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

Stefani, appreciate you joining us today. How do you think about vacations as a business owner? Do you take them and if so, how? If you don’t, why not?

Yes, 100% yes. If I’ve learned anything over the past few years, it’s the importance of balancing work with rest. We are living in a time of such intense hustle culture. And as much as the seasons of hustle should be embraced and respected as an entrepreneur, the same should be said for rest (and vacations). I learned this the hard way a few years ago when I ran headfirst into the worst burnout I’d ever experienced.

Unfortunately, as humans, we are not meant to run at full throttle 24/7. And when we attempt it for too long, our bodies will inevitably interfere by getting sick or injured in order to force us to slow down. In which case, you then HAVE to take an extended break to heal… which is exactly what happened to me. I decided I would rather take the time intentionally to rest and PLAY – which rejuvenates me and re-sparks my creativity and drive. Instead of waiting until my body forced me to slow down – just to HEAL. So, I have a renewed passion for scheduling vacations – and also downtime/work hours in your day-to-day life. You’re not always going to be able to follow them to a T, but it’s better to have those mandatory long-hour days be the exception to the rule. Not the rule itself.

I would argue to say that one can ALWAYS step away from their business. Maybe right now that only looks like 2-3 days instead of 2-3 weeks. But you can work up to it. Periods of rest and re-focusing on other things that bring you peace and joy outside of work are extremely important to your overall health and well-being.

Some of the things I’ve implemented to help me be able to take longer vacations without stress are:

1. Scheduling in advance as many things as possible. For instance, blog posts: I aim for 1 new blog post every week now. If I know I’m going to be taking an extended vacation, I can pre-write the blogs and schedule them to post automatically while I’m on vacation. You can also apply this to social media and other such obligations.

2. Create an epic out-of-office email that lets people know what you’re doing, but also gives them enough information about your services to be able to think and work with while you’re out of town. An email that also directs them to a place where they can take the next step to schedule a call with you, at their convenience, for as soon as you’re back. This keeps the flow moving and you’ll be missing out on far fewer potential clients this way.

3. If you can afford it, hire someone to manage the most important tasks while you’re away. There are plenty of sites like Fiverr and Upwork that allow you to outsource specific tasks to other skilled professionals. Make a list of the things you absolutely can’t afford to walk away from or lose momentum on (I’ll bet it’s a shorter list than you think) and come up with creative solutions for how to keep those running while you’re away – or how to outsource at least the bare minimum.

4. Give yourself some grace. Chances are, your business will NOT fail in a matter of a few days. Your momentum might slow down a bit during that time; but the rest, joy and rejuvenation you’ll receive in return will be well worth it. So, take some pressure off yourself. Your health should always come first anyway. So, finding ways to step away from your business from time to time is vitally important.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Once upon a time, I was a theatre major; singing, dancing and acting were my jam. My dream was to be the next Britney Spears… or at the very least, her backup dancer. But, the universe had different plans for me.

Growing up, my family developed a collective travel bug and we started going on annual adventures overseas. I quickly fell in love with exploring new cultures, meeting new people and experiencing different ways of life. We’d go on these amazing trips together – but then come home with absolutely nothing to show for it. Because ironically, my family hated taking pictures. That was simply unacceptable to me as I wanted to be able to remember every detail of these wonderful trips forever. So, I quickly took it upon myself to become the “family photographer”.

Fast forward a few years and I, unknowingly, began to develop an eye for it. As I shared my photos, I started getting comments about how different and unique my travel photos were; they weren’t your average “tourist photos”. Then one day, out of the blue, my grandma asked whether I had ever considered doing photography as a career. I’d never experienced a “lightbulb moment” quite like this before. It had never even occurred to me that one could be paid to take pictures – yet it was suddenly all I ever wanted to do. At that moment, I left all my performance dreams behind (sorry, Britney) and dove headfirst into new photography ones. It’s been almost 10 years since that moment – and I’ve never looked back!

I decided to branch out from travel/landscape photography and began offering headshots (since I had a lot of actor friends). Before long I had the urge to dip my toes into every genre I could – shadowing and learning from some of the best photographers in my area and in the industry. I spent time learning portrait photography, food photography, newborn photography, product photography, studio photography and expanded into more landscape and architectural photography… and after all of that, finally experienced my first wedding. And let me tell you, it was love at first sight. Not only am I a full-blown romantic at heart and fell in love with wedding days themselves – but I realized that a wedding day is nearly every genre of photography all jammed into one fast-paced day – and I loved that challenge.

