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

Amanda, appreciate you joining us today. So, let’s imagine that you were advising someone who wanted to start something similar to you and they asked you what you would do differently in the startup-process knowing what you know now. How would you respond?

Something that you’ll learn when you start a photography business is that your clients are the most important thing to it. That seems like an obvious statement, but when you’re running a small business it’s something that you might forget about. When owning a small photography business, there are so many different hats you have to put on, on top of photographing and editing photos, that it could feel easy to put client processes on the back burner.

What I’ve learned over the last 3 years is that how you interact with your clients and what your client process consists of is going to make or break your business, and is probably the most important thing you can put your energy towards when designing your business. Your client process is what is going to have people coming back time and time again, and is going to get you all those referrals and 5-star google reviews.

If I was starting my business over, I would make sure I have my client process nailed down to the tee. Ensuring that everything I am going to do for them is laid out and communicated clearly, creating resources that will help them will help them in their journey, and investing my time into creating automations and workflows that easily bring the client from one step to another with minimal issues.

I do what I do because of my clients and they are the heart of my business. Put your energy and focus into your clients, and you’ll receive it back double!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am the very proud owner and lead photographer of Amanda Reed Photos. I’ve been in the biz for over 3 years now and I focus mainly on couples, elopements, and intimate weddings.

When I first opened my business, it was during covid (crazy time to open a business, I know) and the weddings I photographed were fairly small – all 50 or less people. I fell in love with these weddings, but as time went on a restrictions lessened, the weddings I photographed became bigger and bigger, but my heart was still with those small, intimate weddings I first photographed. I switched gears and started focusing solely on elopements and intimate weddings. It has been the best decision I’ve made for my business!

I’m the kind of person who is a photo hoarder. After every event or hangout I was always asking people to have alllll the photos they took. After all, your memories live in photos – and I wanted to remember them all! That’s why I know it’s so important to have those photos of arguably the most important day of your life, your wedding. I want my couples to immediately be transported back to their wedding day when they look at their gallery. I want them to remember where they were, what the weather was, how they looked, how they felt, what they did. Everything.

I am currently based out of Vancouver, Canada, but in the next few years am hoping to expand to international and destination elopements. If you or someone you know is ditching a traditional wedding and going to elopement route, first of all congratulations, and I would love to hear from you!

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A big lesson in my life that I had to unlearn is that you DON’T need to go to university and get a bachelors degree to be successful (and happy). This idea was so engrained in my brain from the time I was in primary school up until I was in my second year of university! I always put all my effort into my academics, needing to get the highest grades so I could to the best school to get the best education to get the highest paying job.

It wasn’t until I actually started getting serious in my photography that I learned that this isn’t actually the truth. There are so many successful people who have never stepped foot on a university campus, and I decided I was going to be one of them (well, minus the never stepping foot on a university campus part).

Your success is determined by the amount of time and effort you are going to put into whatever you are trying to do. Success doesn’t just automatically come to you if get a degree, and vice versa. Nothing is guaranteed in this life and it depends on you to take the actions to make yourself successful, however that looks.

Something I would tell anyone, especially high school students who aren’t sure what they’re going to do after they graduate: focus on the kind of life you want to live instead of what you want to do. If you put all your energy into creating your dream life, that’s where you’re going to find success – not from $40 000 piece of paper.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding thing is being able to deliver a product that people are happy with, that allow them to relive an important day in their lives, and to show them what I saw from my camera. My favourite thing is when someone says they’re nervous to have their photo taken and don’t usually like themselves in photos, and upon receiving their gallery absolutely LOVE the photos.

I want my couples to see themselves how I saw them – and most often that way is beautiful, happy, and in love. There is nothing more special than being able to capture these moments in someone’s life that you know they’re going to look back on the rest of their lives.

It’s so wonderful being able to be apart of the most important day of someone’s life. Which is why no matter how many long drives, late editing nights, and endless technical difficulties, this will always be my favourite job.

Contact Info:

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