My name is Jack Goras and I started my photography business in 2014-ish when I was 18. During the time from then, I’ve attended two colleges and have been homeless 3 times. I’ve slept on the carpet of a church for a week, in my car, and couches all over the city. I dropped out of my bible college in January 2015 and started attending Full Sail University to pursue a film degree. At the time I wanted to become a cinematographer. I have always struggled, I started with owning no camera and borrowing a friends camera to shoot events. I worked a full time job at Universal Orlando, went to school full time, worked at the elementary school part time, delivered pizza at night, and shot events on the weekend. In summer of June 2017, I decided to drop out of school again, well I got my AA but I don’t even remember where I put it. I left because I was missing a lot of classes because I was working so much with photography. I started failing classes and because my photography business was doing so well, I dropped out. I have been making a living from photography since January 2017 when I last worked another job. I am really a Jack-of-all-Trades photographer, I shoot events, portraits, commercial, tourism, all kinds of stuff! I love capturing the moment, I love capturing the person in that moment and who they are in that moment.
What were the biggest initial hurdles to building your business and how did you overcome them?
The initial hurdles was the fact that I was unknown, I am an introvert so talking to people was difficult. I overcame these by the internet, you can be an extrovert in emails. So I emailed as many people as I possibly could and started landing more jobs. Then as I became more well known, I started getting jobs by word of mouth.
Did you ever deal with contention from your family and friends concerning your entrepreneurial pursuits? How did you handle it? What would you do differently in hindsight?
My parents all believed that I should get a “real job.” And even my school called me one day saying that I needed a job and considered what I was doing as a “hobby.” I ignored it and keep moving forward. It takes a lot to get under my skin. I wouldn’t do anything different.
What would you say was the single most influential factor in your business success?
My photos, people love my photos and that’s the reason why I get hired for more events and other services.
What do you know today that you wish you would have known when you first got started as an entrepreneur?
Meh, nothing. I knew nothing when I started and I would not change that. I was humble and I was able to take in advice and people were more willing to help.
What advice would you give to an upcoming young and experienced entrepreneur locally and internationally?
Don’t give up. There will always be obstacles in your life. Don’t have excuses to not do something. Either, you are scared of failure or determined for success.
