Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Melissa Keyser. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Melissa, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

Growing up, we {women} are told not to stand out. If we want our photos taken, we’re told not to be the center of attention. If we like how we look, we’re told we are vain. We have messaging shoved down our throats that we must look a certain way in order to be worthy.

No wonder so many of us struggle to be comfortable being in photos and be in front of the camera.

But as a small business owner, being visible as the face of your brand is critical to connect with your clients or customers. People who support small business what to know who they are buying from. Being the face of my business helped me gain confidence in myself and my work, and helped me grow my business. Women should have more money, and I wanted to help them get there.

I believe that women should be visible in photos, and that it’s ok to stand out. It’s OK to celebrate yourself without being thought as vain or stupid.

I started Quarter Moon Studio to help women feel comfortable and confident being in their photos, and give them the mindset and technical skills to do that.

Melissa, 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?

Quarter Moon Studio is a creative studio offering photography services for makers, creators, and purpose-driven small business folks.

I offer in-person branding photography for local Maine artisans and do remote product photography and content creation for food, herbal, and homestead-y type brands, blogs, and businesses.

For those business folks on a budget, I offer online programs and courses teaching how to DIY all their small business photography needs.

I do not have a background in photography or art- or business- and it may seem strange that I have a business teaching photography.

I actually have a degree in environmental studies, with a focus on education and ecology.

I’ve always loved taking pictures, but never took it very seriously. It was just a fun hobby with a disposable film camera. It wasn’t until I was working as a naturalist, but started my first side hustle of selling handmade bags at craft fairs and on Etsy did I realize how important good pictures were. I did OK at in-person events but didn’t sell anything online. Probably because my photos sucked.

That was my first venture into entrepreneurship, and it didn’t last long.

I later returned to school to study landscape design and was writing a home and garden blog. I really started to take photography seriously, as I realized I needed quality images for my website and social media. I bought a camera and taught myself how to take pictures: I dove into YouTube videos, took workshops, and did about every online program available.

My pictures of my garden, plants, my designs, and my recipes were amazing, but I still didn’t feel confident BEING in those images. I also didn’t know HOW to take pictures of myself. How can you be both the photographer and the model? Despite all the resources I found, that piece was missing. I wished that there was someone who would teach me how to take photos of myself.

Fast forward a few years, I moved across the country (I’m originally from California but moved to Maine). My background in California ecology and specialization of low-water California native plants had no relevance in my new home, so I started a new business as a professional home organizer.

Hiring a professional photographer wasn’t always in budget, and I knew I needed good photos to market myself and my services, so I took everything I knew and figured out how to take good pictures of myself.

Fellow organizers and friends couldn’t believe I didn’t have a photographer following me around, and I realized this was something I could help other small businesses with. And thus Quarter Moon Studio was born!

I started teaching women how to take self-portraits, but soon realized similar tips applied to other types of photography, so I broadened what I was teaching to be any photos a small business may need.

I realized that I loved having a camera in hand so much that I started offering local photography services as well as my educational programs.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I have always had a love/hate relationship with social media (the primary platform I use is Instagram). I’ve been on there since it was founded, and so I have the memory of when it used to be just everyday folks, posting highly filtered pictures of our cats.

It’s changed a LOT since then, and sometimes that desire for “simpler” times makes me hate what it’s become. You can’t just post a picture. You have a strategy, catchy hooks, be on video, etc., etc. etc.

Despite all that, it is a wonderful free way to market your business. I get the majority of my course signups from Instagram. I have a very small audience, but it’s highly engaged, proof that follower numbers don’t actually mean sales.

My goal for social media is to be very relatable and authentic. I show up without makeup and in my pajamas, because a big part of my brand is empowering women to show up. I practice what I preach. I show my messy kitchen and office and make fun of myself, because it’s relatable. So many of us think we need to have this perfectly curated home and life in order to be worthy of being visible, and if we don’t have that, we don’t feel we’re good enough. So I think sharing this makes my followers see me as a real person, just like them- I feel more like friends, which is what I want.

I also give away tons of free tips and advice. I see so many people gatekeeping info and not giving anything on social media, they want you to sign up for their programs to get any value. And while program enrollment IS also my goal, I want people to trust me and know that I know what I’m talking about. My goal is to see all that I offer for free and think “crap, she gives this for free, I bet her paid program is amazing!”

I regularly have people message me their photos saying how a specific tip helped them, and how much value my account is giving them. It’s these types of messages and comments that keep me driven and motivated to keep showing up.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

As I mentioned earlier, so many of us women are afraid to be in photos. Think about family gatherings. Some one pulls out a camera, and what do you hear? Your mom, aunt, sister, or some other women in your life say “oh no, I don’t want to be in the picture, I look awful”.

We all hear that. It’s a message that is drummed into us from an early age. And so we believe it. That we are too fat/pale/hairy/pimply/[insert insecurity here].

Or if we ARE comfortable with our bodies, if we post a selfie, it means we’re vain. We worry about what people will think.

This is something I’ve had to unlearn, because I’ve thought that, too. When I first got started on social media, I’d see women posting selfies and I thought “who the hell do these women think they are, taking up space and showing off”

But really, I was just envious that they had the confidence that I lacked, that they were capable of being visible, and I wasn’t.

Contact Info:

• Website: thequartermoonstudio.com
• Instagram: @thequartermoonstudio (education) and @melissakeyser (Maine photography)