Getting Down to Business with Andrew Fry

There is a cute blond that second shoots for Andrew Fry. You see her in the opening video of Andrew’s Showit site. In this industry where there are so many husband and wife teams, one would assume it was his wife. But they are a different kind of family team, the cute blond is Rachel, Andrew’s sister.

“I can tell you right now. I wouldn’t be here without my family. So many people tell me me that it must be really difficult growing up in such a large family, but I believe that it's truly a blessing. The more positive relationships, the more people who are for you, who are there to help you, who authentically love you for who you are, even with all your faults, the more successful you'll be.“

“I've been into photography since I was 13, and it's taken a lot of hustle, working full-time and part-time jobs to get to the point where I've realized that it is actually possible to build a successful business though careful planning.“

The business side of being a creative entrepreneur can often be the cement that keeps some from success. Not for Andrew, though. While some photographers site nature, or traveling, or even scrolling through Instagram as creative inspiration, Andrew looks to business books, and meeting with other photographers and entrepreneurs to further his business.

Much of his business inspiration comes from photographers Zach & Jody. “…when I first saw them on CreativeLive, they introduced me to the fact that having a photography business isn't all about photography. The section you spend most of your time on is the business side. In fact you only spend around 15%-25% of your time actually shooting photos! Being able to strategically grow a business was very appealing to me. And after seeing other photographers follow a tried-and-true turn-key model for building a wedding photography business I set out to do the same.”

Andrew has gathered so much inspiration for his wedding business from Zach and Jody, he credits the two for helping to keep his work/life balance. “Whenever I focus too much of my time on photography, the quality time with my family suffers. There are two solutions I have learned from Zach and Jody Gray that have been enormous in helping this issue. 1st – Create a physical workstation in your house/studio that is specifically setup for your business. The time you spend there is the time you spend working on your business. The time you don't spend there is time you spend with family (or doing other activities). 2nd – Shootflow is one of the most amazing applications that I've come across that allows you automate a TON of your scheduling and client communications. It has dramatically cut down the time I spend behind my computer creating contracts and writing emails etc.”

After two years in business, Andrew’s business plan seems to be a successful one! Though young, Andrew has already found success where many have only hoped. We look forward to watching him grow his business. You can follow along with Andrew’s photography and business through his site, blog, Facebook, or Instagram.