I believe that my experience in all the different genres of photography has given me a leg up and a very unique edge when it comes to how I photograph weddings. My background in the performing arts, acting especially, has also given me the unique experience and ability to perform well under pressure, be genuinely interested in others and be able to command attention and direct large and/or rowdy groups comfortably (hello family formals). These have been invaluable skills.

My sweet couples have described me as having a joyful spirit with a vibrant view of life – whose presence naturally puts them at ease – and this has greatly inspired my unique style of imagery; which is authentic, vibrant and dynamic. It’s true to life and timeless.

The wedding photography experience I offer is very intimate and personalized to each couple. The experience is built around spending intentional time with and creating genuine connections with my couples so that they feel seen and their values understood. A wedding day is an incredibly intimate and vulnerable day that’s unique to each couple. I didn’t want generic copy/paste photography for my own wedding memories – and neither do my couples. If you’re looking for an experience that puts YOU and your unique love story at the forefront of everything, that’s what I’m so deeply passionate about and specialize in.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Just because “everyone” is doing it that way, it doesn’t mean it’s the “right” or “only” way to do it. In fact, it’s probably the fastest way to ensure you blend in – versus standing out.

The first few years of my career felt like I was simply learning what everyone else was doing to be successful and then doing my best to mimic as many of those things as possible. Using the same programs, marketing in the same ways, offering the same wedding experience, etc. I was so focused on following this set path that was already laid out for me and had insisted was the “right” or “best one”, that I was too afraid to step outside the line or follow any of my own instincts. For me, there was also a bit of “at least if I failed by following someone else’s guidelines, then it wasn’t my own fault”. I think many of us have a deep-rooted fear of failure… and/or a fear of success. I also had some serious people-pleasing tendencies myself.

So, doing the work to identify, address and heal some of those core underlying beliefs that had been holding me back, was integral to my growth as an entrepreneur.

Everything in my business (and ultimately my life) changed the minute I was able to move forward confidently in the direction I felt in my gut was best. Tuning out all other voices – following my own gut and instincts – and letting what wasn’t in alignment with those things go. Offering the services and experience I wanted to offer. Spoiling my clients as much and as often as I wanted. Marketing in a way that felt genuine to me. Networking with people I truly liked and genuinely connected with. My business has never been healthier and I’ve never been happier in it. That was an absolute game-changer.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

There are so many rewarding aspects to being an artist, specifically as a photographer. I think that’s why I adore it so much.

A few are:

• Being able to show my clients how beautiful they are, through MY eyes. We can be our own worst critics sometimes and I love that I’m able to capture and show them themselves through a different lens. Seeing their own confidence and self-love boost is incredibly rewarding.

• Being able to capture once-in-a-lifetime moments in a way where my clients are able to vividly re-live them over and over. That they’re able to be transported back to their most precious memories any and every time they open up their wedding album, is incredibly special.

• But the most rewarding is simply getting to document someone’s life so authentically and vividly. One of my best friends tragically passed away in 2020 1 week after giving birth to her daughter – and it wasn’t until this experience that I truly came to appreciate the sheer impact and importance of photography. And not just photography, but professional photography specifically. Throughout our years of friendship, I had ‘forced’ several photoshoots on her and her husband – they were my go-to models/muses as I’d test out new techniques and locations and I was honored to also document several milestones for them. Fast forward to her funeral where we decided to put together a slideshow of images from her life. And as we watched this slideshow, it was amazing to see the impact that my photographs had had on everyone as it cycled through. After the slideshow, her mom came up to me and thanked me for having taken so many beautiful photographs of her daughter – and how grateful she was to have them. And it wasn’t just that she was beautiful in them, but was how vibrant and vivid she was in the photographs – that they captured her essence, personality and beauty in a true-to-life way. And knowing that, in the years to come, her own daughter will get to experience those photographs and have that much better of an understanding of who her mother was, is everything to me.

It’s amazing to have beautiful photographs of ourselves. But it’s so much more than that. And being able to capture my couples and their families in this way, so their grand-children, great-grand-children, great-great-grand-children and so on can experience this same thing when looking back at their images… well, that’s just an immeasurably rewarding honor.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://stefaniciottiphotography.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stefani_ciotti_photography/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StefaniCiottiPhotography
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/stefani-ciotti-photography-dallas
• Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/stefaniciotti

Image Credits
All photos by Stefani Ciotti Photography. Headshot by Dipan Desai Photography.