Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Karina Pavlides. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Karina, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about how you got your first non-friend, non-family client. Paint the picture for us so we can feel the same excitement you felt on that day.
I got my first camera in 2016. It was more of a push from my husband because although I really wanted one I felt like we needed the money for other things. He insisted on it and I fell in love. I started learning how to use the manual mode right away. During this timeframe I did all of my research from learning how to use the camera to using subjects (mainly my children so I can practice and get better). I wanted to be a family photographer but quickly changed when I felt the disconnection from families. Instead I moved onto being a boudoir photographer because I really wanted to help women see themselves for who they were. Since my first ever model that I photographed which was in 2017 to the first paying client I photographed in 2019 there was a lot of work to do behind the scenes. I set up my business license, got an accountant, worked my social media platforms, got my website up and running, blogged and everything that I did felt like it was for nothing. It felt like countless hours of working for nothing, and no client insight. In the meantime, I was also purchasing courses and seeing where photographers priced themselves, photographing models, connecting with make up artists that would help me. Tweaking my pricing sheet. Growing my social media platforms as best as I could. It took nearly 2 years to land my very first client. I remember her finding me on Instagram by this time I was an expert on how to respond to an inquiry I immediately got her on the phone. I remember being nervous and excited that someone wanted to work with ME! I had perfected my phone script at this point and knew exactly what to say and what my pricing was. I remember hearing why she was doing the session. She was a kidney cancer survivor and she wanted to show her strength but also gift it to her husband as anniversary gift. When I called her I remember my palms being sweaty my heart beating so fast. I know I wasn’t the most casual on this phone call as I was nervous and felt like I was messing up the information that I was giving her. To my surprise at the end of the call she booked with my studio! She BOOKED ME because she wanted to work with ME! She didn’t bat an eye on my session fee she paid it happily. She was happy with the pricing. I remember walking downstairs and letting my family know! That was the best time of my life that after putting in so much work for nearly 2 years, it paid off! I later found out that she had been following other local boudoir photographers but she ended up choosing me. I felt so special!! I remember the day like it was yesterday. I photographed her I couldn’t believe that this was the beginning of a revolution for my business but primarily for ME and how I helped women! A week later I showed her her images and I remember the amount of money she paid. I was blown away of how she happily paid it all in full! I remember going home that day and crying to my husband that I had just made $2,000 on my very first client! Thanks to this client for believing in me and my expertise, the 19th of August will be my 6 years of being in business! Spoiler Alert: Although she had initially done the session as an anniversary gift at the end of the session she said the session was for HER!
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 am a boudoir photographer I have been in business for 6 years. I got into this industry because I have always felt the pull to always be there for women. Always cheer them on. I will always be the one to go out of my way and compliment another woman either by what she’s wearing, the confidence she hold on her shoulders, or just about any other thing that I feel makes her look amazing. This is why I chose to dive into the world of boudoir photography because I get to be my clients’ number 1 cheerleader. Rooting for them letting them know how beautiful they are! Capturing this specific moment of their lives and show them how far they have come!
We offer all sort of products for our clients to display their stunning images. The most popular products amongst clients are our luxurious branding albums. This allows them to remove their images out of a hard drive and into something tangible that they can see every day! We have different sized of albums the most sizes being a 10×10 or 8×8 album. You also get to select your favorite album cover with over 50 different designs to choose from which include leather, suede, vegan, sparkles, and more! The next popular product is our diamond block. This is an amazing way to display our clients’ images on a luxurious piece of glass that can be placed on a desk or on the entry table or end table of the living room to show their fierce beauty! These are most sought out products but we have so much more that clients love to display their images on from digital images to poker cards to even a retro viewfinder (which happens to be our third most popular product selected by clients).
Our clients are everyday women that are nurses, moms, former military, lawyers, doctors, and more that believe they are not enough! These women are booking these sessions because they want to see themselves for who they have always been and prioritize themselves! Our services go beyond the stunning images that they will receive from this experience we have stylists that will glam them up with hair and makeup included in their session, we will guide them through wardrobe and coach them into poses to get the best images that will last a lifetime!
We have been in the industry for 6 years no matter your age, size, ethnicity my team and I will guide you on everything from hair and makeup to some of the most complex poses (all guided and shown by yours truly) to have the best experience you deserve!
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
When I first started my main goal was always to make this my full time career. What I didn’t really comprehend at the very beginning was – PERSERVEREANCE. This isn’t easy. To be seen because in a pool full of all sort of photographers you must be able to stand out but beyond that you MUST keep pushing even on the days that you feel is pointless. On the days that you don’t feel like it. I will never forget something that someone once told me and it stuck in my head. “Rome wasn’t build in a day.” You have to keep pushing! There are a lot of struggles to being a business owner you will come across rude people, people that tell you to f off, people that will not buy your products. You must understand that these are not your customers or clients. It doesn’t happen overnight. But the more you do it the more you let things slide like butter. the better you get at what you do. And understand WHY you are doing what you do. For the past 6 years, I believe I am finally in a position where I am in love with where my business is. There were days where I would get frustrated why women couldn’t see that they are worthy of investing in themselves. There were days when I had customers not pay me. It was so, hard so frustrating there were times that I would put my business in the back burner because I have a degree in accounting and I would go back to a 9-5 job because I felt I couldn’t do it. But one day I said “Enough. We’re going to make this work because I want to help women that want to invest in themselves.” It was not easy there was a lot of internal work to be done first. That started with me showing up for what I believed in. The women that I believed in as well as the women that believed in me. I started to improve my systems of how my business ran, including contracts, payments, emails, and everything in between. It was about understanding to let go of those people that simply would never be my client and to be fully ok with that.
I remember I had a client that sent me an email letting me know that she couldn’t move forward with the session. Old me, would have been upset and wondering what I did wrong, today I thanked her for being kind enough to communicate that with me and let her know that her session had been cancelled and we would be pleased to have her back in when she was ready. The next day a client booked and paid in full. This is what it is to let go of things and not take them personal your clients will find you!
How did you build your audience on social media?
One thing you must learn is that social media makes is difficult for small business owners because we aren’t the ones pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars to these platforms on ad spend. But once again consistency is the key here. Algorithms and reaching your audience can always be a challenge. But they have now added things such as stories and reels that help you be seen beyond your followers. I say be consistent on your content, what you are trying to educate your audience in. Follow likeminded entrepreneurs and be genuine with the engagement. Ask about their business how they are doing, relate to them. Show up and talk about who you are and what you do. People will begin to follow. My biggest tip is this: For 10 minutes every day look for entrepreneurs that are in your area that service the same demographic customers/clients. Follow them, like and comment 3 of their posts (genuine comments), and share their reel or their post on your stories. This will allow you to start a growth on your Instagram page.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.intimatesbykarina.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/intimates_by_karina
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/glamorousbabestribe
Image Credits
Karina Pavlides