309 Balancing It All - How to Build a Successful Photography Business While Raising Kids & Working a Job
Evie Tavares
Brand Photographer
My guest of the show today is Brand Photographer, Evie Tavares.
Evie is someone I met very serendipitously, through Facebook Marketplace (where all good business friendships begin.. lol!)
But there's definitely a reason that my path crossed with Evie.
I had only lived in my town for about a year, and was thinking that I needed new brand photos. I wanted to hire someone local, but I hadn't yet met anyone with that particular expertise.
Then, I meet Evie while selling her my Oura Ring - and we booked a photoshoot together (which was epic, by the way - she is a MASTER of her craft) and since then, I've recommended her services to countless clients.
Evie is a mama of 2, she works another job, and she's building her brand photography and content creation business on the side. I sometimes wonder HOW she has the time to fit it all in, but she makes it happen.
In this episode we chat about:
Why Evie decided to start a photography business
Her decision to niche down and become a branding photographer
Her tips for networking, even if you're an introvert
How she balances her days and weeks as a busy mama who also works another job
Why she thinks everyone needs to consider investing in brand photos
& SO MUCH MORE….
To connect with Evie:
Access the transcript for this episode:
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You're listening to the visionary life podcast. I'm your host, Kelsey Reidl.
Each week, I'll bring you conversations with the most visionary humans on this earth, in hopes that you'll be able to absorb their wisdom, avoid their failures and feel less alone on the roller coaster ride that is entrepreneurship.
This season, I'll be chatting with creative thinkers, masterful marketers, brick and mortar shop owners, brand builders and people just like you who have a story to share or a vision that inspires if I can share one quick secret with you before we get into the episode is that we all have a little bit of visionary inside of us.
You know, that spark that nudges us to pursue our full potential in this lifetime, but perhaps somewhere along the line, it got covered up. I'm here to tell you that it's never too late to explore that inner voice and access the brilliance deep down inside of you. It's in you. It's in all of us. Let's dive in. Hey, visionaries. Welcome back to the podcast. I just got off an amazing interview with Evie to Vera's. She is my brand photographer, who I serendipitously met through Facebook marketplace. Okay, hear me out. So back in the winter, I was selling my aura ring. It's a ring that measures your sleep and your steps and your heart rate and all this health data. And the person who I sold it to who showed up at my door was Evie.
And as we were chatting, and as we were exchanging the ring, she was saying to me, Hey, I noticed we have a mutual friend on Facebook. And that friend was Sarah Monica, who I had just been hanging out with who is my other brand photographer and who also shot my engagement with Dave. And it was just one of those moments where as EV and I got chatting, we realized that we shared a lot in common that she too was an entrepreneur, starting to build her business as a brand photographer. And that really planted a seed in my mind of, I can't wait to hire her. I mean, she lives down the road from me. And I looked at her portfolio of work and thought next time I need a brand photographer, I'm hiring her. So anyways, fast forward a few months go figure I booked her out for a session. It's amazing. She made the whole process really, really effortless, I guess.
And she took so much pride in planning the shoot out and showing up and making me feel comfortable. And her level of excellence in her delivery of her service just blew me away. And we've stayed in touch ever since. And so I wanted to introduce her to all of you today because she is somebody who is very inspiring. She works a job. She is a mom of two kids. She's a wife.
And she only recently started her photography business after she realized she didn't just want this to be a hobby, she actually saw that there was potential and that maybe she could grow this into a business. And so she has been working diligently in her small pockets of time to build relationships and to find her niche and to establish herself as the go to brand photographer in our area. And she's doing such a great job like I am truly in admiration of how she's able to balance all the things and how she's been able to stay the course even when she comes up against imposter syndrome, or self doubt or anything that generally bubbles up when we're getting visible and doing things we've never done before. So I think you're gonna love this episode. If you do need a brand photographer and you live in Ontario, check out Evie to Varas branding, and I will link everything in the show notes. And she's also shot many of the visionary clients she shot my sister's brand shoot, and so I can totally vouch for her work. If you do want to get some new photos that you feel proud to share on social media. We know how important that is.
