We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Joanne Wetzel. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Joanne below.

Joanne , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

The Five Freedoms are the gold standard of Animal Welfare around the world. While I never truly intended for that to become the name of my business, it simply stuck. The name is a daily reminder that the mission of what we do is help adoptable dogs, especially those who are often overlooked, to be seen and hopefully adopted through the medium of beautiful imagery.

The idea behind the Five Freedoms Of Animal Welfare are that any animal – companion, farm, or otherwise – kept by humans is protected from unnecessary suffering and is given what it needs to thrive. These Five Freedoms are as follows:

1. Freedom from Hunger and Thirst by ready access to fresh water and diet to maintain health and vigor.

2. Freedom from Discomfort by providing an appropriate environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area.

3. Freedom from Pain, Injury or Disease by prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment.

4. Freedom to Express Normal Behavior by providing sufficient space, proper facilities and company of the animal’s own kind.

5. Freedom from Fear and Distress by ensuring conditions and treatment which avoid mental suffering.

Not only have I found that it is a conversation starter with people who aren’t familiar, but it keeps me grounded in my mission to help as many dogs as I can. While we photograph and work with incredible private clients, rescue work is at the foundation of who we are and what we do.

Joanne , 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?

Five Freedoms Photography started out as a hobby to help often overlooked shelter dogs be seen and (hopefully) adopted through the medium of beautiful imagery. When I began volunteering at our local county shelter back in 2017, I became interested in helping the dogs in any way that I could from walking them, to marketing them online, to fundraising, and more. After all, North Carolina has some of the highest euthanasia rates in the country, so I knew I had to do more.

What became very apparent to me quickly was that so many of the dogs didn’t have decent photos. With the volume of animals that come in, it’s difficult for any shelter to also worry about photos and bios of the dogs they intake. About a year after starting as a volunteer, I bought a camera, took a photography course at our local community college, and it was off to the races.

I say often I never set out to become a photographer, because I didn’t. At it’s core, Five Freedoms Photography is a mission. We are Purpose-Driven Pet Photography that leverages our platform and private client work to help other dogs in need. I most proud that since our humble beginnings back in 2021, we’ve photographed almost 600 rescue dogs and raised just about $40K for dog rescue. Not only do we volunteer at the shelter weekly as we did when we first started, but we also donate 10% of our client sales back to a rescue of choice each quarter through our Pup-To-Pup Program.

I always tell people if you’re looking to include your pets in a session, it’s important to hire someone who specializes in pets, not a generalist photographer. One of the things I am most proud of and that makes us unique is that we have hundreds of hours of working with dogs in various capacities from walking, playgroups, training, and working with our own personal dogs. We are also Force Free Trained and Certified.

In other words, we know dogs and we understand them. Your dog’s experience is so important to us! We want them to feel safe, comfortable, and to thrive during their session all the while we are snapping away with our camera. Whether your dog is young or old, big or small, crazy or mellow – my biggest enjoyment from a session is finding out what makes your dog(s) tick and using that to create magical, vibrant imagery (and custom art) you’ll enjoy always.

All that to say, we are Five Freedoms Photography and specialize in vibrant, magical imagery for pets, people, and brands. We also help pet parents curate custom artwork in the form of wall art, albums, and more, that you will want to proudly display in your home, at the office, and all over social media! After all, your dog deserves to be art.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

We’ve all heard the old adage: “You are what you do, not what you’ll say you do.”

For me, when it has come to building a good reputation in my market, it’s simply because I’m consistent. I show up. I give it my all. With me, my clients, event coordinators, vendors, etc, know that no matter what I’m going to be there with a smile on my face. I want everyone to succeed as much as I want to be successful.

Half the battle is simply showing up no matter how you feel, what’s going on in your life, or if you feel unprepared. It’s in those moments that you build true resilience and tenacity. I attribute this motto as just one way I’ve built a reputable business across the Triangle.

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

Five Freedoms Photography is not my first business, so fortunately going into this business, I already had a strong business and marketing sense. I think one area where a lot of first-time business owners get it wrong is relying too heavily on social media as a “marketing strategy.”

I do not book clients from social media. I’ve never booked a single client from social media.

In fact, the most effective strategy for growing my client base has been utilizing many, many active and passive marketing streams from my website to Google to in person events to collaborating to word of mouth and much more.

When someone asks me “How can I find new clients?” I always ask them: what are you doing to market yourself? Usually, that’s where we find the disconnect is.

If you are a new business owner reading this right now, your business will do nothing without marketing! It’s the single most important thing you can do to build a new business.

So, my strategy for growing my clientele? At any time, I have seven to ten marketing avenues going at anyone time including:
– Google
– Word Of Mouth
– Referral Program
– In Person Events
– Social Media
– Press
– Collaborations With Local Businesses
– Email Marketing
– Content Marketing (Pinterest, YouTube, Blogging)
– Networking
– Etc.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.fivefreedomsphotography.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fivefreedomsphotography
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fivefreedomsphotography
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joanne-wetzel-4491b7219/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/joannewetzel
• Yelp: https://biz.yelp.com/biz_info/g1p5NaUgcmaZMcV-EVwd5Q

Image Credits
Behind The Scenes Image: H Westervelt Photography All other photos by me: Five Freedoms Photography