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Episode 349: Build a 6-Figure Food Photography Business in 4 Years with Sam Adler


In episode 349, Megan chats to Sam Adler about how she built a 6-figure food photography business in 4 years, touching on everything from finding clients to pricing and offering unforgettable value.

We cover information about how to deal with the fear of stepping into a new venture, how to get the right strategies, what to do when brands approach you as a potential client and be sure you’re getting paid for what you’re worth.

Listen on the player below or on iTunes, TuneIn, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast player. Or scroll down to read a full transcript.

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Guest Details

Connect with Fettuccine and Frosting
Website | Instagram | Facebook

Bio Sam is a professionally trained pastry chef and runs a baking blog. She works with food photography clients and also teaches food photographers how to find their unique style and build profitable food photography businesses. In 2018, Sam was the recipient of a Saveur Blog award for best food instagram. She built up a 6 figure food photography career in 4 years and loves to teach people how they can do it too.

Takeaways

  • Find out what part of blogging you love and diving into that portion to become an expert so you can branch out with that skill.
  • Finding the first client is the hardest.
  • You have to put yourself out there, share your work and be willing to be uncomfortable to let the world know you’re ready to expand a skill/business
  • Face your fears and get out of your comfort zone for great results
  • Your photography style is always evolving
  • You aren’t pigeon holed into a style; whatever you produce will come out looking like you.
  • Know why you’re a good fit for a client, your strengths and use that in your sales pitch
  • Be sure to have a portfolio. Know SEO for your niche and portfolio.
  • Pinterest is key for your work to be seen. LinkedIn is another good place to be seen and network.
  • Keep following up on people that you’ve reached out to. Email is good to use vs DMs because someone seeing your contact may think you only want to work with them on socials.
  • You should feel good about the amount you charged and should feel valued. Your first offer from any brand is not going to be the final offer, it’s them testing the water and looking for a deal.
  • Working for other bloggers is a great way to get into gaining experience and building your portfolio.

Resources Mentioned

Book recommendations:

You are a badass series by jen sincero
The war of art by stephen pressfield
Big Magic by elizabeth gilbert
The Artists Way by Julia cameron

Style Me Creatively – Beginner to intermediate food photography courses and workshops

Food Photography Quiz

Transcript

Click for full script.

EBT349 – Sam Adler

Sam Adler: Hi, this is Sam Adler from Frosting & Fettuccine, and you are listening to the Eat Blog Talk podcast. 

Sponsor: Hey, awesome food bloggers. Before we dig into this episode, I have a really quick favor to ask you. Go to your favorite podcast player. Go to Eat Blog Talk. Scroll down to the bottom where you see the ratings and review section. Leave Eat Blog Talk a five star rating if you love this podcast and leave a great review. This will only benefit this podcast. It adds value. I so very much appreciate your efforts with this. Thank you so much for doing this. Okay, now onto the episode. 

Megan Porta: Hello food bloggers. Welcome to Eat Blog Talk, the podcast for food bloggers looking for the value and confidence that will move the needle forward in their businesses. This episode is sponsored by RankIQ. I’m your host, Megan Porta, and you are listening to episode number 349. I have Sam Adler with me today. She is going to talk to us about how she built a six figure food photography business in four years. Sam is a professionally trained pastry chef and runs a baking blog. She works with food photography clients and also teaches food photographers how to find their unique style and build profitable food photography businesses. In 2018, Sam was the recipient of a Saveur blog award for Best Food Instagram. She built up a six figure food photography career in four years and loves to teach people how they can do it too. Super excited to have you here today, Sam. How are you? 

Sam Adler: Yay. I’m great. Thank you so much for having me. I’m so excited. 

Megan Porta: Yes, me too. I can’t wait to talk about this, but first we wanna know what your fun fact is. 

Sam Adler: My fun fact, I think if you have been following me on Instagram or really just you will probably see that I have a very unhealthy one sided relationship with Adam Levine. So that is my fun fact, which I’m saying again, if you follow me, you already know.

