Miss Independent- Kristin Rogers Photography

Can you believe it is Thursday already? I am super excited to have Kristin Rogers Photography as my Miss Independent today!

Kristin is quite diverse and selective in her range of photography, and she doesn't let her work life take over her home life, where she home schools her two adorable daughters.

PS You should totally follow her on Instagram!

 

1. What made you decide to start your own business?

I had absolutely no intention in starting a business actually…. I started getting into photography when I was pregnant with my first daughter and posting pictures online for my family and friends to see. Then very unexpectedly I started getting people asking if I would take pictures of their baby or family. I was shocked as I hardly knew what I was doing still but I started reading manuals, books, online tutorials and asking friends that knew about their camera so I can understand what I was doing! A few months later I invested in a DSLR and couple months after that I started by business because I was getting such a regular request for paid shoots. It was amazing, it honestly kind of fell into my lap and I ran with it. I loved the idea of helping bring in income since we just lost mine when I became a (very happy) stay at home mom. I never imagined it would be what it is today.

2. What was your biggest risk or fear about starting a business?

My biggest fear was all the behind the scene business aspects of it…..taxes, sales tax and business owner responsibilities. I wanted to, and still do, just want to take pictures and not have to deal with all the back end stuff, but that’s not an option. Im horrible at it and I was always fearful I would mess something up unintentionally out of ignorance!

3. How did you know what you wanted to do?

Being that my business kind of fell into my lap, I never had a goal set and tried to achieve it. But once I started my business I knew I wanted to run a creative, fun, wholesome business that would bring in income, be a creative outlet and not be a hindrance to my primary roles as wife and mother. Through much thought, encouragement, advice and accountability I feel overall that is what we have today. I’m beyond thankful for.

4. What support system do you have for your business to help you stay motivated?

I had a few key people that helped support me get going, my stepdad, Steve, invested in some of my equipment and built my first blog because he was convinced I would succeed, my friend Mike Dees would teach me the more technical side of my camera and photography in general and a friend and photographer Dana Grant would answer my questions about the field and how she does things. I am so beyond thankful for their time with me. Now, I feel like I have more support then I can even imagine! Between friends, pretty amazing clients, encouraging followers, my family and fellow photographers I have a support system that can help get me through anything that comes up with my business.

5. What is your biggest challenge about running your own business?

My biggest challenge in running my business is keeping it in its proper place in my life. Let me start off by saying I know I don’t do this perfectly but I fight on and am constantly reevaluating my time and priorities. To my very core, I know being a wife and mom is more important then any wealth I can attain in this world…. So I actually keep my business as certain size on purpose. I take limited weddings and others projects so that I am not away from my family too much especially when my children are so small. This is tough in such a fast pace aggressive industry, but with the help of my husband and some pretty strong principles about how we want our life, we have managed to run a successful business and family life. I can’t explain how fortunate I feel.

6. What is the best advice you have for someone wanting to start a business?

A word of advice I would give to other photographers wanting to get into the industry, specifically moms, is don’t loose yourself in it. It is fast, it is demanding, it pulls you places and there can be a lot of exciting recognition in it…..it is enticing and captivating field. When you are a mom, you don’t have blog statistics to see how many people are keeping up on your awesome mommy skills, you don’t have Facebookers “liking” your play time, you don’t have “fans” complimenting your skills at training and bathing your children. In the photography business you can get a lot of recognition, encouragement & accolades for a rad picture, an exciting blog you post, a feature you get or client you land. There are rewards of a payment at the end of your job. Well, as mothers, obviously don’t receive the same recognition for our work, time, tears, efforts and chores. Not like we do with photography. It is tempting to crave it or even need that to know you are doing a good job that others appreciate and value your work. We may take unnecessary jobs to make sure we can blog frequently …to see those comments or our exposure and stats rise. But this is something I try to avoid.  I try hard to value every “thank you”, hug, and smile and all those ways they show you they appreciate you. I try just remembering that my goal in this life and as their mom is what I am pushing for and not the recognition. Really, that is just a bonus! I will tell you this….a joyful day to day relationship with my girls filled with valuable time and teaching is more of a reward to me then any amazing blog statistic or publication!

I always love to see how mama's are able to come up with creative careers to still make time to be at home! Isn't Kristin the cutest??? She is one inspiring lady!

Happy Thursday!