**all images in this post copyright: Jane Johnson. **
 

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Jane, You have so much going on and everything you do is a great quality.  I have no idea how you keep everything straight...which makes me especially excited about your interview today...I get to find out how you're making it all happen.  You have a design business and photography business...in two different states! Thanks for being here on Women and Business.

How did you become a professional photographer AND a graphic designer?
It's kind of funny how this all worked out.  I was originally planning to major in graphic design in college, but when it came time for the portfolio review process to apply to the upper level courses, I failed.  Twice.  I was heartbroken and took a term off to figure out what I was going to do in life.  During that time, I was half a world away on a two-week mission trip in Rio de Janeiro, talking about this very thing with a friend on a street corner as our group waited for a bus.  With my camera bag on my shoulder, and about 20 rolls of film inside, he told me what has become my life verse: "The lamp of the body is the eye.  If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light." (Matthew 6:22).  "Maybe you should do photography,"  he said - an obvious answer to everyone else around me.  The lightbulb went off, and I went home and officially changed my major.  I graduated from college in 2003, and have since worked odd jobs at everything from a makeup counter to advertising design at our local newspaper.  I sort of stumbled upon the design side of my business after the overwhelming response I received from designing my own blog in 2008, and it's been a snowball effect ever since.  Everything I've done is entirely self-taught, and I'm thankful to have two very creative aspects of my business.  I never get tired of doing any one thing.

Are you in a retail space or home studio?  What made you decide on the space you have?  (please provide pictures)
I just recently converted our bonus room into a home studio.  I've gone back and forth for the last year with desperately wanting a retail space, but at the same time living in a town where the photography industry is definitely over-saturated.  To date, the only thing I put on the credit card for my business was my first Canon Digital Rebel SLR purchased in 2007.  My husband and I haven't taken out any business loans, and I've paid cash for everything.  I had an adorable space all picked out already, and was ready to sign the dotted line but after talking more, we decided that it makes more sense to maintain zero overhead and no business debt as long as I can.  Plus, we had an empty bonus room that is the perfect size for meeting with clients and shooting newborns.  So, while I was shooting in Scottsdale a few months ago, my husband was busy tearing up the carpet and laying hardwood floors to surprise me when I got home and get the ball rolling.

The studio space is nearly complete, and features all of my favorite things: favorite photographs, beaded pillows that my grandmother gave me, a beautifully feminine chandelier, and gifts from close friends including a handmade wreath using pages from Wuthering Heights.  Here's a peek at the (almost) finished product:

The far nook where the chandelier is hanging will be my packaging station.  I'm still using up my old chocolate brown boxes, but will soon have shelves on the wall that will hold all of my brand new white packaging materials with steel gray tissue paper.  The canvas collection by the door is one of three wall collections I'll be offering for 2011.


The couch faces an 80" projection screen for client viewing appointments.  The cabinet beneath the screen will fill over time with various quilts, blankets, newborn props, and backdrops as I need to purchase them and have extra cash for.


The coffee table in front of the couch features a display Cowgirl Magazine issues I've shot to date, including cover photographs and inside fashion spreads. (http://www.cowgirlmagazine.com)  The shelf below holds my sample albums and image boxes.  The wall to the right of the couch is holding a 30x40 canvas, dwarfed on the large empty wall.  I'll eventually order two more canvases to flank it, but for now it helps clients to visualize the true size of a large canvas that otherwise sounds too large for their home.




What does your workflow look like?  How do you manage and keep track of two business and in two locations? Do you outsource or keep everything in house?
At the moment, I keep everything in-house, although I've been feeling the urge to bring on an assistant to ease some of the burden.  Currently, the only thing I'm outsourcing is the coding for my custom blog and splash page design projects.  I'm a very type-A personality, and if I knew how to do coding myself, I would.  However, it does open up a lot of time for me do spend on designing.  As for the workflow, I break everything up by day, and it changes each week depending on what projects I have in the queue.  For example, today I will work on custom blog revisions and logo designs and make a run to the hospital to drop off some 30x30 canvases for a NICU display.  Tomorrow I will edit the two NICU shoots that are still sitting on my camera from three weeks ago, and get my 2011 photography marketing materials ordered.  I generally compartmentalize according to the side of the business, and will spend a full day working only on photography, and the next working only on design.  Shooting in both Central Oregon and Scottsdale is easy because my design business is portable.  My twin sister lives in Phoenix, so I just set up shop at her house for the time I'm there - sometimes up to two weeks.  Good thing she loves having me around!

