We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jordan Turrentine a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jordan, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?
I am definitely happy to be a business owner although it has not always been a dream of mine. I love being a photographer, however it does have its ups and downs especially at the stage that I’m in. Some of ups being getting the opportunity to meet new people, networking, and creating life long memories for the people’ and families that I work with. Some of the downs being having unsteady clientele, dealing with customers with bad time management, and making last minute requests and adjustments to our agreements. I do also have another job – I work retail. I like that job as well because I love clothes and I also like helping people. I do sometimes think about my past jobs such as doing landscaping work or food service, and wonder where I’d be at if I stayed at those jobs. I’ve even done an internship at a bank, and sometimes after having dealt with a difficult customer I think about how things would be if I was back there, sitting at my desk, behind a computer, crunching numbers..but that couldn’t be me. Even though at times people can be people, I’m still the type of person that needs to move around and interact with people. I do love what I do but I also have goals and aspirations of taking my business way further.
Jordan, 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?
What’s up everyone, I’m Jordan Turrentine – entrepreneur and owner of DrizzyDigital Productions (a photography/videography business). I film and capture memories for all types of events from birthday parties to prom send offs, baby showers, graduation parties, gender reveals, weddings, and so on! Honestly anything that someone would want captured, I do it. I also do photoshoots and headshots, with or without backdrops and props. I can also do graphic design and make posters/flyers. I think what sets me apart from others is my ability to capture the vibe of parties. I tend to focus on specific things that catch my eye (when shooting events) and when doing photoshoots, I try to create the vibe myself. Also, I think my editing has become one of strengths, giving my clients clean, sharp, vibrant images all the time! I also tend to take a lot of pictures, editing a large portion of them but still giving my clients a variety of options to chose from in terms of what they post/share with others. And finally I offer framed print outs as well for an additional fee.
I first got my camera in about 2019 but as I mentioned, initially I didn’t even plan on starting this business. I started off using my camera for personal use but by 2020 I had been booked events by my friends at the time and I fell in love with the energy that I was able to bring to parties and the energy that I received from capturing these moments. It definitely took a little while to learn discipline, and how to manage certain things and honestly I’m still learning but I’m definitely improving. In fact that’s one of the things that I’m most proud of, how much my work has improved. From my first gig to now my sharpness has improved, angles, color correction, editing in general and my general approach. I literally developed a passion for it.
One thing that I would want my clients to know is that I’m there to please you. My goal is to capture memories and the atmosphere of your events and to get them back to you quickly and in good quality, HOWEVER, this is still a business. My needs must be met too. I am very flexible, I even offer discounts and different packages but don’t take kindly to being tried to be taken advantage of….nobody does. So let’s get it done, have a good time, and create some memories.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I feel that there were a few times when I showed resilience throughout my business journey. One of them I’ve mentioned in my first interview but I learned a huge lesson from it! This was the time when I shot pictures for someone’s event but was never paid. First off, this was someone that I considered a friend so Im guessing they assumed I would let it slide because of that. I came to the event, took great pictures, edited a few, and still posted them on my page even after not being compensated. I took the L in the that situation but I looked at it as a lesson rather than a lost. I was able to gain a bunch of Instagram followers from the event (exposure) and good content, but like I said the lesson was learned and I’ll never have that problem again. The resilience, I feel, came in prior to the party as I still edited and posted the photos (after not being paid as we’d discussed).
Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?
I’m terms of missing payroll, before I had a written contract there have been one or two times where I was almost underpaid due to miscommunication. People were thinking that my hourly fee was my flat fee, just based on our conversations. I thought I was clear in discussing that but stuff happens. Both times, they were able to admit that they misunderstood me and were fair enough to complete my payment so it all worked out. Now I have a written contract that must be signed by me and the client. No confusion, no miscommunication, it’s all in writing.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drizzy_digital/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drizzy.digital/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-turrentine-9835151a4
- Other: https://cash.app/$DrizzyGuwap
Image Credits
Jamia Harrison and Cienna Janae.