The Picture Perfect Side Hustle
On this episode sponsored by Live Oak Bank, pharmacist and photographer Landen Conner shares how he turned his side hustle into his main gig, why and how he started his photography business, how he found his niche, and the mechanics of his business.
About Today’s Guest
The career of pharmacy accelerated Landen’s path to becoming a photographer, but where he met his passion was at the intersection of pharmacy and photography, which was “people.” Seeing people heal in an instant on camera was magical. Then hearing the unexpected wins after, such as landing a job, gaining more clients, even dates was the icing on the cake for him!
Summary
Landen Conner became interested in photography after one of his friends shared with him that he was able to create a successful business as a wedding photographer. Although Landen was a full-time pharmacist at the time, he was experiencing major burnout from his job and needed to step away from pharmacy. Landen soon realized that being a photographer was more than just picking up a camera and taking pictures. He found his niche in headshot photography and helps clients heal by taking their picture and sharing the stories of his clients.
Landen was debt free aside from his mortgage loan and knew he didn’t want to start his business without taking on any debt. He used cash to fund his start up and leaned on his pharmacy day job as a way to invest in his business. Knowing that he was paying cash for the majority of his equipment allowed him to be more present with potential clients. He estimates that he spent around $10,000 to $15,000 starting his photography business.
Landen now focuses on headshots, family shoots, commercial photography, and marketing and branding. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Landen started working a couple times a week as a per diem pharmacist to help bring in a steady stream of income. Landen also discusses how he automates functions of his business, his advice to other pharmacists looking to start a side hustle, and how he’s taking his business to the next level.
Mentioned on the Show
- Live Oak Bank: Loans and Financial Solutions for Pharmacies
- Enter the Giveaway – Join the YFP Facebook Group
- YNAB.
- Your Best Year Ever by Michael Hyatt
- Side Hustle to Main Gig: Landen Conner used his experience and cash from a pharmacy job to create a photography business
- Christian Chamber of Commerce
- Connect with Landen Conner on LinkedIn
- Connect with Landen Conner Photo on Facebook
- YFP Podcast
- ConvertKit
- Dave Ramsey
- Landen Conner Photography
- Call Landen Conner: (504) 905-2249
Episode Transcript
Tim Church: Landen, thanks for stopping by and for being part of this side hustle edition.
Landen Conner: Thanks a lot, Tim. I appreciate you for having me.
Tim Church: I recently learned about your story as I was perusing Google News alerts and an interesting article came up from the Orlando Business Journal titled, “Side Hustle to Main Gig,” and one of the biggest reasons I was excited to have you share your story on the podcast is basically, you have the reverse side hustle where pharmacy is not your main gig. But before we dive in, I do have an icebreaker for you.
Landen Conner: Yes.
Tim Church: Alright, you ready for this?
Landen Conner: I hope so. Let’s roll with it.
Tim Church: Alright, the pandemic is over and you’re out at a bar or restaurant and your name comes up to sing karaoke. What song are you singing?
Landen Conner: Oh, wow. Talk about a curveball. This may be funny. How about the Lion King Can’t Wait to be King?
Tim Church: Oh my gosh. I love that Disney movie.
Landen Conner: It’s like 1A in my book.
Tim Church: That’s awesome. I was not — let me just say, I was not expecting that. That’s a good jam. Do you like blast that in the car?
Landen Conner: The only reason why I’m hooked on it as like my second favorite Disney movie of all time, probably right there with Aladdin. But my wife just designed this whole room for a newborn with Lion King. And I’m hooked back onto Lion King now.
Tim Church: OK, that’s awesome, man. I love it. Well, Landen, before we kind of jump into your main gig now, really, talk a little bit about your career path as a pharmacist.
Landen Conner: Started out at 18 with a tech — as a tech/student. And wanted to see if I wanted to be a pharmacist. I got a job at Walgreens pharmacy, loved it, started school at Xavier University. The first day, I got scared and flipped my major from computer engineering to pharmacy because I got scared — I heard about 50,000 people were going to be laid off. So I was like, I’m just going to go to my second strongest thing, which was science. And that’s where my career began as a pharmacist.
Tim Church: OK. And talk a little bit about what are some of the positions that you’ve had when you were working full-time.