Megan Porta: Oh my gosh, that’s hilarious. I had this really funny dream a few years ago that my sister-in-law, who’s single, married Adam Levine. It was one of those dreams that was super real. I remember what her dress looked like and I could feel it. It was so weird. I told her of course, because it was hilarious and funny. So ever since then she says, I am his wife. So sorry Sam. He’s already married. 

Sam Adler: He’s already taken.

Megan Porta: In the dream World. Yes. 

Sam Adler: It’s so funny because my wedding anniversary is on his birthday and I’m like, see, I was so close.

Megan Porta: Oh my gosh. That’s hilarious. Oh, I love it. That’s a great fun fact. So let’s talk about your blogging journey. I. Know that you started your blog, just doing it because you loved food and evolved from there. So do you wanna talk us through how and when you started and how your journey unfolded?

Sam Adler: Sure. So I started my blog in May of 2017, and it was after I had my second baby who was probably around a year at that time. I had been working as a custom creator at home for five years. I went to pastry school in 2012 and after that I decided to open up this custom cake shop from my house. But it was really exhausting because nobody wants a two tier cake in the shape of Batman, on Wednesday. They always wanted it on the weekends. So I’d have a lot of orders for the weekends and I would stay up all night over the weekends and miss out on the weekend family time. I was just burnt out from that and I realized it was time for me to move on. So one of my friends and actually a couple friends were like, Why don’t you start a food blog? Why don’t you do it? I was like, what is that? I don’t even know what that is. I had no idea. Then once, I just really committed to moving things digital, I started my blog and honestly I didn’t sign up for any courses. I just basically googled everything and just got tidbits from here and there. I know the blogging space was a very different world almost six years ago. So, it was really interesting because I didn’t know what I was doing and I didn’t really have a goal. I was just like, let’s just see what happens. I didn’t know at that time that people could build these six figure businesses from blogging. I didn’t know you could really make money from blogging. I was just like, I’m gonna do this. Then I quickly realized that I really needed nice photography to be able to stand out, and that led me into a rabbit hole of food photography classes and books and YouTube videos and gear and all the things. Then, I ended up really loving that photography side of it and really dove headfirst into that. It was a learning experience. 

Megan Porta: Oh, absolutely. Food is so visual, as we all know, and I think photography is such a vital element of being a food blogger because just capturing that mouthwatering food photo is so essential for portraying what our food looks like. So I love that you kinda ran with the photography portion of it. At what point was that? So you started in 2017. When did you really start to take off with photos? 

Sam Adler: Yeah, so I started in May. I started the blog and then probably by November I was in two photography courses and I was like, Wow. Not that I didn’t love blogging, but I love that blogging led me more towards photography. Because I started with it, I’m gonna start a blog. Then once I figured out the photography aspect, I didn’t necessarily figure it out cause I’m still figuring it out. But once I started really getting into it, I was like, Wow I really love this. I really love the photography part of it. What else can I do? So I think by November, December, I had really gotten myself really excited about it. I think in March I had my first client and it was for a small magazine, which was really cool for me. So I was like, Whoa, this is awesome. I’m getting paid to do this. This is so cool. So, it took a few months. It was really interesting.

Megan Porta: But still relatively fast. Within a year of starting your blog, you were getting clients, which is amazing. So that’s proof that you really just saw the value in it and dug in pretty quickly. 

Sam Adler: Yeah, it was really exciting.

Megan Porta: So how did you get that first client? Did you reach out to a lot of people, or how did that go?

Sam Adler: So I had been working with a small client doing in person demos like. Not photography, but more like showcasing their product, in grocery stores. That kind of led me, and I was doing that for maybe I don’t know, six months while I was starting the blog thing. I had found it probably through word of mouth, so somebody was like, Oh, you’re in food. So I knew someone who was also an influencer, food influencer, and she was getting. Interviewed for a magazine for her food, but she wasn’t a photographer and she needed a photographer. So she had reached out to me and was like, Hey, I know you started to do this, so can you come shoot this small magazine for me? I was like, yes. So it was really a word of mouth type situation and I just knew someone who reached out to me, which was really cool. 

