We were lucky to catch up with Liz Wood recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Liz, thanks for joining us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

To be successful, it takes understanding your own values and connecting with those near and far who share similar ones. I’ve always toted a camera around, and when I decided to monetize my photography, I knew I wanted to create something beautiful that I would be proud of and others would find useful. Connection is a huge undercurrent in everything I do in my life, as we have fallen too far into social media and sitting behind our computer screens. When I created notecard packs with my beautiful photos on them, it gave and gives people a chance to actually write a note to each other. To connect, to think about what they want to say. It’s a beautiful thing.

Liz, 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 started Roaming with Red during a hard time in my life. It was originally started as an outlet for me. My original business is a real estate company I own, and while it’s very rewarding, there can be many struggles. Since I travel all over the world, and all over my city of New Orleans, which is a popular destination for travelers, I realized that I could take my experiences to a new level. I love to write, so began writing about my adventures afar and near on my blog. My tips on different topics, whether it’s about fashion or travel or health, are interesting for the people who read my work. I have a regular blog, a newsletter, and I sell my photography as prints as well. My latest creations are curated notecard packs featuring different collections. The three I currently have are: New Orleans, Paris, and Flower Collection notecard packs. They all feature 10 unique notecards with my photography on each. It’s meant to send someone you care about a note for no occasion, a birthday, or any other holiday. They replace the expensive greeting cards that we run out to buy last minute from the drug store.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

As I said, I own a real estate company. The last year or so has been brutal on the business, specifically in New Orleans for various reasons I won’t get into. I realized that not having another stream of income was a huge mistake, and that is when I decided to monetize my Roaming with Red business. I created (with my web developer and host) a custom online cart that I have complete control of, and I add new prints to the print shop and new notecard collections as I create them. This is going to be a fruitful pivot, albeit slower than I like (but that is how life works in general)! The time I have from my real estate business being drastically slower has given me ample time to properly grow my other business, and as I have discovered, my new burning passion. It’s completely different from what I’ve done before, and I am delighting in learning a whole new business.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

What’s helped build my reputation is my honesty and authenticity. I’m not afraid to talk about difficult topics on my blog, share anecdotes with people, and bring people along with me. I’m obsessed with supporting other local businesses and sharing others’ wins. I’ll get on social media and talk on the camera. I share losses I’ve had with people, and other difficult moments. Being more comfortable in my own skin has really helped with my reputation, and I’m ok when people don’t like me or feel threatened by me. That means I’m doing something right.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.roamingwithred.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roamingwithred/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063770014789
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liz-wood-b4ba146/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/roamingwithred

Image Credits
All images have been taken by me.