We were lucky to catch up with Ivan Wognin recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ivan , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?

The why behind my business has grown and evolved over the years into a constant north star that guides us in our decisions. In a world of darkness, we want to show light; specifically the Light of Jesus as we love well and run business. From the intentional client gifts we send with personalized letters to the times I spend in prayer for our clients and coaching students, it boils down to being able to communicate that my love for them is a fraction of the love of the Creator who gave them access to peace, love, and eternal life. Under this umbrella, we want to help people by empowering them to see their dreams and visions come true. I hope that people remember us for loving them well and leading them to a love in Christ that changed their lives for the better.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hiya! My name is Ivan Wognin {WOG-NYN}. I am the lead photographer and visionary at Ivan Amssan {AMSYN} Photography Co, a wedding photography team based in Texas, North Dakota, and shooting nationally. I believe in creating a present and customized wedding experience for newly engaged couples through the art of relationship building. When I am not shooting, I coach business owners by creating resources and in-person educational experiences that empower photographers to lead and live intentional businesses and lives.

One of the reasons, I started shooting was because I saw a cycle of newly engaged couples accepting the “understood stress” they thought was normal while receiving traditional photographs leaving them wishing they had more candid moments from their wedding day. I created a brand that would address both of these issues. Years later, what has consistently set us apart is our ability to create a wedding experience unique to each couple, yet, the beautiful thing is that they all experience the same outcome: fun and impactful. This led me out of a passion for teaching to add a branch to the photography business that focused on coaching photographers to lead intentional business that serve their clients well.

If I had to pick an honorable mention for this business journey, it would be every client we have gotten to serve. Truly, I am in awe when I pause and think about the honor it has been to serve each client. I have loved loving you and being convicted about your success (and we’re not stopping any time soon).

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

In 2021, I had one of my busiest years in business yet and also one of my hardest. My friend, I was everywhere. I was shooting all the time and receiving recognition, yet behind closed doors, I was drowning in the most stress I had ever experienced as a business owner. My only goal was to be a successful wedding photographer and be “booked out”. I didn’t plan further than that. So, when I reached my busiest point with no vision on where my business going and how that related to my life outside of work (Do I just make bigger goals? Where do I go from here?), I became lost and confused. Somedays I felt like quitting from the stress. I needed a plan.

Not to mention (which means to mention, lol), I also got very sick during this period and was in and out of the hospital for months. When I started to heal from that sickness, I decided that things had to change. I started treating my photography journey like a business and establishing it as one.

Through the grace of God and wise counsel, I built the yearly planning system to create clear goals in specific categories in my business. We use this system every year now.

It helps us intentionally create goals for our internal business and projects we want to hit. Anything that didn’t relate to or support the yearly plan would leave my plate!

This simple change in my business changed my life. Establishing a yearly planning system created such clarity that allowed me to show up and serve clients better, give our team direction, and learn to serve my business rather than be consumed by it.

The following year was our most successful year financially; we grew 41% in revenue (and now I teach this system to others in our workshops and coaching)!

My encouragement overall in a story like this would be for my business owners. I want you to be encouraged to take a step back and acknowledge any feeling of anxiety you have in your business rather than pushing it aside to finish the next task. Once you acknowledge where it’s coming from make a plan to address and improve your life and business. Little by little, you’ll be making something you love rather than a business that consumes you.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

I have found you can have all the robust marketing and business strategies, but the most secure way I’ve found to grow your clientele is to create a consistently positive client experience and market this. This means paying attention to your customer journey, identifying barriers to a smooth journey and fixing them, etc. Once you have a consistent journey, you’ll begin to see clients attracted to you for the same reasons. Identify why they come to you over anyone else and capitalize on this in your marketing efforts.

Contact Info:

• Website: ivanamssanphoto.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/IvanAmssan
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ivanamssan

Image Credits
Photographs by Ivan Amssan Photography Co