050: Claire Smith – The Secret To Success In Your First 12 Months As A Photographer
January 20, 2022
“Just to be so true to yourself and really listen to your gut. “
CLAIRE SMITH
Hey everyone! It’s Sally here, from Studio Ninja. Today’s episode is all about Claire Smith.
Claire started her career in administration straight out of school. She went on to have a successful career in this but slowed down when she had her two sons. Wanting to create a business working from home, she bought a kids clothing line but soon realised she enjoyed taking the photos far more than she enjoyed the product based business. She swapped the business for a camera and rallied in her friends and family to do free shoots to build her confidence, exepreince and portfolio and within just three months of owning a camera she created a photography business. It has been a whirlwind ride for Claire, owning her first camera at 44 and has only been in business a year, but she has loved every second of it. Her photography career has been built on a solid foundation of mentors, hard work and dedication. Claire now mentors other photographers, has created online workshops and is planning on creating more workshops this year and a retreat for photographers who are passionate about capturing families, to create memories to last a lifetime.
Check out some of the biggest points from Claire’s interview below:
What is your biggest tip for new photographers just starting out?
Find some people in your industry that you trust and can connect with. You really can’t do this on your own. So whether that’s a mentor or whether that’s another photographer that you get along with that you’ve been chatting with and go and meet them in real life. And go and take photos of each other, do a branding shoot to get, swap. That’s what I did. And just start chatting to other photographers. That’s my biggest tip, is actually to get a community around you that you actually vibe and you like them and they’re actually offering you advice. And that’s probably my biggest tip.
What is your business blueprint?
I’m very friendly. And I think that’s part of it. Is that my personality is that I’m very approachable, down to earth. I can explain things in a way that people go, “Oh, I get that.” And they can ask me anything and they know that as well. So being approachable and all that sort of stuff I think has helped. I don’t know. I don’t know what the actual magic is, but I know that it’s definitely communication and people skills. I know that’s definitely part of it.
Which marketing strategies really worked for you?
Yeah. So marketing was one of the things that I didn’t really understand. So anything I’m not understanding or is not best use of my time, I outsource or I try to find out, I get education on it. Quick smart. So I joined up, there’s a girl in Perth who runs a program and she basically sends a newsletter out every week. And she also does a video every week and gives you a task. So when I started my business, I signed up to that straight away. And I’ve been with her ever since and I will be forever.
She’s amazing. But basically that’s how I grew my Instagram, how I engage with my audience and how the majority of my clients are from Instagram. So I didn’t know anything about it, now I know so much about marketing just by doing this. So if you can find someone that can help you in that way, that just speaks volumes. It’s just going to help you so much on your journey because, there’s other people that know what they’re doing. I don’t have a marketing degree, I don’t know that. So why I try to figure it all out for myself? So for a small price point, you can actually get someone else to help you with it and I think that’s really important.
Thank you!
Thanks again to you all for joining us and a huge thanks to Claire for joining us on the show!
If you have any suggestions, comments or questions about this episode, please be sure to leave them below in the comment section of this post, and if you liked the episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post!
That’s it for me this week, I hope you all enjoyed this episode.
See you soon,
Sally
About Claire Smith
It has been a whirlwind ride for Claire, owning her first camera at 44 and has only been in business a year, but she has loved every second of it. Her photography career has been built on a solid foundation of mentors, hard work and dedication. Claire now mentors other photographers, has created online workshops and is planning on creating more workshops this year and a retreat for photographers who are passionate about capturing families, to create memories to last a lifetime.