Landen Conner: I’ve been pretty much the full gamut. Went from retail pharmacy as everyone does pretty much to long-term care — loved that one — specialty pharmacy — loved that one as well — to MTM pharmacist and now to basically a per diem pharmacist filling in on call positions.
Tim Church: Now, obviously to where you got to that point, going from full-time to per diem, you talked a little bit about something in the article because at some point in your pharmacist career, that initial vision you had when you were training, you were starting out as a pharmacist, that changed. And in the article, you mention that you had been diagnosed with extreme stress related to your job and were quoted as saying, “As a result of this, my vision became blurred, memory loss occurred, as well as pains all over the body. The diagnosis made me sit back and think seriously, was it or anything worth the cost of my health? The simple answer was no.”
Landen Conner: Yeah.
Tim Church: Now, when I read that, I was really taken back because we’re not just talking about oh, I’m stressed at my job. We’re talking that it got to the point where it was physically affecting you. So obviously, that had to be pretty severe in the position that you had at that time to get to that point. So talk about those feelings that you expressed and how did it get to that point?
Landen Conner: The feeling that I expressed, I was actually helped along. I won’t mention her name because of the company she works with, but I was sitting next to this lady, we were really good coworkers and friends. She had mentioned her story to me years earlier when she was progressing in this company, going up the management chain. It got to a point she was taking on so much, she got sick. And she had to make a choice whether to keep working or keep progressing. And I asked her about that story and what would she recommend? And she said, “Landen, if I could do it again, I would choose to take a break and stay away for my health purposes.” So hearing that, I took that as a sign from God to say, you know what, choose your life. Because you can always find a way to make money with an entrepreneurial mindset versus how we’re taught in pretty much — you’re a pharmacist too, Tim — we go to school, we’re in school all day. And when you come out, you still practice those similar principles, but after awhile, you experience burnout. And that’s where it was with me. It was just burnout.
Tim Church: And can you elaborate a little bit more? Like what specifically were some of the things that were contributing to that? And how long did that take to develop?
Landen Conner: I think it developed slowly, honestly, going through recently a new marriage, working all the varying types of shifts, 5 a.m. shift, 10 p.m. shifts, then going from working early in the morning maybe to a photo shoot that evening and then just constantly repeating those cycles, finally caught up to me. Not being able to take vacations when you wanted or when you needed, rather, not just wanted per se, when you needed it. And just going through that, it was accumulation. Then you just start feeling the headaches, you start seeing the double vision, sometimes memory loss where you don’t really remember verifying certain things because you’re under that amount of stress, you think you’re keyed in, but you’re not.
Tim Church: How did you get to the point where you said, you know what, I’ve got to transition. I have to do something to get out of this situation?
Landen Conner: Sitting back, taking a look and starting to organize your life. I’d be lying to you if I said being debt-free except for the house didn’t matter because then I could start to organize, hey, it takes this amount per year to live. And then you break it down into monthly cycles, you know living in Florida, your bills may be a little bit higher due to the summer weather, then in the winter, you can dial it back. So you kind of average, put everything in perspective. And you don’t have your credit cards that you have to pay, the bills you have to pay. And that helped.
Tim Church: So obviously, that setting yourself up in a good financial position allowed you to make that transition, it sounds like. But one of the things that I wanted to ask you is while you were working full-time as a pharmacist, your side gig at that time was photography. And so before that became your main gig, how did you become interested in photography? I think that’s interesting because the last time I checked, you know, that was not an elective in my PharmD. I don’t know if it was — what was it, Xavier that you went?
Landen Conner: Yes, that was definitely not an elective. I tell you, I was sitting in a desk working specialty pharmacy, and I was — I kept saying the same thing over and over again. I was like, man, I’m basically saying, “You want fries with that?” And I’m like, God, you’ve got to have better for me than this. And then one of my best friends back home in New Orleans, Calvin Gaveon, called me. He told me how much he was making doing wedding photography. And I said, “No way, dude.” He’s like, “I promise you, man.” And I’m like, “Cool, I’ll pick a camera and do the same thing.” But it was so much more than just picking up a camera and shooting a wedding. I found my personal niche in headshot photography. And that grew into branding and marketing a person because the joy that I experience meeting that person one-on-one and attacking those internal securities — insecurities — watching them heal in front of the camera was just golden, knowing that you could do that in the power of a millisecond with a click, this person’s whole life can change.