What do you do to help your clients be so comfortable with you during a photo shoot?
It depends on what I'm shooting.  If I'm shooting children, I play with them.  It's so important to get down on a child's level and interact with them.  I was working with a model at a NAPCP event last year that was extremely shy, and wasn't interested in giving me the time of day.  Luckily we had about 15-20 minutes before shooting, so I had some warm-up time.  As we walked to the shooting location, I started stepping on her shadow.  And she started stomping on mine.  Of course, I howled and pretended that it hurt, which got the giggles going.  By the time we began shooting, she wouldn't leave my side.

If I'm shooting couples, I use a trick I learned from a friend of mine who was doing a five year anniversary shoot for my husband and I.  She told Josh to whisper in my ear, and talk dirty if he had to.  Of course he did, and of course I laughed.  It produced my favorite shot from our entire session.

What do you recommend women do who are just getting started in the industry?
1.  Don't rush into a business loan.  Take your time developing your craft and finding your style without the pressure of paying off debt right away.
2.  Take a year to try everything first - even if you don't think you'll like it.  Then decide on your niche and specialize in that one particular area.  Photographers that say "specializing in maternity, newborns, children, families, seniors, senior citizens, engagements, weddings, and photos of your great uncle's dog" really aren't specializing in anything.
3.  Find a friend you can talk shop with that you don't feel any competition with.  My go-to friend is a commercial photographer, which helps since our businesses never really cross over.

What do you think is most important for a client to do who is a graphic design client that is working with you?
Inspiration boards!!  Design clients that come to me and don't really know what they want are much harder to work with.  The client that collects samples of logos they love, brands they're inspired by, patterns they swoon over, and colors that make them drool are my dream.  I recently had a client that included this inspiration board with her logo design questionnaire:

From the amount of visual information she included, we were able to come up this logo:

and created a unique, cohesive brand that we applied to marketing materials throughout her business:

(You can view her blogsite at http://www.danielleaquilinephotography.com)

What do you do for fun...that has nothing to do with photography?
I love, love, love to read.  My husband works on the weekends, and most of the time I don't want to work but end up working anyway.  So I will force myself to sit and read instead.  When I've done this most recently, I end up sitting for six or seven hours, and devour a full book in one sitting.  There's something about taking my mind somewhere else that really forces me to not think about the projects and emails waiting for me.

What are you most proud of as a business woman?
I'm especially proud of the fact that I'm now in my fourth year of business, and still am 100% debt-free.  If I can't pay cash for it, I don't need it.  I'm also proud to say that everything I've done with the design side of my business (and really, also in photography) is self-taught.  I majored in photography in college, but the classes were all film and darkroom.  All of the digital workflow and editing I've learned is good old-fashioned sweat in photoshop.

What do you do to keep your marriage fun?
We love to travel.  My husband won't always get the time off if given the option, so I've gotten into the habit of purchasing flights and forcing him to take the time off.  Last year, we flew to Phoenix, met up with my sister and brother-in-law, drove to the beach in Mexico for 24 hours, drove back, and flew home.  Kind of crazy, and definitely spontaneous, but it makes for a fun story to tell.

What are the top three things you did when you were first getting started in business to bring in clients, both photography and graphic design?
1.  Work for friends.  I did (and still do) trades where I can, and did a lot of complimentary photo shoots to build my portfolio.  I don't necessarily recommend doing this for long (or even at all).  Once I was in that, it was definitely hard to learn to say now. Instead of giving everything away for free, maybe do a complimentary session fee and provide two free prints, or give a complimentary session fee as a birthday or shower gift.  Once you get in the "free friend" zone, they'll milk you dry!
2.  Social networking is huge!  That's really where the design side of my business exploded: putting links on facebook and posting recent logo designs or newly launched sites.  When you photograph friends, tag them on facbeook!  The average facebook user has 130 friends, which means free exposure to nearly 300 people per client (assuming it's a married couple)!
3.  Take advantage of connections!  I'm terrible with networking.  It's actually ironic that I'm in the business that I'm in because a photographer needs to have a certain level of extroversion, and I'd much rather be the wallflower at home with my husband.  I'm not the best networker in the world, and to help with that, I introduced a referral program early on that rewards the client for talking about your business.  My referral program gives clients a $50 print credit on a future session for every booking client they send my way.  I had one client last year that earned $350 in portrait credits in seven months for sending so many clients my way.  I'm happy, and the client is happy!

