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

Oprah, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of the most important things we can do as business owners is ensure that our customers feel appreciated. What’s something you’ve done or seen a business owner do to help a customer feel valued?

As a photographer word of mouth is EVERYTHING. This means that I put in the work to make sure that every client feels comfortable with me. My work before the shoot involves making sure my clients list of things to worry about is minimal. I use my resources and knowledge to prep them as much as possible. After a shoot I follow up with a hand written note and a discount code for future bookings and referrals.

Oprah, 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?

As a branding photographer I know just as it takes a village to raise a child it takes a village to build a business. Every entrepreneur treats their business like their baby and thus they need support. My role as a branding photographer goes beyond taking the beautiful imagery to market your brand. It also means using my network of clients to make sure that you are supported in your business in any way.

I work with each client to build a brand image if they haven’t already constructed one and provide each client with a branding guide to make the process as easy as possible. Business owners have enough to worry about, branding images should be the easy part so I make sure it is.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

My husband is an army veteran, but before he retired from the military we went through several moves. Each move means a new state, new town and no new clients. Every time we moved I started my business over again from scratch. As a natural introvert with anxiety starting over can be intimidating and it was. However the joy I experience behind the camera helps to cancel out any apprehension I have ever had about giving up.

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

In photography there are so many niche’s to focus on and its tempting to try them all and try to be a jack of all trades. I tried for a very long time scared that if I focused on on genre of photography that I would lose clients. I had to pivot my thinking and how I approached my business. Once I took the leap to focus on branding the exact opposite happened. I was able to serve my clients better and gain the trust of entrepreneurs who saw my focus and expertise.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.oprahstephens.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/oprahstephens

Image Credits
Oprah Stephens Photography