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

Morgan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?

I 100% wish I had started my business sooner. I started calling myself and my work a business when I was still in college studying photography, however, nothing was really “real” in a sense. I had a name and I was starting to get clients, but nothing was really official in terms of legality. It took a decent amount of time for me to learn what it really meant to have a legit business and get all of the paperwork filed. If I had started my business earlier and really gotten to that nitty gritty portion of having a business earlier, I would’ve been able to use the resources I had direct access to and would’ve been able to spend less time confused and more time confident. I took a small business 101 sort of class when I was in college and I didn’t really take it in. My professor was incredible and so insanely knowledgeable and I wish I had worked more closely with him to develop my business as a whole and put me on the right path.

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?

I started my photography business pretty early on compared to the quality of work I was able to produce. The main thing that drew me to having this be my career was the joy that I was able to bring to people’s lives through my work. I believe that everyone should have a great photo of themselves and those that they care about. Photography has truly become my own personal love language and it makes me happy when people are excited about their photos. I know that not everyone loves having their photo taken, but I try my best to make everyone not just comfortable in front of the camera, but confident. I want to be a resource for my clients; from making each session custom to their personality/personalities to having an “Oh Shit” Kit available to help remedy any situation that might cause stress. I’m honestly most proud of the fact that people feel good when they leave the session and I feel that the photos reflect that. Being a photographer isn’t just clicking a button, but showing just how amazing each person is.

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.

The main thing that I find most people don’t understand about being a photographer is that it really isn’t just clicking a button and giving the photo to the client. I spend a lot of time looking for clients, preparing more each session, continuously growing and changing with trends in the industry, developing my style, editing, and much much more that people don’t see. It can be absolutely exhausting to try and do all of the stuff people say you should be doing while maintaining a healthy personal life let alone telling people about all of the things I should/have to do for my business. Often times I get the line of, “Oh, it must be so nice being your own boss and making your own schedule and working whenever you want.” Sure, it’s nice to have flexibility, but it can cause a ton of pressure to make sure that everyone is happy and that everything looks perfect. I’ve spent 2 hours try to get just one photo looking perfect and I deliver anywhere from 10 photos for a mini session to 2000 photos for a wedding. It takes a lot of time and it can cause me to feel guilty if I haven’t gotten my clients their photos.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Word. Of. Mouth. I cannot express this enough. I get so many of my clients because of previous ones. There is one of my previously wedding clients that to this day tells everyone about my work and that they should hire me. With the amount of photographers there are, especially in the West Michigan area, it can be hard to stand out in the crowd. When people directly say that my work is great, there is an instant trust formed as it’s not just a business trying to promote themselves.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.morganjeanphotography.com
• Instagram: @MorganJeanPhotography
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/morganjeanphotography1/ https://www.facebook.com/morganjeanphotography1/
• Other: linktr.ee/morganjeanphotography

Image Credits
Morgan Jean Photography