We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jamie Yacksyzn a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jamie , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s talk about social media – do you manage your own or do you have someone or a company that handles it for you? Why did you make the choice you did?

I currently run 3 businesses and I manage 2 of the social media accounts. The other 2 that I do not manage, is managed by my admin assistant. My main business is wedding photography. As a wedding photographer, it is important to connect with my potential clients and for them to get a feel for my personality. If I had somebody else run my social media, it would be hard for people to get a good feel for me and if they wanted to work with me. Since I get 90% of my business from Instagram specifically, I think it is definitely worth my time to focus on the social media there. I do use Planoly to schedule my posts 1-2 weeks out and I do 1-2 weeks at a time. This makes it easy for me to batch my social media posts so I can focus and be in that frame of mind when I am doing it.

The other social media account I manage, is just in the early stages and not generating enough income yet. When it becomes more successful, I would definitely hire that out since it is a much less personal business.

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.

I went to school for Business Management, knowing since I was a kid, that I never wanted to work for anyone else. It took me until my mid 20’s to actually realize what it was that I wanted to do for my career. After getting married myself, and being obsessed with photography since I was younger, the idea came to me of being a wedding photographer. I immersed myself in wedding photography through online blogs and videos until I felt I was ready to start pursuing it as a paid job after about a year. This was about 14 years ago now that I became a full time wedding photographer with my business Jamie Y Photography.
I have always attracted more elopement style weddings and immediately upon starting my business I set myself apart as catering to the more rock n roll style couples. Back in the day elopements were not as popular as they are now, and it was a bit harder to create a living photographing mostly elopements. I was able to book several full day weddings but still always attracted primarily eloping couples. Fast forward to COVID and elopements started to become even more popular. After being in business for quite awhile, I was finally getting more inquiries then I could handle. Around the same time I was also noticing that many of my couples wanted help with the planning of their elopements since most were travelling from out of the country. So, I decided to start an all -inclusive elopement planning company ( Rock N Romance Elopements) and also bring on a team of associate photographers to take on all of the weddings that I could not photograph myself. I had tossed this idea around in the past, but honestly I wasn’t ready for it at the time. I think in this situation it was better for me to wait until the actual demand was there. It can be hard to get enough inquiries when you are first starting out to keep your business afloat. If I had spent time on making these additional businesses instead of spending the time making my current photography business succeed, both may not have done well.
I have always kept a strong desire to learn and improve my craft and my business. I continue to attend conferences and workshops on a yearly basis. Besides the need to always want to improve and learn, my number one goal with both my photography company and elopement business is to give my wedding couples the absolute best photos and experience as possible. I curate my group of wedding vendors and photographers on a never ending basis. Always wanting to ensure that we provide the absolute best of everything at all times.
Over the past 2 years I have also been working on a new business venture that is also part of the wedding and event space. I started a Vegas Neon sign rental business called, Vegas Neon Signs. We currently have 3 vegas themed neon signs that are available to rent for any type of event. We just booked our first gig for a Formual 1 event on the strip. These signs are a great way to bring that Vegas Neon vibe to anywhere you want.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I am a huge introvert and very shy and awkward in networking events. Coming into the wedding industry, I knew no one. Meeting other vendors is crucial in breaking into this industry. I forced myself to attend as many networking events as I could. There were times that I went, didn’t talk to a single soul, and drove home crying because I felt I would never fit in. But, I never gave up. I developed several friendships over the years and even ended up joining the board of directors for WIPA (Wedding Industry Professionals Association) and serving on that board for 3 years. Joining the board was hard and uncomfortable but it turned out to be one of the best things I did for myself and my business. Having a purpose and something to do at these networking events, made it so much easier for me to relax and not be so hard on myself.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

Once I decided I wanted to start photography as a career, I asked for a camera for my birthday. With that camera, I practiced, and started to take on paying clients. I saved all of the money I earned to purchase new equipment. Thankfully, camera equipment has good resale value, so when it was time to upgrade, I would sell my old equipment and use that money plus what I had earned to buy new equipment. I kept doing that over and over again. I had another full time job, so I did not have to dip into any of my photography earnings. I never once took a loan or bought anything on credit. I did not want to start in debt and never let myself get there. I think if it is a service based business with not alot of initial overhead, it is a great idea to not take on debt to get started.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jamiey.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamieyphotography
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jamieyphotography