We recently connected with Tia Golosky and have shared our conversation below.

Tia , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you take vacations? How do you keep things going – any advice for entrepreneurs who feel like they can’t step away from their business for a short vacation?

As a creative, I think vacations are vital to running a successful business. For me personally, my favorite thing is to travel, to experience new things, learn how other people live- that is so inspiring to me. Spending time in nature especially really fuels me creatively, and recharges me when I’m feeling burnt out. As an entrepreneur you are working constantly and a lot of times you are your brand, and it can be difficult to have a work-life balance. I think small business owners feel a lot of guilt stepping away from their businesses to recharge, but I think that’s the best thing you can do for your business. You have to take care of yourself, keep your cup full, to be able to pour that back into other aspects of your life. Even if it’s just for a short weekend, my advice would be to take the time to take care of you, set up the automations you can in your business, so that you can step away briefly, relax, and come back refreshed and motivated.

Tia , 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?

My name is Tia and I own/operate Tia Leigh Photography. I photograph weddings and elopements for adventurous couples who love warm & romantic, artistic, documentary style photography.

Over the years, Tia Leigh Photography has evolved into a wife-husband photography duo, which has been so much fun. My husband, Nick, and I love to travel, and are so grateful to be able to document love stories wherever this job takes us around the world.

I think I first got into photography as a medium around 2008. When I was just 18 years old, fresh out of high school, I photographed my first wedding. I had zero experience, and the most basic gear you could get. It still shocks me to this day that anyone let me document such an important day at that age, but that experience really lit a spark, and I’ve just loved capturing weddings ever since. In college, I received my Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art, where I concentrated in both old process film photography, and digital photography. For the longest time, I would dabble in weddings sporadically, never taking the leap to go full time. It wasn’t until Nick and I got married in 2019, and my own wedding photographer gave me the mindset push I needed, that I really took it seriously. Within 6 months, I registered my business, quit my day job, and never looked back. Since 2019 we have photographed close to 150 weddings and elopements. I feel truly lucky to do this for a living- what other job do you get to hang out with cool people in gorgeous locations on the happiest day of their lives? It’s been such a rewarding, fun, and exciting experience being an entrepreneur.

I love just being there for my clients, along with obviously creating art with them. One thing that I’m super proud of is the customer experience I provide for couples. It makes me so happy when they tell me how comfortable they felt working with me. My main goal in business is to never feel like just another vendor on one of the most important days of my couples lives. I truly care about them having an amazing, stress free experience and creating images with them that we can all be proud of. I strive to nurture friendships with my clients, and often remain friends with them long after their wedding days. I think it’s so important to build relationships with clients in this industry. It allows my clients to show up authentically, so we can create imagery that truly embodies who they are through creative storytelling. The better I can get to know my clients, the better I can serve them and deliver an experience and art that resonates with them, not just show up as a stranger and take their photos.

How did you build your audience on social media?

My biggest advice for photographers trying to grow their audience, especially on social media, is to not be too proud to do free shoots. In the beginning, it’s so crucial to just get your name out there and build trust in your community. The easiest way, I think, to do that, is to give people an incredible experience working with you, for free. Think about an engagement session for example. When you photograph a free engagement session, not only are you getting your new business in front of that couple specifically, but chances are they will share those photos on social media. When they do that, they’re marketing your business to hundreds or thousands of people who may not even know you exist, at no cost to you, except your time. When you give them an amazing experience, and really great quality photos, their word of mouth referrals will help to grow your business. When they post the images you took of them on social media and tag your business, that’s going to help grow your audience.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

The best source of new clients for me has been through referrals from past clients and from other vendors with the wedding industry as well.

Contact Info:

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

Image Credits
Maggie Kraser Tia Leigh Photography Tia Leigh Photography Tia Leigh Photography Tia Leigh Photography Tia Leigh Photography Tia Leigh Photography Tia Leigh Photography Tia Leigh Photography