Megan Porta: So really finding that one avenue, getting your foot in the door in some way. Usually it’s through knowing people or having a connection. Then just kinda running with it. Then did you find that after that first client it was much easier to get clients? 

Sam Adler: Yeah, I think it’s really hard. It’s really hard to find your first client. I think that is the hardest thing. And then once, once you find your first client, I think it’s easier, but I honestly really believe it comes from really putting yourself out there. Because if I didn’t put myself out there and say Hey, I’m doing this now and showcasing my work, even if it was not, up to par or whatever it was, the beginning works, people start to notice it and the things that you might not think are so beautiful to somebody else was like, Oh my gosh, she’s doing this. Okay, great. Let me ask her. So I don’t know if it was necessarily just knowing people, but the fact that you put out your work to show people that you’re doing this can bring stuff back to you, which I feel like is so important to do. 

Megan Porta: So facing fears. Do you find that facing your fears over and over has produced more confidence for you to get out there more?

Sam Adler: Oh yes. Nothing good comes from your comfort zone. We all know that, right? We all, It’s so much easier to say that than actually go and do it. But I’ve found that every time I’ve done something really scary, it’s always led to great results. I always try to think about if I am excited, but also really scared about something, that’s the best combination to have because it’s always gonna lead to something good.

Megan Porta: Oh, and in that moment when you’re doing that scary thing, it’s hard. It’s hard. The worst. Worst, best feeling, because you’re like, what am I doing right now? But you know that good things are waiting for you. That’s such a cool feeling. So it took you a year to get your first client, and then do you feel like by that point you had your style figured out? How long did it take you to get your own style captured? 

Sam Adler: I think it took a while. In the beginning, I think your photography style is way different than what any other different type of style you have. So your home decor style or how you dress or anything is not necessarily going to translate into your photography style. For example, I love the color blue. It was all over my house. Very tranquil, everything. So when I first started, I bought this blue backdrop. I was like, I’m gonna choose blue. It’s awful. I hated it. The other side of it was this burnt orange. I’m like, Oh my God, I love this. It’ll be so great. Then I would take photos. I’m like, What the hell is this? It’s awful. So I really didn’t realize that it wouldn’t translate into photography, and so it took me some time to figure out what that was. Like I said, I practiced every day. I’ve tried to figure it out. I was in those courses. I was really doing the work and I really did a lot of work around what I did and so I would go look on Pinterest and look at all the photos that kind of spoke to me and then would figure out what was it about those photos that I really loved? I found out that I really loved to shoot these lighter images with lots of pink tones, beige tones, and green. I was like, This is so weird. Why am I such a romantic photographer? I don’t wear makeup, I don’t care about this stuff. This is so weird. This is not me, but my photography is completely different. My photography style is completely different than what I thought it would be. So sometimes you can really surprise yourself. 

Megan Porta: It evolves over time. Do you feel like your style is still evolving? 

Sam Adler: I think it’s always evolving. I think in the beginning, people can get stuck in this box of colors or they get stuck in only doing this light and bright situation, but there’s so much more to it. Just because you happen to wanna shoot dark and moody one day doesn’t mean that your complete style has to change. Inevitably, over time, whatever you produce is going to come out looking like you because it came from you, no matter the style. No matter the colors, no matter the light that you’re using, it’s all gonna come out looking like you because you produced it. So honestly, my style is always evolving. I bought this bright yellow backdrop a year ago for a client shoot, and I was like, This is so weird. I’m never gonna use this. I bought it for one thing. I use it all the time. It’s so much fun and I love it. You never know. You really never know.

