We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jennifer Butler a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jennifer, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Everyone has crazy stuff happen to them, but often small business owners and creatives, artists and others who are doing something off the beaten path are often hit with things (positive or negative) that are so out there, so unpredictable and unexpected. Can you share a crazy story from your journey?
The last few years of entrepreneurship has had its highs and lows of a rollercoaster. At the end of 2019 I was starting to transition my education from a wedding emphasis to learning and investing into maternity photography, and mama safety during shooting. We all know what happened in 2020 + add a non planned baby (and finding out at 20 weeks pregnant!!!) in May of 2020. Business was just starting to become normalized in 2022 for my family and back to the pre-covid struggles many businesses went through when I woke up Thanksgiving morning to the devastating phone call that the building that housed my studio had been on fire (all morning) 3 alarm, and took 3 hours just to tame it…. come to find out the fire started in the unit below my studio so we took the brunt of the smoke, flame, and water damage – loosing nearly everything. Restoration companies wouldn’t even touch my gowns, fabrics or other items for repairs. We had just nearly reached our goals for the year and it all came to a stuttering halt. When you think you had done everything you could to be prepared – and find out your insurance company did not have you covered properly….was another hit.. they just kept coming while we dug through rubble by hand having to clear out the fired rubble and 15 years of my photography dreams and throw them all into a dumpster. SO MANY people thought we would call it quits. But 9 months later; we are finally starting to feel like ourselves again, and beginning to market; and rebuild the mental health that was taken down with us. Entrepreneur life is not for everyone; and I cannot tell you how many times I have wanted to give up. but those words just dig in and make you want to fight harder. I have always been the type to proove people wrong; and this was a HUGE educational leap of what to tell others to look for in their businesses and insurance policies. Just another step that you live, learn and grow. And what doesn’t kill you sure makes you stronger; and by golly I’m out there to prove the haters; you can’t keep us down. Thanks to such an amazing community nationwide helping and sending us things to get us back on our feet, we will prevail and be better than ever. I just think of it as the universe forcing me to rebrand; clearing out some of the old that I just couldn’t let go of. Aurora – which is our business name is the Goddess of Dawn and New Beginnings. This is our new beginning.
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 been shooting photography since wayyyy back in highschool; and then even followed through college getting my Bachelors Degree in fine art; with an emphasis in photography. I feel like having some college background gives me an advantage of problem solving and being able to come up with things on the fly that some others may not come up with or as fast. After many years and awards in the wedding industry focus we turned our education into the safety and professional knowledge in the Maternity and Newborn categories. I feel that these two genres of photography have so many little things to gain knowledge in to keep mamas, and the tiny humans safe for us. This ranges from positioning (mamas and newborns) you don’t want to be cutting off circulation, and airways to anyone involves. All of this sounds like common sense but to the unknowing eye the suttle differences in skin tones that can alert you to these things can easily go unnoticed. I am a firm believer in tangible artwork and customer service With our photography studio; I love to not only get to know our clients in depth, by name. We also love to get to know their needs, meet their needs, and fill them. We specialize in Maternity and Wedding portraits; but also shoot multiple other genres as well – Newborns, family, headshots, etc. We absolutely love making large wall clusters; printing artwork, albums and desk portraits for our clients but it all starts well before the final product. We fully offer session stylizing and a full client closet with over 200 gowns for our clients, some kids clothing, teens, and even menswear and 5 pairs of Angel Wings. It’s all about creating the look; and lets be real no one wants to pay couture prices for dresses your going to wear once; leave that up to the professionals. Stylizing our clients; just takes it one more step to taking it from a normal picture to a work of art for your home. I love looking at them on my wall; and know my clients do to. I also know what it’s like personally to have a lot of portraits taken; even by a professional photographer, and never received them in the end. Its gut-wrenching. I want to be a household name so people can know and trust; that even through chaos their images are safe in our hands.
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
If you are a photographer; or interested in a similar industry there are SO many conferences out there that provide education; find a platform that fits with your field and GO. Continue your education; don’t let yourself become stale; but also know how to identify when your stills may start craving more and pivot. Look into smaller one to one masterclasses and find a specific mentor that your style fits with their teaching methods. Sometimes you need to go more in depth to give yourself a bigger kick to build and grow. Don’t be afraid to take those risks. They are worth the rewards.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
Personal stories, reviews and guerilla marketing on social media has definitely helped. When a client is happy and they tell all their friends or tag you all over social media; it starts making people recognize your name. Then when you market with different advertisements or email blasts people start recognizing that they have seen your brand before. The more people you have genuinely talking about you; the more that it will naturally help build your brand and reputation. Some companies PAY people to do these things, but I feel the more natural it is developed the more strong your reputation is. Get the reviews; get the tags. Welcome everyone like they are family, and keep them close to your heart.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.auroraphotodesign.com
- Instagram: @aurora.photo.design
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuroraPhotoDesign
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-butler-7207b466/