Because if you don't have good photos on your website on your social, you're missing that ability to connect with potential dream clients. Okay, so that is it for now let's get right into this episode with Evie. Evie, welcome to the visionary life Podcast. I'm so excited to sit down with you today. And we were supposed to do this in person because you and I actually live very close to each other. But instead we get to have a zoom date. So I'm going to be able to pick your brain today on a few things that I don't even know about your journey of what got you into photography and some of the wins and challenges you've experienced over the years of building this business. So first off, welcome to the show.Thank you so much. I'm excited to be here. And I know
this is your first podcast. So let's warm up with some rapid fire questions. So first off, where did you grow up? And where do you live now?
So I grew up in Kitchener in Ontario, and I got married about 12 years ago. And when I got married, I moved to Brantford to live with my husband, obviously. So I've been in Branford ever since.
And you got married pretty young. How old? were you when you got married?
I was 19. By one month.
Did you always know you wanted to like meet a partner or settle down have kids? Or did you just met the right person? Then it all unfolded that way?
Yeah, I definitely wanted to get married and have a family. I thought it was going to be to an Irishman. I always wanted to go to Ireland and meet a guy from Ireland. But then I met my Portuguese husband, and it just all unfolded from there. And yeah, we haven't really looked back since then. It's been great.
I love it. And you now have two beautiful kids too. So a full life, that's for sure. I'm curious, is there a person a podcast or a book that you feel has impacted your life or your business in a positive way?
I would say as far as the person, definitely my husband, he's a huge support to me. And he's always building me up. And I know for a fact that if he didn't think I could do it, he would tell me if he didn't think I was good at it, he would be honest with me. And he's been nothing but supportive and building me up. So that really gives me the confidence to keep pushing and keep building the business. As far as podcasts, there was a podcast for photographers. It's called Horizon horizon found, and it's by Nicole Hill. And I remember the first podcast I listened to by her was about that you don't need the best expensive camera gear to be a good photographer. What's important is knowing your camera. And at the time I had like a cheap Canon Rebel T three i that we got off of Kijiji for like 500 bucks. And I felt like it wasn't good enough for what I wanted to do. But that podcast really gave me the motivation to learn how to use my camera properly and really put it to good use and not be scared to use it for the kind of shoots that I wanted to do.
Hmm, oh my gosh, that is so powerful. Because I think oftentimes, we feel like we need the best business software, we need the best camera if we want to improve as an athlete, we need the best running shoes or best bike. But sometimes it's actually about using what's in front of you and becoming a master of the capabilities that your current piece of equipment has until you truly max it out, and have almost like proven to yourself that I'm committed to this industry. I've truly pushed the boundaries of this equipment or this piece of software, and then going for the upgrade because I think we live in a world where we think, Well, I gotta go buy the most expensive thing if I want to be the best. But sometimes it's really learning to work with what's in front of you. So I think that's a really, really powerful reminder. So thank you. What is one thing you do every single day, that's non negotiable, because I know you're somebody who's busy, you're balancing a part time job, your brand photography, business, a family, you have a lot of hobbies.
So what is something that you do every day that makes you feel great, or that you just have to do in order to set yourself up for success.So every morning, I have to have a cup of English breakfast tea. Like if I don't if I don't have it, then there's probably something wrong with me. It just kicks off my day. I don't drink coffee. So that's kind of my caffeine for the day. And it just kind of gives me like that peaceful moment in the morning to kind of get the day started.
And that actually translated into one of your first business names, right? You called your company tea cup and saucer. So was that because you're obsessed with tea and like couldn't imagine starting a business without that in the title?
Yeah, pretty much. The teacup and saucer came from that my love of tea. And my love of tea really started with my very British Great Grandma Ruby, who I was really, really close to when I was growing up and before she passed away.