Megan Porta: That’s cool. It sounds like you have a very creative background, like your cake making and all of that. So you have colors on your mind and different fabrics. Do you have certain styling props or anything that are your favorites? I’m curious. 

Sam Adler: Yeah. I would say it’s funny because I don’t know if I have anything specific that’s my favorite, but I really like to use more of those rustic types, dishes and things like that. I have a cutting board that is really, actually, my grandmother’s. So every time I post a photo, people are like, Where did you get that? I’m like, It was my grandmother’s 55 years ago. So that has to be one of my favorites for sure. 

Megan Porta: Yes, The antiques. Yeah, the family antiques are the best. Okay. So you nailed down your first client, and then did you start reaching out to brands as far as doing sponsored work and how did that go at first? 

Sam Adler: So I think between March through the summer it was slow because I had that one client and then I would start reaching out to a bunch of different clients. You know how it is, especially in the summer, I feel like summer is very slow for clients and things like that. So it was me reaching out a lot. Then by the time August picked up, I had two clients, which was really great. Then back to school and Q4 hit and with all the reaching out and emails that I was doing, I had maybe four clients that I was working with, which was really awesome. So I would say just keep on keeping on it. Sometimes it’s the time of the year, it’s the time of the season. It could be different throughout the entire year. 

Megan Porta: You don’t need 20,000, 60,000, a hundred thousand followers in order to reach out to brands. 

Sam Adler: No, not at all. I don’t even know what I had at that point. I probably had, I don’t know, a thousand to 1200 followers and some clients I was working for that had nothing to do with Instagram, which was really nice. So it wasn’t necessarily only sponsored content. Also my blog, I was doing sponsored content on my blog with I don’t know, 10,000 page views. But some clients didn’t ask for it, and so they’re just like, Okay, yeah, sure. Okay, great. . So I had two blog clients that didn’t really ask for my stats and if they didn’t care. So it was really nice to have that and not to have to rely on just social media. 

Megan Porta: So how do you convey your worth when you don’t have the followers or don’t have the numbers? Do you just focus on what you’re good at? How do you do that? 

Sam Adler: Yeah, so I would say specifically to focus on why you are a good fit for the client. So I would say not necessarily just reaching out to whoever you think is going to pay you money, but why are you a good fit for the client that you’re reaching out to? So for me, if I’m reaching out to a client that has to do with sugar or whatever, let’s go with a sugar client. I’m gonna say, Hey, I’m a trained pastry chef. I know how to work with baked goods. If they’re local, that’s always a really great way to get your first client, is to go local because people love working and supporting local businesses. Especially for me, if you are a local business, if I was working with a Florida owned business and I’m a pastry chef, that’s focusing on my value that I can bring to the client that somebody. anyone else who lives in Iowa, who’s not a trained pastry chef, I might win over that, because of what I can bring to the table.

Megan Porta: So focusing on your strengths and not focusing on your numbers if they’re not big.

Sam Adler: Exactly. 

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Megan Porta: Do you have any tips for people who might be listening and thinking that they want to branch out into getting photography clients in some way and they haven’t done so yet? Like where do they start? Any tips about getting started or where to go? 

Sam Adler: Yeah, so number one, I would say, Make sure you have a portfolio. So that’s really important to have. Just like we have food blogging, make sure you have your SEO rocking on that side of your portfolio. There is SEO for other things other than blogs. So make sure that’s working so people can find you. I would also put your work on Pinterest because a lot of clients and companies are looking on Pinterest for those types of inspiration. They might come across your thing. Also go on LinkedIn and just get your name out there in other places that have nothing to do with social media. 

Megan Porta: Yeah, I think that’s great advice. I love that you said to get your SEO figured out for your portfolio because we always think about SEO in our food blog, but we tend to not think about SEO anywhere else. So that’s a really great piece of advice.

