We recently connected with Angelique Winfield and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Angelique , thanks for joining us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

Before I started my business, I have been working my corporate job for seven years. I started my way as a temp and was hired full-time where I worked in the client services department after a year of being a client services rep. I was promoted to an account coordinator where I spent five years. The job paid the bills and at one point in time I was super excited about my opportunity prior to this opportunity had been unemployed for two years and if I can be honest, those two years of unemployment were because of my own doing. I left a job before God release me, and as a result of that I took a pay cut and told myself that God would honor my efforts, even though he wasn’t the one who told me to leave my job. I lost two jobs same industry due to the business closing. Fast forward to working full-time, there got a point in time I would say about four year mark five year mark where the atmosphere began to get really toxic, but if I can recall where I was mentally back, then fear kept me bound, and I’m sure that there was a time for me to leave but fear crippled me. In 2021, I transfered out of the client services department into our accounting department, and although it was a less toxic atmosphere it really wasn’t where I wanted to be, and it was in that moment that I filed myself almost melting away. Every time I had to go and do that job so I begin to pray and lock in to God and ask him when was it my time. Reflecting back, and God have been preparing me the entire time. He got to a point where I wasn’t waiting on God God was waiting on me even though I wanted to leave my then current job I was fearful of on whether or not I would be able to make it on my own, and the truth of the matter was that I would not make it on my own. I need God to order my steps in this thing and what was an unsatisfactory comfort zone, became uncomfortable I started to deal with elements in my body. I had neck pain for almost a year I had to go through physical therapy I battle with my weight I dealt with depression and anxiety. I was absolutely miserable and one day I called out of work and my husband was home and the 700 club was on television, and one of the speakers literally spoke to me. He said there was somebody that was watching that was waiting for confirmation from God to leave their job, and in that exhortation he began to not only call out the elements that I was dealing with with in my body. He also confirmed that it was time for me to leave, my company would invest in a in a special plan that they had set up for their employees so in addition to my 401(k) coming out of my check, they would put a couple of thousand dollars in every year if you got a bonus so you had to be an employee for five years in order to be fully vested so by the time I left I had over $10,000. I put in my two weeks notice December 2022 and my last day was December 31 of 2022. I went into the new year January being slow by the time March came my business didn’t slow down until October of that year, if I can be honest my decision to leave leave my job was because I already knew that I was purpose to do something else. I just didn’t know what it was and then those moments that I was waiting on God I was also productive and so he had been in preparing me back in 2020 dried up all of my resources so I had to learn how to do everything myself as a content creator. I went from focusing on being a Mom influencer to really master in my craft as an all-around digital creator, with a specialty and photography and videography alongside with my husband. Two years in, we hit the ground, and we’ve been going ever since.

Angelique , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My husband and I have a media agency called BA creative. We specialize in portrait, lifestyle, branding, and event, photography and videography. I also have my own business. My own brand is AngieBWinn,LLC, I really focus on helping women confront their limited beliefs about themselves AND their businesses, and help them tap into their God given purpose.

I do that through being there, Photographer) helping to build up their courage to step out and do a new thing. I really love doing that because as I was transitioning and stepping out and doing new things, it was just me and God it was I was by myself there was no one to create a blueprint or show me what to do and so this is an opportunity for me to give it back to other women who are Aspiring to do something that’s scary something that’s hard and just need that extra push.

Honestly, the one thing that said, apart from other people, people who do the same thing that we do is that we go hard on implementing individual stories our client stories because what I tell a lot of our clients is that there are a lot of people out here doing the same thing that you’re doing they just don’t do it like you they aren’t you they don’t have your story and so really Provoking and encouraging the individual. We are able to serve the videography and photography to share their story because people can get a good service from anyone, but being in sales for a good portion of my life, I understand that people buying into people in order to understand a person they have to know about the person so the more that you share within reason Will help you to identify who your people are the people who need to serve but it all starts with understanding your why and sometimes you have to talk that out. When you work with us, it’s gonna be more than a photography or videography service. You’re going to get an experience you’re gonna be fed you’re gonna be inspired and you’re gonna be provided with quality work.

I thing that I most proud of is really betting on myself and actually being in a position to start seeing the fruits of my labor. Our business is 90% word-of-mouth and I think that’s absolutely awesome and so it’s really important that we are providing our services and excellence while also understanding that we can’t please everyone and so just having to build up the confidence and what it is that we provide our services and the people that are for us are for us and I’m glad that we are building in our business and that we’re getting our name out in our area more people are wanting to work with us. We’re getting opportunities to do some really big projects and being the runner for peoples vision.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I love this question because I feel like within the two years that I been a full-time entrepreneur prior to that I’ve always had to pay it or do something different and I think that that was an opportunity for me to really hone in on what I really wanted to do because you know, videography and photography you can bury this various things that you can specialize in and it just took a little while for me to figure out what my specialty is what I’m good at what I feel the most fulfilled, and and purpose filled. The biggest pivot was how I got into videography and photography. It wasn’t something that I was looking for. It wasn’t something that I had a skill in. I was doing influencing focusing on that when I got sick I had to take some steroids I gained a lot of weight I didn’t like how I looked on camera and so I just wanted to stop doing that influencing thing and God had other plans. I picked up the camera for the first time in my church. I started capturing photos and some video for church services. We have friends who had a photography business. He gave me like a 5 to 10 minute tutorial. I shot everything on automatic. By week six I had a full understanding on how to shoot my camera manually, and from that point on I just really fell in love with the craft and our first couple of clients were individuals from the church who just who needed something we never did anything that they asked before and so for them to see what we didn’t see it was a great opportunity a great start of us establishing our actual business, so ultimately I went from being in front of the camera to being behind the camera and really helping individuals to unpack the issues that I once had that I had to do on my own so it was a full circle moment.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I can’t speak for everyone however, I can speak for myself and say that as a creative it’s so easy for us to get in a position to consume, and to compare what it is that we do how our work looks to that of someone else who does substantially better than we do.

I’d say a journey that illustrates resilience is really not giving up on myself. You know I tell people a lot when I have personal conversations that is easy for us to compare but a lot of the times is an emotional comparison and not a realistic comparison. And what I mean by that is a lot of the times will compare our year one to someone’s year, and not to say that we should compare but because we are human we’re going to look we’re going to glean it should not stop us from doing what it is that we’re doing however, it’s a challenge us to do something different if you’re comparing yourself to someone who you feel like work is phenomenal are you willing to put in the work the time the commitment that it takes for you to get just that good ? Because honestly, there’s no one saying your work is better or worse than another person, except for us ourselves. All that to say my audacity to continue to fuel my passion to work at my craft to invest in myself to not wait into clients book me to pick up my camera to study to speak to people online who work that I admire and build an authentic connection with them to not be afraid to step out of that comfort zone and to do something that will get me to that next level because Faith without works is still dead.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.angiebwinn.com
• Instagram: angiebwinn
• Facebook: angiebwinn

Image Credits
Brandon & Angelique Winfield of BA Creative Media Agency