We recently connected with Mike Byrd and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Mike, thanks for joining us today. We love asking folks what they would do differently if they were starting today – how they would speed up the process, etc. We’d love to hear how you would set everything up if you were to start from step 1 today.

Honestly, If I had to start over, I would jump straight to ownership of a studio space. This is inherently an expensive industry to get into with the cost of equipment and software, so I would save myself an expense on constantly renting out spaces and having to stress about availability of those spaces and just have my own. I know that’s not typical, especially starting out, but if you are sure this is what you want to do, I would encourage anybody to make that investment.

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?

Photography has been an unexpected, but successful journey. I got my first camera while in grad school, when originally I was looking for a game console, but I got lost in the store and landed in the camera section of Best Buy. I picked up the camera and I haven’t looked back since. I have been shooting for about 8 years now and I think I have explored a range of content to create. Like anything, there have been ups and downs, successes and failures, but even with the journey being super challenging, I have never loss the love to create and displaying my art to the world. I have grown my business tremendously and have establish myself locally as a respected content creator. Now, I have been in business for 4 years and I have been fortunate enough to not be negatively effected by the pandemic. I am working towards many more years of success and I hope to continue to produce quality work for the duration of my career.

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

I believe my professionalism and being able to consistently deliver is what has helped me build such a strong brand. There are so many horror stories about creators charging a lot, but not delivering, or making the creative space unsafe and I never want to be viewed in that light. I have dedicated my brand to being the opposite of that. I honor what I say I will do, I remain affordable and I always provide a safe space to create.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding feeling is seeing the response to my work either through my social media platforms or through my clients social media pages. The response is always so heartwarming and sparks my creative drive to keep getting better.

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