Three Misconceptions About Being a Humanitarian Storyteller

So you’ve decided on a career as a humanitarian storyteller – congratulations! I hope you’ll get as much professional and personal satisfaction out of this work as I have. This really is the best job. But it’s not all hauling backpacks across the country/continent/world and photographing in remote places (a stereotype that I know exists), so I want to address three misconceptions about being a humanitarian storyteller.

Misconception #1: You will spend a lot of time traveling

I think Instagram makes it seem like a lot of us humanitarian storytellers are living out of our suitcases and off of coffee, running from flight to flight with our overstuffed carry-ons. This may be true for some people. But it’s not true for the humanitarian storytellers I know personally. It’s also not true for me.

I jumped back into my business full-time in August 2019. I traveled for only two weeks for work last year. All the rest of my work was home-based: writing scripts, editing videos, writing emails, managing a crowd-sourced video project, refining messaging, having Skype calls, writing more emails, writing proposals, writing contracts, invoicing clients, updating my website, thinking of ways to improve my business processes and ways to work with new clients. Oh, and writing more emails! In a usual year, I spend about 20% of my work time traveling/gathering stories, about 60% doing all the above at home and about 20% working on NGO Storytelling and personal projects.

So, yes, you will likely get to travel as a humanitarian storyteller. But you will also spend a lot of time in your office dealing with administrative tasks.

Misconception #2: Organizations will be falling over themselves to work with you

Just because you’ve declared yourself a humanitarian photographer or filmmaker or writer does not mean potential clients will come running to hire you. Many nonprofits allocate a small percentage of their budget to marketing and communications work. This means that – assuming you already have a relevant portfolio – you will need to market yourself both online and in person to potential clients. This will likely be a constant yet evolving process throughout your career. There are many ways to market yourself, from sending out a mailer to networking at happy hours or conferences. If you need some marketing ideas, this post from Constant Contact may help you.

It’s also important that in every interaction with a potential client – again this means both online and in person – you present yourself as a capable, ethical and trustworthy professional. Make sure your emails are formal, with a greeting and ending and without emojis or too many exclamation points – at least until you understand the organization’s email culture. Meet and exceed expectations. Over-promise and over-deliver in everything you do.

This professional behavior also extends to other humanitarian storytellers, people you might think of as competition but who, in fact, could become friends who refer you for work. Your reputation, both as an individual and as a small business owner (because that’s what you are now), is all you really have. Cultivate and protect that reputation. And don’t forget to tell people thank you.

Finding work as a humanitarian storyteller takes creativity, flexibility, patience and determination. Does that sound like you? Yes? Then you’ll likely be fine.

Misconception #3: You can’t earn a living as a humanitarian storyteller so you may as well work for free

If you’ve been reading NGO Storytelling for a while, you know we are usually not fans of working for free. You can read this post about all the reasons we often discourage volunteering (specifically as a photographer). If you approach your humanitarian storytelling work as a business and a career, then you will likely make enough money to live on and save some, though it helps to have a sound personal finance plan in place.

Exactly how much money can you earn “to live on and save some?” When I’ve run my business full-time for a full calendar year, I’ve earned anywhere from $42,000 to $69,000 USD before taxes and other expenses. There was one year when I decided not to accept new work for three months so I could spend time with my family; I earned $31,000 USD that year. There are many things that have helped me be financially stable as a humanitarian storyteller. One is having a diverse skill set. I’ve earned money by filming, photographing, writing, editing (videos, words and audio), project managing and teaching photography and filmmaking. Another thing that has helped me is being thrifty and saving a chunk of my earnings both when working for myself and when working full-time for someone else. Having money to fall back on in lean times is important. A final, very important thing that has helped me is charging clients what I know I am worth.

Here are some finance-related things I’ve never had: children, family money, an inheritance, a lottery windfall and a spouse earning more than I do. In fact, for more than half the time that I’ve run my business full-time, I’ve been the primary breadwinner for me and my husband, mostly due to him pursuing higher degrees. The first time I became the main breadwinner I broke out in stress hives as I ruminated on the pressure and the consequences if I never got work again. I ended up being fine. But even after all these years of successfully running my business, sometimes – usually in December, January and February when work can slow to a trickle – I have to calm this tiny voice in my head that says, “What if this time is different?”

For me, the best way to truly calm that tiny voice is reminding myself of the sound personal finance plan that my husband and I have in place. As a small business owner, this means you should know your cost of doing business, which includes the salary you pay yourself. It also means understanding how you allocate your salary to your personal living expenses, your debt, your retirement fund, your emergency fund and your investments. Does it sound overwhelming? I know it can feel that way. But there’s a lot of information out there to help you either start a financial plan or improve your personal finances. I think this article about five steps to an effective financial plan is a good place to start.

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If you want to learn even more about how Crystaline and I set our prices as humanitarian photographers, our online course “How to Price Nonprofit Photography” is accepting a limited number of students until January 31. We’ve revised the course since we last offered it and our new offerings include two bonus video interviews with NGO communications staff who hire photographers and one bonus podcast about what rates the nonprofit photo market will bear. Learn more about the course here or read the course reviews here. And as always, feel free to email us at hello@ngostorytelling.com with any comments or questions.