And my earliest memory of her is just sitting at their kitchen table and having a cup of tea. And so it's always been a part of my life. It's always been like if you're sad or sick or whatever, you just make a cup of tea. And that's something it's like the the fix alland I love how you were able to weave that story into your business. So that's really cool. So you haven't been a photographer at least from what I know forever. Obviously you kind of had this idea maybe a moment in your along your career path where you decide Did you wanted to start a business? Can you just kind of take us back to what inspired you to start your photography business? What led up to you saying I'm going to buy the camera, we're going to start shooting people in places give us some of the backstory.
So the first camera that I had was the Canon Rebel T three i that we bought off of Kijiji, and I bought that one because I had like a little point and shoot, and I would take pictures on holidays. And I would take pictures of our family and our friends with even just that. And I really wanted to be able to offer a little something more, even if it was just for our family. So we looked online, and we found that they used camera. From there, I just did a lot of like family portraits, mostly for my family. And then some of my family's family reached out and what asked to have pictures done. So it was very, like small and basic at the time. A friend of mine asked me to do her wedding, and I'd never done a wedding before. And I said to her straight up, I've never done this before. So I don't know how it's gonna turn out. I'll do it for free to get the practice and the experience. And she was fine with that.
And they actually turned out really good. So then, fast forward to having kids and everything I kind of put the camera down, I would take pictures of my young, my oldest, when I just had her, I would take pictures like every few months with the camera to kind of get like those memories captured. But other than that I didn't really look at it as a business yet. It wasn't until I was on maternity leave with my second baby. And I really didn't want to come back to work. And my boss might hear this. So I'm sorry. But I really didn't want to go back to work. I wanted to be able to stay home with my girls. So I thought maybe I'll try and push for something like maybe I'll try and start a photography business. I started just looking at doing families. But then I was listening to a lot of podcasts about building photography, businesses, and the back end of that, of that industry. And I heard one, and she was talking about brand photography and working with entrepreneurs. And I was like, that sounds really interesting to me. So then I kind of like did a deep dive into that. And I was like I could really, this is like a business, I'm really motivated to create a brand photography business. And then it just kind of went from there. And I just kind of ran with that.Mm hmm. There's so many good nuggets in your story. And I just think it's also so relatable because oftentimes, I think we do have this struggle between like, okay, seeing this as a hobby, for example, you were shooting friends and family and you did the wedding.
But it sounds like you didn't exactly see it as a potentially lucrative business that you could actually build clientele and do this. And then one day, it kind of dawned on you, maybe I could not go back to my job, j ob job, and instead start building this new path for myself. Did you struggle with self doubt? Like, can I really make this work? Who am I to start a business? Or was your mindset pretty unshakable? Once you decided you wanted to start building out your own business?I think before I settled on brand photography, when I was thinking, I'm just doing family photography, maybe some weddings, I think my heart wasn't in those things. Yeah. So I was like, I'll try but like, I don't know, if it'll work. I don't know if I'm good enough at those. And then it wasn't until I had the brand photography niche kind of introduced to me. And I started building up ideas and systems and packages for that, that I was like, Okay, this is something I can really get behind. And then I was like, I got this, I can do this. And like I said, my husband supported me, my mom, I had a lot of support to kind of get me started. And to kick it off, for sure.
Yeah, and I think it's a good reminder that it's okay to start as more of a generalist to kind of take on whatever gig comes your way. Because that's naturally going to push you into realizing, Oh, I really like working with this type of client, oh, I don't love working with this type of client. And then you kind of restructure all your packages and your content and your marketing to be very reflective of the more specific niche. And when you love working with that type of clients, it makes business feel so much more exciting, so much easier, in my opinion, because then you're working with Dream clients versus being like,
Ah, I have to go shoot another, you know, insert gig type that you're not all that excited or motivated for so I think it's really cool that you were eventually able to identify I, I really love working with entrepreneurs and understanding the power of a personal brand, right? And now you're able to bring that to life for so many other business owners. So that's really, really neat. How did you get your first few brand photography clients? Because when you're going into a new niche, I know there's this kind of overwhelm of like, Well, how am I going to break into this? So do you remember how you were able to book your first five or 10 small business or brand clientele.And so what I actually did is I kind of went on this portfolio building project. And I posted on my Instagram that I was interested in starting brand photography. And if you had a business and you were looking to get pictures for it, then I was looking to build my portfolio, and maybe we could work together. So I did end up getting a small handful of entrepreneurs to work with for that. And I think that was probably the best decision, because it helped me to get my systems really in place. So that once I was like fully marketing and having inquiries coming in, I had everything set up. So I knew from start to finish what was going to happen.
