Building Your Creative Brand & Staying True to You | KelleyRaye.com

I’m on my way to building my brand y'all! So what have I been doing? Well I've been booking consultations left and right, that's what! My goal for this year was to book 5 weddings. Quite the low hanging fruit, I know, but I didn't want to aim too high and fall short. Anywho, I've already surpassed that with 9 months to go. So yay! To help my fellow #girlbosses stay motivated, at the end of the quarter, I will show y'all the progress I have made since listing my 2015 goals here in January.

I love meeting fabulous brides, and I love prepping for our coffee consultation. Yes because coffee but also because I get to put together my consultation packet. That, along with my new glitter phone case gives me the magic power I need to go out and "Book ALL the brides!" (in my hyperbole and a half voice).

You know, all business is not the right business which brings me to my lesson of the day. I learned that in my Corporate-America-Director-of-Sales days. And although I learned this long ago, it’s much easier to decline business for an already established, flourishing hotel bringing in $30,000 a day than it is my lil’ start-up photography business with…well.. far less than the $30,000/day in the ‘business’ checking account. Much. Easier.

When you are trying to get a new business going, any business is good business, even if it’s not something you would necessarily take on if you had the financial privilege to (gracefully) decline. But oh the sweet victory when you no longer have to ‘adjust’ yourself and how you do things just to make a sale. It takes time though.

The struggle is real. When your business is actually a passion that people sometimes pay you for, it’s hard to take on things that don’t feed your creativity, even if you could use a little extra cash in your pocket or another reason to update your facebook business page. I do know some people that will take on any project, doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it’s paying. I’m not one of those people though. I don’t want to be a photographer people contact because they know I have a camera and they happen to need pictures taken. You can go to Sears for that. I want to be the photographer people call because they have an experience that they would like forever embedded into their brains in the form of emotion-filled, real-life, this is some epic sh*t, photos. I'm not totally there yet, still got a lens or two or four to buy; still need to continue attracting those clients that 'get it', etc. Slowly but surely though, the brand I want to build will morph into place and everything will be right with the world. Exciting indeed.

A couple days ago I applied to be a wedding vendor on a fabulous wedding website called A Practical Wedding (and approved as of last night!) and one of the questions they asked was a simple ‘Describe your business’. Umm. I had to think for a minute. I don’t think I’ve ever been asked to truly describe my business in one sentence before. How would I differentiate myself from everyone else with ONE sentence?! It came to me fairly quickly though. “My photography business can be described as- all the feels mixed with a dash of glitter served with a warm, mocha latte.” #nailedit

That is exactly how I would describe my photography to anyone who asked.

That’s what I want my clients to experience. When we meet up. When we shoot. When you receive your photos. And everything in between. All the feels. A little magic. Take it all in.  :)

Another favorite part of booking new brides (and the grooms that come along for the ride heeeee) is sending out an ever-evolving wedding welcome package. I love packaging, so I created this excuse to run to Paper Source and the magazine aisle. Oh, and the special feeling that comes along with receiving a package. Feels are important.

Coming Soon! I have a very special Bridal Portfolio Shoot coming up in April. It's special because its actually the couples 1-year anniversary. Totally unplanned when I asked them to be my bride and groom. It will be darling. Darling, I tell you!