Brands that Book with Davey & Krista Jones

Today guests are James and Jess of James and Jess Photography; a husband and wife photography team based out of Santa Barbara, California, and New York, New York. If you follow James and Jess, you know they travel quite a bit and they’ve shot weddings all over the place. In today’s interview, I chat with James and Jess about how they market their business effectively in multiple cities, especially since those cities aren’t exactly close to one another. We discuss some of the challenges they face as they got started in New York City and ultimately, what it was that led to a successful presence there. Check out the show notes at https://daveyandkrista.com/btb-james-jess-episode-26.

Today’s guest is Elle Ellinghaus of Elle Ellinghaus Designs, a high-end event planning business based in Baltimore, Maryland. Elle has created one of the most sought after event planning companies for weddings and boast an impressive client roster from NFL players, to Fortune 500 executives. She was even asked to be a featured author for a textbook that colleges use for event planning degrees. So I wanted to know what went into creating such a high-end brand and how did she attract those types of clients? That’s what we discussed in today’s interview. For more resources, check out the show notes at https://daveyandkrista.com/btb-elle-ellinghaus-episode-25.

Today's guest is Nate Grahek, the founder of Sticky Albums, and more recently, Sticky Email. Sticky Albums makes it easy for photographers to create and share custom mobile apps for their clients. Nate built it after seeing the reaction his own photography portrait clients had to the custom mobile apps he was building for them and the referrals that it generated, but eventually realized that he didn't want to only provide a tool that generated leads. Nate also wanted to develop a tool that helps nurture those leads into clients, and that was Sticky Emails meant to do. In this interview, we chat all about email marketing, how photographers and creatives can implement email marketing into their businesses, some of the do's and don'ts, and how Sticky Email can help. You can also find a link for getting started with Sticky Email in the show notes. For more information and resources, check out the show notes at daveyandkrista.com/btb.

Today’s guest are Jake and Becca Berg, the co-founders of Dubsado, the client management system for entrepreneurs. Dubsado makes any contracts, invoices, questionnaires, bookkeeping and other business workflows easy. I can confidently say that, because we’re now Dubsado users, but we weren’t before this episode. I signed us up for a trial to prepare for the interview with no intention of continuing to use it. After a test run, I was hooked. One of the reasons that I wanted to interview Jake and Becca was because Dubsado seemed to come out of nowhere. As with most entrepreneurial journeys, Dubsado wasn’t an overnight success. It started small with very little functionality. Through many iterations, carefully listening to their user base and their own intuition, they’ve created an incredibly impactful tool for businesses. For more information and resources, check out the show notes: https://daveyandkrista.com/btb-jake-becca-berg-dubsado-fs/

Today's episode features founder and CEO Shaun Gordon of Kiss Books, an heirloom album company for professional photographers. I've had the chance to get to know Shaun over the last few years through a year-long leadership program we both participated in, and more recently as we designed and built Kiss's new brand and website. Shaun's the kind of guy that's reflective and finds opportunities to invest in himself and his relationships—all of that is on display in this episode. We chat about why him and his partner decided to build Kiss Books. But not before exploring his beginnings as a photographer and—an experience I wasn't aware of—owner of a brick-and-mortar photography equipment store. It was through his experience of shooting hundreds of sessions a year that he came to realize the need for an album company that was simple. Check out the show notes at https://daveyandkrista.com/btb-shaun-gordon-kiss-fs/ for more information.

Today's episode is part of the Founders Series, where we chat with founders and CEOs of companies that have created products and services that help creatives run their businesses. Today's guest is Todd Watson, the Founder and CEO of Showit, a website platform created specifically for photographers and creative professionals. This episode is a little different than previous episodes. Instead of focusing on tips, strategies or tools that you can use in your business, we focus mostly on Todd and the Showit story. I don't know about you all, but I'm fascinated by stories of how businesses got started, especially businesses I admire, because I found regardless of the type or size of business, that there's so many shared challenges that entrepreneurs face when getting started. I've had the pleasure of getting to know Todd and the Showit story over the last few years, and I can tell you, it's a good one. We discuss how Showit got started, how at one point there was uncertainty over its future and why Todd and his team rebuilt the platform from scratch into what it is today. We chat about why Todd opted not to take VC funding and the business that he wants to run. For the show notes, go to https://daveyandkrista.com/btb-todd-watson-showit-fs/