Tim Church: So Landen, your friend Calvin reaches out and says, “Hey, you should try this out because I’m making great money, and it’s an opportunity for you to do something on the side,” not knowing it would eventually become your main gig. But you talked about something there that I think is really important and really stuck with me is that you said you had the opportunity to learn other people’s stories and to help them get to a point where they weren’t so insecure about getting even just a simple headshot. Talk about that.
Landen Conner: I’ll take you — I’ll make it relational. Like whoever may be listening to this, you go back to the age, I mean, to your kindergarten age. And you get your mom and your dad, and you think they’re doing the greatest thing in the world by having to take kindergarten photos. Most kids don’t want to take them. Or you’re being bullied in school or someone, that one person in life tells you you’re not beautiful and you’re not worth it. You carry those insecurities with you throughout the rest of your teen years, your adult childhood years. So once someone’s steps in front of a camera, they’re carrying it, like I’m not photogenic. I’m uncomfortable in front of cameras. I’d say that’s 99% of people I shoot, they tell me that they don’t think they take great photos. And they don’t value themselves. And once I meet them at the corner of that insecurity and just give them small coaching tips and walk with them through, it’s like, “Hey, you’re beautiful,” or, “You’re debonair.” Who told you that lie? And they pour out their heart to me. I can give you a story, a couple stories if you want.
Tim Church: Yeah, let’s hear it.
Landen Conner: The first time where photography became so much more than just a photo, I walked in shooting this behind-the-scenes interview that a guy from my church asked me to do. And I said, “Sure, I’ll do it. I just need to get some headshots to build my portfolio.” And the main interviewee said, “I hate my photo being taken. I really don’t want to do this.” So I asked her, I said, “Can you give me five minutes? If you don’t like it, delete it. It’ll never see the light of day.” And she allowed me to do the photo. I edited it, sent it to her probably within 48 hours. Then she called me back about a week later, kept me on the phone for maybe an hour, and said, “Landen, I put this on Facebook, and I got over — at that time, I think 75-100 likes.” And she was almost in tears because she said, “I am beat up verbally so bad in a marriage, abused in a marriage, abused in her childhood, I thought I was the ugly duckling in the family.” And from that moment on, it completely changed every time I stepped behind camera and had someone in front of my camera. The second one that made a massive difference was probably about a month or two ago, I photographed this young lady that was a resume writer. She came in, she got her head — she was ready to do her headshot. First five minutes, we shot, made sure my lighting was good and everything. And then I was just talking to her, getting to know her, and then in five minutes, we got a photo that she loved. And walking back to the bathroom to change, she stopped midstream and said, “I can’t believe you made me look this beautiful.” And I said, “Why? You’re beautiful.” She’s like, “I just had a kid two weeks ago, my body is out of shape from the weight gain from the pregnancy, and I didn’t feel like I was myself.” And I was like, “Hold on, you’ve got to stop because you’re about to make me cry.” And she just kept going on, and the session was just magical.
Tim Church: So did you ever think that when you were getting into the photography business that you were going to hear these stories from people or that you were going to have the opportunity to walk with them in what was a very difficult thing to do, which may not be for other people, but for a lot of people, it is?
Landen Conner: Absolutely, 1,000% no. I had no clue this would happen. I had no idea. I’d be lying to you if I said I did.
Tim Church: And so how has that really changed your perspective? And was that part of how you flipped that switch to basically say, I’m going all in?
Landen Conner: Yes, absolutely. Recently I joined a Christian Chamber about three months ago, and the leader of the Christian Chamber was Crystal Pocker. And she helped me to marry the two fields because I thought pharmacy had nothing to do with photography. And she said, “Landen, the common thing you have, you did one P with Pharmacy and now you’re doing another P with Photography, but in the middle, that P was People, that you care for people and want to see them win in life and not just meet the status quo because everybody is unique.” I’m different from you, Tim, you’re different from me. We may have some commonalities, but you have your own personal traits.
