Three Principles About Photography Entrepreneurship That I Learned From Playing Video Games

The business of being a creative is a challenging one. With the market becoming ever more competitive and more people entering the industry, it's becoming increasingly more important to learn new strategies to help us not only compete, but dominate. In this video I will share three principles that I learned from playing video games that helped form my mindset on business and how it can help you improve your business in 2018.

While I can admit that games are an unconventional way to learn business principles, I can honestly say looking back that the origins of my determination to compete as an entrepreneur came from my love for video games. It taught me early on that failure was only permanent if you allowed it to be. If you played video games in the past, maybe you'll commiserate with the experience of playing through a level for 20 minutes only to lose and have to start the entire level over from the beginning. Did you give up and choose to not play the game again? Of course not. If you were like me, you probably walked away for a few minutes, grabbed a Mountain Dew, and came back with new found vigor and determination to beat the level and eventually beat the game. 

This is just one of the principles and ideas that I share in this video. I truly believe that when photographers begin to adopt the mindsets discussed that it'll put you on the road to putting the days of being a "starving artist" in the rear view mirror.

What concepts have you learned about business and entrepreneurship from playing video games? I'd love to hear your experiences in the comment section.

Miguel Quiles's picture

Miguel Quiles is a commercial portrait photographer based out of Orlando, Florida. He's appeared on platforms such as Creative Live, WPPI, CES, Imaging USA & PPE. Miguel is a Sony Artisan Of Imagery and releases educational tutorials and videos on his YouTube channel as well as Sony's Alpha Universe.

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10 Comments

This is why some photographers who many people find "not as talented" succeed. They tend to be ones who also find joy, not just in photography, but in the challenge of growing a business. To them growing the business is the game.

You're totally right. Its all about having the right mindset towards whatever they want to accomplish. Talent can only get you so far, especially when work ethic isn't present. History is full of talented people who never met their full potential.

Hey... Loved the "analogy" you took out from your experience playing video games!... It applies not only in business but as well in life. Great vid.

Thank you! It's kind of an odd way of looking at things but I hoped it would resonate with others too :)

Have you played Monster Hunter? You would love it. Monster Hunter World just came out and easily the best one in the franchise. Everything you achieve in this game you earn hard core. when you fight these massive beast you have to learn their attacks and when they run away. You have to learn how each of the 14 different weapons works stats everything and more. the game is really deep and i'm addicted to it lol.

I watched the review for it and plan on picking it up soon. Lately I've been hooked on Dragon Ball Fighterz so it may be awhile before I get to play it :)

Nice! Well if you get it and you have any questions about the game feel to ask me if you want. I have been playing MH for 4 versions now. Really any body in the MH community is willing to teach you about the game. The community is really great for the most part. There is the occasional turd though. I was going to buy Dragon Ball Fighter Z too haha. MH has me hooked though. Is DBFZ pretty good?

I appreciate that! Yes, DBFZ is amazing. I've always been a fan of 2D fighting games and of course DB, so the combination for me is just perfect!

This is awesome, Miquel.

As a former Nintendo Power subscribed child, I totally get where you are coming from here. Funny how often walking away for a moment, you come back stronger on that next attempt.