We were lucky to catch up with Samia Jrab recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Samia, thanks for joining us today. So, let’s imagine that you were advising someone who wanted to start something similar to you and they asked you what you would do differently in the startup-process knowing what you know now. How would you respond?
What would you do differently?
-Learn what actual ‘rest’ looks and feels like, and how to channel it. I love working and it’s easy for me to work long hours. I like to use the 7 types of rest to figure out which one or multiple ones I need and then pick an activity, since my job is in the creative world I often I need creative rest -no painting or creating things, knitting, they make me more tired because I actually need creative rest and not to create anything, and more mental rest and sensory rest -like listening to music or cleaning up my space so it’s not overwhelming.
-Create and stick to social media boundaries. I feel like I still say this every day but as someone who is an artist and who generates revenue from social media, you have to be really careful about your consumption of content online. You are either creating content, or consuming content. You can’t do both at the same time. Did you spend 1 hour scrolling on Instagram or 1 hour filming things for instagram? You only get the 1 hour.
-Make developing relationship skills just as much a priority as camera skills. Learning to nurture and maintain long term relationships with people in your industry. Ex: as a beginner you think the end goal is a wedding referral or that you get to work with X, Y, and Z. But that’s actually only the beginning. There is no end goal. It’s a bunch of cycles of relationships that you have to nurture and maintain.
Samia, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I was always interested in photography, I used to photograph my stuffed animals as a kid. But I got into wedding photography by accident, when I was 19 a photographer friend asked me to take his place on emergency notice, it was extremely stressful and I left that day like -heck no I am never doing that again way too stressful. Moved on and committed to a 4 year Bachelors degree at James Madison University in Computer Information Systems. While I was at school I started to second shoot a little bit with other wedding photographers on the side, and started to create more and more of a portfolio. At the same time my business kind of exploded at JMU as I was growing my network and clientele. Around junior and senior year my business was generating a good amount of income and it was becoming hard to even be a student anymore and balance school and business. On graduation day I had a job offer to work in the Computer IT field, this job offer was one I had went through 3 rounds of interviews for and it took me everything to get to that point to open that door, but in my gut it did not feels right. Those last few weeks of college when I look back now, it was almost 5 years ago, were some of the most anxious and fearful few weeks of my life. I literally wrote Pros and Cons sheets every day and everyone I talked to was giving different advice. It was hard because I could genuinely see myself doing both careers, which I feel like people don’t talk about enough. I basically decided that I would pick the one I did not want to go without, in other words if working more for this company meant I had to take on less weddings or shoot less, I didn’t want it. So I declined the offer and went full time. Then in 2020, I grew my team and started offering wedding videography. In 2021, I started a Youtube channel teaching wedding photography. and here we are :)
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
STORIES. All of my instagram inquiries come from me taking on my stories. People overthink stories wayyyyy too much! I chat on stories the same way I talk when I FaceTime my friends, I don’t try to speak any differently or professionally or filter what I’m saying. People on social media want to connect with you. I’m a wedding photographer but not all of my followers are getting married right now, so I talk about my coffee, my favorite planner, the weather, random things, and we form a relationship based on these things. When they need a photographer, they remember me and our connection.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
When you go to networking events, talk to one person as if they are the only person in the room. Give them your full, undivided attention and actively listen. People want to be heard, and want to feel like what they said mattered. Don’t rush to work the room or end the conversation. Once the conversation naturally dies off, say you look forward to chatting more soon. It’s a slow thing. One person, one conversation, one real connection at a time.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.samiasstudios.com
- Instagram: @samiasstudios
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU2YEgBvPpy57NPy76WBmEA