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

Ashley , appreciate you joining us today. What’s been one of the most interesting investments you’ve made – and did you win or lose? (Note, these responses are only intended as entertainment and shouldn’t be construed as investment advice)

The best investment I’ve made with my business is giving people my time. At first, I thought I could pay for advertising on different websites, or buy cute pens with my website on them and get more traction for my business. When I was first starting out, I quickly learned that saying yes to things that didn’t pay were often worth the time. I don’t recommend working for free, but there are meaningful ways to work for free, do some good, and gain some traction for your business. One of the best things I said yes to was photographing for a local moms group. I was already fairly busy at the time and I was to the point in my career where I was typically saying no to anyone asking me to shoot for the “experience” But, as a new mom myself, I loved the idea of doing a fun event for this mom’s group and having my family with at the same time. In exchange, they did some advertising for me. It wasn’t instant, but by doing this, I cultivated a lot of meaningful relationships with other parents and my family photography business took off.

Ashley , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My mom always preached about college and education, so when it came time to pick a school, I picked an art school, thinking it would be fun and easy. Photography IS super fun and I still love it, but running a business is much trickier than my 17 year old brain could comprehend at the time. Fast forward 16 years and I’m now running a family portrait and wedding photography business. Over the last 16 years, I’ve had a lot of different jobs. I started out assisting for different photographers throughout the Twin Cities and I was doing a lot of different odd jobs. I tried most aspects of photography, including a more corporate-type of shooting job. I enjoyed all of these things, but after having my first child, I settled on family photography sprinkled in with a few weddings each year. I do a couple hundred sessions a year and I think I’ve found a groove. After years of volunteering, working every job I could take, and taking the time to talk and meet with people, I’ve made really meaningful relationships. Most of my clients are repeat clients and I consider them friends. I’ve learned about their families, and been through a lot of highs and a few lows with them. Having a consistent portfolio has proven to be really important, but I do believe that the time I take appreciate my clients is what sets me apart. I truly just love em’ all to pieces. If someone hires me, they might think they’re just getting some nice family photos, but I hope they stick around and we can become friends and grow old together.

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

My social media following isn’t huge. It’s mostly made up of current clients and friends. I think it’s important to remember that you don’t need the world’s largest following (unless influencing is your goal). I can’t say it enough, but meaningful relationships is all you need. Appreciate the people you have and make sure you reciprocate.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

It hasn’t always been this way, but referrals are the best source of new clients for me. Sometimes it’s friends chatting and bringing up my name. A lot of times, it’s a client posting a photo I took and giving me photo credit.

Contact Info:

• Website: ashleyelwill.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashleyelwill/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ashleyelwill

Image Credits
Headshot by Marit Williams Family photos by me, Ashley Elwill