Freewheelin’ #6 - Growth and Stability
A year has passed since I wrote edition #5. Much has happened, once again. I managed to grow in both business and brand, while working on a stable income all year round. My investment period came to an end in 2022, so how did things develop throughout 2023?
Quicklinks
In 2023 I traveled to 10 different countries for various projects, managed to reach a stable income with less clients, did some teaching and coaching, learned new things, made a couple of mistakes and got down to business .
This year has been all over the place, as usual. And don’t get me wrong, this is what I love about having my own business. As long as the long term plans and income are secure, I love doing whatever comes to mind. After a couple years of being a freelancer I can finally find peace when the work slows down. Things go up and down naturally, you just have to get used to it.
For 2023 I said I would expand my business and get more experience in the market. I can confidently say that I did. There were some off-brand projects that I really enjoyed. Moreover, there were opportunities like giving lectures and workshops that I didn’t expect to come this soon in my career. Cause, let’s be honest, I’ve been at it for a few years.. who am I to tell? But apparently, people are interested so I might as well. And my presenting experience from my Engineering study helps me out tons.
Anyway, I’ll be taking you through my travels, notable projects and new opportunities before I continue with the business side of things like network, business and investments. Afterwards a few pieces of my personal life, looking back at the 2023 goals and setting the ones for 2024. Lastly, my social media standings compared to other years.
As travel remains my favorite subject to talk about, I start off by summing up my travels. I visited another 10 countries for various projects this year. Not bad, aye? Here’s a quick recap of everything combined before I go into more detail.
Destinations
I managed to travel for four different organizations as well as for myself. In addition to last year, I participated in another three trips for On-Trek for example. I’ll run you through all the trips I made and my two cents regarding those.
On-Trek: Morocco, Picos de Europa (Spain) and Corsica
After three successful trips for On-Trek in 2022, we planned another three this year to Morocco, Picos de Europa (Spain) and Corsica.
Morocco: I went to Morocco for around 2,5 weeks to attend two trips: one trekking through the High Atlas Mountains and one roadtrip driving around the same area. Check the full photo collection on the Morocco travel page.
The roadtrip was an experimental trip without much planning. On-Trek plans to release this product in the future but wanted to test the waters and route before going live. Here is a recap:
Picos de Europa & Corsica: In September and October I went to Spain and Corsica back-to-back for another two trekkings. The latter was experimental as well. Video content will be released in 2024 to promote their new trips, so I can’t share those yet. Picos de Europa was raw and adventurous while Corsica was tropical and visually very pleasing. The pictures I took can be viewed in the Spain and France - Corsica travel pages.
Kjak: Norway and Sweden
Kjak and On-Trek are co-owned by the same owner, so I was asked to attend two Kjak trips to Sweden and Norway in the summer. With only one day in-between, I went on a trip to Norway with a media crew and another trip to Sweden with a good friend. During these trips, we traveled by canoe, camped in the wild and hiked on several occasions. My most wild experience so far.
So far, I’ve only released the Norway video and the Sweden video is coming early 2024. Keep an eye on the travel pages of Norway and Sweden for the latest content of these destinations.
Beyond Borders: Sri Lanka
Very, very last minute, I was asked by Beyond Borders to join their 2-week trip to Sri Lanka in March. Not only as a photographer but also as co-leader. Together with someone from Sri Lanka I was tasked to lead the group and shoot content simultaneously while traveling this beautiful part of the world.
It did have its downsides, however. As a group leader, everyone keeps their eye on you at all times. As a photographer, you want to stay free and sometimes walk away from the group to create content. These two didn’t mix to well I found, sadly.
Although the trip was great, the organization did me dirty afterwards. After not paying the invoice for over 2,5 months, they said a new rule was introduced that the required to receive all raw material of the trip (photo and video) before an invoice can be paid. This is one, not allowed to change afterwards, and two, not a single photo- and videographer gives away their raw files without agreements and additional payment. They did not give in, so I was forced to drive to Belgium and hand over the files. To me, this marked the end of our relationship. It sucks but they screwed up big time.
