Crealanta Magazine

The Photographer Who Makes $300K a year from online Classes

Feb 2, 2024

Lola Melani never thought she'd become a photographer in the future.

Although she was artistic growing up--and was attracted to all styles of art, like poetry, music, and even drawing, pursuing a career in art didn't feel like an option. "My parents required me to find a stable job as a corporate office worker which is why they convinced me into pursuing an education in economics, followed by an MBA," Melani shares with .

As she finished her master's degree, she was gifted a DSLR camera for graduation as a gift. This camera "completely transformed everything" Melani said. Melani.

"I was mesmerized by what I saw through the viewfinder, and I started taking pictures of everything--especially people," she shares. "Simultaneously I was hired for my first corporate job, which I hated since the day that I was hired. It was not like I felt I was a part of the team. ."

Determined to find a different direction for her life and her family, she dedicated all her spare time editing, playing with the home studio lighting and exploring portrait photography. "Little gradually, it became my biggest passion," reveals Melani.

In 2012 she decided to quit her corporate career and opened the studio at home from the living room of her home and it grew to the size of a studio that was located in Manhattan, New York. Now, she's based out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and offers both photoshoots and online courses through her site, Lola Melani Academy. In the past, she's designed 11 online classes and, over the last three years, earned 300K annually in revenue, all via her website.

It's more amazing that she managed to do all this after emigrating from US from Russia only having $300 cash in her wallet. In this article, she reveals her story of establishing her dream career.

Skip ahead:

She found her niche

Prior to launching the part of her business, Melani built her brand around

Maternity photography and motherhood, which she has a special fondness for. "I love offering women a chance to feel empowered and confident by capturing the vulnerability they experience in this particular stage of life," she explains. "It's extremely rewarding to work with new life. Being part of that moment with someone is an unforgettable ."

She says that the photography of motherhood and maternity allows her to retain clients over a period of time. She explains, "Maternity and motherhood photography has become extremely popular over the last few time. The first thing people do is pregnancy photos, and then they want newborn pictures Then they come back when their kids are young. ."

By sharing her amazing photos of the portrait, her Instagram account began to grow organically, and attracted photographers as well as mothers equally in love with pregnancy photography and motherhood. Now, she has more than hundred thousand. The artist also posts her photos on her Facebook page that has grown to more than 18K followers.

"Thanks to my growing followers I began to offer live workshops in the year 2017," notes Melani. "The demand was so big that people contacted me from all over the world seeking tutorials on the way I accomplished certain things. ."

She launched an online academy

With followers from around the world expressing their desires for workshops via remote, Melani became motivated to learn how to teach online in the year 2018.

She was however intimidated.

"I didn't know how to begin, so I put off the idea," she shares. "When I was pregnant, I was compelled to start online because I would not be able to teach or travel for an extended ."

She began researching different e-learning platforms, and came across . She created Lola Melani Academy to house her courses. Lola Melani Academy to house the courses she taught, and then the first of them was launched that focused on editing photographs. "I never looked back; is my home to the school," she says.

Once doing her research she discovered that the company offers many options for content creators.

"It's easy," she states. "I downloaded it to make sure it was user-friendly, since I don't have a technical team--and realized it was doable ."

Now, Melani has 11 courses--with plans to offer further courses. The majority of the courses cover motherhood, and maternity photography, she also created a few Boudoir classes, too. The courses are recorded and run approximately two-three hours, but she also has a membership program: the Lola Melani Collective. The collective offers an education and training program designed for mothers as well as maternity photographers who are looking to improve their business. Here, she posts new material every monthly.

In each of her courses along with the membership group students can access the Facebook community, where she can answer people's concerns. "I have heard that it has a community; I haven't had a chance to explore this feature in the past," she says.

The academy's marketing was organically

Because Melani was able to build such a loyal following, her online course success began to show up quickly. For the past three years, the courses brought in $300,000 per year. "What's remarkable is that I've been lazy with my marketing," she explains. "That's pretty much all sales that have come directly from leads that are organic."

