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

Alright, Shilan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. The first dollar your business earns is always special and we’d love to hear how your brand made its first dollar of revenue.

Back in the day, I’m talking 2013, craigslist was all the rage. I decided to utilize that space and created an ad. As a complete rookie in the newborn photography business I really had no clue what I was doing, but I knew that I needed to photograph more babies to add to my portfolio. My ad was a model call, a free shoot for me to be able to practice my lighting and camera setup, as well as baby posing. In return, my client for would receive 3 photos as a thanks and an offer to upgrade for a fee. My first client loved her images and decided to upgrade to the full gallery. It was the boost in confidence I needed to catapult my love for newborn photography into a full fledged, fulfilling photography career.

Shilan, 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’m Shilan, the owner of Photos by Shilan and a newborn photographer in the DFW area. I focus on north Dallas and have clients come from Frisco, Plano, McKinney, Prosper and surrounding areas for newborn photos in my studio. I’ve been in business since 2013 and absolutely love what I do. I also specialize in maternity and family photography in the Dallas area. As a Dallas newborn photographer I strive to deliver beautiful photographs of babies that will be cherished by their families for years to come.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

As someone who relies heavily on word of mouth, my most effective strategy for growing my clientele has been customer service and honestly, just being a kind and pleasant person during their shoots. As a newborn photographer, I sometimes shoot up to 3.5 hours straight. That’s a lot of time spent with your clients.
Being kind, and empathetic, to new moms and dads has been something I’ve always been intentional about.
As a mom of 5, I know how hard those first few days and weeks are for new moms. We’re emotional, sleep deprived, and sometimes, in pain. So being kind and asking respectful questions, and knowing when to be quiet and give them space, has been the key to good standing with my clients. I get so many referrals and I really do believe it’s because of their experience in my studio, other than the beautiful final images from their session.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I was a mom of two when I first started my newborn photography business. I’m not a mom of 5. Having children and also running a business has been challenging to say the least. I took up to a year off from taking clients after I had each of my babies. It’s a luxury not many business owners can take. Having my supporting and loving husband by my side was the only reason I was able to take those breaks.
Restarting once my own babies were a bit older was also a challenge. It’s not that you forget how to be a photographer, but with so many separate elements going into newborn photography in specific, you get a bit rusty.
This is also an industry that is fast paced, there are so many trends that tend to be all the rage one minute and completely out the next. But, I’ve survived and thrived for 11 years in this industry and I love even more than ever before today!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.photosbyshilan.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/photosbyshilan
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/photosbyshilan

Image Credits
All images are taken by myself