Have you ever thought about whether you could make money modelling?
I’m a little bit late in the day today but it’s Saturday so it’s time for the next post in my ‘How to Make Money‘ series.
When I first thought about this series of posts I knew that I wanted to share as many different ways that you could make money as I possibly could and I did say that I wouldn’t have personal experience of them all so I’d be bringing in some help. Well I have no idea about the subject of today’s moneymaking post so I’ve enlisted the help of the lovely Francesca who blogs over at From Pennies to Pounds (quite possibly the prettiest finance blog in the world) to tell you all about how you could make money modelling!
Have you ever thought about doing modelling for extra cash? I never had, mainly because I’m 5 foot nothing, but I am now officially a paid model!
When I was pregnant with my daughter, my mum sent me a link to an advertisement on Gumtree for a modelling shoot through a well known modelling company. I decided to apply even though I was a bit nervous, because I was trying to get extra money together with a baby on the way.
I received a message back inviting me for a casting where they would take photos and choose who they wanted to do the shoot. I took my mum with me, and we went to the casting which was in a house. There were lots of other people there as well, some pregnant, some with their babies, and it was clear that they wanted a range of people.
I had my photo taken, and that was it! We were told that we would hear whether we had the job or not, but the photographer said to me “I’ll see you soon” – which made me feel confident that I would be getting the job!
I was right – I was offered the modelling job, which was myself, another pregnant lady and a new mum with her newborn. I was also asked if I would shoot individually for an extra fee. Luckily for me, the photoshoot was very local – about 10 minutes from my home in a beautiful house which was rented out for photoshoots (another great way of earning extra money!).
It didn’t take long, about an hour or two, but I had to do the individual shots as well for a separate campaign with them, but I didn’t mind as I would be earning twice as much, which was incredibly lucky.
I had always wondered if they used real mums for these kind of shoots, or just stuck a fake belly onto models, so it was nice to see that they did actually use real mums for their campaigns.
After the shoot, it took a month or so to be paid, and was a few hundred pounds which was an amazing amount just for posing for a few photos and as a pregnant lady, a big help financially.
As the modelling agency knew I was pregnant, they asked if I would send through some photos of my baby when she was born, so that they could put her on their books as well. I did that, and we were frequently asked to attend castings for some big baby brand names – but I didn’t ever go because they were all in London and I didn’t exactly want to get a train to London with a newborn when she may not even get the job.
We were lucky though – she was offered a job without needing to attend a casting – they chose her from the books. It was a job in Plymouth and she was paid more than I was for mine! It was for a housing association and they wanted a young family within the homes, so she had a pretend mum and dad for the shoot. She was amazing and they were very respectful of the fact that she would need a nap, and that she may get bored. It was an easy job and the money went into savings.
The company that I did it through was local to my city – Mustard Models. I looked into them and checked they were legit before agreeing to anything, which is important. I didn’t have to pay any fees to join – so be wary of any companies that say you have to pay to sign up on their books.
I would say don’t be put off by thinking that you need to look like Miranda Kerr to sign up to a modelling agency – they take lots of different types of people as they need a realistic range for campaigns – and I would definitely recommend signing your baby/child up as they could earn some money that can go into their savings accounts or pay for any treats.
My tips would if you want to make money modelling would be:
- Don’t be afraid to approach a modelling agency to see if they would be interested in having you on their books. They want all shapes and sizes – pregnant models, hand and foot models, plus size models etc.
- If you are comfortable with it, sign your children up as well.
- Find agencies that are legit. Do NOT pay to sign up to a modelling agency. You should not have to pay for photos to be taken either.
- Find other models and see which agencies they are with. A good place would be Instagram where they typically name the agencies they are signed up with in their bio or on their photos.
- Have fun – I’m quite shy but I enjoyed doing mine!
Don’t miss out on future posts like this – receive updates directly to your inbox by email by adding your email address here and hitting subscribe. You can also follow me on Twitter, BlogLovin or Networked Blogs and I’d love to see you over on my Facebook page and on Instagram.
Have you thought of setting up a blog of your own? Here’s my step by step guide to help you!