CameraNu: Drone Course Dolomites
Two years ago, at the start of my career, I reached out to CameraNu (largest camera store in The Netherlands) for future collaborations. They never replied, which seems reasonable as I just started and had no name in the industry.
Fast forward to the summer of 2023, I was contacted by their Marketing Director for a campaign together with Canon. I was shortlisted but didn’t get through in the end. Afterwards I was asked if I had experience giving workshops/lectures. So shortly after, I was giving a lecture during their Flagship Store opening in Amsterdam. This snowballed into two more projects: a blog about a tripod & starring as talent in their drone course.
For the drone course we went to the Dolomites in Italy. In just three days time, we filmed enough content for 6 videos and 1 teaser. I had to talk to the camera for hours and capture some mind-blowing drone content. No pressure, right? The videos turned out amazing. As I’m writing this blog, the first 4 videos have been released. Here’s the first of the series:
With these videos I can both show off my skills and establish an image as a professional (drone) photographer. I plan to add the course to my website as well as a “freebe”. In the future, I’d like to create my own courses as well.
Self planned trips: Madeira, Scotland & Iceland
This year I planned a few trips with friends or co-creatives to Madeira, Scotland and Iceland.
Madeira: This Portuguese island has been high on my list for years. After traveling in New Zealand with Isak, we agreed to fly to Madeira in February. We both went professional in photo- and videography since we last seen eachother, so the reunion was extra special.
We tried to keep costs down or even make a profit out of the trip. To do so, we contacted many brands for product photography and got a free car in exchange for photo and video content. This allowed us to travel for an entire week for less than €500 per person including plane, accommodation, gas and food. Some of the brands we worked with were PolarPro, DJI, Canon, Optimus, Trek ‘n Eat & Katadyn.
This allowed us to work on our personal portfolios for future collaborations. Now I can make product photography media kits to share with potential clients when needed. The video, in collaboration with Isak, turned out amazing too!
Scotland: Together with a friend, I planned a week to Scotland to hike part of the West Highland Way and drive the Isle of Skye. Although I didn’t shoot to much content this week, I loved the adventure. The only downside were the freezing nights after I just came back from Sri Lanka.
Iceland: Back to the land of Ice and Fire with the same crew as 2022: Spenser and Senni. Last year we cruised the ring road of Iceland. This year we went in August so we could enter the highlands. Again, we got a car in exchange for content, which made our journey a bit cheaper. During our trip I review a Benro Tripod for CameraNu and shot some inspiring content for myself.
incoming Travels
At this point, most of 2024 is still to be planned. However, I have one confirmed project in Cape Verde upcoming January, and I’m planning to visit New Zealand and Australia again in September-November. Can’t wait for those!
Currently, I’m in the process of finding more (adventure) travel companies to collaborate with. I want to keep the tempo up with at least one trip a month in 2024. Last year, I had my first 8 trips planned in advance, this year only one. So I’ll be emailing and reaching out on social media for the first weeks of the new year.
The bucket list is long, so there’s enough the travel and look forward to.
2023 continued in the spirit of the year prior. I didn’t gain many new customers (less than I hoped, at least) but did have many returning projects. Even though the assignments looked like previous ones, I always went to new locations and got to extend my portfolio even further. To me, that’s a win still.
I did, however, catch the eye from a few larger brands for collaborations. These include DJI, Canon Nederland and CameraNu. More on these projects below!
To kick it off, here’s my official showreel for 2024!
A grab from the shelf
This year had me expanding everything I laid out in the previous year. I wanted to move more towards travel, festivals and events while maintaining a healthy and diverse base at home. This diverse base includes things like interior, corporate and products.
Festivals and Events
After a succesfull first year, I was asked back to photograph Dutch Valley and Dance Valley. Afterwards, I was also invited to photograph Ground Zero which is organized by the same people. I absolutely love festivals as they allow me to roam freely and capture whatever I come across.
