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

Jolana, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

Yes! I left an amazing job with benefits at a local university to pursue my photography business full-time in 2019, and have been fully supporting myself with it since. In 2018 I was working full-time at the university, while also clocking full-time hours with my photography business during summer and fall. During the winter and spring, however, photography was slow at best. In 2019 I had to make a decision due to restructuring at my job, and chose to take the leap to go full-time.

To make this happen I saved up a reserve for the slow months, spent more time advertising, and made sure to reach out to the client-base I already had with sales and promotions. I started working with a digital marketing company as a sub-contractor for most of their clients which helped with income during my slow season. I also invested in photography and business education, something I never had time to do before, to continue growing and learning.

In 2020 I did a complete re-brand and overhaul to elevate my business and image to better attract my target clientele. I went from Jolana Babacek Photography, something no one could pronounce or spell, to The Photography Experience, LLC. With this move I also finally raised my prices to match my quality, talent, and worth.

The last big step in bringing myself to full-time was offering services I didn’t offer before, specifically Boudoir Photography. This move helped me not only survive the pandemic, it helped me thrive during it. I was able to make more than I was at my previous job, with benefits, by 2021. It also allowed me to open up my first photography studio in August, 2021.

Knowing what I know now, the number one thing I could have done was raise my pricing while I was still part-time. I was worried people wouldn’t pay my worth and thus kept putting it off. Raising my pricing not only attracted my ideal clientele, but it allowed me to do half the sessions for the same amount of money, which opened up time to do all the administrative work and advertising that comes with owning a small business, and has allowed me to have, somewhat, of a work-life balance.

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?

Hi! My name is Jolana, and I am originally from Czech Republic. One of my life goals is to eat, hike, and photograph my way around the world, as those are 3 of my favorite things to do! Growing up I always wanted to work in the healthcare industry, first as a surgeon, and then as a forensic psychologist. I got my first semi-professional camera as a graduation gift when I got my BS in Psychology, and that is where it all started.

My boyfriend at the time owned his own business from 18 years old, and encouraged me to start my photography business in 2014. I learned so much from him and credit the start of my business to his support and help. I started like most photographers, taking photos of family, friends, and their businesses. From there it grew with word-of-mouth. I never planned on photography being my full-time career, however as my little business kept growing, and I saw what a difference my photography made in peoples lives, it quickly became a dream. I have now been in business for 9 years, full-time for almost 4! I offer family, wedding, boudoir, and commercial photography. I have clients all over the country and have photographed clients from New York to San Diego, to the Bahamas, to Cabo, Mexico. In April of this year I had the honor of having my own photography exhibition in a gallery in the center of Prague!

Photography for me is about so much more than just taking a photo. It’s about capturing the sincere, the authentic, and the beautiful. It’s about human connection. It’s about the EXPERIENCE. My sessions focus on capturing my subjects as authentically as possible, which means making the session more like a date night, or family outing to the beach, than a “stand here and pose” photoshoot. My approach also focuses on making it fun and stress-free, so it’s something to look forward to, which means helping clients with the planning of every aspect of the session. When it comes to weddings or events, my goal is to do whatever I can to ensure my clients enjoy their wedding/event fully. Often this means doing things outside my job description, such as becoming the caterers, cleaners, furniture movers, handkerchief folders, and planners, all of which my team became at one of my weddings this year. I make sure my team and I go above and beyond, because at the end of the day whether it is our job or not, we know it makes a huge difference for our clients and that’s all that matters to us. I am proud that most of my business comes from word-of-mouth from past clients, and that I have been able to photograph my clients in all stages of their lives over the past 9 years.

Boudoir photography has become a huge part of my business and is the part that helps me feel like I am making the biggest difference. My sessions are a full day experience and a chance for women to do something for themselves. Empowering women, and helping them see the beauty in themselves that they believed they have lost due to aging, having children, an accident, etc… while also raising their self-confidence is the best gift photography has given me.

One of the areas I am most proud of and that sets me apart from others is my work with breast cancer survivors and warriors. Boudoir led me to meeting Michaela, who was diagnosed with an aggressive breast cancer at 28, and now someone I am proud to call a friend. We met at her boudoir session, which quickly turned into documenting her whole journey through breast cancer with boudoir sessions at each stage of her care. She realized a key component missing in the care for breast cancer survivors is that of relearning to love the body that turned on them, and reclaiming their femininity, sexuality, and self-confidence while going through, and surviving, breast cancer. Together we co-founded the Breast Cancer Confidence Project and now help women at all stages of breast cancer see that this disease did not take their beauty or femininity away. We help them reconnect with their bodies through boudoir photography. This is a volunteer and passion project of mine, and I am honored to be able to be a small piece of these brave women’s recovery. I am now hoping to go back to school to get a Masters in Psychology and be able to tie photography into therapy.

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

From the beginning of my business I have been told the importance of niching down and not being the jack of all trades. It’s something that was hard for me to do, outside of niching down to photography that includes people. IN 202 I started to niche down to just Boudoir photography. I didn’t stop taking other clients, I just didn’t advertise any of my other areas. In 2022 most of my income came from boudoir, however I didn’t want to lose my amazing family clients so I decided to hold off another year before niching down.

I am so thankful for this decision, because the start of 2023 was the slowest I had been since before going full-time. Due to the economy no one was booking boudoir shoots or family shoots. I went 3 months of barely making enough to pay all my bills. Thankfully, I had not niched down yet and had the ability to pivot. I pivoted to the one area that always needs photography: Commercial work. This was the area I wanted to toss first, and it is the area that kept me afloat. Niching down is good advice, however I don’t believe it’s for everyone. For me my variety of work gets me through all the seasons of life, keeps me mentally sharp and constantly learning, and let’s my passion shine through in all types of photography.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

I have been so lucky to have so many loyal and amazing clients that use me year after year! I keep in touch with my clients via my Facebook business page and through a newsletter that I would like to say I send out regularly, but I do drop the ball on it a few times a year. I encourage my clients to follow me on Facebook by posting a preview of their session within 24 hours on there (I always ask first for privacy reasons). This often leads to some of their friends and family following me as well. I engage my clients on there by also posting photos from years past that help them reminisce on some of their happiest memories.

For my wedding clients I send them personalized Christmas ornaments the year I photograph their wedding, with their new last names on it and the year they were married. I make sure to include if they prefer Dr. instead of Mr/Mrs. and their preferred pronouns.

For my family clients (and wedding clients that turn into wedding clients) I send personalized congratulations notes whenever I find out they are expecting, with a small gift. I do not solicit them for photos, I just write a memory from our sessions together and congratulate them on their growing family.

For my boudoir clients the biggest game changer was creating a women’s only Facebook group in which I encourage women to support each other, ask heard questions, and be a resource to one another through tough times. I also post their images in there (only with permission), and am open and honest with them about my own struggles. Last year a couple of the women expressed going through a really difficult time, so I delivered flowers and a small gift to them.

I do giveaways for previous clients only, and am happy to give clients who have referred new people over to me free sessions or photo products as a thank you. I also keep in touch with many of them on a personal level and make sure they know my door is always open if they just need to chat with someone, which some clients take me up on.

In the end, I become a friend to my clients. They have stuck with me through large pricing increases, even though there are many photographers in my are to choose from, and continue referring me to everyone they know.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://rocphotoexperience.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rocphotoexperience/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RocPhotoExperience
• Other: TikTok: @rocphotoexperience Boudoir Specific Pages: website- https://rocboudoirexperience.com/ IG: @rocboudoirexperience

Image Credits
All photos taken are by my company – The Photography Experience, LLC