We recently connected with Kelsey Christine and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Kelsey, thanks for joining us today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

This question comes at a meaningful time because is this something that’s been on my mind a lot this year. To be transparent, 2023 has been uncharacteristically slow for my business and I wasn’t quite sure why. After discussing this with multiple other service-based business owners, I’ve learned that I’m not alone. Many of my fellow entrepreneurial friends have experienced this exact same thing. For whatever reason, the outlook of the economy this year has caused people to rethink higher ticket purchases and in turn, our inquiries and bookings have all been bleak. Times like these certainly make me wonder what it would be like to have a “regular” or more stable job. But I always come back to my “why.” I didn’t start this business for stability. The work that I do is meaningful to me and I treasure the connections that I’ve made because of it. So even when things are slow, I am indeed still happy to be a business owner.

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.

Launch Your Daydream (LYD) specializes in creating strategy-first websites for badass photographers who are breaking the mold. I specialize in using the Showit website platform and I actually found myself within the photography niche by accident. I’ve never been a photographer myself, but I do have the deepest appreciation for the work that my clients do.

A little history behind the biz:

Beyond my nostalgic nature, creativity has been in my blood since childhood. I can still vividly remember myself as a kid, sitting at my Little Tikes picnic table with a Spacemaker box of markers and a blank piece of paper ready to create.

In high school, a marketing elective helped me realize I could turn my creativity into a realistic career. I went to college for marketing, but soon after graduation realized agency life and slimy corporate brands were not for me.

Freelance life was where I landed. In 2017, I co-founded Launch Your Daydream with my friend and frequent collaborator Britt Hyatt and spent the next five years as half of a dynamic, boyband-obsessed duo. While Britt ventured off in 2022 to do her own thing, we still talk daily, and she still lends her SEO expertise to every LYD project.

Britt and I had booked a working trip to Nashville pre-pandemic and fell in love with what we kept calling “that Nashville feeling.” This infectious vibe helped us shake up our thinking and play big.

A year later, I went through a major shift in my personal life and found myself with a deep desire to connect with and find love for my true self. I couldn’t think of a better place than Nashville for a fresh start.

This personal development has made me even more committed to helping each of my clients embrace who they are and who they serve through their site.

That’s why my focus is now on photographers who are pushing the boundaries of what professional photography has traditionally celebrated. If you’re doing that, my goal is to help you communicate that through thoughtful, bold, confidence-boosting web design.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My whole business journey for the past decade has been guided by different phases of reflection and self-discovery. It’s what led me to first quit my 9-5 and go freelance back in 2015, and it’s what led me to go through a major personal rebrand earlier this year.

This importance of self-discovery and embracing my true self in my business has now become the mission driving my creative journey forward. I want to encourage other business owners (in this case, photographers) to do the same. I want to help them recognize that they ARE in fact unique, and that they should be embracing what makes them unique throughout their brand.

That’s why I strive to work with photographers who are pushing industry boundaries rather than following what professional photography has traditionally showcased. By being true to themselves and breaking the mold in a meaningful way, these photographers are helping their clients embrace their true selves, too. This deserves to be celebrated.

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

Once I accepted the power of niching down and chose to focus my services solely on photographers, this allowed me to fully integrate myself into the industry. I spent years surrounding myself with the photography niche—learning from experts and educators in the industry, and putting myself out there to form meaningful connections with them. In choosing and committing to my niche, I have in turn built up a positive, knowledgable reputation over time.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://launchyourdaydream.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/launchyourdaydream/

Image Credits
Brooke Dainty