We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Bryanna Gordon a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Bryanna, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?
You’re totally right – naming a business IS hard! But whenever you find that name that clicks, the breath that you didn’t realize you were holding rushes out in the biggest victory sigh! It’s very rewarding! Coming to the conclusion of naming my photography business “Milestone KC” was no easy task. In the photography world, most people rely on their own names to represent their brand, initials in a decorative monogram, or various renditions of “photography” “studio” “shutter” in the title. I’m by no means judging those who use this tactic! In fact, the first business name I operated under was “BG Film and Photo.” I’m 3 for 3 in the cliche category!
It wasn’t long into my newly blossoming career that I knew I wanted a better name that defied the natural order of things, but still embodied the essence of photography. Queue the rebranding montage! Brainstorm after brainstorm was getting me nowhere until one faithful day, I said to myself, “I just love capturing people’s greatest life milestones!” It was like cracking the perfect egg and leaving no shells. I’m also a sucker for representing my city, hence where the “KC” came into the picture. To me, it felt different, fresh, and modern, which represented the impression I wanted to give clients who came across my page.
Now, I am the woman behind “Milestone KC,” where I “capture memories and milestones for every occasion.” You can’t tell me that doesn’t inspire greatness!
Bryanna, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Hi, my name is Bryanna and I am your friendly – slightly quirky – local photographer! I have always been fascinated by the wonderful world of photography, but it wasn’t until I met the storytelling powers of videography did I have the courage to pursue media production as a full-time career. Thanks to the endless encouragement, support, and love from my husband and our friends and family, I have been rocking the photography world of Kansas City for over 6 years now. I specifically specialize in weddings and other large events, but I do everything from families, seniors, maternity, headshots/branding, and any other type of session my clients can dream up! I love telling stories with my camera and capturing the authentic beauty in everyone I meet.
One of the most unique things about my business “Milestone KC” is the resources I provide to my couples. I regularly add planning tips and tricks, unique session inspiration, styling guidance and more to my website’s blog for clients to have free access to. I gatekeep NOTHING about the Kansas City wedding industry. Planning an event like your wedding is already overwhelming enough. Between my blog and my monthly email newsletter, I hope continue to provide my clients with a well-rounded experience and a friendly face who genuinely cares about their day. It’s just one of the things I love to do to make the “Milestone KC” experience different from all the rest.
What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?
Like many, I relied on the safety net of “real” jobs before taking the leap into full-fledged entrepreneurship. When I got out of college, I did retail sales work and photography for larger companies who capture school portraits. It was grueling hours with – let’s be honest – not great pay, but luckily I was able to live at home early on to make those investment leaps with the capital I did have coming in. I would say yes to any freelancing opportunity I could, whether it played to my videography background or photography side. I was always editing some sort of commercial content, assistant camera operating with a local production crew, or catching up on my own client galleries those days. I will say, having a hybrid schedule with full-time/side-hustle work was nice for stability of income and let me take the risks that I did, but soon became difficult to juggle priorities as one outgrew the other.
Whenever I had to start turning down client inquiries because my “real” job was getting in the way, I knew I had started a business that could one day become my career. If you are self-motivated, organized, passionate, and love taking risks, then entrepreneurship is right for you! The most difficult part of taking on a business solo is being the operator of your own progression. How YOU show up everyday determines your success. There’s no delegating or hiding!
If you aren’t a written goal kind of person, now is the time to start setting visual milestones in your own business. You’ll find you can measure and track your success more efficiently when you start checking in with yourself. For example, I used to put a lot of energy into a lead generator program that was not getting me my ideal clients. What I found out after analyzing the data? My couples find me through Google more often than social media or in-person events. My priorities and energy switched to building Google ads, enhancing my SEO, and redesigning my mobile website. The results? Multiple enthusiastic inquiries a week with a 80% booking rate.
That may sound specific to photographers, but the root of it is this: find your strengths and start with small goals to grow them. Listening to the numbers instead of charging in blind and you will save immense amounts of time and resources. Stay focused on your set list of goals, and if opportunities come that do not serve your goals, let them roll on by.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I may not be the “expert” in this field, but early this year during my slow season, I spent an ungodly amount of time trying to figure out the in’s and out’s of social media. There’s a few tips that has helped me finally gain some traction on the apps.
1) Post like your life depends on it. Seems dramatic – it’s not. Maintaining consistent content is essential to being a relevant player on the court of social media. Utilize as many functions of posting as you can. Make stories, add to your highlights, comment, like, and share other’s posts. Engagement is key!
2) V.I.D.E.O.S. The people want reels. It’s as simple as that. You must give the people what they want! Channel your inner influencer and share, share, share! Am I doing this now myself? No, it’s exhausting! Plus my statistics say Google is my main source of leads, so do your research on your own company because every business is different! However, one of the plus sides of making posting a habit is that clients will go from your website, to your socials, and that want to see that you are active. Once it becomes second nature, it really isn’t that bad!
3) Disregard your grid art. This one was TOUGH for me when I started getting my socials up and going again. I personally know several photographers who are still handicapped by their posting style from years ago even knowing this essential fact! Once upon a time I was also a victim to having a certain look and style and I was afraid to post anything that didn’t fit into a severely tiny box. As a creative, you simply cannot limit yourself this way – share your art! All of it!
That being said, if any of these tips helped you, go and give my pages a quick follow. Supporting a small business is free!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.milestonekc.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/milestone_kc/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/milestonekc
