We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Zach Nichols. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Zach below.
Hi Zach, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
My work ethic is comprised of many characteristic traits that all play in to my success as a photographer. I have always been a relatively driven person almost to a flaw and I thrive when given a challenge. My personality is very all-or-nothing which can be beneficial at times and also a curse in many ways. I am also very type A and have a mostly logical mindset (I studied engineering in college) which is rare among photographers and creatives. On top of all that, I am one of those people who cannot sit around and do nothing for very long. I honestly hate it but it is definitely a good trait to have as a business owner.
In my business and career as a photographer, I was initially told I could not be successful which I saw as a challenge. For many years I worked hard to prove people (including my own family) wrong and devoted myself to building my business and perfecting every aspect of it. I learned how my gear worked inside and out and also how to get my name out there using Google and SEO which is a very technical thing to learn and become good at.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
My name is Zach Nichols. I am a full-time professional wedding and travel photographer. I am most known for my “moody” Pacific Northwest photography on Instagram (@zachnicholz) and combining couples and beautiful scenery within the wedding industry. Though I do a lot of portraits and weddings (nearly 40 a year) as my main job, I also work with many Airbnb hosts and am a website designer and blogger. Basically anything photography or website related, I am well versed.
My journey began when I dropped out of college at the beginning of my senior year of studying Chemical Engineering. I excelled in math and the sciences but the job was not interpersonal and had people stuck at a desk in a cubicle – not my kind of thing. Dropping out was one of the hardest decisions I had ever made and was against my upbringing and what my parents and society told me – get a degree if you want to succeed. When I dropped out I worked many different jobs and took up photography through my girlfriend at the time who is now my wife. I took photos of the outdoors and adventures that I went on with friends and family.
After about a year of owning my camera, a wedding photographer out of a nearby town contacted me and asked if I’d like to work with him as a second photographer at weddings. I would get paid and also get images I could use for my own portfolio. I said yes mainly for the money to be honest. After that summer though, I grew to love wedding photography and decided to start my own business to see what could happen. To my (and the other photographer’s) amazement, I booked 21 weddings my first year and have since never looked back.
Since then I have learned about SEO and have myself ranked on Google in the top three for everything I advertise for and have also expanded my business into many different areas and avenues.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I have already mentioned it a few times thus far but my biggest and most important skill I tell people they should learn is SEO and website ranking. It allows you to passively market yourself on Google which is amazing. Otherwise, you have to actively market yourself on things like Instagram and Facebook. I personally dislike using social media more than I have to so I focused my efforts on Google instead and do almost no marketing for weddings on social media. I only post what I want when I want; but it is almost never wedding related.
One of my other skills that is most valuable is that I love learning and trying new things. Most photographers learn how to take photos and that’s all they do; take photos. They do not try new avenues or push the boundaries. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that but it just doesn’t fit my personality. I get bored really easy once I master something and so I always have something new I am working on.
I have constantly learned new things and tried new things which has allowed for multiple streams of income and knowledge that allows me to excel in ways many others do not and in many ways others do not know is possible. As a wedding photographer, I have wedding seasons and off-seasons. In every off-season I work on something new and take up some kind of new hobby. Four years ago I focused on SEO and website ranking and got my website ranked in the top three on Google for all the search terms I focus on in my area for my services. Three years ago I read about 20 business related books and learned about taxes and business structures that saved me tens of thousands in taxes since. The new-found knowledge also allowed me to make more and work far less than just about any other photographer who has as much work as I do (outsourcing, automating, and the 80/20 rule – aka the Pareto Principle). Two years ago I honestly took a small break from doing business-related learning and instead learned about construction and remodeling (we bought a house and my in-laws are contractors). This last year I focussed on marketing to Airbnb owners and marketing that side of my business to where now I get to travel 10-20 times a year with my family for free and also get paid to do it. Finally, this off-season I am working on affiliate marketing through my blog and selling on Etsy to get more forms of passive income coming in. Passive marketing and income is by far the best thing out there to learn and get good at.
My final skill is to just get to know people in your area and build relationships. I cannot tell you how many opportunities I have gotten by just having a conversation with someone or spending time to meaningfully get to know someone. It sounds simple and it is. Create meaningful relations with those around you and always make it intentional.
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
The obstacles I think all photographers face is technology and their age/physical limits.
Technology is always changing and in the photography world, it is changing in a way that makes things more accessible and user-friendly. It is getting to a point where just about anyone can pick up a camera and capture stunning images. The market is getting very saturated and so it is harder for people to stand out from the crowd. It is why I find it so important to not be a part of the crowd but find a unique niche and stick with that. For me within my business, this means not editing in a trendy way but editing natural and timeless. There are only three people in my area who edit similar to me in that regard and there are hundreds that edit in a trendy manner. Though 80% of clients may be searching for a trendy look among those hundreds of photographers, the other 20% is split between the “rest” of us. As far as technology goes, I am always staying up to date because of my blog and gear reviews.
Age and physical ability is something that cannot really be changed. While you can certainly stay in good shape, at a certain point, capturing images for 8+ hours at a wedding gets to be difficult and as you get older you loose track of trends quicker and become “out of touch” with the younger generations. While you may have been the cool photographer guy or gal when you were younger, at a certain point you become that old photographer that less people hire just because of their age. It is the way it is and I am not all too upset about it. I cannot say at what age that is as I think everyone ages differently; but it is something not many photographers even think about till it is too late.
I personally have focused a lot of my time learning ways to grow my passive income and form other streams of income so that if one stream starts to decline I am not out of luck. I also have a target age when I want to start phasing out of weddings in mind (age 40 for those of you who are curious). At any point, one of my other streams or passive income could take over my income from my wedding focus and then I may phase even sooner. I do love weddings but in five to ten years I don’t know if I will or will not. It is impossible to say. I also have learned to invest a large portion of my income with the intention to also lessen any blow that may come from changes in my industry and also lessen the worry of what “retirement” as a photographer will look like. I truly do not think I will ever truly retire – that is to sit around and do nothing or play golf the rest of my life, but I still have a wife and family to consider also.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.zachnicholz.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zachnicholz/
