The internet has a loud, consistent message for creative entrepreneurs right now: more. More revenue, more clients, more reach, bigger numbers. But financial educator and creative business strategist Shanna Skidmore sat down with TMA during coaching week to offer something quieter and far more useful — a single question that can reframe how you run your entire photography business. That question is the heart of Episode 161: What is your freedom figure?
If you’ve ever felt like you’re running hard without a finish line, this episode was made for you. Shanna brings 20 years of finance experience and a deep understanding of creative entrepreneurs to help you stop chasing a moving target and start building toward your own version of success.
Your Success Currency Is Not Someone Else’s
Shanna opened her coaching week session by naming something many photographers feel but rarely say out loud: the pressure to equate bigger revenue with greater worth. She traces this shift in her own work over a decade of asking entrepreneurs the same question — how much money would make you happy to earn in the next 12 months? When she first started asking, the average answer was around $40,000. By 2019, that number had jumped to over $100,000. And now, the cultural messaging has moved the goalpost again to seven figures.
Her point isn’t that ambition is wrong. She’s clear about that. “More only becomes the enemy when it keeps us from what we really want.” The problem is when we let external benchmarks replace our own. When you don’t know your enough number, the finish line will always move — because “more” is a moving target with no natural stopping point.
She introduced the concept of success currency as the starting place: what do you actually value? For some photographers that’s income growth. For others it’s time — with their kids, for their creativity, or simply to breathe. Shanna describes the intersection of your success currency and your season of life as the place where ambition and contentment meet. That intersection is where your freedom figure lives.
The Three Moves That Lead to Your Freedom Figure
The practical framework Shanna walked through is disarmingly simple, and that’s intentional. She knows that most creative entrepreneurs feel a kind of mental shutdown when it comes to numbers, and she’s designed her approach to meet people where they are — even if that means starting with a piece of paper instead of a spreadsheet.
Step one is knowing what it costs to run your life. Not a vague estimate, but an actual number: what you need to pay yourself each month, any major expenses or investments on the horizon, and what would genuinely feel like enough in your family’s bank account over the next 12 months.
Step two is understanding what it costs to run your business — both the fixed operating costs that exist whether you book anyone or not, and the variable costs that increase as you take on more work (a second shooter, for example, or product costs for in-person sales).
From there, the math reverses itself into a freedom figure: your pay, plus taxes, plus operating costs equals your enough number. Shanna calls this the 365 Day Profit Plan, and she describes it as the one document every business owner should work through each year. “Once you know that number, there’s freedom in that. You can say no to the wrong things and yes to the right things and slow down when you need to and speed up when you can.”
The power of this number isn’t just clarity about revenue — it’s about knowing which levers to pull. If your enough number requires $10,000 a month and your current session pricing only gets you to $8,000 at two sessions a week, the path forward becomes visible. You either adjust volume, adjust pricing, or both. The number tells you what to do next.
Why This Conversation Belongs Inside a Community
One of the things Coaching Week inside TMA makes possible is exactly this kind of conversation — not a generic webinar or a pre-recorded course, but a live session with a real expert where photographers can submit their numbers, share their honest answers, and hear each other reflected back. When Shanna asked the room how business was really going on a scale of one to ten, the responses were telling. People named the things that rarely make it into highlight reels: feeling overworked, underpaid, mama-tired, chasing a carrot without knowing what they’re chasing it toward.
That kind of honesty is hard to come by in a scroll-and-compare world. It’s easier inside a room where everyone has shown up to do the real work.
Shanna closed her session with a Dolly Parton quote that felt like the perfect landing: “Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.” That’s not a call to do less. It’s a call to know why you’re doing it — and to build a business that’s actually structured around that answer.
Listen and Learn More
Whether you’re just starting to think about your business finances or you’ve been in the industry for years, this episode will give you a concrete place to start. You can hear the full conversation in Episode 161 of The Motherhood Anthology podcast, available wherever you listen.
Find Shanna at shannaskidmore.com or on Instagram at @shannaskidmore.
Ready to build a business that reflects your own creative voice? The Motherhood Anthology membership gives you access to expert mentors, live coaching, monthly marketing suites, and a private community of photographers who are invested in your success. Learn more and join at themotherhoodanthology.com.
Episode Sponsor: Picture Perfect Rankings
This episode of The Motherhood Anthology Podcast is brought to you by Picture Perfect Rankings. Melissa Arlena is a TMA mentor who helps portrait photographers get found on Google through strategic SEO and blogging. Learn more about her work at Picture Perfect Rankings, and check out her Found & Booked program if you are ready for a done-with-you SEO system with personalized feedback on your website.
The Motherhood Anthology is a community and educational resource for photographers who want a profitable and sustainable business they love. With 15+ expert mentors and 7+ years of proven content, TMA helps portrait photographers build confident, thriving businesses through monthly education, mentorship, and a supportive community of 700+ members.
