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

Yev, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you tell us about an important lesson you learned while working at a prior job?

If there is one thing that I learned during the years leading up to the start of my own business, it’s the importance of seeing value in what you do, not waiting for others to determine it for you.

After graduating from college, I was offered a job in my field of study, and promised a raise after completing the first thirty days. But after thirty days they stalled, and it wasn’t until a week later that I was approached. They presented the raise, and stated that it was significant, something they had never done before. But the raise was not significant by any means, and the monetary offer and delay in presenting it to me led me to believe I was not a valued employee. I knew I had worked hard by showing up every day and going above and beyond, but they did not see my value.

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?

During my college years, I explored photography as a hobby, and I enjoyed it because it took me out of my head and outside in to nature. I also began doing portraits, and soon realized that during any one portrait session I was connecting to humans on a different level. It was this connection that led me to my first paid client.

With photography clients and the project management skills I gained in college, I took a leap of faith and launched my own business.

The rest is history.

Now, with over a decade of experience I have expanded and created a media company that specializes in content creation—photo, video, reels, YouTube videos—you name it, we have a team that can do it all. In addition, we provide convention coverage such as headshot stations, daily highlight reels, and more.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

The importance of reputation goes a long way, and that is exactly how I have built my business. I have a reputation for showing up, treating everyone with respect, and doing my best to solve any problem that may arise for my clients. This reputation has been built over a decade through the warm, kind words of my past clients.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

My journey as a business owner was not easy. I had to approach it day by day with a survival-like mentality, and although I never feared losing my business, there were many times, especially in those first few years, when I struggled to pay my rent or other bills. During that time, I had to work harder to get business. I picked up the phone and made numerous calls to see if any previous clients needed more work done. As a result, I was able to reconnect with a client who happened to need a photographer to fly out to Puerto Rico for a project. That project ended up opening more doors and creating more opportunities for my business.

Determination and mental perseverance got me to where I am today.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://keystyle.media
• Instagram: keystyle.media
• Facebook: keystyle.media
• Linkedin: keystyle.media
• Youtube: keystyle.media
• Yelp: keystyle.media

Image Credits

Slava K.
David j. Crew
Miguel Cortez