Today’s guest is an international wedding photographer based in Los Angeles. Originally from Alabama, she has never lost her down home roots. She has a YouTube channel with over 127k subscribers where she gives weekly photo tips and an active blog www.janafromalabama.com where you can find resources for photographers like Lightroom presets and online courses. Her latest venture is The Inspired Club, an all female photographer and entrepreneur membership site. So welcome to the Podcast, Jana Williams!
What is The Inspired Club?
The Inspired Club is a membership site offering access to library of online courses that include topics such as photography fundaments, using social media to grow your business, and how to write effective copy. TIC has anything you’d need as a female entrepreneur or photographer to start your business from when you first pick up your camera. TIC lauched in January, and Jana has a team that works for her, helping to build courses, talk to members, answer questions, build bundles, provide Instagram caption ideas, blog ideas… pretty much everything you’d need for your business. Members have complete access to Jana, and it’s her responsibility to help them. While giving member’s this level of access is a lot of work, Jana feels the reward is worth it. She has followed stay at home moms picking up a camera for the first time, earning money, and changing how they live their lives!
One of the biggest mistakes Jana made was in the beginning of her career as a wedding photographer. She was so excited about work and being busy and was booking so much so fast. A lot of the jobs were destination weddings, and sometimes she would fly in the day of the wedding. One time she was supposed to fly into LA the day of the wedding and the flight got cancelled. She thought she wasn’t going to make it to the wedding, and everything she had been working so hard for flashed before her eyes. She realized it was selfish of her to be barely making it to the weddings, and this led her to reevaluate her priorities.
A more recent mistake happened this year in Santorini. She woke up in the middle of the night to take a Skype call with potential clients in LA. The call went well and they decided to book. With the commotion of traveling and the middle of the night call, Jana had accidentally double booked a wedding. She was horrified and had to call the client and tell them what she did, reimburse the money, and apologize a million times. It made her take 10 steps back and remember that her business is about her clients and and never be so busy booking work that you don’t know what’s going on.
A personal mistake is something a lot of us get into in the beginning of our careers. When you first start getting busy and booked and you don’t want it to slow down, fear was driving Jana in the first three years. She was afraid that people wouldn’t want to book her if she slowed down. In her 4th year, she decided she could let go of her fear and started running on inspiration and gratefulness. If she keeps her mind where it’s supposed to be, the work won’t go away. Fear can affect you physically and your relationships. Figure out your Why and not let that Why be fear.
Something that Jana should have focused on a long time ago is building her email list. If you have a youtube channel, use that platform to build your email list. You don’t own your followers on Instagram but you own those emails. In Jana’s experience promoting the IC the email marketing gets a lot of people to sign up.
Personally, she says not feeling too busy to have a baby. Just have the baby and let your life happen. Jana says this is one thing she wishes she had done sooner. Women can have it all! You just need a shift in perspective.
The more you are authentic and yourself, the more you attract the clients who will love your style. This is really important to Jana because in LA there are 60 photographers per every mile. Knowing the saturation of the market makes it very important to showcase what makes you unique. Separate yourself so you can stand out in that market and keep your brand relevant. Your supporters love you for you and want to see the real you, whether you’re in a robe or not wearing makeup. But there’s a delicate balance when it comes to sharing your life- if you’re not careful, you will lose yourself on social media. Make sure you have those times that you don’t share. There is a time to put your phone down, and this will actually help you be more open when you do share on Instagram.
Jana’s husband Dave’s presence in her brand has always been really organic. They met before she ever picked up a camera, so he’s seen this whole business evolution. It was Dave’s idea to make the content available through a membership site, so the whole idea for the community was inspired by Dave. Working together does bring on another whole level of challenges to your relationship. If you’re going to be working eith your significant other, it is important to bring a third party in like a therapist. Working together brings on levels of communication issues and if you stay in coworker mode, you can lose the husband/wife part of the relationship. All of the work talk will dull the romance. Remember to always speak to your significant other in a kind and respectful way, like you would to a coworker!