Only so many people are lucky enough to make a career out of their hobby. Matt Abourezk, 54 and Ann Keith, 56 both grew up passionate about photography. Both Abourezk and Keith tried to create a photography business, but only Abourezk’s took off. He now works full-time as a photographer, and Keith does marketing for a real estate company. What was the difference between the two? Does success come down to personality, business plan, or both? 

Abourezk says “my dad put a camera in my hands when I was 14 years old. After I saw my first photos printed, I was hooked.” Through the next 40 years, Abourezk managed to build his own photography and videography company Talkingbox, which is his sole source of income today.

 

 

Keith started taking pictures to “record passing moments and capture memories” and especially liked taking photos of her kids. This led her to try and start her own family photography business in 2001, but she was never able to get it off the ground. She remembers, “in order to take my photography career to the next level, I needed to step outside of what the camera can create on automatic settings. At this time, I was also working on a marketing business. I had one foot in each business and no real momentum in either.”

It became clear that the key to getting a business off the ground is passion and dedication. Abourezk credits his success to being very driven as well as “a lot of networking and a little luck. I have been able to keep the business running through some very tough economic times because I constantly try to read the current and coming trends in terms of style and equipment, and I adjust accordingly.”

On the other hand, Keith attributes her lack of success to lack of focus and belief in herself. “You have to have the courage to leap and the net will appear. You have to know yourself, to understand your strengths and weaknesses and get real about what you need to succeed. I didn’t have those at the time my that business could have taken off.”

The biggest difference between Abourezk and Keith was certainly the trust they had in themselves. In almost every small business the owner has to take a leap of faith, dedicate themselves to their business, and trust that they can pull it off.

Keith didn’t have that trust and now says “I work at a stable job I like but don’t love. I know what to expect and I can perform this job well. But I am not thrilled to go to work every day and feel like I would be if my work and passion were one in the same.”

Although Abourezk loves the business he has created for himself, he says “I don’t love living job to job. I wish I had been smarter about learning to run a business properly.” If he had to extend advice to any potential small business owner, he says “learn business. If you are lucky enough to do what you love for a living, make it a smart living. Learn to start, build, and run a business so you can enjoy what you love to do.”

Both Keith and Abourezk expressed the importance of giving a business your all once you start with it. Keith says “you need to get comfortable with our own vulnerability, ask for help, set realistic business goals and be disciplined about moving in the direction of those goals every day.”