We recently connected with DEBRA LAWRENCE and have shared our conversation below.

DEBRA, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s the best or worst investment you’ve made?

The best investment I have made as a business owner is investing in myself. for years, I focused on serving my many clients but never charged what I was worth. In 2020 I took on a coach (Sarah Petty with Joy of Marketing, now Photography Business Institute) who began mentoring me on how to charge what I’m worth and serve my clients on the absolute highest level. The time I have spent with that education from the Photography Business Institute has been a game changer for me. I have found so often that people don’t value themselves enough to invest time money and effort into growing their business. The astounding thing is that often we have so much head trash that gets in the way that we can’t get past that, impairing our ability to be the best version of ourselves for our business and for our family, friends and community. In the past three years, I have grown more than I did in the prior 18 years running my business. My advice to all small business owners is to surround yourself with the people you want to be more like. Spend your time with people who are doing the things you want to do. Find a coach or a mentor who is making the money you wanna make and invest in yourself.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

For a little over 20 years, I have run Abundant Moments Photography. My husband and I started it out of a desire for me to be able to stay home with my young children. I also wanted the ability to have control over my quality and offerings. I worked as a district manager over a number of portrait studios, and though I loved the photography portion, it was really more taking care of people and challenges. While I learned a lot from that, I found that my true passion was in photographing my clients and producing beautiful products for them to have to keep. The creation of heirloom quality wall, art and albums, as well as the handholding process that we provide is what sets us apart from others. Additionally, our experience with multiple children and kids with special needs gives us an edge over our competitors.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Building my reputation happened over long period of time. I have always taken such good care of my clients, but I learned that it’s difficult to run a business and cater to your clients. It wasn’t until I learned from my coach and mentor that I needed to charge enough for what I was doing that I realized I could take better care of my clients because I didn’t need to have as many of them. When I have fewer people that I am able to serve, I can serve them better. I would like to think that now I’m known as a high-end boutique photographer, who gives a full service experience and will do anything needed to take care of her clients.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

This is a fun question. I have always thought that fast is the key to getting more done. But I’m learning, especially as I’m getting older, that quality far outweighs quantity. This is the case when it comes to time whether it be personal or business related. In the last few years, I have learned to spend more time with my family and put them first and develop better relationships with my friends as well as take on some fun recreational activities. This balance in my life actually makes me more productive and I’m able to get more things done believe it or not.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://abundantmoments.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abundantmoments/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abundantmoments
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debra-lawrence-9706b74/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/abundant-moments-photography-lees-summit

Image Credits
All images were taken by me, Debra Lawrence, with Abundant Moments Photography