We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Riley Shasteen a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Riley , thanks for joining us today. The first dollar you earn in a new endeavor is always special. We’d love to hear about how you got your first client that wasn’t a friend or family.

I always loved writing stories- ever since I was in elementary school and would fill binders with blue lined pages covered in my terrible hand writing, and would even have my friends draw cover art for me. I loved pretending that they were real, published books of mine. But I would never let anyone actually read my stories. That’s why, years later, when I heard about websites where you could write and share your own stories for other people interested in the same topics online, I knew I had to use it to my advantage. I could share my stories with other people and actually get feedback without being embarassed of messing up, since no one knew who I was! It was just the thing I needed.

I began writing stories based off of little ideas or dreams I had that I wanted to see play out. I had shared about 5 stories that had done alright and received some feedback, but it wasn’t until my next story that I really got noticed. Almost overnight, I had people begging me to keep going and finish the new story. A few months later, it became the second most popular story on the website with hundreds of thousands of reads and receieved the most comments on the platform because I dedicated a lot of time encouraging engagement and feedback on my stories, and made sure to interact with anyone who gave my stories their time. Because of this, the publishers of the website reached out to me, impressed by how fast I was able to grow my story’s audience, and with their help I was able to accomplish my dream of having my own published book on Amazon. Through this incredible experience that occurred over the course of a few years, I got to meet and chat with some of the most amazing and interesting people from around the world who reached out because of my story, many of whom I still talk to and catch up with over social media today.

My photography business grew in a different but similar way. I had always loved taking photos of things I thought to be eye-catching and planning photoshoots with friends for fun, but felt held back because of my camera equipment. Once I was able to, I invested in a nice camera for myself and started offering free graduation shoots for friends or others they knew so I could build up my portfolio on Instagram. After about a year of free photoshoots and friends crediting me and sharing photos that I took for them online, I felt confident enough to start charging for sessions. New clients were able to find me through connections and photos on social media, so I was able to build up my portfolio even more. I now have a portfolio large enough to fill my own website, and have been given opportunities to shoot more than graduations, such as proposals, engagements, products, events, families, and a wedding!

All of this was possible thanks to the support of my loved ones and dedicating time (and years) to what I was and still am the most passionate about.

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

I think what sets my work apart from others is my focus on communication and connections. You want to make sure your audience cares about what you are writing and that they are engaged enough to see your stories through as well as share them with others. Social media is one of the best ways to do all of those things and get immediate feedback when you throw out ideas. For photography, you need to make sure to get to know your clients well enough to get a sense of the kind of photos and editing styles they appreciate, but also to make them feel comfortable, as gettting your photos taken by someone you don’t know can show through your body language and facial expressions in the images.

I am most proud of my experience and knowledge in the two fields that I am most passionate about and have stuck with over the course of the last decade. Additionally, these experiences helped me become the person I am and helped me get to where I am today, in another career that perfectly combines my skills in photography and writing as a Marketing Executive. I know there is always still more to learn and gain from experts in these fields, and I look forward to continuing to grow, connect, and be inspired by others who are passionate in these three fields as well.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I think something that really helped me was taking the time to get to know my audience and make it easy for them to get to know me. From when I started sharing my stories online and even to now, I make sure to reply back to every comment, message, or tag so that person knows that the time they spent reaching out to me was not wasted. They took the the time and effort to engage with my work in some way, and I would hate to make anyone feel like that was not appreciated, since truly, it means everything to me. This is also a great way to help them get to know me better, since the internet makes it very easy to not truly see someone as the real person they are on the other side of the screen. I wouldn’t be where I am today without all of my readers and photography clients, so I want to make sure to do right by them everytime and make sure they know that.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect for me is that I am able to meet and connect with people that I wouldn’t normally be able to. Because of my writing, I met and chatted with people all over the US, the UK, and Africa. Because of my photography, I am able to meet and connect with more people locally, and be a part of celebrating their special milestones so they can remember and look back on them forever.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.rileyeshasteen.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rileyes.photos
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063504609241&mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/riley-shasteen

Image Credits
Credits go to me, @rileyes.photos or Riley Shasteen :)