We were lucky to catch up with Rachel Vanoven recently and have shared our conversation below.

Rachel, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

So when my husband and I got married in 2006, I thought I would be a stay at home mom while he worked on the railroad. A few years and two kids later, his small train conductor income wasn’t cutting it and we were barely scraping by each month. I had dabbled in Photoshop when I was creating “siggies” (e-signatures) for moms in my online mom group, and started applying the editing knowledge to my personal photos, one thing led to another and my photography business was born.

Immediately if gave us breathing room financially. We were able to send our kids to a private school, afford new clothes and put more fresh fruits and vegetables on our table.

My mom was an oil painter and that artistic DNA ran through my veins and my business took off— other photographers began to ask me to teach them, and even though I felt totally unqualified, I started teaching small, basic newborn workshops.

These workshops taught ME what I was doing naturally and I began really honing in on how to best help struggling photographers, so I put together PDF guide for attendees to take home with them. Soon after, photographers from around the world started reaching out, asking if I would sell this “Posing Guide” and the first EVER online newborn photography education was born!

Eventually, technology improved and I created both the Newborn and Family eWorkshops, downloadable videos along with an eBook that taught my methods. These were usually around 9 hours of content and ran $450/each.

As my business grew, I began traveling the world speaking at conferences and teaching international workshops. In some countries, I realized the cost of my eWorkshops were completely unfathomable for their economy and exchange rate, so along with me wanting to give my students the most up to date methods and information, I knew I had to change something.

In 2017, I created the Collective…a monthly subscription to two new photography educational videos. One from me and one from a guest because my methods are NOT the only methods that work! I also wanted to feature new photographers and lesser known ones as well, because I was so tired of the same big names (me included!) being the only voice in the education world!

Since it’s launch in October of 2017, we have had educators from four different continents, topics ranging from business management to bug macro photography and everything in between.

Our Facebook community is full of over 2,000 photographers who have taken my courses and it grows weekly—but what I’m most proud of is watching how successful photography businesses have changed lives.

Many of my students are now well known educators in this industry, while most of them are just happy to be providing for themselves/their families while doing something they love and owning their own businesses.

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

One of the things I’m most proud of is how my business functions— when I first started my photography business back in 2008, it was a male dominated industry with heavy emphasis on in person sales.

I remember speaking at a PPA conference and being surrounded by older photographers telling me that I would “RUIN” the industry if I spoke about giving digital negatives to all of my clients for a flat rate.

Now, not only have I proven them wrong, but I’ve been able to teach lighting, shooting and editing methods for my students to create stunning galleries and spend a fraction of time to do so—essentially running very successful photography businesses AND having fulfilling lives as well.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Authenticity. A genuine love and caring about the people who choose to follow my work, my life—and then take the time out of THEIR lives to comment or send a DM.

Social media isn’t about numbers for me, I love interacting with humans whether it’s in person or through my phone, and I hope…I think, that it’s pretty apparent how much happiness that I get out of sharing my work and truly SEEING the people who love it.

The same goes for teaching and helping, any comment I see that someone is asking for help…I’m going to help them! I don’t care if they’ve never paid for my education, if I know I can help them succeed, I’m going to.

I think fake people are really easy to spot on social media. People who either are posting to gas themselves up, or people who just want someone’s money.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Like many small business owners, 2020 was devastating. All facets of my business depend on physical touch/proximity—or teaching others who rely on that for their income.

We also had a brick and mortar shop that my husband had emptied his 401k for that completely folded during lockdowns. We’ve moved it online, but it’s not the same. It’s taken me a long time to let go of the guilt that my dream caused.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.rachelvanoven.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/rachelvanovenphotographer
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rachelvanovenphotography
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@itsrachelvanoven