How do you keep your marriage safe from the stresses of your business?
Our biggest rule: Josh's days off are my days off.  The temptation to work all the time when you work from home is definitely there, so a lot of times we'll run errands, or go to a movie to physically get me out of the house.  Otherwise I'll sneak upstairs for a few minutes that easily turns into a few hours.  Also, church is a priority, and we have a small group we go to once a month.  We also have dinner with friends at least a few times a week.  When he's off, I'm off.  ...usually.  ;)

What is the best thing you've done to make your business successful?
Hands down, social networking.  Particularly with graphic design.  Consistently posting new projects and links to new blogs has really pushed the amount of exposure and number of inquiries and booking clients I receive.

Do you have children?  If so, how old are your children?  What do you do to help them feel part of your business life?

No children yet.  We'll celebrate seven years of marriage in February, and are starting to think about adoption, but at this point, we're in a really good place.

Are you preparing to move from Oregon to Phoenix?  If so, how are you preparing for that?
We've actually talked about that a few times.  The beauty of splitting my time between Central Oregon and Scottsdale is the ability to work year round.  When it's eight months of cold and snow in Bend, it's perfect shooting conditions in Scottsdale.  Then, when the summers are unbearable in Arizona, it's perfect shooting conditions in Oregon.  Eventually, years down the road, we'd like to have a second home in Arizona.  But I don't mind splitting my time.  It gets the travel itch out of my system, and I get my fill of both sun and snow.

What do you do to keep from feeling overwhelmed especial with running 2 businesses?
My husband certainly helps with that.  If I feel particularly overwhelmed, and tell him what I'm stressed about, he breaks it down and helps me to realize it's really not important enough to demand so much of my thoughts.  I didn't get that email out, and it's 10:00 at night?  The client can wait a few more hours.  It's not the end of the world  He's really good at balancing me out and helping me to think rationally when I get overwhelmed.  I also have a quiet time every single morning with my coffee, my Bible, and my prayer journal.  Sometimes it's 30 minutes, sometimes it's 90.  I know without a doubt that God has gifted me creatively, and has specifically entrusted me with a multi-faceted business that I never could have dreamed up.  My design business, especially, was so unexpected.  When I'm particularly overwhelmed, I spend some extra time in the morning praying that I would have the ability and productivity to handle that day's projects.  I know He doesn't give His Spirit without measure (John 3:34), and He won't call me to something that I'm unable to accomplish.  (Where God guides, He provides!) So I break down the priorities, pray for an extra boost of creativity, make some more coffee, and tackle it one project at a time.  Over and over, my prayer for my business is Psalm 90:17: "Let the beauty of the Lord my God be upon me, and establish the work of my hands for me.  Yes, establish the work of my hands."  (I will note here, that in addition to the two businesses, I also host and teach a women's retreat for photographers that is specifically geared towards this type of discussion.  It's called Be Thou My Vision, and isn't a photography workshop by any means.  It's more a throw-back to the typical women's retreats you'll find at any local church.  The attendees just all happen to be photographers.  You can find more information at http://www.bemyvision.org)

What three products or things help you stay organized?
1.  A good old-fashioned notebook.  I'm still an old-school list-maker.  The online tools don't help me.  Writing things out helps me remember.
2.  Hitask.com is a really good resource that I use with my coders.  I can assign various projects to different contractors with a deadline, and I'm notified once it's complete.
3.  A google calendar that I can access from any computer.  It shows my client waiting lists, projected project start dates, projected project end dates, traveling, photo shoots, and viewing appointments, all color-coded as necessary.

What is something that you think women in the industry should not do?
Gossip.  It's so destructive.

What is something that you think women in the industry should do?
Define your own style instead of adopting someone else's.  We are each created uniquely.  Nobody else thinks or sees things the way you do.  Translate that into your photography.

What five suggestions do you have for women who are trying to have a more whole, content, and blissful life?
1.  Stay out of debt.
2.  Realize that you aren't gifted creatively just to make lots of money.
3.  Give back as much as you can, as often as you can.
4.  Seek God's heart daily.
5.  Choose to love your husband when you don't feel it.  And pray for those butterflies to come back.  They will.

To see more of Jane's work:

Website

Blog Design

**all images in this post copyright: Jane Johnson. **