We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rachel Ballard. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rachel below.
Rachel, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?
When I walked away from the classroom, my husband and I agreed that raising our family was my first priority and then business growth/income would come second. It’s not always been easy to maintain business growth in the midst of changing diapers and a pandemic, but slowly I have built a creative business that surpassed my 9-5 income (which means anyone can)! If I had to give any advice to creative entrepreneurs it’s to not give up through the hard times because they are inevitable. The days that you question your skill, time, or faith is when you need to keep going because another big milestone is just ahead. Business success doesn’t randomly happen nor does it typically happen overnight; it takes lots of planning, strategy, education, and work. Over the years I have slowly increased my prices but that is not the magic sauce to earning a full-time income. The magic really happens when you start treating your income goals and your creative work like a true business. Quarterly planning, bookkeeping, continuous education, diversifying your income, and knowing your CODB – that is the key to making a living from being a creative entrepreneur. My journey has been long, intentional, and steady in a way that couldn’t be sped up otherwise. Most new photographers have the misconception that to be successful you either need to be “busy” or “the highest priced” but I fully disagree. I find that the most successful photographers are those who are steady, meaning you continuously grow at the pace that is right for you while also nurturing the clients you already have.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Rachel Ballard and I’m the owner/photographer of Rachel D. Photography! I bought a used $100 Canon Rebel nine years ago. Since then I’ve served hundreds of clients and have been able to go full-time with my photography business – I truly love what I do! I also run/operate Studio Space Berea which is a local photography studio that I also rent out. There’s a huge umbrella of photography and my focus is on weddings, motherhood (maternity, newborn, families), branding, and I’m also learning food photography. My goal is to make every client feel and look their best in front of my camera because joy photographs beautifully. My style is light, bright, and colorful. Whether it’s a cake-smash session or wedding portrait, I want my clients to walk away with photos that could stand for timeless artwork and a fun experience to match. In a world full of photographers I want my clients to feel important and taken care of during our journey together.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
If you ever talk to a mom about also running a business, you’ll know it’s not for the faint of heart. Ironically, my business is basically the same age as our oldest daughter so I don’t know a time of business without my babies. Nonetheless running a business and also raising small children is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Trying to do both (well) comes with its own set of challenges but I’m here to encourage any “momprenuer” that it IS possible! Over the years I’ve learned that work-life balance feels near impossible but it’s important to really look at what moves the needle in your business and make it happen every week.
I walked away from the classroom in 2019 with full steam as a creative entrepreneur. The sky was the limit! You can imagine how devastating it felt when the world shut down less than a year later due to the unseen pandemic paired with two new babies back to back for our family (making us parents of four small children). This time was HARD to navigate and tested my faith, my spiritual health, and mental health in ways I didn’t quite see coming. It seemed like my dream of being a full-time thriving photographer was no longer possible but I am SO glad I persevered!
A strategy that really helped sustain and grow my business during that time is to make a weekly priority list. Do not make a rigid daily list because it will limit your flexibility and make you feel like a failure if you don’t accomplish all of it. Instead, it helped me to write down things that HAD to get done by the end of the week and really focus on those throughout the week. Things like editing, delivering galleries on time, client communication, and social media presence would be of high importance. If Thursday or Friday came around with a lot left on the list, I would push myself to then stay up late, get up early, work through nap time, give the kids a little extra screen time, let my husband take the kids out – anything it took to get my non-negotiable list done. I’d also try to regularly listen to or watch educational podcasts/audiobooks/videos to help me keep growing my skills even when my capacity was limited. Lastly, I gave myself grace and nurtured the clients/social media following I already had which helped the longevity of my business still, today. So to any moms who are reading this, know that it’s totally normal to go through hard seasons in business as you also try to navigate life. Everyone has tough days, weeks, and seasons but keep going! Make sure you are setting priorities, goals, and boundaries that will set you up for success both short term AND long term. Do your very best today and the future you will be thankful!
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
People often ask me if I regret getting my degree in elementary education. I am very grateful for the lessons that I learned as a teacher and the people I was able to meet, but it was also an amazing way to build my photography business without going into debt. I taught fourth grade for three years and in the meantime I was filling my evenings and weekends with photography jobs – anything and anyone who wanted to book with me. I remember there were years that I poured all my profits from photography right back into my business, barely making any profit for the entire year. It was worth it though, because I was able to pay cash for pretty much all the overhead that comes with a photography business. It was exciting to get paid from a wedding and in return be able to buy a new lens that I needed. Working a 9-5 is sometimes looked down upon (with the hopes of making your side hustle a full-time job) but I believe that is a very beneficial and crucial chapter in an entrepreneur’s journey!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://racheldphotography.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/racheldballard_
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/racheldphoto