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

Sarah, appreciate you joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I received my Bachelor of Science in user-centered design and communications at UW-Whitewater. Immediately after graduating, I started working for a digital agency where I held many roles including copywriting, web design, testing and project management. Working in an agency taught me a lot about building great relationships with my clients and my colleagues. When you work with awesome people, you produce amazing results. Building great web experiences means creating awesome content, and being able to collaborate with other creatives and articulate your vision to the client to gain their trust and buy-in on a project has been an essential skill I use everyday to help me grow my own business.

Besides my college years, I’ve grown my photography and design skills through a lot of trial-and-error. YouTube is my go-to resource for “how to” questions, and my local camera shop (Art’s Camera) also hosts classes and offers one-on-one critiques to help photographers improve their craft. Building a relationship with my local camera shop has been so valuable to my business.

Knowing what I know now, I would have invested in one-on-one coaching sooner. I recently worked on a 6-month financial coaching program, and looking back I wish this was the first thing I did when I started my business. The skills I’ve learned from this program have given me the confidence and tools to manage and grow my business.

I think having stellar communication with your clients is the most essential skill I developed early on in my career. From being able to listen to my client’s needs and translate them to the end product has been essential to deliver the best work possible. Learning how to ask the right questions to uncover what exactly your client is looking for, and understanding what challenges they may have to getting to their goal, was something I had to learn through experience.

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

I have had the love of travel and adventure for as long as I can remember. Taking photos of my travels started as my way of sharing with trips with family, and to ease their minds that I’m okay.

In 2021, I decided to take my love of photography from part-time hobby to full-time entrepreneurship. I left my corporate digital marketing role to pursue freelance opportunities in photography and web design.

Brands needs engaging, authentic and impactful content in order to reach their customers. In today’s ever-changing digital world, having the confidence to make decisions quickly is imperative, and that’s my superpower. I love shooting travel and adventure content, because that’s who I am! I am passionate about working with my clients to capture that perfect shot that tells a story.

Seeing my clients succeed is the most rewarding part of being a business owner. I’ve helped several start-ups with their digital marketing needs, and seeing their businesses grow as a result of our partnership is so awesome!

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

I have helped build loyalty with my clients primarily via social media. I post regularly photos from my client shoots or personal travels, and also have blogged about many of my adventures on my website. I also showcase my clients on my social media accounts, and I like/comment/share on their accounts. It’s a win/win for everyone!

I also regularly touch base with clients one-on-one, whether that’s an email/text, a virtual meeting or in-person.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A lesson I had to learn as an entrepreneur is it’s okay to say no. I think a lot of us go into business for ourselves for the freedom that working for yourself offers. However, a lot of personal discipline is necessary, and knowing who you are and what you’re about. You have to work on your business, an well as work for your clients. Working on your personal brand means putting yourself as your own “client” per se, asking yourself some tough questions.

When I started my photography business, I was afraid to narrow my client offering to what’s aligned to my passions. I went into business to gain clients, and when I just starting out this was very scary. I didn’t want to limit my potential clients, so I shot every type of job I could get to “build my portfolio.” I quickly realized the type of photography sessions I did not want to do, and why. I had to really ask myself who did I really want to work with, and why should my clients work with me. This has been a hard lesson to learn, but I think it’s essential to really understand who your audience is, and how you can align creativity, as soon as possible to love the live the life you’re building as a freelancer.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sarahmichalsphotography.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/sjmichals
• Facebook: Facebook.com/sarahmichalsphotography
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sjmichals/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/sjmichals/

Image Credits
All images by Sarah Michals Photography & Design LLC