Notes from Chris

Episode 1186

Tracy Robinson works as an outdoor photographer in The Woodlands, just north of Houston, Texas, where she takes family, senior and business portraits. She loves her work, but it’s very seasonal. You see, it gets extremely hot in The Woodlands during summer, so most people opt to have their outdoor photos taken in the fall. Although that means Tracy doesn’t make as much money then, that’s not to say she isn’t busy. As a mom of five, there’s always something to do.

A few years ago, she was so busy that often she wasn’t even able to capture a moment with her kids. Case in point, one of her daughters had been asking for a photography lesson for months ... and Tracy would always respond with “one day soon.” As time dragged on that “one day” felt like it would never come. But Tracy didn’t lose focus and eventually sat down to work out a rough curriculum for a kids photography class. As the course developed, her vision for it increased. In fact, she was so taken with what she prepared that she thought it could be worth teaching to other kids, not just her own—and there was a complete lack of art classes in her local area.

Flash forward to March 2016 when Tracy met Jennifer Pickard. It turned out that Jennifer had been working on a similar idea over the previous year. She was an Art Director at Louisiana State University, where she taught Adobe Photoshop skills to adults.

When Tracy and Jennifer met, they instantly pictured themselves working together. They devised the idea of a summer day camp to teach kids photography and graphic design skills. They wasted no time, and—in a snap—were testing the concept on their own children.

Turns out, kids, even young ones, are pretty good at grasping ideas like “aperture” and “pixelization.” That’s one benefit the iPhone generation has over the rest of us. The two adults then decided to bring this creative endeavor out of the darkroom. They called it Camp Pixel Project.

After running that first season, they both collapsed in exhaustion with a new respect for what teachers go through. But they were also satisfied with the progress, as were the parents of their new design students.

With that success under their belt, they went back to the drawing board. They knew they’d for sure run the day camps again the following summer. They planned to implement a bunch of changes from the lessons learned in the first year. This resulted in significant profit for Tracy and Jennifer. For just two to three weeks of camps each year, they each take home around ten thousand dollars. Not enough for a full-time income but more than enough to cover the slower periods in their other work.

For the future, they hope to franchise Camp Pixel Project to others around the country. With such a proven concept, the picture seems crystal clear.

 

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  MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Learn more about Jennifer and Tracy's camps at their website, CampPixelProject.com.

SEE ALSO:

• Two Teachers Launch Summer Camp After Listening to Side Hustle School: In need of funds for an adoption, two married teachers consider teaching summer school—but instead of working with the school system, they create their own “brain camp” and earn more than $15,000.
• Teachers Join Forces To Launch Nerd Summer Camp: Three teachers create an alternative camp for kids who aren’t interested in sports. The school keeps the profits the first year, but they get creative and find a way to pay themselves in year two.
• Social Enterprise Project Empowers Middle School Girls: Three women create a community to connect girls with caregivers while exploring topics about body image, STEM, and creativity. It’s not a charity; it’s a for-profit, social enterprise.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

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