We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rachel Stoddard. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rachel below.
Rachel , appreciate you joining us today. 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?
Let’s start with the exciting stuff, shall we? 18 months ago, I was a fledgling entrepreneur earning a modest living, bored and unfulfilled in my career. Today, I’m the founder of a fast-growing company that has generated 7-figures in revenue to date with a 95% profit margin: crazy fulfilled, creating generational wealth for my family, and living a life beyond my wildest dreams. The strategies that allowed me to scale more in 6 quarters than many companies do in a decade are strategies anyone can employ today to start scaling tomorrow: The willingness to pivot in the direction of passion, and an honesty-based, customer-first approach in all things.
Before launching my current biz, Reverie + Oak, LLC, I worked as a self-employed wedding & portrait photographer in a small town in the Midwest. For many years, I believed I had reached my potential; I knew that a successful business was rooted in passion, and I was confident I loved my job. I just couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t launching me to the height of success.
Near the end of Covid lockdown came a proverbial “aha” moment; If the key to success was passion, I was doing it all wrong. Many idle months and time to reflect led me to realize I wasn’t passionate about photography at all, in fact I HATED most of it. I’d long assumed “hate” was par for the course, even if you loved your work at its core but oh, was I wrong. Photography was just too broad – my true passion lies in editing, followed closely by crafting an amazing client experience. And just like that, I had discovered my business’ #1 pain point – I didn’t love the whole shebang, or even half the shebang for that matter. I brainstormed ways to scale back the hate and do more of the love, and it didn’t take long for a massive epiphany to take hold. I needed to sell my proprietary editing tools – a digital product – and build an online community where I could spend lots of time providing my customers with the extraordinary experience they deserve. Shortly thereafter, Reverie + Oak was born, and my business went from mostly hate to all love. It’s scary to abandon what works, even if “works” is filled with dread and barely scraping by, but it was the necessary first step in scaling. Entrepreneurship is simply too demanding to base around anything less than a burning passion for one’s craft. Identifying hate vs. love might require some soul-searching, maybe even a solo trip to Sedona (lol), but the potential outcome is well worth the discovery.
The second key factor in our rapid growth is almost *too* simple: a steadfast dedication to honesty, transparency, and a customer-first culture, combined with innovative products & processes. I’ve always believed that if a person builds from a passion and offers innovative solutions to everyday problems, they must be unstoppable and finally, I’d landed on my own unstoppable blueprint.
While working as a photographer, I devoted most of my creative energy to editing because I enjoyed it so thoroughly. I’d spent 23 years mastering Adobe software, developing a unique way to transform photos quickly and beautifully. The decision to shift away from the familiar toward the unknown was the hard part – the rest was a breeze. I exported my proprietary Lightroom settings, gave them catchy names, built a simple website, and registered my new business with the State of Michigan. The marketing came easy, too, as photographers are a social bunch and network heavily in online forums, where conveniently I’d been a staple for decades. The next step was establishing a Facebook group for my new brand, chatting about it in photography groups, and inviting folks to join to learn more. I priced my products strategically low in the beginning to get them into as many hands and as quickly as possible, which revved up the ol’ word-of-mouth machine. Firsthand recommendations are far more valuable in terms of growth than any expensive advertisement.
When my first 100 customers began sharing their work with that massive network and crediting R+O for the beautiful edits, Reverie + Oak began scaling at Lightspeed. Once the product was selling itself it was time to raise prices and strategize ways to leverage my other passion – crafting an extraordinary customer experience. That, too, proved to be incredibly easy. I’d been a disappointed consumer in the preset industry for years, so I simply developed the policies & procedures I would’ve appreciated myself – a task I enjoy beyond words; there’s so much catharsis to be found in righting perceived wrongs. Before long, our calling card was fairness-based policies that were nonexistent before R+O, and the feedback I received from cared-for, happy customers motivated me to keep pushing boundaries. Exceptional customer service is a dying art and its ability to scale a business cannot be overstated. Any dying art you can revive in your sphere is worth it – in a sea of fast-cash businesses, holding yourself to a higher standard sets you apart. This has proven true time and time again for Reverie + Oak; our community grew organically from 0 to 25,000+ members in under 18 months (unheard of growth in that arena), and our reputation for kindness, fairness, and 100% transparency precedes us. Within this short timeframe we’ve made multiple top-ten lists, earned the #1 spot in many “best Lightroom Preset” polls, and have amassed a close-knit community of talented photographers who lead with kindness – a rarity in the industry. We have also achieved a 92% customer return rate and forecast even better return rates for our next product launch (in the works – stay tuned!).
