We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ashley Green & Erin Hedin a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Ashley & Erin, appreciate you joining us today. Can you share a customer success story with us?
As Boudoir Photographers, we are privileged to meet women from diverse backgrounds and experiences, all seeking to express their unique stories through this intimate form of photography. It’s remarkable to see how each woman has her own motivation for pursuing this type of photo shoot. Many of them are using it as a way to reclaim their bodily autonomy, whether they’re emerging from a traumatic experience or coming from a conservative upbringing where sensuality and sexuality were viewed as taboo. The common thread among these stories is the desire to regain or rejoice in a sense of love and compassion for themselves and celebrate their individuality. One of the most inspiring examples of this was a woman who came to us for a photo shoot after battling breast cancer. During her hair and makeup session, she shared her story with us, revealing that she had undergone a double mastectomy surgery. This procedure left her with a body that was entirely foreign to her. Her breasts were removed, and tissue from her midsection was used to reconstruct them. As she spoke, we couldn’t help but imagine how daunting it must be to look in the mirror and see a body that looks different from the one you’ve known your entire life, with new scars and proportions that you never asked for.
From the moment this incredible woman stepped into our studio, we knew this photo shoot would be something extraordinary for both her and for us as her photographers, who she decided to place her trust in. We approached the session with deep admiration for her unwavering spirit and indomitable resilience. Our goal was to help her rediscover the beauty in her new body, to embrace the strength that it possessed, and to envision a future filled with promise and acceptance. In the end, our client shared with us that this experience was a significant step forward for her, an opportunity to reconnect with her body and begin to love it again, for all it had been through and all that it represents. We felt privileged to be able to help her see the beauty in her scars, her new body, and the bright future that lay ahead.
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?
Of course! Our names are Hi! Erin Hedin and Ashley Green. We are Seattle-based Boudoir Photographers who are passionate about the work we get to do. We have been inseparable friends for the past 15 years and have always found ourselves enjoying creating together. Almost 3 years ago, we decided that we could take our individual passions for Photography and merge them into something extremely powerful, and that is when Hush & Wild was born. We knew we wanted to create an experience for women of every shape, size, color, age, and story. A place where every woman felt welcome, safe, and seen. A place where women could come to reclaim their femininity, celebrate their bodies and themselves as they are, say ‘F off’ to a society that raised us all to never feel satisfied with who we are and how we look. We are able to meet such powerful females who have gone through things in their lives that have left them feeling disconnected with the bodies that they live in, and provide an experience that helps them take a leap forward into loving and accepting themselves as they may not have before.
While this opportunity is extremely empowering, we fully understand that it’s also a more vulnerable type of photoshoot, and with vulnerability comes nerves. That’s why we’ve created an entire day around making our clients feel comfortable and like their best selves. We are intentional with this throughout the entire experience with each client from the initial phases of chatting over the phone and explaining what they can expect from the experience, to getting to know them while they get pampered with hair and makeup, to us sitting next to them doing the poses with them- we’re with them every step of the way. Every shoot is unique, and we tailor our approach to each client’s preferences. It’s the little things that we feel makes each shoot personal and comfortable such as playing their favorite music, providing their preferred snacks, and offering other amenities that will make them feel at ease. After we are done shooting we send our clients away for a break while we edit so we can show them some of their amazing photos that same day, leaving them with an immediate newfound sense of confidence.
Overall, we understand that every client who steps into our studio is embarking on a journey of self-discovery, and we are honored to be a part of that journey. Our mission is to empower our clients, helping them rediscover or their beauty and reignite their confidence. We take great pride in doing everything we can to ensure they feel amazing every step of the way!
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
When we started Hush & Wild, we really only had a camera around our necks and a fire lit underneath of us to get this dream off the ground. Erin was working as a bartender full time and Ashley was photographing weddings and juggling her role as a Mom to two boys. Hush & Wild started out very part-time for both of us. Our first few photoshoots took place in studios we found around the Seattle area that we could rent hourly. Each shoot we did, we charged enough to invest back into the business and from there we sought out more education opportunities and ways to better our skills. Our plan was to set aggressive goals for ourselves by measuring KPIs, continue education on how to improve our skills and really create a reputable business that speaks for itself. While at first our profit was minimal, by the end of year two in business we proudly hit 6 figures.
When we first started, we found ways to make our overhead more attainable by sharing a studio with other photographers, investing in lingerie on sale days, and setting a firm budget on what we had to spend. We also made sure to follow the “Profit First” method by Mike Michalowicz, making sure to allocate funds biweekly into appropriate accounts which helped us with our cash-flow maintenance and profitability. Overall, the initial investments we made were crucial to our growth as they provided us with the resources and foundation we needed.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
We love this question because it speaks to the success of what we really aimed to create in terms of our clients’ experiences. Our main goal was to create a transformative experience for our clients, one that would leave them feeling empowered and connected to their femininity in a way that transcends the limitation of a single day. Our past clients have assured us that they live on a high from their photoshoot and are able to see themselves through a lens that reflects the way that their loved ones see them. In short, we have found that consistency in the photos, product, and experience that we provide allows us to gain a lot of clientele from word-of-mouth. We all know that it’s easier to purchase a product or an experience when a friend has raved about it versus something you find on Instagram or a website you come across without credibility. We really think this is one of our most effective strategies in growing our clientele. We’ve also had some success (when we are not shadow banned ha!) on TikTok and Instagram!
Contact Info:
- Website: hushandwildboudoir.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/hushandwildboudoir
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2459062041069974/
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@hushandwildboudoir?_t=8brXYn8U4du&_r=1