08/10/2025
𝟭𝟬 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀: From $800 to ~𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟬 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀. 𝗠𝘆 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆.
In 2026, I'll be celebrating 𝟭𝟬 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 in the freelance media production space and I wanted to share a look back at how this whole thing started.
The launch wasn't glamorous. I had about $800 to my name and walked into JB Hi-Fi to buy the cheapest SLR camera I could find. I had zero knowledge of how to use it, but I had one immediate, audacious goal: 𝟭𝟬 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁. I hit it.
Those early days were pure hustle and a lot of learning on the fly. For the better part of the first year, I was practically glued to the 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀. Plenty of mistakes were made, but every shoot was a lesson.
My strategy was simple, but effective: 𝗩𝗼𝗹𝘂𝗺𝗲.
1. 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗼𝘁 as many projects as possible.
2. 𝗨𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 behind the scenes content to Instagram immediately after the shoot.
3. 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝘆 that future clients stumbled across the organic posts.
4. 𝗥𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗮𝘁.
I was incredibly 𝘀𝗵𝘆, so traditional networking was off the table. My only option was to get my work in front of as many eyes as possible online. And thankfully, back in 2016, organic reach was a much more generous beast than it is today.
I would hit social media multiple times a day. The client enquiry conversion from those posts was absolutely wild. I never ran an ad, didn't even have a phone number or a booking service online. My barrier to entry was ridiculously narrow. Yet, the strategy was so potent that it didn't matter.
Fast forward a decade: I've now worked on nearing 𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟬 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀 and collaborated with hundreds of different businesses.
It's a huge milestone and a reminder that sometimes the best strategy is just to start with what you have, commit, and let the work do the talking.
📷 Aise Dillon Photography