Her target audience consists of mostly female motherhood as well as maternity photographers who are between the ages of 29 to 45. Her success is due to the online community she built of photographers who are big supporters of her work, as well as her style of teaching. teaches. "They buy the course after each one," she says. "Once they purchase the course they do not stop, and they keep buying my other courses ."

Although she has an email sign-up form on her website, and also offers certain leads, her ultimate goal is to create an individual lead magnet for each course, and then create an automated email to make sure that students keep coming back. But since becoming a mom two times in just five years, she admits that she hasn't found the time to think about and develop a precise strategy for marketing. But, she claims she's been able to breathe once more and is able to work out ways to market to photographers who don't know her yet. This will help ensure that her following continues to grow.

For those wondering what the future of content creation and marketing will look like, Melani thinks that using AI will help creators immensely.

"AI is gaining ground slowly, but it is able to assist with marketing, and even making the sales funnels. These things are becoming easier, so you just need to hop on this AI train to follow the ."

She did her research

Before choosing her courses' costs, she performed market research. It involved taking classes from different educators.

"I looked at what was available in other courses, how they cost, the material, what I'd change and the things I'd add," Melani shares. "That's what I used to calculate the cost. Five years have passed and they haven't changed ."

It helped her to make an informed decision making a decision on the price of her course between $159 and $359. To collect payments, she makes use of payments. "It's very simple to use," she says.

The total number of students she's got is around 3,500 students and over 18,000 enrollments, since most students have bought multiple courses.

She kept her creating content process easy

Being a mom with a full schedule, Melani keeps her content creating process as straightforward as it is. "I like to keep everything simple in my art as well as my work," she shares.

Though many course instructors have the luxury of filming their own courses, the nature of Melani's teaching doesn't allow to do the same. "Since my classes are focused about technical expertise, I show behind the scenes. I want the photographers to feel as if they're present with me at the studio. For that reason, I need several angles as well as closeups to be able to create incredible educational material for my students ."

To do so she took on a new employee who was trained as videographer. "We started from scratch with her and me. We literally visited the local store to buy a couple of microphones, made a lot of mistakes, ruined many of the content we used, and a great deal," she laughs.

"We learn everything by ourselves," she continues. "I taught myself how to use the film editing software, the Final Cut, and I instructed my videographer on how to use it, too. Every course we design is created by just her and I ."

As for her design of content Her primary focus is to create information that will benefit photographers, and that will help them succeed "instead of focusing solely on earning a quick profit with a solution which no one ever likely to ever."

"I create content filled with every detail I've learned to make my students my fans," she adds. "My Instagram inbox is always filled with photos of students saying how grateful they are for my classes. They thank me for giving away my knowledge and for not letting it go. Seeing their success keeps me motivated."

She honed in to the correct mental attitude

From starting her business in her living room at home to establishing a fully-fledged photography company and an online college, Melani has made big steps since 2012.

When asked what is the main element that made her successful, she says it's her attitude. "From the beginning I was concentrated on having a clear vision of my ultimate goal, and took small steps every day to achieve it," she says. "When I started the academy, I just offered a small class on editing, I had already started contemplating how I could have a whole range of courses to offer people who ."

"I will never allow anyone to tell me that I couldn't accomplish something beyond my ability," she continues.

Melani suggests those who are looking to develop an online training course to "just do it."

"I think things are shifting toward becoming less flawless," she shares. "You do not need to be a huge production company for courses. Everybody can become an instructor with an iPhone pro ."

The creators are also warned to avoid trying to duplicate or replicate what others are doing. She stresses the importance of being true to yourself and creating from that place. "Focus on the thing you love most and what you're interested in and are proficient at," she advises. "Don't hold anything back. Simply be yourself, and make an original product, and you'll have no limit to your creativity. ."

Are you interested in trying out online course creation to see if you can do it yourself? Now is the time to start, and you can get started with the cost of nothing.

"It's ever been simpler to design your own course thanks to the incredible tools that are offered nowadays for content creators." Melani says. Melani, excitedly. "If I can do this at home with my laptop and make $1.3M in sales then you could do it too."