Tim Church: I think it’s just amazing, the work that you’re doing because it goes beyond just putting images on a website, on social media account. It’s driving a lot of impact and helping people get to a place where they’re comfortable with themselves. And I mean, I think that’s huge. It has to really give you that warm and fuzzy feeling inside.
Landen Conner: It does, but you want to know something, Tim? I was scared as I don’t know what to share people’s stories initially. I really battled with that because let’s just say if I took a — because if I took a photo of you and you shared something personally with me, I would — I would say about a year and a half ago, I would just put, “Had a great time working with Tim. And he was excellent to photograph.” That tells the viewers nothing. But sharing those stories, it makes it so relational, just like I shared with the lady that was mentally, physically abused in her previous relationship or with the guy who was molested at a young age, those type of things. I don’t have to put the molestation, but it’s a sense of rejection from another person’s perspective. You need to make it totally relational. I just posted something a couple of days ago. I said, the title of it was, “Don’t be Stiff.” As soon as I put that up, I said, man, this is so relational. Because I get in front of a camera and freeze up every time.
Tim Church: How have these stories that you’ve collected from the clients during the photo shoots, how has that helped with the marketing of your business?
Landen Conner: It’s humanized it because when you see those headshots, you see a healed person. You don’t see the person that looks like everybody else. You see that actual person. If I photograph Tim, I’m not shooting just with Tim. I’m shooting for Tim’s audience. I’m shooting so they can meet who Tim is, not just the, “Smile, Tim!” That’s not it.
Tim Church: Well, Landen, I want to switch a little bit and kind of dive into the mechanics of the business. The article mentioned that you used cash to fund the initial startups and you said this was something really important to you. So talk a little bit about that.
Landen Conner: I was at a photography conference, and this one photographer told me, he said, “Don’t look at your business” — I mean, “Don’t look at your day job as just a day job. Look at it as an investment into your business.” And since I already had a limited school loans, I didn’t believe in debt for the business because it did one big thing. I bought one lens on credit, and it would make me talk to people — I would allow myself to talk to people differently, thinking I had to book this client to justify putting this lens on debt. But when I paid cash for everything, I didn’t have that type of burden in my life. So it allowed me to actually sit and talk with clients freely and to serve their best needs.
Tim Church: And what were some of the other startup costs that you had besides the lens and some of the basic equipment? Anything else you needed to kind of get up and running?
Landen Conner: I would say the biggest thing — of course, cameras, different cameras, more up-to-date cameras, lenses. But getting to be able to afford automation because I photograph different people on different days, and that’s a lot of storage to kind of keep inside. So I don’t want to just share everything all at once because you get tired of seeing it after awhile if I overload you with too many stories. So I just needed to hit with that one person that one day or two people so they can know that they’re not alone. So the automation was the biggest thing.
Tim Church: Do you mind sharing approximately, what was the cost that you needed to kind of at least get started? What are we talking?
Landen Conner: I would say anywhere from $10,000-15,000 maybe. If it was now, I think you could do it — actually, I know you can — as much as half that amount.
Tim Church: That’s not a little amount to kind of get started. I mean, was that sort of intimidating looking at those costs? Or was it much more palatable considering you started it while you were still working full-time as a pharmacist?
Landen Conner: It was easier because at a pharmacist’s salary, did I know it at the time? No, not until I did my taxes at the end of the year, and I’m like, “I spent what on what?” But I’ll tell you this, for any aspiring people, do your research first. Even though I didn’t research, there were some of the marketing tricks that I fell for, which I allowed myself to waste money in certain areas. And that would have cut my costs in half, by at least 25%.
Tim Church: So do your homework. Know what the bare minimum you need to get started. But it may not be as expensive as you think is what it sounds like.
Landen Conner: No, it’s definitely not as expensive as what you would think. Right now, they’ve came out with better products at a much more affordable cost. So that’s going to knock your costs from where I started for probably down by more than half.
Tim Church: Wow. That’s a big deal. So you said a little bit earlier that headshots are basically your jam, that’s the space that you excel at and how you’re helping people. Are there any other services that you provide or that you do?
