We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Gretchen Otero. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Gretchen below.
Gretchen, appreciate you joining us today. Folks often look at a successful business and imagine it was an overnight success, but from what we’ve seen this is often far from the truth. We’d love to hear your scaling up story – walk us through how you grew over time – what were some of the big things you had to do to grow and what was that scaling up journey like?
When it comes to scaling I’ve always believed that laying the proper foundation will allow for growth.
When I first started photography in San Diego, maybe I didn’t need a client management system and it was ok to handle clients one by one, but I realized to scale to the level I wanted to be, I needed automation and I needed a proper client management system to help manage the day to day tasks. It has proven itself time and time again, if I provide my business with the proper space to grow, it will flourish,
Gretchen, 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?
I am a small business owner and for this brand – San Diego Business Portraits – we provide high quality headshots to business professionals, usually on a larger scale. When a company needs someone to come in and do headshots for 20, 50 or 200 employees, we are the company they can call. We love to make headshot day quick, easy and fun for the whole office. We also offer smaller scale sessions for individuals and smaller companies.
In our digital world many times you are sending emails to clients and interacting with them digitally. A professional headshot allows your customers and clients to see the face behind the emails and adds a human touch to communications.
How did you build your audience on social media?
Just like anything else in life, you have to show up every day. Be there, be present, be proactive and the followers will come. Be engaging, authentic and speak from your heart. Let people see the person behind the business and watch your followers grow.
Have you ever had to pivot?
In 2020 I was trying to “do it all” with my photography business. I realized this wasn’t fulfilling so I niched down to 2 categories – Pets and Headshots.
Yes, they are very different, but I enjoy both for different reasons. I feel like my clients are getting the best from me knowing that I spend a lot of hours on each of those genres. They are getting an experienced professional who has seen a lot and can tackle tough situations. By narrowing my fields of focus, I have grown both as a photographer and a business owner which are both benefits to my clients.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://SDBusinessPortraits.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sdbusinessportraits/
Image Credits
San Diego Business Portraits