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

Hi Jaila, thanks for joining us today. Often outsiders look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight. Even media and especially movies love to gloss over nitty, gritty details that went into that middle phase of your business – after you started but before you got to where you are today. In our experience, overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work laying the foundation for success, but unfortunately, it’s exactly this part of the story that most of the media ignores. Can you talk to us about your scaling up story – what are some of the nitty, gritty details folks should know about?

Growth and change. Two words I never enjoyed, but when learned to embrace them, I encountered the most pivotal moments that got me to where I am today. No one goes from 5ft to 10ft and no seed goes from sown to harvest over night. You have to be willing to grow. With growth comes growing pains. The growing pains are not bad, they hurt, but if you care for yourself, your clients, your family…etc., you’ll end up successful and ultimately healthy. Growing pains, that’s where I found myself in 2021. After 5 years of launching my business, I felt stuck. I wanted to “scale up”, I desired to increase my prices and enhance the experience I offered to have more freedom with my family. I decided to purchase the most expensive ticket I had ever invested into for my business and I flew out state to attend a photography workshop at the end of 2021. The education, the bigger picture to dream was birthed inside and I walked away with what I knew I had to do to scale up. It took time, it took sacrifice, it took intentional personal and business boundaries, it took a re-brand and it took change. Which brings me to my last point. Change, one thing that I’ve come to sort of enjoy now. Every business goes through changes. With every baby I birthed, I had to change, with every mistake I made, I had to change, with every wedding I shot I’ve learned things to change. In order to master a craft it takes change and growth. Invest into your business, dream big and don’t be shy to make changes.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a luxury wedding photographer. I’m based in Michigan and destination. I launched my business in 2016, with weddings not even being advertised, but my journey has brought me here. I love romance, weddings are beautiful and I love being able to document the raw emotions, joy and elegant details of my couples wedding celebrations.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Oh my goodness, there have been so many times I have had to make pivots. I will never forget my year of burnout, it was my first year taking my business full time. I said yes to everything, I took on way too much and ultimately ended up exhausted. I had to make hard boundaries to better myself, my family and my business. The following year, I looked at my business calendar and my personal calendar and started blocking off dates. If I have a wedding on a weekend, I intentionally only take on a certain amount of other sessions. It sounds so simple, but so many people have a hard time saying “no”, which that word has been the greatest thing for me making boundaries.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A big lesson I had to unlearn was that I can’t be like everyone else, their priorities are not mine. Starting out my business, especially when I was pivoting to solely weddings in the luxury market, I would see what everyone else was doing. The reality is is that being a wife, mom of 3 and homemaker came first. I had to manage my business around my proprieties and if incoming clients didn’t agree with changes I as making then we weren’t the best fit for one another.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.jailarenee.com/
• Instagram: Jaila Renee