We were lucky to catch up with Rachel McBride recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Rachel, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?
My business name is “Vic’s Flicks.” Vic is short for Victoria, my middle name. I got that name from my father, whose name is Victor. He grew up with a lot of the same interests and passions as me, including media and photography. He was born in Jim Crow era in LaGrange Georgia, so a lot of his goals weren’t realized due to discrimination. I see myself as carrying on his legacy and the legacy of the family that wants me to do more than they were able to do. It also rhymes, lol!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
I got into photography as a culmination of my other skills and hobbies. I’ve always been into art and design, but I never knew how to place that fro entrepreneurial gain. The idea to do photography came when my best friends wanted to do a themed Halloween photoshoot and dress as Bratz dolls. We paid the photographer $175 and I felt like that was too much money to go out of my pockets for some pictures. My thought process was, “I could do this for free!” This is what I did; I began doing self-photography on my phone and people began asking me if I could take their pictures.
I place extreme emphasis on being personable. From the studio I use, to my communication practices, to actually shooting, I try to make my clients as comfortable and at-ease as possible. My business is only a year old and is definitely still growing, but I do what’s in my power to make it efficient and comfortable. I have a website and multiple ways to book. I have social media pages that people can readily interact with me on. I’m most proud of the fact that nobody I’ve ever shot has left a photoshoot feeling unconfident about themselves. I want people to know that I take all of my photoshoots seriously; I don’t play favorites and I exert maximum effort. I’ll always own up to my mistakes and work to alleviate issues or conflicts. Photography, and entrepreneurship in general, is all about people power. That’s what you see bleeding through all of my images.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I had to unlearn that profit means success. Entrepreneurship is romanticized so heavily on social media because people only show the end results. They don’t show the weeks and months without bookings. They don’t show the spending money we don’t have in hopes of it making a positive difference in our businesses. They don’t show the amount of sheer time it takes to build a client base. I’m grateful for every follower, every booking, and every dollar I make from my passion. It means I am moving forward.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
I think that people find me approachable as a person. I’ve always made it a point to keep myself on level with people so that they’ll feel comfortable asking me for help, expertise, or anything of the sort. I don’t work with people based on things like clout, vanity, or material gain. I work out of passion for what I’m doing and passion for people. People see that through the images.
Contact Info:
- Website: vicsflicksatl.com
- Instagram: @vicsflicksatl
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/
- Twitter: @rachelvmcbride
- Youtube: Rachel McBride
Image Credits
@vicsflicksatl