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

Hi Melissa , thanks for joining us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

When it came to naming my business or what name I’d be using to promote my services, I knew I wanted something that included my hame and had maybe a unique way of telling people just in the name what I offered… food, photography, photos of recipes. After a bit a research – specifically on Instagram to make sure no one else was using the moniker I was considering- Edible Shots by Melissa was born. In learning more about being a business owner, I’ve made my company an LLC S-Corp and I’ve also purchased the domain for Wilbur Family Studio, which may incorporate more commercial and branding type of work in addition to food blogger photography.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I started my business as a side-hustle in 2021, at that time I had a full time job with a manufacturing company as a project coordinator. I realized even before this food photography hobby and even more specifically my niche of food blogger photography that my role as a project coordinator was very thankless and unfulfilling role, and really had no advancement opportunities. So I thought a side business as a food photographer offering those services to food bloggers would be a way to allow my creativity to come through.

What many people may not know is that some food bloggers have the opportunity to monetize their blog, in a way to support their family. What has evolved over time in this industry is the need for high quality, drool worthy, scroll stopping imagery of bloggers’ recipes, photos that are so good you can’t help but click on for that recipe to make it yourself.

That’s where my services come in; I offer full sessions that include images and recipe tutorial videography from ingredients through key process steps to final outcome of any dish, and many of my clients continue to book me month after month/year after year due to my creative skillset of understanding the recipe, and how a reader needs to not only see but know how the food in my images taste and smell- I’m going for all the feels!

What I didn’t realize when I first started was the amount of amazing clients I would come to meet. I am thrilled to be able to say at least 65% of my currently clients are owners I’ve had the pleasure to work with for over a year, some over 3 years.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

With intention and hard work, I was able to fill my calendar with amazing food blogger clients, all while handling a full time project coordinator job. I started day dreaming what it would be like to work for myself, full time, as a creative in the food photography and videography space – it would be a dream come true.

I also showed my husband what my photography business was earning after expenses, and what it could look like if I didn’t have my full time job, from my daily imagination of working for myself. After crunching the numbers and with his amazing love and support, he said that if I wanted to leave my company to pursue food photography full time that I had his blessing. I set myself a goal to continue to work as much as possible, learn as much as I could to then leave the company on my own terms at the end of 2022.

Clearly the universe was listening to my day dreams because in the spring of 2022, the company I worked for started announcing some strategies and changes coming, specifically within the current regions. I had been working with this manufacturer for over 10 years, and over 7 years in my current project coordinator role, so I sensed that the team I was a part of would potentially be involved in job eliminations depending on how the new territories were aligned.

End of June I received a call from a coworker who was also a project coordinator but for a different territory. His role was eliminated since he hadn’t been a project coordinator for very long. After chatting with him I simply asked if he liked working for the company and if he wanted to stay, adding in confidence I had started a side hustle and I was planning to leave end of the year- and wondered if I could have my role eliminated so he could stay on.

After some negotiations and some thoughtful conversations, my wish was granted. My role was eliminated and I was able to pursue my food photography full time in service to my clients. Honestly it is the best chance I took on myself!

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

Some people may initially consider that leaving a full time comfortable job wasn’t a good move, yet working that plus a side hustle brought a quicker sense of burn out and resentment towards one or the other.

The more interesting thing I’ve come to realize is that I am more of a Type A creative- I’m thoughtful and organized but I’m also creative and free to make decisions in the moment for my recipes to look the best they can look, thus boosting the engagement for my clients.

And in many ways, I am still using my core project management principles and all the knowledge I received when attaining my PMP certification- it turns out all my of my client recipe shoots are projects !

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.edibleshotsbymelissa.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edibleshotsbymelissa/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/edibleshotsbymelissa
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edibleshotsbymelissa/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@edibleshotsbymelissa9826

Image Credits

Ana Carter