Landen Conner: I still do family shoots when my clients ask for them. Weddings, I’ve kind of stepped away from. I’m doing my last wedding this Sunday. My bread and butter now is marketing and branding, commercial photography. And we just start with the headshot and build all the way down. Why? Because everything starts with you. As a small business owner, I want to know who you are. We don’t have the luxury to hide behind a brand name such as a Nike or Apple.
Tim Church: So talk a little bit more about that, that beyond just individuals marketing themselves, you’re talking about other businesses and helping them with their marketing materials, specifically with photos but even other things as well. Talk a little bit more about that.
Landen Conner: Sure. With the marketing and branding is — you know how we, like when we start a business, we always go to those free stock image websites?
Tim Church: Yeah, of course. I’ve used those multiple times.
Landen Conner: Oh boy. Should we change the question? So as a photographer, there’s nothing wrong with those starting out. But you should try to get away from those type of websites within your first 6-12 months, especially if you’re getting big. Because if you look at it, those are models and those are ideal situations. I’ve seen a lot of times where people use those stock imagery images, and I can go to another website and see the same stock images. So it causes a disconnect in the viewer’s mind. Or let’s just say that small business owner to mid-size business owner invites me to their office, I go to their website, it doesn’t look anything like this. So now I have my defenses up because I think you’re lying to me. They’re never going to tell you this, but it’s the same scenario. When you’re doing your marketing and branding, you can’t market and brand on things such as Facebook, Instagram, using non-organic photography.
Tim Church: And so what it sounds like is you’re basically helping to foster that image of that company, of maybe that individual as well, and making that more of an authentic feel versus something that is not actually representing who you are and what you’re doing.
Landen Conner: Correct. Absolutely, 100% correct.
Tim Church: So one of the other things I wanted to ask you — what about matching pajama holiday photo shoots? Do you do those too?
Landen Conner: Yes. I’ve done that, two years ago, actually. Two years ago.
Tim Church: I mean, I could see there could be a lot of high demand for that one.
Landen Conner: It’s funny you should mentioned that because you just brought to mind this family that I photographed like two years ago. And the story behind that one was they wanted holiday photos within their home. It meant something to me when they called me because a kid was born so prematurely and was fighting for his life. And now, I believe he’s running, walking and just going all over the place being a kid. But knowing the story, the backstory behind how this kid fought for his life to live and then was able to do the whole photo session and now he’s — you wouldn’t even know he was a preemie.
Tim Church: Wow.
Landen Conner: Those types of sessions are magical.
Tim Church: That’s cool. How specifically are you marketing your business?
Landen Conner: Definitely LinkedIn. Trying to get better at Facebook. Christian Chamber has definitely been a blessing in my life.
Tim Church: Hopefully the YFP podcast as well.
Landen Conner: There’s a new one, another blessing, the YFP podcast. And just word of mouth has been my mainstays right now.
Tim Church: Does anyone help you with the business? Anyone with assistants or doing some of the behind-the-scenes things to get you up and running to kind of do the sales or is this all Landen?
Landen Conner: This has been all Landen — and I use the word ‘has’ because until recently, I realized that with people in my life, I can start to delegate and hire out to do different things. So now we’re moving into video and we’re able to move into doing a full scale brand and market build. So if you need copywriters, if you need graphic design artists, then we’re working purely organic — with organic material for the particular individual or business.
Tim Church: So sounds like things are happening and you’re growing, which is awesome because it means that a lot of people are valuing the services that you’re providing, which I think are huge. Landen, talk about how did you get back into pharmacy? You said you were doing that full-time, you switched to photography, and now it’s kind of coming back to some extent. Talk about that.
Landen Conner: I got back into it because COVID did put a kind of damper on the business for awhile. That and the house note was the only debt that I had that was left to pay off. And then with my wife’s health, with her being diagnosed with MS, I had to provide even when you don’t have a constant income coming in as a entrepreneur. So doing those on-call maybe 1-2 times a week, it does keep a constant flow when I don’t have clients that are coming through.
Tim Church: One of the things that often comes up is how do you even consider a side hustle with a full-time job? People talk about in the YFP Facebook group, they’ll message me on LinkedIn, they’ll say, “How do you do it? How do you work full-time, have a side job, and also maintain your family, your relationships, and do it all?” So how do you do it?
