Profitable Creatives Podcast

Don't just be a Profitable Creative - Be a WEALTHY Creative in 2026

Sun, 23 Nov 2025 12:00:00 -0500

I didn't quit my high-paying software engineering job at Apple to make LESS money in my photography business. I quit because I saw that building my own creative business meant there would be no salary ceiling. I'd be in control of how much I make—not some VP deciding my worth based on years of experience.

You deserve to be a WEALTHY creative.

In this episode, I'm breaking down:

Why I REALLY quit my corporate job (hint: it wasn't to "follow my passion" and accept less money)
The difference between being profitable and being wealthy—and why it matters
Why there's no salary ceiling when you run your own business
The biggest mistake I see creatives making on the road to becoming a profitable & wealthy creative
What it actually takes to go from employee to full-time creative earning more than your 9-5

If you've ever felt like you should "just be happy" with your creative business, or if people keep asking about your "little business" like it's cute hobby... this episode is for you.

Ready to take the first step? I'm teaching a free live class: 7 Steps to Make a Full-Time Income from Your Creative Business. Register at https://go.emilykim.co/7

Thanks for listening!

Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emilykim.co

Join the free, private Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theprofitablecreatives

Website: https://emilykim.co
Photo & video services: https://emilykimphotography.com/

011 Education as a form of marketing & lead generation

Thu, 16 Jan 2025 08:00:00 -0500

In this episode, I’m sharing one of my favorite long-term marketing strategies: using education to attract and convert clients. I’m not talking about teaching others how to do what you do (like I do with brand photographers)—I mean teaching your ideal clients something valuable that naturally leads them to book your services.

I’ll walk you through real examples from my own business, like how my course Brand Your Gram and a local workshop unintentionally turned into client bookings. I’ll also share tips on how you can apply this strategy to your own business, whether you’re a photographer, web designer, or creative entrepreneur. Plus, I’ll give you my best advice for creating engaging presentations, including how to use visuals effectively, keep your audience engaged, and why practice is key to building confidence.

If you’re ready to explore how education can be part of your marketing, tune in now! And don’t forget to join the conversation in the Profitable Creatives Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theprofitablecreatives

I’ll be hosting live recordings and Q&A sessions there, so I’d love to see you inside!

Chapters:

00:40 Using education for lead generation

01:32 My own example: Brand Your 'Gram course

03:50 Teaching workshops for client acquisition

06:33 3 tips for engaging presentations

010 Goal setting is dead: Why auditing your goals is the key to 2025

Thu, 02 Jan 2025 17:00:00 -0500

In this episode, we’re diving into an essential topic for the start of the year: goal setting. Or my preferred term: goal auditing!

Join the Goal Audit Workshop: https://www.emilykim.co/goalauditworkshop

New Year’s resolutions are often ambitious, but are they truly your goals, or are they borrowed from the people and media around you? Join me as I share my personal journey of learning to audit goals and a three-step process to ensure your ambitions align with your vision and values.

Here’s what we cover in this episode:

The Trap of Borrowed Goals: How I mistakenly pursued goals like becoming a traveling brand photographer and starting an agency, and why auditing your goals matters.
Step 1: Review and Audit: A detailed breakdown of my "Five Pillars of Profit" framework for reviewing your business actions and outcomes across your craft, offers, community, marketing, and systems.
Step 2: Set Intentions: Why focusing on actions over outcomes is the key to success—and how to shift your mindset to control what you can.
Step 3: Make a Plan: How to prioritize non-negotiables, schedule rest, and map out your business actions for the year using a yearly view calendar.

Plus:

A personal reflection on lessons from 2024 and how intentional goal setting is helping me in 2025.
Why everything is data and how to use this process to iterate and grow.

If you’re ready to take your goal setting to the next level and build a plan that aligns with your vision, this episode is for you.

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 intro
00:35 The trap of borrowed goals
04:25 Step 1 - review & audit
11:10 Step 2 - set intentions
13:00 Step 3 - make a plan
14:45 Get accountability with my Goal Audit Workshop

✨ Join the Goal Audit Workshop
Want hands-on support to implement this process? In my Goal Audit Workshop, we’ll work through the full goal auditing process together with a detailed workbook that includes every metric, analytic, and time investment I’ve been tracking since 2018.

🗓 Live Workshop Date: January 8, 2025
If you’re catching this after the live workshop, the replay and workbook will still be available!

Join the Goal Audit Workshop: https://www.emilykim.co/goalauditworkshop

Let’s start the year off right and make 2025 your most aligned and intentional year yet.