Sam Adler: Yeah. I haven’t updated my portfolio a bit actually, and I am in the process of doing it, but I just got my Google Analytics for that. They’re like, 1100 people came to your site this month. I’m like, that’s 1100 people who did not email me. So I’m like, okay, like people are viewing it and maybe it’s not the 50,000 page views that you need for Mediavine, but that’s 1100 people who are looking for a food photographer. Like hello, that’s 1100 people.

Megan Porta: Yeah. Absolutely. So how do you reach out to a brand that you love and know and use? Do you do that through email? Social media? All of the above?

Sam Adler: Yeah, I think it depends on what you want to do for them. So you have to be really careful because if you want to do freelance photography for somebody and you reach out over social media, like Instagram and you’re not specific about what you want to do for them. Or if they’re not social media heavy, then they might just assume that you want to do social media work for them. If you’re like, No, that’s not what I wanna do, then I always find it’s best to do more of a PR search media search for their emails so that you can find their actual email and email them versus reaching out over social. Which I find to be easier to build a relationship with and also explain to somebody how you can work, what you can do with them. Not necessarily over social unless you want to work with them through social media. 

Megan Porta: Do you find that you have to contact people over and over?

Sam Adler: Oh, a hundred percent. A hundred percent. Others are saying the fortune is in the follow up. You gotta keep following up. We gotta just keep following up so many times because if you email someone one time, versus somebody who emails them five or six times, who are they going to remember? They’re not gonna you, they’re gonna remember the person that followed up six times because that person clearly wants it more. So when they do have an opening, guess who’s gonna get that? When you think about emails that come into your inbox, they aren’t all annoying. Some of them are like, Oh yeah, I might be interested in that. Then you put it off and then you get another one and you’re like, Oh, that’s right. That person came back to me. So don’t assume that you’re going to be annoying them. 

Also like you’re not there to be best friends. Would you email your best friend 16 times? No, that’s your best friend. You’re not gonna do that. You’re not there to become best friends. You’re there to help them. If you’re really following up or really emailing them with value in an offer and not just being like, Hey, I will give you socks for work, then they’re not gonna get annoyed. 

Megan Porta: Okay. Can we talk about pricing? Because I know pricing is a hangup for a lot of people and it’s really like a mindset thing. We don’t value ourselves, so we offer low pricing and then we get confused. Wait, should I have offered more? Break all of that down for Sam. Help. 

Sam Adler: Oh my gosh. We could be here literally talking about that. I think it really, it’s really hard because a lot of people, I don’t think people realize how much money they can make in this business. Which is really disheartening for me when I hear people are working for $200 for a recipe and like 10 photos, and I’m like, what are you doing? It’s really hard, but I would say, you have to make sure that you are feeling good about the prices that you’re getting. If you have any inkling whatsoever that you don’t feel valued, you don’t feel like it’s worth it, then you are a hundred percent under charging them. When brands come to you with offers, they’re not gonna come to you with their highest offer. Everyone is looking for a deal, right? When you go shopping, you’re not going into the store and you’re like, Hey, what’s the most that I could pay for this dress right now? Nobody is doing that. So brands aren’t gonna do that either. So they are obviously looking for a deal. So the first offer that they’re gonna give to you is not going to be their make it or break it deal. So it’s so important to learn to negotiate. It’s so important to understand how to price yourself. I wish there was some formula that I could be like X, Y, Z equals this. There really isn’t at this point because it really depends on the type of project you’re working on and all these things. But if you have some decent level of skills, honestly, I don’t think people should be working for less than $500. That’s just my opinion. Anybody who comes into my courses, I’m like, Okay, you’re all here? Great. Nobody’s working for less than $500. The only time that somebody would do that is if you’re working for a blogger, because when you’re working with bloggers, it’s just a little bit different. I think it’s now, it’s probably between three to 350 range for a recipe and maybe six to eight photos. But that is like the only time. Everybody else, I’m like, we do not work for less than $500. Absolutely not.

Megan Porta: I love it. 

