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

Devon , appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

The summer of 2013 I started my business initially as a photographer. I wanted to photograph anything and everything! I jumped right into weddings and portraits and loved every minute of it! I built my business to a thriving little small business that allowed me to quit my serving job and work photography full time.

My main reason for starting this business was time freedom. I wanted to be able to make my own schedule to be with my kids and there for my kids as much as I could. I didn’t want to miss anything! I had a dream of always driving them to school and picking them up afterwards. I wanted to be as present as possible!

As the years went on and I began to pivot my business into mainly weddings, I started booking up my calendar and getting very busy! This was the dream! Until it wasn’t…

I remember it very clearly, and always will. It was a Saturday in the very beginning of December 2021, my last wedding of my busiest wedding year yet. The wedding was beautiful but chaotic and difficult to execute well. The same day my daughter had her first ever rec league volleyball tournament and I was missing it! She was texting me the throughout the entire thing trying to keep me updated. “We won again!” “This is the best I’ve ever played!” They ended going to the end and winning second place, her winning her first (and only) sports trophy!

While I was so happy for her… I was devastated I had missed it. The MAIN reason I had small my business and became and entrepreneur was to not miss these types of events, yet here I was, missing out. I knew I had lost track of the real reason I wanted to work for myself and I had to get back on track. Yes, weddings are glamorous and good money, but that was not the life for me.

I had started adding mentorships and coaching for new photographers into what I offered in 2020 and had mentored a few ladies here and there. I found so much joy in watching others succeed and loved being the one to help them get there. So when I knew in my gut I didn’t want to pursue weddings as deeply as I had been, mentoring and coaching became my main focus.

I started off 2022 with a bang! I hosted my first CEO Business Retreat and sold out my tickets! There were photographers, weddings planners, professional cake bakers… all there to learn how to grow their small businesses more that year. From then on I really knew I could help more than just photographers when it came to mentoring and coaching.

Today I am still growing that side of my business and incorporating so many different ways people can learn and grow! I offer 1.1 Private Coaching for anyone who is wanting to grow in any way. I have digital offers that people can purchase, download, and learn on their own time and their own pace. I periodically do coaching webinars on different topics, as well as in person workshops!

It is such an honor to be trusted to help people grow in their passions. I love it so much and could not be the coach and mentor I am today if I had not pursued photography as much as I did the first half of my career. Even though it wasn’t where I wanted to end up, it was the path that was necessary to take to get to where I am today…. living my life doing what I love, helping others!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

If we go way back to when I first started my business… I was a very young mom & wife in a marriage that would not last. I had two kids by the time I was 25 and then a single mom when I was 27. I got pregnant with my first child while in school at the University of Tennessee. I was going for Early Childhood Education, but once I had my first child… I quickly realized that was not the path for me. At the time I was a server in the restaurant industry with no way out.

When my children were little, I had a friend who did photography as a hobby and he would take photos of them at different times. And I just remember thinking… I could do this! I was always the friend in high school that was taking photos and I already took a million of the kids on my little, tiny point and shoot camera. I was going to get myself a real digital camera and teach myself how to be a professional! OH and also how to run a business… which of course, I had never done either.

I read the entire manual to my camera when I bought it before ever touching it! I had no clue what any of the buttons did. Once I figured that out… I would read as many blogs as I could, find as many info diagrams on Pinterest as I could, and practice by photographing anyone who would let me use them as a model! I had a dream of time freedom, being with my kids more, and owning my schedule and my income.

I had always been a very detailed person, but I finally discovered that I was passionate about something. And that those two brand words were born. Eventually I learned that I was a type 2, helper on the enneagram and I learn how to be my true, authentic self. I settled on my brand words as Passionate, Detailed, Authentic because I felt that as I had grown over the years, those were the terms that best described me and my business was a reflection of who I was as a person.

Over the years, I decided I wanted to start helping other photographers learn how to grown and be their own bosses, too. I knew there was a reason I was going to college for education… I wanted to help others. I just didn’t realize at the time that the “others” would be other aspiring photographers!

Today I am most proud of the success of my mentees. Not the number of beautiful weddings I have photographed. Not the amount of years I have been able to keep my business running all on my own with no college education in business or photography. But the fact that I can watch others own their lives, own their freedom, be there for their families, do what they love for their career… that is what makes me feel fulfilled.

I offer 1.1 Private Coaching for anyone looking to grow in their lives. This can be as a photographer, as a small business owner, or someone looking to grow a personal brand. This coaching is 100% curated to the needs of the mentee. I also offer online digital products for photographers, as well as webinars and in person workshops on occasion.

I get so excited when an inquiry for a mentorship comes into my inbox and can not wait to watch that mentee grow and blossom!

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

When I began in the photography industry, it seemed as though the only way to grow, make good money, and be successful was to be a wedding photographer who took at least 20 weddings a year. I went back and forth on whether or not I even wanted to do weddings because of the time they took! Not only the day of, but the prep work before and the editing afterwards. They are a lot! But I knew I wanted to go full time with my business and everyone I was around in the industry was doing this… so I felt I needed to also.

Once I finally had a big year of weddings, I ended it deflated, burnt out, and sad because of what I had missed while shooting those weddings. They are so permanent in your schedule with no flexibility… no time freedom, which was why I started my business to begin with.

I had to make the decision to learn that there are other way to be successful and thrive in the industry without giving up all your time. I had to decide to pivot into a direction that gave me back my freedom while also still allowed me to work full time for myself.

I decided that all the knowledge and experience I had learned from being a full time wedding and portrait photographer was knowledge that I could share with new photographers that needed someone to mentor them! This was a hard decision, as it meant I would be starting over again in a new industry, the education work. It has been a learning process! But one that has changed my life and I love so much!

How did you build your audience on social media?

Social media can be a place you love or a place you hate. I believe it all truly depends on mindset! I do not have a huge online following, but those that do follow me I love! They have either followed because they love my work as a photographer or because they love my personal brand, which is curated to showcase my authentic personality.

My advice with social media is consistency, consistency, consistency! Figure out the message you want to convey, then be consistent with sharing that message.

Figure out what makes you happy on social media, who inspires you, and who motivates you… then follow them. Learn from them. Takes notes from how they are successful on social media. Then takes those notes and follow suite in your own way, with your own brand.

Decide what you own boundaries are when it comes to social media and what you what share versus what you don’t share. You don’t have to do what everyone else is doing exactly how they are doing it! There are no rules you MUST follow. What works for one person, may not work for you, for your audience, for your business or schedule. You have to be a sponge and absorb all sorts of ideas and put them all together to create a way that works for you.

Don’t forget to give it time and realize that there may be some trial and error situations! Nothing worth waiting for comes easy or over night.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://devonadrianne.com/
• Instagram: instagram.com/devon__adrianne

Image Credits
Devon Adrianne Photography