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

Robert, appreciate you joining us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Most commonly, I believe it takes drive and determination. You must be passionate about your work in every aspect. But what most people leave out of the goal to be successful, is that it also takes failure. I do not believe you can have one without the other. It builds character and pushes you harder. It creates experiences that gives you opportunity to get it right the next time. There will be good days but we must also realize we will face adversity in everything we do. But we must remain resilient. We cannot allow failures or roadblocks win. I honestly we believe God does not put more on us than we can bare. We are already equipped to deal with whatever comes our way. We must remain steadfast in our purpose and not let anything or anyone deter us from our goals. This your journey. Believe God and trust the process.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

My name is Robert Washington and I am a photographer, currently based in Dallas, TX. During college I was able to travel and experience many different cultures around the world. I’d been given the opportunity to capture the world around me. It was so surreal and still gives me inspiration to this very day.

In 2020, I marched in the George Floyd Protest for justice against police brutality. I was able to capture real moments and emotions of people who wanted to be heard and felt seen. It this moment, I knew I wanted to take photography more seriously.

Later that year, I created BossImageStudios, LLC. It was during a time I felt the need to “Boss Up” and take control of my life, my confidence, my happiness and my peace. I had to ask myself, what image do I want do I want my legacy to have? I realized that I was in control of where I wanted to go and who I wanted to be. This is what being a boss means to me. It’s about resilience and execution; taking the necessary steps to becoming better versions of ourselves, in every aspect. With BossImageStudios, I want people to feel confident in their purpose. And I want to capture those moments for them.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I have a couple of lessons I’d like to share.

Expectancy:

One lesson I had to unlearn during this journey is expectancy. We can’t expect support from everyone we know. We can’t expect family and friends to be the key drivers that determines our business success. The truth is, I am the key driver because it is my business. It is my responsibility to boss up and make sure my business thrives. I hear many times that your biggest support comes from strangers. And in many ways that can be true. But the goal is not to have the most support. The goal is to be successful. Support will come organically. I have to remain focused on perfecting my craft and growing each day.

Comparison:

We live in a world where social media is the key to small business success. It can make or break you. Algorithms play a major role in who sees your content and how often it gets noticed. So a lot of people push content daily to bring attraction to their platform, and that’s great. For me, as a photographer, I don’t want to satisfy the algorithm. I’d rather take control of my own algorithm and display content that has meaning. That has a backstory to it. That whenever my client receives their photos, it would always be something they will cherish and feel good about. We must remain confident in our purpose and appreciate the journey along the way. We cannot compare ourselves to anyone else.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

In the beginning stages of my journey, I dealth with depression pretty heavily. It played a major role in how I felt, the way I thought, and how I acted. By no means was I in a space to be social and forthcoming about photography. I didnt have the bandwidth or confidence I needed to present myself and my work to the world. I had to make a decision to either stay in this dark place or do something about it. And Its not as easy as it seems. It is an everyday task and it doesnt go away over night. I had to put in the work and uplift myself daily. I had to speak the life into me that was slowly fading. One day, I looked myself in the mirror and repeated to myself how strong I am. No longer could I let depression define me. It was not going to be my headline. I continued this everyday and began displaying my work. The overwhelming amount of support is what keeps me going today. I’m forever grateful for those who are in my corner and want to see me genuinely win. My village is amazing.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Instagram.com/Bossimagestudios
• Facebook: Facebook.com/BossImageStudios

Image Credits
BossImageStudios, LLC