We recently connected with Jennifer Lind Schutsky and have shared our conversation below.
Jennifer, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s something you believe that most people in your industry (or in general) disagree with?
I believe you should NOT niche down. I believe you should do more, expand more, be bigger than what you think you’re capable of. Most people in the photography industry or art in general believe that you have to niche down to be considered an expert in your field and while I think that is true to some extent, I also think that you can limit yourself before you even know what you’re good at. I am currently doing more than I ever have in my industries and that’s because I say, ‘YES!’ to the opportunities that present themselves to me and I wait for the invitation and I accept the invitation when it’s presented to me. I don’t force what I want to do in my industry on others. I allow my customers and my clients to dictate the services I provide and I think that’s a little bit counter culture to the industry. Often times you have to tell people exactly what you’re offering, convince them to buy it, why it’s necessary and so on. However, in my personal experience, I do better when people ask me if I’m capable of doing something and I know myself well enough to know my limits. I know what I’m good at and I’m able to say yes, if it’s within my capabilities. And that alone has allowed me so many more opportunities than if I had said, ‘no, I’m just a wedding photographer.’ ‘no, I’m JUST a painter’ or ‘no, I’m only a family photographer’ like being able to do a little bit of everything is actually what makes me successful.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
So a little bit about myself, I am Jenn, a photographer and artist. I do have a education degree in art education from the University of Arizona. However, I am mostly self-taught when it comes to photography and various art forms. I learned some formal things in college, but the majority of my creativity has come from my own inspiration and my own practices. I started doing photography and making art professionally when people asked me if I could. I’ve began with that and before it was just recreational or hobbies that I enjoyed doing and that’s actually how all of my businesses have come about. I find some thing that I enjoy doing, something that I’m good at, and then people recognize that around me and encourage me and that allows me to start with a small Fanbase and spread out to a larger platform.
So for services… I do a lot of wedding photography portrait, photography and branding photography and in the art world I am a painter, a private tutor, and a henna artist. So, the problems that I solve for my clients are pretty extensive. I often will do brand photography for small businesses starting out. Getting that website up and running with great imagery, creating social media content for them and giving them resources that they might need for grant writing proposals and things like that. As far as a personal problems that I’m solving for my clients when I do family photography portrait, photography, and when photography, I am literally pausing time for them, and allowing them an opportunity to look back on all of the beautiful things that ever happened in their lives with taking moments and seasons, and distilling them down to a photo session or a photo album.
And as far as the art goes, I think that’s just a bigger extensive ability to express yourself creatively. When I’m helping my clients become creative, I am allowing them the opportunity to let their voice speak for themselves. And when I’m doing Henna, it allows the person to create a physical or a visual representation of what they’re feeling and thinking and being able to wear that and experience that on them temporarily while they’re in a certain season or experience in their life.
The work I’m most proud of is my photography and my art. I wouldn’t say that one outweighs the other. My photography definitely allows my clients to relive moments from their lives that they would otherwise not get back. And I think that’s the most important thing to me about photography is that its freezing time and allowing stories to be told over and over again. And the nice thing about Henna is it’s the opposite. It’s literally a temporary moment a temporary thing that you have just for a limited time. So you really have to prioritize its beauty while it’s there with you and on you.
Like I said, I do a little bit of everything so it’s hard to just narrow down one thing that I’m promoting or proud of. I really really pride myself on having a vast and wide range of skills and experiences for my clients and I also think that makes it more interesting for anybody who follows along with me on social media because I am doing a lot of different things. It makes it more interesting to see all these experiences happening in real time. For me definitely the chaos mode is the biggest aspect of all of my work. It’s the common thread between brands, and it allows me to keep creating without that stagnation and bored experience.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
For starting my photography business the very first thing I did was host mini sessions at a super discounted rate. I think it was $50 a family for an hour photo shoot and I used a camera that I already had and I saved up the $650 to buy the nicer camera after I booked 12 families most families were all friends or friends of friends. And moving past that I bought a nicer camera. I was able to open a business credit card once I had done a few smaller sessions and started having income and revenue from my photography business.
And, I will say that right away it’s definitely important to keep your personal finances, separate from your business finances, and even though, if you’re a sole proprietor, it might feel like they’re the same thing, they’re not! And legally, you have a lot more options if you can keep everything separate and report your taxes correctly. Because it shows your credibility even though it does cost you money to make more money it’s definitely important to accurately report your earnings so that you have the proof that you are able to take out loans with your business and you have that credibility to pay it back. Because if your business fails that sucks but you don’t want it to impact your personal life and vice versa. So it’s definitely about small scales to get to where you want to be. You can’t just walk into the bank and ask for $100,000 loan to make your billion dollar company you have to start small and start where you can and start with the supporters you have, and then slowly build up from there.
I think scaling is a very, very important part of business and learning where to start, the small steps you can take to increase and then when necessary if you have to take a step back you can without shutting down everything. But there’s plenty of small business credit cards that you can start to get you your first couple thousand dollars to get you going once you have proof that your business is viable! And then, of course, you just want to pay that back as quickly as you can oh! also another thing to know is that your interest rates on a business card are completely with tax deductible, whereas if you’re charging things for your business on your personal credit card that personal interest is not tax deductible. So really be mindful about keeping your money separate personal, professional, and of course a separate tax savings account.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
The most effective strategy for growing my clientele has been word-of-mouth. I also utilized Facebook and Instagram in the early days, but I don’t think the capabilities are there anymore for growing the same way. I think it’s a really cool way to stay relevant in the minds of the people that you’ve worked with in the past and I think because specifically, with photography, people want to share your images, and they tag you in them. So that is one way that people can find me, but the most common way that people find me and book with me is by seeing the work and more importantly hearing the experiences of what it’s like to work with me from other people.
I am a firm believer in real life human connection, and I think that is the most effective strategy for gaining any new clients and I also think it’s really important to not think of people in terms of potential clients or potential customers, and instead just view them as humans because when you connect with somebody on a personal level as a human, you connect with them in a different way than if you’re just trying to get them to buy from you. And even if you don’t really believe in energy work or spirituality or anything like that, I will say people can see right through it when you are just trying to make it a profit from them. You know this because think about anybody who’s ever tried to sell you something you can feel it in your body when they switch from caring about you – to trying to sell you something.
So, I actually don’t TRY to gain clients from human connection, but I have found that that is the way that most people do find me and so I have shifted my focus from trying to make a sale and instead trying to connect with people and remember what they actually told me listening to them. And I always respond to emails, comments, text messages as quickly as I can so they know they’re being heard and communicated with clearly and effectively. Nobody wants to go into business with somebody or give somebody money that can’t communicate or show that their customers are a priority to them.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.Jenniferlindschutsky.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/jenniferlindschutsky
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JenniferLindSchutsky
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-lind-schutsky-2423b2b0/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6ZU2FnGuzY387c5GM7SHfg
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/HawksandHoney/
Image Credits
All images copyright Jennifer Lind Schutsky