And I had contracts set up questionnaires set up everything. So that was hugely beneficial. And then, yeah, just putting myself out there a lot. Networking, I got to know a lot of businesses in the area that I driven past their stores, and that kind of thing and Branford, but I didn't know who was behind the stores. And obviously with branding, that was something that I really dove into is finding out who's behind those brands and who's behind those stores and meeting them so that there's potential for future business there.I think that's so smart to go on the what you call portfolio building project. And I think any new business can do that, treat it as a portfolio building project, just say who's out there that I could do work for, to build my reputation and to do a really good job in hopes that they will refer me and hopes that they will eventually hire me for a paid gig and all become their go to service provider. Right. So I think in the early days, of course, we want to make money, but we also have to prove that we're good at what we do. So whether that's building a portfolio or just like a roster of testimonials, whatever you need to do to get clients through the door, and just offer them your services, either at a low cost or for free.
That's the best way to kind of jumpstart your career path. And to begin the word of mouth marketing that naturally happens when you're in action actually working with people. So think that's super, super important. And I know, you know, networking is something that you've done a lot of getting involved in the community, like you said, putting yourself out there and meeting people, did that come naturally to you? Or have you kind of had to, like push yourself to show up at a lot of these events and build relationships.I've definitely had to push myself walking into a room alone is definitely not something I would have done a few years ago, um, I think becoming a mom has given me like a lot of certainty in who I am as a person and, and just competence in being myself. So I think that's helped a lot. But it still takes a lot to walk into a room full of entrepreneurs, especially like when you feel like you're kind of the smallest in the room. And everybody has like these big businesses and like, you feel like you maybe can't hold up conversation with these people. But you just got to push yourself and go for it. And I've seen a lot of benefits from it. And I've made a lot of friends from it, too.
And have you learned anything about yourself and repeatedly showing up to these events? Like, has there been any epiphany of actually, I'm just like everyone else or actually, you know what came to mind for you. When you think of your journey and your experience actually going to these events and proving that you can do it.
Yeah, I think just more certainty in myself that I can do it, that I do have value to offer to people, no matter where they are in our business. And no matter where I am in my business, you have value to offer to everybody. And they have value to offer to you as well.
So true. Aside from networking and building your portfolio with your local community. I'm curious what are some of the other marketing strategies or mediums that you have used to connect with new clients?
Probably my biggest one right now would be Instagram. I have a lot of success with connecting with people on there. I put a huge focus on it being connection building. I learned that from you as well, it that you don't, you don't necessarily want to just sell, sell sell all the time, but you're on there to make connections and build relationships. And that's when you can have those conversations that you can start to sell to people, when they're comfortable with you, and when they're more ready to buy from you, if that's the case. I've also worked on my website a lot. I didn't really know what SEO was when I started, or how I could even show up on Google. So that's something that I've been working on a lot as well, adding blogs and that kind of thing to add value to my website. So I'm working on that. I'm hoping eventually that that's a much more steady way for people to find me and to contact me. But that's a work in progress, for sure.
Mm hmm. Did marketing come naturally to you always? Or how have you been able to figure this out and finding the balance between online and community and yeah, making sure you stay sane through it all.
Um, I feel like it's, I've always been really creative. And like thinking of ideas, even with my part time job that I did have to go back to, but my part time job, I would come up with initiatives of how we could build up business or like get attention in the community to kind of try and get people in the door.
