We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Addison Davis a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Addison , thanks for joining us today. Often outsiders look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight. Even media and especially movies love to gloss over nitty, gritty details that went into that middle phase of your business – after you started but before you got to where you are today. In our experience, overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work laying the foundation for success, but unfortunately, it’s exactly this part of the story that most of the media ignores. Can you talk to us about your scaling up story – what are some of the nitty, gritty details folks should know about?
Before I dived into photography, I was at a really hard place in life. I went into college with goals set, an action plan, and an idea of what my future would look like. After two years into college, I had a lot of challenges that I was personally facing, and decided to move home and had absolutley no clear vision of the future. I felt really loss during this time. I actually got into insurance and photography around the same time, and while they are two seperate businesses I feel like they correspond a lot. For my photography business, I just picked up my camera and had no idea it would even become a business. All I knew during this time, was that I needed some type of purpose in life and have also loved taking pictures. Starting out, I did a lot of model calls and free sessions to build my skill and portfolio. I quickly learned that I love getting to work with people and I wanted my photography to be a lot about not only recieving pictures you love, but making sure that my clients have a great expereince from the time they book to when the photos are delivered. A lot of people, including myself, get really nervous in front of a camera, so by taking the extra time to focus on making that nervous momment a great expereince. To me, this helped my business grow more than anything, as people wanted to book not only for photography but for the whole expereince as well. I am a strong believer that word of mouth is the best marketing, and it helped me gain great reviews and referalls.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I started my photography business as something to help me find purpose in life. At the point in my life, I really felt like I was lost, and had no clue of what my future was going to be. During my joruney of learning photography and running a photography as a business, I decided that I wanted my business to based off an experience and my service to my clients. I believe everyone has gone through expereinces that has shaped who they are today and their journey in life, so I strive to really listen to my clients so their pictures not only tell that story, but show those emotions as well.
I am really proud of my posing. I ask my clients to do CRAZY things, but this is how i can capture who they really are and make taking pictures a fun experience.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I currently work full time as an insurance agent, and a photographer. Before I accepted my promotion as an insurance agent, I was strongly considering to just doing photography full time. However, I love both of my roles and both of them help me do better at the other. At the time i felt that I was expected to choose, and that I couldnt not do both, and I get asked all the time why I dont go photography soley, and I tell people because I love both. As a photographer and business owner, I focus on serving my clients. I take the same mindset and apply it to my career as an insurance agent. I mainly handle commercial insurance, and with me being a business owner myself I am have been able to relate more to my customers. Some days, it can be hard to struggle both, but I have learned that setting boundries for myself and time management is key to managing a full plate.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Starting out as photographer, is struggled greatly of feeling like an imposter. I often felt that when people called me a professional photographer, that I had not earned that title. I would often think, what makes a person a professional photographer. It’s not like you can go get a certification that gives you the title. This really held me back as it made feel like I shouldnt charge for my work and really doubted my skills and talents. I would constantly do all that I could to learn more, educate myself and my skills. During this, I learned that there is always room for growth and I will never know everything.
I had another photographer reach out, who was looking for a mentor. I was shocked that this person would come to me, and questioned.. is there anything I can even teach someone. I love helping others, so I decided to give it a shot, and this really helped me gain confidence in my knowledge, skills and talent. By helping someone else grow their skills, and watch them flourish really helped me seeing myself as a professional.
Contact Info:
- Website: southernsinclairphotography.com
- Instagram: @SouthernSinclairPhotography
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/southernsinclairphotography/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/addie-davis-clcs-b36906188/
Image Credits
Southern Sinclair Photography