that you know, their works of art. Really.

Andrew Hellmich:
That's true, that's true. 12 months time we chat again?

Josh Beaton:
Yes.

Andrew Hellmich:
In a perfect world. Where do you see Josh Beaton: Photography, and The Tween Esteem Project?

Josh Beaton:
Sure, we'll start with Tween Esteem. The Tween Esteem Project, I would love to see in the next, say three years nationwide, I would love to see us have 25 to 30 cities, where I'm more of, we still do a Chicago one. But it's more of a creative director role type type thing, right? Just go around and make sure you know, we would pick the photographer's that to work with, obviously and make sure you know they check all the boxes that we need. And just being able to know that we have Tween Esteem Baltimore, and we have a Tween Esteem Dallas, and you know, I'm making up cities here, you know, I don't know where we'd go. But just knowing that this isn't just happening in Chicago, it's very important for us selfishly to do it in Chicago, because, you know, we've started this and it's so great. But I want to see this nationwide. And we've had people reach out from England and wherever just saying, Hey, how can I do this where I am? And my answer is always well, we have it trademarked. But you can I encourage people to do this on their own, of course, like if you can, but it's a lot of work. And really, we're going to be building this program ourselves. And we can just sort of hire you. You know, you can do that without all the legwork that we're doing. So start your campaigns, wherever city, whatever cities, you're in to help kids. That's great. I encourage it. I'm not scared of the competition. I'm doing air quotes here. Because, you know, that's not competition, right? If we helped 1000 kids a year, that's still not even close to how many kids need to be helped. So, you know, I encourage everyone to help all the teens and tweens in their area. Now, selfishly with Josh Beaton: Photography, I mean, this year is an important year for me because like, I don't think I can do another year of not really making it right. So I mean, I see I just need a little, I don't know if it's a little luck, or a little karma or something, just to get in front of the right people. And I think then it will just kind of take care of itself and become a snowball down a hill. But I'm just looking for that one little spark. Alright, so hopefully I find it soon.

Andrew Hellmich:
Amazing. Josh, mate. I've got to say it's been a real pleasure talking to you. I appreciate how honest and open you've been. It's been fantastic to hear about both businesses or projects and now I'm so I'm so glad Kerry reached out and, and said Hey, go and check out this Josh guy. He's doing amazing stuff because you really are.

Josh Beaton:
Thank you. So I'm gonna reach out to her and say thank you. I didn't know that at all.

Andrew Hellmich:
It's a he. So, so yeah.

Josh Beaton:
Oh, he?

Andrew Hellmich:
Yeah.

Josh Beaton:
Oh, geez. So, now I feel really stupid.

Andrew Hellmich:
No, no, not at all. Not at all. Josh, mate, thank you so much.

Josh Beaton:
I'm going to reach out to him.

Andrew Hellmich:
Yes, yeah, I'll put you in touch. But mate, thank you so much, honestly.

Josh Beaton:
Thank you. It's been a real pleasure. And I'm not just saying that.

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The post 551: Josh Beaton – How to use your photography to finance a passion project and get paid appeared first on Photography Business Xposed - Photography Podcast - how to build and market your portrait and wedding photography business.