***All images in this post are copyright Laura Cottril.***

NEXT WEEK: Kristy Behrs of Wreckless Photography

{To nominate women you'd like to see in this series please list them in the comments-or if you have a question you'd like to see in the interviews--make sure to include your info in the comment fields so that I can get in touch with you- or write to me at: davina at davinafear dot com }

As always make sure to leave comments for the women who are featured. They like comments as much as i do I'm sure...let them know if you have questions or just to say thanks! for their insight and wisdom...

You can check out the rest of the series by clicking here. Tell a friend!

Laura,  

I met you a couple of years ago through email and we became friends.  I'm not sure how we found each other but your emails were so genuine and real and beautiful.  It has been amazing to watch you over the past couple of years, see the struggles and losses that you've experienced, and witness this beauty in you come out through all of it...and even transform your photography.  You've generously shared the spotlight with me and other women when you could have had it all to yourself.  You are person of depth and compassion and I'm blessed to know you.  I'm excited to hear how your journey over the past couple of years has changed your business and art.  Thanks so much for being here on Women and Business!

Davina, thank you so much for the opportunity to be on your website! I feel we have come full circle since I first emailed you! I am grateful for your gift of letting me share my story. I sincerely hope that it will illuminate a path of self-examination, clarity and purpose for your readers. I want to also thank the previous women photographers interviewed! I always glean some good nuggets or find myself nodding my head while reading. I even made friends with Melanie Mauer after contacting her because of her interview! :) www.melaniemauer.com

How long have you been in business? Do you work from home? 

I’m in my seventh year of business. I work out of my home because I like the flexibility of not having to “make rent”. I have a home office and do my consultations and sales in my living room. This situation has served me well as I took time off to have a baby and also be there for my family during time of illness.  My work is natural light so I can do indoor window light for maternity and babies, but most of my work is outdoors or in client’s homes. We are currently remodeling our living room to be more efficient for my business purposes while becoming more beautiful and designed to integrate my colors and bird nest theme. It is very exciting to have a fresh start and a soon to be beautiful room to work from! I would attach photos but it is still in cocoon phase, yet to bloom into a butterfly!

What does your workflow look like?  Do you outsource or keep everything in house?   

I am a big fan of Jack Canfield’s www.thesuccessprinciples.com. Jack is the Chicken Soup for the Soul author. I was fortunate to go to his one-day Success Principles seminar in March and it really lit my fire and motivated me to set a course for my life instead of meandering down the river, wherever it may lead. One of Jack’s principles is to work from your “core genius”. This is the place where you are at your very best. All other things should be handled by someone else. Professionally, I consider my core genius to be consultations, sessions and sales. I would be happiest being the “face” of my business. Although I get satisfaction from retouching and other work, I get bored and frustrated at long hours on the computer. So those are areas I outsource. For those of you who say they cannot afford to hire someone, I say raise your sitting fee $50 or more and use that money to outsource editing or what you need. You will burn out trying to be a one woman show! If the clients think you are too expensive, they are not your clients. Someone new will show up who will value you.

Jack Canfield is a big advocate for defining your life purpose. I thought I would share mine with you! The more you share your goals, the more people can support you in them and the more you believe in them yourself!

My five life goals right now are:

1 Be the Face of my business

2 Health through fitness: Strong back!

3 Personal fine art project resulting in gallery show and book

4 Obtain my PPA Master’s Degree

5 Financial Freedom!

From each goal I create action steps to progress toward each goal completion! Anything I do, I think, does this take me towards one of my five goals? After my last two years of transition I felt a little lost, this book and workshop really got me motivated to take charge of my life’s direction and purpose again.

You've had an emotional past year and a half or so.  Will you tell us about it?

Two years ago my niece (then 4 ½) was diagnosed with leukemia (ALL). A month later my dad was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. It was the hardest, scariest and saddest time of my life. I will be honest with you. If you can’t imagine what it is like to lose your parents, it is everything you imagined and more.

During this time I made myself 100% available to my parents and my sister.  I slowed down and then stopped my business in order to spend time with my dad. I did my best to support my sister and her family with backup reinforcements. With the support of our extended family I had the opportunity to be there for my parents through my dad’s last year. I count myself blessed to have had that time. It was the most personal, moving and intimate time.

