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

Hi Hannah, thanks for joining us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Success isn’t about being rich or wealthy or about being necessarily famous. I believe that success can be defined as being highly motivated and wholly involved in doing what it is you want to do and giving it your all. This doesn’t necessarily limit itself to just a career or side hustle, but I believe this term of success can also apply into normal everyday life, and doing what God wants for your life. I’m by no means wealthy, not even a little bit. However I truly love doing what I’m doing and the business model I have developed. Is it perfect? — definitely not! But, I feel so fulfilled in the business I have created and will continue to improve it daily.

Hannah, 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 was blessed to have been born in the mountains of Western North Carolina. Growing up I remember from a very young age that I really loved to take pictures and videos of moments that were beautiful to me. I can attest that most of those pictures were so bad, but that particular moment still had special meaning to me. I was gifted my very first camera when I was in middle school and my passion for photography took off from there! I would take pictures and videos with my sister, and looking back on that now it was a very special time in my life. I loved to experiment with new angles and ideas and would continue to capture every single moment. Throughout the years I saved money and would purchase a new camera and take pictures of pretty much everything, and this cycle would continue. I took my very first course in Photography my freshman year of college and excelled, if I do say so myself. After years of experimenting and creating new ideas with my cameras, this college course just made sense to me. It helped me to realize that photography is a form of story-telling. I had never edited my photos before on advanced software, so learning this new skill set was a major improvement to my photography! Then in 2021 I decided to establish my photography business, Blink Photography Company. I developed everything on the website, and I mean everything, 100% by myself. And anyone who has ever built a website or even attempted to I’m sure knows how difficult and time consuming it can be, especially for a beginner. My goals for my business is that I want to provide educational resources, gear reviews, and photography services to as many individuals as possible. What sets me apart from others I guess would be that my brand is more focused on educating folks rather than providing services only. I want to help others grow and succeed in their photography careers. One thing that I’m most proud of is that I teach and live by the principle that beauty can be found all around us– we just have to learn how to notice it. We don’t have to travel to far countries to capture beautiful moments, we can stay right where we live and capture beautiful content.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

A common misconception that most first time business owners have is that profit will be made right away, however, 90% of the time that isn’t the case. Most businesses have to make an investment to jump-start their business. I highly recommend that everyone seeking to start a photography business also have a regular day-to-day job. At first most new businesses have no substantial profits which is why everyone needs a job as well to help fund their new business. Which is exactly what I have done. I still work a “regular job” to help fund and support my business. Until my earnings rise well above my expenditures, that’s what I will continue to do.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

The best source of new clients will always be via social media platforms. When I first started I didn’t have any social media platforms, only Pinterest, to help gain exposure for my business. Pinterest helped me gain exposure for my blog articles, not necessarily my work as a photographer. I decided that I needed the help of other social media algorithms to help me gain more exposure. Dedication to growing each social media platform will help clients to discover new businesses each day. I feel like social media will always be the best way in our current era to help new businesses gain exposure.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.blinkphotographycompany.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blinkphotographycompany/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/officialblinkphotographycompany

Image Credits
All photos captured by Hannah Barnett of Blink Photography Company