Sam Adler: I wish I could give you the whole thing, but that’s what my courses are for. It’s really important to not lower yourself because not only does it hurt you, but it hurts the whole community and it’s really important to get paid what you’re worth because there is a lot of money in this business. Why should you not be getting what you deserve?

Megan Porta: I love that you’re a proponent of that. I love that people who come into your course here, just nope, nothing less, not a dollar less than this. 

Sam Adler: There’s a lot of tough love. 

Megan Porta: Absolutely. Sometimes we need that tough love. I think that is a great thing to be tough about because we all need to hear that message. Would you talk about working for bloggers a little bit since you mentioned that? How do we get into that? 

Sam Adler: Sure. So I actually started off, I think this is a really great way for anybody too, especially if you have lower social status. Just to get your feet off the ground and start working with somebody with photography needs is to work for bloggers. Because there are so many bloggers out there that have these amazing blogs and they need updated photos. But they just don’t have the time with everything else that they’re doing to go back and update their old photos. Or maybe they don’t have process shots or anything like that. They need somebody to help them. So it’s really funny because a lot of my students will be like how do you say your photos are ugly? Can I come work for you? You don’t say that. You say, Hey I’ve been a long time follower. Or if you’re not, go follow the person. But I’ve been following you. I’ve been really enjoying your recipes. Maybe make something of theirs and be like, Hey, I made this recipe. I really loved it. I’m a food photographer, and if you ever need help updating your photos, which I’m sure you have so many awesome recipes that might need updating, I’m here to help. So you’re not going in and being like, Hey, your photos are ugly. Can I shoot that for you?

Megan Porta: Not a good approach. 

Sam Adler: Not a good approach. It’s really a nice way to work with bloggers to get a consistent income because you can work out a package rate for them and maybe you’re four or five recipes a month for, I always give like a 10% discount anytime a client books for more projects. So if you’re making like, I know, three 50 times four, whatever that is, I’m not doing math on the fly and then offer them 10%, like that’s a really nice amount of money to come in. If you get two bloggers to do that, that’s awesome. So it’s a really awesome way to be able to start and get your foot in the door with food photography.

Megan Porta: Especially if you love food photography. That’s such a great way to earn money and just be creative with something that you’re loving. 

Sam Adler: Yeah, I hired a copywriter, I have somebody who writes my posts for me. So many people have stuff like that. The one thing I won’t hire out is my photography because I love it. But when you think about getting help, which everyone should have. What are the things you hate doing? Just hire somebody out. Not every blogger is going to love the photography part of it. So you hire it out and that could be you. 

Megan Porta: Okay. So do you have any tips for not having to pitch all the time, because I know pitching is one of the hangups for a lot of people. I hear this all the time. People are like, I would love to get brand work or work with other food bloggers, but I don’t wanna pitch so I don’t do it.

Sam Adler: So here’s where the tough love part comes in, because if you don’t pitch, you’re not gonna get work. So we gotta pitch, We gotta put on the big girl pants. 

Megan Porta: Do those scary things. 

Sam Adler: Do those scary things. You gotta do it. It doesn’t mean you have to do it every five minutes, but you have to pitch. The more that you do it, the easier it becomes. So that’s what anything, it’s like strengthening any muscle. So you gotta do it. There are people out there who just constantly get pitched to them, which I think are the exception, which is really awesome. But if you want to be in this field in the long run, it’s something that you need to learn how to do. But I will tell you that when you do that and you get your clients, it’s so much easier to retain a client than it is to have to get a new one. So if you are working with clients that you really love and you end up doing really awesome work with them and you can show them, at the end of your campaign or timeline or whatever it is, hey, this is a value that I brought to you and this is how this worked. Would you like to work again? You can pitch them a larger contract or something like that. It’s really just about building relationships. Because when you think about it on the brand side, if they work with you and they really love you, it’s so much easier for them to also retain you than it is to get a new person. So when you get a client that you really love, you work your butt off for them. Do whatever you can so that you can retain them and not have to always be pitching. 