009 The power of specificity to speed up your sales

Tue, 03 Dec 2024 15:00:00 -0500

Today I'm not talking about niching, I'm talking about specificity and how it's one of the two main strategies to making sales in your service-based business.

So those strategies are:
1) being specific
2) building a personal brand

Both play important parts in your marketing, but I'm sharing a recent experience from my own business of how specificity led to faster AND easier sales.

00:00 Two main ways to make sales
02:11 The power of specificity: example from my own business
03:03 Personal branding vs. specificity
03:34 How lack of specificity makes my membership sales slower
06:59 Lessons learned

008 How to become the no-brainer choice as a brand photographer

Wed, 20 Nov 2024 15:00:00 -0500

In this episode of the Profitable Creatives Podcast, I'm sharing how I elevated my brand photography services from a $600 photography-only session to a $4,000 comprehensive brand experience.

We're talking about how to make this an easy YES for your clients so that you become the no-brainer choice of brand photographer.

00:40 How my pricing went from $600 to $4,000 for LESS work

01:51 Creating an elevated client experience

02:21 Success on my recent sales call

04:50 Why you should consider having a team of referrals

07:49 Building your own dream team

10:00 The Premium Pivot

007 The #1 reason most creatives undercharge

Tue, 05 Nov 2024 11:00:00 -0500

Let's chat about the #1 reason creative business owners undercharge and learn a simple, proven pricing formula to boost your profitability. Perfect for photographers, copywriters, designers, and freelancers looking to optimize their pricing strategy.

Chapters:
00:00:20 - Root cause of undercharging in creative industries
00:01:00 - Pricing formula for service-based businesses
02:40 - Calculating your target revenue and client capacity
05:40 - Factoring in expenses and taxes
08:20 - Strategies for gradually raising your prices
10:40 - Accounting for "odd jobs" in your pricing structure

We're covering:

Understanding the importance of confidence in pricing
Reverse-engineering your rates based on income goals
Considering taxes, operating costs, and owner's pay
Incrementally increasing prices to build confidence
Adapting pricing for various service packages and custom projects

Ready to finally be confident in pricing your creative, 1-1 services? Get my custom pricing calculator: https://www.emilykim.co/photo-pricing-calculator

Even though it says Photography Pricing Calculator, this spreadsheet + guide works for anyone who offers a 1-1 service. Enjoy!

006 Protect Your Creative Business: 5 legal and tax tips you can't ignore with Braden Drake from Not Avg Law

Tue, 29 Oct 2024 09:00:00 -0400

Get ready for a no-BS breakdown of the most important legal and tax tips for creative entrepreneurs with Braden Drake, a California licensed attorney and tax professional. In this episode, Braden and I (Emily Kim) discuss these top 5 legal + tax tips to get your creative business legally legit:

Keeping Taxes Simple – With basic bookkeeping and quarterly tax payments, Braden outlines how to avoid common tax pitfalls and streamline your finances.
Legal Layers of Protection – Braden introduces his “legal hierarchy of needs,” which is tbh, the best explanation of all things legal for a creative business owner like me who actively cringes anytime I hear anything law related.
Sole Proprietorship vs. LLC – Learn why forming an LLC can be a game-changer for protecting your personal assets from business liability.
What is an S-Corp actually, and when you should consider it – finally, understand what the heck an S-Corp actually is.
Does your tax + legal expert need to be local? – Understand when you might need a local expert versus when you can work with someone remotely.

FIND BRADEN ONLINE:

The Contract Club (affiliate link): https://www.bradendrake.com/a/2147575083/WeWgweFf

All the templates you need. All in one place. Just pay the low + affordable one-time fee, and you’re in for life.

Braden's law firm, Not Average Law: https://notavglaw.com/

Get Braden's book, Unf*ck Your Biz: https://notavglaw.com/book

Listen to the Unf*ck Your Biz Podcast:https://notavglaw.com/podcast

00:35 Who is Braden and why should you listen to him?
02:40 Tip #1: Keeping Taxes Simpler
10:44 Tip #2: Legal Layers of Protection
11:22 Tip #3: Choosing Between Sole Proprietorship and LLC
16:20 Tip #4: What is an S-Corp actually, and when you should consider it
26:56 Tip #5: Does your tax + legal expert need to be local?
36:46 How to Work with Braden and Final Takeaways

005 How long does it take to build a "successful" creative business?

Mon, 30 Sep 2024 19:00:00 -0400

In this episode, I'm diving into this frequently asked question: how long does it actually take to build a successful creative business? I'm breaking down the misconceptions around overnight success and sharing my personal journey to profitability.

