We recently connected with Caroline Bendel and have shared our conversation below.

Caroline, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think it takes to be successful?

There are many factors that can contribute to ones success. I think that the really cool thing about becoming successful in a small business is that YOU did a majority of the work. When I first started my business, I knew nothing about photography. I literally did not even know how to turn my camera onto manual mode. My Husband kept telling me we should sell the camera since it just sat on a shelf, but I was adamant that I was going to learn how to use it. I told him if I didn’t learn how to use it within the year we could sell it.

I had a drive to be successful. I didn’t know how I was going to get there in the beginning, but I kept pushing myself to figure it out. I think that is the first step to becoming successful: The drive to do it. There were times of pure frustration, but I kept telling myself to push past that frustration and to take every “fail” as a learning curve. I would take what I learned during that fail moment, and would adjust, learn, and push forward.

My Husband and family became so supportive and encouraging of me. Every time I wanted to quit, my Husband was there to pull me back up and to keep going and learning. I can’t tell you the amount of practice photoshoots I used him for. That is the second thing that helped me be successful: Having someone there to support me and believe in me.

Lastly, I had to be comfortable being uncomfortable. I am an Enneagram 9, and if you know anything about them..we don’t like conflict and we don’t love being uncomfortable. I had and still have to literally force myself to be ok being in new and uncomfortable positions. I had to be ok putting myself out there. It was hard in the beginning, but now, 3 years after starting my business, I actually love working in new environments and with new people. I am proud to announce that I am a photographer, something that took me a long time to say. I know I am successful and I know I am talented and I know that this is what I am meant to do. I believe that is the true final step to becoming successful: To be proud of yourself and what you have built.

Caroline, 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?

I started my business back in early 2020. At the time I was a new mom of a 3 month old little girl, my Husband was active duty in the Marine Corps and we were living in Oceanside, CA without any family around us. I was going a little stir crazy being home all of the time and decided I wanted to have a hobby. We owned a Canon Camera at the time and I did not even know how to turn it on. I decided I was going to learn how to use it with the intention of taking photos of our daughter and family. After watching countless youtube videos and participating in a mentorship session with a local photographer, I absolutely fell in love with photography. I called my husband and told him, “This is what I want to do! I love it!” I was still un-easy on how I would make this a business, but I was determined. In the beginning I focused on doing multiple model calls with different individuals so that I could really practice. I purchased more in-depth photography courses working on shooting and editing, and just practiced and learned as much as I could. I finally began to develop a skill set where I was confident in my abilities and began charging clients. My name started getting referred more and more and I developed a great client base. My Husband ended his Marine Corps career in 2022 and we moved to where we are now in El Dorado Hills, CA. Which is where both of us grew up and met and where most of our family is. It is so fun being able to photograph in such a familiar area and to connect with clients that have grown up here or are newer here.

I am a dedicated Family, Maternity and Newborn photographer. When I was a little girl I was always known as the babysitter. I absolutely LOVED and still love children. Growing up I knew I wanted to do something involving kids, maybe that was a teacher or a child psychologist..but now I know that is a photographer. Family and pregnancy is so beautiful to me. I truly get emotionally attached to every client that is in front of my camera. I do not take for granted how lucky I am to photograph such once in a life-time moments. Having two girls now myself, ages 3 and 8 months, I know first hand how quickly they grow up. You can’t freeze time, but you CAN freeze photos, and thats what I love about my job.

I adore handling Newborn babies and photographing their sweet self. I have taken different courses on Newborn safety and am confident in swaddling and posing babies. Babies can be challenging because they need a lot of patience, but I believe that is where I am a benefit. I am truly an extremely patient person. Also, not to sound a little self-centered, but kids usually REALLY like me. I feel like by truly loving children, I am able to get down to their level and embrace them better than someone who doesn’t really love kids.

I like to be known as a very stress-free photographer. Oftentimes photoshoots can feel stressful, so I like to make you feel more level-headed. Over time I have collected the best tips to help your photoshoot go smoothly and I always send that out prior to your session. I like my clients to feel as prepared as possible and to truly enjoy their photoshoot experience with me and be excited to come back again. I am so proud of how far I have come in this business of mine and with hard work, I know I will only become better. One thing I have really learned is that you can never stop learning and growing!

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Being that I moved from Oceanside, CA to El Dorado Hills, CA in the middle of my business, I definitely have had to learn to start over in terms of growing my clientele. Growing your clientele in the beginning can be hard and frustrating. One thing about photography is that no matter where you move to, there are always going to be other photographers. I had to let go of thinking about my “competition* and instead focus on MYSELF and what I could offer to the new people around me. I joined a lot of the community Facebook pages and did a lot of model calls. Many photographers don’t like model calls, but I personally love them and I attribute a lot of my clientele growth to them. I was able to meet a large amount of incredible family in my community, share their images online, and also have them share my name to their friends/family. This helped my clientele grow quickly. Another thing that helped me, was getting out to events in my community. For an example, there is a local Children’s/Family consignment sale in my community and I was able to participate in the event by taking photos and in exchange I was able to chat with the shoppers and exchange my business card. New people had a chance to see my face and talk with me and I gained a lot of new clients from it! It was also so fun!

For myself, letting go of the idea of “How much money can I make” and instead focusing on “How can I get myself involved with this new community more and show off my brand and name” helped me build my clientele to where it is now. Which I am very happy with!

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

When my Husband hit 8 years in the Marine Corps, he (we) decided he was not going to re-enlist and we were going to move back to our hometown of El Dorado Hills and continue our lives on the civilian side. We had a 2 year old and I was pregnant with our second baby girl and we were about to make (at the time) the biggest adjustment of our life. Thankfully my parents were more than happy to open their doors to us and we moved in with them as my Husband had not secured a civilian job yet and we couldn’t depend on my photography income.

What we thought was going to be a smooth transition, was indeed the complete opposite. It took my Husband around 6 months to secure a job and I was having a hard time initially building clients. It felt like we took 5 steps backwards in life and were starting over. It took a toll on our mental health for awhile until we finally pivoted our mindsets.

It isn’t a punishment to live with our family, it has indeed been the biggest blessing. We are so blessed to have family who is willing to welcome us back into their house while we got back on our feet. The transition from military to civilian life is really something you can’t understand until you go through it. We stuck through it as a family though and are officially one year post exiting the Marines and my Husband has an incredible job, I am doing wonderful in my photography business, we are saving to buy a house, our girls are happy and health and life is GREAT.

Sometimes you have to pivot your mindset in hard times and remind yourself to keep pushing forward as the hard times are only temporary and greater things are to come when you work hard and have a positive mindset.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bendelphotography.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/carolinebendelphotography

Image Credits
Bendel Photography