So, that’s the story of how Reverie + Oak scaled from 1 to 1 million in under 18 months. I deeply believe the combination of niching down on passion + a fierce dedication to customer service = an absolute banger of an entrepreneurial strategy. I’m thrilled to have time to devote to the pursuit of all things good and fair and am enjoying the heck out of every minute of it. These days, the only part of my job I hate is the taxes, and I’m A-OK with that!
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’ve been editing in Adobe software since 2000, easily one of my favorite pastimes and I LOVE sharing that passion with others. In January 2022, I launched a new, innovative brand of editing resources, Reverie + Oak, that aims to make editing fun, inspiring and easy for photographers of all skill levels. We offer a collection of Lightroom presets, creative profiles, and brushes backed by an incredible support group for photographers – a safe space to learn and find inspiration. I, and countless R+O photogs personally see to it that not a single soul feels unseen, unappreciated, or unimportant in our space — it’s a place where questions are asked without fear of judgment, work of all levels is shared with pride, and everyone leaves with more confidence than when they came, all thanks to our 25 thousand+ members who treat everyone with incredible kindness and camaraderie. I am very proud of our community!
How did you build your audience on social media?
Wooo this is a good question, and it has such a simple answer… building an audience is as easy as being your true, unashamed self, doing what you love with enthusiasm and the willingness to share knowledge simply for the love of sharing. But most importantly, I believe treating everyone you encounter with unbridled empathy and kindness is the real secret to building an audience! :)
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
My dad, Mark, is my best friend. When I was a small-town photographer, he was endlessly proud of me and always made me feel seen and worthy. When I launched my current business, Reverie + Oak, he hopped on board with all the enthusiasm he had for my photography business, plus some. I cherished sharing my successes with my dad. He also made life a whole lot easier by obtaining power of attorney to act on my behalf, assuming full responsibility for the financial side of my rapidly growing business. This freed up countless hours of my own time, and gave me a solid financial structure to build from. But in true, selfless Mark fashion, he didn’t stop there – he constantly assumed responsibility for duties even outside the business, like driving my son to & from school, maintaining my car, and running errands, just so I’d have a moment to breathe.
On March 13 of this year, my dad was called home to heaven by his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, after suffering a tragic accident. Not only did I lose my veritable business partner that day, but I also lost my best friend. Earth shattering doesn’t quite cut it, there’s no way to describe the immeasurable sadness I felt after losing my incredible friend and father.
Because I knew he’d want me to continue living my dream and providing a secure future for my family, and despite feeling like I’d rather crawl in a hole and die, myself, I forged ahead and carried on in a way I knew he’d be proud of. I continually seek out ways to honor his legacy and keep him alive through random acts of kindness and empathy, which he was known for, and (hopefully) passed down to me. He was the best at kindness.
It’s hard for me to describe myself as resilient, especially when I’m fully aware of what a struggle it is some days, but this is certainly a mountain I’ve learned to navigate on the fly. I’m doing well these days – happy and thankful for my beautiful family, an unbelievably successful career, friends who’ve rallied around like angels in my darkest hour, and a future with so much to look forward to. Ultimately, I’m just grateful that I had decades of life to spend with the best dad ever, as I’m sure it greatly contributed to the person I am. I think he would be really proud of me, today.
Contact Info:
- Website: reverieandoak.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/reverieandoak/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/488887995902876/?ref=share_group_link
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@reverieoak740
Image Credits
*image credit, where applicable, is noted within the image