How has it changed your perspective/life?
It made me stop and really look at what the heck I’m doing with myself. I regretted being so focused on building my business that I would put my family “on hold” for the fourth quarter in order to fit in “one more sitting…one more…”. I changed my perspective from building my business to being present in my life. I put my business in a clear second place. I am committed to visiting my mom regularly and being available for my kids after school. I quit working on Saturdays, as well as Sundays. Another interesting thing that happened is I realized and owned my “value.” Time away with my clients was time away from my family. I easily raised my prices to a place where I felt it was worth it to trade time with my family. After setting my boundaries for my business, I looked at my relationships with my clients. I only lost one client with my changes and that was not a fit for me any way. My clients who love me still come to me and understand and respect my changes.  Interestingly, these changes have not hurt my business but helped it.  You do not have to sacrifice one to get the other!

My new business goals are not necessarily to do more sittings. They are to do the right amount of sittings to maintain balance. If I want to add more, I need to add them in my slower months. My other goals are to work smarter. By outsourcing and being the “face of my business” I am able to take on more work without drowning. By developing products and a plan for each category (maternity, baby, children and families) I have products to offer that are hard to resist. Another big help is when I go to the client’s home for the consultation we can walk around, take measurements and plan their displays before I take the photos. This also gives the client a rough idea of what their investment will look like and they can plan for it. Work smarter, not harder. A great added benefit (to my clients) is through these steps I get to know my client better by spending time with them and providing more value.

How has the past year changed your work?

The biggest change to my work is the awareness and urgency of photographing our parents and grandparents. Whenever I have the opportunity I strongly encourage my clients to include their parents and grandparents. My life experience has taught me how important this is. I have a great client that reminds me when I forget that the work that we do as photographers is a gift to our clients. Our work is done when the job is delivered but for the client it is only the beginning of their enjoyment of our work. For them, we have created lifelong treasures and memories to pass on.

When my dad got sick we did family portraits. As a photographer I should have done this a long time ago! Now when I look at those portraits I am so thankful we have them. I get it in a real way, because I have lived it.

What do you recommend women do who are just getting started in the industry?

My biggest message to women just getting started in photography is to know what you are getting into and figure out WHY you want to be a photographer. Is it to make money? Is it for creative expression? How much time are you willing to put to this venture? Do you have kids and how old are they? How will you balance your work and family time? Will you be able to go to bed at night with your husband or will you be on the computer?

I want to share a little eye-opening tidbit from the PPA Benchmark study. You need to make $100,000 in sales in order to make a $35,000 salary. And that is before taxes. Yes, $100,000.

If you are a mom looking to make a little money on the side while you raise your kids this is especially important. I started out with a two-year old, and then two years later had another baby. I spent the first few years of my business working to pay the babysitter and my start up costs. In the big picture I was building my client base. I had access to lots of moms with small children, because I had small children. Those clients are now loyal friends. That is golden.

I had a realization about the money thing. At first my goal was to build my business to make the money I made at my corporate job (before kids). J Then I realized that owning my own business brings me a lot more than monetary rewards. I get creative expression, flexibility, personal growth. All of these are rewards as well as the money. What valuable benefits can you get from owning your own business in addition to money?

What do you do for fun...that has nothing to do with photography?
I love to read, ride my bike, visit with friends, dream.

What are you most proud of as a business woman?

Breaking down my fears and personal barriers to grow and achieve things I never dreamed!

What do you do to keep your marriage fun?

My husband is so amazing. Through the last two years he stood by me unending. I am focusing now on renewing the fun in our relationship again. We continually tell each other how lucky we are and how much we love each other. One of the foundations of our relationship is laughter. We love to make each other laugh. He is so great at being constant while I go on my wild ride. J We have date night every Tuesday. Sometimes we read in bed together, other times we go out. It’s just nice to be together with no demands.

You are a mom, how old are your children?  What do you do to help them feel part of your business life?  Not ignored because of your business life?

My boys are now nine and five. I have tried to minimize the impact of my business on them but the reality is I am out a couple sunsets a week photographing or to a meeting or class. We make it an opportunity for them to bond with their dad making pizza or pancakes. It is a balance, too many sunsets away puts stress on the family.

We are doing Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover as a family and have a Debt Thermometer on my office door that my son created. As we pay off debt the boys get to fill in the thermometer with red sharpie. When it is time for me to work I remind them that by my working we will have money to pay off our thermometer and then reap the rewards by meeting our goals. For them, they are looking forward to bunk beds! It is super powerful to have finances be a family conversation. All the baggage that comes with it disperses when you put it out in the open and all work on it as a team.  www.daveramsey.com

What do you do to keep your family strong?

