We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kristie Bulach a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Kristie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What was the most important lesson/experience you had in a job that has helped you as a business owner?
I was blessed to have two very different experiences at photography studios prior to me opening my very own. My first boss I worked for almost 7 1/2 years all throughout high school and college. What are the lessons I learned from him was to find your niche. He had been in the industry for 30+ years And would always try to sway my decision on what I should do and my photography career. These were based upon his own personal experiences, and I can say now being in the industry for many years, he was very biased in his opinions, especially when it came to wedding photography. he always told me that weddings were the devil, and I would never enjoy photographing weddings the way I would studio work, however, after my first couple weddings, I knew I was exactly where I needed to be. I believe I had more of an emotional attachment to not only the wedding itself, but those that were involved in the wedding, like the bride or the groom. One piece of advice that I give New or Photography students and or business owners is to surround yourself with people who push you to find the best part of yourself. Had I not stepped out of my comfort zone from him telling me bad experiences I would’ve never built the business I had built thus far.
My second boss was definitely more of a Cheerleader in the sense of pushing you to better yourself. However the most important lesson I learned from that boss was the importance of being an engaging boss and constantly. Checking in with my employees, ensuring that they are happy with their own performances, as well as with mine as a mentor and a boss. My previous boss eventually moved out of state and tried to oversee operations from there and that’s when laziness in others came more apparent. The workplace became somewhere that was not enjoyable because of the chaos that ensued.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My photography journey began back when I was a 14-year-old dance student. I filled in for a fellow dancer who worked at a photography studio during a weekend of recital photos. From there I was offered a summertime position where I began learning all about Lighting posing and running a photography business. After graduation, I went to a two-year college to receive a degree in portrait photography from the Ohio Institute of photography and technology. I then began my career at another studio where I grew the high school senior photography program exponentially, and got a lot of knowledge in photographing weddings. In 2009 I branched out on my own and began Dolce Vita Photography. our first year in business, we photographed 29 weddings and by the next year we had double that number. I have photographed well over 500 weddings, and I’ve created a team of photographers who are some of the best in the area.
We have been blessed with some amazing clients, who not only and trust in our photography coverage here locally, but we have traveled as far as Hawaii, Southern California, New York City, countless places in Florida, Las Vegas, and many islands in the Caribbean.
We strive to create a seamless and stress-free day for our couples. There have been times that I have had to pick up a curling iron, a makeup brush, a sewing kit, and even a hot glue gun, to ensure that the day goes by without a hitch. no two weddings are the same, there is always a first. This is what keeps our day yo day of shooting fresh and unique. The biggest compliment one can get it’s not only having your couple come back to you for the next mile stone in their life, but also getting calls and booking clients who were bridesmaids or groomsmen of a previous wedding. we create lasting relationships with our clients just because the day is over doesn’t mean we walk away from one another
We take pride and making sure that every client goes into their wedding or their photo shoot with knowledge and experience from us to make sure they get the best photographs we can possibly create.
Dolce vita stands for the sweet life, and I truly believe that the moments we get to spend with our clients are the sweetest moments one can ask for. Sometimes we are in a birthing room, a field on a hot summer day, gallivanting through the city, or getting our feet wet in the ocean- the moments that we capture can never be relived, except through the art that we create
Can you talk to us about your experience with buying businesses?
In the end of 2019, I purchased a wedding planning business that also produces a wedding show two times a year. For approximately eight years I had participated in this wedding show as well as helped with the logistical part and knew the owner quite well. She actually sought me out when she was needing to pivot from her role as the owner due to other business ventures, she was faced with. After a lot of thought, and consideration, I decided to go ahead and purchase the business. I knew that this would not only help my wedding clients, but also all of my corporate clients as well. it gave me a chance to get out there in the city and meet with countless vendors, all over the board in the wedding and event planning industry.
The acquisition process was definitely lengthy, but my personal banker may things quite smooth We went ahead and secured a small business loan for the purchase of the company. They began doing audits of previous years of the business to ensure that the purchase price was in fact fair. From there, it took a lot of preparing on my end of documents to ensure that we were in good financial, standing to take over the business and be able to make payments on the loan.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
I don’t believe in putting all of my eggs in one basket, so I like to sprinkle advertising throughout many forms of social media as well as an online presence on multiple websites. As things continue to grow and change on social media, we have learned that we can’t just Facebook market our clients because a lot of them have switched platforms to not only Instagram and TikTok but some are getting rid of those all together. We have multiple wedding-based websites that we currently advertise with any found that keeping our brand out there as many times as possible,is what is best for us. I also work with a marketing company who puts together amazing content that we can use across our social media platforms. These can be anything from capturing leads to scheduling phone calls with potential clients. I do also feel that getting out in the community and being face-to-face with the clients is a huge selling point, so participating in charity events, Local get together‘s, and wedding shows give us the opportunity to speak one on one and build a relationship with those potential clients.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.dolce-vita-photo.com
- Instagram: @Dolcevitaphoto
- Facebook: Facebook.com/dolcevitaphoto
Image Credits
Dolce Vita Photography LLC