We recently connected with Jamie Blum & Kevin Rodriguez and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Jamie Blum & Kevin Rodriguez, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
As we expand our small business and continue to grow, we never forget why we started this in the first place… our love for animals. We wouldn’t be where we are today if it wasn’t for our rescue pups, our inspiration to start this journey. Over a year ago, we were looking for ways to make our Sunday volunteer time in a local shelter more impactful. We realized that dogs with better pictures received more interests and visits.
The overwhelming number of amazing and loyal animals that get overlooked in shelters because of their pasts, age, aspect or health is discouraging. Our rescues were no exception and fell victim to this stigma as well. As a consequence, we have been attempting to perfect our art, not only for our clients but for these shelter dogs as well. We try to provide these fellas a fighting chance by periodically working with local DFW shelters and donating photoshoots, in an attempt to capture these animal’s unique personalities and traits and share them with the world. We do this in hopes that someone will reach out and provide these amazing animals the forever home they rightfully deserve.
Jamie Blum & Kevin Rodriguez, 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?
At Fluffy Frames Studios, we offer an off-leash, stress-free environment designed to capture your pet’s true personality through our lens. Before each session, we allow pets to explore and acclimate to the space while we discuss the final details of the photoshoot with their owners. And of course, we love to shower the pets with treats—because who doesn’t love a tasty reward?
We take great pride in our affordability. As millennials ourselves, we understand the challenges posed by the rising cost of living. We believe that capturing those special moments with your pet should be accessible to everyone. Hearing our customers’ joy when they receive their photos truly excites us.
It’s heartbreaking to think that, on average, dogs and cats only share about 12 summers with us. That’s why it’s so important to capture precious memories while we can. Our goal is to make pet photography attainable for everyone in the DFW area, without the burden of a hefty price tag. We know our photos will become cherished treasures for pet parents, and that mission is incredibly meaningful to us.
Over the past few months, we’ve been deeply grateful for the community’s support and love. We embarked on this journey with no expectations, and our progress has exceeded our wildest dreams. We started with a makeshift backdrop holder crafted from $20 worth of PVC pipe from Home Depot, which often fell apart in the slightest breeze. Transitioning to our own studio feels like a tremendous achievement. We anticipated challenges along the way, and this has truly been a team effort. Not only have we developed new skills, but we’ve also grown closer as a couple.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
The most effective strategy for growing has been the old fashion way. Just getting out there and showing people our product, providing good work and a good word of mouth.
I know it may be hard for a few and discomforting to talk to strangers and pitch them your business and idea, but the truth of the matter is, if you want your business to grow… heck, if YOU want to grow, you need to get out of your comfort zone and become ok with rejection.
We started off by just contacting our friends and family and telling them about our business. We then proceeded to join multiple facebook groups and just put the word out there with some sample images. We printed out a bunch of business cards and would go around neighborhoods and leave cards in people’s mailbox. We would even go to a dog park and hang out for hours and hand out our cards as people walked by. Did everyone we contact or interact with book a session? of course not! nor were we expecting that. However, volume speaks! And we knew the more we marketed ourselves, the higher chance we were going to get our first set of clients. The law of probability you can say was our strategy.
Eventually we got our first customer, and we ensured to deliver in our promise. Then slowly but surely 1 became 2, 2 became 4, 4 became 20 and now it’s incredible to say that we have photographed closer to 500 pets in the short time we have been a business.
We still continue to reach out and go to dog specific events and promote our business, but usually when we get a new client and we ask them how they heard about us, it is usually through references.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
We truly recommend reading “The E-Myth Revisited” by Michael E. Gerber. This book was truly game changing and eye opening. Regardless if you are just starting your business, or have had one for many years, this book is tailored for everyone. It really changes your perception of business philosophy and provides you direction to creating universal business systems that will ensure a healthy business. These systems can be applied to any field and will ensure the growth of your business while not letting it consume you.
Not to spoil anything, but the book mentions how many people start their own business because they are tired of working for someone else and believe they can get the freedom they desire so much by working for themselves. However, this is far from the truth. They soon come to the realization that they are more tied down than ever before!
There is so much to owning a business then just making or providing a good product/service. The book focuses that one must work ON your business, rather than IN it. I know in the beginning we have to work in and that is alright. But it is critical that you ensure you are creating systems along the way that you can then delegate and then move on to the next thing.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://fluffyframestudios.com
- Instagram: fluffy_frames
- Facebook: Fluffy Frames
Image Credits
Rae De Lain thanks for taking our picture!