How To Work With Your Dream Brands

Five steps to fostering meaningful partnerships

Earlier this year, I had the privilege of being named a global launch ambassador for Leica with the release of the SL3-S. It was a major milestone for me and one I got to celebrate with many people who’ve been part of my journey.

This wasn’t something I was actively chasing, but it was something that sat on my bucket list. The opportunity came much sooner than I expected, and with it came a wave of questions around how I made it happen.

The truth is, there’s always some luck involved. Ultimately, the decision-making is out of my hands. But I also believe in dusting up my own luck. Doing the work that improve the odds of good opportunities coming my way.

So this week, I want to share with you how I do that. How do I dust up my own luck. These aren’t guarantees, but they are ways to stack the odds in your favour.

Photo credit: Jason Roman

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Before We Get Into the List

Let me set the stage.

I hold an honours degree in kinesiology and health sciences. I spent over a decade in sales then built a career in marketing—both in-house and on the agency side. This odd mix of experiences put me on a path where I absorbed what I believe are five key lessons that helped me earn major opportunities with influential brands. More importantly, it helped me build a lifestyle around creating my most ambitious work.

What I’m about to share comes from over a decade years of wins, mistakes, and being humbled. It’s also shaped by conversations with brilliant marketing minds—some at the very brands some of you may dream of working with.

So, with all that context, here are what I believe are five ways to create real opportunities in your own creative journey.

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The Quality Threshold

This is the first thing that disqualifies most people: the work simply isn’t good enough.

If you want to work with a major brand, your visuals need to be strong enough to represent them. That doesn’t mean you need to be the next Meyerowitz or Meiselas. That’s impossible. But it does mean your work needs to show intentionality and growth over time.

It’s not enough to think your images are good. It’s not enough that your friends trust you to shoot their wedding. You need to be great. Art is subjective, sure. But there’s still a line between good and great. And if you want to get noticed, your work needs to cross that line. To do that? Aspire to continuously getting better and creating work that has real meaning behind it. You’ll eventually cross that line.

Commanding an Audience

Most people won’t like this part, but here’s the truth: having an audience makes you more attractive to work with.

You could take the specialist route—focus purely on the craft, aim for mastery, and hope to be discovered. And that can work. But the journey is longer and the odds are lower. Plus, you may never develop the skills for navigating relationships that come with managing an audience of some kind.

Brands work through marketing teams. And marketing teams are measured by results. If you bring even a small audience to the table—an Instagram following that engages, a YouTube channel that gets views, or a niche newsletter with a loyal readership—you become more valuable.

You don’t need to be an influencer. But if you spend part of your career building a genuine following around your journey, that’s leverage. Leverage that can open doors faster.

Now that we’ve covered two of the rather obvious points, let me jump to the most important details that hold most people back.