We were lucky to catch up with Noel Muse recently and have shared our conversation below.

Noel, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Folks often look at a successful business and imagine it was an overnight success, but from what we’ve seen this is often far from the truth. We’d love to hear your scaling up story – walk us through how you grew over time – what were some of the big things you had to do to grow and what was that scaling up journey like?

It is found in almost every great book about growth. Change is the breading ground for growth. If you refuse to change you will not grow. I am forever looking at what can we change and how we can make our services something that matter.

My brother and I worked for years traveling to each other and to couples to work together shooting weddings. As two separate brands and businesses. Our goal at some point was to live in the same city and work full-time together. This summer that finally happened.

While shooting weddings has been our main source of creativity, separately and together, it hasn’t been the only thing we have created. He has worked on different film products from music videos to political ads. I have created the branding for small businesses including their websites, product photos, and social media content. We knew at some point when we were in the same city we would start to offer nonwedding services also. While he worked on moving to Kansas City, I worked on a new brand that melted us together. Something that reflected our heart and creativity.

We finally launched our new website and brand this summer. We will continue to build a brand that is focused on working with clients with the same core values. Small businesses, creatives, musicians, and real couples that give a F***. Clients that give a F*** about each other and the world we live in.

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

We were born into a creative family. Focused more on music theory and the color wheel than how to throw or kick a ball. Music and art were always ongoing conversations in our house. My brother and I were lucky enough to be born with a curiosity and love for visual storytelling.

Dillion fell in love with making music videos for his band that he wrote, sang, and played in. He chose to leave the band but never left the camera. After some push from me, he started shooting a few weddings. He now has been full-time for several years. Dillion uses his love for music to drive the creativity of the videos he makes.

I, Noel have always been in love with the camera. Shooting families, seniors, births, babies, and couples were my comfort zone. I second shot for a few fellow wedding photographers and learned a lot. Then a family friend got married and they refused to take anything but a yes for me to be their wedding photographer. I left that wedding knowing that this will forever be a part of my life.

Fast forward a few years and we have worked together and separately on weddings while living in two different states. As of this summer, we are working full-time together in Kansas City. We have had our hand in a lot of other creative areas. Branding for small businesses, websites, promos, products, more music videos, and commercials.

We now take on a few weddings a year with couples who are real and honest in their connection. Balancing out the rest of our time with other creative work like music videos, promo videos, content, websites, and branding.

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

I think when Covid hit there was a shift in the way I did business. Working through that time with our couple was like walking in the dark but we adjusted our business to this new world. We now focus more on connecting to the type of people we work with best. We also shifted into working more with commercial projects to offset some of the roller coaster ride we have been on in the wedding world. Once we stepped our toe outside the wedding world and started working with small businesses and creatives and opened up a whole new different outlet of storytelling.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

This question, as a service provider, is less about getting more clients, and more so about getting the RIGHT clients. I think you have to take a good look at your branding. You have to be yourself and really be specific with how you deliver that message to your clients. The better you are at being specific with your massage it will draw the right clientele and easily deter the wrong.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.themuse.company
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themuse.company
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheMuseCompanyKC
• Other: https://vimeo.com/dillionmuse