We were lucky to catch up with Kaitlyn Clink recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kaitlyn, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

When I graduated college, I had no idea what my future would hold but I knew I had a passion for cars and a passion for all things creative. I worked for a company for the first year out of school, but I hit a point where I knew I had to take the jump and work for myself. With no clients in place and no plan set up, I quit my job to become fully self-employed. I immediately started coordinating to try to lock in clients. Who needed professional photography? Who needed help with their social media and coordinating brand strategy? I took my ideas, ran with them, built my confidence up to sell my brand and was able to quickly establish my own freelance business…surrounded by all things automotive! Now I am here- a year and a half later- with a full schedule, happy clients and I am so incredibly grateful for everyone who has allowed me to work for myself and follow my passion of photography and cars.

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?

My name is Kaitlyn and I am a professional car photographer and social media manager. I do shoots for brands such as wheel companies, dealerships, performance shops and individuals alike. I absolutely love photography and I love cars…so I found a way to combine them! I have had a passion for cars since I was little and I always wanted to find a way to work in this industry. As a woman, I was intimidated by the idea of being in a male-dominated industry, but after building my brand, garnering respect and creative photos and videos that clients loved and shared with their friends and co-workers, my business slowly but surely took off. All I want is for my passion for what I do to be visible in my work.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Word of mouth and happy repeat clients are my biggest strategies for growth! Whether it is attending a car meet, an event, making new connections through existing clients, or brands utilizing my work on a large scale and getting my name out there, it is the small flames that turn my client base into a fire! Alongside running clients’ social media pages, I have grown my own social media following to help show my portfolio of work and gain new clientele. I feel I have developed a small name for myself within the automotive community and I am excited to continue to keep learning and growing my business.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Consistency is KEY! Know your audience, speak to your audience, educate them, make them laugh and keep them interested. Stay niche! My Instagram started from scratch a few years ago and after consistently posting photos, posting reels utilizing trends, engaging with my audience and staying up to date, my page has grown tremendously. Stay true to yourself, your brand and stay on track with what is you are trying to do! Whether that is selling a product, a service, educating or simply creating a community, it takes intentional work and a lot of consistency. Have fun and get creative in the process

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kaitlynclink.com
• Instagram: @krc.auto

Image Credits

( these are my photos)