Landen Conner: I would say automation really helps. The other thing is I started to sit back and remember why did I get into this in the first place? Meaning pharmacy. And then the second thing — I mean third thing was do you want to make a difference in just your life and build something only for you? Or do you want to make an impact in others’ lives and change one life at a time and challenge yourself a day at a time? Can you make someone else’s life better? You make time for what you desire to have fulfilled in your life.
Tim Church: I love that. That really pumps me up. But I totally agree with you that if you’re buying into that mission and the results of what that work is going to accomplish, that that can be a huge driving factor for being able to make it work. Totally agree with you on that one. You mentioned automation, so talk about that a little bit. I think that’s an interesting way that you’re making it happen. So talk about that.
Landen Conner: You mentioned that a lot of people ask how do you do it? Let’s just say if you want to do email blasts, ConvertKit is an excellent source. If you want to do Facebook posts, you can schedule out your Facebook posts, your Instagram posts, your LinkedIn, all of those things have built-in automation. And the other thing I would explain to people who are interested in a side hustle and they’re doing those email campaigns, they’re doing those social media campaigns, there’s seven days in a week. One day, you’re going to have a groove. And let’s just say that groove is an hour to two hours. You get in that one or two hours, and you just write or bang out a bunch of posts of things that you want to go on, schedule them out. They don’t have to be every day. They could be weekly. And then as you gain more experience, as you gain more clients, then you add to it. So you’re building slowly. And it adds up over time.
Tim Church: I think that’s big. I think you’re right. You have to harness technology. We all have the same amount of time. We have 168 hours every week. And after sleeping and working your full-time job, I mean, you’re limited. That gets substantially cut. So I think that really is a huge one because you have to think about OK, realistically, how are you going to make it work? And how are you going to do the things that you want? I think that’s big. I mean, I think that’s great advice. So speaking of advice and recommendations, what advice would you give to other pharmacists out there who they have other interests, passions beyond pharmacy that have the potential to be turned into a business or they have an entrepreneurial mindset?
Landen Conner: Go slow. That was one of the biggest things that I say now I understand because if you think of the story of the tortoise and the hare, the tortoise always wins. Get out of debt. Organize it from biggest to smallest. If you watch Dave Ramsey, you understand that. And give yourself small wins. Look at the pharmacist’s salary allocated in percentages. If you want to take 10% out of your salary and invest into your business to get those automation programs, they’re going to pay off huge in the end.
Tim Church: That’s so good. I want to bring another one up that you mentioned in the article, which was find the right group of like-minded people who won’t just tell you what you want to hear but what you need to hear. How has that helped you?
Landen Conner: Immensely. A lot of times, it’s hard to hear what you need to hear from people. I haven’t had that issue because I have friends that they’re going to tell me whatever it is that they feel like they have to tell me. I know it’s out of love. So it’s getting to a place that I know that they love me and tell me up front versus hiding the truth and hurting me or damaging me long-term. My grandfather, before he passed when I think I was like 8 or 10 told me something I never forgot. He said that there are only going to be three people that make it off your block. And lo and behold, there was only three people that made it off my block that was successful. And he said, “Watch the company you keep because whatever company you hang around is what you will become.” Is that always the truth? No, but a good majority of the time, I’ve seen it come to fruition.
Tim Church: I definitely agree. And sometimes, we need that criticism, that feedback, if we want to make it to the next level.
Landen Conner: True.
Tim Church: I totally agree with you on that. Well Landen, thank you for coming on the show, for sharing your story. Thanks for being open about the burnout that you experienced as a pharmacist. I know you’re not the only one out there who has gone through that or is going through that. A lot of pharmacists are dealing with that, so thank you for being open about that. And you know, I really look forward to hearing about your progress as your business continues to grow and you continue to create memories but also share people’s stories with the work that you’re doing. And I think it’s just amazing, that work that you’re doing right now. So if somebody wants to reach out to you for a holiday photo shoot, wants their headshot for LinkedIn or they just want to learn more about who you are and what you do, what would you recommend?
Landen Conner: Of course reach out to me on LinkedIn at Landen Conner or my website, www.landenconnerphoto.com, and it’s with e’s. And of course the last one, which hardly anybody takes advantage of — give me a call. (514) 905-2249.
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