Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Christina Russo. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

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

A few years ago I decided to leave my full time job and run my agency, Fresh Print Media, full time. I thought I knew what it takes to be successful. Some solid work to show potential clients, a good offer, easy to work with… I thought I’d just put it out there and I would be booked and busy, no problem. The reality is it takes a lot more to find success. Most of all, persistence over time and taking action. It is so easy to fall into a trap of reading, researching, getting coached, taking online courses. There are so many resources for learning anything and everything these days. The hard part is to take action on what you learn and keep doing it even when you don’t see anything in return. Many a time in my past I sent 5 outreach emails and heard nothing so abandoned it. The reality of business, I’ve learned, is you have to keep sending those emails or making the social reels or showing up to networking events long after you feel like it. It is a long term game and the prizes go to those who stick with it. If you are stuck in your business now, I urge you to examine your daily activities. Are you just spinning your wheels with research and learning? If so what action can you take based on what you’ve found? Are there actions you started but then abandoned? Look back at those and evaluate if you should start them again or shift your approach. Put your actions on your weekly calendar and be persistent!

Christina , 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 grew up in an entrepreneurial, creative family that did things differently. Through homeschooling, watching my dad’s business endeavors over the years, and learning art from my mom I become self sufficient at figuring things out and making money. I always had a side hustle and was deeply involved in the arts through dance, theater, and music. After college I departed from this route, working food service and eventually becoming a hospitality manager which opened my eyes to a new side of business. Over the years I started to pick up photography as a creative hobby, a way to get back to my creative roots with a low investment of time and supplies. I never imagined it could make money! But thanks to a friend sending the photos I took to her talent manager, everything slowly snowballed. The talent manager started referring other clients, I was shooting head shots, portraits, and learning new skills in photography and editing. I explored different types of work, finally stumbling upon commercial work. I first realized there was a necessity for photography for marketing needs when my restaurant’s PR firm sent in a photographer for our seasonal menu. This was in 2018 and I slowly started to reach out to local restaurants and do some small jobs there in addition to head shots and portraits. In 2020 when the pandemic hit, it was very much still a part-time hobby turned side-hustle. The pandemic caused my hospitality job to go away and all my upcoming shoots to cancel. In panic I took a full time job in a completely different industry. Over 2020 I was fortunate to work with a business coach and with the support of him and my friends, I left my job in March 2021 to take Fresh Print Media full time as a creative agency! Today Fresh Print Media handles creative photo and video based projects for other businesses. Types of projects we handle include product and lifestyle photography for marketing and ads, informational videos, sizzle and highlight video, personal branding, and corporate event coverage. Every client has different wants and needs to fit their business model and strategy! I really enjoy working with other companies to elevate and support what they do. One of the most rewarding moments is photographing other entrepreneurs for personal branding photos. Often they know they need to be the face of their brand but are reticent to be on camera. I love the transformation that happens when someone goes from “I hate pictures, I almost didn’t show up today” to “that was so much fun, I can’t wait to do it again!”

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I wish I had sought out community sooner. There are so many amazing communities both online and in person that you can join. I now belong to a number of groups that vary between creatives, entrepreneurs, and a mix of both. It can be so helpful to be around people that understand where you are and what you are doing. Surrounding yourself with like minded people can help you from feeling lonely on your journey, connect you to new collaborators, and inspire you to new levels. I’ve also found so many amazing recommendations and advice through the people I meet.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I’ve had to do a lot of work around the belief that time is money. I learned that time is exchanged for money when I was younger, something that may very well work for labor based jobs. But as a creative that formula doesn’t really take into account the investment behind your equipment, your skills, and lifetime value of creating assets that drive revenue (think music licensing). I had to learn to shift away from charging hourly and now charge flat rates and packages dependent on the specific project. This model also protects the integrity of my work as now I do not have clients trying to save a few bucks by pushing me to cut corners or rush editing.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.freshpritmedia.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/freshprintmedia
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-russo-73336791/

Image Credits
My head shot is credited to Alex DelVecchio at Vex Media. All other images are by Christina Russo/Fresh Print Media.