We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Christen Bane. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Christen below.

Alright, Christen thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

We were a one income family with very low overhead to begin with. I wanted to be able to not work outside of the house and be with our kids at least for their first few years. We came up with an amount that we would need to bring in in order to make it work without Josh’s full time job. Once we could make that number happen with only working photo/video work- mostly weddings- it was time to take the first giant step, put in a 2 weeks notice. Once we were on our own- it was always “yes”. All kinds of projects. We never really niched down, and somehow still haven’t. There are a handful of things we don’t advertise, like newborn photography or music videos. We built our gear and space slowly in cash until about 2020 when we financed our first office space. I’m sure we could’ve done something to move that along more quickly- but we were insistant on investing in our own space and it has been rewarding. We recently purchased a little larger space in Downtown Dothan, AL and fulfilled Josh’s vision of our very own infinity wall. One of the major milestones for me was being able to sustain full time employees. Knowing someone else’s livlihood relied soley on their paycheck that I write was so fullfilling. I want to be someone’s stepping stone, but I also want to be someone’s final destination for employment.

Christen, 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’m Christen Bane, a photographer based in Dothan, Alabama. I am partnered in business with my husband, Joshua Bane. Our company is Evergreen Creative Company. We have 3 kids who all are VERY involved in everything we do. While Josh was in school full time for crisis counseling, he started a techy youtube channel as creative outlet- bane-tech.com. It grew enough to create some affiliate and other connections. He enjoyed processing the video side of things, and was always looking to upscale his production. After I attended a cousin’s wedding, I shared their wedding video on social media once it was posted. My high school friend and featured Canvas Rebel artist, Chelsea Gieselmann, commented “You could totally make videos like this”. Then, he did. I started going along as a second shooter. After shooting several weddings- we started looking into photography as well. We could just be a team and cover it all, while being able to work together well enough to know what the other needed- like quiet during audio recording, extra time for video without flash, etc. While I dabbled in film photography in high school, Inspiration for the art really came about more so 2019, where it really was a driving force in my career. Not just a job. I didn’t know this is where my career was going to go, but I can’t imagine doing anything else. While Josh and I both CAN do photo and video, Josh is more video and I am more photo.

We offer a variety of services within the production realm. I love everything from weddings to large events and festivals to corporate media. There are also just good ideas I have in between the “normal” that I can’t NOT do. Like, Digitizing old media. My parents had boxes and boxes and BOXES of old prints. So I purchased my first commercial scanner and we scanned in every. single. photo. Now the entire family has access to those boxes that are no longer in storage. Then I thought, why not restore photos? This way, local people will not have to send off the one photo they have left. They can come in, I can scan it, they can bring it right back home. Same thing with VHS and VHS-C tapes. That film has a 25ish year life span, and most of those tapes are coming into that time frame! I’ve sliced and taped wedding films back together they thought was lost for good, and I really loved that accomplishment. While I cannot picture niching down to one thing(see what I did there?) I do see where we’ve scaled into our favorites- and I’m ok with that.

I love being able to sit with a corporate client and create a plan that holistically executes the content the needed, PLUS more because we were all able to be strategic with our time and efforts. One of my favorite clients, Amy B., will text me about once a week about a campaign her organization is running for an employee give-back. She updates me with multiple emojis, and praise, and tears about how well the campaign is going due to in part- the content we suggested to add on. I cannot tell you how many times we have all cried during these interviews about how far the funds reach, and the realistic impact these employees are making. Which I don’t know that it necessarily sets us apart from others, but I do know the importance of how much we care about the project makes a difference to the client. Their project IS our project. Their success is the basis of our success.

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

We tried to cashflow EVERYTHING until it came to our first real estate purchase for an office location. We went from about $5,000 in gear in 2018 – to approximately $112,000 according to my currently overdue insurance itemization report. Sometimes jobs we took just paid for the new gear we wanted to make that job look the way it needed to. We made sure our household bills were paid, then scaled up where and when we could. In 2020 we moved into our office studio/office space. We financed 800 sq ft at about half the monthly costs of the rental amounts with the goal of eventually being able to rent it out as another stream of income later down the line. We were able to connect with a great accounting team that helped us set things up appropriately and advising us where things needed go to help us for taxes! That alone is one of the best investments we could’ve made. While now, we actually trade content for monthly services- I would definitely pay for their knowledge.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Being seen has been the most effective strategy for growing clientele. We go to a lot of events because we are covering A LOT of events. Which in turn, allows us to be seen on location, then again after when the coverage is posted by the clients. We are able to mingle with several clients, past and future while also doing our actual job.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.evergreencreative.co/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evergreencreative.co/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/evergreencreative.co
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/evergreencreativecompany
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU7o41IladrB4faELnnRMqQ

Image Credits

Taylor Edwards