We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Leigh Nelson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Leigh, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

The biggest risk that I have ever taken was to leave my full-time job in marketing to grow my photography business. I worked in the marketing department at Dick’s Sporting Goods headquarters for close to ten years, the last three of which I started my photography business on the side. Although things were going well for my career at Dick’s Sporting Goods, my dream of becoming a full-time wedding photographer outweighed my successful marketing career. In 2013, I decided that, in order to fulfill my dream, I needed to focus 100% of my attention on growing my photography business. I was incredibly terrified at taking this leap; I was leaving a job with a great salary, generous stock options, a 401k plan, and health benefits to work for myself, with only a few weddings in the books at the time. It felt as if I were closing my eyes and taking a step off of a cliff, and hoping that a cloud of success would be there to catch me and rise me above that cliff. However, with the encouragement of my mother, father, and husband, I knew that I had a strong support system, which ultimately gave me the strength to leave the corporate world and pursue my dream!

Leigh, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

In college, I majored in advertising, with minors in business and also photography. At the time, I never imagined that I would end up as a full-time photographer, I just took those classes because I enjoyed the art. After college, I pursued a career in marketing, and got a job at EDMC (Education Management Corporation). A year after that, I was hired as a marketing contractor for Dick’s Sporting Goods corporate, and the year after that, I was offered a full time position at Dick’s Sporting Goods.

During this time, I was planning my wedding, and learned that I absolutely loved everything about weddings; the magic, the emotion, the details, and the lifetime memories, to name a few. It was then that I knew that I had to become part of that industry, but I wasn’t sure in what capacity. You would think that I would have put two and two together since I had a background in photography, but that wasn’t the case!

After our wedding, I began investing in more photography equipment, and was asked here and there to photograph my friends’ and coworkers’ children. Then, at one point, a coworker mentioned that her friend was looking for a wedding photographer and *BAM*! It hit me that I would love to be a wedding photographer! I ended up photographing that friend’s wedding and had the time of my life. And so it all began…

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Networking with wedding venues, wedding planners, and other wedding photographers. Going to events specifically targeting wedding vendors helped me to get my name out there. By providing images to a venue from weddings taken there, or providing images to a wedding planner of a wedding that they orchestrated, I have been able to become a preferred photography vendor of theirs. I also stay active with a group of like-minded wedding photographers; we have a Facebook group where we can bounce ideas off of each other, list wedding referrals, and also give and receive advice. It is such a positive and supportive group! This same group has coffee dates during our off season, and I frequently attend those! It helps to create a trusting friendship.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Posting frequently on social media helps me showcase my portfolio and gain followers. I also deploy social media marketing campaigns for my wedding clients; for every new page like that I receive, I offer the client a free print from their wedding.

Also, people enjoy seeing behind-the-scenes activity and also personal posts. It helps to create a stronger connection between us, and also helps them get to know who the person behind the lens is. If they like what they see, then it is more likely that they will follow me!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lavenderleigh.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/lavenderleigh
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/lavenderleigh