Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Karthika Krishna. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Karthika thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. 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 wanted to know if I could earn money through my creative work. So I started putting up my personal work on social media. I then realized I should also put up work that would attract my potential customer. Slowly, I started photographing more and using social media to showcase what I had done. I also started sending direct messages on Instagram to reach out to local entrepreneurs within St louis. One jewelry business owner responded to my messages and asked me to meet her. I was anxious, nervous and apprehensive as this was my first meeting for my “creative business”. It turned out to be a wonderful meeting as she was very warm and lovely. She loved my ideas and shared that she wanted to photograph her jewelry and also was looking to create a website for her business. I jumped in and asked her if I could attempt both for her. She was very encouraging and gave me my first chance. I photographed all her jewelry and created her e-commerce website: www.ladygreybeads.com. It was very satisfying to know that I could execute both, a jewelry website and do product photography and get paid for it.
Karthika, 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?
I have been a marketing professional back home in India, where I did film marketing for various studios like Reliance Entertainment and Viacom18 Motion Pictures. I understand how the creative world functions. I always secretly wanted to be a working creative professional. I moved to the US 6 years ago and decided to use this opportunity to start from scratch and fulfill this desire of mine. I leaned on what I knew best: Photography. I had been photographing all through my life but it was mainly because of my passion. I now had the opportunity to make a living out of it. So I gathered my skills, worked on my portfolio and reached out to people on social media. I got to meet people who gave me a chance and then from there on, through word-of-mouth, my business grew.
Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?
I was going to India after 3 years and it was a long trip for about 2 months. Exactly a week before I was to go, I saw in one of my groups that someone needed a new website work for their company. I sent a message asking if I can pitch my services for that project. I then had a phone meeting where I heard their requirements and told them what all I could do. I din’t hear from them for a few days and I thought maybe they decided to go elsewhere. Then, the day before my flight, I got an email asking me to send in a proposal. I was packing for my flight and I saw the email only that night. My husband even asked if it was worth pursuing since I was going to be on a holiday and would be working against a deadline etc. That was the moment where I had to decide if I wanted to pursue this business or not. I just knew I had to do it. I finished packing at 12:30 am and started working on my proposal. I got done by about 1:30 am and sent my email the next morning before boarding my flight. I landed and saw that I had the confirmation to go ahead by my client. I worked on that websitefrom India fighting jetlag and tiredness. They liked my work and I recommended me for more projects. It was very hard but so worth the fight.
Have you ever had to pivot?
I did not expect to design websites. I had never done it and it was nowhere on my radar. When I met one of my first clients, she told me she wanted a website for her business and did not know where to start. I thought that I had designed my own website so I could help her with one as well. That opportunity to design for someone else was very challenging and creatively satisfying. I then went to do more work when I got recommended by my clients. My website design work has only grown through word of mouth and that has been my biggest achievement.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.karthikakrishna.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karthikakrishnaphotography/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karthikakrishnaphotography
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karthika-krishna/
Image Credits
All photos by Karthika Krishna