How Instagram Turned a Side Hustle into a Full-time Dream: Carley Rudd

Carley Rudd is a travel photographer and so much more. In addition to capturing exotic photos from all over the world, Carley also creates visual content for other brands. A creative soul from the beginning, she was raised by two artists and was always the “girl with the camera” growing up. Carley initially pursued a career in PR and marketing, while photography was an off-hours passion. One by one, photography jobs came Carley’s way and after 3 years as a side hustle, she decided to pursue her first love full-time. Then came this crazy app called Instagram. A rep from the social platform called to ask if they could put Carley on their “suggested user” list and within two weeks her modest following of 5,000 grew to 30,000 followers. CRAZY! That was the beginning of a new venture and the end of her office PR days. Identified as an “influencer” Carley was now being approached by brands to create content for them. Armed with the foundation of her PR background, she was able to navigate through the new world of content marketing and create her travel and lifestyle photography business. In this episode, Carley offers actionable advice on how to start your own creative venture. She shares key questions to ask when you are developing your brand. She also goes into detail on how to share your brand's visual voice on Instagram. Carley loves being her own boss and enjoys the freedom to shape her time as an entrepreneur. In addition to her thriving travel and lifestyle photography business, Carley has developed a line of fine art prints. She explains that it’s important for her to exercise different “creative muscles” and encourages other creatives to do the same. Please follow Carley @carleyscamera on Instagram and Twitter. You can also go to carleyrudd.com to see her portfolio, blog and print shop. Don't forget to follow us at @libertyforher on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Please let us know your thoughts about this episode by using the hashtag #libertysessions and please rate and review us—it helps to know if this podcast is inspiring and equipping you to launch and grow your ventures. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.