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

Hi Sarah, thanks for joining us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

When I first started my business it definitely took time to place value on my own work so I started off like many creatives and I severely undercharged. I knew I was talented but it is easy to get in your own way with your inner doubts and self talk, questioning a dollar amount to your worth.
After some time I realized that I had to start charging what my talent and time were truly worth or I would have to move on to find another way to earn income. It was a scary leap to make, raising prices and asking strangers to truly invest in my talent. But once I did I realized that the more I valued my talent the more my clients did as well and were willing to pay for the quality and passion that goes into my work.

I have been able to earn a full time living from my creative work.
I am also a single mom of three children, and while it is tight, it is still possible to rely on myself and my creative talents.
The key is believing in your worth and using your creativity to build your business as well as sharing your talent with your clients.

When I was becoming a single mom, it was during the worst time…. COVID.
As a portrait photographer that was super scary because not only had I let my business fall to the wayside the year leading up to my divorce, but COVID was pretty much preventing me from being near anyone without a mask on to even take their photos…. where would I find my income now, when I needed it the most???

This meant I had to turn some of my creativity inwards towards myself and my own business so I could survive.
I started offering my services to local business owners, to not only take photos of them to personally brand their business and their story, but to make a monthly income by using those images to market them on their social media platforms to grow their businesses.

Fast forward to today, I am not only a portrait photographer who specializes in Maternity, Newborn, families and boudoir but I also do personal brand photography and social media management for a few select businesses who I align with.

I love working with other business owners in the community and building each other up.

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

I began my journey as a creative all the way back when I was a child. My very first camera in my hands one christmas morning and I was hooked.

I started my own studio while going to college for Psychology and also began working with some local photographer talents so I could learn more and more. I started out taking any single photoshoot that came my way.
I studied with a local wedding photographer who was a great inspiration to me. I knew I did not love traditional wedding photography but it was a good place to start and it was how you made money as a photographer.

I remember being told that I HAD to do jobs like that if I wanted to earn money and make it as a photographer.
But then… my first friend to have a baby asked if I could take photos of her pregnant belly. I did, and it was so much fun.
She had the baby and I asked if I could take newborn photos as well.
I did… and I fell in love.

I remember the exact moment sitting on my sofa editing those images and thinking, ‘THIS! This is what I want to do.’
Again, I remember being told that I could not JUST take photos of babies and make a living. This was around the time that Anne Geddes was popular and Newborn photography was slowly becoming a thing.

I sat back and said… “watch me!” I slowly went from photographing everything to specializing in Maternity and Newborn and making a good living doing it. My clients started to call me the ‘baby whisperer’ and I was in love with my job.

I made my studio different then others by being very involved with my families. I would help them think ahead for the colors in their home, where they wanted to hang artwork from their sessions and then capturing those special moments and inviting them back to my studio to view and order the final images. We would make displays for their homes and they would order large canvases to create art for their home using images of their own family.

As my life started to change so did my perspective on my work. I opened up to other types of photography, such as empowering women through boudoir photography, telling people’s stories through personal brand photography and realizing that life existed outside of my studio. I started going to people’s homes and doing lifestyle family and newborn sessions there as well.

I love the connection I make with so many families and it makes me feel so honored that they trust me with their babies, their stories, their memories and they come back for years to come. I have a handful of families I have been photographing for the last 10+ years. To me, they feel like family, they are the people who believe in my work and continue supporting me and my passion as we move through life.

Can you share one of your favorite marketing or sales stories?

One of my favorite marketing stories, or even pivotal stories in my career goes way back to a time when I was realizing my own worth and gaining the courage to charge what I needed to actually be a successful business owner.

I used to shyly say my pricing (even though it was super low at the time) and then wait for the potential customers response. A lot of times I would negotiate with them just so I didn’t loose the job. I started to learn that usually the people who talked my price down were also the people who asked more of me (more time, more images, just one more….)
I was becoming resentful of the amount of time, energy and love I was putting in and how little money I would actually make considering.

So I raised my prices to what I was worth and I changed my mindset to understand that my new pricing would not be for everyone and I was going to have to be ok with losing some bookings.

Here was the test- I got a call from a mom to be – “I follow your work and I really love it and would like to book you for my newborn session. She is coming in a few months….”
So I share my pricing with her and she continues to tell me how little she paid for her last session and that it included the session and all hi res edited images for this one low price.
As hard as it was, I stuck to my pricing. I explained that there was no way I could come down to that price for the work I would be doing and she literally hung up on me.

Ahhhhh – was this how it was going to go? Did I just make a huge mistake and now instead of getting a booking and making a little money I lost the booking and made nothing.
But guess what. A few months later I get a call: “I don’t know if you remember me? I called you awhile back to ask about your newborn bookings. I had my baby and I keep seeing your work online and I just have to have you do our photoshoot.”

SO she booked. She sat there during our 3 hour photoshoot and kept saying “Oh, wow, I had no idea what actually went into this.” And guess what?!?!? She was my highest paying client at that time, not only paying her session fee (that she had previously told me should have included all edited images), but she also spent over $1k on printed artwork after our shoot.

I have never looked back since then. I am here to tell you – charge what you are worth. Those that see value in you and your work will pay your pricing.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

The best source of new clients is really word of mouth, happy clients sharing their photos and telling their friends about me. Social media has been very helpful as well as it is a powerful tool in sharing photos and when someone shares and tags me as their photographer the word starts to get around. I love it even more when they tag me and share about their experience during our session together as well.
People underestimate just how that little share can really help a small business.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sarahrachaelphotography.com
• Instagram: @sarahrachaelstudios
• Facebook: @sarahrachaelstudios
• Other: TIkTOK @sarahrachaelstudios

Image Credits
SarahRachael Studios (myself)