Megan Porta: Deliver tons of value and just go over the top? 

Sam Adler: So it’s a little bit different because it’s you know, there’s that saying under promise, over deliver. I think that’s great, but I think it can be a little bit harsh, especially if you’re a people pleaser. You’re like, Okay, the campaign was for five photos, and then you give them 15. That’s not how this works. But maybe you deliver the photos a day early, or maybe you, I don’t know, just maybe give them an extra story on Instagram. Or maybe you give them one or two extra photos and not 17 extra photos. Also building that relationship, making sure that the client, the communication is clear, being really easy to work with. Having that timeline being like, this is the day you’re getting your photos, then deliver the photos earlier than you say. Make sure that they just know what’s going on throughout the entire thing and you’re just super, super easy to work with. 

Megan Porta: Yeah. That’s easy to do, right? Sending your deliverables a day early is not a big deal, but they’re going to be shocked because. Oh, a whole day early. She got it earlier than I anticipated. So things like that are like very little things for us to do, but will go a long way. 

Sam Adler: You could also send them an after campaign, a whole detailed sheet of stats. If you had a sponsor post, this is how many people saw. I know they’re gonna ask you for analytics, but hey, here’s a whole sheet of this progress report. Okay, this is how many people saw it. These are what people commented. Some people slid into my dms. This is what they said. Just explain to them how much you really enjoyed working with them and how your audience really resonated with them so that they can see the value that you offered during your campaign. 

Megan Porta: Those are all great ideas. So it’s different, but when I work with sponsors through the podcast, I will occasionally do something way outside of a deliverable that I promise. So for example, I’ll put something up on TikTok. TikTok is not part of my deliverables at all, but that’s above and beyond and just, I think for the sponsor, seeing that. Oh, she did something way beyond what was ever agreed. We never even mentioned TikTok. So something like that’s not that much extra effort, but it will go a long way. 

Sam Adler: Yes, I a hundred percent agree. I think that’s great. 

Megan Porta: Yeah. So you have made six figures in 2021 just from your food photography business. Is that correct? 

Sam Adler: Yes. 

Megan Porta: That’s amazing. 

Sam Adler: Yes. Thank you. 

Megan Porta: How do you feel about that? Is that the best feeling ever? 

Sam Adler: It was so awesome. I was so proud of myself. Especially because I started this because I wanted to contribute more financially to my family. It wasn’t like I had pressure, it was like my husband was pressuring me or anything. It was really just my desire to do this. I think as a mom, it’s really hard sometimes when you have two little kids and you love being a mom. But it’s hard when you think about what happened to me. So when you are able to be that mom that you wanna be and also I think what makes it so exciting for me is that it was through a creative process and it wasn’t in a nine to five job that society tells you need to have. So when I realized, I think it was maybe like November of last year, I was like, wow. That was just photography. That was very eye opening and very motivating for me. I was just super proud of myself for that. 

Megan Porta: Congratulations. I think that’s amazing and that’s such inspiration. It’s so inspiring and so encouraging for all of us listening because it seems so hard at times to get to that point just with our blogs, but to think that you can do it on a side, I won’t don’t wanna say side project, but outside of the blog ad revenue. In addition to blog revenue, ad revenue. I think that is so encouraging. So I love that you shared that. Thank you for sharing that. 

Sam Adler: Yeah, of course. 

Megan Porta: What’s your next goal? Do you have bigger goals in the future? 

Sam Adler: Yeah, I do. Every year I want to try to increase, not try, I want to increase my revenue every single year. So I have my courses and I have my blog and I have my photography clients and things like that. Then yeah, my, my next goal is just to grow. To continue to grow. I really wanna buy an apartment in Rome. That’s another fun fact. That’s been on my goal list for a very long time and I wanna do it before I’m 40 and I’m 36. That’s my next goal. 

Megan Porta: Okay. So you just put it out there into the world. 