Today’s guest is Julianne Smith of The Garter Girl, a company with a singular mission to design and hand-create a wedding heirloom that is so stylish and so special that brides couldn’t wait to save it for their daughters. Sometime during her journey building The Garter Girl, she also founded a popular D.C. wedding blog called United With Love, which she eventually sold. This episode was inspired by a blog post that Juli recently published titled Life Without Swipe Up, which essentially reflects on the obsession with getting 10,000 Instagram followers and the Swipe Up feature, and it explores why more followers doesn’t necessarily mean more success, the importance of knowing your niche and showing up consistently where your potential customers are. We chat all that and more throughout this episode, and we also learn how Juli used her background in PR and politics to vault The Garter Girl forward. Be sure to check out the show notes at daveyandkrista.com for the resources we mentioned during the episode, and I’d like to hear from you about what kind of content you’d like to see on the Brands that Book podcast as we move forward. I’d also like to know what episodes you’ve enjoyed the most so far and why. To leave your feedback, head on over to the Davey & Krista Facebook page and send us a message. For show notes and other resources, go to https://daveyandkrista.com/btb-juli-smith-episode-24.

Today’s guest is Kaitlin Holland of The School of Styling, and more recently, the McAlister-Leftwich House, which is a wedding and event venue located in Greensboro, North Carolina. Kaitlin, like so many of our guest, is one of those multitalented people. Her entrepreneurial journey started with a vintage rental company called Simply Put Vintage, which she eventually sold in 2015, but not before starting The School of Styling, a workshop that provides creative women education and inspiration for creating beautiful work, events and spaces. In today‘s episode, we’re chatting about choosing the right educational experiences for your business, whether it’d be in-person, or online, a conference, small group setting, one-on-one, or a mixture of those things. Kaitlin shares five steps for choosing the right education and we also share what we’ve learned from our own educational experiences. Before we get to the interview, I want to mention that tickets are currently on sale for The School of Styling, and Krista and I will be leading two sessions during the January workshop. If you can’t make it to the January workshop, there are also workshops in March and July of next year, but you want to hurry and grab your tickets soon since they’re only on sale until October 3rd, or until seats sell out. You can find more information using the link below. Kaitlin Holland is the Founder of The School of Styling, a creative business mentor, and the Marketing & Venue Director for her family's business, the McAlister-Leftwich House. She lives in North Carolina with her husband, Clay, and baby girl, Lucy. She was saved by Grace and she's on a mission to extravagantly love and serve those who are put in her path. After starting a successful vintage rental company in 2012 (and later selling it in 2015), Simply Put Vintage, Kaitlin saw a need for a training environment that served the creative entrepreneur as a whole. So, she created The School of Styling to provide creative women, no matter their field or profession, with the education and inspiration they need to create beautiful work, events, and spaces. She is a cultivator of community, and the heartbeat of the workshop is found in the relationships built amongst attendees, speakers, and staff. With a background in art, she derives much of the inspiration for the workshop structure from a technical art setting. Including demonstrations, hands-on learning, and critique sessions with a like-minded group of women. For more informations and resources, check out the show notes at https://daveyandkrista.com/btb-kaitlin-holland-episode-23