Here's what we're covering:

What "success" really means in business - and why it's different for everyone
The average timeline for small businesses to become profitable
My own path to building a quarter-million dollar photography business
Why comparing your journey to others can be harmful
The importance of balancing financial success with personal wellbeing

Timestamps

00:00 Defining success in your creative business
04:08 The reality of building a profitable business
09:55 My personal journey
11:44 The dangers of comparison and "infocrastination"
15:14 Balancing profit with personal wellbeing

Whether you're just starting out or feeling stuck in your current business, this episode will give you a realistic perspective on what it takes to build a thriving creative business. I share my own ups and downs, pivots, and lessons learned to help you set realistic expectations and stay motivated on your entrepreneurial journey.

004 Beyond social media: The REAL way to grow your creative business

Wed, 18 Sep 2024 21:00:00 -0400

Is attending networking events and conferences the key to growing your creative business? In this episode, I'm chatting about why I prioritize in-person connections and share my recent experience as a keynote speaker.

Join me as I explore:

How I choose the right networking events for my business
Strategies I use for making meaningful connections at conferences
Balancing networking with my energy levels as an introvert
Alternative ways to network if large events seem inaccessible
The unexpected benefits I've found from attending events with no expectations

Whether you're a photographer, designer, writer, or any other creative entrepreneur, this episode will help you rethink your approach to networking and building relationships in your industry. Tune in to discover how you can leverage in-person connections to grow your business and find inspiration!

Timestamps:

00:00 My transition from event photographer to keynote speaker
04:09 Tips for choosing and approaching networking events, and the benefits of regular, local meetups vs. large conferences
08:04 how to get the most out of in-person networking and events
14:44 what to prioritize at networking events
15:47 know of events in your area? share them!

003 What does "scaling" mean, really?

Tue, 10 Sep 2024 09:00:00 -0400

Is growing a team or starting an agency the only way to scale your creative business? In this episode, let's debunk common myths about "scaling" your freelance business.

I'm also sharing my personal journey of inadvertently building (and then stepping back from) an agency-style photography business.

Join me as I reveal:

The unexpected challenges I faced when trying to scale
Why the "obvious" path to growth isn't always the right one
Alternative strategies for increasing your income without sacrificing creativity
The power of personal branding for one-to-one service providers

Whether you're a photographer, designer, writer, or any other creative freelance entrepreneur, this episode will help you rethink your growth strategy and find a path that aligns with your goals and passions. Tune in to discover how you can build a thriving creative business without losing the joy that made you start in the first place!

0:00 Myths about growing your small business or freelance business
2:59 My experience inadvertently building an agency
11:34 What I'm doing to "scale" instead of building an agency
12:33 How to grow as a 1-1 service provider
14:03 Other ways to raise prices by delivering more value

002 From $5k to $123k: my journey to 6 figures in profit

Tue, 10 Sep 2024 08:00:00 -0400

I'm pulling back the curtain on my journey from starting my brand photography business as a side hustle to becoming a full-time six-figure photographer. I'm giving you a transparent look at alll my numbers: my income, expenses, and profit over the years.

Episode Highlights:

My business progression from 2018 to 2022
A detailed breakdown of my revenue streams and expenses
Why knowing your numbers and tracking profit and loss is crucial
My insights on studio ownership and rental income
Tips for making strategic business investments and growing your creative business

Photography Pricing Calculator: https://www.emilykim.co/photo-pricing-calculator

00:00 What to expect
01:52 2018: $6k profit
05:32 2019: $12k profit
07:40 2020: $24k profit
10:29 2021: the year I quit my full-time job
15:29 2022: best year yet
17:05 full profit & loss breakdown for a 6-figure brand photography business
20:19 cost breakdown
26:25 what to do when you have a loss
27:40 2023 numbers
28:20 takeaways

001 From software engineer to booked out brand photographer. My story & the purpose of this podcast

Tue, 10 Sep 2024 07:00:00 -0400

I went from being a corporate software engineer to a full-time brand photographer. In this first ever episode (!!!) of the Profitable Creatives Podcast, I'm sharing a little bit about my journey, what you can expect from this podcast, and two lessons that have really propelled me to where I am today.

This podcast is for you if you are a creative service provider: photographers, copywriters, designers, wardrobe stylists, makeup artists - you're all welcome here! 💛

00:00 Introduction to the Profitable Creatives Podcast
01:10 My entrepreneurial journey
04:17 Niching into brand photography
06:51 The turning point: hiring a business mentor
09:17 Quitting my corporate job to be a full-time photographer
12:27 What to expect in future episodes of this podcast
14:53 The two philosophies behind this podcast

Profitable Creatives Podcast Trailer

Tue, 03 Sep 2024 20:00:00 -0400