We were lucky to catch up with Suzanne Rothmeyer recently and have shared our conversation below.

Suzanne, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So, let’s imagine that you were advising someone who wanted to start something similar to you and they asked you what you would do differently in the startup-process knowing what you know now. How would you respond?

I think the single most thing I would have done earlier is learn what to say “no” to. In the early years it’s so common to feel like you have to say yes to every inquiry – there’s that fear of scarcity that makes you think you have to take anything and everything that comes down the pike. What results is you’re trying to be everything to everybody and not really doing anyone justice…including your business. It’s very scary to say no when you’re starting out – you convince yourself that it’s a lost opportunity that is going to cost you all other similar opportunities down the road. But over time it can lead to confusion for the potential client – what exactly IS it that this photographer specializes in?

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve been a professional photographer for well over 20 years – starting in film and portraiture, and later moving into doing weddings as well. I did a LOT of different kinds of shoots (see previous question) during those years. About 5 years ago I announced I was quitting doing weddings, as well as several other genres, and overhauled my website and socials to reflect the direction that my business had been organically moving toward – branding and commercial photography. The best thing I ever did was really niche down to what I most loved doing, and what I really felt was adding serious value for my clients. I knew I wanted to work with women, and I knew I especially wanted to work with women 40+ who were really coming into their own and starting values-driven businesses that they were passionate about. It’s also a demographic that can sometimes feel uncomfortable in front of the camera – and making women feel at ease in front of the lens is definitely one of my strengths…and it shows in the images. I always want to accomplish 3 main things in a shoot… to capture the client at their best, to tell their story, and to capture their personality. I take my clients through a whole process (in-depth questionnaire, pre-planning Zooms, moodboards, wardrobe advice, and location scouting). By the time we get to the day of the shoot the client is always excited (rather than nervous), and knows exactly what we’ll be doing. I create images that are intentional – often working with the client’s website designer, brand strategist etc in order to create a shot list that results in images that will really go to work for the client and tell their story.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I am wildly passionate about supporting women in business… I believe we need more women at the table, on every level, in every industry. The scales have been tipped out of balance for far too long, and I absolutely believe that does harm to us all. Women bring a different set of skills to the marketplace, different ways of communicating, and are often driven by a sense of serving the greater good. I love the the greater sense of collaboration, the quality of communications, and the transparency that often comes with less ego driven / hierarchical models of historically (traditional) masculine models.

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

I hired a business coach some years back, and one of the things she said to me when I told her I wanted to really niche down in my business was that I needed to stop relying on referrals. WHAT?!! I was so proud of the fact that 90% of my work came from referrals! This was a HUGE shift in thinking for me. The problem was that I kept attracting the same kind of clientele – and what I really needed to do was start with defining my ideal client for this direction I was going in… really flesh out every aspect of who that client is and why I want to work with them. Then, everything on my website needed to speak to them – and I needed to create SEO that was focussed on google searches. It was amazing how quickly my business shifted to cold inquiries coming in from google searches – and they were almost always reflections of my ideal client (clear about their mission, invested in the process, and a budget to support developing a professional online presence). From there, those clients also referred me – to other similar clients. So while it might feel really hard and scary to sort of “start over” (at least that’s what it kind of feels like), it was absolutely the best choice.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://suzannerothmeyer.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/suzannerothmeyerphoto/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzanne-rothmeyer

Image Credits

Suzanne Rothmeyer