Today’s guest is Nancy Ray of Nancy Ray Photography. Nancy has built a thriving photography business in Raleigh, North Carolina area, so much so that a few years in the business she realized that something needed to change for her to be able to both continue to grow her business and for her family to live the life they wanted to live. She built a team. That’s exactly what we’re chatting about in today’s episode. Nancy shares with us how to know whether you’re ready to build a team, what she’s learned from her own experiences, insights into how to decide who to hire and how she evaluates candidates. Before we get to the interview, I want to mention that Nancy is launching another platform for creatives over at nancyray.com, where she’ll be sharing all of her best resources on life, work, home and faith. If it’s anything like the resources she’s made available in the past, you’re going to want to check it out. Also, if you’re interested in building a creative team, but would like someone to walk you through the process step-by-step, Nancy is opening the doors to her popular team-building course this fall, and you can find a link for that in the show notes. Be sure to check out the show notes at daveyandkrista.com for the resources we mentioned during the episode. I like to hear from you about what kind of content you like to see on the Brands that Book Podcast as we move forward. I’d also like to know what episodes you’ve enjoyed so far and why. To leave your feedback, head on over to Davey and Krista Facebook page and send us a message. The highlights: 04:35 Nancy shares about her photography business and how she eventually got to the point where she needed to hire someone. 09:31 How Nancy determined what role to hire first for her business (and the value of starting with an internship). 17:00 The differences between an employee and independent contractor. 19:53 Where your business should be at before considering hiring somebody. 23:22 Creating and sharing a job listing. 25:23 How Nancy sorts through the applications. 28:23 Why Nancy uses a multiple interview process when hiring. 31:04 The training and on-boarding process when someone is hired (and the importance of feedback). 35:31 Making sure employees are in the right fit. 37:42 Communicating with clients about associate photographers and marketing their work. 47:43 How having a team enabled Nancy to take a three month maternity leave. Nancy is a believer, wife, mama, photographer, blogger, and speaker. She owns Nancy Ray Photography and leads a small team of wedding and family photographers. Nancy speaks regularly at several conferences and retreats, sharing her inspiration and foundations in building a successful business and a balanced life. She is passionate about her faith in Jesus, financial stewardship, strong marriages, and seeing small businesses thrive for God’s kingdom. She lives and works in Raleigh, North Carolina with her husband, Will, daughters Milly and Lyndon (with another on the way), and great dane, Winston. Find the show notes at https://daveyandkrista.com/btb-nancy-ray-episode-22.

Today's guest is wedding photographer and attorney Paige Griffith of Paige Marie Photography. Paige primarily serves the Missoula, Montana area, which—relative to cities that we're near like Baltimore and Washington DC—is a pretty small market, and that's exactly the reason that I wanted to chat with Paige. We often hear from people in smaller markets that some of the strategies out there just don't work for their smaller, especially more rural areas. Well, I wanted to chat with Paige about how she was able to build a six-figure photography business in a smaller market. She outlines the challenges business owners face in those markets and then gives us steps that business owners can take to market their businesses in those areas. The highlights: 03:02 How a creative outlet in law school led to a full-time business. 10:40 The three challenges of building a business in a small(er) market. 16:15 How Paige intentionally built her portfolio. 20:43 Advertising in a small market, and the importance of choosing the right publications and platforms. 24:03 How marketing with handouts is still effective for Paige, and the importance of building a personal brand. 31:11 The challenge of pricing services in a smaller market—and understanding what your ideal client is willing to pay. 36:56 What it means to 'find a niche, fill the niche, kill the niche.' 43:05 The importance of going to your audience. 45:56 Getting published in local and regional publications. 48:22 How to get participation from other vendors in styled shoots. 50:55 The importance of investing in a website. 55:45 How Paige manages being both a full time attorney and full time wedding photographer. Paige's Biography: Paige Griffith graduated in May 2016 from the University of Montana School of Law with high honors, and also holds a double BA in Economics and Political Science from Pacific Lutheran University. During her time in law school, she was actively involved in the Women's Law Caucus, Montana Law Review, and National Moot Court Team. She started a photography business during law school which became a six-figure business in just 3 years. Paige combined her legal and entrepreneurial passions by helping other entrepreneurs and creatives create successful and legitimate businesses. Her goal is to create a space where all small businesses feel protected and confident. The Legal Paige was founded in 2018 and is an online legal consulting and business consulting firm. Resources Mentioned in this Episode: The Legal Paige James & Jess Photography Check out the show notes at Davey & Krista for links, resources, transcripts, and other episode materials.