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In my opinion, success is a game of chance.. If, before you’ve got a major client base and you decide to go in full swing–By quitting your job and do it full time.. Full time for you will be 4 hours of sleep at night and 20 hours of working, marketing your brand until you build your base and you can sleep easier at night not having to worry about bills so much. You’ll life will be consumed, as is the same with every business..
However, if you’ve got a steady stream of clients (you’ve said you’re semi-pro). You’ll really not have much of a problem, I don’t suspect.
I got started by chance, it fell into my lap.. I was doing random photos for people until I got my first gig from a local biz that just so happens to be in a local tourist area and heavily trafficked, and it just kinda took off from there because that business essentially pimped me out to other folks.. I had a small amount of insurance, don’t _have_ to have a business license here and didn’t have a registered name at that point although I did claim my jobs on my taxes, because at that point I actually got $$ back from the Fed.. Now I’m at the point that I have to pay taxes, so they’ll really come after me if I don’t pay ’em.. I was basically freelancing and knew the business owners pretty good so it was helpful, now I do maybe 10-15 jobs a week and live well enough.. Which is in all reality, a cake walk.. Most people spend 8 – 10 hours a day breaking their backs working their asses off in an endless loop.. I make in 1 day what most of those guys make in a week and before I did this I was in the army, and before that I did those back breaking jobs and I didn’t want to. I’m only 28 and several years ago I decided I wasn’t doing that shit anymore..
Point is:
a) Knowing people is obviously a plus
b) You have to want it more than what you got now (which is dangerous and can leave you broken)
c) You’ll be working your ass off until you get stable
d) You spend most of your money paying your government/new equipment/maintenance/common bills until you get stable (and then it usually gets worse/but balances out eventually)
e) you have to be a damn accountant
f) you have to have an understanding counterpart
etc.