We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sandy Donnelly. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sandy below.

Alright, Sandy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

My daughter was the start of my legacy. I first started a t-shirt printing company back in 2016 called Royale Custom T-Shirts, she was 1 years old. I take pride in being a mom and I absolutely loved taking photos of her, making her t-shirts or anything custom. and I believe having a legacy for my child to grow up on and knowing she was apart of that is beyond motivating for me. I then started Royale Studios where I started doing photography, at the time I did combine both businesses together all under one roof. But my passion for photos were taking over and I sold my t-shirt business after 5 years and focused on being an inspiring photographer in 2021.

Sandy, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I grew up in Jackson, Michigan and after I graduated I moved to Cedar Rapids, IA where I started my entrepreneurship journey. I always known I wanted to work for myself. I was a hustler as a kid, so I knew it was in me to find a passion that I would love to do. I always loved graphic designing, editing pictures, or doing anything on computers. I started doing photography in 2021. I invested my last 10,000 I had saved into a new camera, equipment, props, studio space, etc. I knew I’ve always wanted to do photography I just never knew how to start. So I just dove right in, I bought everything first then learned as I went. I was on YouTube constantly, paying for little lectures or tutorials on how to do certain things. I started taking clients for photoshoots for only $50 ( crazy right ) ? haha. I’m now charging anywhere between $250 – $400+. I provide in studio photoshoots where I can pretty much create anything. I do high end skin retouching, photoshopping graphics, backgrounds plus more. I’m all about bringing anyones vision to life, from 6 month old children, to expecting mommy’s and more! I love every single client that comes into my studio, my biggest goal is to always have fun & make sure they are comfortable. Taking photos can be super overwhelming sometimes, especially if you’re shy. haha, but we have fun regardless. I’m really proud of myself on how I handle literally everything on my own. I take all my photos, create all my sets, edit, plus a million other things by myself. So I take pride into each photo I touch to make sure I create flawless images. I hope everyone who steps in my studio gains a friend, and a home for their future photo memories.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Social media is EVERYTHING in this day of age. It’s all about creating content. Understanding algorithm and knowing how to word your post. You have to be attracting in your messages, you have to create captions that are engaging to other people. I always constantly ask people to share, like, comment. IT’S FREE! & the more people who do this, the more your page becomes visible to others that aren’t following you just yet. I offer free things sometimes just for sharing, people love when you do this and it really gets your name out there. Also, ALWAYS be professional. We know people can be a pain, but with everything so social media these days you have to be careful on how you respond. Everyone loves good customer service, that should be. you’re number one in any business. So I make sure I always stay on top of that.

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

I believe that I take pride into all of my work and people know that. I already had a big following on social media and with how great my customer service skills are was an extra bonus. I’m very communicative and my clients are always put first and I believe that’s what brings them back.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.royalestudiosllc.com
• Instagram: royalestudiosllc
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/royalestudiosllc

Image Credits
I took & edited all of these photos.