This is Your Sign to Go For It

07/05/2024

Hey Friend,

Welcome to the first newsletter of July. We are now over the 6 month mark for the year 2024.

At the beginning of this year you likely made some resolution or goal for yourself. How is that going?

I know, things get in the way, goals fall to the waist side, and your 2024 resolution will likely turn into your 2025 resolution.

But that doesn't have to be the case.

Back in 2011 I was a junior in high school and I was not wanting to be a 9-5 worker. I wanted to run my own business like members of my dad's side of the family have done for generations, ever since they immigrated here from Italy.

I felt that I would get tired of the 9-5 and not feel like I have control over my life. And to be honest with you, I love having control of things.

I took a course my junior year of high school that I never thought I would have and it wouldn't play any part in this until later.

2012 I graduated high school with the bare minimum GPA in Indiana - 2.0

I hated school for a variety of reasons. I didn't do well academically because I never studied for my tests and I always half-assed my assignments. I'm surprised they let me graduate and not become what we called "Super Senior".

I asked my parents if I could take a year off before college to figure out what I wanted to do because I felt this inkling that I wanted to start a business, I just didn't know what.

My dad said I had no choice but to go to college, get my degree and get a job. I couldn't argue with him because they funded the majority of my tuition. Which I'm forever grateful for.

In college I commuted to campus because it was cheaper for me to live off campus. I went to IU in Indianapolis so it was a commuter school primarily.

I drove my 1990 Celica GT which was my first project car to the city and I'd park atop the parking garage with the perfect view of the skyline. I'd snap a picture with my phone and think it was that it was the coolest picture.

After some time I started thinking to myself, "I should be a car photographer."

I'd start gaining an interest in automotive photography because of this, but also because of the class I took back in high school that I mentioned earlier.

That class was photography.

I learned how to shoot and develop film and I learned the basics of photoshop back when it wasn't a subscription fee.

I had a lot of fun doing it and enjoyed the process, but never put much thought into picking it up as a hobby.

I graduated college in 2016 but wouldn't pick up a DSLR until 2017. I borrowed my friends Canon T6. I didn't have my Celica anymore because I couldn't afford to fix it anymore so I sold it. I was driving a random Honda I bought and during a trip with my friends to Maryland for a car even I took photos of other peoples cars.

I sucked.

These posts are still on my page by the way. If you wanna scroll down to see all my earlier work you can, it just takes a few minutes (I had to do it twice).

Later that month after the trip my family purchased my first DSLR camera for me, my Nikon D3400, as a birthday gift. I could barely afford to even go on that trip let alone purchase a camera. I was going to just use my phone back then.

Ever since then I was casual about photography until two key points in my life that changed my perspective on things.

May 2020 I lost my first corporate job. I was let go along with 11,000 other people from Uber during the shutdown. I no longer had confidence or trust in the corporate world so I picked up more serious work doing photos and video. My friend (who lent me the camera years ago) told me that he thought I was much more happy doing the photo work than I was working my old job.

August 2023 after battling for the last three years by working a shitty part time warehouse job and food delivery just to make ends meet. After setting up my financial game plan and built a safety net, bought a house, got married, I finally decided to treat myself to my new camera I've waited for 6 years.

Since then I've gained a lot of success posting consistently on social media. I overcame my lack of confidence of being on camera after failing multiple times to hit publish on social media and YouTube.

And now is my sign to go for it.

For the next 12 months I am challenging myself to be more serious about turning this business I've started into one that can replace my 9-5 job so that I can finally pursue my dream I had back in 2011.

I haven't treated photography as a hobby for 11 months now, but now that I'm about to hit my 12 month mark it's time to put other things in motion.

For starters, I'm putting more effort into YouTube (If you wanna follow along, here's my channel). I plan to publish 1 video per week (like I should have been all year) and I want to grow that into 1 income scream.

Next I want to build another income stream through Instagram. Right now they have been offering me bonuses for publishing and I've made some money, but not a whole lot. That's income stream 2.

The third income stream is affiliate marketing. I currently have affiliate links for Amazon on all videos on YouTube and in my socials. That's 3.

Fourth is the digital assets I offer to all of you on a regular basis. Not a lot has happened and my marketing is honestly shit, but that's 4.

Brand deals are not my primary concern but I have earned money from doing brand deals with PolarPro (and gotten some free filters, too so that's cool). That's 5.

Lastly, my workshop. I have put this off because of the birth of my daughter but I am putting more work into it (which if you signed up for the waitlist thank you). I plan to teach everything I know in that cohort. That's 6.

6 Income streams is a lot to think about, but the majority of millionaires have at minimum 3 - 5 income streams. My goal is to become independent from my job and then financially independent so that I can live my simple comfortable lifestyle and spend more time with my family.

I don't need a Lambo (but that'd be cool) or a large house (I literally live in a 1,000 sq ft home). I just want to be a full time creator and work when I want, how I want.

So, if you're still with me, I urge you to just go for it. Go for whatever it is you've been wanting to do for however long. It's taken me 12 years to finally realize what business I want to create and own and it will likely take me another 2-3 years to make it successful.

It's better late than never, but just go for it.

I believe in you.

Chat Soon,

Joe Granitto

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