So I've always just been popping out ideas like that. So I just transfer that into doing that for my own business. I feel like it's come naturally. But I've also learned a lot from people like yourself and podcasts and just always trying to learn different views of things, and just kind of narrowing that down into what really works for me and for my business.So true, a lot comes down to actually just testing out strategies and seeing, Hey, did I get a client looking off of that? Or did I not. And sometimes just having these mental check ins of like, this is working? This isn't, but you have to take action before you can get there, which I know you're quite good at and obviously not afraid to experiment with new strategies, which is awesome. You mentioned working part time, in addition to building your business. How have you found the balance? Because I know we have a lot of listeners who are parents, they are in relationships, they have hobbies, they work full time or part time, and they want to start a business but it feels overwhelming, like where am I going to find this time? How am I going to find balance? What has your journey been like in managing all of this and finding the right balance between building your business and all the other things you need to do in your life.
It's definitely a struggle. And it's taken me a long time to find that balance. At the beginning of when I was starting my business.
Like I said, building my packages, my making my own contracts, making my questionnaires. I would do a lot of that when I was with my kids. And I feel like I was missing out on that time with them and not focusing on them. So I do regret that. But it's something that I recognize really quickly. And I adjusted. So I would make sure that I did a lot of my work during nap time, I'll often spend evenings working pretty late, depending on what work I have to do. But then also making the time for myself and also for my marriage. It's definitely a juggling act. I think there's times where I just told myself put the phone down, put the computer away spend time with your family. And I'm definitely getting better at it. There's still improvements to be made. But recognizing it and then making adjustments has been a huge, huge thing for me. So it's, it's getting better for sure.And I think it's always something that we need to learn, right? Because life doesn't usually get less busy, just like things later on. And it's always striking that that balance between like, do I need to be in my life right now? Or am I able to step away and work on this? And I don't know that there's a perfect formula. But I think for all of us, we really learn week by week, and like, how did that week go? And where do I feel like I missed out? Or where do I feel like I was really protective of my work time. And that served me super well. So it's always interesting to hear how people are navigating that and I think, you know, it's something that we're always learning and just needing to pay attention to how we're feeling with each of these major pillars of our life and business. So love hearing you say that. Has there been a major milestone or something you've been really proud of in navigating this journey of launching your business.
Um I would say just seeing What I've been putting into action come through for me. When I kind of formulated my packages and what I wanted to do and how I was marketing, I would get like two weeks into it. And I was like, it's not working, I need to change it. But then I was like, No, you have to just sit on it, and just wait and see if it works. And it has been working. So that's been really encouraging for me to just keep doing what I'm doing. I love doing it. And I love marketing, and I love doing the photography side of the business. So that's something that I'm happy with is that I just sat on it, and just let it figure itself out. And it definitely has.
Hmm, yeah, I think patience is an underrated skill and entrepreneurship, it's like being in this for the long game, knowing that if you play in a five year 10, year 20 year time horizon, you are going to be so wildly successful, but I think sometimes like our desire for immediate results, it's like I changed my website. And then 10 days later, you're like, where are the results? But it's like, what if you kept going on this project for five years, 10 years, 20 years, like, just imagine because most people are quitting. So prematurely. So I think it's such a good attitude to have of just I'm in this, I'm willing to be patient. And even if it takes me three years or seven years to build a full time income stream, will that be worth it? And then you're like, Yeah, because Time passes so quickly. You know, if you can just have that muscle of patience, it's all gonna pay off. It's just on a different timeline, maybe than that accelerated one that the world wants you to believe as possible, like, get this all done in 10 hours, and you'll be a millionaire. Like, I don't know that that actually happens. So it's nice to hear the realness of you know what it actually looks like, especially to start a business while you're working. And while you're parenting, and doing so many other things.
Do you have any tips for people like just based on your own experience, like anything, you can share a tip for making it all work and staying the course even when you're not getting immediate results.Um, I would say give yourself like serious talks and talk with those who are around you and who are supporting you and just tell yourself, you need to just sit on this and give it time. And trust what you're doing trust your gut, and just wait and see the results. And go from there. If you need to change something, make little changes along the way, don't just scratch it and start fresh, because that's probably not going to work either.
Yeah, I love that to I want to shift gears a little bit and actually talk about the importance of brand photography and like why people should consider investing in a professional like yourself. So from a high level, if there is a business owner listening, who's never done brand photos are a little bit camera shy, they've never really stepped out as the face of their brand or shared themselves publicly. What would you say to them in terms of why they should potentially consider adding brand photography and getting professional images? Why is that important?
