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

David & Kirstin , appreciate you joining us today. Let’s talk about innovation. What’s the most innovative thing you’ve done in your career?

When owning your own business we feel like everything you do has to be innovative. One of the things we enjoy about owning our own business is the creative side of it all. Owning your own business means that you are constantly creating ideas to keep money flowing. In fact, the more you create the more money you make. It’s exhilarating to know that the sky is the limit when you work for yourself. It’s a challenge that you must happily except every day in the life of a business owner! There can definitely be highs and lows, but it is dire that you continue to keep your head up, trust that if you are putting forth your best efforts, be grateful, go out and truly love what you are doing, and never give up (even during what feels like the lows) it will all come together when it is supposed to. If you are putting in 100%, how could your next step be wrong?

Over the 15 years that we have been in business, we’ve been innovative in many ways. For the first 12 years we both worked full time jobs, raised two children, and remodeled our home, all while working as hard as we could on our business to get it where it is today. We kept our dream alive while doing whatever we needed to do to keep our business going and getting our name out. We had to be sure that everyone knew that we were the people that they could count on for beautiful photos, and that we were serious about this as a career. Being the people that others trust with their precious memories isn’t something we have ever taken lightly. Of course we had to start somewhere, and while we can see how far we have come with our photo taking skills, we are still so thankful for the people who trusted us and so proud of the work we have done to get to the place we are today. Progress is not something one owns over night. Photography is like everything else, you have to practice to get better, and we would agree the same thing applies to owning and running a business!

Our most recent innovation is that we have turned our once 2 person photography business into a media company. We now hire 8 lovely people to work with us. We have videographers, photographers, an editor, and an accountant. We’ve realized that to grow a business it is crucial to have people working with you. There is only so much 2 people can do, and we selectively choose the best people to work with us to make sure that our services and products are top notch!

We have created photo and video packages that are perfect for almost anyone, and budget friendly as well. Our goal is to provide work for these talented creatives, while allowing them to do what they love as we run the business and help to create beautiful photos and films that our clients can enjoy! We have found that there are so many talented photographers and videographers out there, but they have trouble with or have no time to run their own business. Running a business can be so tough and time consuming, but that’s where we come in! We hire these extremely talented creatives to service the clients who come to us and want amazing service and quality at an affordable price. We pay our associates well, they get to do what they love, and our clients enjoy it all without breaking their bank. We are excited to announce that we have officially launched our new associate packages, and we can’t wait to see how many creatives and clients benefit from these experiences!

But the icing on the cake is that you can still hire David and I to be your photographers! We are creating a new brand for an even more exquisite experience! You’ll have the two of us plus our team of talented vendors to work with you on your wedding day! The details of this are still behind the scenes, but we cannot wait to break out and announce what we are working on and be able to finally offer this one of a kind experience to you! Stay posted or contact us if you’re interested in getting on the books!

David & Kirstin , 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?

Our business was created out of so much love! My husband David fell in love with photography in high school 25 years ago. When I met him 22 years ago, I admired that about him and enjoyed watching his talent grow. Then one day I (Kirstin) decided to pick up a camera myself, and as you can guess, the rest is history! As our talents grew, we knew that this was something we both dreamed of doing as a career. When we decided to commit to one another for the rest of our lives, we also decided that it was time to officially start our business as professional photographers. However at the time we were not yet professionals but we were trying our best and working towards that goal!

Fast forward 15 years (although at most times it did not feel fast, it was every emotion you can imagine) here we are! There were many many years of working full time jobs and coming home and working on our photography business for many hours into the night while raising two beautiful babies, and most years remodeling our 1940’s home. There were weekends worked, sleepless nights, and days where we felt like throwing in the towel! But, we kept on waking up and believing that this time the love and effort that we were putting into our business would pay off! We offered many free or very low cost sessions to build up our portfolio. We took as many photos as we possibly could to show that we were progressing and that we really wanted this as our career. We hired a videographer so that we could offer those services as well. We wanted to offer what we knew our clients deserved! We believed in ourselves and eventually others did as well. We cannot tell you how wonderful it feels that others trust us with such special memories in their lives. We never take that lightly and will never take that for granted. It is such an honor!

We really think that all of the above sets us apart from others, but will happily admit that there are so many talented photographers/videographers/creatives in our area! We truly believe that the clients who are right for us will find us, and that we all have a place in this creative world! We do hope to create as much magic as we possibly can, and as we’ve mentioned before, we now have a team of extremely talented photographers and videographers that we are happy to share with you!

Have you ever had to pivot?

Owning your own business means you have to pivot regularly. Even if it’s only a minor pivot, you have to be prepared to go in the direction that is keeping your business successful. As creatives we have to be super flexible and always pay close attention to what your ideal clients are needing. What they want or need changes often, so have a flexible mindset is critical to being a business owner. It’s not always about what or how you want to do things, but it is important that you find a way to do the things that your clients desire in a way that not only meets their needs and sets you apart, but how you enjoy doing them as well. It is extremely important that as a creative you continue to pour the love from your heart into what you are doing! That is when what you do will be noticed by others. Breathe that fire, that passion, that love into your work and you will become irresistible to others. They will want to feel it! Then, you will pivot into the direction that you are meant to!

For us at this moment, we are feeling the pull to pivot in a way that not only offers our clients more experiences, but provides other talented creatives with work doing what they love while leaving the rest to us! Now our clients can get a beautiful product and experience at an affordable cost, and our employees get to do what they love and do what they are most talented at without having the hardship of running a full time business. It’s a win win!

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

This is something that just comes naturally to us! Fortunately, everyone we take photos of feels like a friend already. Being that we are sharing something so special with them, it’s like an instant bond. It’s hard to even explain it, but just imagine it’s some of the best days of your life and there’s this person there that you don’t yet know very well, but regardless they are a part of this experience. You can’t help but to feel like you have a connection, a bond with them. It’s like instant friendship, and it’s wonderful! It’s a big part of why we love what we do! We get to share these wonderful life memories with people and even better, we get to capture it all so that they never forget any of the details either. Every time they see these photos the memories come back to life and that allows these memories to continue to stay stored in their minds. It’s definitely something we feel so grateful to be a part of!

So we make all of these friends, and luckily with modern technology we are able to text regularly, and keep up with them on social media. And, since we offer so many different kinds of photography and videography services we are able to continue to photograph their life milestones and accomplishments! Have we mentioned how much we love what we do and what an honor it is???

Contact Info:

• Website: DKHebertPhoto.com
• Instagram: @dkhebetmedia
• Facebook: DK Hebert Photography

Image Credits
DK Hebert Media