In 2023 I only photographed one event, a company event with around 100 people in attending, fully dressed up and with a DJ playing tunes. I’d love to do more of these in the following year.
Building Boats
Since the start of the year, I got in touch with a professional ship photographer. As he was sometimes unavailable to photograph for his clients, he searched for a replacement who understood this technical business and deliver high quality photos. After one project we agreed this was sufficient and I got another three projects across the year.
Coming from a technical study, photographing the process of a boat being built, towed, tested etc. is quite fun! Loving this addition to my portfolio.
Evebase
From the same village as me, two brothers founded a company called Evebase. They design and sell batteries for traveling and construction. As they just started, they asked me to capture their products with photo and video. This content is used as promotional content, flyers and banners as soon as I was done editing.
Production processes
More technical photography, this time for the production process of FB Hout. They wanted the images to have a specific style of editing to fit their brand and marketing. Also, I delivered photos for a lily nursery.
Interior and AZ Skybox
Interior has become a bigger chunk of my business than expected. I still work with Rubex for monthly interior photos. Additionally, I shot photos for apartments and even a Bed and Breakfast. Cool to see so many places from the inside.
The owner of a Skybox at AZ Stadion (Alkmaar, The Netherlands) also asked me to capture their interior after it was restyled.
Stories about Chrysanthemums
My collaboration with Dekker Chrysanten continues strong. This year we started filming a new series: From the Field. In this series, a florist talks about his flower shop and how he incorporates chrysanthemums in his pieces. We film both the interview and b-roll to edit to a collective story.
Vacancy and workplace photography
Different projects but similar objective: capturing people in their respective work environment. One is used to draw attention to vacancies, the other to create an image of the workplace (for their new website). These were the results:
Logistics
Lastly, I shot photos of trucks for a logistics centre. I was asked by their website builder to shoot new content to fill the website. These were some of the images we came up with.
DJI Air 3 - Demo testing
A bit collaboration this year was with DJI. As part of our Skypixel Agreement, I got the new Air 3 drone 2 months before release. The firmware still had to be released when I got it. In these two months I had to provide feedback on the drone and its features while flying it frequently. Although the invested hours didn’t weigh up to the drone’s worth, I still got to collaborate with DJI and release all my content on the day of launch.
Up to today, I still use the Air 3 primarily for my projects. The 24mm and 70mm are perfect to switch up my video and photo needs during projects.
Hoping to collaborate more in the future but it might take another year as it did between the Osmo Mobile 5 in 2021 and Air 3 in 2023.
R6 Mark ii - Canon Nederland
At the beginning of 2023 I bought the new Canon R6 Mk II and brought it to Madeira. I got in touch with Canon Nederland to setup a collaboration regarding the camera and a take-over of their social media channels.
After arriving back home, we planned a 3-post take-over, of photos shot in Madeira, and 1 Reel dedicated to the R6 Mk II camera. This was the first of the 4 posts back-to-back:
It didn’t deliver much in terms of followers but I’m hoping the right people have seen the posts. This way it still contributes to my name in the photography business.
EIFFEL Drone competition
Somewhat unintentionally, I ended up competing in the Eiffel Drone Competition. I found a drone competition, hosted by Eiffel, during one of my travels and sent in one of my images. Then I totally forgot about it until an email arrived saying I won. But I didn’t win just yet. I made it through the pre-selection with 4 others to compete in a 1,5 month competition with several photos to be submitted. If only I read the read the terms and conditions.. although it wasn’t specified in their sponsored post, so I guess it wasn’t my fault entirely.
After the initial selection, we got three themes: infrastructure, cities and durability. I competed the next weeks against the other participants and just missed out on first place, which was another Air 3 drone. Still got to meet some other drone enthusiasts, got a free print and I got to show my pictures to a large group of people. You never know when it comes back around to you.
Personal projects
I’ve noticed I engage in less personal projects since starting and growing my company. Photo and video have become my work and less of a hobby, naturally I guess.