I always like to give two reasons. The first is that people are visual buyers, yes.
Oh my gosh, like,
if you were gonna buy something, you wouldn't buy it without seeing it first. So whether that's a product or service, you would want pictures of your product, pictures of your service and what that looks like, what it looks like to work with you. People love behind the scenes to they like to see how the product was made, how you serve your clients.
And that's the stuff that people really connect with. And that's what entices them to trust you and to buy from you. The second is that people buy from people, I think, especially nowadays, people want to look for the person behind the business. They want to know the person behind the business, do they like this person? That's something that would make them choose you over somebody else. Even if somebody else is better pricing, they might choose you because they like your personality and they connect with you better and they feel like they would work really well with you. So especially in the service industry, too. People are looking for people that they connect with and that they want to work with. It'shonestly like going to Amazon, you kind of mentioned this, but it's like going to Amazon and wanting to buy, I don't know a tie dye shirt, but there's no image on the Amazon listing. And there's all these words, but you as the buyer, you go to that page and you're like I would never buy this because I could just go to an Amazon listing for a tie dye shirt that had As a visual, that's going to reassure me that I'm putting my money in the right place, that it's the fit that I want that tie dye coloring I want. So it's like when you're being compared to another business, if one has a lot of professional, very visually appealing brand photos that communicate the essence of your brand, and the other is just a black and white website with paragraphs and paragraphs of text. I'm not going to feel comfortable buying from the latter website, like, first of all, like I don't want to read through a novel to figure you out, I just want to get like this overall essence. And I think that's where photos can become so important.
But what about if somebody's camera shy? Like I know me personally, especially when I did my first photo shoot, like five or six years ago? I'm not a model. I don't I'm not a fashionista. I don't know what to wear. I don't know how to do my own makeup. Like, what if there's all these like barriers that are preventing me from wanting to book you? What would you say to that person?Um, I would say that's where choosing the right photographer comes into play. Somebody that you're comfortable with somebody who's experienced, experienced with directing you for posing, experienced, if you want to hire like hair and makeup, they have somebody for you. And just somebody who, like, somebody who specializes in brand photography is usually better for that just because they know what you need in order to get the shots that you want. And they know the strategy that's behind it. And they'll hold your hand through the whole process, which is something that I love to do is I'm with you every step of the way. Especially on the shoot day, when you're a little bit nervous. We put on like some fun music, we just like take it easy, and I don't push it if you're like uncomfortable, whatever, we just take it really slow. And oh, I also bring you Starbucks to cheer you up.
Which is probably the best part of your service is that you're always like, what's your Starbucks order? I'm bringing this for you on shoot day.
And I'm like, Well, I'm instantly at ease, because I've got my coffee. Yeah. I love it. And yeah, it's so important to like you said choose somebody and this goes for hiring anyone. Choose someone that intuitively you know, you're going to be comfortable around, like, I know, for me when I'm making important decisions about who to invest with, or you know who I want to build my next website. A lot of times, it's just like this intuition of, Can I open up around this person? And do I share things in common? Or do you immediately meet this person and say, You know what, there's no energy exchange here. And I think that's particularly important for the line of work that you're in and brand photography, because, man, if I wasn't comfortable around you, I don't think I could have got great photos from our time together. But the opposite happened. Like I met you, I felt immediately comfortable. The whole day we spent was very easeful. And, you know, you guided me and told me what to do, which I needed, but didn't like push me into uncomfortable poses. And what came through is these very natural images that conveyed the exact kind of visuals that you and I discussed before the shoot. So yeah, it's about finding someone that you can connect with who can kind of guide you through what could be an uncomfortable experience. But it doesn't have to be when you choose the right person. Right?Exactly.
Okay, let's get into a few of your business specific strategies as we round out here. So first off, what is the best part about owning your own business, building your own brand, like stressful as it is what's the best part?
