Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Gia Roche . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Gia thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

When I first realized I could take iris photos in December of 2020 I was so excited and thought I was doing this super cool unique thing that was going to blow up and go viral. Laughing at this now but when I showed my friends and one of them pointed out that it was already being done and showed me some tik toks I was pretty heart broken. There were several companies and even a big franchise in Europe. I was relieved when I googled USA locations and realized there were none.

I very briefly considered the franchise route. I even had an interview with them. After getting all the info I realized that it was very scary to do something like this without any support but being told how I had to run my business and to not have control of a lot of things, was not the way I envisioned it. At this point I had so many questions and still so far from the finished product.

It took me months and months to organize my thoughts and come up with clear ideas. How much will I charge, what products will I sell? What will the photos be packaged in? How do I decorate my storefront? Hundreds of questions and issues I had to deal with while I was taking care of my newborn.

As I awaited approval from the mall (who knew there was a whole process for that too…) I took photoshop classes because that was the missing link in my work, The photos were good but not as good as the one’s id seen online. Mostly because I couldn’t get rid of the glare in my photos. there is no way to shoot macro without lights and no way to not get reflections on the eyeball. I had flash custom built and that helped a lot. By August 2021I felt ready and I signed with the mall for opening in November. There was so much trial and error before opening and after opening and I continue to learn lessons every day. My work has gotten significantly better and we made it through a difficult year as a very niche business with no returning customers.

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?

I have dreamed of being self-employed for so long. As my life got more complicated -I have 4 kids- I craved the ability to create my own schedule, to never miss a school meeting, or a concert again because of a 9 to 5 job. I didn’t necessarily want to work less, but I wanted more flexibility as to when and where i could work. Now a days I do a lot of my work at 10 pm when the kids are sleeping, I can sit on my laptop and watch a movie with my husband as I work. Some mornings my littles are crawling around and cocomelon is playing in the background and I’m editing on the couch, my smallest one goes to the store with me.

Photography has been a passion of mine since as long as I can remember, I took a lot of photos, always got cameras for my birthday, loved going for walks and taking photos of icicles and leaves. Throughout my life I would always come back to photography even after taking breaks sometimes. My longest break was during the time my daughter was diagnosed with brain cancer and her battle lasted 2 years. After her death a few years went by before i felt like taking photos again. I purchased a used Canon Mark from a photographer friend and was just using it to photograph my kids, I was working at a large bank and didn’t really have time to pursue it, but I occasionally photographed friends and family and picked up gigs from Gig salad to not get too rusty through my divorce. I later got re married and my husband bought me new equipment and I started focusing on macro, playing around with my new macro lens,
Again, there were several times I had to stop and ask myself, what is my style? Am I creating art based off the iris or am I trying to preserve the color and design of the eye. How much editing is too much? Honestly it wasn’t until I was open and running that I found my rhythm and figured out the type of photography I wanted to do.

I take macro photos of the iris, edit it and turn it into a beautiful photo of the most intricate and unique part of your visible body. It is more unique than your fingerprints because there are no mix of colors in your fingerprints. It is unique to you, and nobody else has one like it,

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I pulled out a loan from my 401k, I also had some savings and used my credit cards. There are many unexpected expenses that arise and the first year was very difficult financially. If i did not have a husband supporting me i don’t know what I would have done because I really put everything I had in my name into the business, I still feel very fortunate I was able to come up with the funds as I know that getting funds is the hardest part of entrepreneurship. I worked for one of the biggest financial institutions in the country for many years and it was shocking when i realized that for startup businesses there were not many more options than to get personal credit. the era of pitching a good business idea and getting funding is over, or maybe it was never really here.

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

Social media is definitely king when it comes to advertising. Ads and post sharing and tagging are fruitful. I do google ads as well. It took me a while to have a decent number of positive reviews Last but not least word of mouth. Doing something rare and niche I have to advertise to the right crowd and since i dont really have returning customer, worth of mouth is crucial. Customer service has always been very important to me and I definitely feel like I go above and beyond.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.eyewonderflorida.com
• Instagram: @eye_wonder_florida
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/eyewonderflorida

Image Credits
picture of me taken by Tim Woodrum