We were lucky to catch up with Janira Aybar recently and have shared our conversation below.

Janira, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

My Dad – I will start with my Dad because since I can remember as a little girl, my Dad always worked his butt off. He is known to be very hardworking and he loves money. He also owned a few businesses so I saw that side of him growing up. He taught us even from an early age that no matter what, you will always work hard, even for a slice of bread. It taught me to be humble and no matter what to always work hard for the things you need and want. My Dad is the kind of Dad that yes he provided for us and he geared us into the right path growing up but he did also stress that as adults, we will work for the life we want, He will not give it to us and he always taught me that nothing in life is free.

My Mom – My mom is so supportive. She is literally like my biggest fan on my social media pages and is probably the one who every time I see her asks me how my business is doing and if I booked a wedding in the past few days. She always reminds me how proud of me she is and she is always praying for me and my business to do good.

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?

Growing up, my parents took photos and videos of everything my sister and I did. It was just something they made sure they always documented. They would make albums of our first years of life, and print all of the photos they ever took of us. Home videos was also a big thing in our house. I am very grateful for all of those memories I can now look back on as an adult and also show my son as he gets older.

In July of 2015, I had my son. I wanted to make sure I did the same thing my parents did with us and document everything in photos so my son can have when he grows up. For every Holiday, I would take a themed photo. For example, for Christmas photos, I would take white blankets, hang them up as a backdrop, add some lights, take some props like a small Christmas tree, or a basket and sit my son it in with a Christmas hat. I would photograph that with my phone and make Christmas cards with them. His dad noticed how creative I was getting with these photos for our son. One night in January of 2016, he asked me if I ever thought about starting Photography. I said no, didn’t really think about how important something like that would be, just the fact that I was taking photos of my son on my phone was enough for me. But he told me that night that It seemed I had an eye something and I should maybe look into it and give it a try. He mentioned it may be something I may love doing for others since I loved taking so many photos of our son. That same week, he bought me my first camera.

I was also clinically diagnosed with depression and anxiety a few months after my son was born. When my sons Father asked me that, I began to think that maybe it could “help” and it would “give me something to do”.
As the years went by, I realized Photography was in fact, a big part of my healing process. It amazes me how much it helped me get through some of my most darkest days. To this day, my clients have no idea what an impact their Weddings and sessions have been for me, showing up to photograph and as soon as I would see them, everything else would go away, I would feel this sense of joy and hope. That’s when I knew that this was not just my business, but my passion.

I had zero idea what I was doing when I got my camera. I started you-tubing stuff, not even knowing what to search for. I saw some free classes I could take online, did some research and in February of 2016, asked my best friend if I could take photos of her and her son for practice. We went to a nearby park and I fell in love. From there, I did a lot of practice work. My sister was pregnant at that time as well and I took Maternity photos for her. I kept falling in love with each and every photo I would edit. I started a Facebook and Instagram page and it just blew up from there. I have so much to grow still in so many areas. I am so humbled by all of the love I receive.

Right now, I photography mostly Weddings and Engagement, but I also photography Families and Maternity. It’s been 6 in a half years, and I can say I am not where I want to be just yet, but I am truly grateful. I am grateful for my sons dad, for seeing something in me that I never would have. I am grateful for my son, he is the reason his dad saw this in me to begin with. I am grateful for all of my clients, for everyone who believed in me, every single person who likes, shares, comments and recommends me to their Friends and Family. Even those who see me and tell me how much they love my work. I am grateful for all of it and now to have this opportunity to tell a little bit of my story.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Communication has to be the biggest thing I believe hat has helped me build my reputation within my market. There are so many times, sadly, that I will get clients vent to me about how Photographers or vendors in the industry have horrible communication and how much they love how often and fast I communicate. Since the beginning, that I know of let an email or a some sort of communication message go for over 24 hours. I check my emails multiple times a day and usually respond to 90% of them instantly. Yes, I have a personal life and I am a mom and I do leave town, but I always communicate and make sure that’s a priority of my everyday life.
Communication has to probably be my most top priority after a few other things in this business for me.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

Yes it sure did! It wasn’t technically a side hustle because it all started with taking photos of my son and I fell in love with it instantly. In the past 7 years I have doubled my income every single year. I started with photographing family and friends for free and then started charging from $40 and went up every few months as I gained more experience and equipment and today I charge $795 for a one hour session.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.janiraphotography.com
• Instagram: www.instragram.com/janiraphotography
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/janiraphotography