Um, the best part is seeing the potential for it, and what it could become, if I keep going on the path that I'm going. And just having control over it, like, having to go back to work and work for somebody else. When you've had a taste of working for yourself is not an easy thing to do. But it just makes me push harder to grow it to the point that I can just work for myself. And I also I love photography and I love making like having the experiences and doing that with my clients. But I also surprisingly really love running a business. Like I love the admin work behind it. I love the marketing. Like it's something I never thought that I would love or want to do. But it's just it's been really exciting to see and to watch it develop and come to life.
I think that's really vital to love the entrepreneurship journey as well as your client service because you're basically spending equal time doing both. So if you can learn to love the admin the creative time the marketing the sales process, all that stuff, you kind of have a leg up on everybody else who like shuts down when that part of the business comes through. So I think that's really, really cool that you feel that is there a tool or an object or a ritual that you use in running your business that you find to be particularly helpful.
Um, a tool would obviously be the cameras very important. That's the biggest part of my job. As far as a ritual, something that I really love to do is before shoot, if I'm driving to shoot, I just blast music, like jump up music, and I just get like, all excited, and I'm dancing and singing in the car. And that just helps me to get in the right headspace so that I can then get my client to that headspace so that their pictures are fun and natural, and they can just relax and have a good time.
Mm hmm. Such a good tip. Have you run into any major roadblocks through this process that almost derailed you like something that made you want to throw in the towel and say I quit? And if so how did you navigate through that?
I think impostor syndrome was a huge one. Even with like the support of my husband and my family, it still feels like sometimes, like I'm not good enough to do it. And like my work is not good enough. And especially when I see there's a lot of other brand photographers that I see on Instagram that I follow on Instagram, and I see their work. And I'm like, Oh, my It's not that good. And I'll never be that good. And it? It goes in cycles. Yep. But just not giving up in that time. There are times where I'm like, Yeah, I just kind of want to like burn it down and like, give up but it just, you just get through that moment and keep going and you'll get back to a good spot.
Mm hmm. I think we all feel that the Should I just burn this all down and just walk away. But it's always good to have you know, a little bit of space in those moments to say, Okay, I'll get back to it tomorrow, or let me reassess or this is just my mind telling me I suck at what I do.
But I also have this whole list of people who have loved the photos I've delivered. So entrepreneurship can be a total mind game in a way, that's for sure. Yeah. And final question, where do you hope to be in five or 10 years time? Do you ever think about the future and where this business is going? Or do you just kind of like live in the present, and just like, you know, see what unfolds day after day.Um, I would say I am mostly living in the present my goal, one of my biggest goals within the next couple of years is to be able to quit my part time job. And to just do this, to do the branding photography. I don't know at what point I'll be able to do that. But it's something that I'm working towards, and something that I'm looking forward to for sure. But other than that, I just kind of go day to day I do. I do want to see where the branding side takes me, I'll always do the brand photography. But I have some ideas and some things that I've been brainstorming on how we can expand into more branding services under end to their branding.
Mm hmm. Oh, I love that you just planted that seed. And I totally see it for you. And there's so many different extensions and add ons to this business. So I feel like you're just at the beginning, you're just like refining your signature offer and getting that to be a well oiled machine. And then from there, it's just the potential is endless. So it's really, really cool. If somebody wants to learn about your work, creep on your photos, maybe book you for a shoot, where are the best places for them to find you.
So there's my website, which is Evie to various branding.ca. I'm also on Instagram, quite a lot, which is at evey to various branding. And you can contact me either on my website or on my Instagram.
Perfect, we will link all of that in the show notes and I can personally vouch for your work. So if anybody lives in a similar area as a highly recommend that you check out his work. And thank you so much for sharing your story on the podcast today. Thank you so much for having me. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of visionary life. I love bringing you these conversations on a weekly basis. So it would mean so much to me. If you could help me out by rating and reviewing the show on either iTunes or Spotify. It just takes a second. And if you don't want to rate the show, you could also just take a screenshot of the episode and share it on your social media platform of choice tagging me at Kelsey Reidl. I'll catch you in the next episode.
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