My “personal projects” right now are things like Showreels, A Year Well Traveled and so on. These compilations help me show off my skills and projects to current and potential clients. Also, I write some blogs here and there as well as adding prints. These don’t make any money as of right now. Maybe in the future, maybe not.
Busy or dip?
As I’ve been operating in the market for almost over 3 years now, I noticed there are standard periods when most of my customers want content. Most projects are weather related or affected by general vacations (winter, summer) when decisions are often postponed due to people being free.
January-February: few projects, few travels
March: couple projects
April-June: lots of projects
July-August: Summer vacation, but many travel opportunities
September-October: lots of projects
November-December: couple projects
Basically, my year builds up until the summer vacation and builds down afterwards. The dip is generally in January and February. The summer vacation poses a moment of few projects but many travel opportunities (especially group travel).
Although it’s nice to breath and relax from time to time, I still need to get enough projects to provide myself with an income. So January, February, July and August are the months I need to plan things for in advance. The other months perform well without much extra effort.
Running projects and a business requires making choices on the fly. Here are some of the things I’ve been playing with in my head.
Quarterly projects
This year I’ve been doing quarterly projects with Dekker Chrysanten. There are two video series we produce every quarter, so every three months that’s a guarantee of two projects. Even when I’m traveling a lot, I can ask to produce in advance. This ensures me of a more stable income and frequent projects.
This got me thinking, would other customers be interested in such deals as well? Like quarterly projects, an amount of hours a week, maybe even content management. I’m still navigating through options but I’m planning to get in touch with companies nearby in an attempt to draw more companies to me like Dekker.
FPV drones
I bought the DJI Avata FPV drone last year as I wanted to learn flying FPV and start projects with it. Sadly, I’ve not touched the drone since. The market still has a huge demand for FPV drone footage, so it’s still very interesting to start the journey. I’d love to in 2024, so hopefully next year you’ll see some content.
Courses
After being the face and voice of CameraNu’s drone course, I want to create my own courses as well. I get frequently asked for advise and tips/tricks, so why not create a course to help them out? I need to create scripts and figure out what’s interesting to share to either amateur or advanced photographers.
I’m planning to make a starter photography and starter videography course with everything I know until now. Maybe additional modules for Lightroom and Premiere Pro, or included in the main courses. The drone course is already made by CameraNu, I’ll add this one as a Freebe.
As I don’t have the reach myself, I might start out by offering the courses on a third-party platform. Later I want to offer from my own website exclusively.
Delegation
Back in the summer I was unable to attend an event to shoot video. Because I value this client and don’t want to lose them to other freelancers, I delegated the project to someone I met online. We walked through the project, I gave her my two cents and brought my client and her in touch for this specific project. It went perfectly and I still have my contact. This will likely happen more often in the future, so having someone in my network who I can delegate to is very beneficial.
Amazing Aerial Agency
For years I’ve been thinking and trying to sell my images and videos for stock. However, I haven’t found a perfect place to sell yet and therefore have low motivation to upload. Till I got an introduction call with Amazing Aerial Agency (AAA). They have a group of 200+ high class photographers, of who I know a few personally through Instagram, and deliver quality photography in the same themes as I do.
After enrolling (signing up wasn’t free, but I’m glad it isn’t) I got a course on how to select and keyword my content. I’m currently selecting my first batch of content for distribution. I’m hoping this opportunity allows me to make a few bucks on the side and potentially allows me to pay all my monthly costs with income from stock.
Other opportunities
I’ve been putting off on weddings so far as I feel like there is too much pressure on the perfect moments while I like to roam around. Though, in 2024 I’ll be taking photos at the wedding of a friend who’s getting married in Sweden. This way I can ease into it without too much pressure and expectations. I might end up liking it more than expected!
I still dislike working with private individuals on things like portraits and baby shoots etc. but weddings might be worth it.
As mentioned before, my network of clients hasn’t expanded as much as I expected over the year. I have more projects, yes, but not more clients. Currently I’m trying cold contact again by emailing potential clients with tailor-made Media Kits and pitches. My response rate it pretty solid so far, probably because my work is ease to inspect and judge (as all visual jobs are). I'm continuing this process in the second week of 2024 when most people are back at the office.
