We were lucky to catch up with Guadalupe Garza recently and have shared our conversation below.

Guadalupe, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So, folks often look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight – but that often obscures all the nitty, gritty details of everything that went into the growth phase of your business. We’d love to hear about your scaling story and how you scaled up?

I started my business eight years ago. It all started with a $500 crop-sensor camera, an online photography course, and a desire to make some side-gig money while I took care of my new twin daughters. Up until that point, I had never operated a DSLR camera. For the next two years, I focused on growing my photography skills, eventually getting my work published in national magazines.

As much as I loved doing solo work, I wanted to scale my business into a media agency. Two years after becoming a photographer and saving everything I had earned, my husband and I launched Sharp Frame Media – a real estate media agency. Scaling and growing the business meant recruiting more clients and having a team to serve them. That was my first challenge. In the creative world, clients hire you for your artistic abilities. How was I to hire and train others to shoot like me? And then convince existing clients that they would be in great hands with any of my photographers. The latter led me to develop a unique onboarding process to guarantee consistency for our clients. I focused on the quality of our work too much. In hindsight, that was one of the reasons the business grew very slowly in the first couple of years.

It wasn’t until a couple of years in that I realized that I needed to spend more of my time on RGAs – revenue-generating activities. That meant I had to put the camera down to do more sales work. As a creative person, this was a big struggle for me. Nonetheless, I knew that if I worked hard enough and hired the right people, I’d have my hands back on the camera one day. Yet, I was afraid of hiring too fast. I didn’t know if I could make it work financially. And this was my biggest lesson learned in scaling a business. You can’t scale a business if you’re doing tasks that someone else can do, and you can’t be afraid to make significant investments.

Today, we’re a real estate media agency servicing two metro markets in Texas with a small team of 7. In 2021, we acquired our first competing business. Our goal is to scale even more but not too much or too fast that we lose track of why we do what we do. After all, I do believe wholeheartedly in people over profits.

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

Sharp Frame Media is a media agency offering photography, videography, 3D tours, and social media management. We primarily service the real estate, design, and build industries in Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio, Texas.

We were founded on the values of Craftsmanship, Service, and Partnership.

Unlike some of our major competitors, Sharp Frame Media was founded by a photographer and creator-at-heart. Our passion for serving our clients is driven by our desire to create work we are proud of. Our dedication to service is at the core of who we are. As a veteran-owned business, service means everything to us. Lastly, but most importantly, we view all clients as partners. We strive to ensure they see us as an extension of their team who genuinely care about their business.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

One of the best investments I made for myself and my business was hiring an executive coach. The process guided me through understanding what I wanted from my career and where to take the company next. Reaching your goals is only possible if you know what you want. Two books that helped me get clarity and become a better leader were Soul Without Shame by Byron Brown and Authentic Gravitas by Rebecca Newton, Ph.D. Additionally, when I needed sales advice, I listened to the podcast The Sales Evangelist. For overall business motivation, nothing better than How I Built This.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

When I started my business, I felt compelled to strive for the same goals as other start-ups. However, comparing yourself and your business to others can be detrimental, which was for me initially. Like in life, success looks different for all companies. While I enjoy running a business and leading a team, I equally find joy in doing photography and creating videos. If I dedicated myself 100% to running the business, we would scale faster or reach a higher revenue, but I chose to spend a good amount of my time doing creative work because it fulfills me. That may be hard for non-creative business owners to understand. Nonetheless, for me, it is a success.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sharpframemedia.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sharpframemedia/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sharpframemedia
• Other: https://vimeo.com/sharpframemedia

Image Credits
Sharp Frame Media