One of our favorite things is to get all ready for bed then read chapter books to the kids all piled up in our bed. After that it is easy for my husband and I to continue reading and then have a decent bedtime. No TV, no computer. It is hugely bonding, fun and good for us! Our favorite books are the Lands of Elyon series. Each chapter is a cliffhanger. Or clift-hanger as my son puts it. J

What do you do to KEEP from feeling overwhelmed?

Focus on my list and do one thing at a time. Also hold to my boundaries. When I make an exception with my boundaries many times I regret it. Look at my color coded calendar and just focus on TODAY.

When my dad was sick I was training for a half marathon walk with TEAM in Training. TEAM in Training raises funds and awareness for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Being part of an organized event forced me to get my butt out the door and do the training. I really believe that exercise grounded me and helped me manage that stressful time. Also the huge support of my teammates was so valuable.  www.teamintrainging.org I also participated in Davina’s Move it Monday contests to have accountability and support!  Commit to Move it Monday! You won’t regret it!

Now I calendar my workouts in and workout with friends. If I go for a quick walk in the morning, my head is cleared and I am more efficient.

You have entered a number of competitions.  What have you learned from those?

I’ve heard people discount competitions and certification programs, but to me they are a structured way to challenge myself to do my best work. I joined a study group in order to prepare for the PPA Certification exam and it was a great way to build friendships with other photographers as well as go over the material as a group. Our local affiliate has also found the Certification study groups to be a meaningful way for new members to make friends and get involved in the group. I am going for my PPA Masters degree as a way to challenge myself. I know they only accept the best of the best and so I look at it as a game. I select my images I think will do best and email them to photographers whose talent and opinion I respect for feedback. The best way to learn is to receive feedback on your work. When I first started out I apprenticed for Lisa Evans, an amazing storytelling portrait photographer. I did forty portrait sessions that year outside of my apprenticeship and received critiques from her on many of those in order to apply the concepts I learned. It improved my work immensely!!! www.lisaevansart.com

What three products or things help you stay organized?
1 My color coded monthly calendar. I can glance at it and see what is happening based on color.

2 My list of five things to do that day. Another Jack Canfield thing. It helps me stay focused and gives me satisfaction when I check off the completed items.

3 My list of five life goals keep me focused on the big picture. I have them taped to my computer screen so I can look at them often.

What is something that you think women in the industry should do?

Respect other photographers work and marketing efforts. There is room for everyone.

Connect with other women photographers to gain support and share ideas.

Make time for yourself: exercise, socialize and rejuvenate

Find your weak spots and either delegate or work to improve that trait or glitch in your business. It will help you immensely.

You have been published by professional magazines within the industry.  How did you do that?

I feel really lucky to have been published but when I think about it, it was more than luck. It was networking. I attended a Making More Money conference and was so excited about the things I learned I thanked all the PPA staff for putting it on. I shared with them what our local affiliate was doing with the certification study groups and got to know them face to face. PPA asked me to be in an ad for the Faces of PPA!

My first publication was Rangefinder and my friend www.heatherwhiting.com suggested to them that they needed to have more Northern California photographers in their portrait issue. She suggested me and a few others who made it into the magazine. Heather is a master net worker, not afraid to call anyone to ask a question or favor. I need to hire her as my agent as she makes me feel like a movie star the way she introduces me to people. J I think that another way to get published is to get involved. I was on the board and also President of my local affiliate which provided me a way to meet other photographers in my area and state. This networking is a great way to get your name out there. Another Jack Canfield-ism: “be the “host” at every gathering you attend. Introduce yourself to people and then introduce people to each other”!

Share your success with others: when PPA asked me to be in their magazine and talk about balance I immediately thought Davina should be in the magazine too. She has taught and advocated balance for women photographers devotedly! Having more photographers weaving their ideas for balance together in the article was so powerful! Davina gave me hope when I was in the dark with my business burnout and personal struggles. It felt good to give back to someone who really deserved the spotlight. J

What five suggestions do you have for women who are trying to have a more whole, content, and blissful life?

1)     Go to bed early! Take care of yourself! Exercise regularly.

2)     Look outside the industry for inspiration such as Jack Canfield or other motivational speakers. Or hang out with a bunch of creative people who are NOT photographers. Share ideas and inspire each other.

3)     Meet up with your friends for lunch, read, replenish.

4)     Look around at the important people in your life and make time for them now. Put it on your calendar ahead of time before it fills.

5)     Your photography is your creative gift. It is part of your life, not all of it.

To see more of Laura's work:

Website

Facebook

Blog

***All images in this post are copyright Laura Cottril.***