Nearby contacts
Through Instagram I met another travel photographer who’s from the same area as I am. Few weeks ago, I met up for a cup of coffee and a good talk. Three hours later we found out we’re more or less in the same boat and could help eachother out in the future. You never know when a contact like this one could come in handy.
As said back in delegation, someone took over my project while I was traveling. She was from the same area as me as well. This collaboration turned out great, so I’m hoping I could lean on her again when I’m unable to shoot for my clients (like when I’m at New Zealand next year).
A curious meetup
I’m getting more and more questions and requests from people that want to know about me or my work. At the start of the year, I met up with another travel photographer (so I thought) in Amsterdam for a cup of coffee. This ended up being a ton of questions and insecurities from her side. I was hoping to talk to someone on the same level and help eachother out if needed, but this wasn’t the case at all.
It made me realize, many people just want to know what to do and ask others for their best practices. And I totally get that, it’s hard to find confirmation and direction from just yourself, I experience that daily. So hearing stories from someone else in the same business and asking them advice does reassure. Though, when the person only takes and doesn’t give (even in conversations) I really don’t want to meet up. I don’t have to gain anything from a meetup, but its pointless coming back feeling used. I can spend my time and energy better.
Long story short, I’m more careful now when meeting up with others. When I’m not sure, I ask about their intentions and why they want to meet with me specifically. Most of them don’t reply after this, which says enough.
branding a name
My name has gone through a lot of channels this year, whether is was Mite Visuals (@mitevisuals) or Mike Tesselaar. My name was mentioned in the newspaper regarding a winning photo, I had a Canon Nederland take-over, did a webinar and lectures for CameraNu, gave a videography course to Femke Meines (BN), competed in Eiffel’s drone competition and I was the face and voice of CameraNu’s drone course.
Even though it’s hard to track if my sales are up due to this, I do find it easier to get in touch with larger brands now I have more experience and (probably) more of a name in the market.
Awards and prices
As work sometimes piles up, I take less time to find a participate in competitions. I have less to prove than previous years when I just started. Also, the recognition came only from bigger competitions like Siena Awards, so I’ve set my eyes on these for the time to come. Smaller competitions are still fun but only if I have an image in my archives that fits the theme perfectly. Because, lets be honest, who doesn’t like to win every so often (even if its 10th place).
In 2023 I claimed two notable awards/prizes, one for “Nature Photography - Drone/Aerial” by Muse Photography Awards and “Best hiking Trails” by Columbus Travel.
2023 turned out way better than ever expected! I managed to increase revenue and pay myself a stable income. Once again, here is some transparency from my part on revenue and profit this year.
Revenue
As my revenue was almost 40k in 2022, I felt 50k would be a good goal for 2023. And I managed to get it with around 54.000.
Revenue 2021: €23.724
Revenue 2022: €38.256
Revenue 2023: €54.000
That’s a 41% increase in comparison to 2022! In all honesty, around 50k (in my opinion) is the bottom-line to earn enough for all costs, savings/write-offs and payment to yourself. Hoping I can keep this steady and increasing.
Furthermore, I expected a hard increase of video projects this year but photography was almost the same percentage of the total revenue. This was mainly because of interior photography jobs.
Of all revenue, 25% was from one client. Last year, this same client was good for 40% of the revenue. This is a great development as it spreads my risks.
Profit
I planned to pay myself €1.500 per month as a minimum in 2023. Quickly I realized, without the amount of investing I did in the previous year, I was able to pay myself around €1.000 more per month (before taxes, of course). Even though I paid all my travel expenses on company costs, I ended up having enough revenue to play with.
I was hoping to secure 30k profit in 2023, but this turned out higher as well. I had a solid pay and managed to save up almost 8k for savings and write-offs. Not bad. Not bad at all.
For 2024 I hope to achieve around 60k in revenue, and securing around 47k profit. Although it might be harder in 2024 as I’ll be traveling for 3 months straight without any projects.
