Why you don’t need passion to scale a successful creative business with Pye Jirsa

07/23/19 • 48 min

Since we've recently gained so many new listeners, we wanted to throw it back to one of our favorite episodes! I love this conversation with Pye! It was such a raw and in-depth conversation about the illusion of stability, the origin of most people’s fears, and the importance of developing a learning mindset. What is so fascinating about Pye’s journey is not just that he jumped from being a CPA to becoming a founder of an award-winning, multi-million dollar photography studio, it’s that he did that without having a passion for or knowing the first thing about photography. Like most of us, Pye started going down the traditional path. He became a CPA and worked for Ernst & Young before realizing that he did not like what he was doing. He quit, along with his two best friends Justin and Chris, in order to start a tech startup. When the funding for their startup fell through, the friends took on web development clients. One of their clients needed photographs taken and Pye assured them that they had a photography department that could take care of it! What I love about his story is that most people would not only shirk at taking on a task that they don’t know how to do but also avoid a “creative” profession that they are not skilled in. Pye, realizing that photography was a skill that could be acquired, looked at entering the wedding photography industry as a business and not a passion. That eye towards business has led Pye, and his partners, to create Lin and Jirsa Photography, a boutique Southern California wedding and portrait photography studio composed of an incredible creative team of 50 people that shoots over 300 weddings each year, with nearly 1,000 yearly client commissions. He is also a founder and partner in SLR Lounge, a premium educational community geared towards providing photographers with real-world shoot education with nearly a million monthly readers.

What You’ll Learn in this Episode:

My experience with launching this podcast! Specifically, how taking a risk in my own life led me to realize the opportunity in doing so.
The breaking point that led Pye to quit his job and take a risk on himself
How failed attempts at funding projects and business ventures became opportunities for exploration, self-discovery, and ultimately, success
How he created a multi-million dollar business in photography with a positive “learning mindset”
Why Pye has a “passionate dislike” of the word “stable” and the illusion it creates
Where Pye believes most fear comes from and why it limits your opportunities and potential
How developing a “Learning Mindset” allowed Pye to turn quitting and “failing” into growth, opportunity, and success

Upcoming Events:

Resources from the Show:

Where to find Pye Jirsa:

Instagram:@pyejirsa
Photography Instagram: @linandjirsa
SLR Lounge Instagram: @slrlounge

If you were inspired by this episode of “Lessons from a Quitter” with Pye Jirsa, I know you will find inspiration in other lessons from quitters on my website. Enjoy listening!

What You’ll Learn in this Episode:

My experience with launching this podcast! Specifically, how taking a risk in my own life led me to realize the opportunity in doing so.
The breaking point that led Pye to quit his job and take a risk on himself
How failed attempts at funding projects and business ventures became opportunities for exploration, self-discovery, and ultimately, success
How he created a multi-million dollar business in photography with a positive “learning mindset”
Why Pye has a “passionate dislike” of the word “stable” and the illusion it creates
Where Pye believes most fear comes from and why it limits your opportunities and potential
How developing a “Learning Mindset” allowed Pye to turn quitting and “failing” into growth, opportunity, and success

Upcoming Events:

Resources from the Show:

Where to find Pye Jirsa:

Instagram:@pyejirsa
Photography Instagram: @linandjirsa
SLR Lounge Instagram: @slrlounge

If you were inspired by this episode of “Lessons from a Quitter” with Pye Jirsa, I know you will find inspiration in other lessons from quitters on my website. Enjoy listening!

Previous Episode

10 lessons I've learned from podcasting for 1 year

Happy one year anniversary! It has officially been a year since I started this podcast and I've learned so much both through doing the podcast and from the conversations I've had with guests. This episode is also a special one because I have compiled all of those important lessons in order to share them with you! I hope you enjoy them and I hope you feel as inspired as I do. And in case you don't have time to listen to the full episode, we've also compiled everything into a blog post!

Upcoming Events:

Follow along for more:

Next Episode

How Steve Trang Quit Engineering to Build a Real Estate Empire

Since we've recently gained so many new listeners, we wanted to throw it back to one of our favorite episodes!

Today, we get to talk to Steve Trang about how he made the (rather quick) jump from electrical engineer to real estate agent and how he’s grown in that role ever since.

Steve started out his career earning a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering and working as an engineer for Intel for 3.5 years. In 2007, Steve quit his engineering career to become a real estate agent.

Since then, Steve has gone on to create Stunning Home Realty, a real estate brokerage in Phoenix, Arizona that he has grown to 60 licensed agents, selling over 100 houses a year and creating some of the top producing teams in the valley. He’s also gone on to start his own Title company and develop a real estate app. Steve is not only committed to building his successful real estate empire but he also believes in helping others build their dreams too. He recently started a podcast called Real Estate Disruptors, where he interviews other real estate experts on how they’re disrupting their markets.

Here is what we chat about in this episode:

How getting his Masters degree in Electrical Engineering is really taking the easy route because “someone else lays out the plan and you just follow it”
How he always knew that he would eventually leave his engineering job but why it happened so much faster than he expected.
How his irrational confidence allowed him to meet a real estate broker and, within 2 1⁄2 weeks of that meeting, get his real estate license and quit his engineering job.
“Real confidence is knowing you’ll figure it out” - Brandon Burchard
How the fall of the real estate market in 2007 almost sent him back to his engineering job and how he continued to push through.
How he uses self-help to continue to grow his business.
How he went from being a real estate agent to owning his own brokerage, title company, real estate app and podcast.

Upcoming Events:

Resources Mentioned in the Podcast