EPISODE SUMMARY with AUBREY WESTLUND
Welcome back to Dare to Develop. Today, we have Aubrey Westlund with us who is an entrepreneur and passive income expert. She’s talking all about how she started a stock photography business and has created a ton of passive income for herself.
Aubrey went from simply supplementing her income, to it being largely the sole provider during the pandemic when weddings were shut down. Aubrey is also providing guidance to other creatives and photographers on how to start with passive income streams. Today’s talk is a good one!
AUBREY WESTLUND DARES YOU:
If you’re a photographer, I want you to start uploading your photos and start selling stock photography, because you already have everything that you need to do it.
It shouldn’t be too much work to just build it into your current workflow. And I really believe that every photographer could be making around $1000 in passive income from this. And even if not, at least you should be able to make enough to cover your coffee addiction or whatever it is.
Don’t just let those photos sit on your hard drive collecting dust. Start small if you have to, and I know you can do it.
FAST FACTS ABOUT AUBREY WESTLUND:
What do you shoot with?
I shoot with a Canon Mark 4.
What’s your favorite tool in business?
I love my automated workflows in Dubsado.
What’s your favorite creative pump-up jam?
I would always listen to hip hop before weddings.
What is your favorite thing to do outside of your business?
Gardening, working with plants, being outside, all that stuff.
What’s the best education you’ve learned from?
I love learning. I love reading and taking courses, but I feel like for me, the turning point was when I started working one on one with coaches.
I saw you had D’arcy Benincosa on your podcast recently and I coached with her last year. She was amazing. Everything from marketing to mindset, she really helped my business. Just like being able to have that personalized advice for your business is so invaluable.
What is one daring leap you’ve taken in your business?
I actually quit weddings this year. 2021 was…I felt done with weddings after that. And I think that can be very scary because weddings can be very comfortable.
It can be a nice paycheck, especially with photography. It’s one of the things that you can do that can bring financial security for the most part.
But I just realized that I was kind of done with it after doing it for so many years and I just wasn’t passionate about it anymore. I felt like that wasn’t fair to my clients. And I just wanted to take a step back.
What is one thing you feel like you’re really great at in your business?
I love problem-solving and figuring things out. That’s something that I love about being an entrepreneur. I know it’s hard.
Like you have to wear all the hats in your business, but I also love being able to wear all the hats and learn new things. I’m good at like being adaptable and learning new things.
Where can our listeners find you?
- AUBREY WESTLUND’S WEBSITE: https://www.aubreywestlund.com
- AUBREY WESTLUND’S INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/aubreywestlund
Do you have any special announcements for our listeners?
I have two resources I’d love to share first is The Little Black Book of Stock Photo Agencies, which you can download from my website. And then I also have another called is my Photography Pivot Guide for people that want to pivot out of wedding photography.
Then, I have my Stock Photography Academy which is my course. And depending on when this comes out, it should be open soon!
RESOURCE LINKS:
- My KeyWorder
- Aubrey’s Little Black Book
- Aubrey’s Photographer’s Pivot Guide
- Aubrey’s Stock Photography Academy
OTHER D2D EPISODES YOU MIGHT LIKE
We dare you to check out the other Dare to Develop Podcast episodes including 000: Welcome to Dare to Develop where you get to meet your hosts Kristine Herman and Ashley Baumgartner.