After many investments in 2022, there was only one I still wanted to make: a good quality B-camera. On January 1st, I bought the Canon R6 Mark II and the RF 15-35mm lens. Why January 1st? This way I could make these costs in 2023 as I didn’t have to pay taxes in 2022. By postponing this purchase a few weeks, I kept a lot of money in the pocket.
These were my notable investments in 2023:
Canon R6 Mark II
Canon RF 15-35mm F2.8 lens
DJI Action 3
DJI Mic
DJI Pocket 3
Samsung S21 phone
BenQ RGB Lighttubes
In total around 7,5k of investments in 2023. Some other things were bought below €450 making them direct costs in stead of investments in The Netherlands.
What’s next?
I’ve been saving up this year for future purchases and potential lower revenue. I’d love to invest in a high-end video camera in 2024 or 2025. One with global shutter, good image quality, easy transportable and compatible with my current lenses. I’m hoping Canon will release a follow-up to the current C70 of their Cinema line with these specs. We’ll see next year.
Soooo what’s going on currently? Here are some things I’m dealing with in my personal life besides Mite Visuals.
Searching for an apartment
I’ve been actively searching for an apartment closer to the city, but the current market proves it difficult. Though, I might have a chance to move places in March, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed. It’s just large enough the include a home office :)
Getting more into festivals/raves
As I’m photographing more parties, I get more and more excited to go myself as well. Over the last years, more and more friends want to go to festivals and raves. Perfect timing for me. Really enjoy the places without judgement.
Dating is weird
That’s it. Not more to say really. It’s hard to find a genuine connection in combination with loyalty. And my job doesn’t help in this particular case, as not many people from this area understand the kind of work I do, nor accept it fully. I can be traveling for weeks but also sitting at home for months. I guess that can be a little difficult for some. Maybe 2024 is my year.
Constant doubts
I guess I can write about this for ages and every year from now new doubt will come and go. Currently I’m enjoying the success I’ve had in 2023 but I can’t enjoy it fully as doubts arise for the next year. Maybe it’s a good mechanism to keep grinding and growing. But sometimes I feel like I could enjoy the moment a bit more. I think it’ll get better in time!
For 2023 I wrote down a couple goals in my Freewheelin’ series. I crossed out the goals I managed to reach.
Creating a steady income whilst expanding my business
Get into the FPV Drone market
Travel more but not at expense of losing clients at home
Grow on social media to create new opportunities
Expand my network and experiences
More festivals, events, travel and tourism projects
Make the most of whatever comes on my way
And have loads of fun while doing it :)
Basically, I managed to create a steady income while expanding my network, experiences and business while traveling the most I can. I didn’t find the time and energy to get into FPV just yet, but I’d like to start in 2024. I did grow on all my social media channels but not enough to create real opportunities. Furthermore, I still want to expand more on festivals, events and travel/tourism projects.
So 2024, what am I going for?
Expand stability of income
Expand client pool & travel partners
Attract more long-term clients with frequent projects
Create more passive income
Average of one week of traveling per month
More coaching and teaching
Get into FPV Flying
Finding ways to make Mite Visuals more future-proof
2024 will be about expanding what I’ve built this year. I’ll be trying to capitalize on this by drawing in more high end clients and creating a stable platform for me to operate from. I need to make Mite Visuals more future-proof and less depending on singular projects.
Growth on all accounts! That’s a blessing already. I grew around 600 followers on Instagram which is still my main focus. My goal of reaching 5k-10k remains the same, however, as it’s required for larger collaborations. Hoping I can get a large feature or a viral clip in 2024.
See you in the next one!
Cheers, Mike
More of this series
GOOD TO SEE YOU!
My name is Mike Tesselaar, in short MiTe. I’m a photo- and videographer from The Netherlands with a heart for traveling and adventure.
I write blogs about photo- and videography, travel, freelancing and personal related stories. Hope you’ll find inspiration and feel welcome to stick around a little longer!
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