Sam Adler: I did. 

Megan Porta: So that gives it power. I feel like everybody knows now. No taking it back, Sam. 

Sam Adler: No, I can’t. I have it written down like all over my office. It’s on my vision board.

Megan Porta: Oh, I love that. I think we should share those big goals more often. I feel like we often keep them in just because it’s so audacious and big that we feel like people are gonna be like, what is she thinking? But in fact, I think it just gives it power. 

Sam Adler: I agree with you. 

Megan Porta: Yeah. That is a big goal. But good for you. You can do this. You’re gonna do it for sure. 

Sam Adler: Yeah. I always think about, you know when you are making a wish, it’s your birthday and they’re like blowing out the candles. Make a wish, but don’t tell anyone. I’m like, No, Tell everyone. Everyone needs to know. 

Megan Porta: I totally agree. That’s always been a pet peeve of mind. Why wouldn’t I tell everyone what my wishes are? Oh my goodness. I’m gonna have a house in the mountains in Montana within, I’m gonna say two years. That’s been one of my big goals for a while now. Yeah, it’s happening. So we can support each other. 

Sam Adler: It’s all happening. I’ll come to your house. You’ll come to my house. 

Megan Porta: It’s in motion. It is happening. It’s gonna be great. Is there anything we missed that you feel like food bloggers need to hear about taking on this venture of just focusing more on photography as part of their businesses? 

Sam Adler: I really just really want people to know that there is so much money to be made, and I know video is like a big thing right now, but people will always need photography. They will always need it. So please don’t get discouraged if you feel like it’s not happening for you because it can, and I believe that it will. 

Megan Porta: Yes. Love that. Thank you Sam so much. I had so much fun talking to you today. It’s been such a pleasure. 

Sam Adler: Yay. Me too. Thank you so much for having me.

Megan Porta: Yeah. Do you have either a favorite quote that you love or other words of inspiration to leave us with today? 

Sam Adler: I do. I just recently heard this quote on, I don’t even know, last week somewhere. But the person said that the amateur is always rushing, but the master never hurries. That really hit me because I think it’s really hard in the blogging world and also in the photography world, where we’re always rushing to get the page views, rushing to make it onto that network, rushing to get our clients and all these things. Let’s just slow down and understand what we need to do and really do it really so that we don’t have to rush as much and that we can really master what we’re doing so that in the long run you will be the master and you will not have to rush. So just like slowing down a little bit, I think to be the master. 

Megan Porta: And enjoying the moment.

Sam Adler: Exactly. 

Megan Porta: Enjoying the process instead of always looking to the next thing. That’s gonna be better when I get there. It’s not. Yeah, it’s not always gonna be the case. Oh, I love that. What a great quote. We’ll put together a show notes page for you, Sam. If anyone wants to go look at those, you can go to eatblogtalk.com/frostingandfettuccine. And that’s two Ts and two Cs, correct? 

Sam Adler: And E at the end. 

Megan Porta: And an E at the end. Why don’t you tell everyone where they can find you online and social media, and I know you have a quiz you wanna talk about as well. 

Sam Adler: Yeah, so you can find me at frostingandfettuccine.com. That is my food blog. You can also find me on stylemecreatively.com, which is where I host all my food photography courses from beginner to intermediate. We have a fun quiz on how you can tell what level you’re on for your food photography and you can get resources through that. 

Megan Porta: Awesome. Thank you again, Sam, so much for being here. 

Sam Adler: Thank you for having me. 

Megan Porta: Yes. Thank you for listening today, food bloggers. I will see you in the next episode.

Outro: Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Eat Blog Talk. Please share this episode with a friend who would benefit from tuning in. I will see you next time.


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Megan
Megan

Megan started her food blog Pip and Ebby in 2010 and food blogging has been her full-time career since 2013. Her passion for blogging has grown into an intense desire to help fellow food bloggers find the information, insight, and community they need in order to find success.

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