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

Dominique, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today One of our favorite things to brainstorm about with friends who’ve built something entrepreneurial is what they would do differently if they were to start over today. Surely, there are things you’ve learned that would allow you to do it over faster, more efficiently. We’d love to hear how you would go about setting things up if you were starting over today, knowing everything that you already know.

Being an entrepreneur definitely has its challenges, but there’s so much beauty in creating opportunities with no limits. If I were to start over today, there are plenty of things that I would do differently to have become a more efficient photographer. The first one is Pricing. I believe that’s a big one for everybody. Over the past few years, I spent time building clientele, creating pricing guides, getting a lot of yes’s and some no’s, figuring out my worth, being afraid to raise my prices, etc. If I could start over, while I was working my full time job, I wish I would’ve spent more time building my portfolio and letting my price be the price in order to build confidence in my delivery to clients. If I would’ve received more no’s than yes’s, I would’ve had a chance to do more research and figure out what makes sense for my target audience and myself without the burden of relying on income. It also would’ve built my confidence quicker. A full time job is a secure place. You know when you’re getting your check. As an entrepreneur, depending on your profession, you may not know when the money is coming in and it can be scary. So knowing my worth before I transitioned into full time photography is something I wish I could do over.

One other thing I would do over is to have a team. Someone who could assist me on shoots, knowing me like a book so I don’t have to do it all by myself. Getting someone to handle logistical things so I can focus on my craft. That would’ve created so much more efficiency for me and free up my time to do more creative projects.

Dominique, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Dominique Thorpe. I am a photographer from Chicago, Illinois . How I got into photography was a little random. In college, I actually studied International Business and Dance Performance so photography was not on the list, but I was always taking pictures of everything! I never thought anything more of it. One of my friends asked me to take his college graduation pictures and I agreed. From there, people begin asking me to take pictures for different things. In 2018, my friend asked me to shoot her wedding. I had never done that before, but I agreed! That was one of the moments where I realized this can be something I can take more seriously.

Dance was still at the forefront during that time, but when I moved back to Chicago towards the end of 2018, I just started to shoot more. My full time job, I was working as a paraprofessional, and then transitioned to an ESL teacher. I was just doing photography on the side, and then it just kind of grew. People were booking me for different events and portrait sessions and it became really busy! During all of this, I had my son during Covid (March 2020). I was teaching from home and loved being able to be with my son. When it was time to go back into the schools about a year later, I realized I didn’t like not being in control of my time, so I continued to build my business, finished my last school year and transitioned into full time photography in 2022 and haven’t looked back!

I provide wedding services, branding, maternity and general portrait sessions. I love to make women feel beautiful! What may set me apart from others is that I treat my clients like people, not like transactions. Relationship is important to me because it helps me learn more about the people who step in front of my lens.

I want people to know that I love what I do and I’m great at what I do. I care about creating images that you can cherish for a lifetime! When my clients show me the pictures they have hanging up in their homes or their screensavers with pictures that I’ve taken of them, it speaks volumes and reminds me to keep doing what I’m doing.

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

One way I keep in touch with my clients is by phone, whether calling or texting. For my maternity clients, I do my best to check on them after the baby is born to see how they’re doing mentally, because I’ve been there! This builds loyalty because they know I actually care about them. They like to send me pictures of their babies as well and I love it! And sessions like those become long life clients because now they want me to take baby’s first birthday, family photos, then holiday photos and now I’m their lifelong photographer. At the end of the day, I do my best to stay consistent. Consistency breeds loyalty.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Building my audience on social media took a lot of time, mainly because the stress of “keeping up with the trends” is a real thing. In the beginning, I would just post photos or make reels for the audience I wanted to attract. I used a lot of hashtags. When I ask people how they find me, they always say they used a hashtag and my name popped up. Current day, the best way to build your audience is for you to show your face from time to time people can connect with you. The other way is to post as consistently as you can, whether on your story or an actual post. This is something I’m still working on!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.artisticelegancephotography.com
• Instagram: @artisticelegancephotography
• Facebook: Artistice Elegance
• Twitter: Threads/ @artisticelegancephotography

Image Credits

Photographer- Me